Search the Community

WATERWORLD By: electricpants Main Characters: Jeb (M) Bill (M) Bob (M) Val (F) Hersel (F) Janree (F) Lopenda (F) Donby (M) Jebken (M) Dudford (M) Sanlotte (F) Macbrette (M) Cooper (M) Joecas (M) Neleny (M) Leabella (F) Ragela (F) Meglinne (F) Irice (F) Gwenalla (F) Hadfred (M) Gene (M) PROLOGUE: Kerbol is now an orange giant, a sort of intermediate size between Main Sequence stars and Red Giants. We believe that in it’s largest state, it will swallow Kerbin whole, along with the perished Kerbalkind. However, if we go to our nearest neighbor, Proxim, We may have a chance to survive. Proxim is a red dwarf star with 3 planets, the first planet is a Sun-hugger rocky planet, orbiting in just 2 days. It is covered in molten lava on one side, while the other side is -200 C. This is because it is tidally locked to Proxim. The first planet is called “Mercury” and is uninhabitable. The second planet is a warm oceania, with temperatures reaching 25 C on it’s surface. It orbits Proxim every 9 days, causing it to be tidally locked as well, but it’s Kerbin-like atmosphere and it’s worldwide ocean more evenly distributes heat from Proxim across the entire planet. It is perfect for habitation, and may as well have life, the only issue is the fact that there is no land. This oceania is called “Hermes” and has beautiful white clouds and rings. The third planet is a gas giant with 2 moons. It is a beautiful yellow, and has a sparse ring system. It is far away from Proxim, taking 214 days to orbit once. It has an orange storm at its cloud tops. It’s name is “Cantor”. Cantor’s first moon is a shepherd moon with a HUGE volcano that is constantly spewing magma into space, it’s caused by the huge amounts of tidal heating caused by Cantor. This moon is called “Polluks” and is the cause behind Cantor’s magma ring. Cantor’s second moon is habitable, but barely. It’s surface temperature is a nice, warm -10 C. That means that the water on this cold terra is more of a brine than water, and thus is unfit for life AND for drinking. So don’t be fooled by this moon, named “Kastor”. Chapter 1: The beginning of the end “Wake up Bob!” Bill shouted. “What Is It, Bill? This had better be a good reason for waking me.” Bob grunted as he got out of bed. “Bob! The sun is orange, and it’s HUGE!” Bill worriedly said. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Bill.” Bob said, annoyed. “The sun is normal, alri-” Bob’s eyes widened as he saw exactly what Bill had described. “Oh no. I think time passed so fast while we were having fun, with random launches that did nothing, all the puns, and… and… well now the sun is an orange giant.” Bob realized. “What’s an orange giant?” Bill asked, confused out of his little engineer mind. “An orange giant is the midpoint between a star like the old sun, and a red giant, which is an old red star that’s at least 100x times the size of the old sun, which means that soon, Kerbin is going to get pretty hot.” Bob explained to Bill. “Oh, well, I assume that’s a bad thing?” Bill questioned. “Yes, that’s a very bad thing.” Bob yet again explained to Bill. “You stay here, I’ll go tell KSC about this situation!” Bob shouted. Bob then went to tell the employees at the KSC. Bob came back to tell Bill. “They said they would start developing a rocket to go to the nearest star, Proxim.” Bob told Bill. “It’s going to be huge, but it can only hold 21 starting kerbals, which I wish there could be more, but any more, and the rocket wouldn’t go up, which is important for a rocket to do in this situation.” Bob continued to explain. “Who’s going? Are we going on there or are we staying?” Bill asked. “Well obviously they’re taking you, me, Val, and Jeb, but besides that, I don’t know.” Bob told Bill. “Now listen, everyone.” Gene said to the other 17 kerbals making the trip. “The sun is dying, but we want kerbal kind to survive. So we’re sending you all on a 21 starting kerbal ship along with Jeb, Bill, Bob, and Val. So you all are going through intense training so you know what you’re doing on Hermes.” Gene continued to explain. “Hermes has more gravity than Kerbin, and is larger than Eve. Hermes’s surface gravity is 1.4 G’s, Radius is 840 km.” He explained about Hermes and what they were doing for training. “Well, I’m going to bed now, Bill. Please don’t wake me up again.” Bob told Bill. But Bill wasn’t sleeping tonight. Tonight he was helping to build the interstellar rocket, and he was in charge of building the ship’s Alcubierre Warp Drive so they could actually go faster than light! “Alright, so I have to build a ring that can “accelerate” the ship up to 10 times the speed of light by warping space-time. Well, at least I was given a blueprint so I know how to build it, and the scientists will make it do the magical stuff.” He said to himself as he began building the Warp Drive. “This is the only thing that we don’t need to make sure floats, because we’re jettisoning it once we get there. Because, I mean, do we need this once we get there?” He continued to say. “I just can’t believe that I’m building the ship I’m going interstellar in. And some of the kerbals here are just supposed to build it, and they’re not going.” Bill said once he was mostly done with the Warp Drive for the ship, which has a name now, which is the “IWS”. It was about 9:00 AM once he finished, so essentially he stayed up all night building a Warp Drive for the IWS. Bill couldn’t find Jeb, so he climbed up the VAB and found Jeb sitting on the edge, looking up at the sun. “Oh, hi Bill! Long time no see.” Jeb said, ecstatic about seeing his friend after not seeing him for a week, because he was on vacation. “I was wondering where you went, anyways, I’m done building the Warp Drive so we can get to Proxim FTL!” Bill excitedly stated. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, Bill. What’s this whole ‘We have to get to Proxim’ thing all about, anyway?” Jeb asked. “Well, Bob told me that essentially, the sun is starting to die, so Kerbin is going to get too hot to sustain life, so we found the closest star to us, which luckily had a habitable ocean planet orbiting it.” Bill explained. “Wait, we’re moving to an OCEAN planet?! Have they lost their minds?! We’re NEVER going to survive there!” Jeb yelled back at Bill. “The habitat modules are designed to float, genius.” Bill said, annoyed that Jeb blamed them for losing their minds, when he did a long time ago. “Alright, jeez Bill.” Jeb said, surprised that Bill had just yelled at him, instead of Bob, like he normally did. “Well, I’ll get off this stinkin’ rooftop so I can talk to Bob.” Jeb said, while walking away, somewhat happy he got away from Mad Bill. “Oh, hey Jeb! Where did you go for vacation?” Bob asked enthusiastically. “Oh, me and Val just went to that beach over by the island runway.” Jeb answered, weirded out by the fact that Bob was so ecstatic about seeing him. “If you’re wondering why I’m happy to see you, it’s because you were gone for so long, and all the modules for the IWS are tested, and can float in freshwater, which we believe covers Hermes. You were gone for so long, that everyone was starting to worry about having to leave you and Val behind.” Bob explained. “Wait, they’ve tested the modules? What do they look like? Are you sure Hermes is covered in freshwater, and not saltwater? Are you sure we’ll even survive the trip?!” Jeb asked a million questions about the IWS and about Hermes. “Jeb, we have tested the modules, they look like your average house, we’ve studied the composition of Hermes’s water, and determined there was little to no salt in it, and yes, I am sure we will, since the trip will take less than a year with the Warp Drive.” Bob explained again. “Who’s going?” Jeb asked. “You, me, Bill, Val, Hersel, Janree, Lopenda, Donby, Jebken, Dudford, Sanlotte, Macbrette, Cooper, Joecas, Neleny, Leabella, Ragela, Meglinne, Irice, Gwenalla, and Hadfred.” Bob explained who was going. “But… But that’s only 21 kerbals!” Jeb looked surprised. “Yeah, I know the feeling. But any more kerbals, and the rocket wouldn’t take off.” Bob said, looking at his shoes. “When is the IWS taking off?” Val walked in and asked Bob. “Tomorrow.” Bob said, looking very nervous.