Thanks again for the reviews and alerts, guys! Another thing: I know Mercer hasn't been saying too much so far, but when I get to Chapter Two and especially Chapter Five, he'll have a lot more to comment on! ;) And for anyone who was wondering if I was going to let Isaac get himself killed in the game, the answer is yes. I'm going to have him die some of the more famous Dead Space deaths to see how he would react to them! With that in mind, enjoy this next chapter! :)

DISCLAIMER: Everyone belongs to Visceral Games and EA.


"I guess it's time for me to fix the tram," Isaac announced out loud to the others after he learned how to use the Map. He quickly checked Bread Crumbs to make sure he knew where he was going before he guided himself through the next few hallways.

"That's right!" Kendra chirped cheerfully. Nicole glanced at her, rolled her eyes, and chuckled.

"And what do you do all day?" she asked, "Sit in front of a computer?"

"At least I don't have to get up from my seat all day," Kendra replied.

"You should come to the gym with me," Nicole suggested, "It'd be nice to go with someone else once in a while."

"And it'd get your lazy ass out of the office for a while," Hammond added.

Nicole grinned at him. "Right you are, Hammond," she said.

Kendra whirled around and pointed at him. "Hey!" she began, "I do not have a lazy ass! It happens to be a nice ass, for your information! Just the other day, one of the engineers made a pass at me in the cafeteria. And before you ask, Nicole, no, it wasn't Isaac." Mercer and Kyne just rolled their eyes in the back.

"Ahh, Miss Daniels," Kyne sighed, "You're very full of yourself."

"Am not," Kendra singsonged.

"Are too. Amelia's very humble about that kind of stuff."

"How is Amelia?" Nicole asked, but before Kyne could reply, Isaac suddenly gasped and swore.

"Ahh, shit!" he cursed, and everyone faced the screen again as a Necromorph that had been playing dead suddenly leaped up from the ground and grabbed game-Isaac.

"Press the damn A button!" Kendra shouted, "Quickly!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Isaac replied as his game counterpart managed to fight off the Slasher, "Hell, I thought that thing was dead!"

"Rule number one," Kyne began, holding up an index finger wisely, "Always shoot something that appears to be dead."

"Thanks, Doctor Kyne," Isaac thanked him, "I'll keep that in mind." Turning to his left, he continued onward until he found something on the floor.

"An Audio Log," he whispered to himself, "Let's see what this says." After picking it up, everyone listened to the transmission.

"This is Benson, tram engineering. We think we've figured it out! Smith killed one of them! Listen, forget about shooting them in the body! You've gotta cut off the limbs! Grab a cutter, anything like that! Cut them apart!"

"Now we know who to go to if this happens," Mercer commented.

Isaac continued to move himself through the dark hallways as a voice began to speak to him.

"Isaac, be careful," game-Hammond warned, "Shooting them in the body didn't seem to work. Go for the limbs. Dismember them. That should do the trick."

"Conserve ammo by dismembering enemy limbs and doing extra damage," the tutorial explained a few seconds later.

"Thanks for the advice, Hammond," Isaac said, turning to Hammond, "Even though I've figured it out by now."

Hammond smirked. "That's what I'm here for," he replied.

"He just wants to make sure you don't die before you can do your job," Kendra teased.

"I'm aware," Isaac muttered, and Nicole patted his shoulder affectionately.

They all directed their attention back to the game as they heard an unfamiliar roar. "What was that?" Nicole whispered, clutching her boyfriend's arm and cuddling closer to him.

"I don't even want to know," the engineer answered.

"It sounded big," Kyne also whispered.

As game-Isaac continued onwards, he suddenly found himself standing in front of a door that was opening and shutting rapidly. "Looks like we hit a dead end," Mercer said, "Game over."

"Not necessarily," Isaac replied, "That looks like a Stasis Module on the floor." He moved himself forward to pick it up.

"Good call, Isaac!" Nicole complimented as game-Isaac equipped himself with the Stasis Module.

"Stasis will slow down fast enemies and objects."

"We know," Kendra mused as game-Kendra contacted game-Isaac.

"Looks like that door is malfunctioning, Isaac. Try using that Stasis Module you just picked up."

"All right, I know!" Isaac snapped, "Sheesh."

"Sorry, Isaac," Kendra apologized, "We can't help it if we have to constantly remind you of things." Isaac just ignored her and he made himself use Stasis on the malfunctioning door up ahead. Once the familiar flash of blue light appeared and the door slowed down, he made his way through there and continued to the next area.

Suddenly, in a flash, the lights flickered and shut off, leaving game-Isaac in the dark. "What the hell?" Isaac muttered to himself.

"Oh, God, why do the lights have to go off now?" Nicole whispered, shaking a little bit.

"Shh," Kendra hissed, "Do you hear that?"

Everyone stopped talking as he or she listened to the faint voices that were whispering scientific words and phrases that made no sense. "That is fucking creepy," Hammond mused.

"All I hear is 'search and rescue'," Kyne added, "Look, the lights are turning back on!" Sure enough, the lights returned, and Isaac proceeded to collect some items before moving on. When he arrived in the next room, he saw an arm mechanism in front of him just as game-Kendra announced that his new Stasis Module would help him.

Isaac proceeded to make himself activate the first arm before running around to the other side, where a few Necromorphs tried to hinder his progress. He swiftly took them out before continuing onward.

"So I guess I'm going to have to use Stasis on this," Isaac decided, activating the other arm and then using Stasis to slow it down while he made himself run back up to the main control panel to activate the whole thing.

"Hooray!" Nicole cheered as Isaac set the controller down for a minute and wiped his forehead.

"That was child's play," he replied, "That's what I do at work every day. And it's always you two who are ordering me around." He pointed at Kendra and Hammond.

"Who, us?" Hammond asked innocently, "Never."

"Isaac, you did it!" game-Kendra complimented game-Isaac, "That tram was blocking the whole system. When you get the computer online, you'll be able to call the tram from the control room. The faster the better…I can hear something crawling around out there."

"This is where we're going to die," Kendra mused, "I can feel it."

"I don't think so," Kyne disagreed as Isaac moved himself back the way he came, saving along the way and passing through the malfunctioning door again.

The group watched as all of a sudden, a few Necromorphs popped out of a vent in the ground, one of them being a Slasher and the other being a new Necromorph that they had never seen before: one that made giant leaps towards game-Isaac. "Shit!" Isaac cursed as the Slasher grabbed him, therefore initiating a quick time event. Once he was finished fighting that one off, he managed to get himself to dismember it before moving on to the Leaper.

"This one's going to be a pain in the ass," Isaac whispered, "I can tell."

"Don't sweat it, Isaac," Hammond replied casually, "You can do it."

"Do any of you want to play for a while?" the engineer offered, "I'm getting a little tired."

"No way," Kendra declined, "It's much more fun watching you play and do all the work."

"Yeah, I bet," Isaac mumbled as he managed to kill the Leaper in front of him.

"I wonder what other tools will appear in the game," Nicole wondered as game-Isaac now made his way to the Maintenance Bay, where the previously locked elevator was now open.

"Only time will tell," Isaac said to her as he made his way down into the Maintenance Bay. For the next couple of minutes, none of them could find anything to comment on as Isaac controlled himself, slaughtering all the Necromorphs in the room and finding various keys in order to obtain the spare Data Board for the computer.

"For all this trouble I'm going through," Isaac said to the others, "I hope this benefits us in the end."

Suddenly, Hammond's mouth dropped open. "No!" he gasped, "It can't be! Is that a Bench in that room up ahead?" He pointed, and soon, everyone was looking to where he was pointing.

"Looks like it," Nicole responded, "I saw you pick up some Power Nodes before, Isaac. I guess you can use them here."

After using the key to get into the room, game-Isaac sprinted over to the Bench, and soon, a screen flashed up in front of him, and Isaac paused for a minute.

"So, what should I upgrade?" he asked the others, and he regretted it a few seconds later.

"Plasma Cutter!" Hammond shouted, raising his hand.

"Your RIG," Nicole piped up in a quieter voice.

"Stasis Module!" Kendra also cried.

"His health is the most important thing right now," Nicole said to the others, "The weapons can wait."

"But he'll need a more powerful Plasma Cutter to kill those monsters," Hammond argued.

"And he'll want a longer time to slow things down," Kendra also said, "I vote for the Stasis Module."

"Miss Daniels, I don't want to fight with you," Hammond began, "But I think you're sorely misguided."

"How would you know? You've never played this game either!"

"And you've never been in any sort of combat before!"

"Stasis Module!"

"Plasma Cutter!"

"Stasis Module!"

"Plasma Cutter!"

"Done!" Isaac interrupted, making himself step away from the Bench as he picked up the Data Board and collected the other useful items in the room.

"While you all were arguing," Isaac began, "I went with the RIG." He smiled warmly at Nicole.

Upon noticing Kendra and Hammond's disappointed expressions, the engineer added, "Hey, she was the only one not making a fuss about it."

"You should start listening to us more," Hammond suggested, "Like in the game."

"I'd be like a dog if I did that," the engineer retorted, and Kendra pouted as game-Isaac retraced his footsteps yet again.


A little while later…

"You've got to be shitting me," Isaac whispered as he finished saving, "I've got to go back to the Kellion now? Back the way I came?"

"Sounds like it," Kyne answered, "Do you suppose those monsters are still there?"

"I hope not."

"Don't jinx anything, Kyne," Kendra warned, pointing a finger at him, and the research scientist took another sip of his beer as he shrugged. He and Mercer didn't have much to say at this point, so they instead just watched as Isaac controlled himself and returned to the Kellion.

"Isaac," game-Hammond announced through the Audio RIG, "We made it to the Bridge! It's a nightmare up here! No survivors. We're going to try and get to the Command computer. Wish us luck."

"I should just make myself take the shuttle and leave," Isaac mused.

"Isaac!" Kendra gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"I've been doing all the work," Isaac pointed out, "It should be my choice."

"Just get back to the Kellion like we told you." Isaac smirked as he directed himself back to the Kellion, where he climbed inside and tried to pull up a damage report.

Suddenly, in the corner of the screen, they noticed something crawling just as the engine on the Kellion exploded.

"Hostile life form detected," a voice announced, "Hull damage critical. Evacuate immediately."

"Oh, hell no!" Isaac said as he tried to guide himself through the flames…and hurt himself in the process. He watched as game-Isaac screamed and shook off the flames rapidly.

"Isaac, get out of there!" Kendra shrieked.

"I'm trying, but my game self isn't cooperating. He must've forgotten where the exit was." After taking more damage, he finally managed to get himself out as the Kellion exploded behind him, rendering the ship useless.

"Well, there goes our chance of escape," Hammond grumbled as he watched the engineer take out the Necromorphs in the area.

"What the hell is happening down there?" game-Hammond demanded, "What happened to the shuttle?"

"That was our ride home," game-Kendra responded, "It's the only way off this ship."

"Kendra-"

"NO, Hammond! This…changes everything!"

"Damn," Hammond whispered, "No need to get so hostile."

"Sorry," Kendra apologized, shrugging, "I can't help it if I'm stressed out."

"Just let me think! Can you access the Command Computer?"

"It's no good. There's an executive lockdown of all primary systems. Without the Captain's authorization, I can't access them."

"Well? Where's the Captain?"

"Here he is. Captain Benjamin Matthius. Location: Med lab. Status: Deceased."

"What? How?"

"Oh, shit!" Kyne gasped, "Ben's dead in this game? How? Why?"

"How many more of us are dead or going to die?" Mercer wondered as well, "I don't know if I want to keep playing."

"We have to now," Nicole said, "Or else we'll never know."

"I can't access that information," game-Kendra replied, "Find the Captain and you'll find his RIG. With his authorization codes, I can crack this computer wide open."

"Damn it! Isaac, I'm sending the tram back to your location. Get to the Medical Deck and find that RIG as fast as you can."

"Still ordering me around, I see?" Isaac asked, and Kendra rolled her eyes as she watched her game counterpart look around in fear.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Holy shit!" game-Hammond cursed, "Come on, get out of here!" And pretty soon, they disappeared as a Necromorph appeared on the screen before it shut off for good.

"If we die before this game really begins, I think I'll leave," Hammond commented as Isaac controlled himself to go to the tram station. After a few minutes of wandering through silent hallways, a bright, colorful Store suddenly appeared in front of game-Isaac.

"Buy new weapons and items at the Store, and place extra items in the Safe," the tutorial explained as Isaac opened the Store.

"I can tell I'm going to like these already," Isaac commented as he flipped through the different items.

"I think I'll buy some more Plasma Energy and Med Packs," he decided.

"Can you pick some up for us, too, while you're at it?" Kendra asked, smiling.

"I wouldn't be able to give them to you, though."

"Fine," Kendra replied as Isaac finished up at the Store and moved on to the tram. As he clicked another button and completed the chapter, he grinned and faced the others.

"One down!" he announced.

"I wonder how many there are," Kyne piped up.

"I guess we'll find out," Isaac said as he saved his progress.