GarrisonChisholm

4 Months Later... D-Magic Science Hall, Private Conference Linus stepped to the podium, settling his portfolio before him. "Good morning. In the last four months we have completed our inventory of in-flight hardware, recovering all that we could. This is the final list." "The malicious software code activated by Colonel Jorfen, that was unknowingly embedded in all flight-ready Space Program geiger counters, was hideously effective at its job. On craft that had fuel, it ordered an orientation and burn to cause it to plummet into the gravity well being orbited, or in the case of landed probes to lift straight up and then crash back to the surface. On craft with no fuel, it seems to have baked all the electronics, as those craft are as equally unresponsive as the destroyed ones we have telemetry on. As you can see, the surviving probes and satellites are very limited. Though our 4 deep space relay satellites were thankfully spared, the 3 deep space probes we had in service are not, as well as the Duna Radar Mapper and all 3 of our successfully landed probes." "However, the Radar Mapper did quite thankfully have the time to transmit a complete anomaly map before it was lost." "Given our previous discoveries, this does not exactly surprise us, but it does very assuredly give focus to our efforts. Following the recorded energy surge seemingly focused towards Duna after we first approached the Munolith, obviously a detailed first-hand exploration of Duna is critical." "Originally we would have proposed a systematic survey by probes, not only of the Duna monoliths but also those of Mun and Minmus. However, the revelation to the public that the Shaman Stones are likely not of kerbal manufacture and that indeed one had been found on the moon has lead to an explosion of demand for exploration at the highest levels. A 'complete confidence' briefing was held for senior CA lawmakers, and their opinion was unanimous. The Program Civil Authority has been given the directive by the Civil Authority to, at first opportunity, land a kerbal at the highest priority site on Duna and investigate first-hand." Most in the room had had an inkling of this decision, but none-the-less there was a stir and murmur in the room. "This, of course, has been Wernher's life-long dream and objective, so we should not be surprised that he had plans and mission necessities roughed up already. So the question is now - how do we proceed? Fortunately this decision has one major boon. A great influx of resources which had previously been allotted to the Air Force Space Project are now ours. This amounted to just under $9 million Funds, and the accumulated data from all the flights of the Air Force Space Plane." "Not to mention, the pilots themselves." "This is a tremendous boon, and affords us the luxury of attempting Wernher's preliminary plan as is." "The plan, if executed as it currently stands, would be to launch directly to the Duna surface with the largest rocket yet conceived." "The Duna Universal Space Transport would carry with it a large base that will be left behind near the anomaly, which is automated but could also be comfortably manned. Due to the long day cycle of Duna, the craft would only spend 1 period of daylight on Duna's surface, both for reasons of battery life due to the expensive magnetic shielding used on the craft, and to minimize the chance of outright failure of a key component that might leave the crew of 2 stranded on the surface. After returning to orbit, the crew would observe and study the planet remotely before returning at first opportunity." "It should be pointed out that due to the cost of this mission, it is not likely to soon be repeated. It will be critically important to maximize the efficacy of our in-situ investigations. Follow-up missions if necessary are likely to be purely by automated probe." "It should Also be pointed out that while we are virtually convinced that we were visited 17,000 years ago by space-faring beings, we are also soundly convinced that these beings are no longer present, and indeed most of our think-tank work concludes that they must no longer be extant. Therefore, there is ample thought that must be directed towards the conventional search for life in the solar system, as at this juncture we must determine how life has evolved in our own system if we might eventually encounter life from another system and expect to understand it." "Therefore, in consultation with our management staff, the PCA has laid out our objectives in this order." "1. Explore first hand the key anomaly on Duna." "2. Explore and monitor the other anomaly sites that have been discovered." "3. Return to Jool and Sarnus with orbiters which can assess the very interesting moons discovered there." Linus closed his portfolio. "Wernher estimates that, barring last minute changes, the DUST vessel will be ready by the next transfer window. If anything does change, the Program Office will send out the appropriate information. Now, I will spend some time discussing the state of the satellite relay network..." The meeting dragged on, as the state of operations was discussed, but none could easily focus on such minutia - they were going to send someone to Duna.

That is a Gorgeous shot with the fully deployed vehicle over Kerbin. Bravo!

I wouldn't count on a reply with any alacrity here, this work has long lain dormant & quiescent.

That is a *smart* little launcher! ...and I have a completely unbiased opinion of course. :]

10 Minutes earlier... Colonel Jorfen's office... Jorfen paced up and down, his patience long gone and his voice rising in timbre and tone. "You can't endorse the Civil Authoritiy's response! We've been through this, their way will only lead to us not being prepared in time! And YOU are forgetting everything that is at stake." "No Jorfen, its you that is forgetting what is at stake," spoke her cool cold voice. "Our Civil Liberties, our faith in Freedom, and our dismissal of the thousands of years of autocracy you represent. I was entrusted as the Space Program's Civil Authority, and thanks to the revelation that there is a real, desperate need to know what is Out there, we will no longer have to worry about funding or motivation. Kerbin's future in space is assured, and your foolhardy and vastly more expensive plan is only destined for ruin-" "Listen-" "And, Jorfen, you no longer hold anything over me. ...I'm having my 'taxes' done by an expert now. ...You have played your last card. Goodbye Jorfen." Click. Jorfen pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it, then looked at the two guests. The second D-Magic Rep stood behind the chair which held the first, with his hands folded behind his back. The first D-Magic Rep sat with an open briefcase on his lap, staring at Jorfen. They both wore sunglasses. The first closed the brief-case. "I think that settles things Jorfen. You are no longer of any use to us." First and Second regarded Jorfen indifferently for the briefest moment, then just as Jorfen drew a breath to speak they deliberately turned and saw themselves out. The click of the door when it closed seemed to Jorfen to echo like the sharpest report. He stared at the door, then absently turned to gaze out his window, across the tarmac to the hangar where their huge space-plane that had never made it to space would soon be stripped for scrap. The thousands of men at his command would soon be transferred to other jobs, the lucky ones landing at KSC. Jorfen gritted his teeth. He sat down at his desk, and opened his laptop. Several swift keystrokes and the screen was where he needed it to be. With a sly smile he picked up his phone. ... Mort sat in his office, looking at the projections his staffers had done about the increasing revenues the Program would receive. It wasn't the money that Mort cared about, it was the margins, and they were delightful. His phone rang. Reaching for it, he almost answered it without noticing who was calling- but he did. He raised an eyebrow, and answered. "Mortimer." "Mort, my dear, dear friend. How are you today?" Mort could hear the smile in his voice, but furthermore he could tell it was genuine, and that more than anything in years caused a small chill of fear to rush up his spine. "...Just fine Jorfen. What about you? You seem pretty chip-" "Oh you've no idea Mortimer." His voice smiled with a wicked warmth. "You've no idea. So, things must look rather fine from your office now eh? Everything is looking rosy?" Mortimer needed to hear no more, and as swiftly as possible while concealing his movement completely he rose and ghosted through the halls. No one in the Admin building had ever seen him move so quickly, but with the grace which accompanied those movements he was downright frightening. "Things are just fine Jorfen, as you probably know." He would have added 'now that we're going to be getting your space budget', but something told him that he had already said too much with his first reply. "Oh, yes, I know very well Jorfen." The sick smile invaded Mortimer's very soul, the smile of a cornered animal that realized it had nothing to lose. In the time it took to speak these sentences he had reached the parking garage. He muted his phone as he kicked his Kerbaratti to life and left a cloud of tire smoke as he accelerated to 100 by the time he'd climbed a single level and cornered the street. The guards stood slack-jawed in awe at the spectacle. Mort opened it up, dashing flat out for the Air Force base that on a good day was 45 minutes away. Jorfen began to type a single word into his computer, with slow, delicious deliberation. ...K... "What do you think you'll do with all that money Mort? All that delicious Funding." ...E... Mort triggered noise canceling to obscure the wind and engine howl. "I am sure the PCA will give a fine direct-" "Oh, yes, Of Course. Madame Program Civil Authority herself. Yes, I'm sure she will." ...R.B... "And what do you think you'll do when her Directives involves probes and satellites which you no longer have contact with Mort?" The sweetness this question was asked with was nauseating. Mort blinked, then re-muted the phone and deftly sent a one-finger text old-style to Linus; SHUT DOWN THE TRACKING STATION NOW He clicked back to Jorfen. ...A.L... "Why would that- how can you think you have a valid motivation for such an act Jorfen? You were lucky to survive the Coup, if you were to do such a thing no-one would forgive you this time." Mort knew that those in the Coup Cabal hated when it was called a "coup" and not a "war", but even this ploy netted him nothing. Jorfen was too far gone to care. "Oh, no doubt you're right Mort." ...I... "They would forgive a private who was just following orders, but I know an officer would have the Holy Book of Jool thrown at him. But then, I have nothing left to lose, do I Mort?" ...S... Mort gritted his teeth, then let his foot off the gas, and slowly began to coast to a stop. He could tell his pursuit was vain. "I know. Because you're in the corner I prepared for you." Jorfen grinned, but with not quite the mirth he had previously had. Mort was right, and he hated knowing that was going to be one of his last thoughts. He opened his drawer, and Mort heard a well known metallic sound. "Enjoy that Mort, whatever it does for you. Cheers." ...M. >bootstring_alphaBlock;standby_Kill;KERBALISM_execute. vzzzzt. ...Mort let the echo of the final round from Jorfen rebound around his mind, and braked the car to a halt. He looked up from the convertible into the sky, wondering what he had done, but knowing it had been catastrophic. Mort sat there, staring at the sky as the sun slowly set, knowing his victory was now a failure.

Notes. Good afternoon everyone. Just dropping a note to my legions of (3) readers to assure you that the tale has not died. The next 3 chapters are written in my head, but having had one disastrous experience with Kerbalism, I did not want to proceed to the climax of the thread without proving to myself that it could be done on Kerbalism. So, I made a sandbox game to sim out some designs. My word what an Odyssey (Bob Fitch reference). After sending the flagship mission on its way, I was rudely interrupted by the entire ship dropping from warp and every part having a danger temp bar over it and then proceeding to explode. Thus began the most laborious, tedious, seldom-rewarding-until-the-epiphany period of troubleshooting I have ever had to undertake. Since I got home from work on 6/29, I have put at least FIFTY hours into the enterprise before finally finding the solution. And man was it hard to find. In short, time warp affects how Kerbalism deals with radiation. Through Warp 5 (x100), Radiation Flux is handled normally. At higher warps it is not, and if you have RTGs on your crewed vessel then the game is constantly applying radiation effects to the crew. After a mere 30-40 days, boom. Having finally figured this out, simply switching to all solar power has done the trick. I am now finally testing a vessel that could do the job. Rest assured, in a day or 3 I will be done, and then the next chapters of the story can be written, for indeed the CA has mandated that Duna be investigated immediately, and in person. Everyone hold your breath!

April 2, '063 "Good morning everyone! As we've all seen over the recent weeks we have finally visited the outer planets!" "The LBL-JIP, launched via Local Body Lifter, is already on track for a close encounter with Tylo in just over a 2 months. Its sister ship, the KOPeC JIP, was the first to arrive at Jool however." "With a burn point close to the Orbit of Laythe, the probe was able to determine from long distance viewing the incredible news that the moon hosts liquid water oceans! This stunning revelation immediately pushed Laythe to the top of Linus' 'quest for life' lists." Gene chuckled and Linus grinned, absent-mindedly rotating his phone in its place on the table before him. "KOPeC-JIP then fired its breaking motors, ultimately dropping into an orbit from which a pair of very valuable encounters could be crafted. We look forward to both of them later this year." "Next, Bhiku entered the Sarnus system, on course for its very swift fly-by of Tekto." "Vast reams of data were collected, which have been beamed back over the last several weeks. On its way out of the system, this beautiful image was captured. Sarnus too truly deserves scientific focus." "Then just a few days ago, Jeb and Bill took up Locostor to deploy a new relay satellite, though its ultimate destination is unknown as of yet." "The Locostor used the new Raptor engines, and reached orbit with no issues, climbing out at a nearly direct 25* ascent." "The Loco-Libra relay satellite is capable of Kerbin System deployment or a direct injection to Duna, and is the 3rd generation of Relay Sat for the KSC." "The Locostor returned directly to KSC after its first flight, providing a highly economical deployment." "We are all very happy with how all these encounters have gone, at Jool, Sarnus, & Duna, and we hope for a..." Gene looked over at Linus, who had just grabbed his phone with both hands, and they all had just enough time to see the color drain from Linus' face before he bolted from the room like a hare startled by a hound.

Without seeing your screen, are you planning your burn on the correct side of Kerbin? Dark side takes you out, light side takes you in.

It is kind-of a shame, but the good news is we are not losing any progress or the main story. I'm also pretty sure that the explanation for what happened will prove to be a good moment for storytelling. :]

Good afternoon everyone (& by that I mean the 3 or 4 folks who follow my tale). As some of you may know I have had an encroaching problem with loading my persistent save rear its ugly head. My game finally refused to load, and 6 days of fiddling and hacking couldn't restore it. Finally I proceeded with my best guess for the fix to the problem. I uninstalled Kerbalism, and indeed the save loaded up- however, every Flight that had a kerbalism part was unloaded. I wasn't sure if they would be restored when I restored Kerbalism, but getting into the game was better than losing it. I deleted about 10 redundant/useless flights, reinstalled Kerbalism and loaded the game. Sure enough I lost a lot I did not intend to, but at least I was in. Long-story-short, removing Kerbalism 'unloaded' everything with a kerbalism part, and the radiation detector science part is one I used a lot. When I restored kerbalism, the lost flights were not restored. I lost about 25 missions I did not plan to lose. I have 1 satellite around Kerbin, 1 around Mun, 2 around Minmus, 1 around Eve, a single seismic sensor on Ike, and 2 relays around Duna (the most recent two from WWYT). I have a relay sat in LKO set for Duna in a year, and the 4 deep space relays still going. That's it. All other landers and relay sats are gone. Flights can go on however, so I am in truth delighted. I will wait a day or two for anyone to respond with an important note ("I really wish you would do xyz, or, "just edit your old save with BLANK and fix it dummy"), and then I will go ahead with the next post- which will include a story explanation for what happened. Thanks for your patience everyone! ... well, that might be ambitious..., thanks for your patience You!

Ok, I have finally corrected my issue, so I thought I'd post the status for anyone who may have wondered. It was indeed a Kerbalism issue. I removed Kerbalism, and the save loaded up- I then deleted about 10 redundant/useless flights, reinstalled Kerbalism and it has loaded up fine and is functional again. I lost a bunch of flights I did not expect to (that had kerbalism parts and did not return when I stripped out the mod), but I am happy to have access again and I think I treat the situation creatively (as far as the 3 or 4 folks who follow my mission reports are concerned). Thanks for everyone who assisted me! For what its worth, I will be replacing my laptop within a few months, just in case the hard drive is indeed about to go. For the amount of time I put into KSP on this laptop I deserve to cut down my wait times anyway. :)

Well, the problem is unsolvable as is, but I have explained it. Before my last play session I had 45 active flights. My Ike lander dropped 2 seismic probes, and my Orbiter dropped 4 landers and 2 relays. This raised my active flights to 53, and it will not load, no matter my connivances. An earlier save with 45 or fewer active flights will load. I think (if I recall?) @Mikki had a similar issue with Kerbalism and the number of saves (forgive me for dragging you in!). So, I think I could just unload Kerbalism, load the save, kill 10-15 old flights, re-install Kerbalism and proceed, but I am not sure how the game will like being loaded without the Kerbalism parts. Unless anyone sees a simpler solution that I do not?...

I am set to try this this evening, with a twist- after renaming copies of the Persistent files, I have started a new game with the same settings and copied over those Persistent files, hoping that when the game loads it will be to a Day 1 setting with nothing going on, and then I will be able to load a select save file (the old persistent which is my active game) from there. If this doesn't work, then I will simply try running a normal persistent load from a copy as you suggest.

Interesting. So, rename it to AttemptNo1.whatever, save it, then rename it Persistent and save it again? Ok, I'll try that at this point. What happens though if there is no 'persistent' save at all when you select what game to load? Does it pick the most recent save after that, or does it blurp and faint because there is no Persistent to load?

Sorry! I'll edit that.

The Duna Mapping Probe, continued... The DIO Bus now made a burn to place it in its first Duna orbit, a 500km relay orbit. Next, the DIO Bus orbit needed to be lowered to 100km, which was the first time that the Bus would be under unbalanced propulsion. Just prior to entering Duna SOI one of the landers had lost its reaction wheel, so not only was the Bus mass unbalanced but so was the control input. The maneuver however was executed nominally, though with notable control input being exercised by the probe CPU to maintain desired alignment. Now the 2nd WWYT relay satellite could be deployed, and as well the Duna Equatorial Lander. The DIO Bus then performs its final burn, to place it on a polar mapping orbit. This would also be its most unbalanced burn as but a single probe remains attached. This burn also is successfully carried out however, and the Bus prepares to deploy its final lander for a polar landing. After the lander begins its burn to descent, for which there is fuel for constant deceleration to the surface (required to reduce mass as much as possible for maximum efficacy of the parachutes). The probe makes atmospheric interface, and immediately sends a data set to the Orbiter for relay to Kerbin. As the probe descends deeper and deeper into the atmosphere however, the low thrust issue of the descent motor again rears its head. Seeing as the design incorporates static panels on the landing legs as well as the extendable arrays, the unforeseen application of drag deeper in the atmosphere suddenly unbalanced the craft beyond the ability of engine or reaction wheels to compensate for. The lander would simply need tumble until its drogue chutes could deploy to stabilize it, after which the first landing on Duna was accomplished, upon its carbon-dioxide northern polar cap. The Polar Probe then surveys its surroundings, sending back marvelous imagery to the Orbiter of Kerbol's bright shine radiating off escarpments and plains. Finally now it was the Equatorial Lander's turn, and a canyon basin was targeted near some possible recent-past flow channels, where conceivably water might have run. The Equatorial Probe's performance was similar, including the stability issues, but as that was now expected it caused little consternation as the data streamed in. Given the much lower altitude reached here than that which the Polar Probe encountered, parachute performance was superior, though retro propulsion was still used through contact. The Duna-Ike mission plan was complete, and now it only remained for all the data to acquired and beamed back home to an eager and joyful Kerbin.

Oktober 16, the 62nd year of the People's Era The first of the two Duna craft enters the planet's gravitational influence, one of K-Tech's robust landers with its injection stage still attached, and maneuvers to make orbit around Ike. Having selected its landing "mare" and discarded the Duna Injection Stage, the craft descends by the Ike Insertion Stage, as the control team strives to maximize the available Dv for the return trip. Upon final approach to the landing zone the Insertion Stage is discarded late, from which the scientists start screaming from the observation lounge as there is no way their landing field would not now be contaminated with unspent propellant and metals. After the the stage is discarded though something inexplicably goes amiss. In the previous 3 flights of this design, which successfully landed on and returned from both Minmus and Mun, the Injection stage had been discarded at an altitude of 6 to 8 kilometers followed by descent on the landing engine. Here above Ike however at an altitude of just over 100 meters the probe, suddenly on its descent motor, slews off its line, and after a swift assimilation of data determining that the rotation is both being properly responded too *and* unrecoverable, the CPU cuts power to the engine which would now only be adding lateral velocity. Seeing a 40m drop from which catastrophic damage was probable the CPU fired the seismic sensors in the hopes that at least something would be left functional after landing. The end result was entirely unpredictable. Later diagnostics would seem to indicate that the only component casualties were 2 of the variable solar arrays and one landing leg, but long engineering meetings would need to be had before a decision on how, or whether to, proceed with a future return attempt- K-Tech would need to be consulted. The science panels were all run, except for the soil experiment which could not now contact the regolith. This mission was set aside at this moment however, as a few days later the Duna-Ike Probe also entered Duna's gravity well. This would be a very busy mission, as 4 probes and 2 relays would need to be deployed, and 5 different orbits managed. First, after entering Ike orbit the two Ike Landers are deployed, and the first of them began its landing attempt. Unfortunately, for some reason the probe was providing incorrect altitude-above-terrain data, which was off by 2700 meters, which would have been the time margin for satelite relay coverage to be assured. As it was, the DIO Bus orbited out of LOS, and the probe dropped with no data link. Subsequently, the DIO Bus was was moved to a higher orbit, so when IL2 attempted its landing coverage would be complete. The work around Ike was now complete, as the science data from both landing sites was relayed back to Kerbin. Next, the DIO Bus would need to break orbit and deploy its two WWYT Relay Satellites at two different altitudes above Duna. [Part 2 to Follow]

4,000 km drive? Good gracious, how long did that take you at the PC? On my system it would be days, literally.

Now do it with Kerbalism.

Well, it is only the load of the Persistent Save which is hobbled, every other ap and program runs to normal performance, and it boots to ready from cold off fast enough. When I run Defraggler (which I run every couple of weeks) *it's* report on disk health reads "good", but I am sure that is not a proper diagnostic. After the persistent save loads, I can load any other save game and it loads in 90 seconds, and when go to a probe and then return to the KSC that transition is also not delayed.

Good evening. I am encountering an intermittent "event" that so far has not killed my game, but it is a bit frustrating and damnably weird. My 2 questions are has anyone encountered what I will explain below, and can anyone explain it? My load times, from double-click on icon to select save game usually runs 8-12 minutes. I have 1850 patches for 40 mods, and I play on a potato. However, the game always works (albeit with slow frame rates). However, lately I have noticed that when I SAVE a game while a ship is Either building or being rolled out of Kerbal Construction Time, my next save game load can take a LONG time. Once it took 45 minutes, and I only waited that long because I needed to do the dishes and I saw it happen to finish loading as I was walking back. Another time it took 4 hours (I got doing something else and so didn't care how long it took), but my Latest load topped them all- 15 hours. Yet, this only happens half the time, the rest of the time it takes about 1 minute. Mind you, this is how long it takes after I select which Save Game to load. So, has anyone experienced this before, and what on earth could my computer be doing for 15 hours that- when it finally finishes- the game plays "fine"? Thanks for any input. [Likely most troublesome mod- Kerbalism.]

Linus tapped his loose papers to refine his nice neat stack, then shifted his glasses as he began to speak. "Good afternoon. As Gene highlighted before the press this morning, we are meeting 3 months early due to the high volume of planetary encounters upcoming in the next 400 days, illustrated here on this graphic. There were only 4 flights and one arrival to document." "Eve Environment Vehicle 1 arrived at Eve as scheduled." "Unfortunately, an unfavorable alignment of our relay satellites was unavoidable, and by the time the command sequence could be confirmed to complete the insertion burn, EEV 1 was well past its burn point. Orbit was finally achieved, but the periapsis could only be lowered to 165km." "A hasty redesign was put into place, as it would still be possible using a non-optimal window to meet the remaining contract requirements." "EEV 2 now sits in LKO awaiting identification of its final launch window." "Three other flights were conducted, the launch of the Duna-Ike Orbiter..." "...our Ike sample-return attempt with the incredibly robust K-Tech lander..." "...and the first, uncrewed flight of Lo-cost-or, our 100% recoverable launch system for the Libra relay satellite system." "Locostor successfully deployed a Kerbin gravity mapping satellite, and though only sub-orbital on its maiden flight the craft's capabilities will be augmented with the recent delivery of the first Rapier engines." "Now. As far as the Munolith." "As you know, this is the radar map acquired of Mun." "It shows 8 targets detected, none of which we have any reason to believe are different from the Munolith already sighted. Now, if only we had found the first 'munolith' in a prone or broken state, the logical Okkams's Razor solution to the puzzle would have been that the Shaman Stone - as unlikely as this seems - was blasted to Mun by a terrestrial impact. However, finding it quite upright, this- the only "natural" explanation known- is ruled out." "Next, we have the radar map of Kerbin, acquired at the science office's request." "On Kerbin, 14 targets were detected, 2 more than known by modern science, as a pair of submerged Stones were apparently located. The appropriate authorities are investigating these presently, but the two found off shore seem unlikely to have been simply dropped. This points to another degree of capability of the Visitors." "Now, going over Minmus lander data, despite not having an altimetry map we have now been able to piece together this-" "Neither of these targets have been seen as of yet, however they too are likely Shaman Stones. Considering the data from all three worlds together, if one again applies Okkam's Razor the least fantastic solution to our puzzle indicates that a pre-impact society of Kerbals attained high comprehension and capability such that local area spaceflight and discovery was possible. This, the simplest solution, unfortunately flies in the face of hundreds of years of archaeological discovery regarding our forebears and would meet steep resistance to acceptance. But then, there is also this." Linus paused for the reaction to the Eris 3 data to subside. "This discovery, in the conclusion of our analysis, cinches the case beyond a doubt. The difficulties of getting to the surface of Eve are great, and setting up a 33,000 kilogram obelisk to say 'we were here' seems a foolhardy suggestion. Therefore, it is our definitive belief that the apparent broad-scope settlement of Shaman Stones in our system roughly 19,000 years ago must have been accomplished by a space-faring people which left no traces of their presence behind." Linus took off his glasses and pocketed them. "We can then make noteworthy suppositions about them. One, they were of a shape or form that their appreciation of a monolithic megalith must have been akin to our own, from which we could imply but not deduce that they were bipedal. Two, the 'accident' that the stones seem to have been placed on the Neolithic Intermediate impact layer should not be discounted as circumstantial; the Shaman Stone's origin is tied somehow to the impact itself." "And, three, they are no longer anywhere near "here". If they were interested enough to set up Stones, then if they could have they would have followed up on their contact/discovery. They have not, and so we must conclude they no longer exist or are prevented from visiting again due to time, distance, or a barrier unknown to us. Even we can be sure they do not hail from Valentine, for that star is close enough that powers wielded such as we have here deduced would have been able to visit us again of a certainty." "We suspect, ladies and gentlemen, that as we explore the system we will find more stones, but we need not consider too deeply protocols on "first contact". This ... visitor is, to us, no-more a concern, and we feel that a slow, selective release of this data to the public can be ultimately informative and beneficial for all." As Linus settled his papers again and left the lectern, the two D-Magic reps in the back of the room looked at each other and then shifted awkwardly, and one of them made a small note on his pad.

:) Mort is definitely the strongest spice in the stew (curry? sage? take a bow Mort!), but so far I have only had Gene evidence occasional "irritation" towards him. In theory I want my Kerbin to conform to the accepted norms of Kerbals, a.k.a. peaceful and curious, but it is hard to have interesting occurrences in your world's development if everything only abides by those dictum. I hope I can succeed in keeping the "NPCs" interesting enough to support the flight reports, and maybe I will look for an opportunity for Gene to drop a hammer or two. Thank you for the compliments! The next chapter is in the works, it is a very busy year!

Gene walked into the D-Magic Lecture Hall as the early morning rays cast their long shadows across the campus. It was very strange knowing he was not going to be entirely forthcoming before the press today. Mort had spoken quite plainly after Linus' confidential briefing; "This is a real pickle. The information has already been known to everyone in the control room. It has been several days since we discovered the Monolith, word surely has gone out." "We can be certain that news reporters would be harassing us, but we can maintain deniability if they do. Should any worker try to blow the whistle, it won't take me long to get the snitch classified as 'Mentally unstable' and have him confined in a Mental asylum until the investigation is over!" Gene had ground his teeth, but said nothing. "Linus, Gene. Your teams know this, yes? Have a talk with them. Tell them to keep their mouths shut!" Linus had jumped out of his seat then, as aggressive as he had been that day when he had stormed into Gene's office. "But, this is an important discovery! If published and peer reviewed, we will eventually be able to get a deeper insight into our history! Our forefathers!!" "And WHERE are your forefathers, Linus? They are dead, and I will be damned if I allow the past to mess up the present AND the future! We will tell kerbalkind eventually, but only after we have concluded all our research." "So what will it be, gentlemen? Will we let the society run amok with panic and disorder? Or will we keep our heads cool, and our mouths shut?" Since that day they had run essentially two Programs, one very open and public, another shrouded in the deepest secrecy. Gene checked his presentation twice when he opened his briefcase behind the lectern to be sure he was about to read the right one. "Good morning everyone. In addition to our 4 Mun flights this year we've had a very full launch schedule as you know, so let me present those for you." "Firstly, the Kopec Jool Interplanetary Probe and the Local Body Lifter JIP both had their launch windows." "LBL-JIP will have a prograde insertion onto a Tylo encounter, while Kopec-JIP will insert retrograde. Both probes will attempt to maximize their fly-bys of all Jool's worlds in the coming years, and end their service as potential relays for future flights." "Next we had the launch of the Bhiku 1 probe to Sarnus." "The Fullsail upper stage provided a fantastic kick to Bhiku, allowing it to be projected to arrive at Sarnus in just over 600 days, with a close flyby of Tekto's mysteriously thick atmosphere made possible by a correction burn after about 40 days." "Next we had our only launch failure of the year, the first attempt to send MMAIO on its way to study the soil of Minmus." "This is the second loss of a Local Body Lifter, the first however to come in a "nominal" flight regime. The rocket simply wanted to pitch greater than the gimbles could counter, for reasons we have not yet diagnosed." "A second booster was made ready which utilized stabilizing fins, and the flight and deployment to Minmus proceeded normally." "Inbetween the two MMAIO launches, we launched the Eris-Kerbin Mapper on a polar orbit, to more completely understand our home planet." "The satellite is currently relaying its precise knowledge of Kerbin's surface and weather daily, providing a deep insight into the shape and health of Kerbin." "Next we launched our final Deep Regional Relay satellite, setting the stage for complete outer solar system coverage in the decades to come." "And, lastly, we launched the Eve Environment Vehicle to Eve, a low-cost lander designed to maximize our return on four contracts." "As is plain to see by our upcoming schedule, we have a lot of launches to manage this year, and we still are 80-odd days away from the Duna Kadillac mission. Our interplanetary data is going to start coming hot and heavy, and that is not even considering the trove of knowledge from our Mun discoveries this year." The annoying reporter who always made sure to get in the first question started talking before Gene was half-way through 'discoveries'. "Gene the program went 10 years without getting to Mun, only to have a surge of landing and landing attempts at a single site. Why the sudden floodgates opening on Munar missions?" Gene stared at the reporter while he unwrapped a stick of gum, which he then deliberately put in his mouth and started chewing, mumbling, "- wouldn't want to be impolite", and sat down as Linus stepped to the podium with Bob at his side. Yes, the questions had begun, just as Mort predicted. Gene actually now couldn't wait for the closed-door sessions to commence.

...it will be just fine Bob, just run it like the sims, it'll be great... ...I'll have you in my ear, advice won't be far away. - I know it should have been you... ...It's the mission Bob. It's whats needed. - We'll all get our chance... Year 11, Day 256 "Ignition- ...3...2...1-" "Liftoff." The Munar Solo Lander left the pad for the first time, its two Mainsails and the Twin Boar booster immediately pressing Bob into his seat at nearly 2 gees of acceleration. Jeb sat at Capcom, feeding Bob any instructions he'd need for this historic first crewed landing on another world. "Everything looking good Flight." "Roger Econ." Gene watched the rocket climb into the sky, the 60 day wonder that was built & flown more swiftly than any other crew-rated craft. The gees climbed well past two and approached 3 as the Mainsail fuel tanks emptied into the core. "13 Km Flight, standing by for separation..." "That's ok Bob, you're burning fine," Jeb swiftly advised. "Just vapor ignition in the boosters, we probably lost them but everything is A.O.K. with the flight." "Copy Jeb, thanks." Gene looked over at Propulsion, who just shook his head and threw his hands up. Why did they design the boosters to be recoverable without providing enough sepratrons to ensure they cleared the core? It looked like they'd only be recovering the two empty tanks. The booster burned out when the apoapsis reached about 85km, and separation of the booster was shortly followed by the fairing. "Looking good Control, I have stars." "We copy Bob. Your insertion burn is laid in and is coming up shortly." Gene and the Mission Control team watched as Bob in MSL1 made orbit, completed his on-orbit checklist, and then completed his munar injection burn. "You're on cruise now Bob, sit back and have a snack." "Oooh..." Bob swiftly forgot his panic on the staging incident as he opened the snack compartment. Gene smirked, ... then realized he wouldn't mind a snack himself... Just over 1 day later MSL1 entered the Mun's SOI. The munar insertion burn was set, as Bob prepared to make orbit. "...and... cut-off. You're in orbit Bob, and we have a good sun angle so Aaron will plot your landing for the first pass." "Copy Control." Aaron entered the burn data, a burn assisted by the proximity of MASC to the landing target. "Burn initiated Flight." "Copy. Fuel status?" "Well within safety, the insertion stage is just finishing its contribution." "Copy. Capcom, go on voice auxiliary and remind Bob not to reference the target as other than Majesty Site during the landing." "Copy Flight." The word had come down from PCA that for the time being the "Munolith" would be kept under wraps. Once they were sure of their data they would make an announcement. Privately, many expected the ERIS-Kerbin Mapper would make fresh discoveries on Kerbin that would explode the story anyway, but that data wasn't available yet. MSL1 descended now on its landing engines. A deliberately grainy video feed was being broadcast to every television on the planet. Gene realized he'd been holding his breath, and breathed in as the rest of the room erupted in cheers. "We copy you down Bob, great job!" Everyone grinned and exulted, though as they watched Bob step down on their own crystal clear video feed they all had the thought; but were we really the first? Bob did a visual exam of the lander and its science package, and then set out to check off the EVA list. Bob stayed on the surface for several hours, concluding his tasks with conventional geology by chronicling the regolith of the various layered craters in the area. Lift off and return was somewhat anticlimactic, with nothing unusual to report and plenty of consumables in reserve. Bob enjoyed the quite unique SL pod view of re-entry for a second time, and ultimately alighted safely. The world rejoiced and cheered the accomplishment, the historic first landing on another world, and Bob received great accolades for the tricky MASC probe repairs. None however knew yet that the real purpose of the mission was to uncover the most astounding story of all, that Kerbalkind was not alone.