Overview
In the most recent update for Hardspace: Shipbreaker, a spooky addition was made just in time for Halloween – Ghost Ships. These ghost ships have unique data pickups in the form of the helmets of the former crew of the ship, before it became a ghost ship. This guide will attempt to document all of the data that can be found in these ghost ships, as well as provide a more readable format for the binary text files that can be found in these pickups.This guide WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the story of Hardspace: Shipbreaker. You have been warned.
Data Drive Pickup – “Scriptum”, owned by “The Machine God”
There is only one file that can be found on this ship; an audio file titled “AudioLog.bmc”.
The narrator of the audio file is a male voice with moderate distortion. In the file, he describes the beliefs of the cult, and explains how he is a messenger, or an “angel” for the cult. The cult has strong transhumanist beliefs, with this self-proclaimed “angel” describing how the cult wishes for humanity to discard its fragile organic bodies, and merge into a single, immortal mechanical body. They also believe that the spread of non-ascended humans must be stopped, and their machine will achieve this.
Helmet Data Pickup – “ERROR”, owned by “1,A”
- FlyByCancelled.bmc (Audio)
- Intership Communications Log: Personal Terminal: Alvar Gundersun (Plain text)
- -$91^c (Binary)
- Private Messages: T. Booker > A. Gundersun (Plain text)
This is an audio message recorded by a man who calls himself “Gunderson”, directed towards a crewmate who he refers to as “Kiko”. In the message, Gunderson describes how some kind of “slime” that interferes with electrical systems has been placed inside of the transport shuttles, and how it will take weeks to repair the damage. He also mentions the people responsible, a cult that worships a machine as their God, and how they have done this multiple times before. The group is seen as a non-threat, however, Gunderson remarks how they have cost them time and credits on several occasions. He concludes by asking Kiko what he wants to do about a “show” that presumably required the shuttles to be operational, mentioning that a woman named “Alice” can provide new shuttles, but it will cost them.
Audio Transcript:
“Hey Kiko.
Yeah this is Gundersun. Bastards did it again. No way we are going to be able to host the fly-by for the shareholders tomorrow. They opened the hoods on each one of our transport shuttles and gummed up all the works. Some kind of… slime… that interferes with all the electrical. It’s gonna take me and the team weeks to get them operational again. I wish they woulda just blew’em up you know? At least then we could collect the insurance on ’em. Oh, and they left us a nice little note – “Here is the machine. The machine is God. The machine is going to stop the roots, the growth.” Blah blah blah. I am tired of all of their s**t. Everyone says they’re not dangerous, but this is the third time those wackos have cost us time and credits. Lemme know what you want to do about tomorrow’s dog and pony show. I called Alice and she has another fleet of shuttles on standby, but it’ll cost us.
Gundy out.”
This is a series of instant messages between two individuals on a ship, “Var” and “Kiko”. Var talks about how a certain crew member has been acting up recently, isolating himself from the others and then talking to himself in a secluded spot. Var is concerned that this crew member might go
berserk and harm the others. Kiko offers to keep an eye on this erratic crewmate, and also suggests trying to get him to attend a Halloween party to get him back to reality and out of his own mind. Var agrees to this suggestion, and the two end the conversation.
Text Transcript (Speaker name in brackets):
“[Kiko] >Hey Var, have you noticed [Redacted] acting weird at all?
[Var] >Like how the guy takes like 50 bathroom breaks a day?
[Kiko] >Yeah… or, more like… he’s been spending a lot of time in the engine room just uhhhhh talking to himself.
[Var] >Cabin fever gets to us all. Do you think he’s about to go full hog with a wrench?
[Kiko] >Maybe. I dunno, I’ll keep an eye on it. Try to get him to come to Halloween, maybe get outside of his head for a bit.
[Var] >Good idea, Kiko. Alright, I’m off.
[Kiko] >Have a good night, Boss.”
At first glance, this file appears to be a random jumble of binary numbers, along with a corrupted file name. However, these binary numbers are actually ASCII characters. When converted, this text appears to be the ramblings of a man who believes himself to be a deity who rules over the heavens, and that humanity must leave the stars or face divine retribution and punishment.
ASCII Translation:
“I am the true God. The genetrix. Humanity shall flee or be unmade. I (we) live, (we) grow in her bountiful breadbasket. Safe from otherworldly tempest, we thrive among the wheat and the chaff.”
This is a series of messages sent by a crew member named “T. Booker” to Gunderson, with no replies back from Gunderson. The messages talk about how Booker has brought real tater tots aboard the ship, and claims the others, specifically Gunderson, are eating them. The messages take on an increasingly hostile tone, ending in a threat.
Text Transcript:
“>I’m going to start putting my name on MY TATER TOTS since y’all don’t know how to behave.
>I know it’s you Alvar.
>THEY’RE ACTUAL POTATO TOTS. NOT THAT CARB PASTE TASTE-ALIKE. I HAVE THEM IMPORTED SPECIALLY FOR ME AND WHEN THEY ARE ALL GONE THEY ARE GONE.
>I don’t have much in my life, but I have my tots and if you take that from me then I shall find your soul in the afterlife and flush your head in the cosmic toilet.
>I will PEE IN YOUR SOCKS.”
The ship seems to have been crewed by 3 or possibly 4 people. Alvar Gunderson, the captain; Kiko, seemingly a friend of the captain; [Redacted], the insane crewmate; and T. Booker, the man threatening Gunderson. It’s possible that the redacted crewmate is Booker, but it could also be a fourth person not mentioned elsewhere. The crew is also in contact with someone named Alice, the woman who provides the shuttles for their ship.
The last known activity of the ship before it was turned into a derelict was that they were attempting to host a demo for some shuttles, but this was cancelled due to the shuttles being rendered inoperable by the followers of the machine God. It appears that these cultists had been following their ship for a while, and had disrupted it on multiple occasions.
More to come.