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The Saga of Emiko Station - Complete


Just Jim

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Woah... That's... INCREDIBLE!!! Oh man, I wonder... Can thompberry feel pain if the rover is damaged? Will he feel sick or sleepy if a solar panel is shattered? Do the lights inside the pods tutn on when he plots? So many questions! :0.0:

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I half expected Thompberry to find that becoming a mining rover would leave him with an insatiable hunger for ore... And so he would feast, feast upon the ore of Bop! Hundreds of years later, they would find Thompberry, as a now-dead rover, floating among the ore-devoid asteroids that used to be Bop.

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19 hours ago, GDJ said:

Keep up the good work. Have you been reading Ludlum or King for inspiration?

I know I wrote Lovecraft earlier, but the real inspiration for this chapter was Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Dune: Butlerian Jihad.

I can think of at least half a dozen sci-fi versions of a disembodied brain, but Butlerian Jihad really explored what a brain-in-a-jar could do.....

 

14 hours ago, KSK said:

OK, if we didn't know it before we do now. This guy is definitely a couple of cans short of a six-pack. And he's lost the plastic thingy that holds them all together...

Hehehe.... and he dropped a can, so you know that one will blow when it's opened....

 

14 hours ago, Crystal_Mace said:

I'm getting scared for Piper.  It was one thing when he was obsessed with abducting  Kerman, but now his motivation is cold, inhuman vengeance....:O

Think Dick Dastardly..... and a heroine tied to the tracks of an oncoming train..... bwaahahahaha 

 

12 hours ago, kookoo_gr said:

Wow, i am really scared of Thompberry right now, keep up the great work.

Thanks.... that's what I'm going for... :wink:

 

4 hours ago, GDJ said:

Oh, and on a side note, the kids are probably old enough now to start flight training.......

I'll be getting back to them in the next chapter...

 

2 hours ago, Andem said:

Woah... That's... INCREDIBLE!!! Oh man, I wonder... Can thompberry feel pain if the rover is damaged? Will he feel sick or sleepy if a solar panel is shattered? Do the lights inside the pods tutn on when he plots? So many questions! :0.0:

That's a very interesting question......  we'll explore this later....

 

2 hours ago, RocketSquid said:

I half expected Thompberry to find that becoming a mining rover would leave him with an insatiable hunger for ore... And so he would feast, feast upon the ore of Bop! Hundreds of years later, they would find Thompberry, as a now-dead rover, floating among the ore-devoid asteroids that used to be Bop.

hahahaha...... A fat, bloated Jabba the Rover.... 

 

1 hour ago, insert_name said:

does thomberry have control of the chariot's doodlebug?

Short answer: yes.  I'll delve into it later down the road... 

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3 hours ago, Just Jim said:

I'll be getting back to them in the next chapter...

The above RE:  "kids old enough to get their pilots' licenses"....

Have they ever learned to walk yet?  Are they doomed to live in microgravity forever due to atriphied legs?

Edited by Geschosskopf
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1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

The above RE:  "kids old enough to get their pilots' licenses"....

Have they ever learned to walk yet?  Are they doomed to live in microgravity forever due to atriphied legs?

I dunno...I suppose a couple of months of physiotherapy and weight training would be reasonable.

Oh who are we kidding!? These are Kerbals. They live on dryer lint and can live for years in space without dying and land on a planet and walk around like it's no big deal.

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12 hours ago, RocketSquid said:

I half expected Thompberry to find that becoming a mining rover would leave him with an insatiable hunger for ore... And so he would feast, feast upon the ore of Bop! Hundreds of years later, they would find Thompberry, as a now-dead rover, floating among the ore-devoid asteroids that used to be Bop.

Time to bust out that accordion....

Ohhhh - he's been a mad rover on Bop's rugged shores.

Spent all his sanity, gobbling down ore.

Now nickel ain't bad but blutonium's best.

Blowing up Kerbin t'was only in jest.

 

And it's no, naaaaay, never.

No, nay, never no more,

Will he be the mad rover

On old Bop's rugged shore.

 

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8 hours ago, KSK said:

Time to bust out that accordion....

Ohhhh - he's been a mad rover on Bop's rugged shores.

Spent all his sanity, gobbling down ore.

Now nickel ain't bad but blutonium's best.

Blowing up Kerbin t'was only in jest.

 

And it's no, naaaaay, never.

No, nay, never no more,

Will he be the mad rover

On old Bop's rugged shore.

 

Oh, awesome!!!!    :cool:

 

Edited by Just Jim
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OK, I got a huge amount of background stuff finished today. I'm thinking enough for the next few chapters. 

I'll be doing screenshots tomorrow...... baring any unforeseen weirdness I'm hoping to get the next chapter posted tomorrow evening.

Edited by Just Jim
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I just reread the last few chapters.

Piper better have a good couple of bodyguards. Other wise her butt is grass, and Thompberry is the lawnmower.
 

And for some reason, this is how I picture Thompberry inside the can:

eYZIIIF.gif

Edited by GDJ
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17 minutes ago, GDJ said:

I just reread the last few chapters.

Piper better have a good couple of bodyguards. Other wise her butt is grass, and Thompberry is the lawnmower.

But I get the feeling that the kids are dumb and brazen enough to do something REALLY stupid and twart Thompberry's plans.........just a theory......

Thompberry is MORE than JUST a lownmower...

He's one of these things:

john-deere-chopper-lawn-mower.jpg

 

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4 hours ago, Just Jim said:

 

Oh wow!  I had no idea..... seriously.  I've never watched Orange... not really into shows like that. 

If I had known, I might have written her as one of the pirates... lol.... :wink:

 

3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Oh yes. That was good for a snort every time my wife and I watched an episode. I always thought it odd that the n00b prisoners got to wear orange, then wore a different color once they were veterans :) 


Well, at least Piper here is a BadS.....which kinda works actually.......

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Chapter 36
Duna Runaway

 

The evening after contact was lost with the Bop Chariot, Kerenna Kerman was given an honored escort as she walked out to the runway, and her waiting diamondback SSTO. Tonight, history would be made. Tonight Kerenna, along with Jeb, Val, Bob, and Bill, were heading to distant and mysterious Duna.

Over the last two weeks a marathon of launches had occurred, Kerenna's being the last. Ship after ship roared off into the sky, all bound for Duna. 22 in total, they comprised all the pieces and sections for both a station above Duna, and a colony on Ike, as well as support ships. Using all the knowledge and experience learned from building and expanding the stations and colonies around Kerbin and it's moons, and utilizing their tied and true asparagus delivery systems, KASA decided to take a huge gamble and launch everything at once, rather than wait 2 years in between launch windows to Duna. All fully robotic, this fleet was not only on their way, their flight plans were plotted to reach Duna weeks before Kerenna and her ship. And if everything went according to schedule, the station and colony should be remotely assembled and ready for testing and shakedown by the time the Diamondback arrives.

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Stone-faced, Kerenna strapped herself into the pilots seat, checked her instrumentation, insured her passengers were secure, and gunned the engines for what may very well be the last flight of her life.

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But as the mighty SSTO shot into the darkening sky, Kerenna did not laugh or smile, as was often the case. Despite the importance of this mission, she felt no joy, only sadness. She was leaving behind KASA, and the KSC, and all her friends... and most important, the Kerbin she loved so very dearly, Gene Kerman.

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No-one knew how she felt, most especially Gene himself... and for this Kerenna felt such shame and embarrassment it was like a dull ache around her heart. Kerenna Kerman, admired, beloved and respected across all of Kerbin, inspiration to children and adult Kerbals alike..... was secretly afraid. Afraid of her feelings, and where they might lead... and most of all, she was afraid Gene wouldn't feel the same about her... even reject her. And this thought made her blood run cold with fear.

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And as the mighty SSTO reached orbit, she was ashamed that she was, in fact, running away. She had already been near her breaking point when word went out of the Duna journey, and to the entire administration's surprise, she immediately volunteered to pilot. And was instantly accepted. How could she not be? Despite their experience, even Jeb and Val combined couldn't equal the flight hours Kerenna had put into the Diamondback.

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She couldn't face Gene, couldn't tell him how dear he had become to her.... and this fear made her even more sick and ashamed. 

"I am soooo going to miss you... you..... ohhhhhh"

As the SSTO was topped off by a Raptor from Kerbin station in low Kerbin orbit for it's next leg, she started to cry softly, and was thankful the rest of the crew couldn't see her.

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Once it had enough fuel, Kerenna laid in a course for Emiko Station, where the Diamondback would be fully refueled and restocked before heading out.

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When they arrived, Piper rushed out in a Raptor to pick up her best friend before the refueler arrived. Jeb, Val, Bob and Bill remained behind to supervise the refueling process.

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Then the refueler, essentially a flying gas tank, moved in to begin it's work. But even with it's vast capacity, it couldn't to fully top off the Diamondback without returning to Emiko and reprocessing a second load of fuel, which gave Piper and Kerenna time to return to Emiko and find an empty cabin to talk for a while.

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Once they were alone, Kerenna broke down. Piper was the only one who knew how Kerenna felt, and had kept her friends secret for years.

"Oh Piper... am I just a fool? Tell me I'm making the right decision... please?"

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Looking out the window, Kerenna continued, "How can I leave all this??? Leave.... leave... him??? Oh god... what have I done???"

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Piper looked at her friend and smiled sadly. "Kerenna, listen to me.  I know how you feel... honestly, I do. And if it's meant to be, then it will happen, I promise. But now is not the time. This is the most important job of your life. Do you hear me, sister? You need to focus. You'll have plenty of time to think about Gene later, OK?"

"But..." Kerenna began, then stopped herself and sighed, "You're right. I need to get it together. Thank you."

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Several hours later, the Diamondback fully refueled and ready, Piper pulled away from Emiko to shuttle Kerenna back to her ship, and say her goodbyes to Jeb, Val, and the gang. But as she pulled out, something odd caught her eye. Frowning, she looked over to see her starboard cabin lights were off. She double checked her instruments, and everything seemed fine, so she tapped the switch a couple times, but nothing happened. Dismissing it as just a blown light bulb, she decided to ignore it until she got back, and headed out to the Diamondback.

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After a long goodbye, Piper pulled her Raptor away from the Diamondback, and wondered how long it would be until she say her friend again. Looking over and the darkened cabin, she thought to herself, "I wonder how many Kerbals it takes to change a cabin light bulb???  Hehehe"

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Once underway, Kerenna plotted their burn to Duna and laid in a course.

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Once the ship was out of Kerbin SOI and their Duna intercept was confirmed, the crew began to relax.

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But up in the cockpit, Kerenna felt uneasy. The flight had gone perfectly, and all readings were safely in the green.... but inside, something felt... off. She knew this ship so very well, every little quirk....

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Thinking it was just her imagination, she headed to the empty back cabin to take a long deserved nap, but hadn't made it through the front cabin when she saw a movement in the hatch window. And as a cold chill went down her spine she flung the hatch door and almost fell to the floor in shock...

"Oh no... Oh no... no.... no....." she stammered. She wanted to kick herself... how could she have been so stupid??? Piper was right... she had let herself get distracted, and the worst possible thing had happened. There in the back two seats, trying to smile and act as if they had done nothing wrong, sat the twins, Theo and Gem!

"We.... we wanted to come along," Theo said meekly. 

Kerenna felt sick... how could they have snuck aboard??? Wait... of course, the cabin with the blown light bulb Piper had mentioned!!! They must have hid inside it until no-one was looking, then snuck over.

Uggggg... she thought.... how could I have not seen this coming??? 

And there was no way they could turn back now! What were they going to do? How was she going to explain this to the twins parents back on Emiko, Jandolin and Harfield? How did she explain to them their children had become stowaways on a ship that wouldn't be returning for years?

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

Go to Chapter 37
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Edited by Just Jim
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1 hour ago, Emperor of the Titan Squid said:

What has happened in all those years between the last chapter and this one? anyone on duna?

It's funny, I saw this come up when I was halfway thru writing that last chapter... hope it answers your question... :wink:

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