**Status.** Proposal for one authored rescue, not an owner-approved global system. The brief requires survivors sent to an authored shipboard colony that provides understanding, upgrades and a reason to care. Rescue logistics, colony management and permanent loss remain undecided. This example uses Dorn and the proposed sealed section without settling station history.
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**Status:** a working proposal after focused review for the Dorn example in [Rescue and Home](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Rescue%20and%20Home). It is not a global rescue, colony-management or survivor-loss system. The physical Sent boundary and local continuation rules below support one authored scene; oxygen quantities and gameplay quality remain unvalidated.
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## The immediate goal and the bounded shelter
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## Goal, air and handover
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The goal is **get Dorn from the sealed refuge through the ship airlock.** Contact through a viewport or local radio establishes that he will leave after a route and breathable transfer are prepared. Consent and readiness are not sending.
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The immediate goal is to get Dorn from his refuge through the ship airlock. Contact through a viewport or radio establishes his willingness to leave after a route and breathable transfer are prepared. Consent and readiness are separate from sending.
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The refuge's finite air sustains Dorn between expeditions without a hidden countdown. It produces no oxygen and cannot refill the astronaut. Its damaged personnel lock vents the room if opened, but a separate pressure-rated sleeve passes one object inward: the astronaut seals in a full canister; Dorn opens the inner hatch, takes it, connects his suit and confirms flow. Only then does the personnel door open. This bounded stable wait is not a general rule that survivors cannot worsen or die.
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The original refuge's finite air supports a stable waiting state between expeditions without a hidden countdown. It produces no oxygen and cannot refill the astronaut. This is an explicit local gameplay convention, not a physical model or a general guarantee that survivors cannot worsen or die.
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## Preparation choices and costs
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Its damaged personnel lock vents the room when opened. A separate pressure-rated equipment sleeve passes a canister inward without cycling that lock: the astronaut closes the outer hatch, Dorn opens the inner hatch, takes the canister, connects his suit and confirms flow. Only then may the personnel door open. The canister leaves the astronaut's carrying capacity when committed inside the sleeve. Neither sleeve nor refuge provides a player refill; Dorn is never an inventory slot.
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The canister occupies shared carrying capacity until the sleeve's outer hatch closes and commits it inside. The sleeve contains no oxygen source and is not a general delivery network. Dorn never occupies an inventory slot.
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## Routes and carrying costs
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The player also visits the path and prepares a fallback vestibule immediately shipward of its exposed junction, sealing a separate reserve canister into its inward cradle. The breadcrumb records traversed passages but certifies neither safety, access nor exact oxygen cost. Two routes are credible:
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The player traverses the proposed route and stocks its designated abort refuge with a separate reserve canister. Breadcrumbs record visited passages, not current safety, continued access or exact oxygen cost.
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- **Short exposed route:** leave a relay-family part in the feed to power the hoist and open the run Dorn sealed. It frees carrying capacity but is unavailable to the rig; the shortcut works only while power and the installed relay remain. As Rescue and Home proposes, the opened section joins that run's ordinary varying population and hazard state, but neither Dorn nor the player knows what was isolated or how severe it is. The choice still concerns his boundary under uncertainty; that category is not a guaranteed compensating punishment.
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- **Long sealed route:** respect his preference and keep the relay. The vacuum route's jammed doors require the suit baseline cutter on visible retaining bolts, then a world-time manual cycle. It adds distance, trips and personal oxygen/canister capacity, but needs no undefined repressurisation tool.
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- **Direct route:** an installed relay-family part powers the hoist while its feed holds. The part frees carried capacity but is unavailable to the rig. Retrieval stops the powered access without reversing every opened-section consequence. The shorter crossing overrides Dorn's wish. The companion article proposes a population/hazard connection with unknown contents and severity; this is not guaranteed punishment or an implied trust deduction.
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- **Long route:** keep the relay and preserve his boundary. The suit's baseline cutter releases visible jammed door bolts; each manual door cycle takes world time. The vacuum route costs distance, oxygen, preparation trips and exposure. No repressurisation capability is assumed.
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## Transfer sequence
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Travel air and staged reserves compete with equipment and salvage while carried. Committed supplies are not simultaneously available in the astronaut's pack. A consumed reserve pays for a waiting state; it is not recoverable player oxygen.
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| State | What establishes it | What each person can do next |
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|---|---|---|
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| **Waiting** | Contact and consent; refuge still sealed | Player postpones, explores or prepares. Dorn remains in the bounded shelter. |
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| **Prepared** | Travel canister passed through the sleeve and connected; route traversed; shipward fallback visited and stocked with its own reserve; route equipment placed or carried | Player requests departure. Dorn confirms suit flow and restates his route preference. |
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| **In transfer** | Dorn accepts; personnel door opens and the first refuge vents | Player leads the exposed segment and holds an ordinary horde. Dorn operates controls, crosses on the player's signal, enters the shipward vestibule and closes its stationward door behind himself. Either can call an abort. |
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| **Fallback** | Transfer is interrupted before the ship | Dorn reaches that vestibule on his travel canister's emergency margin; its staged reserve sustains the bounded stable wait. The next attempt needs new travel air, a rechecked segment and another stocked fallback farther shipward. |
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| **Sent / colony** | Dorn crosses the ship airlock and the lock closes | Dorn's authored interpretation and proposed service of the compressor-fed canister-packing gear become available aboard. Later astronaut death does not remove him. |
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## A finite route with an abort destination
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This example has a finite authored sequence of refuges ending at a vestibule beside the ship airlock. Before any departure, the next segment has an explicit stocked abort destination.
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The short defence uses ordinary hordes. Preparation cannot promise an empty crossing. The astronaut chooses the route, movement signal, diversion and abort; Dorn states his preference, runs the controls and can call retreat when his air or the seal is threatened.
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For an intermediate segment, it is a pressure vestibule immediately shipward of the exposed junction. During an interruption Dorn crosses into it using his travel canister's emergency margin and closes its stationward door from inside. He does not seal it on the wrong side and then need to pass through that seal. Its staged reserve supports the same bounded waiting convention, without a player refill or hidden countdown.
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## Failure and continuation rules
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On the final approach, the last vestibule is the abort destination. Unlike the original damaged room, it can reseal. Interruption returns Dorn there unsent; a new reserve must be staged before each attempt. No refuge beyond the ship or automatic successful delivery is required. This authored abort behaviour is a local rule whose clarity and credibility remain to be tested in a later authorised phase.
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**Sent** means the ship airlock has closed behind Dorn. A request, accepted plan or crossing in progress is not completion.
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## Transfer states
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| Outcome | Persistent local result | Player's next available choice |
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| State | What establishes it | Next action |
|---|---|---|
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| Postpone before departure | Refuge remains sealed; installed infrastructure and any canister not yet passed inward stay where left | Continue another objective, revise the route, or retrieve uncommitted equipment |
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| Abort before refuge opens | Dorn remains waiting; shelter and air are not spent | Change loadout or route and request again |
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| Interrupted after opening | Original pocket is vented; the travel emergency margin and staged fallback reserve are spent; Dorn is inside the shipward vestibule; installations and door changes persist under their own rules | Deliver new travel air, recheck the next segment and stock a new fallback farther shipward; recover a death cache; or defer |
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| Astronaut dies before **Sent** | Carried items form the ordinary death cache. If departure has not begun, Dorn stays in the sealed refuge; during transfer, he reaches the prepared fallback. He is not retroactively aboard. | Choose between rescue, cache recovery and another objective on revival |
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| Astronaut dies after **Sent** | Dorn remains a colony member; ordinary carried gear follows death rules | Re-equip with Dorn still aboard |
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| Waiting | Dorn is in his current supported refuge | Postpone, explore, prepare or revise the route |
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| Prepared | Travel air connected and confirmed; next segment traversed; designated abort refuge stocked; route equipment ready | Request movement; Dorn confirms readiness and his preference |
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| In transfer | Dorn accepts and leaves | Hold the ordinary horde, operate controls, signal movement or call abort; only the original damaged room is permanently lost on opening |
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| At abort refuge | An interrupted transfer reaches its designated destination | Defer under the bounded waiting rule, or bring fresh travel air, recheck the segment and stock the next abort destination |
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| Sent / colony | Dorn is inside the ship and the airlock closes | His authored interpretation and proposed canister-packing contribution become available aboard |
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Local failure is reversible but costs the first shelter and both reserves, may leave a relay installed, and advances only to a prepared refuge. A retry needs another stocked fallback farther shipward. No trust penalty, injury or deterioration is inferred. This authored chain avoids a hidden timer here; it grants no immunity elsewhere and settles no global permanent-loss rule.
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The short defence uses ordinary hordes. Clearing the route first can reduce pressure but does not promise an empty crossing. The astronaut chooses route, timing, diversion and abort; Dorn crosses under his own power, operates controls and can call an abort. Both staged movement and continuous escort require survivor behaviour; neither has been demonstrated here.
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## Credible alternative: full physical escort
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## Failure and continuation
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The strongest alternative has Dorn accompany the astronaut throughout ordinary traversal. It makes protection visible and gives oxygen and hordes a direct human stake. The same canister rules apply without treating him as cargo.
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| Outcome | Persistent result | Player's next choice |
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|---|---|---|
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| Postpone or abort before departure | Dorn stays in the current refuge; its waiting support remains. Uncommitted equipment and installations follow their existing rules | Continue another objective, revise preparation, or retrieve available equipment |
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| Intermediate interruption | Original room remains vented if already opened; Dorn reaches the prepared shipward refuge. Travel emergency margin and its waiting reserve are committed/spent | Prepare the next segment with fresh travel air and its designated reserve; recover equipment; or defer |
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| Final-approach interruption | Dorn returns to the resealable last vestibule, unsent; the staged reserve supports waiting | Restock that same vestibule and supply fresh travel air before retrying the ship approach |
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| Astronaut dies before a departure | Ordinary carried items form a cache. Dorn remains in his current waiting refuge, not necessarily the original room | Rescue, cache recovery or another objective after revival |
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| Astronaut dies during transfer | Ordinary carried items form a cache; Dorn reaches the designated abort refuge and is not retroactively sent | Resume from that refuge with the required supplies and route checks |
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| Astronaut dies after Sent | Dorn remains aboard; astronaut equipment follows ordinary death rules | Re-equip with Dorn still part of the colony |
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Escort can preserve preference and reciprocal action, but pathfinding and repeated protection may still make Dorn feel like an escort object while discovery detours threaten reliability. Staged transfer concentrates cooperation at chosen pressure points. Reopen it if the crossing reads as automatic, Dorn's actions are unclear or the short defence cannot carry the human stake.
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Requests, radio confirmations and a crossing in progress never count as Sent. Failure is locally reversible but has supply and recovery costs. This does not establish trust penalties, injury, permanent deterioration or universal immunity. A different rescue may need a separate explicit outcome and an owner decision about its stakes.
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## Self-check and dependencies
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## Alternative and accepted costs
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The five states are exclusive and give an explicit next action. The sleeve works without venting; the fallback is beyond the crossing, has one-use air and remains reachable after its stationward door closes. Evidence establishes location and air state, not motive or safety. Parts left or handed away are not still carried; breadcrumbs predict no unseen danger. Authored sleeves, fallbacks and survivor behavior add content/state cost. Nothing here establishes fun, emotional impact, balance, oxygen quantities, colony economy, survivor loss or campaign feasibility.
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Continuous physical escort makes sustained protection visible and permits preferences, cooperation and the same canister economy. Its broader traversal and detour reliability are costs; the staged proposal trades those for authored refuges and controlled transitions. Either can feel compelling or tedious. Reopen this local preference if the crossings feel automatic, Dorn's actions are unclear, or the short defence cannot carry the intended human stake. No written comparison proves balance, emotional impact, feasibility or campaign duration.
