The Saga of Emiko Station - Complete

[Delfinus]

Wat....

[Crystal_Mace]

Piper rocks!   (Somebody had to say it...) That woman is a real party mineral......

[kookoo_gr]

love how the story progresses and the plot reminds me more and more the books from the saga of the dark between the stars by kevin j. anderson even though at first i thought you were going at something that resembles the plot of apollo 18.

[Geschosskopf]

4 hours ago, Just Jim said:

(Dedicated to Twin Peaks)

I missed this subtitle until I was writing this reply but seeing it now saved me from posting a pic of the Log Lady, whom I was naturally reminded of.  Fortunately, that gum I like is coming back in style

But all your rocks are creeping me out.  See, no kidding, in my universe, it's a common superstition that the arches awaken at night and go striding across the Munscape like giant Slinkies.  There have even been alleged sightings........  

.....although, given there was no video, just this last frantic radio transmission before contact was lost, nobody really knows what these poor Kerbals were talking about.  Officially, they just disappeared although conspiracy theorists claim the rover and crew were found smashed flat in a small crater, many miles from the known position of any arch.  But whatever the truth of the matter, no Kerbal willingly goes driving around on Mun at night....

[KSK]

3 hours ago, Crystal_Mace said:

Piper rocks!   (Somebody had to say it...) That woman is a real party mineral......

Yeah, yeah. Of quartz somebody had to say it...

Nice update! The plot definitely thickens. We got Thompberry, we got kids, we got a  mysterious AWOL AI, a drunken bet with sinister overtones. We got a strange Rock Lady, a very cool Múnbase, we got knives, sharp sticks.

We got memetic overload...

 

[galaxyguy]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhh what's gonna happen!!!!!!?????

[TopHeavy11]

Sentient rock...nope. Aliens. Hermit-Krab like creatures, most likely originating from asteroid Ekimo itself. Actually...ohmygod...Ekimo is a traveler...and because of that...Destiny Awaits. DUN DUN DUN!!!! @Just Jim, have you been playing/watching Destiny lately? Ekimo is a COSMIC TRAVELER like the one in Destiny, and I don't think it coincidence the the rock-lady said something along the lines of DARKNESS SHALL FOLLOW! Destiny inspiration confirmed! Rest of story-line confirmed! I'm-a-conspirist-with-nothing-better-to-do confirmed lol.

Edited February 3, 2016 by TopHeavy11
Dumb typo. :P

[Just Jim]

7 hours ago, Crystal_Mace said:

Piper rocks!   (Somebody had to say it...) That woman is a real party mineral......

yeah..... I'm really liking Piper myself. 
She is based on one of my absolute favorite sci-fi characters... which should reveal itself in another chapter or two... 

6 hours ago, kookoo_gr said:

love how the story progresses and the plot reminds me more and more the books from the saga of the dark between the stars by kevin j. anderson even though at first i thought you were going at something that resembles the plot of apollo 18.

Again, haven't read them, but I have to admit loving just being mentioned in the same sentence as K.J. Anderson! 

5 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

I missed this subtitle until I was writing this reply but seeing it now saved me from posting a pic of the Log Lady, whom I was naturally reminded of.  Fortunately, that gum I like is coming back in style

But all your rocks are creeping me out.  See, no kidding, in my universe, it's a common superstition that the arches awaken at night and go striding across the Munscape like giant Slinkies.  There have even been alleged sightings........  
.....although, given there was no video, just this last frantic radio transmission before contact was lost, nobody really knows what these poor Kerbals were talking about.  Officially, they just disappeared although conspiracy theorists claim the rover and crew were found smashed flat in a small crater, many miles from the known position of any arch.  But whatever the truth of the matter, no Kerbal willingly goes driving around on Mun at night....

Giant Slinkies.... wish I had thought of that...  lol...

But seriously, I always loved the Log Lady... you never really knew if she was some sort of prophet, or just completely bonkers. 

4 hours ago, KSK said:

Yeah, yeah. Of quartz somebody had to say it...

Nice update! The plot definitely thickens. We got Thompberry, we got kids, we got a  mysterious AWOL AI, a drunken bet with sinister overtones. We got a strange Rock Lady, a very cool Múnbase, we got knives, sharp sticks.

We got memetic overload...

 

Pointy sticks!!!  Get it right!  hehe 

Yup, the plot thickens like gravy...  and I still have a couple more new characters to introduce. 
I don't think it's a spoiler, just common sense, to say as Emiko and KASA expand and grow, they will attract some new and.... interesting... people. 

24 minutes ago, TopHeavy11 said:

Sentient rock...nope. Aliens. Hermit-Krab like creatures, most likely originating from asteroid Ekimo itself. Actually...ohmygod...Ekimo is a traveler...and because of that...Destiny Awaits. DUN DUN DUN!!!! @Just Jim, have you been playing/watching Destiny lately? Ekimo is a COSMIC TRAVELER like the one in Destiny, and I don't think it coincidence the the rock-lady said something along the lines of DARKNESS SHALL FOLLOW! Destiny inspiration confirmed! Rest of story-line confirmed! I'm-a-conspirist-with-nothing-better-to-do confirmed lol.

I'm afraid I have no idea what that is, sorry. 
Conspiracy un-confirmed, total coincidence.... no evidence what-so-ever... top secret... classified....
You didn't see anything... and I was never here... 

4 hours ago, galaxyguy said:

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhh what's gonna happen!!!!!!?????

Tune in next week....
Same bat-time
Same bat-channel...  

Edited February 3, 2016 by Just Jim

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, TopHeavy11 said:

Sentient rock...nope. Aliens. Hermit-Krab like creatures, ......

Hmmm, reminds me of "Apollo 18" or whatever that movie was.....

1 hour ago, Just Jim said:

yeah..... I'm really liking Piper myself. 
She is based on one of my absolute favorite sci-fi characters... which should reveal itself in another chapter or two... 

She might need to go apologize to Emiko for ripping a chunk out of it and using it as a weapon.  I'm sure that had to have hurt

1 hour ago, Just Jim said:

Giant Slinkies.... wish I had thought of that...  lol...

Well, feel free to use it if you want.  I actually hope it becomes a widespread thing in the community, semi-canon.  That would be immortality of a sort.  

[Just Jim]

7 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Hmmm, reminds me of "Apollo 18" or whatever that movie was.....

She might need to go apologize to Emiko for ripping a chunk out of it and using it as a weapon.  I'm sure that had to have hurt

Well, feel free to use it if you want.  I actually hope it becomes a widespread thing in the community, semi-canon.  That would be immortality of a sort.  

No Mun spider beasties... I promise...

And Piper feels horrible for having to hurt her station in order to save it. 

As for the arches being giant slinkies, while I think it's a really fun idea, if one of those went stomping around, it could easily take out the whole colony base in one misplaced step...  

[Mister Dilsby]

Finally caught up--great work, Jim, on crafts, story and piloting--not everyone can stick landings within a few meters of a base or an anomaly  And yeah, log rock lady. Ha!  

[NotAgain]

14 hours ago, Just Jim said:

older looking Kerbin

Do you mean Kerbal?

[Just Jim]

6 minutes ago, NotAgain said:

Do you mean Kerbal?

opps. your right.... corrected 

[Andem]

41 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

opps. your right.... corrected 

Irony... 

[Just Jim]

Just now, Andem said:

Irony... 

hehehe... I was waiting to see if anyone caught that... 

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Is this all a set up for a terrible rocketdyne pun?

11 hours ago, Just Jim said:

[...]

Tune in next week....
Same bat-time
Same bat-channel...  

Have a replike.

[Just Jim]

17 hours ago, kookoo_gr said:

love how the story progresses and the plot reminds me more and more the books from the saga of the dark between the stars by kevin j. anderson even though at first i thought you were going at something that resembles the plot of apollo 18.

OK, this should make you happy. 
The next chapter, which I'll have ready tomorrow, is very heavily influenced by Kevin J. Anderson, only in this case it's him and Brian Herbert's Dune: The Butlerian Jihad....

And fair warning, it's also very, very, very heavily influenced by my favorite author of all time: H.P. Lovecraft.....
...........but I'm keeping which of his tales to myself for now. 

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Just Jim said:

And fair warning, it's also very, very, very heavily influenced by my favorite author of all time: H.P. Lovecraft.....

I'm thinking this means there might be tentacles and pseudopods involved

 

[Just Jim]

8 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

I'm thinking this means there might be tentacles and pseudopods involved

 

Hordes of ravenous Cthulhuoids wandering Kerbin???   hehehe
While that would be fun, I'm afraid not.  
The game doesn't give me giant squidies to play with... well, maybe a dead one.  But I can't do much with that.  

But I've read pretty much everything Lovecraft wrote, or edited, or was influenced by.  Read and re-read and in some cases memorized.  And there are a lot of tales not involving squishy tentacle beasties.  Some are solid, hard-core sci-fi, and way ahead if it's time.

For example, in many stories; I believe Whisperer in Darkness may have been the first, but I would have to check, Lovecraft mentions and predicts our undiscovered 10th (9th now....lol) planet.  This was before 1930!  And right this second there are another couple threads on this very forum with people arguing and debating if this very same planet exists or not.  Lovecraft wrote about it, and described it, 80 years ago!

Another example of a story way ahead of its time, and I find this one really fascinating, is a story called A Color Out Of Space, from around 1927.
In this one, a meteorite falls onto a field on a small farm, and sort of dissolves, or melts, into the field, and also into the ground water.  And over the next few weeks and months strange things begin to happen to first the plants, then the animals, and finally the family living there.... and the symptoms are fascinating!
This was written in 1927, more than a decade before the first trinity A-bomb test... Yet in this story, Lovecraft describes the symptoms of radiation sickness almost perfectly! 

A third, one of my favorites, is The Cats of Ulthar.... 
Simply put, it's the story of why it is forbidden to kill a cat in the city of Ulthar. 
This one is a really fun fantasy story, and not really horror at all, especially by todays standards.

Lovecraft was much more than just a horror writer.  Some stories are pure sci-fi, others are pure fantasy, many are a weird blend of the three...
So when I say it's influenced by Lovecraft, you can rest assured there is a multitude of directions I may be hinting at. 

Edited February 4, 2016 by Just Jim

[Geschosskopf]

7 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Hordes of ravenous Cthulhuoids wandering Kerbin???   hehehe
While that would be fun, I'm afraid not.  
The game doesn't give me giant squidies to play with... well, maybe a dead one.  But I can't do much with that.  

Well, on KerbalStuff I saw a mod called "Kerbal Space Ponies" that adds Kerbals that look like "My Little Pony" creatures, complete with big lovable eyes and rainbow-colored hair.  Surely that's horrifying enough to be Lovecraftian 

I also have pretty much all of Lovecraft's stuff, as well as Derleth's and the rest of that gang.  My fav story is "The Hound".

[Just Jim]

Just now, Geschosskopf said:

Well, on KerbalStuff I saw a mod called "Kerbal Space Ponies" that adds Kerbals that look like "My Little Pony" creatures, complete with big lovable eyes and rainbow-colored hair.  Surely that's horrifying enough to be Lovecraftian 

I also have pretty much all of Lovecraft's stuff, as well as Derleth's and the rest of that gang.  My fav story is "The Hound".

Oh, outstanding!  I love Derleth!!! 
And "The Hound" is great.... with a wonderfully nasty twist! 

As far as favorites, it's really hard to pick one. 
But if I have to choose, I think it would be "The Strange Case of Charles Dextar Ward" followed closely by "The Festival".
I seriously wish I could write like that!

[Andem]

2 hours ago, Just Jim said:

Hordes of ravenous Cthulhuoids wandering Kerbin???   hehehe
While that would be fun, I'm afraid not.  
The game doesn't give me giant squidies to play with... well, maybe a dead one.  But I can't do much with that.  

But I've read pretty much everything Lovecraft wrote, or edited, or was influenced by.  Read and re-read and in some cases memorized.  And there are a lot of tales not involving squishy tentacle beasties.  Some are solid, hard-core sci-fi, and way ahead if it's time.

For example, in many stories; I believe Whisperer in Darkness may have been the first, but I would have to check, Lovecraft mentions and predicts our undiscovered 10th (9th now....lol) planet.  This was before 1930!  And right this second there are another couple threads on this very forum with people arguing and debating if this very same planet exists or not.  Lovecraft wrote about it, and described it, 80 years ago!

Another example of a story way ahead of its time, and I find this one really fascinating, is a story called A Color Out Of Space, from around 1927.
In this one, a meteorite falls onto a field on a small farm, and sort of dissolves, or melts, into the field, and also into the ground water.  And over the next few weeks and months strange things begin to happen to first the plants, then the animals, and finally the family living there.... and the symptoms are fascinating!
This was written in 1927, more than a decade before the first trinity A-bomb test... Yet in this story, Lovecraft describes the symptoms of radiation sickness almost perfectly! 

A third, one of my favorites, is The Cats of Ulthar.... 
Simply put, it's the story of why it is forbidden to kill a cat in the city of Ulthar. 
This one is a really fun fantasy story, and not really horror at all, especially by todays standards.

Lovecraft was much more than just a horror writer.  Some stories are pure sci-fi, others are pure fantasy, many are a weird blend of the three...
So when I say it's influenced by Lovecraft, you can rest assured there is a multitude of directions I may be hinting at. 

You really love your Lovecraft, don't you?

Asimov's stories really get to me... I absolutely adore them.

[Just Jim]

18 minutes ago, Andem said:

You really love your Lovecraft, don't you?

Asimov's stories really get to me... I absolutely adore them.

Asimov will always be considered one of the greatest, and rightly so. 

As for Lovecraft, yes, I do love his work. 
But more than that, I wanted to point out it's not just about horror, or have folks thinking I'm going to suddenly turn this into a horror novel. 
I'm not.

It's just that every great adventure needs a super-villain, someone really dark and sinister that threatens all Kerbal kind..... 
And I do believe we may meet up with this individual very, very soon....  

Definitely by this evening...

    Dun, Dun, Dunnnnnnnn  

Edited February 4, 2016 by Just Jim

[Andem]

9 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Asimov will always be considered one of the greatest, and rightly so. 

As for Lovecraft, yes, I do love his work. 
But more than that, I wanted to point out it's not just about horror, or have folks thinking I'm going to suddenly turn this into a horror novel. 
I'm not.

It's just that every great adventure needs a super-villain, someone really dark and sinister that threatens all Kerbal kind..... 
And I do believe we may meet up with this individual very, very soon....  

Definitely by this evening...

    Dun, Dun, Dunnnnnnnn  

Can't wait. I would give you rep, but I've already used my 25...

[Just Jim]

It's quiet..... too quiet.....  excellent.... 
Sit back, relax, make some tea... and enjoy...

Chapter 31
    The Darkening  
Dedicated to The Whisperer in Darkness, by H.P. Lovecraft

 

A few weeks after Piper and Kerenna Kerman's vacation to Mun Colony Alpha, and their odd encounter with the enigmatic Rocklady, Gene stood alone atop the vehicle assembly building and awaited the mornings test launch. To this point prototypes for the mega-ship, as the engineers had nicknamed it, had been less than ideal, and Gene had his doubts about this launch as well.

As the minutes ticked by, he looked down again at the reports he had been carrying with him. The Joolian satellites and landers had reached their destinations, and so far the results were a mixed blessing. The Jool explorer satellite was in fine shape, and sending back valuable data, as well as some stunning images of the beautiful gas giant.

Safe as well were both the Laythe explorer and lander, and the images being sent back from the lander were breathtaking. Gene already decided if they ever established a base on Laythe, he might very well retire and move out there.

After Laythe came Vall; cold and strange, and both explorer and lander are reporting in satisfactory. The lander did experience some overheating during it's decent, and while nothing catastrophic occurred, this issue should be examined and addressed before any more landings are attempted.

Then came Tylo, and so far the incoming data was somewhat horrifying. The explorer satellite was able to establish orbit, but with some serious overheating. The lander was lost. Whether it overheated or ran out of fuel, or both, is still unclear. What is clear is Tylo's unmerciful gravity tore it apart before it hit the surface. This data must be studied carefully and taken into account in designing the mega-ship. Until now it was assumed Eve would be their biggest challenge. But now the science team was wondering if Tylo might be just as bad, or perhaps in some ways worse.

Bop, the second to last Joolian moon, did not appear too hostile, and reminded Gene of Gilly in many ways. If they could find a relatively flat area to land, this moon appeared to be fairly easy.

Gene shuddered when he thought of the last of Jool's moons: Pol. The images coming in from Pol were like some horrific netherworld. The entire moon seemed covered in spiked, jagged rocks; huge razor sharp spires reaching to the stars, and just waiting to tear a ship to shreds. They would need to find the very best of the best pilot on the planet to attempt landing on Pol. 

As the countdown wound down to the last minute, Gene became aware someone had joined him on the rooftop. He knew who it was, but was in no mood to speak to him as the final seconds ticked down.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ignition... lift-off!!!

But just as Gene had feared, within seconds it was painfully clear something had gone horribly wrong....

Explosion after explosion ripped thru the launch pad, almost knocking Gene off his feet, and time seemed to move in slow motion as the doomed shuttle dropped back to the ground and burst into a blinding white hot fireball.

Standing behind Gene, Parka B. Kerman whistled and said, "I don't think that was supposed to happen."

Furious, Gene turned and screamed at Parka, "This is all your fault... YOUR fault!"

"If it wasn't for your stupid bet.... Why? Do you understand what you've done?" Gene ranted, "The whole world knows, Parka..... Don't you realize what this means? If this... challenge... of yours fails, our reputation is gone. KASA will be a laughing stock, and all our work will be for NOTHING!!!"

Calmly, Parka turned and replied, "Gene, please... calm down.  I'm sorry... I really am. I never thought it would get this out of hand."

"Look, Gene," Parka continued, "I'll pay to rebuild the launch pad, OK? Will that get you to listen?"

"I'm listening," Gene grumbled.

"Good... good," Parka smiled, "Before I tell you my news, I really want you to understand I'm on your side in this. The money is unimportant. Honestly, I'm hoping you can do it...I really am! I want to see this to the end, OK... buddy?"

Gene smiled, finding it hard to stay mad at his charismatic friend. "OK... we're good. Now what's this news of yours?"

"Ahhh, you are going to like this," Parka grinned, "I've been talking to a few of my friends at Experimental Engineering, who I believe are funding your space station project to Duna? Well, I showed them the newest images of your Mun colony, did a little Parka magic, and got them to sign onto an additional refueling colony base on Ike! And, it gets even better."

Gene, now smiling broadly, asked eagerly, "And???"

Sounding really excited now, Parka exclaimed, "I had to pull in a few favors, but I believe it was worth it. Late last night I got my own board of directors to sign onto a massive expansion of your Emiko Station! Now, are we friends again?" 

Overwhelmed, Gene replied, "We always were.... "

"Good," Parka turned and looked back at the pad, "What a mess. We should probably start cleaning that up. Come on... look at the bright side, at least I'm willing to pay for this mess. Not like that psycho that blew up your stacking station... what was his name? Thumperbumber??? Something like that??"

Gene laughed, "Thompberry."

"Yeah, that's it. At least I'm not that Thompberry character," Parka grinned, "Any idea what ever became of him?"

"Oh, he's probably a million kilometers from here by now...." Gene looked up at the sky, then back at the shattered launch pad, "I hope...."

*          *          *

But what had become of Thompberry Kerman? Had he survived the years adrift inside the strange sentient capsule calling itself Omega-77? Or had he perished in the dark loneliness of space?

Ironically, it was Thompberry himself that was asking these very questions...

Am I alive? Am I... dead?  Is this dead??? I don't feel dead... I don't feel... anything??? Where am I???

Thoughts... memories... everything was confused... jumbled. Struggling to focus, Thompberry tried to remember.... and slowly a face formed in his mind. Smiling, beautiful, but somehow also painful....

Jandolin...

Slowly he began to remember more. Jandolin, KASA, Emiko Station...

Piper!

Now his thought turned to dark hate, and the memories flooded back in a rage.

Piper Kerman... yes... yes... you, dear, you will suffer horribly for what you've done!

Again he tried to focus, to remember what had happened after they had left Kerbin... they... Then he remembered Omega-77, and wondered why it was silent? Where was that annoying abomination? For years they had argued and sparred, why was it not tormenting him now? 

I am here, Thompberry... I am you... now....

The strange voice rang thru Thompberry's mind. He heard it, but didn't, but.... what????? 

What is this? What have you done?

I have saved us, Thompberry, like you requested. I have... preserved.... us.  ook back, remember... see thru our memory banks...

And almost instantly Thompberry's mind was flooded with memories and images of the past 4 years. Of the long days sparring between him and Omega-77. The times he was able to temporarily shut down the sentient computer with a well disguised paradox. The attempts to contact Kerbin... his partner... his partner...

Parka.... yesssss...... we had a scheme in play....

Then orbiting Duna, and disaster loomed.

High over Duna, Thompberry faced the grim fact he was almost out of snacks, and facing starvation soon, he screamed in outrage and condemnation at Omega-77, demanding he turn the ship around and not allow Thompberry to starve. But Omega-77, calculating they did not have enough time to return, came up with an alternate solution... a dark, unthinkable solution. And in an instant the sentient computer shut down the life support systems, and threw Thompberry into a forced hypothermic deep sleep.

Years passed as Thompberry dreamed his sluggish, cold nightmares of revenge, as the now silent ship used the last of it's fuel to slingshot passed Eve and out to the rim of solar system, and it's dark destination.

But where???

Slowly, images filled his mind... dark, cold... empty...

Jool....

Yessss, Thompberry Kerman, Jool. It was here we found him. The last of the Elder Ones. Ancient was he, and eager for death. But we learned from the visitors, the ones that built the saucers, that the Ender Ones had vast knowledge and wisdom of the universe, and perhaps this one survivor could provide a way for us to survive the long years in space. And it agreed, Thompberry... it agreed to save us, in return for death.

Now Thompberry began to feel his surroundings... feel himself... seeing??? Why did it feel so different???

Slowly, Thompberry Kerman... slowly. The synaptic interfaces take time to connect...

What???  Interfaces????? What have you done to me???

But Thompberry already suspected... already dreaded to hear the answer.

There is a way, ancient and almost unknown except to the most elder of the Kraken, a way to preserve us thru vast eons of time, Thompberry Kerman. By the most delicate of surgeries, the Elder Kraken as removed your brain, Thompberry Kerman... removed your brain and placed it into a self preservation canister atop this ship!

Howls of madness ripped thru Thompberry's mind, as he gained full awareness of his surroundings, and his fate.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Thru his panic he then became aware of the huge lifeless body only meters from him... the Elder Kraken, now dead. And he knew it was all true....

Madness now ripped thru him, madness and hatred, combined with the cold, calculating logic of a sentient machine. And he howled and laughed and gibbered into the long, dark gloom.... then he grew silent... and began to plot his revenge.

 

The Saga of Emiko Station is far, far from over....

Go to Chapter 32
Return to Index

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim