"Hey, you're awake," said Rudy, the only other named NPC on the ship besides Flannery. There were three others, but they were named Ship Assistants 1, 2, and 3.

Rudy was something of a captain, but it was hard to tell what his actual rank was until he said it later. I didn't even know if he would have lines in the actual storyline or if he and Flannery were just here to guide us to where we needed to be.

"We're having a little bit of trouble here with the IBECS," he said.

"Here we go," Antoine said. "What kind of trouble?"

"Nothing big. They're not putting out a mayday or anything like that, but we can't get them to respond. The IBECS itself is responding, but it would appear—well, here, let me just call again."

"Why would you show us the message? Aren't we supposed to be reviewing you or something? Why would you want us to see you fail?" Isaac asked under his breath.

Luckily, Cassie was there to elbow him. I didn't think Carousel would punish him for mocking it Off-Screen, but it might. He was a Comedian, so it wasn't exactly unexpected, but I sure wished that he would vent his frustrations without his little jokes.

As someone who felt they had a disturbingly personal relationship with Carousel, I didn't think he wanted to poke that bear, but I couldn't quite get him to stop completely.

"Here's the IBECS," Rudy said.

"Hello, you can call me IBECS. Is there something I can help you with, crew of the Helio?"

"Yeah, IBECS," Rudy said. "We've got a rendezvous with you coming up, but we can't seem to signal Captain Marlin. Can you help us out with that?"

"Of course. Would you like me to send him a personal message? He can read it when he wakes up."

"Is he not up?" Rudy asked. "Is he still in Deep Sleep?"

"While I appreciate your concern for Captain Marlin's health, information about KRSL employees, especially officers, is private. I'm sure you can understand."

Rudy hit a button on his control panel, which appeared to mute his mic.

"Oh, these damn things," he said. "Computer, is the IBECS running an outdated artificial intelligence?"

The ship we were on, which I had not yet heard speak, suddenly spoke. "No, Captain. The IBECS has been updated with the latest compatible artificial intelligence. Its central computer could operate under strict KRSL operational procedures."

Rudy looked back at us and said, "You gotta learn how to speak to these things. They're really smart out-of-the-box, but then corporate goes in and gives them parameters and limitations. You never know what you're gonna get."

"It's not going to tell us about what's happening on the ship?" I asked.

"Well, hold your horses," Rudy said. "We just have to find somebody with clearance to tell it to wave them. These old AIs can be a pain in the butt, but they do respect rank."

Wave must have meant ‘message’ in this context. He would go on to repeat it a lot.

He tapped the button on his control panel again.

"IBECS, this is Captain Mills of the Helio. I'm commanding you to wake your captain."

"Hello, Captain Mills," the AI said. "As you are captain of the Helio and not captain of the IBECS, I am not beholden to your orders unless commanded to be."

"Can you send a wave to any high-ranked officer aboard so that I can talk to a human?" Captain Mills asked.

IBECS seemed to think about that for a moment. "Unfortunately, I am restricted to act under the authority of Captain Marlin or any of his officers acting in his stead."

"Yes," Rudy said. "I'm asking you to let me talk to one of those officers."

"Tell me what you would like to say, and I will send it to them as a message," IBECS said. They can read it when they wake up."

Was everyone asleep?

This went on for an embarrassing amount of time before we realized that it was just happening on a loop. Rudy Mills would never be able to break through the AI.

That was our job.

"Just a moment, Captain," Antoine said. He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if I was supposed to have something to say.

I thought for a moment, and that's when I remembered the Plot Cycle had been moving without us. It wasn't because of anything that we were doing; we were still Off-Screen.

I held up a finger as I thought. If the plot was moving forward, that potentially meant that someone was doing something On-Screen.

"IBECS," I said.

"Hello," IBECS responded. "May I ask who I'm speaking to?"

"Riley Lawrence," I said, not knowing if that would mean anything to the supercomputer.

"Mr. Lawrence, you are one of seven prize winners with KRSL’s spacefaring initiative. I have been given direct orders to engage with you on any matter you have clearance for. You have the rank of Ambassador. What would you like to discuss?"

"I'm an Ambassador?" I asked.

"Okay, Ambassador, what would you like to ask?" he responded.

I rolled my eyes.

"Can you give us a wave to any person on the ship that is awake?" I asked. I didn't know if I was using the word wave correctly, but who cared?

"I can try, Ambassador Lawrence. However, it is customary that ships be within hailing distance before a wave can be sent."

"How far are we from hailing distance?" I asked.

"Not far at all," Rudy said.

Right on time, the giant porthole in front of us started to close in on a ship that would make the Titanic look like a bath toy. I had played with it as a little holographic projection, manipulating it, trying to remember basic layouts and architecture, but seeing it in person really put things in perspective.

It was huge and incredibly confusing. The modular design prevented it from looking anything like a spaceship I recognized from most science fiction.

Pathways, arches, and entire portions of the ship were connected by one thin hallway. It was ridiculous and labyrinthine. Buried underneath tons of different modules connected this way was the core ship, which was just a giant rocket. But then, at certain places, other rockets were attached to the modules.

It looked like something someone had built in a video game and less like something that would be built by a serious engineer.

"Are we at hailing distance yet?" I asked.

"We should be any moment," Rudy said. "Just about there."

It felt like he was going to tell us the moment we got close enough, but he didn't need to because as soon as we were close enough for hailing distance, the IBECS appeared on the red wallpaper.

I.B.E.C.S.

Plot Armor: 40

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

__________

Tropes

Cold, Impassionate Logic

Empathy and compassion have no power here. All Moxie checks will use Savvy instead.

Blind Spots

This entity is very intelligent, but has notable holes in their logic or plan that serve as a weakness or hazard.

Ghost in the Machine

This entity will reform as long as there is any vessel within which it is able to.

Minion Maker

This entity is capable of making minions.

Territorial

This killer will punish those who harm its domain.

Bottomless Bag of Tricks

The villain has so many different in-universe abilities that they can employ new abilities in the Finale without needing to establish them in the narrative.

Obstacle Course

This entity will help form a set of obstacles that the players must overcome to survive. The Win Condition is Beat the Clock.

Stickler for the Rules

This entity has a set of rules or goals that it will always strive to abide by or achieve (whether is able to is another question).

IBECS—the artificial intelligence and the ship itself—was an enemy. It was beginning to look like we were facing off against a rogue AI.

Sure would have been nice to have a Scholar.

Because we were Off-Screen, I just read off all the tropes.

The NPCs ignored me, and my friends absorbed what I was saying with a mixture of confusion and dread. There was nothing outright terrifying about its tropes. It didn’t sound evil, but it didn’t have to.

If our enemy was super intelligent and vastly more capable than us, it could be very difficult to save the NPCs we had to save in order to rescue the downed players.

“So the AI killed everybody?” Isaac said.

“We don’t know that yet,” I said.

I turned back to the control panel where I assumed the microphone was and said, “IBECS, can you please wave anyone on board who is awake?”

“I’m sorry,” IBECS said. “Can you specify who you would like to talk to?”

I looked at my friends. We knew exactly who we wanted to talk to—in fact, we knew several people.

“Can we speak to Bobby Gill, please? Officer Bobby Gill.”

Flannery had told us that one of the officers had his dog's DNA carried to him in the cloning machine. I could think of a person who might like something like that.

“I’m sorry,” IBECS said. “Officer Gill is indisposed.”

“He’s asleep?” I asked.

“Officer Gill is indisposed. Would you like to talk to someone else?”

“Sounds like the rogue AI already killed Bobby,” Isaac said.

I ignored him, though oddly that comment did make calmness wash over me, thanks to Isaac's Gallows Humor trope.

“This is Cassie Hughes,” Cassie said. “I’d like to speak to Doctor Andrew Hughes.”

“Miss Hughes,” IBECS said, “Yes, I think I can allow that. You are listed as Doctor Andrew Hughes’ emergency contact.”

We didn’t know whether the NPCs that represented the downed players would be named after them, but we had discussed it as a possibility.

Lo and behold, it turned out to be correct.

We waited while IBECS played some elevator music. Then, the audio stream stopped being an audio stream as a glass screen on the control panel lit up with video footage of a room the size of a warehouse filled with Deep Sleep Chambers.

The footage cycled around from several different cameras placed around the warehouse, which was truly enormous—larger than an airplane hangar. It would seem that several communication panels containing cameras were placed throughout.

Eventually, the screen settled on one view.

“What is going on there?” Flannery asked as she looked closely at one of the screens. “Those Deep Sleep Chambers are all lit up.”

“Yeah, that is weird,” Rudy said. “Must be some malfunction. Maybe that's why everyone's still asleep.”

We all stared, squinting at the screen intently, not sure what we were looking for. There were rows and rows of these chambers. I was reminded of The Strings Attached basement filled with casks of wizards, except there were even more of these sleep chambers stacked on top of each other, with ladders in between them like bunk beds.

They all flashed red, except for three—the three in the center of the frame that the current camera point of view was staring at.

These three were special because they were not stacked on top of each other; they were on a weird platform underneath a large industrial air conditioning unit.

From what I could tell, it almost looked like their chambers had been stuck up under the machine as an afterthought because there was no way that they could stand up straight if they were to get out of their chambers.

Every inch mattered when you were trying to transport cargo, even if that cargo was people.

I could see the lights on the side of the chamber in the center of the three tucked under the air conditioning unit coming to life.

“It’s waking him up,” Rudy said, as if reading my mind.

It was kind of interesting watching and waiting for the person to get out of the chamber. Would the NPC that was supposed to represent Doctor Andrew Hughes look like him, or would it just be some random guy?

We didn't know, but I could see Isaac and Cassie holding their breath, waiting for the off chance that they might be about to see their brother.

After a few moments, the top of the chamber slid down, and a man sat up.

“That’s not him,” Cassie said, or at least started to say, because halfway through, she said, “What is wrong with his face?”

Indeed, even though the picture was not very clear, there was something odd about his face.

It was covered in red, bleeding splotches, and as the man climbed out of his chamber and approached, I could see a look of complete defeat on his face.

At that moment, we were just over halfway through the Party Phase. As the man stumbled over from his chamber toward the communication panel, I could see that whoever this guy was, he had been through it.

His eyes were practically dead.

“Hello!” he screamed as he walked closer to the communication panel. “Please, is someone there? Please!”

On-Screen. Finally.

“Doctor Andrew Hughes, I presume?” Captain Rudy Mills said.

“Yes, thank God,” the NPC playing the real Doctor Andrew Hughes said. Even through the screen, I could see him on the red wallpaper. In the place where he might usually have a trope, he simply had a small plaque that read, “Player Surrogate: Doctor Andrew Hughes. Doctor archetype.” His Plot Armor was 25. “You don't understand! IBECS is maddening! It won't let us out of this part of the ship because of our rank!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, son,” Rudy said. “Can you explain what's going on? Why am I having trouble communicating with Captain Marlin?”

Doctor Andrew Hughes, or at least the man playing him, was broken. I saw tears streaming down from his face.

“He’s not available,” he said. “It’s nobody but the three of us. I think it’s because we were stuck underneath that air circulating unit. I think it shielded us from them.”

“Shielded you from what?” Rudy asked, but as he spoke, Doctor Andrew Hughes continued to speak as if he was delirious.

“We can't get IBECS to knock us back out—not for longer than a few hours. It says it’s protocol. Everything is protocol. Please, Captain Mills, can you please tell IBECS to let us out?”

“Take a deep breath, son,” Rudy said. “I don't understand what the problem is. Why is everyone still in their sleep chambers?”

Then Doctor Andrew Hughes started to laugh, or cry, or convulse—I couldn't tell. I could see the camera started to zoom in as he clicked a button on the panel.

“Don’t you see them?” Andrew said. “They’re everywhere.”

As he zoomed in, I started to see something.

It was strange, like piles of dirt surrounding all of the chambers in view. They were so small and so… everywhere… that when things were zoomed out, I couldn't quite make them out; it almost looked like grain in the picture. But as he zoomed in, I realized that these chambers were surrounded and covered by whatever those little brown specks of dirt were.

“Oh my God,” Dina said. “Oh my God, oh my God.”

I still didn't know what we were looking at. It just looked like somebody had tossed coffee grounds around the entire room, piling them up near the chambers.

“What is it?” Ramona asked, finally engaged.

“You guys don't know what that is?” Dina asked.

I didn’t, but as the NPC continued to press zoom on the camera panel, I started to get a better view of whatever those little things were. It never got close enough that I could actually see them, but I could see mounds of them.

I could see them moving, wriggling.

“Is this some kind of alien?” Isaac asked.

To someone, it might have been an alien.

Not to us.

What we were seeing was one of the most vile creatures ever born across the multiverse.

~

Bedbugs

Plot Armor: 100

__________

Tropes

No Rest for the Wicked

This creature will relentlessly pursue its quarry with no breaks.

Fungible Enemy

This creature is composed of countless largely interchangeable units whose numbers will not diminish until the scene is concluded. There always seems to be more to come.

Fate Doesn’t Run

This creature will not run after its victim, yet they are never far behind in a chase scene. Buffs Hustle saving throws.

Obstacle Course

This creature will help form a set of obstacles that the players must overcome to survive. The Win Condition is Beat the Clock.

Thoroughly Dispersed

This creature’s group can instantly occupy the entirety of a set area, making it appear omnipresent and unpredictable to characters.

Dark Aura

This being has an aura with wide-ranging affects, from fear to some combination of status ailments. Aura will bypass all stats on first exposure.

Zombie Apocalypse is a Setting

This creature is not a true antagonist but rather forms the setting of the storyline. Efforts to eliminate them will be hampered. The true conflict of the story is exacerbated by them.

The Madness

This creature infects characters with an assortment of mental ailments, including paranoia and sleep deprivation.

~

The truth of this storyline began to form in my mind as I stared at the screen.

This wasn't an action film. We weren't fighting aliens. This was something different, another breed of horror film altogether. Arguably, a harder one.

This wasn't just a spaceship.

This story was... this ship was... an escape room.