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Breakout at the Mind Works is a one-shot adventure set in the Far Colony setting. It is intended to be run using the GURPS rules. The adventure is set on Lyselle Orbital, a station orbiting Chenoir (a major moon in the Atlas gas giant moon system). Lyselle Orbital has a population of some 350,000 people, primarily employed in light industrial production. It is also the site of the Barrenbright Isolated Reform Facility, a penal facility maintained by the Steering Committee, and CHEAN, an important medical-research lab funded by the Chenoir Birthlab Cooperative.
The characters are all convicted criminals who have been transferred to the Barrenbright IRF. Their sentences are deepteach re-education followed by a term of service as CHEAN experimental subjects. Several of them have been held at Barrenbright for several months, waiting for enough subjects to arrive to commence a new experimentation cycle.
The gas giant Atlas is the first area of the Fennen system to be colonized by humans after the ECR-18 Magellan arrived some 200 years ago. The two major moons in the system are Chenoir and Gagarin; both are surrounded by necklaces of orbital stations, and represent the bulk of the moon system's population. The actual moons are comparatively uninhabited: isolated mining and scientific outposts are the extent of development on Gagarin, while Chenoir is the site of a long-term terraforming project that makes conditions over much of the moon too unstable for current occupation.
Beyond the Atlas moon system, there are three other substantial regions within the Fennen system. The actual world of Fennen boasts a large and wealthy human society originally founded by rebels fleeing the (to them) short-sighted policies of the Steering Committee that still controls the Atlas moon system. The moribund sadurtha race also has a colony on the southern continent of Fennen, and a colony in the moon system of the gas giant Creutzen, but long-standing human laws forbid most contact with the aliens.
Lyselle Orbital is a moderate-sized orbital facility, with a population of 350,00 people. It was first established 46 years ago, in 148 PSD, as a single ring broken from Kerr Station. Since then, it has grown to five rings built around a central axis, and four remote industrial stations. The schematic map above shows how various sections of the station important to the scenario are interconnected. Both Barrenbright IRF and CHEAN share a single ring between the South Docking Ring and the main industrial ring.
The schematic diagram above shows primarily main access routes between adjacent areas. Selected secondary access routes (the auxiliary access corridor leading to the Drop Pod Bay, for example) are also displayed. There are many other similar minor access routes that are not depicted.
The interior of the Barrenbright IRF is roughly detailed in the diagram above, and more precisely laid out below.
The Barrenbright IRF occupies half of Ring 14 on the Lyselle Orbital station, which currently orbits in an isolated zone-IV orbit around the moon Chenoir. It is dedicated to the reclamation of those unfit to live in society, by the strict standards of Atlas moon system society. Convicted criminals are shipped to the station, where they are held until a sufficient number have accumulated. They are then sent to be re-educated through deepteach in groups of 10-20. After re-education (which normally takes 20-25 days), the reformed criminals are required to participate in medical studies to repay their debts to society.
Access to the facility is controlled through the Security Station, located underneath the one personnel tubeway up to the Central Spine of the orbital. Prisoners are debriefed and searched in one of eight Interview Chambers, then moved to the Holding Area, a honeycomb of sixteen-cell blocks intended to house convicts until their turn in the Social Readjustment Lab comes up.
The characters are all convicts assigned to the Barrenbright IRF, convicted of a variety of crimes. All of them are awaiting the start of the next re-education cycle, when the population of their holding area will be sent to the Social Readjustment Lab. Several characters have substantial allies outside of the Atlas moon system, and are convinced that some effort will be made to rescue them from their current situation. One of them is correct: an agent (one of the other characters) under a psionically-induced cover identity has been inserted into the facility to help them. When the situation is right, the agent will emerge and make escape possible.
A few hours after the last group of prisoners is brought in, a probe drogue launched from the outer system will collide with the Barrenbright Facility. Prior to impact, it will deploy it's lightsail. The sail, a rotating aluminum sheet five kilometers in diameter, will effectively sweep every sensor and antenna off the outside of Lyselle Orbital when it impacts, blinding the station and preventing communication with other ships and stations. The probe proper has been targeted to strike the Main Axis of the station, crippling it's systems and ensuring that the security personnel at the Barrenbright IRF have larger problems than watching their charges.
The mole's programming will start to emerge when the initial collision alarms start. From the other characters' point of view, the mole will suddenly start suffering from spasms. By the time the drogue strikes the station, the characters should have gained freedom from their cells thanks to the Master Key hidden in the mole's leg.
The mole's plan is to take his designated target out of the facility through an auxiliary access corridor that links to the Security Station on one end and Drop Pod Bay 13C on the other. This plan works, except for the fact that the last part of the corridor has been breached by the impact of the probe drogue. The characters will need to perform a short spacewalk through a debris-rich environment to reach the Drop Pod Bay. Once in the bay, the characters will be able to use one of the pods to reach the surface of the moon Chenoir, where the target characters' associates are waiting.
The characters are being held in Holding Area B-04, a section of 16 cells filling one compartment of the station ring. The holding area has one access point to the rest of the station, through a locked pressure door leading to a central corridor. Several other holding areas are spaced along this corridor; the Security Station is at one end, and the Re-Education Facility is at the other.
The cells are individually locked with automatic deadbolt locks, and are monitored by cameras in the hallways. To facilitate easy monitoring of detainees, the cell doors are transparent, offering little privacy to prisoners (longtime residents of the Atlas moon system or other orbital societies will not be bothered by this; folk from Eden or Fennen may). The locks normally require both a keycard and a code that changes daily. There is a personal insulated Pressure Tent in each cell, for emergency use.
There are normally two guards assigned to the holding area. They stay at a guard station near the door in the Common Area when they are present, which is usually about 30% of the time (1-2 on 1d6) unless a prisoner transfer is underway (then they are always present). The guards have keycards that can only open cell doors at designated times, or with specific authorization from the Duty Supervisor in the Security Station. All prisoners are normally confined to their cells when prisoner transfers are being performed, or when the Property Room is opened.
The characters' personal items are held in the Property Room, along with several other items. In addition to any objects described in the character descriptions, the Property Room holds eight emergency Vacc Suits (air for 2 hours' normal operation, PD 2, DR 8, -2 to all DX-based skills), each with three patch kits (Vacc Suit/TL8 roll needed to use successfully), two medkits (+1 to First Aid skill) and assorted cleaning supplies including three long-handled brooms. The Property Room door can normally only be opened with authorization from the Duty Supervisor.
The master keycard hidden in the mole's leg is able to open all the doors in Holding Area B-04, but cannot open any doors in any other holding area.
The Security Station stands across the only route between the Holding Areas and the rest of Lyselle Orbital. There are typically about fifty personnel working in the Security Station during firstshift, and twenty people during second and third. Fifteen of these people will be guards. The remainder are either administrators or support staff.
The interior doors in the Security Station are secure sliding doors, not pressure tight but capable of being locked from a central point. The area is monitored by cameras that feed to both the office area (where the Holding Area cameras are monitored) and to Lyselle Orbital Security Services. The characters will want to move through the office area and the infirmary to reach the lock to the auxiliary access corridor that runs alongside the CHEAN facilities.
The Security Station also contains an Armory. The mole's master passkey will not open the armory doors, but there are enough tools in the office areas for a character with Electronics Ops/TL8 (security systems) to be able to make a credible attempt at bypassing the lock (finding appropriate tools will take 15 minutes, 5 minutes with a successful Scrounging roll; the lockpicking attempt will take 5 minutes per attempt, with a -2 penalty for each failed attempt). The major contents of the armory are listed in the box. Most of the weapons are locked up in secure racks. Breaking the racks requires more force that the characters will be able to muster, but the locks can be bypassed in about two minutes with a successful Electronics Ops/TL8 (security systems) roll.
The auxiliary access corridor was intended as a machine area for the ring. It has accesses to all six levels of Ring 14, and is dominated by air-handling and water-handling gear. The Drop Pod Bay is located off the corridor about a quarter of the way around the ring from the Security Station. It is also down on the outermost level of the ring, which is normally used for storage of nonvolatile supplies (primarily water, liquefied oxygen and nitrogen, and spare parts).
The five scenes described below are intended to be used in order during the adventure. The first scene should be introduced at the start, just after the initial setting is described (the referee might want to describe a prisoner transfer to the characters before starting the collision alarms, just to provide a view into the normal procedures of the Barrenbright IRF). The second and third scenes describe what happens after the local authorities have largely lost control of events in the Barrenbright IRF, and are attempting to re-establish order. The fourth scene is an obstacle placed in the characters' path as they make their way to safety, and the fifth scene is the characters' gateway to freedom.
The scene opens with the characters confined to their cells in Holding Area B-04. Several of them have been in the Barrenbright IRF for weeks or months, while others have only arrived hours ago. One of the recent arrivals (make Fast-Talk rolls to determine who) picked up from the guards that B-04 is due to go to Re-Education within the next three days, depending upon when CHEAN will need their next study group. The local time is about 04:00, in the middle of thirdshift.
The characters are abruptly awakened by the characteristically nerve-jarring scream of proximity alarms. All characters with backgrounds on ships or orbital stations know instinctively what to do, and must make Will rolls to avoid doing nothing but preparing their Pressure Tents. Characters of planetary origin must also make Will rolls, but in their case the rolls are to avoid paralysis from surprise. Combat Reflexes will provide a +6 bonus in either case.
Regardless of what the other characters do, the mole will start to remember his purpose. He will go into what looks like a seizure, tearing and ripping at first his bandages, and then at the flesh of his leg beneath them. Characters in nearby cells may make a Hearing Perception roll at -2 to realize that he is saying, "Must get the key! Must get the key!" Though the mole will be driven to tear the skin on his leg, the initial burst of manic energy will only be enough to expose the corner of the master passkey. He will emerge from his mania within a couple of minutes, and will need to make two successful Will rolls to remove the key and the knife. Each attempted roll will inflict one point of damage upon his leg.
The mole will not remember why the key and the knife were implanted into his leg, but will stagger and faint the first time he sees the designated target of the escape attempt.
The characters will quickly be able to determine that the passkey (which is unlabeled) will open every door in the holding area, including the door of the Property Room.
The two guards will not initially be present in the Holding Area, but will appear as soon as cell door start to open.
3d minutes after the initial collision alarms, the entire station will shudder like a wounded animal. All characters who are not braced to resist impact must make a DX-3, Acrobatics or Free Fall roll to avoid landing heavily and suffering 1d-2 damage. It should be obvious to everyone that something has struck the station very hard. Characters who make Free Fall-4 or Area Knowledge (Atlas stations) rolls will be able to determine that the station still seems stable, indicating that the impact was close to the center of rotation. Characters who try to listen for sounds of a blowout and make a Hearing Perception roll at -5 will hear pained screeching sounds coming from somewhere in the station.
Ten seconds after the impact, all the lights in the Holding Area go out, and all but emergency lighting goes out in the Security Station (-8 darkness penalty in the Holding Area; -4 darkness penalty in the Security Station). Locks can still be actuated, but the doors must be moved aside manually. Airlock doors will only open manually.
The mole and anyone who can make an Area Knowledge (Atlas stations) roll will remember that there is probably a Drop Pod Bay somewhere nearby in the ring. The mole will feel driven to head there.
The impact was the probe drogue striking the central axis of the station. The lights went out because the drogue struck a main power distribution station and destroyed it. By this time, all communications between Lyselle Orbital and the rest of the Atlas moon system have been cut off by the 5 km swath of lightsail that is now draping the upper sections of the station.
Most of the guards in the Security Station will have cleared out to evacuate (or to report for Emergency Response duty) by the time the characters arrive. However, there will still be five guards remaining in the Security Station. They will be armed with stunsticks, except for one armed with a needler. Half of them are armored, but all are wearing helmets. They will obviously try to stop the characters, and will have some warning that they are coming (the cameras in the Holding Area did not go out until after the characters escaped their cells).
The mole will be able to guide the characters to an internal pressure lock door in the Security Station infirmary leading to a Drop Pod Bay. However, some distance along the access corridor, the characters will find that the automatic pressure doors have sealed, and that the red lights indicating open vacuum are on. The characters will be able to peer through the viewport in the pressure door to see a 10 cm hole in the outer hull of the station.
There is an external airlock door and a rack holding eight pressure suits with magnetic boots some distance back from the sealed compartment. The characters will be able to use them to travel along the surface of the station to reach an airlock near the Drop Pod Bay. Area Knowledge (Atlas stations) will confirm that such a route exists. The mole will also be able to remember this route by making an IQ roll.
The actual distance from one lock to the next is about 100 meters along the station surface. It will take the characters about two minutes to walk this distance. Unfortunately, the area around Lyselle Orbital is currently rich with debris from the probe drogue impact. Every thirty seconds a character is on the surface of the station, there is a 7- chance that they will be struck by a piece of debris doing 1d damage. There is a 1 in 6 chance that this damage will be cutting damage; otherwise it will be crushing damage. The characters' vacc suits have DR 3, and will be pierced if any damage penetrates the suit. If a character's suit is holed, the character must immediately make a Will roll to avoid Mental Stun. Each vacc suit is equipped with two emergency patch kits, which can be applied in seconds with a successful Vacc Suit/TL8 roll.
If any of the guards from Scene Three are still alive, it would be dramatically appropriate for them to follow the characters out onto the hull.
Once the characters reach the Drop Pod Bay, they will be able to steal a pod if they can overcome the one technician still on duty (use the stats of a security guard, but the technician has IQ 13, Electronics Ops/TL8 (ship systems, communications)-15, and no weapons). The pods are normally intended to free themselves from the station, move to a safe orbit, and broadcast an emergency distress signal. The characters should be able to hijack one and modify it to re-enter Chenoir's thin atmosphere with an Electronics Ops/TL8 (ship systems) roll. Piloting/TL8 (orbital) at -3 can be substituted for Electronics Ops skill.
Actually successfully re-entering can be done either on autopilot or manually. Regardless, re-entry requires three successful Piloting rolls: once to depart the station, once to find a good insertion point, and once to actually land. If the first roll is failed, all remaining rolls are at -2: the pod struck debris leaving Lyselle Orbital, and is not stable. If the second roll is failed, it can be repeated after a one hour delay, but after four hours Chenoir Orbital Security will match courses and attempt to grapple or destroy the pod. If the final roll is failed, the pod is destroyed and the characters are killed. However, the final roll gains a bonus equal to the amount by which the orbital insertion roll was made.
If the characters let the autopilot do the work, it operates with a Piloting skill of 12. If one of the characters pilots manually, they may use their normal Piloting skill with a +1 bonus.
The mole will remember map coordinates for landing.
The characters will be met by the mole's accomplices on the surface of Chenoir. They will have an interface craft ready, and will (with some reluctance) agree to take everyone offworld. Their destination will depend upon who the intended rescue target was (Fennen, other stations in the Atlas moon system, Family outpost in the asteriods, outbound FTL ship, etc.).