CatastrophicFailure

Chapter 54: Uncomfortably Numb Bing The elevator doors slid open, and Valentina stepped out into the darkened hall of her floor in the Kerbonaut Complex. Her right hand was heavily bandaged, and her left carried a bag of cheeseburgers. Now, the one had predicated the other, she supposed, but they were just going to get thrown out anyway. No sense wasting them. Also in the bag was a little container of pills, something with a name so long it wrapped around the bottle two and a half times, but at least it took the edge off. Her hand was down to a dull ache, but it certainly made her hungry. For cheeseburgers. Yes. Yes, perfectly reasonable excuse for sneaking back to her room with a bag full of stale cheeseburgers. Just a side effect, that's all. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Alone in the hallway, she laughed nervously. She looked around, again expecting lurking watchers, and jumped as the elevator doors shushhhhed shut behind her. She sighed, and began walking down the rows of doors. Most of the others were still back at the bar. Valentina had considered staying around for the usual Joolsday night festivities until someone had begun passing out buckets of frogs. Some sort of research project. She'd left in a hurry, then. But, she supposed, no sense wasting them, either. An odd sound to her right made her pause as she neared Jorrigh's room. She listened for a moment, then jumped back in horror, eyeing the door. Coming from the other side was a sound like ripping metal. She whipped her head back and forth, wondering how such a noise wasn't drawing other gawkers. Even as she stood there, the sound shifted, changed, now becoming a cascade of shattering concrete. ЬЯЗZHЙЭVS SHФЗ, the building is collapsing! Valentina thought as she backed a few steps, steeling herself to batter down the door. Just as she was about to charge, however, the sound changed again... RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPP.....CRRRAAAAAAAACK....wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze... RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPP.....CRRRAAAAAAAACK....wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze A hand slowly went to her face as she realized it was only Jorrigh. That Kerb snores worse than Dibella, she thought, letting out a long breath. She proceeded down the shadowy hall towards her room, still feeling very unsettled. Must be more side-effects, no coating or anything on those pills. Some food would help, surely. Valentina smiled as she gave the bag a little shake... and froze. Slowly, her head turned to the left, eyes growing wider. Jerdous's room. She now realized that her own breathing was the only noise in the hall. Her skin felt tight, tensed, like the moment before a chill, yet none came. She crept to the door, moving softly, suddenly afraid to make a sound. Cautiously she pressed her ear against it, some part of her mind convinced the door its self might reach out for her. ...no... no please... don't... don't want to... She drew back, looked the door up and down, spun around expecting... no, the hall was still empty. Only shadows watched, whispered. Her head moved to the door again... ...help... please help... no... She had to ball her hand into a fist to keep it from trembling, then lightly rapped on the door. "M... Mister Jerdous? Are... are you awake?" Nothing. Only the sound of very normal snoring came from behind the door now. Her hand moved to knock again, more loudly this time... but, stopped. No... no need to trouble him, just a bad dream, that's all. Said he'd been having them. Valentina backed away from the door, eyes still bulging. Again she searched the corridor, finding only shadows. It's all right... everything is quite all right... She took one step back, then another. Her skin, that had felt to tight a moment before now felt numb and dead. Another step, another and another, and soon she was running, fleeing, certain that at any moment the lights would go out, the shadows would converge, then she would scream and... and... She flew through the door to her room, flicked the lights on and slammed it behind her in one fluid motion. Chest heaving, it was all she could do to hold herself up on trembling knees as she leaned against it. For a few moments, Valentina stayed like that, just breathing, letting the adrenaline tremors work their way out. Side effects. Blasted side effects, making her feel strange. Just the medication, nothing more. She set the bag down on her little table and sat, looking out into the clear night. Medications did all sorts of odd things, she knew that. That's why they needed prescriptions. Probably shouldn't have taken it on an empty stomach. Probably even says on the bottle not to do that, she was just distracted by the ridiculously long name. Wiping the sweat from her face and peering into the darkness outside, she saw a tiny point of light whizz past high in the sky. She wondered if it was Mister Burdous. She hoped everything was still going well for him. Valentina reached into the bag, and unwrapped a stale and rubbery cheeseburger. It tasted like ashes.

Chapter 53: The Halls of Medicine "Paging Dr. Kerman, Dr. Kermin, Dr. Kerman..." The errant lock of hair continued its unyielding assault on Valentina's face as she sat on a sheet of waxed paper on an examination table in a tiny, windowless room in the infirmary. Maybe it was getting time for a haircut. At least the hair distracted her from the throbbing pain in her right hand. The swelling had gotten pretty bad too, almost looked like a-- The door swung open, and a smiling Kerbal in a white lab coat entered, a thick folder tucked under his arm, "good afternoon, I'm Doctor Kerman (no relation). Ah, I see they have eggplant at the cafeteria today. Oh my, that's your hand." Without missing a beat, he held out his left hand to shake. She took it gingerly, feeling the swelling abate just a hair as blood rushed to her face instead. "Well now," he grinned, setting the folder on the counter and snapping on a pair of latex gloves, "we'll see to that manual melongene in just a moment, let's get a quick check of your vitals first. Poke here, prod there, say 'ah...' no need to stick your tongue out at me, I'm just doing my job... now without moving your head, follow my finger... good... good... now pull it... oh, seen that one, have you? All right... can you hear me now? How 'bout now? Ok, not deaf... now this will feel a little cold... (EEK!) ok it will feel very cold... and, deep breath, deep breath... good... check your pulse now... catchy beat, is that the Bee Gees? Now just a quick reflex check... good!" The Doctor leaned back, and didn't quite put a hand to his chin, "hmmm, interesting. In my professional medical opinion, you are not dead." Valentina looked at him flatly, "...is that so." "Quite. In my experience, I find it helpful to remind people of this from time to time. Starts things on a positive note. Now, would you like to tell me how you wound up with an aubergine at the end of your wrist?" "I punch wall." He blinked, "did you, now? Well, I'm sure that wall had it coming." "It wasn't, by chance," he leaned in, "a wall by the name of Dean Kerman, was it?" "No, was actual wall." "Oh," he blinked again, "pity, that guy could stand to be taken down a peg, he's a real d-ouch my shin!" A small rock plinked off the wall, plinked off the exam light, plinked just below Valentina's knee... "Ouch, my other shin!" The doctor rocked on his stool, rubbing at his legs. "Is there a doctor in the house?!" He pleaded, "oh, wait..." Valentina could no longer contain a giggle. "There, see?" He smiled, "feeling better already, aren't you? Told you you had good reflexes aye yi yi." "Next you will tell me laughter is best medicine, no?" She smirked. "Oh, no no no, we have real medicine here," the doctor said with a note of concern, "things with long unnecessarily polysyllabic names like trinitrotoluene, transphlablamaphlognol, and cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene." For a moment, Valentina could only sit there mimicking a fish as she tried to wrap her mind around the veritable phonetic cornucopia. Fortunately, a familiar distant rumble drew attention from her piscine pantomime. "Phaw," the doctor sighed, not quite putting a hand to his face, "that's going to kill someone one of these days," then looked up brightly. "So, let's take a look at that stricken solanum you've got there," to Valentina's relieved surprise, the doctor used an incredibly light and practiced touch on her bloated, entirely too purple hand, "hmm. Hmmmmm." "Is bad?" She asked resignedly. "Hmm? Oh, no, I was just pondering eggplant Parmesan for lunch. Your hand, now..." "Does this hurt?" "No." "Does this?" "No." "How about th--" "STДLIЙS STДCHЗ ДЙD ДLL HIS STЦЬЪLУ ШHISКЭЯS TФФ!" He recoiled, "well, then. My Ussari is a bit rusty but I'll take that as a 'yes.' How about this?" "No." "This?" "No." "What if I do this?" "Not really." "And if--" "GЯЗДT GФЯЬДCHЭVS ЪLФTCH ДЯЗ УФЦ TЯЧIЙG TФ КILL MЭ MДЙ?" "Well, all right, then!" He slipped off the gloves, "I have some good news and some bad news." "Yes?" "We'll need some x-rays to be sure, but the good news is I'm fairly certain it's not broken. You've just bruised the bejezuz out of your second extensor tendon sheath. These sort of injuries usually heal up in just a couple of days." "And bad news?" "They hurt like hell and make you look like you're carrying around a large, bulbous vegetable." "So if you're going to pick a fight with a ruthless gang of cinder blocks again, I would suggest at least wearing boxing gloves, or someone might think you're trying to transform into a domesticated cultivar of purple-fruited nightshade one limb at a time," he winked, "and need I remind you, you are already green." Valentina giggled again, still feeling quite embarrassed but, well, a little bit better actually. "Now, I'll just have the nurse--" the door swung open and a nurse stepped in. "Ah, just who I needed--" "Doctor, come quickly, it's an emergency!" The nurse exclaimed, "injury from the research lab!" "Oh my," the doctor jumped up, his demeanor instantly changing, "oh my, my, my..." "Um, please stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can, we still need to see to that bloated brinjal," he said and rushed out after the nurse, the door slamming so hard behind him that the folder fell off the counter and hit the floor with a papery thud. Valentina sighed, and huffed again at her hair. She hopped down from the table, bent to pick up the papers, and -knowing that it was private medical information and that she absolutely should not- glanced at one. ***CONFIDENTIAL*** PRELIMINARY KERBONAUT MEDICAL EVALUATION A gasp, and she put a hand to her mouth, which she immediately regretted. Just put it back on the counter, that's private. So of course she peeked again. APPLICANT: KERMAN, EDGAS J. The thought that the filing cabinets around here must be very homogeneous was quickly replaced by another... why was that name familiar? This thought lingered, as she scanned over the page, feeling quite guilty about it but continuing nonetheless, until she reached a hand-written note taped near the bottom: Gene, I decided to send this one up to you for a final decision. This applicant's as smart as I've ever seen, his physical scores are impressively unimpressive yet passing, but he has the weakest stomach I've ever encountered. The poor lad vomits at the drop of a hat, and I don't mean that as a metaphor. I really liked that hat. That was my favorite hat. At any rate, he shows great potential, but I'm afraid I just can't recommend him for training. We need good scientists here on the ground, too. I can't see him amounting to anything as a Kerbonaut. You can review his records and send this back to Admin with the last box checked. Dr. K. (No, the other one) (No, the other one) Valentina frowned. That name, that was... that was the Gas-man! The sad young cadet from the other night. She shuddered, as another wave of discarnate emotion passed through her. PЦTIЙS ЗДЯS, that was getting annoying! She was trying to think, blast it! That boy... not really a boy, not that much younger than her... he had applied for Kerbonaut selection after all. Even after embarrassing himself in front of his hero and his-- She shuddered again. Even after that. Perhaps Chadvey had convinced him? No, she didn't think Chadvey would take that much interest in anyone, other than himself. The boy must have acted on his own. His friend, then, the earnest-faced one, maybe? But... the cafeteria. The very thing that had planted Valentina in this room with this, she rolled her eyes, plant. Plant. He'd picked that stuck up girl a flower. She knew that flower. They only bloomed down by the lake. Acquiring one would have meant braving those... things everyone was so terrified of. They couldn't be as bad as they said, but still... That had taken courage. She shouldn't get involved, not her business, Valentina knew that, but... Kerbonaut training was hard. You could learn not to barf all over yourself. And everyone within a few meter's radius. But only if you had the courage to try in the first place. She looked up, turned her head this way and that as if expecting sudden observers in the room, then carefully peeled the note from the paper and shoved it into her mouth. And immediately wished she'd simply thrown it away instead. While she chewed, still glancing about nervously, she scanned down the page... there. At the very bottom, printed next to big, bold letters, were two boxes: ACCEPTED ☐ REJECTED ☐ Feeling another tinge of guilt, she took a pen from the counter, and drew a thick X in the box marked ACCEPTED. She let out a quiet breath, shuffled the papers back in, and closed the folder... at the same instant the door flew open. Valentina shot bolt upright, hiding her hands behind her back and smacking the bad one on the edge of the exam table. She bared her teeth in what she hoped was a smile. "Oh, hello, ma'am!" Said a different nurse, "did the doctor by chance leave a folder of papers in here?" Valentina sidestepped away from the counter, smacking her hand again, then nodded at it. "Oh, good, wouldn't do to leave that lying about, no sir-ee!" She picked up the folder and gave Valentina a concerned look, "are you all right, there, ma'am? You're looking a bit green...er." Valentina swallowed hard. "I'm fine," she croaked, feeling every edge of inadequately chewed paper scratch its way down her gullet while trying to maintain an innocent smile. "You sure now? We could always get yah some dramamine or metaproterenol or polyethylene glycol, dontchaknow," the nurse smiled. "I'm fine," she coughed, then managed, "is.. everything... all right?" "Ooooooh, I think it'll be. They had themselves another 'incident' down there at the Research Center, blew the roof clean off the Extra Tension Building, dontchaknow. Finally got someone sent down here, knew it was bound to happen sooner or later." Valentina blinked, "but... they will be all right, yes?" "Well, they're gonna transport him over to Kerbin City General just to be safe. He'll be right as rain just as soon as he gets that thingamabob diskajiggered from his whoopsiedaisy." For one brief, terrible moment, Valentina tried to decode what the other Kerbelle had just said, then prudently decided some mental images were best left unthought. "Oh, well, there I go gettin' all chatty! I'd best get this on to its proper place," she tapped the folder, "the doctor will be back with ya just as soon as he can." And with that, she was gone. Valentina let out a huge breath and looked at her swollen hand. Her fingers twitched slightly in time to the throbbing. Her eyes scanned around the small room, desperately seeking something soundproof to scream into.

Ah, well congratulations. can you... can you post the link again plz?

Can confirm, lights make good cop strobes.... but I thought this mod has been out for a while?

You're a "glass is half empty" kinda person, aren't you?

Wow... that bad, eh?

I just checked this, also with Ven's, and I got lights. Does yours have the little window covers? Maybe it's a version thing, I don't recall anyone doing light up windows before 1.0.

I don't think $2 million is unreasonable at all, quite the opposite, actually. Rich folk regularly pay prices like that for automobiles, after all. Probably on par for an über-vacation too. It's certainly not unprecedented. It's also worth noting that Virgin Galactic has a few hundred $250g deposits already, and that's for a much much shorter flight. And I quite agree, plenty of people will pay the price SPECIFICALLY just to go up there and bounce fruitlessly off each other. Heck, they charter airplanes for that already, so...

Interesting. I'll throw in a quick two cents here. First, technical, and especially being that this is an English assignment, mind your its and it's. The trick is to speak it "out loud" in your head, if you can substitute "it is," then it's correct. Otherwise it's its. Clear as mud? Good. There's *ahem* a certain other author around here who often struggles with the same hitch. English is a silly language. The first paragraph seems a bit conflicted, too. It starts off with the scourge of malaria coming with the night, then goes on to call it a respite. Perhaps the imagery could be more consistent. I'm very curious about your subject matter here. It's an intriguing concept.

Perhaps this is worth mentioning: I remember reading an article about Bigelow not too long ago (the guys who built the BEAM module that was just put on the station), they say their biggest stumbling block to further expansion at the moment is simple lack of manned launches. At the time, and now, the Russians are the only ones with the capability and their dance card is already full. With a semi-reusable low cost way to put commercial astronauts in space like the D2, I could foresee a significant increase in demand. Then there's Skylon, Dreamchaser, etc... they wouldn't be under development if their developers didn't see some sort of demand for them...

They do if they're nuclear powered!

LOL, reminds of the end of Hot Shots!.

Now to answer the most important question: how many Kerbonauts does it take to change a light bulb?

After the dismal failure of Phase I of my plan to rescue Valentina from Eve, I've moved on to: Phase 1/2. First, I need a craft to rescue her from the middle of the Explodium sea and bring her to a place where a return ship can land. First try didn't go so well, so started over with a move standard design. Getting it to space, however... Testing of delivery methods successful! Now, to build one big a** rocket...

Is the flat-packed landing leg known to be buggy? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Official 1.1 this morning might have broken it too, I guess.

Check the video above, it already did My guess continues to be, they know more about it than us, there's probably a very good reason why they're not... and if they're doing it right, we won't know that reason until they want us to. Now if you'll excuse, I have a crinkle in my tinfoil hat...

Mods, plz. Landing gear, service bay, etc. How'd you do the arm, IR?

Reminds me of a 19th century calliope. Or maybe Beetlejuice.

When last I left her, poor Valentina was hopelessly cast away in the middle of the Evean ocean. And also, upside down. SO today I finally resolved to rescue her. I've never ever been back from Eve before, so this will be a new challenge with several phases. We ALL float down there...

Haven't read this yet, but just a caution that the forum mods may not take kindly to this part. They can be very particular about such things, or linking to them.

Much as I hate to miss an opportunity to slander and malign Android, the problem is the same with us Apple-flavored kool-aid drinkers. New forum just does NOT like mobile... or Exxon...

I does my research

IIRC somewhere near the end of May. Some things in space do NOT move fast...

Exactly what you should be asking right now. That one is still quite a few years away at this point... their launch procedure just hasn't changed much.