[Writing+Pictures] PHADE: The Phantom Debris Initiative

[ZootinZack]

This is my first KSP story (English is my second language so, sorry?), inspired by a very peculiar bug a lot of us apparently experienced. Sorry if it's been done before.

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PHADE: The Phantom Debris Initiative

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The operator checked the numbers for what seemed the thousandth time, in disbelief. Something was wrong. And it was a little more than thirteen thousand kilometers away.

"Sir, he called to the chief operator. You should come and see this."

The operators were in charge of monitoring the many Kerbian objects outside of Kerbin. Their task was phenomenal given the Kerbal program's signature "let's just let these empty rockets take care of themselves... in space" attitude. The large amount of debris in orbit around both Kerbit and the Mun necessitated the creation of the monitoring bureau, who tried their best to keep things from exploding, although some directors inside the KSP argued this would probably be the best way to get rid of these debris for good.

The chief operator bent his large frame over the chair.

"What is it now, he sighed, checking the monitor."

He paused.

"This can't be right, Bob. Check it again.

- I... I did. I can assure you the numbers are correct, the signal is strong.

- And it's ours?

- I would hope it is. I can even tell you they're giving off the signal of our rocket."

Sent five years ago, the Poseidon IV-X shuttle had been one of the agency's greatest success: send a team of three Kerbonauts on the Mun and back. It had been a harrowing task, had taken years of preparation, but against all odds this mission succeeded, bringing the Kerbal Space Program on the forefront of space exploration. (It did help that the KSP was the only agency actually involved in space exploration.)

"Well there are always discrepancies in the coordinates of these things.

- Bill, with all due respect, this is not a 'discrepancy'. These debris are shown travelling at more than 2000 meters per second..."

The operator caught his breath.

"And they're shown moving INSIDE the Mun."

______________In-Mun Debris

"I knew it."

The now well-known suave, deep voice had come from a dark spot in the operating room. The First Kerman on the Mun. Decorated by royalty; honored by his people; adulated by a generation.

A small light appeared, illuminating for brief seconds the lone Kerman's face.

"Jeb, how did you... Hey you can't smoke in here!"

Jebediah Kerman got up, ever so slowly. His body seemed to strech forever as he started walking smoothly to his interlocutors.

"Sure I can, Bill. Change in policy."

Ever since Jebediah came back from the Poseidon Mission, his behaviour had been, to say the least, strange. Without even a thought for his safety (or others', for that matter) he simply did or said what came to his mind at the moment. The last of his antics involved one of the center's roof radars, an extraordinary amount of champagne, a few beach balls, some prominent members of the Kerwomen Baskerball Team, and eventually a sizeable portion of the police force. Reports that a dolphin was involved had been promptly denied by the agency.

But he was the best at what he did, and what he did was making rockets fly. Nay, soar. It was a thing of beauty to watch Jeb fly: one of his co-Kerbonauts had once called it a "beautiful ballet of brilliant insanity", and he had been every bit right.

"You know, when we landed on the Mun... I always thought it was strange. We let go of our three empty rockets and... Nothing. There were no craters when we landed, no debris. Nothing.

- We were on the darn moon, Bill answered. It's not like we were expecting to see anything.

- We didn't even check for it, Jeb agreed. But now..."

Jeb took a look at the monitor.

"Now we must go back."

The chief operator stared in disbelief.

"You want to go back to the Mun?"

Jeb laughed.

"No, are you crazy? Kerking Bad is back on TV, and I have a tennis match with the President next week. Nah we'll just send... I don't know. People."

____________________Some people

In the control room, all eyes were on the monitors. In the past few weeks preparations had been hectic, crazy, to put it briefly, Kerbian. Jeb had designed a brand new system that permitted him - despite the protests of the crew - to be in contact with the command pod at all times. Despite claims of a busy schedule, Jeb had been at the space center virtually every day, and had taken quite an interest in three brand new recruits of the now very popular Kerbal Space Program, who followed him everywhere as he oversaw preparations for what was now called the "Phantom Debris" initiative. Everyone took to calling it PHADE.

Three PDs had been identified by Bob the operator at first, and a fourth one had been discovered on the other side of the Mun. It had been decided to wait until the PDs were under sunlight to permit better studying, but it seemed this was never to happen: they were rotating ever so slightly as to always stay in the dark.

The Kerbonauts were ready. Three experienced, space-hardened veterans. The rocket - a Poseidon IV slightly modified for better steering - was ready. The control room was ready. Jeb was sitting in the controller's chair, an odd smile on his face. The exact same smile he had that one time he tricked the chief of the IT department into climbing on a rocket and launching it. He was retrieved from the water several days later, very blank, but otherwise unharmed. Charges were not pressed.

"Okay guys, ready to launch? Jeb said.

- Yes, sir!" three voices answered in unison.

"Wait a minute, Bill said, squinting at the screen. These aren't Neil, Ed and Michael."

Jeb scratched his head.

"Yeah... Neil, Ed and Michael had a little, uh, mishap yesterday at my party, and if I remember correctly - which I might not - they're probably still in the bathtub."

He shot a smile up.

"But I found three really motivated, young and eager kerbonauts who were more than happy to take their places and...

- HI !!!!!!

- And do exactly as you say, Bill sighed.

- And do exactly as I say, Jeb nodded. Alright boys. Ready?

- YAY !

- We have countdown! 10... 9... 8... sevenfiveone SURPRISE LAUNCH YOU GUYS!"

________________________SURPRISE LAUNCH

The trip to the Mun itself was rather uneventful, aside from Jeb's non-sequitur quips about various topics - tropical cocktails, the right temperature at which to raise chickens, how much energy would be needed to put an actual Kerman head in orbit - all about which he seemed to have gathered a suspicious amount of information.

"Okay guys, he said in the mic. Now we're gonna burn it nice and slow, in orbit. There.

- We have orbit, sir, 10 klicks over surface. It's... It's beautiful."

Jeb smiled.

"Yes it is, boys. Okay. You're going to the sunny side now. We're going to lose contact for a bit. See you on the other side. Then... The show's gonna start."

Jeb took off his headphones. Bill was staring at him disapprovingly.

"Whaaaat? Jeb snapped.

- You're sending these boys to their deaths.

- First, you don't know that. Second, that's the ONE thing they wanted to do. All their lives. Third, anybody we're sending to the Mun in those rackety things... I just mean there's a good chance for ANYONE to explode in these things. You and I... And Bob... We just got lucky. And look where it landed us."

Bill scoffed.

"First Kerman on the Mun, best buds with the director, hero to the world... YOU got lucky. Bob and I get to watch dead debris floating around all darn day.

- Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Besides, you made what is maybe the most important discovery of all times right there. These things are going through solid matter. Or so it seems. Think of the implications."

Bill pondered.

"This is nonsense. Once we find a reasonable explanation, you'll be back to square one, as miserable as ever."

Jeb frowned and opened his mouth, but said nothing. Bill went on:

"You don't think I know what you're doing? With your little act? You're escaping this little greeb orb. You never got back from up there, Jeb. Not one of us did. It did something to us.

- Yeah yOU're right..."

Jeb paused, and put his headphones back on.

"...It made me freaking AWE-SOME. Alright guys? Guys, you there?

- Yes we... We thought we saw something by the crater, uplinking a picture now.

- A PD?

- No, definitely not. More of a...

- Ok then, whatever, Jeb cut. You're getting close to the PDs' location now."

___________________Closing in

The first Kerbonaut, Melman, spoke, his voice sounding like it was coming from a few miles away. Which was pretty impressive since it was coming from hundreds of THOUSANDS of kilometers in the sky.

"Yes sir. There are four of them. More images uplinking. We can see them on the... It's... It's three kilometers away. And now it's... OH GOD! Here's another, it's about 4.8 klicks away. I saw it glint. I think? It's definitely a real thing, I... GOOD GOD!"

_____________________4 klicks away

The audio cut. All the personnel in the control room fell silent. Jeb pushed a few buttons frantically, sweat pearling on his gigantic forehead.

"...from the GROUND, did you see that Tomson? I'm tripping BALLS over here. Sorry, sir This is...

- Did you take PICTURES, Melman? We all appreciate your dedication here but...

- Yes but sir, with all due respect, we are in the DARK here. We ran a few seconds of radar under the surface. These things are moving FAST, going right to the core at about 2000 meters a second, and popping back up. The highest one we recorded was 8430 meters high but, to be frank, it's hard to measure up here.

_____________________Radar images with MET

"They... We passed them. They came back down.

- Land."

A few people gasped at Jeb's remark. One discreet thud in the background seemed to indicate someone fainted. Bill put his hand on the mic.

"Are you crazy? Bill hissed.

- Don't be dumb, Jeb replied. I won't let them actually DO it. I'll land the darn rocket."

Jeb removed Bill's hand from the mic, and spoke in his low, calm voice.

"Okay guys. We're gonna let go of the last stage so we can land this thing. Don't worry. Just like we practiced.

- YES! We're gonna land on the Mun? AWESOME.

- As I said, just as we practiced. Maybe easier."

Of course, Jeb had never talked to the direction, or anybody for that matter, about landing.

"Okay I'm gonna land it, now... ALL you got to do is what?

- Sit tight, Tomson, Malman and Duncott replied in unison.

- That's right, sit tight."

Everyone was watching, mesmerized, as Jebediah Kerman landed a Poseidon IX Explorer Pod, in the dark, from thousands of kilometers away. Sending out sequences as fast as fingers could type and faster. Anticipating, wizard-like, changes in the course. Then the unthinkable happened. It stopped working. The rocket was veering off course. A high-pitched voice came through:

"We have to go after it! It's right there, guys, it's only 3 klicks, think about it... The answers... are only THREE klicks away!

- Melman, stop!

- We have to! Activating manual override! I'm flying after it."

Jeb jumped out of his chair.

"NO!"

________________________Flying after it

"I'm flying after it.

- Melman... Oh God, Duncott? Duncott do something!

- No he's right, Tomson... We have to go after it.

- KNOCK IT OFF! Jeb shouted, but it seemed the Kerbonauts couldn't even hear him.

- You happy now?" Bill said, regretting it immediately. Jeb shot him a look of pure, unadultered disdain.

"No, but YOU seem to be."

Aboard the Poseidon, things were seemingly taking a turn for the worse.

"Sir, this is Tomson. They... Duncott lost consciousness, there's too much G, we're spinning out of control and... Sir?

- The head Tomson! The head! Jeb shouted.

- What?

- Hit Melman in the head! As hard as possible!"

Jeb took a breath.

"Now what you heard was probably: 'hit him pretty hard'. What I said was 'hit him, on the head, as hard as possible'."

A loud clunk was heard.

"Now what?

- Now you give me back my toy, I'll save you guys."

For the next fifteen minutes Jeb, muttering to himself, frantically ran around the control room, pulling levers, consulting gauges, and finally came to a halt, eyes half-closed.

"This is the best I could do Bill. I'm sorry."

Everyone held their breath.

"They're... They're gonna... die?" Bill whispered.

Jeb laughed.

"Of course not. They're gonna land. Uuuuh, preeeeetty hard. I would have liked to get them closer to the PDs points of entry, but since these change all the time, that's pretty hard. And here... we... go."

Grunts, clicks and clacks, shouts. And then nothing came from Poseidon for a few seconds.

"S... Sir? We are... On the surface... Sir..."

_______________________Almost landed

"Right below us seem to be two of the remaining PDs, Tomson continued.

- What do you mean, remaining? Jeb asked.

- I, um... It seemed one or two of them, uh, exploded on impact of the Mun surface.

- Instead of re-entering the surface?

- Yes.

- Just because you guys were hanging around?

- I wouldn't know about this sir. We're going out of range. Talk to you in a few.

- Do yourself a favor and keep an eye on your friends. And by that I mean keep them strapped down."

Jeb thought long and hard.

"Okay. They're going crazy out there. We got confirmation from Bob in monitoring that two of the PDs disappeared and stopped sending signals. There is something going on.

- You don't say, Bill scoffed.

- A little HELP here, Bill?"

Bill sat down.

"When I was on the Mun, he started, I remember the... emptiness. The feeling that there HAD to be...

- ... HAD to be something out there, Jeb completed.

- Yes. This uneasiness never left. It acted differently on us of course. We got all frightened and never wanted to go back in a spaceship. You got..."

Jeb raised an eyebrow.

"...You got weird. Well. Weirder.

- So? Why are we talking about this?"

Bill shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't know why. It seemed like it made sense.

- It did."

Jeb pointed at the screen.

"Video comm, coming in. One of my additions to the pod."

On the screen, the grainy, panicked face of Tomson Kerman appeared. His nose was bloody, and his left eye half-shut.

"They left, sir!

- What do you mean, left? Where do they think they're going?

- They took their EVA packs and left. They said they were "going after it". I have... I took one last shot of Melman as he was jetting away but... I lost contact with him a few minutes ago."

______________________Melman bobbing away

"Seems like he was aiming for one of the last two debris, sir.

- Okay. I tell you what, Tomson, Jeb said. You sit tight. Help is coming."

Jeb turned to Bill with a glint in his eye and a smile on his face.

"So... Wanna go back to the Mun?"

[Accelerando]

The characters aren't too fleshed out, but this is the most well-written piece of work I've read on the forums so far. Bravo, although if this continues I should hope to see some character development, or something I can't quite put my finger on  as it stands, it feels as though this story might fall short if it were continued for another 3 chapters.

Also, why the hyphens before each line of dialogue?

[ZootinZack]

The characters aren't too fleshed out, but this is the most well-written piece of work I've read on the forums so far. Bravo, although if this continues I should hope to see some character development, or something I can't quite put my finger on  as it stands, it feels as though this story might fall short if it were continued for another 3 chapters.

Thanks for the input! Jeb and Bill will be back for another installment, that's for sure

Also, why the hyphens before each line of dialogue?

Sorry that's the way dialogs are written in french (although I should technically use the french quotation marks «» and the em dash) ... Not sure what the proper format is in English.

[Accelerando]

Well, let's say we have three people named Prima, Secunda, and Tertiara. Prima and Secunda initiate the conversation as follows:

"Hello, Secunda."

"Ho there, Prima."

"How farest thee on this merry morn?"

"Jubilantly."

At this point Tertiara enters the area.

"What's up?" asks Tertiara.

Secunda replies, "Nothing in particular."

"Hmm hmm," murmurs Prima.

Secunda decides to initiate a multi-paragraph/line-break conversation.

"So the Dodgers did well against the A's today. I can't help but wonder, though...

"It's just so queer."

"What is?" Tertiara raises an eyebrow.

"Well, everyone knows that the Dodgers are better than the A's."

"I don't know. Who really knows what team is better than the other, in the end?

"Either way, it is a fruitless question."

"Perhaps."

As Secunda's speech journeys into another paragraph, or line, the previous paragraph/line ends without a suffixed quotation mark. The same applies to Tertiara's later reply. Ending quotation marks are not used when the dialogue in question is followed immediately by another block of dialogue from the same character.

Thanks for the input! Jeb and Bill will be back for another installment, that's for sure

You're welcome! I look forward to it.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Accelerando

[Millst0ne MK II]

Awesome writing

Keep going!

[EnhancedCookie]

Nice! And well written too!