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The Creed: We live on the brown. We fly the blue. We travel the black. We are coming back. Spoken before every mission by the pilots and many of the crew. It is a reminder of who they are, where there are going, and where they will be at the end. The Crest: Worn by those who have flown into space and return. Awarded in gold, and hung in The Hall, to those that didn't.

What if the "Tales of the Groundbound" was a TV series? What would the soundtrack consist of? Alas, I am no where near creative or skilled enough to compose and conduct enough music for the task. Fortunately, there are those who have made some. Volume 1 1. Opening Theme (Dauntless by Audiomachine) 2. Ending Theme (Men of Honour by Two Steps From Hell) 3. KSC Theme (Big Country by Audiomachine) 4. Halls of Research (Proud Heritage by Epic Score) 5. To the Launchpad (War is Coming By Epic Score) 6. Return to Kerbin (Prevail by Audiomachine) 7. Signal Lost (Black Sunrise by Audiomachine) 8. The Reels (Run from Brain Powerd OST) 9. Acrobatics (Winterspell by Two Steps From Hell) 10. Countdown and Launch (A Bit(e) of Hope from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) 11. Building the Birds (Throw off the Bowlines by James Paget) 12. Flight In, RTB (This Is Our Land by Epic Score) 13. SaR Flight (From Beneath the Rubble by Audiomachine) 14. Riding a Dragon Down (Ocean Princess by Thomas Bergersen) 15. Press Presentation (Never Give Up On Your Dream by Two Steps From Hell) 16. Casey, We Have A Problem (Durant is Dead from The Black Hole) Distributed by K-Tel Records, available at all major retailers.

Chapter 26 Linus sat behind the panel table at another proposal meeting. “This is something Wernher should be at,” he thought. This was the fifth proposal of the afternoon, and the third orbital telescope. He looked at the notes from the previous two. This one overlapped their missions. But not enough to easily blend them together into one mission. “Thank-you, Thompley,” Elitte, the head of the panel, said. “Are there any questions from the panel?” Linus half listened to the questions and answers as he looked at the three proposals. The overlap between them was probably one project team pitching their work in different ways. Some of the mission parameters seemed to be mutually exclusive, so they probably could not be lumped together. The design group would be able to confirm. Linus refocus towards the presenter as he said. “Thank-you, for your time.” He heard Gus blow out a long slow breath after the door closed. “We get a couple of pics taken through an el-cheapo 6cm on cheap film that somebody smuggled up to a KOL,” Khenry said, “Suddenly big orbital telescopes are all the rage.” “Easy for you to say,” Gus said. “It’ll mean more birds in flight.” “Like I don’t have enough already. The KOLs have already been split off.” “We might be able blend to the three together,” Linus said. “Given a pretty rough estimate on the size it could be placed in the KOL group. But design would be better able to figure out if they can on the same platform. Most likely two out of the three can.” “Okay,” said Elitte. “Last one.” She gestured to the door. It opened. In walked a kebalina barely holding a flipchart. She got it setup on the stand after nearly knocking it over. She looked at the panel like a deer in the headlights. “Go ahead,” Elitte looked at a sheet of paper. “Kalerie.” “Thank-you,” her voice cracked. “As you know the isp of an engine is related to the square root of the temperature of the exhaust. The operating temperatures of the current designs represent nearly the peak of what can be achieved chemically without using hazardous fuels and/or oxidisers, or generating hazardous exhaust products.” She glanced at the clock on the wall and looked back at the panel. She flipped the first page on the chart. She cleared her throat. “While gains with nozzle designs and such can incrementally improve isp and thrust. Little short of radical new chemistry and metallurgy will allow for great leaps.” She flipped the paper on the chart. “My proposal is use a fission reactor to heat reaction mass directly instead of using a chemical reaction.” She points to a set of figures on one side. “With the an exhaust temperature around current engines there is a two-fold increase in delta-v using the same mass of fuel, as L-Ox engine at the same thrust.” She flipped the chart again. “Using temperatures attainable with conventional fission piles, this can be doubled again.” She flipped the chart again. “The proposal has two phases. The first is a design and feasibility study. This phase will determine design and material parameters. The second assuming no contra-indications, would the progression to the construction and design of a prototype series of the engine. “Are there any questions?” “Kalerie,” Elitte said. “Are you familiar with the Orkus Project?” “Yes.” Nervousness crept into Kalerie’s hands. ”It was a design concept to use nuclear… explosives to lift very large masses into orbit and beyond. It proceeded to concept testing. But, it was canceled before testing with nuclear explosives.” “Yes. How does this differ from Orkus?” “Orkus used the impulse of the nuclear explosion itself. Either the atmospheric shock wave of the blast, or the high energy photons generated by the reaction in vacuum. The N.E.R.V. engine design uses the heat from a nuclear reactor in a similar fashion to how a chemical engine uses a chemical reaction to heat reaction mass to generate thrust. The reactor remains with the engine for continuous use, rather than being dropped off the back and used once.” Linus reviewed the project dossier with half his attention. It had an elegance to it, unlike the mad simplicity of Orkus. Most of his attention was focused on the presenter. He wasn’t sure if it was the concept or the presenting kerbalina that drew it.

Chapter 5 Gus leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling of Direc’s office. He blew out a long slow breath, and ran his hands through his hair. He sat back up right. “Most of these,” he gestured to one of the two stacks of paper on Direc’s desk. “We can do on a common rocket frame. The high speed and high angel ones will probably have to be custom built.” He gestured to the other stack of paper on the desk. “With the double sierra out until we know what happened; I’m looking at burning up three maybe four Hopper airframes. And that’s just with these; we’re probably going to get more as well.” “I’ll order the science flights to try and maximize the number of waypoints per flight,” Linus said. He felt out of his depth. Wernher had sent him to this meeting, instead of attending himself. Wernher said his research was more important than dealing with the mundane bureaucracy. “That should help reduce the wear on the airframes.” Gus shook his head. “It’s the number of running hours rather than number of flights. But, it will keep from wearing out the pilots the same way.” “The airframes aren’t a problem,” Direc said. “If we use them up, so be it. Using up the pilots will be more problematic. I’ve started the process to replace Encal, and given the number of requests we will need a couple more.” He reached down and pulled a file out of his desk. ”This is another project that we may be taking on.” He placed it on the desk. ”Passengers. I’ve had interest from a few kerbals in going up.” “Up? Up where?” Linus said. “We haven’t even made it past 19 kilometres. There are planes that go higher than that.” “In what?” Gus said. “Nothing we have is passenger rated.” “These,” Direc gestured at the stacks of papers, “will keep the lights on and the parts coming in. But, that’s just about all they’ll do. We’re going to need more than that to keep researching the goo. I haven’t decided yet, but Mortimer’s analysis looks good.” He leaned forward. “Besides, altitude and safety rating are just engineering problems.” He grinned and chuckled; being just engineering problems did not make them simple. “Certainly they will be easier than the ones I have to try to solve.” Gus leaned back in his chair again. He blew out a long slow breath, and ran his hands through his hair. “Okay... I can get something sketched for the computers.” Linus shuddered at the mention of the computers. “Good,” Direc said. “This isn’t a high priority task. But if we go ahead, I don’t want to have to start from zero.”

Chapter 11 Direc walked into one of the design offices. The Münlight turned the grasses and shrubs visible on Direc’s Prairie silver and grey. The desk on one side of the room was covered in roughly a half dozen different paper models of lander designs. Under the models were dozens of designs and sketches. He walked around the drafting desk on the other side of the room. Aldald was focused on the sheet of paper secured to it. The drafting machine slid swiftly over the paper. The parts already drawn didn’t match any of the models on the desk. The drafting machine knocked a set of french curves off the drafting desk. Direc caught it before it hit the floor. Aldald looked up as Direc placed the curves back on the drafting desk. Aldald took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Thank-you sir,” he said. He leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Design number seven?” Direc said. “Twelve.” Aldald gestured to the desk. “Those are just the ones that made to modeling.” “What removed them consideration?” “Aerodynamics mostly. On re-entry too much sticking out of the shadow of the heat shield, or too much drag on launch. It isn’t too much of problem on launch. But on re-entry the parts outside the shadow will have a greater likelihood of burning off; cascade failure of the craft is likely to follow.” “Yes. I can understand how most pilots will find parts of their craft falling off a little bit worrisome.” Aldald snorted. “Usually followed by the rest of their craft falling off of them.” “You weren’t able to adapt the Scimon-L for a kerbaled lander?” Aldald shook his head. “I started there. But, once I added in the capsule and related support, it went into a mass spiral." He rolled his shoulders. "For all practical approaches it's a linear programming problem. It’s made more interesting by the competing constraints of the heat shield shadow and surface stability.” He shrugged. “I’ve probably got the best I’m going to get. Launchers will have a ninety-five percent plus mass and the aero-section in the morning. Fab will have the design in the afternoon.” “Good, good.” Direc moved to leave. “You know,” Aldald said. “If I could wrap this in some kind of shell it would be easier. At least for launching it.” “I have no doubt. The folks at Parts Design are working on something. But, it won’t be ready for a while.” Aldald shrugged and smirked. “Well if it was easy it wouldn’t be called rocket science. And they wouldn’t need us would they?”

Preface: "They also serve those that stand and wait.", John Milton Everyone talks about those magnificent kerbals in their flying machines. What about those who stay behind building the machines, kerballing the bureaucracy, or sliding a cold one across the bar? These are their tales. The stories about how they put Jebediah, Valentina, and the rest up there, among the planets and the stars. Table of Contents: Chapter 1&2 First Small Steps Chapter 3 Why Chapter 4 The First Payment Chapter 5 A Simple Set of Problems Chapter 6 The Blue Side Chapter 7 Two Eggs in a Basket Chapter 8 Linus and the Computers Chapter 8.5 Counting and Accounts Chapter 9 Scimon and the Mün Chapter 10 A New Bird in the Flock Chapter 11 By The Pale Münlight Chapter 12 A Hand Into The Black Chapter 13 A Coming Drought for the Prairie Chapter 14 Pause Turn Go Chapter 15 A Perfect Answer? Chapter 17 Broken Bird Chapter 17.5 There and On The Dock Chapter 18 KOL Black Chapter 19 A Leap Chapter 20 Ready for Their Closeup Chapter 23 Simple Difficulty Chapter 26 Opening A New Path Chapter 27 Münbound, Groundbound Chapter 28 Frozen Skin Worth Mining Chapter 35 Unproven. Experimental. Prototype. Chapter 50 New and Old Omake: The Birds of the Flocks Omake: The OST Omake: The Creed and The Crest Q&A: - Where is chapter <insert number here>? Certain chapters didn't jell or come out as I would like. So rather than hold up the whole chain I've posted them out of order. Each chapter is fairly independent they can be read in any order. As the chapters are finalized they will be posted in the appropriate slot. This may end up having the side effect of changing chapter numbers as I go along. - Isn't that character name a reference to somebody? Maybe, some of the names are pulled from real NASA folks, some are authors. The character isn't the same as the person. The most aren't very subtle. But, just to prevent confusion, the list is: Khenry - Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. Katherine - Katherine Johnson Kisney - Mostly The Walt Disney Company RKO - RKO Pictures, I have yet to figure out what those initials stand for. The actual company's initials are Radio-Keith-Orpheum WBnWS. - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Though here I've renamed it to Warner Brothers and Warner Sister. The period at the end is part of the name. Universal - NBCUniversal, though here I'm referring to the production arms over anything else. Kerne - Jules Verne Kurroughs - Edgar Rice Burroughs Kuttner - Henry Kuttner Kells - H. G. Wells Kalerie - Valerie Thomas Kriedrich - Caspar David Friedrich - Are the designs real? Yes, except the helicopters in "Broken Bird". I had considered a jet VTOL for that chapter, but I didn't think they were suitable for Search and Rescue work. <hand wave> The SAR choppers are on loan from and staffed by the local Coast Guard equivalent and aren't really part of the program, so they don't count. </hand wave> There are some liberties taken moving from in-game design to the story. Usually windows and doors where there aren't any on the in-game design. - I noticed grammer and/or spelling and/or continuity error, what can I do? Tell me the chapter and the location and I'll review it. - I want comment or ask a question. Where is the best place? There are two good locations. One is this thread. The other is the general writer's thread. If it is focused on the Groundbound story line, then here will be the better of the two places to comment.

Chapter 16 The steel and aluminum docking port rang as it hit the concrete floor. It deformed and bounced slightly as it crazed the concrete. Amid the shouts Kyler walked calmly over to examine the destroyed prototype. He blew out a long slow breath. He looked up at the other docking port on the crane, slowly swinging overhead. It began to move off to one side. Someone had decided to lower it, before it too fell. As it moved he saw the torn metal on the locking ring. He saw a cylinder fall and bounce with a ring on the floor. He walked over and picked it up as it rolled across the floor. He frowned as he looked at the broken end. One of the engineers walked over to him. “What do you think sir,” Bermy asked. “What was the margin for the locking pins?” “Should have been one hundred percent.” “We’re going to have to adjust that. We’ll probably have to increase the number of pins. We should look at the design as well. Any off axis forces appear to lead to failure.” He handed her the locking pin. “Get that to metallurgy as well as two of the other ones. I want to know why it failed.” “If we increase the number of pins, we’ll have to shift the magnets around. We just got them balanced.” Bermy pursed her lips. “The computers didn’t like the last set of calculations we sent them.” “Most of the heavy lifting for the calculations has already been done. The shape of the fields will be roughly the same, and symmetry will take care of the rest. Besides, if Katherine has a problem with it, she can discuss it with me.” Bermy looked at Kyler, Katherine could be formidable if she chose. They walked over to the docking port that had been lowered from the crane. Kyler looked at the torn metal of the docking port. “Any suggestions,” she asked. Kyler shook his head. “It’s close to what my first guess would have been for a design. So I can’t argue against it, except on the one obvious point. Get samples from around the tears over to metallurgy as well. See if they have recommendations for something stronger.” “Off the shelf, researched, or proposed.” “Shelf and late research. I don’t want to base too much work on something that might not pan out. But, it isn’t a hard exclusion. If they have something promising earlier in the pipes, I’ll listen to it.” “Anything else?” “Yes. We’ll have to find a better way of testing these things. I don’t want to regularly rebuild my floor.”

Chapter 17 Jebediah and Walt stood in the observation lounge overlooking the tourist flight control centre. Each had their own reasons for being there. “Dancers, Taxi 132-Heelo,” a tinny female voice came through the speakers it had a slightly excited cheerful tone. “Beginning dump burn. Get the pot going. I’m going to want a double-double when I get back.” “2-Heelo, Dancers, copy that,” one of the controllers. ”You’re projected for Eliza. Catch you on the brownside.” “Dancers, 2-Heelo. Bingo fuel. I’m ballistic till landing. She’s whispering now.” “No,” Jebediah whispered. His hands clasped the railing. His knuckles were white. “It’s cursing her.” Walt glanced over at him. A grunt and the sound of tearing metal came through the speakers. “Danc — “ Her voice shifted to have a faintly folksy slightly bored drawl. “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Taxi 132-Heelo. Taxi 132-Heelo. Taxi 132-Heelo. I have lost one of the control fins. Felt like some of the hull as well. Do not know if there is other damage. Still have remaining fins. Wheels look to saturate and leave me short of authority. Going to keep damaged side high and in the shadow. Heading, 90 Tango. Angels, 51. Surface speed, 1.9 kilo. Position 0.1 North, 155 West. Five kerbals on board. Taxi 132-Heelo.” “Taxi 132-Heelo, KSC Tango Actual. Copy that 2-Heelo. SAR has been alerted. You will have radio blackout in approximately two minutes. We have your radar track. Advise us if there are any status changes.” “Wilco. And Actual? Make that double-double kirish. Break.” Her voice shifted back to the slightly excited cheerful tone. “Okay folks. I’m glad you’re strapped in. We’re in for a ride that would make a Kisney E-ticket pale. This will be one to tell the grandkids about.” She laughed in response to something said in the cabin. “Lots of time to find someone for that when we get back. The first round at the Plant will be on me.” Walt looked over at Jebediah, “Will they make it?” He didn’t respond. He stared through the far wall of the control centre. His hands had clamped to the railing. His arms trembled trying to drive controls he wasn’t holding. The sound from the speakers dissolved into static. Later, Walt stood looking out a window of one a Search and Rescue helicopter. He had to push to get on. The co-pilot eventually tossed him a helmet with a curt, “stay out of the way.” He listened to the regular calls to 2-Heelo. Nothing had been heard back from them, yet. He watched hoping he would not see a crater. He feared they would. “SAR-12, 2-Heelo,” came over the radio. “I copy. We’re all here, just a little bit knocked about. We’re sitting nicely around a campfire.” “SAR-12, copy that 2-Heelo. Send up a flare when you get a chance. Break. All SAR, SAR-12. We have comm with them. Everyone came down.” Walt saw the flare out of the corner of his eye. He started to say something, but they were already banking towards it. As they flew over Walt saw only two of the three parachutes were draped over the brushes and ground. The side of 2-Heelo facing up on the ground was heavily scorched. Someone whistle over the internal channel for the helicopter. “One worthy of Jeb,” someone said. “Nah,” someone else said. “He would have brought it back unmarked, and on the dot besides.” Walt looked towards the KSC. Someone had once described Jebediah using the phrase coconuts and chrome steel. Walt wondered again about the truth of that, or if there was a different reason.

KSP Incident Investigation Committee Supplemental report into propulsion failure of Rocker-X3ANSZ Document Number: K-IIC-0046308-UXE Classification: Secret Code word: Unicorn This report should only be disclosed upon appropriate code word validation. This supplemental report has been submitted as part of Project Unicorn. The full report on the incident can be found under document number K-IIC-0046308-F. The reported communications between Rocker-X3ANSZ and R-0DN361 is problematic. The details presented by Pilot Maxanne Kerman and available telemetry are conflicting. Summary time line is as follows: - Pilot Maxanne reported she disabled several systems as part of the process of stabilizing the situation. This included portions of life-support and telemetry recording. The only communication equipment available was the C-16 class equipment in audio only mode. - Pilot Maxanne was able to make contact with another craft. The craft reported its name to be Rocker-0DN361, call sign Kotan. It reported that it was on an outbound trip to asteroid ZYH786. At the time both craft would have been in the Kerbin relative radio shadow of the sun. R-0DN361 would relay the report of the incident once he resumed contact with the KSC. - During the duration of the contact R-0DN361 provided Pilot Maxanne with both psychological and technical assistance. - R-X3ANSZ was in the radio shadow for approximately three hours after reportedly loosing contact with R-0DN361. After Deep Space Tracking indicated that R-X3ANSZ left the radio shadow KSC sent a one way message advising of receipt of the relay package. - R-X3ANSZ was recovered seventy-nine days later and is undergoing repair and refit. The details in conflict are as follows: - Deep Space Tracking reports there were no craft with a trajectory that would have brought it with in C-16 communication distance with R-X3ANSZ. - Upon recovery of R-X3ANSZ critical damage was observed to all communications systems, with sufficient repairs made to the C-16 to allow basic operation. - The transit record indicated that it was broadcast from the C-16 antenna of R-X3ANSZ. The transit record was damaged during transmission. The corruption centered on the record of intermediate relays of the message. That section of the package was determined to be unrecoverable. However, there are indications elsewhere in the package that the message was formatted using older, but still valid, data protocols. - R-0DN361 reported that it was outbound to asteroid ZYH786. This asteroid was catalogued two years ago. No mission to it is currently scheduled. - Pilot Maxanne reported details about R-0DN361 and Kotan while not of confidential or higher classification are not general knowledge. Some of the details predate Pilot Maxanne’s enrollment in the Rocker Group. - Kotan was aware of details about systems on R-X3ANSZ while not of confidential or higher classification that were part of a refit three years ago. - The registry of R-0DN361 is unique and was registered twenty five years ago. - The call sign “Kotan” appears in the registry three times. Only one of which appears in the SR-Pilot registry during the active life of R-0DN361. - R-0DN361 was recorded as lost nineteen years ago. The suspected cause is catastrophic reactor failure. Details of the investigation can be found in file K-IIC-00313031. It has been recommended that the flight status of R-0DN361 not be communicated to Pilot Maxanne. It is also recommended that Pilot Maxanne be returned to active status once psychological and physical evaluations are suitable.

Chapter 9 Gus, Bob, Linus, and Aldald stood in the design hall. They were looking at the full sized blueprints of a probe on one of the walls. The science and engine sections were broken out into other blueprints elsewhere on the wall. On a table in one corner was a paper model of the probe and launcher. “We’ll leave aside the launcher for the moment,” Aldald said as he pushed up his glasses. “It is sufficient to get Scimon, and its up fueled variant, to an eighty by eighty orbit. Upon achieving orbit, Scimon will separate from the launcher. From orbit Scimon will perform a burn to enter a Münar flyby with a periapsis of twenty kilometers with a Kerbin free-return trajectory. Projected Kerbin periapsis will be forty kilometers. Upon entry to the atmosphere it will burn the remaining fuel and aero brake until airspeed is reduced to 250 mps. The parachutes will deploy bringing it to rest on the surface.” Gus looked at the model in the corner. “What’s the projected reliability?” Aldald pushed up his glasses. “For the launcher we are projecting 4 nines. For Scimon it is only two nines.” Gus and Bob frowned. “Most of the failure modes and uncertainty are a result of a lack of information about how propulsion and control will behave in Münar orbit,” Aldald continues. ”Re-entry to Kerbin also presents large amounts of uncertainty, despite our performance so far with the tourist contracts.” “Where’s the uncertainty in the control systems,” Linus said. “I thought the commands were all relayed from here to Scimon.” “They are,“ Aldald said. “The problem is the relay itself. There is concern that the conditions either on launch or in transit will affect the forward or back channels.” “What about a second set of radio equipment,” Bob asked. Linus shook his head. “Too much mass.” “Correct,” Aldald said. “In the event of failure of one of the channels, Scimon will attempt to use the remaining channel for both directions. If both channels fail after the exit burn, Scimon will still have a return trajectory to Kerbin. This will be sufficient to reduce speed enough for landing after two passes. The parachutes will automatically deploy once it is at a safe speed and appropriate altitude.” “No readings will be taken in the event of total radio failure,” Bob asked. “In that situation Scimon is set to automatically take four equally spaced samples,” Aldald said. “It will start at periapsis up to 2000 km on the outbound portion of the flyby.” “And all of that is less that a second set of radios?” Linus said. “Yes. Those automation systems mass approximately 50 percent less.”

Chapter 13 Bobory looked out over the bar. The Fuel Plant was full. All of his staff was working tonight. The crowd was rowdy, but well behaved. Everyone knew the cost of misbehaving at the Plant. Ox and Toad would enforce it if needed. The two of them had brought a couple of their friends to help with the crowd. It would be a good night once the till was counted. It would more than balance the quiet of the next three days. Though, it didn’t seem that it would be worth the effort right now. He watched Walt step up on the stage at the other end of the room. The disc jockey faded the volume of the music. A few kerbals looked up at the stage, most did not notice. Walt seemed nervous. But, if you had the job of putting a good face on a total mission failure, you’d be nervous too. There’d been accidents before, and would be again. The black and silver glasses along the top of the back wall of the bar were testament to that. He wondered if he would have to add three more in a few days. Walt rang the bell at the back of the stage. Its low note cut through the conversation like a scythe. Walt walked back to the front of the stage. He raised a glass. Everyone else in the bar stood up and raised a glass as well. “We live in the brown,” Walt said. “We fly the blue. We travel the black.” “Kamn straight we’re coming back,” everyone said together. They all drained their glasses. Jebediah, Valentina, and Cordos stepped up on the stage after Walt left. They each carried a bottle of liquor. Bobory raised an eyebrow at Jebediah’s choice. They placed the bottles on a chair that had been placed on the stage. “Gus,” Jebediah said. “When I got here you promised me the stamp. You’ve delivered. With this bird you and your crew will deliver again.” He picked up his bottle again. “We’ll split these with you when we get back.” Bobory felt a chill at the unspoken, unthought, known statement that could have followed. You always pretended you were coming back. Even if you knew you were not. He looked up at the black and silver glasses again. Especially, if you knew you were not coming back. “Ugh,” Gus called out from the crowd. “That stuff will kill you. When you get back I’ll get you a real drink.” The crowd laughed. The conversation and music started again as the trio left the stage. Ox waded through the crowd carrying the three bottles. He sniffed as he handed them over the bar. Bobory looked at the one bottle. “It’s not bad stuff. But, it is an acquired taste.” Ox nodded his head towards the large clock counting down on the wall. “I’ll do last call about an hour short of it. You remember what happened last time,” Bobory said. Ox rolled his shoulders and rolled his head around. The joints cracked. “Yeah, and you still ended up with bruises over half your face and sewn up in a couple of spots,” Bobory said. Ox raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry. The prairie will by dry at T minus 3 days.”

Chapter 18 Khenry looked at the kerbals and kerbalinas scattered in the lecture theatre. “So many more than the six we started with,” he thought. “And all of them with more black time than me.” He chuckled. “Not that that means much.” In two weeks the theatre would be packed past capacity. The announcement about the KOL Program would be made by Director Direc. But, it would be fleshed out by the dapper one with the cane. The kerbal who still believed in the program despite the fact it almost killed him. He wondered occasionally if it was one of Walt’s creations or if he really did believe. Khenry rapped the stage for attention with his cane. “Alright folks,” he said. “Welcome to the KOL introductory briefing.” He pressed a button on the remote in his hand. The first slide click-clacked into place. “Rated capacity five, one engineer, four scientists. Supplies for three months. Longer if you eat the snacks you don’t like first.” There was chuckling from the crowd. “This is the initial arrangement. More modules will be added to expand capacity and capability. “The initial rotation will be engineer heavy until we’re sure it’s working and all the bolts are tight.” He pressed a button and moved to another slide. It showed arrows from Kerbin to Mun and Minmus. “The KOL stations are a stepping stone to stations on and around the moons. Approximately half of the projected work will be research and development of tools and techniques to facilitate those stations.” He pressed a button again. The slide had arrows from Kerbin to the other planets. “And trips further out. If things are going to fail or go very wrong. Help is a few hours away in a KOL station rather than a life time away.” “So, Khenry,” someone said, “there’s going to be real science done and not any of Walt’s TV stunts?” “Sorry Jose,” Khenry said. “Walt’s got some hours on the slate. He promises that it will be less stunt work. Besides you’ll be in shirt sleeves and not in a suit.” “So what are the rotations going to be like,” someone else asked. “Every three months to start,“ Khenry said. “Once things are up and running we’ll stretch it to six months. Half of the crew will rotate every three months.” “As much as I don’t mind hanging around in the black,” a third kerbal said. “The stepping stones are a good line for the press. But the supply ships mass as much as the science missions we’re running now. Then there is cost of the station and crew. Most of it we can figure out from those. We don’t really gain anything more for the amount we’re spending.” Khenry frowned and peered into the crowd. He wondered if it was a real question or a plant by Walt. But, it didn’t matter. It was a question that would be asked by some reporter when they sat out there. “The first reason I’ve touched on. If something is going to break you want to break in Lo-KO and not three quarters of the way to Jool. Help is a few hours away in Lo-KO or it’s a half hour to the surface if you have to leave quickly. Knowing how to prevent a problem is better than knowing how to fix it. “Second, if you want to spend a year and change inside something with the interior volume of a fridge, in your suit… well some of the others can tell you how much fun it is doing it for a full week. “The third reason has to do with the first. It’s what we don’t know. It’s really hard to plan against what you don’t know about. It’s hard enough planning against what we do know about. The KOL station will let us know what we don’t know about.” He paused for a moment. “Any other questions?” He paused again. “Okay. Moving along.”

Chapter 10 Khenry limped, leaning on his cane, into the briefing room. He sometimes wondered, if it wouldn’t have been better if the doctors had taken the leg. Other times, he was glad they hadn’t. Besides, the photos of him leaning on the cane did look good. The eight pilots in the room stilled and looked up. “Okay kerbs,” he said. “This is the familiarization briefing for our latest bird.” He turned on the overhead projector. “The Air Based Satellite Launcher, reporting name is ‘Gull.’” He placed an acetate sheet on the projector. It had the three views of the aircraft. It’s high center fuselage and down swept wings created several meters of clearance underneath. “We’ve got three of them in the nest, and enough parts to build another two from the frame out.” He looked at Jebediah. “This does not mean you get to push them.” “I haven’t see a body that high since folks at Kavalier managed to figure out counter-props,” Geofgan, one of the pilots, said. “Since she’s a jet, what’s she slinging underneath?” Khenry changed the acetate sheet. “This, the ALS. It’s a modified version of the standard low mass launcher we’re pushing off the pads now.” “That’s, what? A Reliant at the bottom of that thing?” Callin said. “You sure it isn’t going to cook my belly when it lights off?” “No. The separation charge and a half second delay will give enough clearance before the engine kicks in.” “Okay,” Desney said. “What’s the flight profile for a standard launch?” Khenry swapped the acetate again. “This. You fly up to angels three. From there maneuver to the launch vector. Accelerate to 350 mps and climb to angels ten. At that point release the launcher and RTB. Kasey-sat will take control of the launcher upon release.” Callin frowned. “Angels 10 is at the top of the Wheesley’s operating envelope.” “Yes,” Khenry said. “But, the folks at C7 have managed to figure out a way to squeeze out an extra angel. The techs and test pilots at Just Frames report that she’ll have sufficient control and power. But, don’t hang around up there.” He opened up a folder on the table next to projector. “Okay, now that the basics are out of the way.” He placed acetate thick with text on the projector. “Let’s get down to details.”

Chapter 3 The six kerbals were in the briefing room. Valentina sat, in the dark blue uniform of the navy, skimming through the several binders in front of her. Encal, in the light blue uniform of the air force, randomly flipped through the pages in a binder. Jebediah, also in light blue, had taken a sheet out and was turning it around as if trying to make sense of it. Khenry, in the green of the ground forces, and Bill in dark blue, were discussing some aspects of the design they were looking at. Bob, wearing green, stood looking at thick walled glass container at the front of the room. Suspended in the clear liquid was a black sphere. It appeared to be featureless despite the distortion the thick glass caused. Bob eventually decided that it really was not black, it completely lacked colour. He tapped the container a couple of times. He thought he saw react, but it was hard to tell through the thick glass. Through the glass he saw a trio of kerbals at the door. He looked around the side of the container. He recognized one of them. He came to attention, “Director Present!” the sudden silence and scraping of chairs indicated the other five had done so as well. “Thank-you,” Direc said. ”I’m Direc Kerman, director of the Kerbal Space Program. You may relax. We don’t need such formalities. But, as we get bigger that may change. Please sit down.” The one of the other kerbals went to the projector in the back of the room and began fitting a reel of film. Direc gestured towards other kerbal at the front of the room with in. “This is Wernher von Kerman, Head of Research.“ He nodded towards the back of the room. “At the projector is Linus Kerman, one of Wernher von Kerman’s interns. Wernher’s here to answer any of the science questions that you may have. But, we’re here to help answer the questions that the science folks have. Mostly about this stuff.” Direc tapped the glass container. “The goo. The only bit about that I understand is that it is non-Newtonian. They say that it is non-Euclidian and non-Einsteinian as well.” Linus stepped back to the projector from having pulled the blinds down. He turned off the lights and started the projector. “The information in this film is in your binders as well,” Wernher said. The flicking light of the projector cast conspiratorial shadows over his face. “As director Direc said it is a non-Newtonian fluid. As for non-Euclidian and non-Einsteinian, we have no supporting evidence.” Bob watched the film intently. The soft ratcheting of the projector matched the gears in his mind.

Chapter 4 Valentina, Jebediah, and Encal stood around a plane in the hanger. Four Juno engines pinched the wings on the back of the fuselage. A Reliant rocket engine stuck out of the tail. Gus walked up with a clipboard tucked under one arm. “Okay,” he said. “This is the two seat variant of the Hopper. She’s also been stretched a bit to give her enough fuel for two hops to angels 25.” He looked at Jebediah. “Though some of you may try for a single hop to fifty. She ain’t rated for it. Not that it’ll stop you.” He took out the clipboard. “Encal you’re up in the rotation, so you get first flight. Khenry will be your REO on this one. Nothing fancy, just a couple of hops up and back down staying in local airspace. The reps from the factory will be waiting to talk to you after you land. Take-off is in two hours.” “Good luck, Encal,” Jebediah said. “She looks like she’ll need a bit of a hand on the stick.” “No,” Encal said. “She’ll soar like a dream.” Two days later Valentina looked up from her typewriter after hearing a cough. “Ma’am,” it was one of the technicians, simulation section she thought. “Sorry to bother you. But we have a problem, and we’re hoping up can help us with it.” She recognized the tone and words. It meant they wanted to solve things quietly and unofficially, before they have to become official. She looked over at the other pilots’ desks. Neither had been touched in two days. She knew why one of them hadn’t been. Now she knew why the other hadn’t. She stood up and followed the tech. In the simulation room her foot glanced off an empty ration tin. It looked like the contents had been eaten cold. She looked at the settings on the console of the simulator and frowned. “They haven’t changed in the past two days,” the tech said. “Get the doctor down here,” Valentina said. “I’ll get him out. After the doc gets here, get these cleaned up,” she gestured at the tins on the floor. “Yes, ma’am,” the tech said, and rushed to a phone. The simulator bucked and trembled, as if it wanted to go one way and it was being dragged the other. She watched it until the doctor arrived. “Be ready to sedate him, if needed.” She said to the doctor. He just crooked an eyebrow and prepped a syringe. When he nodded she pulled the abort lever. The simulator returned to its rest state. Valentina walked over to the hatch. The doctor followed and stayed out of the line of sight. Jebediah stomped out. “Who the kell…“ He looked around wild eyed. “Val did you? Turn it back on Val!” Valentina backed up a couple of steps. “No Jeb,” she said calmly. “You’ve got to get some sleep, and eat some real food.” “No, Val,” Jebediah said. “Not until I’m done.” He wobbled slightly, but quickly caught himself. “Turn it back on Val.” He took a heavy step forward. She took another step back. “No, Jeb.” The doctor stood ready to put the loaded syringe in Jebediah. A can clanged off a far wall. Jebediah spun around. Valentina and the doctor both moved at the same time. She grabbed him in a bear hug and held him tightly. The doctor pushed the syringe into Jebediah’s arm. He struggled against Valentina. She relaxed her grip as he weakened. “You don’t need to be better than everyone, Jeb.” She said softly. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.” “No Val,” Jebediah said, his words slurred as the drugs took effect. “Not everyone Val. Just better… Just better ‘an… ‘an the frames. Just the frames Val… the frames, Val.” Jebediah slumped against Valentina unconscious.

Chapter 8 Linus walked along the main hall of the computer complex. One of the senior computers came down in the opposite direction. “Hey, Linus,” she said. “Wernher still hiding atop his mountain?” “Hi, Cammy,” Linus said. “No. He comes down once in a while. But, I’m still doing his running around.” “Too bad. Eventually you’ll get out to where somebody appreciates your talents.” Linus shrugged. “Perhaps. I’ve got to drop these off,” he waggled the bundle of folders in his hand. “See you around.” “Sure Linus” Linus continued down the hall. He walked past a couple of empty meeting rooms. The remains of complex equations were on the blackboards. They were annotated with an arcane symbology known only to the computers themselves. He wondered, as he always did in these halls, if it would be possible to use machines to do the work. He knew that a couple of the computers worked with a couple of techs in electrics to build an electronic analog computing machine. They figured that it would be useful in the simulator. It would probably increase the accuracy of orbit calculations as well. If it could be shrunk down by a factor of a hundred it might be useful on the rockets. But, the computers were an important piece of feedback. They could and did provide simpler or more elegant equations based off the ones they were given. Machines wouldn’t be able to do that. “Hiya Linus,” a flirty voice called. Linus looked around, disturbed from his thoughts. It was Chadlie. A couple of the other computers were with her. “Hello, Chadlie,” Linus said. “Mmm, my that looks like a big request.” Linus looked at the bundle of a half dozen manila folders. “Not really. Most of this is from design and sim. Wernher has a couple in here as well.” “So. I was telling my friends here about your slide rule and your skill with it.” Chadlie said. “They don’t believe me.” She pouted slightly. One of the other two giggled girlishly. “It’s nothing special. It’s about his long,” Linus held his hands about 30 cm apart. “Wide enough that I can do two at once on it.” One of the other two arched one of her eyebrows. “If I’m lucky, with the right set I can sometimes do three.” One of them giggled girlishly again. “There see? Straight from the horse’s mouth,” Chadlie said to the other two. She turned back to Linus, “you’ll really have to show it to me some time.” “Really it’s nothing out of the ordinary.” Linus shuffled uncomfortably knowing that he had missed something. “Well, I must get this up to Katherine.” “Okay, Linus,” Chadlie said. “See you around.” Linus quickly walked down the hall. It always seemed to be longer than the building. Chadlie was part of the reason he didn’t like going to the Computer Corps. The other sat at the other end of the room he just entered, the Computer Hall. Katherine Kerman looked up from her desk when Linus stepped into the doorway. Her sharp look pinned Linus to the doorway. She relaxed when she recognized him. Only then did he feel safe to enter. There were stories about kerbals who had crossed her. Some of them had survived. Linus walked up to the dais the Katherine’s desk sat on. As he walked by some of the computers looked from their work. They quickly went back to it. A couple followed Linus with their eyes. Katherine was a demanding kerbalina. But, she would support those who met her standards, or were working towards them. Despite her demands the Computer Corps was loyal to her because of her support, and that she demanded more from herself. “So, Mr. Linus,” she said. “What have you brought us today?” “Four requests from Design and Simulation, and two from Wernher,” he said. Katherine frowned. “Let’s see the ones from Dr. Wernher.” Linus placed the stack on her desk. She pulled the two from Wernher out. The rest she handed to a clerk that had stepped over. She flipped through the two requests. “That kerbal barely knows math.” She leaned back in her chair an exhaled slowly. “Thank-you Mr. Linus. I will see you when he sends back his corrections and clarifications.” “Yes. I’ll bring them as soon as possible.” Linus turned and walked out at pace just short of a run.

Chapter 7 Walt Kerman stood at the launch pad. He watched the technicians doing the last minute checks on the rocket. It didn’t look like exactly like a rocket. Sure it had the long narrow shape, fins at the bottom, and a pointed nose. But, the set of fins at the top broke the lines. “They add authority when she’s coming back,” one of the engineers had said. “They’ll help her shed speed during maneuvers in the middle and lower atmosphere.” “Maneuvers; more like tumbling out of control,” he thought after watching from inside the simulator. Then there was the reporting name for the design series, Basket. “You package up the passengers like eggs and they get home safe,” the design engineer had said. “And you carry eggs in a basket, right? Besides using ‘Carton’ as a name sounds like something out of a Saturday morning serial.” He watched the techs leave the ship like a receding wave. Three of them remained, anonymous in their yellow hazmat suits. Walt flipped up his helmet and sealed his suit. The three pulled a hose off the truck that had driven up. The driver sat nervously in the cab. The hose was attached to the rocket and the truck. There was a small red cloud that quickly dissipated, as a pump was turned on. He shuddered. He heard that that stuff would dissolve a kerbal to his bones, and maybe beyond. They unhooked the hose in another small red cloud. The hose was put back on the truck and it drove off. Another truck drove up. The techs opened up the hoods of their suits. They hooked up another hose to the rocket. Walt undid the seals on his suit. The smell of kerosene began to seep in. He flipped back the hood of his suit as the techs fueled the rocket. He looked towards the kerbonaut complex. An open jeep with four kerbals drove towards the launchpad. Walt frowned. The two passengers on this flight were kerbals of wealth and influence. All the kerbals slated for the several first passenger flights were. But, how many would tolerate even the short run in the jeep? These two were adventurers, the ones who told those slightly fantastic stories at parties. Discomfort was part of the adventure. Should it be? He would have to talk to Mortimer about upgrading some of the facilities. “Hey Walt,” one of the passengers, Calley, called as he walked over after getting out of the jeep. “See you at the Plant in an hour.” “Sure thing, Calley,” Walt said back. The Fuel Plant was the favoured . Jebediah waved with his helmet as he walked by. He was whistling “The Air Force Song.” “There goes our pilot,” Calley said. He clapped Walt on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Succeed or fail, it’ll be a heck of ride.” He dashed off to the waiting crew. Walt walked back to his jeep. He sat down. He rested his chin on his hands on the steering wheel; watching the last of the preparations. He knew it would fly true. It was different having passengers. Crews knew the risk. They saw it every day. They accepted that the risk would go bad someday. Walt worried about the day it went bad with passengers along for the ride.

Chapter 6 Khenry leaned on his cane in mission control. His leg, shattered in the same accident that had killed Encal, was slowly healing. “This is Flight Control,” he said into his headset. “All stations report: go, no go.” The room went quiet. “Range, go.” “Recovery, go.” “Tracking, go.” “Chase, go.” Valentina, in a plane circling the KSC. Her voice made tinny by the narrow radio channel “Capsule, go.” Jebediah, in the capsule. “Telemetry, go.” “Science, go.” Khenry looked up into the VIP area. “Director, all stations report go. I recommend launch.” Direc nodded. “All stations,” Khenry said. “We are go for launch. Resume countdown at T minus thirty seconds.” The chatter at the various stations resumed. The checks and activities were down. “T minus twenty seconds,” came over the speakers in the control room. The activity slowed to a halt. Everyone waited for one button to be pressed. “T minus ten seconds.” Khenry knew he would never be going up in the regular program. “T minus five seconds” "Umbilical release," Khenry said. "Umbilical away," the range officer said. “Clamps release,” “Clamps away,“ “T minus three.” “Primary motors start”, Khenry said. “Primary motors on,” Jebediah said. His voice now made tinny by the radio channel, instead of the landline. “T minus two.” “Ignitors on,” Khenry said. “Ignitors active,” the range officer said. “T minus one.” “T minus zero.” “Throttle full,” Khenry and Jebediah said together. The rocket lifted off from a silent white cloud of steam and smoke; a cloud with a yellow glowing heart. One second later the crushing roar of the engines rolled through. Khenry watched the rocket fly up into the sky; a silver spec that trailed a white thread of cloud. “Booster burn out in three,” Jebediah said. “Booster burn out.” A sound like a metallic chunk followed by a new roar came through the radio. “Booster separated. Central engine throttle at seventy-five percent. Gus promised me flight in the stamp. I owe him a bottle. He’s delivered on this one.” “You ain’t seen nothing yet, Jeb,” Khenry said. “I’ve seen the specs for the newer stuff.” “Chase, reporting op-ceil,” Valentina’s came over the speakers. “See you on the brown side, Jeb.” “Someday, I’ll see you on the blue side, Jeb,” Khenry said. His mike had not been cued.

Chapter 15 Walt stood in the wings of the lecture theater. The flash bulbs twinkled from the crowd like crystal snow on a munlit night. This was the second media session for the kerbalnauts just returned from Minmus. The first one was in the hanger with them fresh from the recovery plane, still in their suits, two days ago. Walt looked at the tables on the stage. The three kerbalnauts were at the opposite end to him, followed by Gus, Direc, and finally Wernher. Wernher was a problem. He interviewed terribly. He could not give a simple answer, could not see the point of them, and generally was an insufferable genius. He wondered who would have their feathers ruffled this time. The cameras stopped flashing and the questions started. Walt made note of who asked what. It would be useful if information had to come from an unnamed source, or through leaked documents. To know who to talk to would give it the best angle. The question came up he knew was going to come up, was Minmus really made of mint ice cream. Walt looked over at the sound technician. She had already muted Wernher’s microphone. One of the kerbalnauts was answering the question. Based on the sample she had in the cabin, it was probably just ice. But the folks in the lab will know for sure. Maybe, it’s apple sorbet came the suggestion out of the crowd, accompanied by laughter. The questions continued. They were a mix of popular and technical. Wernher was allowed to answer a couple of questions, including the one that had been coming up recently about a space kraken. The question came up of where the next destination would be. Duna was the most likely destination. But, it would mean changing how craft are designed and flown. So, it maybe a while before they would be traveling there. Then, came an unexpected question. “The program was replacing the magic of the universe with mundane facts. First the Munites of Kells. Next the Minions of Kerne. Soon the Dunians of Kurroughs and the Even jungles Kuttner. Every teeming world replaced with a barren empty surface. Will the program leave any wonder in its wake?” The room seemed to hold its breath. Then, Wernher began to laugh. The sound technician looked at Walt, her hand over the mute button. Walt shrugged his shoulders. “And he stood on the ridge crest,” Wernher said. ”He looked down not on the edge of the world, but another valley, another river, another plain. In the distance another ridge rose to the sky. He realized the legends were not tools of control. They were artifacts of fearful ignorance. “He looked back down the way he came, towards home and all he knew. He looked down into the other valley. Were there kerbals there? Did they know what was beyond the ridges? He looked at the ridge in the distance. Did another valley lie beyond it? Or was would there be something beyond imagination? “He stood and considered his next step; then he took it.” Wernher paused for a moment. “I’ve always wondered which direction he went,” he continued. “The author ended the story there. Did he go into the new valley and beyond? Did he go home to tell of what he saw? Or did he follow the ridge to see what else could be known? “That is what science, and the Kerbal Space Program, is. For every fairy castle it knocks down, for every legend disproven, for every mystery solved science creates two more. “If your authors are any good they will be able to take what we have learned and create stories that are just as, if not more so, fantastic.” Walt looked at Wernher. He looked at the crowd. He could hear the soft whirs of the tape recorders. It had been a perfect answer. He hoped for them every time. They were talked about at the conventions. He despaired of it happening again, at least with Wernher. They could not be engineered, rehearsed, or forced. There in lied their elusive beauty.

Chapter 12 Direc fumbled for the handset of the ringing phone in the darkened bedroom. “Hello,” he said having gotten the handset to his head on the second attempt. He listened to the response from the other side. His mind churned with sleep, the active flight plans, and why Gene would still be at the office. “Gene, do you know what time it is?” His wife rolled over and muttered something indistinct. “Hang on, Gene. I’m changing phones.” Set the handset down on the nightstand and left the room. Two voices came tinny and indistinct through the handset. He came back into the bedroom and placed the handset back in the cradle. He looked into the mirror over the dresser and ran his hands through his hair. He exhaled slowly. “Sorry dear,” he said as dressed in the dark room. ”I’ve got to go into the center.” “Okay,” she said sleepily. “Bring back a loaf of bread and a carton of milk.” “And a stick of butter,” he said as he closed the bedroom door.” “Mmm, right,” she said to the empty room. Direc walked into the briefing room. The tables had been pushed into the center of the room. They were covered in papers. The chalkboard was covered in calculations and diagrams. Some were half erased, others were over written by others. The cool night air from outside mixed with the smell of coffee and pizza. He shook his head to clear memories of university and being a young engineer. Gene, Gus, Linus, Jebediah, and Valentina were standing around a table. “Just like school,” Direc said. “Don’t know about you,” Linus said. “But, my projects were harder, but slightly less… exciting though.” Direc walked over to the table. “Okay,” Direc said. “I’ve got the overview. Now the details.” “About 7 hours ago, a ship owned by Experimental Engineering Group‎ experienced catastrophic structural failure.” Gene said. “The lone occupant is unharmed, and the situation is currently stable. Around that time we received notification of the incident through our monitoring network. Six hours ago, we made informal inquiries to Exp Eng. At that time they were assessing the situation and their deployable assets. Two hours ago, again through informal channels we were notified that they intend to formally request assistance.” Direc looked at them. They had been working on this for more than two hours. “Okay,” Direc said. “So, what do your friends over there say?” Gene looked around the table awkwardly. It was still a small community, despite the large number of organizations launching. But, talking to competitors outside of formal channels could create problems. “The capsule is patched. But they figure there’s still a small leak somewhere. He’s got about a day of air left if they can’t find it; longer if they do. The orbit is mean 170 km, delta 20, inclination 10. He was about to square it up when something blew out. They’ll pick apart the telemetry later. But, they want him home first.” Direc nodded. “What’s our plan?” “We have an O-Basket launching in two days. If we strip out the third seat and comforts, downsize the support, fill all the tanks to max, and time the launch right we can do it. Once the two ships rendezvous, their pilot EVAs to the OB and climbs in. They'll do a braking burn at AP and return to the surface.” “There’s a ‘but’ isn’t there?” “There’s no margins,” Linus said. ”One pass, that’s it. We’ll have just enough delta V at the top to get it low enough to start aerobraking. We’ll have no control over where they come down. We spend too much of it at rendezvous, launch, or the rendezvous burn, neither of them come home.” “A lot of reasons to say no,” Direc said. “Sir,” Valentina said. “If it was one of us up there you’d chance it with less.” “Yes, I would.” Direc said. “But, it isn’t.” Jebediah looked down from having stared at the ceiling through most of the conversation. “On the brown side it’s us, them, and others,” he said. “In the blue it’s us and them.” He shook his head as if clearing a memory. “Up there, up in the black, looking down, there is no them, no other, just us.” The phone on the wall rang. Gene walked over and answered it. “Director,” he said. “It’s the chairman.”

Chapter 1 Direc Kerman stood with a shovel in his hands. It was a real shovel, not one of the little gold plated ones usually used for ground breaking ceremonies. He looked over the slightly rolling land, the occasional tree and bush. Around him flashbulbs went off recording the moment. The dignitaries behind him stood with their frozen smiles waiting for him to put the shovel in the ground. “One last job,” he had told his wife when the offer came. “One last job and then I will retire.” Her response was a sniff and “You? Retire?” It was followed by the smile he always loved. He smiled. Succeed or fail, it would be his last job. After he accepted the position he asked one of his friends about the whole project, a serious no non-sense kerbal. “Wernher thinks he craps sunbeams,” Simplain said. “But…” He picked up his slide rule as he began to flip through the proposal. He precisely and rapidly flicked it back and forth in the one hand as he read. He scribbled some notes in the margins with the other hand. One third of the way through, he slowed down. Halfway through, he stopped. “Problem,” Direc asked. Simplain looked up, through the ceiling, focused on something far away. “No, beauty.” He shook his head serious and focused on the office. “Direc my teams are available if you need them.” Direc smirked. “Business reasons?” “Government money spends quite well, as you well know,” Simplain said. “But, this,” he tapped the still open proposal. “This holds the promise of some new answers, and many interesting questions.” Direc looked down at the shovel. The flashing of the cameras slowed to a stop. All the talk, all the paper, all the dreaming, focused on him, on one action, on the very tip of the shovel. He chuckled. He considered what would happen if he did not put the shovel in. He drove the shovel into the ground. He saw out of the corner of his eye a flag kerbal waving frantically. The workers in their equipment ignored him. The cameras started flashing again. He turned the shovel a quarter turn and drove it in again. It clanged against a stone in the soil. He turned the shovel a quarter turn again, and drove it in a third time. He lifted a clump of soil and grass out of the ground. The diesel engines of the earth moving equipment roared to life. He tossed the clump off the shovel. As the clump hit the ground the equipment moved into action Chapter 2 Gus Kerman watched the three trainers approach. Even at a distance he could tell who flying one of the planes. The first six kerbalnauts were arriving. He wondered who had drawn the short straw to fly the front seat with Jebediah. The planes flew by and circled back around. Two broke off and began approach to the runway. The third circled lazily overhead. As the two planes approached one of the two planes rolled onto its starboard wing. The other plane remained flat and level. It touched down in a perfect 3 point landing. “Looks like Valentina gets first smoke on this one,” Gus thought, one of the non-vulgar terms for the first landing on a runway. “Or first dust at least.” He watched the plane taxi down the gravel strip to the hanger. He looked back at the other plane as the engine powered back up to full. It turned into a steep corkscrew climb towards the third plane. Together the two planes approached the runway. One of the planes lined up starboard and aft of the other. They both touched down at the same time. Gus climbed into the jeep and drove towards he hanger. He pulled up as the last engine wound down. He got out and walked over to the flight suited kerbals. “Welcome to the Kerbal Space Center,” he said. “I’m Gus Kerman, head of operations. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the heads later. Right now there is the introductory briefing in forty-five in mission control. There’s showers and food in the Astronaut Complex." He gestured to an idling truck in front of the hanger. “She’ll run you around.” The six picked up their duffel bags and walked to the truck. “Jebediah,” Gus called after them.” Jebediah turned around, “yeah?” “You’re going to be flying further into the stamp than you can imagine. So you don’t need to push my airframes.” “I don’t know. I can imagine pretty far.” “You’ll be there, and further.”

KSP Incident Investigation Committee Summary Report on the crash of Fueler-159 Document Number: K-IIC-0025798-S The following is a summary of the investigation into the crash for Fueler-159. The full report can be found under document number K-IIC-0025798-F. Time Line The timeline begins at 1847.142 9:34 KST, which shall be termed time zero. All events in the timeline are indexed from this point. T 0:00:00 Fueler-159 disengages from surface fuel transport. T 0:00:17 F-159 lifts off from the surface of Minmus. T 0:03:25 Anomalies in the fuel flow in the starboard engines are noted by on board systems T 0:03:28 All starboard engines shut-down. Reactors in the starboard engines soft scram. F-159 begins clockwise roll. T 0:03:29 Port engines are reduced to zero thrust. RCS is engaged to SAS. T 0:03:30 F-159 contacts Minmus flight control declaring emergency situation. T 0:03:31 Roll is arrested and F-159 is returned to nominal horizon. Attempt to restart engine S-1 started. T 0:03:32 Emergency dump of cargo failed. T 0:03:35 Engine S-1 fails to restart. Attempt to restart engine S-2 started. T 0:03:39 Engine S-2 fails to restart. Attempt to restart engine S-3 started. Port engines are throttled up to 32%. T 0:03:43 Engine S-3 fails to restart. Engine S-3 hard scrams. No further attempts were made to restart this engine. Attempt to restart engine S-4 started. T 0:03:45 F-159 declares inability to reach orbit and will attempt a hard landing on the surface. T 0:03:37 Attempt to restart engine S-4 fails. From this point until impact the flight records indicate that multiple attempts were made to restart engines S-1, S-2, and S-4. These attempts are documented in the full report. The first craft to the impact site reported no survivors. Causes Due to the energies involved in the crash the investigation of the incident was difficult. However, enough information as gathered to determine the cause and its effects. Approximately two minutes after lift-off, three minutes in the time line, a meteorite impacted the aft starboard side of the spine of F-159. The impact damaged the fuel pumps for engines S-3 and S-4. The damage then caused a pressure spike with damaged the fuel pumps for Engines S-1 and S-2. Sufficient fuel had been used at this point to create a gas cushion in the main fuel tanks. This gas cushion absorbed the pressure spike. This prevented the propagation to the port fuel systems. The starboard engines continues operating on the remaining fuel in the lines until a lack of fuel flow caused the engines to soft scram. Debris from the damaged fuel pump entered Engine S-3. This caused the engine to hard scram during the restart attempt. Spallation debris from the impact damaged the cable connection for the fuel transfer ports. This damage prevented the emergency dump of the cargo. Recommendations Crew training and procedures: The crew of F-159 preformed in the best traditions of the KSP. No additional training is recommended at this time. The variations on restart procedures attempted by the crew should be investigated for efficiency and effectivity. As multiple safety protocols were ignored during the attempts they are not recommended procedures at this time. Equipment maintenance and supply: Equipment maintenance was not a cause or a contributing factor in this incident. No recommendations are made at this time. Equipment supply was not a cause or a contributing factor in this incident. No recommendations are made at this time. Equipment construction and design: Equipment construction was not a cause or contributing factor in this incident. No recommendations are made at this time. While equipment design did not cause the incident, it was a contributing factor. The following recommendations are made: 1. The Minmus TWR be increased to two. 2. Sufficient control force be added such that in the event of a loss of half the engines the craft will be able to remain in nominal level flight. 3. Additional control lines for emergency cargo dump be added. These control lines are to be run through channels at least three metres apart. 4. A separation system be implemented that will allow the safe separation of the cargo tanks from the craft. 5. Expansion chambers be placed on the fuel lines between the fuel pumps and the engines, and the fuel pumps and main fuel tank. Review of the implementation of all recommendations will occur in six months.

Erbur Kerman glanced up into the VIP room overlooking the control room. Dr. Reinhardt Kerman stood watching the video and data streams on the big boards. The first fuel plant for the Cygnus project was almost 400 meters above the Lesser Flats of Minmus and descending. “Mike-mike control. This is foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife, over.” The voice came over the speakers in the room. It was tinny but clear despite the compression and the radio hash that eight LV-Ns were throwing out. “Foxtrot papa hotel zero fife. This is Mike-Mike Control Bravo, go ahead”, one of the orbital stations controlling flight on and around Minmus. “Bravo, we are 400 meters to touch down. Descending at 15 emm pee ess, will begin burn to 5 emm pee ess in one tree seconds… mark.” “Zeero fife. Bravo. Ack” Erbur studied the telemetry on his monitor. All the systems on the hauler and the fuel plant were well within specification. He adjusted his glasses. Erbur looked up at Dr. Reinhardt again. He just stood, hands crossed behind his back, watching the big boards. “Foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife. This is foxtrot papa zeero zeero eight. Over” The fuel plant that was carried beneath the transport craft. “Foxtrot papa zeero zeero eight. Zeero fife. Go ahead.” “Zeero fife beginning landing procedures. Surface pads will deploy in five seconds.” The voice of the crew commander of the fuel plant. “Zeero eight, Zeero fife. Ack.” This was the part that worried Erbur. The landing pads would get near the exhaust stream of the LV-Ns. The exhaust splashing off them could destabilize the craft. Three hundred metres and falling did not offer any time to stabilize seven hundred tons. He pulled up the control systems readouts. He watched half of them go turn yellow from green; and then back to green. It was not a problem. He knew there would be questions. His boss would accept a half answer and a “we’re working on it.” Dr. Reinhardt would only accept there is no problem, regardless of the size. He closed the control system readouts. The legs on the fuel plant had locked down. With them deployed the plant looked like a turtle, an image that earned it its nickname. “Mike-mike control bravo. This is foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife. Beginning throttle up for 5 emm pee ess in two… one. Mark” “Zeero fife. Bravo. Ack” Before the mike cut out a rumble grew in the radio channel. It would be twenty seconds he would have simpler concerns. Concerns he could begin to solve. He started counting under his breath. Seventeen. On his desk in his office was a bottle of Foxtrot Tango Whiskey. A home crafted whiskey someone started distributing when the keel of the Cygnus was laid down. The first few bottles of the series had been hand labeled. Fifteen. On a shelf in his office were all of them to date. There were rumors of a set of casks laid down when the whole project started. They would be opened when the interstellar ships were complete. Thirteen. He wondered if he would get a chance to drink from those casks. He wondered why he would be drinking the bottle on his desk. “Foxtrot papa zeero zeero eight. Foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife. Throttle up for one emm pee ess.” “Zeero fife. Zeero eight. Ack” The rumble in the background of the radio grew louder. The telltale silences and squelches of digital audio being reduced to digital hash. Nine. How well would his data streams report back? He would have to check with the comms group on that. Seven. He pulled up the landing pad display. All of them showed cyan, down and unloaded. Five. “… zeero zeero … fife … splash expected … tight.” The radio signal now more distorted than it should have been. Three. High enough to jump down, even on Kerbin. One. A quarter of the pads turned green then the rest followed. Some of them blinked yellow and green as the hauler and the plant settled. “… zeero … zeero… throttle…” Erbur let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Zeero fife. Zeero eight. All pads green and loaded.” “Zeero eight. Zeero fife. Ack. Break. Mike-mike control bravo. Foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife. We are landed and stable.” Cheering broke out in the control room. “Zeero fife. Bravo. Good show guys. You’re buying back brownside.” “Foxtrot papa hotel zeero fife. Casey control. We copy you here. We’re all breathing again. Had a couple of guys pass out on the way down.” Erbur leaned back in his chair. He looked up into the VIP room. Dr. Reinhardt turned and walked out. His face was unexpressive. Erbur knew why he would be drinking the whiskey.

Gilely Kerbin watched the telltale light by the airlock. It turned yellow with the clang from outside. She caught the sight of one of the hummingbirds, the craft used to move cargo pods, as it went back to the cargo ship that had just arrived. The light blinked for a couple of seconds then turned a solid green. She pushed herself over to the door. She uncorked the whistle hole. It was silent. She replaced the cork and undogged the hatch. On the other side was a stern looking kerbal. It looked like his face was frozen in a permanent slight scowl, like he disapproved of everything he saw. Gilely reached through the airlock. “Welcome aboard the Eagle’s Nest senator,” she said. The senator took her hand. He was pulled through the lock with easy grace learned in microgravity. The two other occupants of the capsule came through the lock after him. One left the second helmet he carried floating motionless by the senator’s elbow. The other left a duffel bag floating by the senator’s knee. The one that had left the duffel bag paused at the door to the rest of the station. “You riding back with us, senator?” she asked. “No,” the senator shook his head. He stopped and swallowed hard. “I will be taking the rotation shuttle back.” “Too bad, it’s just as good a ride.” She tossed a small bottle. “These will help. Catch you on the brown side.” She floated out the door. Gilely caught the bottle. The senator looked at it. “I’ve never been motion sick in my life.” “Neither had I,” Gilely said. She placed the bottle in a leg pocket. “I got a really bad case a couple of rotations back.” She grabbed the helmet and the duffel bag. “Almost had to be sent down in one of the supply pods. It cleared up after a few days. But, it was one of the worst weeks of my life.” She gestured with the helmet. “The captain is in ops right now. We have one of the plant haulers docking. They were in the pattern after you.” She looked at the senator, “or you can get settled in your quarters.” “No. I’ll see the captain first.” He pushed off to the door. “Slowly, sir. You don’t need to push as hard as you think.” She followed behind him. They floated through the corridors to the operations centre. The captain looked up from the plotting table at the hatch. “Welcome aboard senator,” he said. ”we have one of the eagles coming to nest. If you want you can watch from the dock.” He looked at Gilely. She tapped her leg pocket and slightly wiggled the helmet. “It will be more impressive than watching pixels on the screens,” he continued. “I will join you after it’s docked.” “Thank-you captain.” He turned and moved back to the hatch. They floated along the corridor. One side of it was painted blue the opposite was painted brown. Everyone they passed had their feet towards the brown side. “Do the colours mean anything?” the senator asked. “Up and down mostly,” Gilely said. “They were chosen by the pilots. They’re the same as the nav ball.” She looked over at the senator, a kerbal that disliked wasteful spending. He put the Cygnus, and its related projects, high on his list of wasteful spending. “We saw a nice bump in productivity, and a sharp decrease in both claustrophobia and agoraphobia.” They arrived at one of the windows near the docks. Five of the eight fuel plant haulers, nicknamed eagles, were docked. Around them were suited kerbals performed checks and maintenance. Gilely looked out the window for a moment. She looked down at her watch. She looked out the window a new constellation had appeared, a regular quartet of stars. “There they are, sir. About a handbreadth up from the port-aft blast shield.” The stars resolved into four flares of intense white pointed towards the station. Gilely frowned. She pulled the mike down from his ear piece. “Just a moment senator.” “Con 6. Ex,” She said into the mike. “One seven seems to be coming in a bit hotter than usual.” She paused and frowned, listening to the response through the earpiece. “Okay. I’ll talk to them after they’ve cleared. Ex out.” She put the mike back. “Problem?” The senator said. “Oh seventeen has always given us trouble. She’s been rebuilt from the frame out. The parts have been swapped with other birds. They work there without a problem, and working parts give us trouble.” She shrugged. “She’s a cranky bird. We keep her low on the rotation. But she hasn’t quit on us yet though.” A white cloud formed in front of the ship. “More problems?” The senator asked. “No. That’s the RCS thrusters. She’s burning them hard to get down to the right speed. She’s too close for the main engines at this point.” The ship came in close again the white cloud formed. The ship halted. Small puffs of white nudged the ship onto the docking ports. There was a clang as the ports locked together. The lights on the ship turned off. It was illuminated by the lights from the dock, sunlight, and Kerbinlight. A couple of suited kerbals leapt to the ships. They trailed a collection of hoses and cables. One of them waved as she went past the cockpit. Their helmet lights played over sections of the hull as they connected the lines. After a moment they pushed off back to the station. “They’re not using eva packs?” the senator asked. “They have them,” Gilely said. “Some do use them. Most save the fuel for emergencies.” “Why don’t you take it out of service until the problems are fixed?” “She hasn’t failed us yet.” Gilely looked out the window. Two suited figures climbed out of the hatch. They went hand over hand on a line attached to the station. “Some of the others will, and have. Every time we’ve said go, she’s gone. Grumbling the whole way there and back. She’s believes in the project.” “And you Gilely. Do you believe in the project?” “Yes.” “Because of Reinhardt or despite him?” Gilely caught the captain coming in out of the corner of her eye. She gestured out of the window. One of the large craters on the surface of Kerbin was coming into view. “That one nearly wiped life off the face of the planet. It certainly would have wiped us off it. I believe in what he will end up achieving.” “Senator” the captain said. The senator turned around. His eyes bulged momentarily. He began to vomit. Gilely swiftly brought the helmet. She grabbed the senator’s shoulder to stop his spin. She caught most of the vomit in the helmet. After the senator stopped coughing, the captain continued. “There are fewer in the cult of Reinhardt then you’d expect.” He patted the senator on the shoulder. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”