GarrisonChisholm

6 Months Later... 5 Minutes before CRAP 8... Gene walked along the hall leading to the conference room. He wasn't exactly thrilled to give this CRAP presentation, not that he ever really was 'thrilled' by them, but there had been a couple of embarrassing failures this year- and knowing now what Mort had told him 6 months ago, he knew failures were not good at all for the Program. He nodded to the Airkerb standing guard in the corridor, who nodded back. He was a pleasant enough chap, but he still hadn't liked the day they had all shown up. A reminder he thought from the CA that this was a government enterprise, and not some private venture of Wernher's. And also probably directly related to Mort's little visit to Air Force HQ. The AF was chomping at the bits to get all the funding that KSC had lined up, and felt Space should be their private bailiwick. Why, Jool only knew. Mort had found out that they had a space-plane and were developing light cargo capacity. Kerbin needed to be "guarded" they had said. Gene was all for that, but was concerned that the Air Force might be looking at a problem through a straw, and that The Program's all-encompassing exploration mission was the better approach to understanding planetary security. He ran his hands through his thinning hair and considered the future, immediate and distant. He would cover the two recent probe flights to Minmus, the arrival of a Libra and ERIS at Eve, and the VAB's Ike/Duna lander concepts. He would also be announcing a coming attraction that should put the "us first" Air Force boys back on their heels, a space-plane of their own that would manage cargo & crew to orbit and back that would have first flight later this year. Gene didn't like the diversion of energy to essentially an 'only orbital' project, but Linus at least would be happy that his Space Farm was conceptually one step closer. If only they could get a handle on their upper stage booster problem...

Joon 7 ... 0550 hours. Gene stormed irritatingly down the hall towards Mort's office. The door was closed, but he could see a light on underneath. He knocked sharply, and was surprised to see the light go out as he turned the handle. He stood there in the doorway, staring into the darkened room. "Come in Gene, shut the door behind you." A match was struck as he closed the door, and Gene could see a pipe being puffed to life. A desk lamp then came on, and warily Gene pulled over a chair and sat down. He paused a moment as he considered this odd behavior, and changed his tack. "Why did you need to see me at midnight Mort?" he asked, a little more curiosity present than irritation. "You asked me today what I thought of Jeb's sighting report, and when I said nothing you demanded to know why I wasn't at the last CRAP." "Yes, I did Mort. We both know weird things are going on, and I need to know if you know anything about them." Mort leaned back, a cocky, self-delighted grin on his face, and pushed a poured glass of skotch over to Gene. "My friend, ...let me tell you a story." Gene sat back, mind numbed not so much by the crazy facts Mort had reported, but that he had had the stones to pull off such an audacious scheme. - and he was more than a bit freaked out by the accountant. "...well, what in the hell does all this mean?" Mort sat back, delighted to be the center of attention and the one empowered with the facts. "Let's just think about that a minute..." [to be continued! *] * special credit for Mort's Day Off goes entirely to the artistic talents of @Sorabh

Well remember I am running v 1.22, so a craft file will not be compatible. In the next CRAP meeting (the 2nd upcoming post) I will present the VAB's take on 1 of the 3 components, and present it in such a way that duplicating it should suffice. Essentially, a completed picture and text or 'exploded view' pictures should be included as needed to allow me to rebuild it.

Those? Not at all. I am upgrading as soon as possible anyway, but my suck-fest performance did not decline any further due to those packs. BTW, we have a Very Special post in the works, but brilliance cannot be hastened. It will come within the week I would guess, with another hot on its heels.

Indeed so. There was a separate thread, linked elsewhere in this narrative (somewhere) which has a page where I list all my mods. (delay) Ok, I am awake enough to find it now. To answer your question directly, I use the Outer Planets Mod, Extrasolar Planets Beyond Kerbol, and the Planet 9 mod. & @roboslacker -Mortimer's private jet While the latter would be most topical, I think we can safely rule out all three.

Just a few days later... Jeb whistled perkily to himself as he approached the Thunderbird that had been rolled onto the tarmac. Of course KSC didn't call it that, but 30 years ago that's what had been flown by both sides in the war. Jeb was delighted he'd been able to nudge and whisper enough to get them to refurbish this baby, and today's scientific survey flight up the coast promised to be a thrill. He had groused about the flight regulations that mandated he wear a full flight-suit, but it was a small price to pay for the privilege he was about to enjoy. He quickly went through his pre-start and let the big radial warm up for a solid 10 minutes before calling the tower for clearance. "Roger Foxtrot Tango 1, you are cleared for take-off and a northward heading at Angels 3." "Copy Control, rolling out." He shoved the throttle to the wall and felt his teeth rattle as the 18 cylinders stormed away. Before he reached the hanger the tail-wheel was up, and shortly there-after he lifted the nose as the bird climbed insolently into the air. That made him grin, because the latest high-altitude jets that were being tested frequently used every inch of the runway. Turning North he folded out his knee map and confirmed his way-points. It would only be about 30 minutes before he started to see a hint of the polar shelf, which would be his queue to start collecting air samples. It was only about 10 minutes though before he spotted something very unusual. "Control, I have traffic crossing my 12, must be 15 kilometers up and out. Do you have it on radar?" "Negative Foxtrot Tango, we have no registered traffic and no transponder signals in your area." Jeb wished just for a second he had modern equipment, but only a second. Oh well, the Mark One eye-ball would have to do. He opened it up to War Emergency from the steady cruise he'd selected and reefed into a climbing turn to the east, leveling out when his surging power at last started to drop. An intercept was hopeless, but he wanted to get closer. Eventually he crossed its Six, but it was almost a speck by then- when it belched forth a gout of smoke. What the hell? He pulled out the survey camera he'd been given should he spot any icebergs, and with 3 hasty snaps at far telephoto hoped for 1 clear image. Whatever craft it was, it was clearly and swiftly supersonic, and shortly the sky held no memory of its presence. He backed off the throttle and returned to his planned flight, using his extra altitude to give the radial a break from its unexpected work-out. Thinking about it, all he knew was he had never seen anything like that before...

It would be difficult to mesh with your overarching desire, namely to continue to weave your Kerbal's thread into one continuous tale, but I have always wanted someone to explore the Outer Planets Mod. I have installed it in two games now, and barely gotten out there myself. It would also be a high challenge to do a multi-flyby of the outer planets with a single probe, though I dare say you would have to settle for 2, as 3 or 4 would seem to be far to difficult to orchestrate. *small brain-storm* Call it Quest for Life. Explore those areas of the Kerbin System where conceivably extreme-o-phile life could exist, actually collecting sorting and analyzing the readings you get which no-one else ever does because they're just thinking Science points. Find that spot on Duna where it is 15*C and theoretically moist, or that place on Tekto (OPM) that might possible harbor some something. Go to Eeloo (as Sarnus' Enceladus analogue) and 'sample the regions where the water jets might originate. You could weave in real exploration history to provide more depth to your work, and even create a story about what your Kerbals will or will not find. That might be the spark of something.

Good sir, whose videos I watch/listen to on endless repeat whilst I build, if my humble smatterings of barely tangible thought could perform such a service for those who love your work, then I would count myself a most fortunate soul.

Drop and ditch, they will stay on their respective target's surface. So, no material bays needed, we won't be getting that data back. It would be frightfully hard to build a 3 ton lander that could return to orbit for later collection. No, we do not want to do that.

Well, the science parts I have available in my game I left visible in that side panel, even though I haven't paid intro cost for some of them yet. If you would like to PM me first feel free, that way we can 'brush up' your submission so it is useful as well as entertaining to the narrative. If you wish to just go for it though feel free- perhaps I should submit a "model" submission as an example... Since it is unlikely anyone else is running my same build, you should submit images of the probe you build along with any notes on special steps you took (recessing this antenna slightly so-as to not interfere with this solar panel, etc.) so I can reconstruct it. If you feel multiple images would serve your entry best (ala @Felbourn with his masterful greebling) then feel free. I have to say, Mort and I (can I separate myself from Gene at this point?...) are really looking forward to the selection process! Oh, and if you would like to submit multiple entries, i.e. for any of the 3 requested probes/sats, feel free! I am going to keep track of private industry and who has been awarded what contracts, and their success. So far K-Tech is the only entity with a Program relationship, and I am about to fly a second Minmus probe of theirs shortly.

Y7 Joon 3, Kerbin Space Campus Program Proposal Memorandum Request for Type; Ike Lander Duna Lander Relay Satellite The Finance Wing and multiple corporate scientific interests have given the green light for a full-up "Kadillac" mission to Duna. Above you see our prototype orbiter 'bus' set for early testing. The orbiter has 6 attachment rings for 6 different sub-probes, all of which will be presented for 3rd party design. Submitted designs will be evaluated at the next CRAP meeting and the winning proposal chosen. Amongst the factors which will be considered under evaluation are simplicity, cost, elegance, maximized science return, but most importantly low mass. Each probe should come in under 3,000 kg. Due to this limitation it is fully expected that the science packages will not be everything we would wish them to be. Below we have attached a 1 meter by 1 meter plate for reference. Your physical limitations are likely 1 meter by 2 meters, with the attachment portion being less than 1 meter in diameter and allowance for the posterior portion to be 1.5 meters or maybe even 2. 2 identical probes/sats of each type will be flown and mounted opposite one another for weight distribution. The plan is to enter Ike orbit, remain in orbit while the orbiter supports the landing attempts, then to break orbit and find a Duna orbit, slowly changing it to deploy the satellites appropriately and then finally the landers. The Orbiter will have an insertion stage helping it enter Ike orbit, and possibly leaving it as well. The winning proposal will either submit their designs for VAB assembly, or ship the probe whole to the Campus for vehicle integration. Please note, any errors discovered during assembly would reflect negatively upon further work with that construction house. If plans alone are provided, the Program will assume liability for any errors in planning as they should be found out during assembly. The Probe in its entirety will use the Liberty first and second stages as its lifter, so the mass restrictions are hard caps. Interested parties shall submit proposals prior to the next CRAP meeting [estimated at 4-9 RL days]. Should no interested parties field proposals by this time, the Program will have the VAB put together their best attempt. Successful partnerships born of this agreement would carry forth the good will of the Program when future Private Industry opportunities develop. [Author's Note!] [This is the collaboration portion of this story! Fellow writers, you are invited to participate in this narrative! We ask that you present your proposal in character, assuming either a specific or corporate (or University in the case of a JPL-like relationship) voice to represent the entity you create. KSP is a Fun/Cool/Cute game, so sticking to the classic Kerbal memes is fine, however we do ask that excessively silly names and nomenclature be perhaps thought about before being submitted. The tone I have tried to set of one of intensity where humor comes from our poor protagonist butting his head against his reality. Feel free to PM me if you would like further guidance, however if you simply give your best shot at matching the tone of the tale so far you cannot stray too far from the mark. Any general questions may of course also be asked below, if it seems reasonable the answer would be useful to the readership as a whole. Also, the authors of course reserve the right to remove any submissions which are deemed to detract from the enterprise. Good luck!]

That's a rather hard one to phoneticize. (spell check doesn't recognize that as a word but I Refuse to Believe!) If Fox Kerman shows up in the story though, Katy bar the door...

Year 6, day 413 C.R.A.P. 7 "Good morning everyone! We are at the end of a challenging year at the Program, but thanks to Jeb Peggy & Bill it has also been our most successful. We all have heard about the well-covered flights of Captain Jorfen, LBC-5, and the groundbreaking Liberty, so I will here touch upon the remainder of our year's schedule." "For starters, having proven the craft could land on Mun and return safely, it was now up to Jebediah to take the MSL/P into LKO to flight test its life support functions and crewed recovery." "Jeb and the lander completed about 6 orbits before returning home, satisfied that everything was working correctly." "The SML/P now simply awaits the right moment to carry a Kerbal to the surface of the Mun." "Following this fine test, the science crew of LBC-5 was coaxed back into a capsule to make a second attempt at their mission." "Thankfully their flight was much less dramatic, and LBC-6 ("Albion") orbited for almost a week while Jebwell and crew made their observations, returning home much more predictably than last time." Gene smiled while a chorus of chuckles broke across the room. "It was at this time that the Program began its first high-speed flight testing of modern turbine powered aircraft, designed with an integral LV-T45 to test the far extremes of the atmospheric flight regime. The High Templar here pictured was ultimately deemed unsuitable, but valuable lessons were learned and the first steps towards space capable aircraft continue to be made." "Our last flight to orbit was our Eve mission, which even though the transfer window would not open for several months was put into orbit in case a rush replacement launch became necessary." "Now we had at first planned, as publish notes from CRAP 6 indicate, to fly a SOLAR probe with its high Dv capabilities for this very specific orbital mission. However in the end it became clear that the needed experimental NERV would not be available, and with the probe's foundation essentially being a liquid fuel only fuel tank, the necessary deconstruction would have been so extreme to replace it that a ground-up design was created instead. As you recall part of this mission was a fairing test in solar space, so the fairing was designed with "leak" portals for light so the probe's power could be kept topped off prior to the ejection burn." "We have a completely full slate of missions in store, so our finance meeting will be much less poignant this time around." "Additionally, we find ourselves stridently pursuing 5 different avenues of research that will in the coming year give us some exciting new technologies. Not only the RTGs required for our eventual outer planet explorations, but we will finally be getting a new class of booster engines which will allow us to expand beyond our current clustered Reliant approach by adding the powerful Mainsail engine." "We continue to explore and learn, but feel confident that our understanding of the formation of the solar system and even the conditions that brought forth life itself are mounting exponentially. Now, Linus, why don't you review the new discoveries, and touch on the Duna probe we hope to launch in 18 months." Gene went and sat down at his seat while Linus stepped up, but when he looked down the table towards Mort's usual seat at the end, it was vacant. Where was he?...

Mm, diameter, yes. Tweak-scale lets you adjust parts to a very fine degree, then modifies mass and performance by an according percentage.

Interlude... *clatter, grumble, phone-slam* "...stupidest thing I ever..." Gus paused, but then continued on his way, picking up his pace a bit as he passed Gene's door. "Gus!! Hey Gus, come in here a moment." Gus sighed and held a breath a moment, then turned in to Gene's open door. "Sure Gene, what is it? I was just about to head into a construction meet-" "Forget that. Gus I need you to do me a favor. Public Affairs has been getting a lot of questions about the Liberty, and as our chief foreman I think you're just the person to take care of that." "Um, Gene, I'm kind of pressed at th-" "So all I need you to do is put together a short video breaking down the rocket, but you'd better shoot for 6th grade level, folks are always more interested then." "...um, why?" "The hell if I know. By tomorrow morning? Great. Thanks Gus, you're a prince." ...

Good afternoon, and Thank you! I was just debating that myself, and the Duna Probe mission seems like the ideal candiaite. It will be large with many "moving parts", so I may issue a Request that will give you the choice of a com-relay orbiter, a Duna entry probe, or an Ike lander. I think Mort and I will discuss that after the next CRAP conference. These are my mods, and be aware I am running on 1.22- K-Techs probe had to be "rebuilt" by me because of a version difference, but I think I did a fairly faithful job of reproducing it. If you are running 1.3, a proposition might even just be a technical paper saying "this is what it looks like, and here's how you build it. Thanks for your interest! Every little bit gives me some energy to create faster.

It is an odd size, using teak-scale. I would need to investigate to discover. That is part of the reason why the fairing for the transfer stage is at an unusual angle of slope. The diameter was determined by how "comfortably" I could seat the 6 capsules into one unit, and then the decoupler and fuel tank sized accordingly.

Year 7, d272 The Liberty flight took place about 40 days after LBC-5, and Jeb, Peggy, and Bill had been drilling contingencies for weeks, guided by Bob. It would be only a 3 crew mission, as stepping so far from home for the first time they wanted plenty of margin in the life support systems. The mission had a 27 day profile, to enter orbit around Minmus and return, with experiments and EVAs scheduled to satisfy the contract demands. Everyone in the Program was aware of how near the margin they had danced in recent months, and everyone was dedicated to getting this flight on its way with "zero deviations", as Gene had laid down the law. The Liberty was simply a Local Body Conveyor with two extra main stages fuel-feeding into the main. It would certainly get the crew on its way, but it was not the architecture that would support a crewed landing. Regrettably a new vehicle would need to be designed for that. However optimism was high, and all the pre-flight checks after roll-out had gone to perfection. Lift-off of the 21 engines and 4 booster motors was likewise executed flawlessly. With the crew safely in orbit, Peggy ran systems checks while Jeb and Bill plotted the Minmus intercept. An exact intercept evaded all Aaron Kerman's machinations back in Mission Control, so a small course correction was added to the plan. The Orbital Insertion Stage provided almost all of the transfer velocity, which the Service Module neatly finished up. Departing Kerbin provided a quite lovely shot for the remote camera. However, it was at soon after this point that fate once again dealt them all a raw hand. "Flight, SOWR reporting in; SOAR and SOLAR satellite observations indicate a solar eruption inbound to Kerbin." Gene's face immediately masked his initial emotions. "Can we avoid it?" "Negative Flight, even a direct abort would not return us to shielded elevations before it arrived." Gene looked at the surgeon, whose alarm was obvious. "Alight. Align the ship counter to the incoming storm and inform the crew to prepare for Shelter Protocol." The ship was pointed engine-on towards Kerbol, hoping that the bulk of engine but more-so fuel mass would block most of the radiation. Thankfully, the crew reported no discernible effects, though their equipment measured the increased radiation environment outside. After it passed, they secured from Shelter, executed their encounter burn, and made ready to enter orbit. After crossing the boundary into Minmus space, the crew was congratulated- the first Kerbals to enter the space of another world. A few hours later orbit was achieved, and the historic and requested space-walks performed. On their way past the sun side, they flew by Divinity and the remaining acoustic probe from the K-Tech lander. They then proceeded to fire their engines for their return, and 12 days later ditched their service module as they prepared for re-entry. Jeb, Peggy, and Bill returned at night but were swiftly recovered to the bright lights of celebrity. The Program Public Affairs Office had to field endless requests for interviews and accommodated almost all of them. The mission was a success, and when they reported for their post-flight medical none of them showed any lingering signs of radiation induced illness. It was a great first step, celebrated by almost the whole world.

Actually, I went to Photobucket because Imgur lost some photos too. Hopefully Photobucket will be sorted out, but I am also pursuing setting up my own image hosting site. That conversation will happen next weekend. Either way, it looks like things are getting back on track. *thumbs up*

Well, some good news; & thank you @theJesuit. Photobucket had a fix for the photos in my library, & in the course of burying my head in the sand for 36 hours, 15 of the 31 affected photos repaired their links- I don't know enough about computers to know why this would happen, but it is a big relief. I have some confidence now that the tide won't wash in to undo my sand-castle building, and maybe the others will restore in time too. If not, the job is at least only half as big. I have the material for Liberty 1, and that first Kerbal departure from LKO (not counting Captain Jorfen the Daft) did not proceed without some drama, and then a summary for the next annual meeting. I'll do my best to get that up in a few days. Thanks for your patience everyone.

I am going to pause my chronicle, as the Photobucket issues have now propagated to multiple folders and *unrelated stories* on other forums are now also missing pictures. This is very disheartening, and rather 'miffing'. I decided to be a paying customer of Photobucket because IMGUR had *also* lost photos for me in the past. I have escalated the issue, let us hope for a positive resolution.

This is just an advisory, I lost some photos from the page 1 set, and that's pretty disappointing. I was uploading a large batch for the next mission and it seems when photo-bucket choked on it it over-wrote or otherwise screwed up the addresses. I do not know how I can identify which photos were lost other than just guessing by context, but I will try eventually. This is the first time I have seen this happen- please forgive the damage, I will see what I can do later on. For now I am going to proceed with the next chapter.

The Flight Team had only a day or two to process the Pentacle flight, because about 10 days later the next LBC was ready to roll out for the next science flight. This would be flight number 5 of the LBC stack, so they had the comfort of it being a reliable vehicle. While preparations were being made the flight crew was briefed on the Jorfen Incident and assured that that had been a terribly atypical flight under the auspices of the Air Force, and that nothing like that re-entry profile would occur. On the day of the launch there was a slight hold as an electrical issue was tracked down, but by dusk the Kent was ready to go. Launch was nominal, and after booster staging a beautiful sunrise was seen from the capsule. It was shortly after that that things went horribly wrong. "Flight we have lost ALL telemetry we have no connection with the craft!" Gene's eyes bulged. "ECON status!!" "Nothing Flight, we have no link to the flight computer- transmitter is good, LBC is continuing to burn on prograde, just no life to the flight computer or comms." "What the Hell caused that?!? Recovery deploy downrange ASAP!" "It might have been an electrical discharge- rare in our benign atmosphere but possible." Everyone worked their instrumentation in a frenzy, but nothing was found that would restore communications with the craft, and in horror when the Reliant first-stage burned out there was no staging. The entire LBC stack simply coasted up to about 45km and then started falling back towards the sea. Gene gave Recovery the predicted location of impact, but no-one pretended that there would be anything left to recover if the whole rocket just fell into the water. They were all notified at the same time that communications were restored by the hellacious screaming that suddenly burst through the speakers. "We have a link Flight!" & "Initiate Abort procedures!" were shouted at the same time. The rocket was swiftly staged completely, leaving the capsule finally alone to rotate into retrograde. The screaming slowly settled down once the crew realized they were no-longer simply riding in a death can, and when the chutes deployed there was radiant, jubilant joy to replace it. Propulsion initiated a retro burn of the capsule jets simply to get some fuel-mass eliminated before splash-down, but the capsule successfully hit without component damage. It was only then that Mission Control allowed itself to exhale. The fault was traced to the electrical troubleshooting that had been done through the day. An access panel had not been secured completely as the port sealant did not welcome being re-seated, and thus the onboard electrical box was left to be subject to ambient pressure. When the barometric pressure fell below a certain point, the control box routing communications had failed due to the finicky nature of its construction.* This component was replaced in future vehicle construction, and the whole campus breathed a sigh of relief- while the TOURIST crew was slowly talked into planning for a new flight.

Yup! That's one where the game gives you a result and you're like, "bu... huh?" 0.o But it is great for the drama-stew that is cooking!

Jooly 18. "Ok, Go/No-go for launch." Gene listened to the flight technicians rattle off their "go" commands, while Air Force Captain Jorfen Kerman sat atop the absurdly powerful Pentacle, named after the 5 engines on the second stage. The CA had asked for the good Captain and his prototype flightsuit to go through high gee testing, and this would be the 3rd attempt to satisfy their request. The first had been a simple return from the last TOURIST flight of the LBC, but the 10.5 gee chute deployment deceleration that everyone else complained about bitterly had been laughed off as insignificant. Next, the Pentacle had been built and flown as a single stage, and though it topped out at 12g of acceleration at 6km, it was clear from their telemetry that the g-load would need to last at least 4x as long. So, the 2-stage Pentacle had been built. Powered by 9 LV-T30's, this stage too would top out at 12 gees of acceleration. The flight profile planned had the rocket turning level at ~45,000m and holding this profile to fuel depletion. It was hoped the ridiculous speeds thereby attained would provide the stress data the Air Force wanted. "Roger, we are go for launch. Stand by Jorfen. ...3...2...1... ignition." The Pentacle-2 threw itself off the pad, accelerating under an initial load of 3 gees. By the time the boosters dropped away it was already more than 1km up. At 15km and almost 4 gees, the turn to the north was begun... ...but trouble was swiftly identified. "Flight, attitude alteration is very sluggish, we are entering a flight regime we haven't entered before. Attitude adjustment has stalled, pitch 25 degrees, locked on prograde." "Jorfen, we need to abort or you're going for a very far ride- you could get as high as the radiation belts!" "Negative Flight, all is good here, Civil Authority Override Alpha. We're here to get data, let's get it." Gene keyed off his mic. "That glory hound just wants his name in the history books- and what the hell is Override Alpha?!?" Gene looked back at Griffon. "It means the Flight Director isn't in charge of his Flight, Gene...", then in a whisper, "they're watching this one impatiently, 3rd attempt. Just give him the go, the cabin should be fine." Gene looked back at Griff and bit off hoarsely, "...there's No Heat Shield, Griff!" "Its stable by the engine mass, it will self orient. They can take a lot of heat. ...just give them the flight Gene, then they can't say we backed off." Gene grit his teeth, not believing what was happening. Finally, he keyed his mic- the 15 seconds the conversation had taken had already moved the Apoapsis out of the atmosphere anyway. "...Roger, Captain. MECO in 15 seconds. ...welcome to Space." The final report on the Apoapsis, after the second stage burned furiously for 25 seconds, was over 1000km. The Captain could have used the highly responsive 2nd stage motors to level out his flight and provide a more shallow re-entry orientation, but he had held it prograde. On SECO Jorfen had cursed and muttered, "failed again." Jorfen must have turned off his mic in disgust, or else just decided to admire the stars he had not expected to see, because they didn't hear from him again. 40 minutes later, on an incredible steep angle, the craft had hit the atmosphere. "Flight, our gauges are off the scale, he's pulling 10 gees." "Jorfen!! Status!!" "Gee-max flight! Meter pinned at 15 gees!!" "Jorfen!!!!!! - Surgeon Punch him out!!!!!!" "... craft, disintegrated Flight. No telemetry. ...no feedback. ...calling up logs, ... eject command was sent, but it could have been in plasma black-out, we just..." "Recovery, do you have visuals?" "Negative Flight, ETA still 25 minutes, assets were completely out of position for this mission profile." Gene stared at his gauges, numb. - Had that idiot given the Program their first casualty?? "Gene...", Griffon spoke from the back of the room, "- CA on the line. They, ..." "...they congratulate us on a successful flight, and thank us for providing their needed data. - they are getting flightsuit telemetry, and can confirm Jorfen's eject command was received." Gene looked back and stared at Griff. "And his status??" Griff asked, then said 'alright' and hung-up the line. He turned and spoke blankly. "They said, 'don't worry, we've got it from here.'" Gene looked back at his gauges, perplexed. He ejected at close to 20-gees, at Mach 6, from inside a fireball, ...and survived? What the Hell was going on? The Flight team slowly began their telemetry preservation procedures, because everyone knew This one needed figuring out. Recovery, when they arrived on the scene, found only a single expended drogue chute, and tiny airframe particles spread over a wide area. They found no sign of Captain Jorfen, or any Air Force search & rescue activity. No one knew what to think.