Episode 9 opens on the freeplay factory where Episode 8 stopped, with Engine still in the research box. An edited-in card reads "Episode 9" and "World 1: We've Got Company." The first half goes to power and jams. Then the factory's pollution brings the first alien attack, and it kills Basket. After a reload, research turns to Military, armor and turrets, and the episode ends with two gun turrets by the rebuilt drills and the furnace belts jammed with coal.
Not enough power
The episode starts with congestion and power that keeps dropping out. "I'm missing something, I don't know what's causing the power to go out all of a sudden." Coal is not reaching some of the boilers, so another inserter goes in, and more steam engines are crafted. The Electric network info screen shows where the power goes: "the miners take quite a lot."
So a second line of boilers and steam engines goes up beside the lake on its own pipe, with a burner inserter and a belt loop to bring them coal. "So satisfaction is full, awesome." With enough power, "everything should be pretty much more productive."
Small jams
Next come the small fixes. Stray stone has got into a section that is meant to have none. "Sometimes they end up getting one stone and they need two to really do anything." The stone comes out, and iron chests take over from wooden ones so the buffers hold more. One Assembling machine 2 sits idle, waiting on circuits, until Basket rotates its inserter. "Oh, that works. Weird." Stone on the coal belt gets moved off. Engine, meanwhile, is "taking its sweet time."
We've got company
Then: "Oh, I apparently triggered another attack." An achievement box pops up: "It stinks and they dont like it. Trigger an alien attack by pollution." Moments later a Game finished window reads "You have been defeated..." over the line "was killed by Small biter."
"Interesting, you can load game from an autosave." The Load game list shows an autosave at 2:40:00 play time against 2:43:56 on the defeat screen, so not much is lost. "It might happen again shortly anyway. So we gotta act quick."
Arming up
The first batch of "turrets" turns out to be something else: "These are radars, these aren't even turrets." A game message reads "changed research from Engine to Military," and Military finishes quickly, followed by Armor crafting. Armor and a submachine gun are crafted, with ammo, while biters wreck the drills to the north. "Oh man, wow, you really made a number on my stuff."
Turrets is researched next, then Armor crafting 2. The drills the commentary calls "our copper stuff" go back down inside a belt loop, power is run out to them, and gun turrets are placed on the side the attack came from. "I don't know if these things turn or not. I guess I'll find out." One assembler is switched to ammunition "just to be on the safe side."
Where it ends
Back at the base, a long handed inserter moves items over one belt to another, toward a chest meant for green science. Then the coal problem returns at the furnaces: "Wow, what a bottleneck." Basket clears coal off the belts by hand and drops a stack into each furnace. "I'll have to redesign all this sometime." The commentary ends the episode with the jam slowly clearing and the research box reading "Press T to start a new research."