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The Outer Planets Adventures! [REBOOT PENDING]


KAL 9000

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Well, in my sandbox save, the Dres anomaly is being investigated and the crew should be rescued soon. Now that the Dres mission is (sort of) coming to a close, KSC wants to explore the planets in the Outer Planets Mod! Ship design is progressing smoothly, and volunteers are lining up at the KSC doors to come on missions. The first planet that is planned to be visited: Sarnus! 

TOP SECRET DOCUMENT - SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED: LEVEL 7 - HIGH-RANKING BOFFIN 

Sarnus Expedition Alpha Crew Selection - By Gene 

Well, there's no shortage of applicants, but we do have a shortage of qualified applicants for this mission. Unfortunately, all our current Kerbonauts are on missions. Here's one example: 

Applicant #357 - Kergen Kerman 

"Ok, Kergen, do you have any experience piloting, engineering, or scienceing?"

"Uh, no... But I do know how to decrease your insurance deductible!"

Mort: "HIRE HIM! HIRE HIM!" 

"Okay... Let's present a scenario, to see how you'll act in emergencies and making tough choices. Let's say there's a fuel leak while you're at Sarnus, that if it continues, will leave the ship with not enough Delta-V to get home. You can save your crew by fixing the leak, but it would poison you. What do you do?"

"Just one question."

"Yeah?"

"What's Delta-V?"

:0.0:

Yep... Geez, that guy was stupid!

-----End Of Document----- 

To pave the way for Kerballed missions to the Outer Planets, and while the design process is underway for crewed crafts, Operation POOP (Probe Operations for Outer Planets) began. The first probe flotilla to be prepared was POOP-Plock, due to the upcoming transfer window. The probes in the flotilla are: 

POOP-Plock Comms Relays: A deployment carrier taking 3 equatorial and 2 polar communication satellites to Plock 

POOP-Plock Multi-Purpose SCANSat: A SCANSat with plenty of Delta-V to be able to survey Plock and all of its moons (Karen, Beros, and Kyx) 

POOP-Plock Automated Crew Outpost "Hypothermia": ACO's are probe cores with Hitchhiker cans attached and life support to sustain Kerbals for a little while. They are basically tiny space stations used in emergencies, and as such, deserve individual names. 

Meanwhile, development and testing was done on the transfer stage that would take these probes to Plock. It would need to have a LOT of Delta-V to accelerate Plock probes to a speed where they would arrive in a reasonable time. 

That does it for the first episode of The Outer Planets Adventures! Tune in next time for the screenshots and moar!

Edited by KAL 9000
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-Captin's Log - KSS Sarnus Explorer - 5 Days to Departure- 

This is Kaptin Adam Kerman, and I'd like to report on the state of affairs. Finally, the crew has been chosen! The only problem is, because everyone experienced (except me) is already on missions, my crew consists of Enzins fresh out of the KSP Academy! Oh, well, I respect Gene's decision, but I really don't feel like sproutsitting all the way to Sarnus and back. Let's see, here is the crew that has been decided (excluding me):

Halfrunt Kerman (Male): Pilot, Enzin, Helmsmate

Kenrue Kerman (Female): Pilot, Enzin, Lander Helmsmate 

Joefrey Kerman (Male): Engineer, Enzin, Bridge Engineersmate 

Ludoe Kerman (Female): Engineer, Enzin, Chief Engineersmate 

Billy-Bobrim (Male): Scientist, Enzin, Sciencemate 

Gablul (Female): Scientist, Enzin, Sciencemate  

And, of course, me:

Adam Kerman (Male): Pilot, Kaptin, Captin 

I feel like quoting the great author @Geschosskopf Kerman here:

"It's a long way to planet Sarnus..."

Edited by KAL 9000
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"We've got :maneuver: data from KSC. Trajectory looks good, we look OK for trans-Sarnus injection."

"Thank you, Joefrey. Halfrunt, orient us :maneuver::prograde: and arm the LV-Ns."

"Done, sir. I am also activating RCS." 

"We're at the :maneuver:. Halfrunt, now!" 

"Yes sir!"

" :maneuver: complete, throttling down. LV-Ns to SAFE mode."

"We're on the way to Sarnus!"

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On 10/27/2016 at 0:42 PM, KAL 9000 said:

I feel like quoting the great author @Geschosskopf Kerman here:

"It's a long way to planet Sarnus..."

Well, good luck with it, sir!  I wish you fair winds and following seas both ways, a quiescent Kraken, and an absence of zombie/ghostly encounters :)

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, good luck with it, sir!  I wish you fair winds and following seas both ways, a quiescent Kraken, and an absence of zombie/ghostly encounters :)

 

 

 

Well, we ARE having some cryopod issues, but KSC thinks they have a fix. (Side note: there may have been an encounter with the positive-energy Kerbal (forget her name) in @Just Jim's Emiko Station! A ghostly Kerb yelling at two characters on Ovok that "their negative energy was disturbing the monolith" and to leave...) Oh, and don't worry, we'll try to rescue those zombie Kerbs, see if we can cure them (or just bring them to Orbles to get their souls to the proper Spirit World)

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"KSC has the cryopod fix uploaded. It looks OK, me and Ludoe will get on it."

"Thanks, Joefrey. Get to work on it please."

--An hour later--

"Fix is done, sir. We are ready for cryosleep."

"All crew, get in your cryopods. We are GO for cryosleep." 

DEEPFREEZE UNIT: STARTING FREEZING PROCESS...

DEEPFREEZE UNIT: ALL CREW FROZEN 

--A few years later--

DEEPFREEZE UNIT: RECIEVED TRANSMISSION FROM KSC. INSTRUCTIONS: THAW ALL CREW 

DEEPFREEZE UNIT: STARTING THAWING PROCESS...

DEEPFREEZE UNIT: ALL CREW THAWED OUT. 

*yawn* "Are we there yet?"

"THIS IS YOUR DEEPFREEZE UNIT. WAKEY, WAKEY, RISE AND SHINE!" 

"I guess we are." 

--A little while later--

"Um, sir? We're apparently being... Hailed?"

"What? What does the vessel identify itself as?"

"Um... Hang on, it says 'Traveling Circus: SE-2: BATHMAT'. Never heard of that ship before. Wait, we're getting a FaceKerb transmission!"

"On screen."

*static* *image comes into focus* "SKRT-Hello new vess-SKRT-My name is Gerg-SKRT-Are you SE-3?-SKRT" *image comes out of focus* *static*

"Billy-Bobrim, can you clean up the transmission?"

"Yessir, here's the cleaned up version."

"Hello new vessel! My name is Gergas! Are you SE-3? In any case, you are welcome to stay at BATHMAT! I look forward to seeing you soon!" 

"Transmit to the same frequency."

"Done, sir. Here you go."

"Hello, Gergas. I am Adam Kerman, Captin of the KSS Sarnus Explorer. We THOUGHT we were the first Kerbals to come to Sarnus, but clearly you were here before us. No, we are not this 'SE-3'."

"The first Kerbs? No, the Traveling Circus came here a while ago! The Emperor can be so forgetful sometimes!"

"Traveling Circus? Emperor? What the Kerm?" 

"Does Kerm mean the same as mulch? You know, the Traveling Circus, run by the Emperor? Ruler of all Kerbin?" 

"Kerbin isn't ruled by an emperor, it's ruled by a President. We ARE a democracy. And Kerm? How do you not know what Kerm means? And what the Kerm does mulch mean? I've never heard of this 'Traveling Circus'." 

"Oh-Kay? You can come and visit anytime, anyway."

"Wait. Not to be rude, but  is that your FACE? It looks like it's been trampled by a hundred Kubrish!"

"Yeah, I'm sorta kinda dead? What's a Kubrish?"

"Okay, then. A Kubrish is an animal, fast but easily frightened, and it eats cactuses."

"What's an animal?"

*end transmission*

"Okay, that guy was CRAZY! Straight out of a @Geschosskopf story, for Kerm's sake!"

Edited by KAL 9000
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9 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

Well, we ARE having some cryopod issues, but KSC thinks they have a fix. (Side note: there may have been an encounter with the positive-energy Kerbal (forget her name) in @Just Jim's Emiko Station! A ghostly Kerb yelling at two characters on Ovok that "their negative energy was disturbing the monolith" and to leave...) Oh, and don't worry, we'll try to rescue those zombie Kerbs, see if we can cure them (or just bring them to Orbles to get their souls to the proper Spirit World)

Yes, that is Sanny the Ghost, who @Geschosskopf kindly let me borrow, and will be making a return in my next chapter. :)

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"Okay, guys. We don't know who this guy is, so we need to investigate. I say we redirect BUTT-01 to land by 'BATHMAT'. All who concur, say 'aye'."

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"It's official, then. I'll reprogram BUTT-01 now."

BUTT (Basic Universal Tekto Trekker) -01 soared silently through space, approaching the moon Tekto faster and faster. It prepared for descent, but as it was doing so, radio waves hit the craft. The onboard antennas and computers picked up the signal and decoded it. It was new orders and data from its mothership. The instructions travelled into the computers, tiny electrical pulses impacting transistors, capacitors, and diodes. The probe obediently sent commands to the RCS thrusters on the transfer stage. Streams of hydrazine flew out the RCS ports, and the probe now had a different trajectory. The RCS shut off, and as the probe entered Tekto's thick atmosphere, explosive bolts fired, and the transfer stage fell away. 

BUTT-01 was now heating up, ablative shielding melting, coming off, and streaming behind the aeroshell. Soon, however, it was through the worst of the heating, and the flames and plasma died down. The heat shield had done its job well, everything was still functional. 

A hairline crack appeared in the aeroshell, perfectly smooth. It was tiny at first, but grew wider and wider, and with a jolt, the aeroshell split into two and fell away. The onboard computer emitted the mechanical equivalent of a sigh of relief, knowing that the descent had gone as planned so far. It sent a signal to the top of the remaining sections of the probe, and two drouge parachutes popped out and inflated, slowing the probe down. 

A minute or so later, BUTT-01's radar detected that it was at the proper altitude, and the drouge chutes separated, followed shortly by three main parachutes inflating.

The probe jettisoned its heat shield before coming to rest gently in the surface. Another command raced through its systems, and the parachute module separated and flew away, its Sepatrons firing to bring it to a safe distance. 

The rover now on the surface extended its antenna and sent an "I'm alive!" signal to the KSS Sarnus Explorer in Sarnus orbit. It checked its RTG: Yep, providing power. Science: Working. All systems go, it set out to investigate BATHMAT, which it had come down within a hundred meters of.

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On 11/2/2016 at 8:54 PM, Obsidian_mc said:

@Geschosskopf I was actually hoping for the return of 2(3? I cannot really remember...) certain kerbals with serious skin issues...

On Tekto...

I really wish the story would continue XD

Well, I still plan to continue with that general story.  In 1.1.3, however, the mods I needed didn't pan out, however, so I did New Horizons instead.  I'm hoping the situation improves in 1.2.

For the record, in the Travelling Circus universe, there are currently no "unpopped" zombies--all 3 popped at the end.  Only Sanny's ghost is still hanging around.  Gergas and Elite have moved on to Ancestorland.  And all trace of SE-2's hardware was vaporized by the Supernova of '113.

But there are parallel universes, so if @KAL 9000 wants to meet the remains of SE-2, he's more than welcome.  I'm quite flattered.

 

On 11/3/2016 at 10:22 AM, KAL 9000 said:

"Okay, that guy was CRAZY! Straight out of a @Geschosskopf story, for Kerm's sake!"

Guess I'll have to send you some files.....

 

On 11/4/2016 at 9:10 AM, KAL 9000 said:

You know you are taking inspiration from @Geschosskopf when your craft acronyms, WITHOUT YOU TRYING, end up being TOILET, BUTT, SLOP, and PHLEGM.

BRILLIANT!

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Adam Kerman was worried. Finding strange undead Kerbals and derelict spacecraft was something he hadn't trained for. However, he did know where to get some advice on this situation. He rummaged through his suitcase, full of his most important personal belongings. He pulled out his lucky spacesuit and put it back. He pulled out a towel. Although it was incredibly important, he put it back. Finally, he found what he was looking for. Blowing dust off the book, he smiled at it fondly. Engraved on the front cover in large, friendly letters were two words: DON'T PANIC

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BUTT-01 looked at BATHMAT with its camera eyes, studying and monitoring. Suddenly, there was a hiss, and an airlock door opened on BATHMAT, a spacesuited figure climbing out and closing the hatch. The figure scanned the area, and, upon seeing BUTT-01, walked towards it. 

"Wonder what this could be? Hey, it's a rover. I wonder if those new guys Gergas was talking about sent it down?" 

As Elite approached it, the aforementioned rover was now terrified at the prospect of a Kerbal it didn't know at all picking it up, and, ignoring its orders, drove away at top speed. 

"Hey, lil' guy, I'm not gonna hurt you!"

BUTT-01 picked up the radio signal from Elite's suit, converted it to audio, and after a brief pause in which the voice recognition circuits did their work, stopped and turned around tentatively. 

"There, there, it's OK. Who's a good rover? Who's a good little rover?"

Excitedly, the 'good little rover' yapped and barked, hoping for a chassis rub, which Elite was happy to provide. 

A super special thank you to @Geschosskopf for letting me use these great characters and craft! 

Stay tuned for next time, when our heroes find and reboot COPROLITE!

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12 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

In this parallel universe, the Supernova of '113 acted sort of like the "resets" in @Cydonian Monk's Forgotten Space Program. The Neidon probe arrived at its destination and entered orbit on autopilot. We shall see what Science! it has collected...

Wow.  (sniff).  Thanks.  The ghost of that poor Neidon probe, launched before anything else then wiped away by a supernova when within only a few years of reaching its destination, while in the meantime 2 expeditions had gone to Sarnus and another to Urlum, has been haunting me.  Glad to see it and some poor misguided zombies "live" on in another dimension :)

 

7 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

"There, there, it's OK. Who's a good rover? Who's a good little rover?"

ROTFLMAO!

 

Quote

Stay tuned for next time, when our heroes find and reboot CORPROLITE!

There's only 1 "R" in COPROLITE, which is a name only getting more appropriate with time :D  But if you have access to that ship, then you also have HOPELESS and FLAKEE, all docked at TOEJAM..

Edited by Geschosskopf
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"Sir, we have entered Eeloo orbit, but I'm detecting an unknown craft. Identifies itself as 'Traveling Circus: SE-2: COPROLITE'."

"Roger. Halfrunt, plot a rendezvous with COPROLITE."

"Yessir." 

As the Sarnus Explorer approached COPROLITE, Adam left the airlock and jetpacked over to it. Finding a hatch that read EMERGENCY AIRLOCK - MANUAL OPEN, he turned a handle and the door slid open with a puff. He climbed inside and closed the door. He found a terminal and pressed ON, to hopefully pressurize the airlock. 

Terminal: 

Booting... Complete. 

Airlock pressure: 0 atmospheres. 

Pressurize airlock? [Y/N]

Pressurizing... 100% 

Airlock pressure: 1 atmosphere. 

CRITICAL ERROR - CORRUPTED DATA - SHUTTING DOWN 

Sparks flared out of the terminal and the screen cracked. It went black. Adam sighed, clearly it had been abandoned for years without maintenance. 

As he moved into the rest of the ship, he found COPROLITE's main terminal. Luckily, it didn't fail, and he found this: 

--COPROLITE Terminal - Traveling Circus OS Copyright 2016 @Geschosskopf Aerospace-- 

Subsystems Menu 

Initialize docking with TOEJAM 

[C] Ship controls

[G] Activate Self-Destruct (Gratuitous Explosions) 

[L] Ship's Log 

[M] Mission Objectives 

[E] Emergency Snacks 

[H] Open Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy for advice (Copyright 2016 Megadodo Publications)

--- 

Adam tried to press M, but pressed G. 

--- 

Activate Self-Destruct? [Y/N] 

--- 

Adam hurriedly pressed N, then pressed M. 

--- 

Mission Objectives: 

Explore the Sarnus system 

Report back to the Emperor at mission end 

Collect SCIENCE!

---

Hmm... Very generic objectives.

No, I don't know why the text is strikethrough, it won't let me fix it.

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PHLEGM (Pathfinder Habitation & Logistics Equipment General Module) was chock-full of Pathfinder parts, courtesy of @Angel-125's Wild Blue Industries, and it was on the way to Slate. While in Sarnus orbit, the shipboard computer detected that there was an optimal transfer window from its current orbit to Slate, and the nuclear tug behind the landing module flared up its engines. After plotting a course to Slate, the nuclear engine died down, and the puffs of RCS thrusters adjusted the trajectory. A short while later, it entered Slate orbit and the transfer tug self-destructed in a gratuitous explosion. 

After a successful landing, PHLEGM went into sleep mode to wait for its crew, and another step in the mission was complete. 

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Meanwhile, at Neidon: 

--PROBE LOG: TRAVELING CIRCUS - NEDION 1-- 

NSOI (Neidon SOI Entry) T-5 Days: Hibernation Exited. 

NSOI T-5 Days: Establishing orientation lock. Kerbol sensors... Locked. Orientation found. Establishing backup lock... Kanopus sensors... Locked. Orientation and backup found and locked. 

NSOI T-5 Days: Based on time, position, and orientation, estimating Kerbin's position... Scanning... Kerbin in expected position. Activating high-gain antenna... Done. 

NSOI T-5 Days: Establishing contact with Kerbin... Failed. Backup antenna... Also failed. Contact with TOEJAM... Success. TOEJAM computer reports no contact with Kerbin for 5 Years. Kigma-11 detonation: confirmed. TOEJAM reports four minor novas and one supernova have exploded since Kigma-11. List (in chronological order): Kigma-111, Kigma-112, Kigma-113, Kigma-12, Kigma-121. Kigma-12 was supernova. 

NSOI T-5 Days: Conclusion: continue mission on autopilot 

NSOI T[+,-]0: SOI Boundary crossed. 

NSOI T+1 Minute: Running experiments... Done. 

NOI (Neidon Orbital Insertion (maneuver midpoint)) T-2 Hours: Entered "Near Space" of Neidon. Experiments re-run successfully. 

NOI T-1 Minute: Ignition. 

NOI T[+,-]0: Midpoint. 

NOI T+1 Minute: Transfer stage shutdown and decoupling. 

NOI T+1 Minute, 30 Seconds: Cameras active. 

NOI T+1 Minute, 45 Seconds: Transfer stage self-destruct confirmed. Gratuitous explosion recorded by cameras for posterity. 

NOI T+2 Minutes: Conclusion: Enter Hibernation. Wake up when signal is re-established or a new vessel enters the Neidon system. 

NOI T+3 Minutes: Hibernation Engaged.

--END OF LOG UP TO THIS POINT--

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@Geschosskopf made his base of operations for SE-2 Eeloo orbit (and TOEJAM), but I'm setting up shop on Slate. Even though it's basically Tylo's little brother (and just as hard to land on), its gravity is the closest to Kerbin of any moon in the Sarnus system, so it's probably the most comfortable for our victims astronauts. 

The plan is to use PHLEGM's Pathfinder equipment to set up a base, named TOENAIL (Terribly Terrifically Over Engineered Nuclear Assisted Important Lab). Of all the landers for the moons, only SLOP (Slate Landing & OPerations) is actually constructed. The rest will be built on Slate thanks to Pathfinder's Extraplanetary Launchpads and KAS/KIS integration/compatibility. 

It is currently a subject of heated debate at the Sarnus Explorer and at the KSC whether to actually build landers for Hale and Ovok, or just to have the crew EVA land. What do you think? 

TOEJAM was damaged and nonfunctional after years of disuse when the crew located it, and it had explosively depressurized. Some time after @Geschosskopf's crew left for Kerbin, there was a spark (caused by a short circuit which was automatically switched off)  in COPROLITE's computer. The computer interpreted the electrical pulse as a command to release the docking clamps, and so released them. The airtight seal at the docking connection did not have time to seal up, and the blast of escaping air shot COPROLITE into a completely different orbit. TOEJAM's computer could not close the bulkhead doors before all the air vented out. 

Gablul, the Chief Engineersmate, has sealed the docking port by duct taping a spare piece of steel over the hole using a space-rated binding device to secure a seal over the leak. This fix means that TOEJAM is down a docking port, however. 

Join us next time for the crew landing on Slate and setting up TOENAIL!

Edited by KAL 9000
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I look forward to seeing some pictures at some point.  Not my stuff, yours.  I already know what my stuff looks like :wink:

I recommend using a lander for Orvok and Hale.  First, it's a lot easier to come down where you want to with a ship than an EVA Kerbal.  Second, Kerbals can't really walk on either moon due to the extremely low gravity. The only way to get around on the surface is via jetpack, so you use a lot of EVA fuel just exploring a short distance around your landing point.  It's nice to be able to refuel in a lander.  It's somewhat terrifying to move Kerbals around on either place so it's also nice to get inside and settle your nerves, too :)

My old Orvok/Hale lander, HOPELESS, was left docked to TOEJAM.  Maybe it still works.  If not, you can get the idea.  The lander itself is fairly minimalist and had a larger nuclear-powered stage to move it around between the various moons.  So basically, I did it Apollo-style.

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Of course! I've been having problems with uploading the screenshots (STUPID COMPUTER I WILL KILL YOU) but expect pictures as soon as I have it worked out! 

Lander it is, maybe I have enough spare fuel to refuel HOPELESS... Sanny the Ghost will be surprised seeing her old lander back.

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