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constant-mason24 · 12 days

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The Android Sent By EarthGov - Chapter 2 - Among the Flesh

Connor enters the Ishimura and discovers the horrors awaiting him.

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Systems rebooting…

Model RK800

#313 248 317 activating…

Systems online…

Connection failed, please see technician…

Welcome, CONNOR

Reawakening to a smoldering wreck of a ship was not on Connor’s list of expectations for the day, but considering what he had witnessed of their landing before his shutdown, it wasn’t a complete surprise. What had even caused those errors to appear? Troubleshooting his own systems brought him no answers; whatever problems he had were gone now. That was one piece of good news.

He sat up, glancing at the mess before him as movement caught his eye. Johnston had stayed behind.

“Where is everyone?” he asked, standing to approach the woman, who visibly jumped.

“Jesus, Connor, you scared me.” She sat up straight from where she had been leaning over, rubbing a hand across her chest as she glanced back at him. “They went to go speak to the Captain of the Ishimura. You should probably catch up.”

“You’re hurt.” It was more of an observation han a question. He tilted his head as he glanced down at Johnston’s leg, looking like a curious puppy. “Did something happen?”

“Banged it up in the crash. Probably just a sprain or something.” She shook her head, leaning back over to tenderly rub at her ankle. “I’m just gonna wait here til the others can assess the situation.”

“Well then,” the android turned his body to face more towards the door. “I better join them. Unless you need some kind of assistance?”

“I’m good, Con. You go on.” She waved her hand and he nodded, taking leave as he walked down the ramp of the Kellion and onto the Ishimura properly. Nothing looked to be too badly out of place, save for the nasty destruction their rough landing had caused. Glancing back at the mess, Connor calculated some very high costs of repair, planning on discussing this with the crew once he had found them. Whoever was running the check-ins aboard the ship would likely know where they had run off to. Once Hammond, and Likely Clarke as well, were informed, Connor would assist them with the repairs needed on both the Ishimura and the Kellion.

‘Shame,’ he thought to himself. ‘We’ve created extra work for ourselves.’

As Connor approached the doors to the rest of the ship, he scanned once more for any life forms or digital presences, coming up with nothing yet again. Straightening his tie with a look of confusion, he wondered if this was because of some error in his own software. Perhaps he had taken a beating in the landing. There was something very odd scratching at the back of his mind. He tried to look into it, but it felt as though it were blocked off… strange.

Opening the doors to the security check-in, Connor scanned in to see his crewmates had indeed already passed through. There weren’t any employees around, human or android, but he figured they must have been busy elsewhere. Seeing the door to the flight lounge unlocked, he stepped forward to follow them into the ship, hoping they weren’t too far ahead. What he saw beyond the doors nearly caused him to trip.

Blood. Quite a bit of it splattered on a window, bullet holes wedged into the glass and the surrounding furniture. There had been conflict here? Had his team survived? He slowly padded up to the glass window, reaching out and swiping two fingers through the splotch of blood. He brought it to his mouth, darting his tongue out to analyze the scarlet liquid. Seeing the results, he looked at the blood on his hands and ignored the strange sensation coming from somewhere in his midsection. This was Chen’s blood. Was he dead?

Software Instability.

Wiping the blood onto his pants, too concerned with the current situation to care, Connor scanned the surrounding room to try and decipher where his team had gone. There were no bodies in the room, meaning they had to have gotten out alive, right?

His mind moved to Johnston, still waiting on the ship. He figured he should send a message to the Kellion and let her know what he’d discovered, but his attempts were fruitless. As frustrating as it was, it wasn’t surprising. Nothing seemed to be functioning properly once they crossed paths with this ship.

Clearing the thoughts from his head, he glanced at the destruction of the room, deducing what had happened and reconstructing the scene in his mind. He glanced up at a vent just above the blood stains. Someone had come down through the vents and attacked Chen. Clarke was just on the other side of the glass. He ran down the hallway, unable to exit through the door he had come in through. After Hammond and Daniels fired on Chen’s attacker, they too ran, though in the opposite direction. Checking the door Clarke had used, he found it unable to open still, so he turned and headed the only direction he could, hopefully towards Hammond.

The hallways were dark, and what few lights were working were flickering and fading. Pieces of the walls were torn down, littering the floor. Scrapes and scratches were covering every surface of the hall, and splatters of what seemed to be more blood flecked in patches along the wall. More bullet holes lined the metal around him, and Connor felt that odd sensation continue to stir within him. If his comms were functioning properly, he’d send out an immediate SOS. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an available option at this moment.

Reaching a door at the end of the hallway, He enters a room with a few long, thin tables stretching down the center. He stepped further in, letting the door shut behind him as he examined the area. There was someone slumped over in the corner, and it didn't take a proper scan to see that this person was dead. Connor was relieved to know it wasn’t one of his crew members.

Moving through the room, Connor pauses as a soft, strange scuttling sound echoes through the wall. He glances to his right, noting a ventilation shaft that has been torn open. The noises are emanating from the shaft, getting louder as whatever is coming gets closer. Not wanting to take any chances, Connor throws himself over the table as gently as he can, taking cover on the opposite side of it. As he ducks down and listens intently, he hears the sound moving closer.

Whoever is making that noise is now inside the room. He can tell by the footsteps moving on the other side of the table. He lifts himself up a bit, peering over the top of the surface just enough to see who was there. The problem is, it wasn’t a who.

Connor wasn’t sure what the hell he was looking at.

It used to be human. The bodily composition is nearly the same. But it wasn’t anymore, that’s for damn sure. The body was warped and twisted beyond all recognition. Fleshy limbs as sharp as blades protruded from the creature's shoulders, soaked and dripping in blood. They were far too long to be the body’s arms, especially considering the second pair of limbs hanging loosely beneath the blades. The hands were nearly bare of flesh, bones and blood crossed along the sunken and gaunt stomach of the thing. It looked as if it were hugging itself in horror, a lame attempt at comforting itself as the flesh melted from its being. It has the face of a man Connor does not recognize, though he knows it was human all the same. The skin of the creature was both overgrown and stretched too thin, looking as though it wasn't meant to fit the monster.. It’s legs were unstable, stumbling weakly as it depended far too much on the sharp overgrown weapons hanging off of it. It was grotesque.

Before Connor could properly react, the door on the other end of the room flew open, and a woman ran in. She gasped as the creature took notice of her. It ran, far too quickly for a creature as shambling as it was, and pounced on the woman. Her screams filled the room, begging to be saved as the blades of the beast ripped and tore through her own flesh. The squelching noise of her body being shredded in real time was haunting. The sight of her blood spilling, splashing onto the walls as she wailed and cried. The air gained a notably metallic quality to it. The woman's screams grew louder, more desperate, for only a moment before they went silent. Connor stumbled backwards, and the thing stood to full height, whipping around at the sound of movement behind it.

Connor was frozen. The only movement on his body was the feverish cycling on the led on his temple, a vibrant red that rivaled the blood spilled before his eyes. He watched as the creature stepped closer, scanning over the room. Could it not see him? He was right in front of it. It just tore that woman to shreds on sight.

Sure enough, it moved closer, coming to a stop right in front of him. Connor was certain his thirium pump was going to falter from the way it pounded away, working overtime within his chest. The beast stopped right in his face, sweeping its elongated head from one side of the room to the other in it’s own horrific area scan. It paused for just a moment, eye to eye with the android as the air pumps within him halted. The creature let out a horrific noise, a mix of drowning and strangulation inside its throat, and moved to pass behind him. Connor’s thirium pump felt fatal as he allowed himself to blink and think once more. He listened as the beast made a jump, skittering away in the ventilation shaft above him.

As soon as he felt confident the coast was clear, he threw himself back onto his feet and hurried to the door ahead, stepping over the scattered mess of the woman he had just watched die. He let the door shut behind him, trying to ignore the sound of her flayed muscle mass getting caught in the tracks of the door. Before him was a computer system, and shaking off whatever Software Instability he felt rising within him, he let the false skin over the plastic of his hand retreat, placing it over the console as he attempted to log in. He needed to contact his crew and figure out how to leave. Immediately.

As soon as he’s logged into the computer system, his comms begin to flicker on.

“Connor? Are you there?”

“Daniels. Yes, I’m here.” The android tries to smother the quivering shake in his voice. “Something’s gone wrong aboard this ship. We need to evacuate immediately.”

“No!” Kendra Daniels almost yells. “We aren’t done here yet. Don’t forget we have a job to do.”

“I feel the state of affairs here leaves us with no choice but to leave, Daniels. We aren’t equipped to deal with whatever the hell is killing the crew here.”

“Stupid machine.” She grumbles under her breath. “Look, are you the one logged into the ships mechanics system?”

“Yes, I’ve just found the console for-”

“Good. We need to get the cargo bay up and running. There are a lot of locked doors between us and the hold. You should be able to open them from there.”

“I would be able to, yes.” The android sighed. “If I had the required codes to access the controls.”

Daniels groans, “Well then, you need to get the access codes. They had to have been kept somewhere.”

“It would seem the captain’s personal android had the codes. If I tracked down the android, I should be able to copy them from it, even if the android itself is damaged.”

“Do that then. Daniels out.” The woman hung up before Connor could get another word in. Alright then. He turned away from the console, looking at a door to his left. He had his orders.

It was time to track down this ‘Markus.’

#detroit become human #connor rk800 #connor is aboard the ishimura #dead space #usg ishimura #crossover au #isaac clarke #kendra daniels #necromorph #horror fic #connor anderson

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videogamesincolor · 2 months

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"You're crazy, Hammond. You're gonna get us all killed!"

I was watching TheRadBrad's playthrough of the Dead Space cashgrab Remake, and as it approached the end, I think the biggest problem I had with it by far was how they handled Zach Hammond.

The big draw of the game is the fact that Isaac has a voice in the remake. Gunner Wright does an okay job. It's pretty much on par with his other two performances in DS2 and DS3. I'm so accustomed to Silent Isaac, though, that a lot of the dialog for him (in the beginning) feels like "self-insert" dialog. It gets better towards the end (like there's a genuine sense that they were finding Isaac's voice as they figured out how to make him a proactive character).

But, regarding Hammond: I don't quite know how to put it into words, but Remake Hammond's characterization lacks any charisma. He's bland as hell. Anthony Alabi's performance isn't bad, but the direction and writing doesn't hide his 'okay-ness' as an actor. The story really makes Remake Hammond feel like an inexperienced commanding officer. There's no sense of wisdom or situational control.

The caustic the dynamic between him and Kendra Daniels is erased entirely, and I hate that. It played a big part in how Hammond and Kendra were characterized.

In the absence of it, it makes Kendra cop-jacketing Hammond more suspicious than in the original, because it's lacking that conflict (and the implication that these two people don't like each other before being stuck on a ship full of undead monsters).

Even with as little you got to see him in the 2008 original outside of transmission cinematics, it was how Peter Mensah characterized him that seemed to make him extremely present in the story. How he talks about helping Isaac find Nicole, how he tries to keep his cool when dealing with Kendra and the Necromorphs. There's also that sense of arrogance that comes with a position like his, that you see in his clash with Kendra (who also has an arrogance about her).

You don't really get that dynamic with either Kendra or Isaac in the remake. DSR minimizes Hammond's role in the game, by, I guess 'mid-point', when Isaac has to deal with hydroponics and the USM Valor. This appears largely in favor of the Elizabeth Cross and Jacob Temple subplot, and more back-and-forth dialog between Isaac and Kendra.

One thing I actually liked about OG Hammond was how little the Marker appeared to influence him. If anything poised a risk to Hammond's life, it was the deadly environment of the ship and the Necromorphs. The latter literally rips him apart, but he's of sound mind when it's happening. It hurts to watch him die so violently, even with Silent Isaac's exaggerated grief (or non-reaction IIRC).

The remake tries to insert this relationship with red shirts named Chen and Johnston to flesh Hammond out as a character. This is a change I would've appreciated if Chen and Johnston survived beyond the opening gambit to actually earn the ending they give Hammond. But they don't.

Hammond basically speed runs Marker Madness toward the end of the game, and gets a silly sacrificial death scene that leans hard on a relationship type that was better established in Dead Space: Extraction with Nathan McNeil and Gabe Weller.

I think Peter Mensah did a lot with the little he was afforded. As one of the two primary speakers in the game outside of Tonantzin Carmelo (OG Kendra's actor), he communicated the tension created by the no-win scenario that was the USG Ishimura outbreak.

And about Kendra Daniels, I personally loved how abrasive she was in the original, but this iteration of Kendra isn't bad (Brigitte Kali Canales is definitely the strongest performer in the game). I actually enjoyed the dimensionality they gave her (particularly in her dynamic with Isaac), even if they made her the "Evil Lesbian". I just wish they hadn't removed the beef between herself and Hammond.

(As far as remakes go, DSR isn't bad. It's a different take on the Visceral Games franchise. Some of its ideas land better than others. It just has the shitty luck of being a EA property still.)

#videogamesincolor #dead space #kendra daniels #dead space remake #zach hammond #I?o8peter mensah #athonthy alabi #dead space series #dead space 2023 #dead space 2008

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