hard-science survival sci-fi · Difficulty 2/5
Salvage Rights
“Nine years dead, still knocking — and the airlock keeps answering.”
You are an independent salvager whose tug answers a distress ping from the Erebus, a research vessel declared lost nine years ago. The ship is still powered, its manifest shows life signs, and something on the far side of a sealed airlock keeps knocking. Oxygen, power, and time are real budgets — and your debt-holder on the radio wants you to strip the hull and leave the ghosts behind.