2026-09-15 18:23:51
Anonymous:
Clarify forced docking and the persistent shutter latch
hold the flood/first expedition options.md ..
@@ 1,10 1,10 @@
# Hold The Horde — First Expedition Options
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Station current is back-feeding through the dock collar into the astronaut's damaged ship. The astronaut leaves its clean air to retrieve the isolation bridge that can stop the fault, carrying one spare canister and a small rig that shoots automatically but raises its Barrier only when commanded.
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The astronaut has no choice but to dock the damaged ship despite the station's stay-away warning and unanswered hails. Station current back-feeds through its collar. The astronaut leaves clean air to retrieve the isolation bridge that can stop the fault, carrying a spare canister and a rig that shoots automatically but raises Barrier only when commanded.
The owner chose **Option A — One part, two kinds of machine** as the opening direction; Option B remains the alternative.
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## Shared opening contract
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## Why the astronaut leaves
The ship can refill the suit but cannot fly. Its airlock display shows the fault entering the nearest rooms; the suit shows oxygen, condition, shared carrying space and a reverse breadcrumb through passages actually walked.
@@ 30,14 30,14 @@
The board repeats Fork's grammar at room scale. Fixed station power can hold rack and shutter together only while that one Fork is installed; Fork supplies no power. Moving it from rig or cargo costs exposed time and ends the personal branch. The player can remount Manual when able. Suit and board never share the benefit.
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- **Install Fork in the board.** The rack arms stay clear while the shutter is held across the patient-bay lane. The hold suppresses access only while powered. Completing P01's separate manual dog hand-cycle with the shutter across makes the persistent seal; installing Fork alone does not.
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- **Install Fork in the board.** Rack arms and shutter stay held while the board's power continues. The board and floor frame are separate. Beside the frame, reachable before crossing, the [hand-operated shutter latch](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Encounter%20And%20Mechanism%20Placement%20Inventory) can be turned while the shutter is across. Completing its cycle mechanically secures the closure after power is gone. The work takes time while the game runs; interruption loses the current hand-cycle, and installing Fork alone does not secure it.
- **Keep Fork personal or carried.** The selector must hold the rack during removal, so the undogged shutter is not held and its approach stays open. The player keeps the personal branch or manual option and avoids installation/retrieval time, but accepts that lane.
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Without Fork, the selector can hold the shutter between fastener stages. The unpowered rack relocks at the last completed fastener, and work resumes when rack power returns. After bridge removal the rack needs no power. An undogged shutter returns neutral on withdrawal or death; only the dog persists. The airlock route never crosses its lane.
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Without Fork, the player can use the selector to hold the shutter across, complete its latch, then return power to the rack. This costs exposed time. The unpowered rack relocks at the last completed fastener; work resumes when rack power returns. After bridge removal the rack needs no power. An unlatched shutter returns neutral on withdrawal or death; the completed latch persists. The airlock route never crosses the floor frame or shutter lane.
### The noisy hold and the useful return
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The final fastener is visibly noisy. It or the waiting Caller's completed call releases one warned **40–60-body patient-bay stage** through the shutter lane; there is no control-room grille source. Clearing committed arrivals or completing the shutter dog resolves it. A prior dog prevents that release; a held shutter suppresses access only while powered. Bodies already through a late closure remain. Clearing the standing bodies earns current-expedition quiet, and a persistent dog prevents a later patient-bay replacement even when other combat renews. No replacement crest, Tune or major reward is invented to rescue the script.
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The final fastener is visibly noisy. It or the waiting Caller's completed call releases one warned **40–60-body stage** from the patient-bay ward through the shutter lane. Clearing its committed arrivals resolves the stage; completing the latch with the shutter across seals the ward against further arrivals. A latch completed before the noise prevents that release, while a powered hold suppresses it only while current continues. Bodies already through a late closure remain active. Clearing the standing bodies earns current-expedition quiet, and a completed latch keeps the ward closed even if other combat renews.
The player may retreat to refill after any completed fastener. Fork fitting, retrieval and bridge pickup commit separately. At death an installed Fork remains in Cargo Turn; a carried Fork returns once. Cargo Turn and Collar Control remain a compact assembly, so throat, conduit and releases never split.
