The Saga of Emiko Station - Complete

[Just Jim]

OK, checking in from my phone. The storm is moving up the coast, and we're just catching the tail end rain. But the power and internet are still blinking really bad, so a wire or pole must be down somewhere. That's pretty typical, and I feel bad for whoever is stuck out the trying to fix it in the rain, as well as the folks just south of here that got flooded out last night.

And good luck to everyone on the east coast.

[adsii1970]

@Just Jim: I hope all is well since you've had that hurricane there. Looking forward to hearing all about it... and eagerly anticipating the next episode!

 

[SpaceplaneAddict]

19 hours ago, Just Jim said:

 birthday hurricane

It's mother nature's birthday Gift! Happy (Slightly Early) birthday!

[superstrijder15]

A it's just become saturday here( I should probably go to bed):

Happy Birthday Just Jim :party:

By The Way :party: should became a face, just like  

Edited September 2, 2016 by superstrijder15

[Wildcat111]

Great job on your novel, @Just Jim! But stay safe and Happy Birthday!

Edited September 3, 2016 by Wildcat111

[Andem]

Happy Birthday! 

[adsii1970]

Wait - it's your birthday and a hurricane? Only one thing to do...have a hurricane PARTY...

Laissez les bons temps rouler !

(now that is funny - after I posted it, the hotlink to explain "LES" indicates it means Launch Escape System... Yeah, if the bons temps are really that good, it is always great to have an escape plan before the party has police as uninvited guests!)

Edited September 3, 2016 by adsii1970

[TheEpicSquared]

Happy birthday Jim! (It's Saturday morning over here)

Edited September 3, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[Just Jim]

On 9/1/2016 at 9:34 PM, max_creative said:

HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY!!! Maybe the hurricane just wants to say hi to you and tell you happy birthday! Maybe? 

 

16 hours ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

It's mother nature's birthday Gift! Happy (Slightly Early) birthday!

 

13 hours ago, Wildcat111 said:

Great job on your novel, @Just Jim! But stay safe and Happy Birthday!

 

13 hours ago, Andem said:

Happy Birthday! 

 

10 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

Wait - it's your birthday and a hurricane? Only one thing to do...have a hurricane PARTY...

Laissez les bons temps rouler !

(now that is funny - after I posted it, the hotlink to explain "LES" indicates it means Launch Escape System... Yeah, if the bons temps are really that good, it is always great to have an escape plan before the party has police as uninvited guests!)

 

4 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

Happy birthday Jim! (It's Sarurday morning over here)

Oh wow... thanks everyone!  But honestly, the only reason I mentioned it is it's the one day of the year my feeble memory can remember. If you were to ask me if we had a storm a couple years ago on the first of October, for example, I don't have a clue...

So it's sprinkling outside, but not too bad, and I don't have much of anything planned, so I'm still aiming for the next chapter tonight or tomorrow morning. 

But just to mess with y'all a little...lol... here's a nice, juicy screenshot to mull over... 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by Just Jim

[Whovian41110]

7 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Oh wow... thanks everyone!  But honestly, the only reason I mentioned it is it's the one day of the year my feeble memory can remember. If you were to ask me if we had a storm a couple years ago on the first of October, for example, I don't have a clue...

So it's sprinkling outside, but not too bad, and I don't have much of anything planned, so I'm still aiming for the next chapter tonight or tomorrow morning. 

But just to mess with y'all a little...lol... here's a nice, juicy, screenshot to mull over... 

So cruel.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Red lights mean a bad. That ship is a bad I think.

[max_creative]

2 hours ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Red lights mean a bad. That ship is a bad I think.

Baaaaaaaad... 

5 hours ago, Just Jim said:

Happy birthday! My birthday present for you is rep and some fireworks!

RAMMING SPEED!!! BOOM!

See? Fireworks!

[Torgo]

Happy Birthday!

[Emperor of the Titan Squid]

Is that a wingless diamondback? Happy birthday

[Kieve]

@Just Jim In honor of your annual celebration of existence, I present a token of my esteem for this wonderful story of yours.

In After The Storm, Seanden's job is a "station-keeping" pilot. He mans the controls for an orbital station. Kind of a dull task, really. So he brings along some reading material to keep himself occupied - he prefers classic sci-fi. So this seemed fitting.

Larger version of the cover image:

Happy birthday!

Edited September 3, 2016 by Kieve

[Just Jim]

14 minutes ago, Kieve said:

@Just Jim In honor of your annual celebration of existence, I present a token of my esteem for this wonderful story of yours.

In After The Storm, Seanden's job is a "station-keeping" pilot. He mans the controls for an orbital station. Kind of a dull task, really. So he brings along some reading material to keep himself occupied - he prefers classic sci-fi. So this seemed fitting.

Happy birthday!

OMG, @Kieve!!!  I can't begin to put into words just how much I love this!  I had to go out earlier, so I'm in the middle of sorting screenshots when I decided to take a break and saw this!  What a great present, and Emiko tribute!  That cover is absolutely perfect!  If I was ever able to have it really published into a series of books, I would insist this cover and title stay exactly the same! 

Thank you! 

[Kieve]

On 9/3/2016 at 7:56 PM, Just Jim said:

OMG, @Kieve!!!  I can't begin to put into words just how much I love this!  I had to go out earlier, so I'm in the middle of sorting screenshots when I decided to take a break and saw this!  What a great present, and Emiko tribute!  That cover is absolutely perfect!  If I was ever able to have it really published into a series of books, I would insist this cover and title stay exactly the same! 

Thank you! 

Glad you enjoyed it! I was in the process of updating ATS with pt 12 and figured I'd share. The "birthday" thing is just one of those happy coincidences - icing on the cake, as they say.

It took me a while to figure out which "part" of the Emiko Station saga to use. Nearly went with this one, but I couldn't find a suitable title to match it.

That, and it didn't lend itself as well to book-cover sizes. I can't take too much credit though, since it's some quick slap-dash photoshop filters, and they were your screenshots... 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Kieve

[Just Jim]

1 hour ago, Kieve said:

Glad you enjoyed it! I was in the process of updating ATS with pt 12 and figured I'd share. The "birthday" thing is just one of those happy coincidences - icing on the cake, as they say.

It took me a while to figure out which "part" of the Emiko Station saga to use. Nearly went with this one, but I couldn't find a suitable title to match it.

That, and it didn't lend itself as well to book-cover sizes. I can't take too much credit though, since it's some quick slap-dash photoshop filters, and they were your screenshots...

Oh wow... the very first floating boulder. That brings back memories... lol... 

OK, there are just too many screenshots to sift thru, quite literally over a thousand this time. I have got to stop doing this to myself... lol. So I quit for tonight, and I'll pick up where I left off in the morning. 

[Dobelong]

Blue and red, how interesting...

It looks very EVIL... But I cannot be sure.

Because Emiko is like a kraken lure portal thingy made to torment the kerbals, I suppose that is either a kraken ship, one of thompberry's old saucer thingies, or an evac vessel.

You clip the thingymabob into the magic rock, and bits of it come out the other somewhere end. Hmmmm....

Wait... it has legs, maybe it is some sort of creature saucer magic boulder thingy, or a vessel possessed by a magic floating rock! (Revelation?)

Edited September 4, 2016 by Dobelong

[Just Jim]

Hey everyone... I've got all the next batch of screenshots all sorted and uploaded... and, well, there's a problem... Even thinned out, there's 180 of them!  

So to keep this from being way too long, I'm going to do the same as last time and split this into two chapters. I'll write up the first as soon as I grab a snack, and then the 2nd one either later this evening or tomorrow, depending on how long the first one takes.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Just Jim

[Emperor of the Titan Squid]

I'm excited for the next chapter!

[Just Jim]

What's in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie, oh
                                             The Cranberries, "Zombie

 

Chapter 63
Zombie
Dedicated to Dolores O'Riordan... RIP

 

As the sun rose over the eastern sea, Gene Kerman climbed the long steps to the top of the new vehicle assembly building to watch this mornings launch. 

It had been nearly 100 days since the meeting at the old island hanger, and Gene couldn't help but laugh when he thought of how it had ended in complete chaos. After the Rocklady suggested Emiko Station itself could be some sort of Kraken portal, everyone began to talk at once, until Captain Kuzzter shouted above the din. 

"Wait! Wait, please!" Kuzz called out. "Everyone, hold on, it can't be Emiko Station for one simple fact. If that asteroid is a portal, then why aren't there streams of Krakens pouring out of it as we speak?"

"He's right," Piper quickly agreed, sounding relieved.

But several seconds later Thompberry chimed in and... well.... things began to break down from there.

"The reason <gurgle gurgle> Captain <Gurgle bubble> is simple. <gurgle gurgle> My darling Piper <Gurgle blurp> broke Emiko Station..."

For several seconds there was dead silence, until Piper lost it.

"What do you mean, broke it?" Piper screamed. "And darling? DARLING??? Why you hideous.... thing! You... you pickled abomination! Let me tell you something..."

Completely out of her mind for the next several minutes, Piper went into a rant that would eventually go into Kerbin history as the most foul and vulgar curse ever uttered. So bad was it that at one point Stardust fainted from shock into Walt's arms, while Jandolin tried desperately to cover her daughters ears, and off to the side Geschoffkopf muttered out loud to no-one in particular, "Wow..."

And as the signal reached the Diamondback returning from Duna, Kerenna gasped in horror, and dreaded what Thompberry's reaction might be.

But to Kerenna's surprise and relief, Thompberry began first to chuckle, and then laugh and laugh and laugh!

Inside his pod, Thompberry was in hysterics. And the more Piper cursed, the harder he laughed. He couldn't help himself. He knew how much she hated him, and for years the feeling was mutual. But despite this, he couldn't help but admire her spirit. She was even tougher than Kerenna, hard as that was to believe, and he knew if things had been different, he may not have made the mistakes he did with Jandolin. In fact, had he met Piper when he was young, he may have ignored Jandolin completely.

But that was impossible now, and so he took what pleasure he could in the moment, and let Piper rant until she couldn't breath before he spoke again.

"Piper Kerman <gurgle> That was..... impressive! <gurgle bubble> But please, hear me out. <gurgle> If Emiko is a large portal <gurgle bubble> then there are 2 possible reasons <blurp> why it may not be functioning properly. <gurgle gurgle> First, not long after it entered Kerbin space <gurgle> you moved it into a closer orbit. <gurgle seethe> And think back, Piper, my dear <bubble biol> You ripped a fairly sizable chunk <bubble gurgle> out of that asteroid <gurgle boil> and hurled it at my ship!"

 

Thinking back to how great the explosion had been immediately put Piper into a better mood, and she began to think more clearly, and see what Thompberry had meant.

"That chunk weighed roughly 5 tons," Piper recalled, then realized another fact, "And we've drilled and converted even more of the asteroid into fuel. I see now. We've altered it's mass considerably!"

Around the hanger everyone began to murmur among themselves as they waited for Thompberry to respond.

"Exactly," Thompberry finally bubbled across the speakers. "And in doing <bubble gurgle> you may have bought us <gurgle bubble> some valuable time."

 

*           *          *

 

Bringing his mind back to the present, Gene had reached to top of the VAB and looked down at Werhner von Kerman's latest creation, code-named "Project-E".

Only Gene and a handful of others knew what was hidden under there, and only Gene himself knew the real cost. But what choice did he have? They needed answers, now more than ever. Now that Emiko and Harfield's story had proven to be true.

In the days that followed the meeting, the only real conclusion anyone had come to was they needed more answers. And no-one, not even Piper, was to go anywhere near Emiko Station for the time being. The remote systems were all functioning properly, and so far it seemed unchanged. But Gene wasn't going to take any chances with his people.

While repairs on the VAB were being finished up, KASA reached out to a small company named Tarsier Space Technologies, who were in the final stages of building a revolutionary new type of ground based telescope. The telescope, and most important, the mirrors, were already completed, but construction on the observatory building itself was muddled down in red tape and far behind schedule. Eager for the publicity, TST was more than happy to abandon the building project completely and begin retrofitting the mirrors into an orbital space telescope, which was amazingly finished and ready for launch not long after the VAB repairs were completed.

The launch was perfect, and once it had reached an orbit of 2,500km the solar panels, antennas, and telescope were deployed with no complications, and the TST technicians at mission control collectively held their breath.

For it's first test the the space telescope was trained on the Mun and Minmus, and when the images began to come in, cheers rang through out mission control, and one of the TST technicians popped open a bottle of champagne and began to sing!

For the next several hours the telescope was trained farther and farther out, first to Duna, then Eve, and finally Jool. And each time the images and data were stunning, and the technicians celebrated the TST-scope's success.

Watching from the back of mission control with von Kerman, Emiko gasped when she saw an enhanced image of Vall.

"Werhner... that's it! That's the icy moon where Emiko saw the.... Emiko's not sure what they were. Lot's of monoliths side by side and in a circle."

Next to her, Werhner nodded, "That one is Vall, and we have a satellite orbiting it. I'll give the orders to move it into a lower orbit and begin a search immediately." 

Then the images of Sarnus began to come in, and it was Harfield's turn to gasp when he spotted a small white dot just under the giant planet's mighty rings.

"There! Right there! Emiko, look!" Harfield smiled in excitement, "Is that were we saw the spirit... whatever it was?"

"Hmmm," Emiko looked carefully at the images, then nodded, "The rings look right. Emiko thinks yes, we were there."

Then the telescope moved to another moon, larger and more easily seen, but much darker colored. And when it began to zoom in, Emiko cried out and grabbed Werhner.

"Ahhhh, Werhner!!!" Emiko cried as she held von Kerman tight, "Emiko... Emiko has been there! Werhner... that's where Magic Boulder took Emiko... the City of Emerald... Werhner... the City of Krakens!!!

 

*          *          *

 

And just a few days later the TST-scope, as it was now called, paid off again when it located first one, and then both, of Harfield and Emiko's missing gas giants. Or as they were now more accurately called, ice giants. Gene had to give the R&D staff credit, their method of locating them was nothing short of brilliant, and the entire staff was looking at a serious bonus in their next paycheck.

Turns out, by a complete coincidence, as the immensity of finding two far off planets became apparent, a couple of computer theorists had been grappling with their own problem trying to simulate the formation of the early Kerbol system. But they had no success until one of the theorists had the brilliant insight to add these missing giant planets to the equations. And on the very first attempt, the simulations ran perfectly, and the theorists realized there was nothing wrong with the programming at all, they just didn't have all the correct data! And most important, they were able to use the simulation to predict the locations of the missing plants with startling accuracy.

"Oh, yeah," Gene thought to himself, "Those two are getting a huge bonus, and maybe a snack machine in their office!"

All this brought Gene back to this mornings launch, and the mysterious "Project-E" of Dr. von Kerman. Having pretty laid to rest any doubt of Emiko and Harfield's tale of their escape from Eve with the Magic Boulder, and then verifying all the known Kerban monoliths had grown exactly the same as the one near the space center, the next step was to try and access the situation on the Mun, as well as monitor Emiko Station. But it was already risky approaching the monoliths, as well as difficult gathering any useful data from then, and who know how much worse it would be now on the Mun?

So "Project-E" was initiated, lead by Dr. von Kerman himself, and this morning's launch was a critical phase. Looking down at the huge rocket, Gene held his breath as the final seconds ticked down.

"Three... two... one... ignition... lift off!"

A huge smile of relief spread across Gene's face as the mighty engines roared into the morning sky, and from where he stood, he saw the booster stages successfully separate and begin to fall towards the sea below.

As he headed back down to his office, Gene ran the plan thru his head for the hundredth time. Once in orbit, the remotely piloted rocket will plot a course to the Mun and assume Munar orbit in approximately 2 days time. At that time, if all goes according to plan, Werhner and his team will head out to the Mun via Diamondback and the Emiko Raptor, intercept with "Project-E" and.... 

But just then Gene's wrist-com rang out. "Sir, incoming signal from Captain Kuzzter. He says it's urgent."

Gene's smile turned serious as he responded, "Patch him thru immediately!"

"Yes sir...  Minmus Raptor, this is Mission Control, you may proceed."

Gene held his breath as he waited for the signal to reach Kuzz's Raptor, desperately searching for missing Carlenna just beyond Minmus orbit. True to his word, he had immediately granted the captain's request to go and search for her, no matter how impossible the odds. And both Gene and the Captain were proud when the twins Gem and Theo immediately volunteered to assist, insisting she was their friend and shipmate as well. And right after, to everyone's surprise, Chuck, the engineer from Emiko station, also volunteered to go along as well, arguing they would need an engineer until Carlenna was located.

Kuzz's first mate Geo didn't need to volunteer, everyone already knew he would be going.

So for the last 50 odd days Kuzz and his crew had searched as best they could, but to little avail.

Then 3 days ago, low on fuel and snacks, Kuzzter had requested permission to dock at Minmus station to refuel and restock. A request that was instantly granted, of course.

"And their ETA," Gene thought to himself, "Should have been a couple hours ago."

Just then Kuzz's voice rang out from Gene's wrist-com, but in a voice that made Gene's blood run cold. "Mission control... we.. we may have found something!"

 

*           *          *

 

High above Minmus, Kuzzter had tried to hide his disappointment as best he could in front of the crew as they had approached Minmus station after days of fruitless searching for Carlenna.

Once docked, Kuzz and Geo saw to the refueling process, while Theo and Gem searched for the snack storage containers. When they reached the main lab, Gem spotted a snack bin, sat down and tore into a bag of chips while Theo looked around... and then up.... and a horrified look crawled over his face....

"Gem.... sis.... look up...."

All the way back in the raptor's passenger section, Geoschoffkopf and Chuck, monitoring the refueling, heard Gem's horrified scream rip thru the station, and knew instantly that something was very, very wrong!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Carlenna!  Carlllleee... Car???  Oh no.... it's..... it's.... ahhhhhhhhhhh"

Next to her, Theo looked up in horror as well and whispered, "Captain... there's a... a suit!  Carlenna's spacesuit... just floating above us.... But sir, it's empty... and it's so badly burned.... she must be here somewhere! We have to help her!"

But as they fanned out and searched the cabins, they found no sign of Carlenna in any part of the station. They did discover, however, that a spare suit and jet pack were missing, which only served to confuse and agitate Gem even further.

"So what... she left?" Gem ranted as they all regrouped in the Raptor. "Why would she do that? She can't go anywhere. Was she trying to get back to the Desperado? Why???"

But first mate Geo, always on the ball, looked over and gave Theo a questioning look that said a thousand words, and Theo immediately began doing some quick equations in his head before he smiled and nodded back.

"Carlenna jumped down to Minmus." Theo whispered.

"What?" Gem screamed in disbelief. "Is... is that possible by jet-pack?"

The more Theo ran the numbers thru his head, the more convinced be became. "Oh yes, quite possible. In fact, one of the easiest places to land would be the colony base! Captain, with respect, we have to go down there!"

 

*           *          *

 

As soon as the refueling was complete, Kuzz pulled the Raptor away from Minmus station and plotted a landing course to the colony base. Luck was with them as the base had just passed below, and within minutes they were touching down near the colony. But as they reached the ground, Kuzz and the crew realized something was out of place.

First-mate Geo volunteered to go access the situation, but when he reached the base and began to looked closely, he called over and requested Chuck's assistance.

"Chuck, I need you to take a close look at these girders and solar panels."

When Chuck walked out along the girders, he frowned. "These solar panels, and some of the legs, are missing." 

From back at the Raptor Kuzz asked, "Have they been damaged?"

"No..." Chuck looked down more closely, "The bolts have all been removed, and these wires have been cut... and quite nicely I might add."

From there Geo and Chuck moved to the back of the base and found even more missing equipment.

"Sir, the entire comm tower is.. well, it's gone, sir. And it looks like a couple of the radiator panels are missing as well." Geo paused and looked around again, "Someone was here. And only an engineer could have done such a professional job...... an engineer like Carlenna."

Geo walked to the lab hatch, "I'm going to have a look inside."

But as he searched the cabins, Geschosskopf found no-one. Like the station above them, Minmus colony was completely abandoned.

On board the Raptor, Gem was heartbroken, "Where... where is she? Why... what is she doing???... We have to find her! Theo... where is she???"

 

 

*           *          *

 

Where, indeed...
Wherever Carlenna was, it certainly seemed the right color for Minmus... or was it?
And just what was Carlenna, or what she had now become, doing with all that equipment taken from Minmus???

...and perhaps taken from other places as well???

 

 

The Saga of Emiko Station, and the Tale of Emiko Kerman, are far, far from over....

Go to Chapter 64
Return to Index

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Just Jim
Fixing a whole bunch of stuff...

[Angelo Kerman]

On 9/3/2016 at 5:23 AM, Just Jim said:

Oh wow... thanks everyone!  But honestly, the only reason I mentioned it is it's the one day of the year my feeble memory can remember. If you were to ask me if we had a storm a couple years ago on the first of October, for example, I don't have a clue...

So it's sprinkling outside, but not too bad, and I don't have much of anything planned, so I'm still aiming for the next chapter tonight or tomorrow morning. 

But just to mess with y'all a little...lol... here's a nice, juicy screenshot to mull over... 

 

Looks like a stock version of a Space:1999 Eagle. I like it.

Also, where is Michone when you need her?

Edited September 5, 2016 by Angel-125

[max_creative]

ZOMBIES! ALIENS! RED BOULDER! RAMMING SPEED! SARNUS! EVIL! 

Must... Throw... Emiko... Station... Into... Jool... 

Piper broke Emiko Station! Yay...? Because it is evil? Right? Soooooo... Open fire?

[Andem]

Hmm... I notice a few new mods added to the save... namely, KIS and TST. Interesting choices, and an extremely interesting chapter!