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A Tale of Many Burns - early adventures in KSP - aided and abetted by part 7


purpleivan

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Part 1: Mun Orbit - Testing the Mun machines - Mun landing for real this time

Part 2: A roving we will go - Early station building - A trip to the big cheese

Part 3: Seeing Red - Open to the public - Everybody loves Dres

Part 4: What's that burning - Far flung Eeloo - Learning the base hics

Part 5: Anomalous readings

Part 6: Bridge to nowhere

Part 7: Monalitha

 

Part 1

"I was never worried, not for one moment"

- Jeb Kerman -

 

01 Mun Orbit

This was the first manned flight beyond beyond LKO and carried Jeb Bob and Bill on a single orbit around the Mun before returning to Kerbin. Although there were no hitches reported with the mission, there are few images from this early flight.


02 Testing the Mun machines

Immediately following the Mun orbital mission, a command module with lander configuration, was launched, in order to test out approach and docking in the relative safety of low Kerbin orbit. Making good use of their newly acquired docking skills (as in this was the first time they'd tried to do it) an age was spent approaching one vehicle with the other and eventually docking, only to the undock and do the whole thing again, while with the other vehicle being the target.

After a few successful (if long winded) cycles of approach and docking, the crew transferred from the lander by  EvA'ing (this was in the days before a more high tech solution was developed for this) to the command module before re-entry and a return to the clear blue skies of Kerbin.


03 Mun landing for real this time

After the practice missions in Kerbin and Mun orbit, it was finally time to take a crack at a manned landing on the Mun. After an uneventful trip to Mun orbit, the next step was to get the crew over to the lander. Again it was time for a little space walking, for the the intrepid pair of Jeb and Bob. With that done it was time to detach the lander and head for the surface.

As this was the first attempt at this, it wasn't known how much fuel this was going to use, so the plan was head was a landing and if the descent stage ran out on the way down, to detach it and head back to orbit (hopefully) using the ascent stage. Fortunately this abort measure back to orbit wasn't necessary, although the descent stage only had about 5% fuel remaining on touchdown.

Following the nerve wracking first landing on a body other than Kerbin, Jeb took to the ladder of the lander to descend to the surface, pausing momentarily at the foot of it, to think of something momentous to say when stepping onto the surface. However with nothing coming to mind (he's a do'er rather than a talker) he leapt of the ladder and planted the first pair of Kerbal boots on the Mun. Shortly after Bob joined him on the surface and Jeb erected the flag, only to find that some idiot had packed the flag backwards.

After experimenting with moving around in the low gravity of the Mun (ok... havng fun jumping around) Jeb and Bob returned to the lander, Bob grabbing a few rocks to make a few bucks... er, for scientific study before he did so. With the pair safely inside, the ascent stage engine was fired to carry them back into orbit, for a rendezvous with Bill in the command module.

With docking made, the lander's engine was fired up to start the burn back Kerbin and when the fuel in that was depleted, the docked vehicles were swung around to complete the burn with the command module engine. It was later noted that detaching the lander before firing up the command module engine would have been a lot more efficient, but the guys in mission control were too busy partying, so didn't get around to giving the crew the instruction to detach.

Finally after many hours traveling back to Kerbin, the capsule was detached from the rest of the vehicle before re-entry was made, followed by a splash down in the seas of Kerbin, some distance east of the KSC.

 

 

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 2

"For a moment I thought he had bought it"

- Bill Kerman -

04 A roving we will go

Having made a it successfully to the Mun and back on their first attempt, the KSP decided on an all round upgrade to the package that they would send to there next. The first change was to use a single vehicle to travel from Kerbin to the Mun and back, as Jeb had been complaining that docking was "sooo booorrring". The seconds was to equip the it with a rover, so that the kerbonauts could travel further from their landing site.

Having made it to Mun orbit, the only thing left to do was to land. As Jeb had come close to depleting the descent stage of the lander on his previous trip to Mun, he decided to leave kill a lot of his speed very late in the descent, something which caused Bob to get more than a little anxious. However he needn't have worried, as Jeb brought the vehicle down to a smooth touchdown, not far from the 1st landing site.

As Jeb had encountered difficulties with the flag (he claimed it had been packed backwards) he decided not bother placing one this trip, also he was eager to get his hands on his new toy, the Mun rover. With the little four wheeled vehicle disconnected from their spacecraft, the two of them set out across the dusty surface, a big plume of which was kicked up as Jeb floored it pulling away from their landing site. Bob started to get the jitters and told Jeb that just because he was a pilot, didn't mean that he had to get airborne, something that was highly likely with the combination of rough terrain and low gravity. Jeb's response was to aim the rover for the nearest hump in the ground, to send it a good metre or so into the air.

After a short but bumpy ride they arrived at Jeb's previous landing site. Bob had given Bill instructions to Bob to retrieve some parts from the descent stage that had been left there, to see how extended exposure to Mun conditions had affected them. While he did this, Jeb went over to the flag he had placed a few weeks earlier. To his suprise he found that the Kerbal Space Program logo was now the right way round. He then quickly darted his gaze from horizon to horizon, looking for someone how might have switched it round and muttered something about aliens.

The parts collected from the lander, the pair set off back to their own vehicle, with Jeb avoiding more of the bumps than on the outward leg of their journey, much to Bil's appreciation. On arrival back at their own landing site, Bill hopped off the rover, while Jeb parked it a short distance from their spacecraft before joining his crewmate in ascending the ladder to their Mk2 Lander Can.

A short time later Jeb fired the three Terrier engines to bring them up into Mun orbit, then an orbit later back to Kerbin.

 

05 Early station building

Before their 1st expedition to the Mun, the KSP had started construction of an orbital outpost, some 80km above the surface of Kerbin, high enough to avoid its upper atmosphere, but close enough to minimse the effort to launch modules to it. The first few visiting crews were launched with an obscene amount of monopropellant, due to the difficulties their pilots were having in docking with the station. This was later reduced, as the pilots became more experienced in art of docking.

Originally the station was nothing more than a single habitation module, plus a small fairly small fuel storage tank, included as a precaution against visiting crews being stranded by using all their fuel on the way to it. Later the expansion of the station was mostly in the form of even more fuel, much more, several bright orange Rockomax Jumbo-64's being lofted to it over several flights. Some complaints were made in the press about all that fuel being hoisted up there and no use being made of it. The KSP did have plans for it, but was keeping its cards close to it's chest with these. So to assuage the press they sent up the new PPD-12 Cupola module, that gave a great view from the station, much more so than the little portholes on the habitation module. This allowed them to get some great photos to hand to the press as something shiny to splash on their front pages, although there was some embarrasment later, when it was found that some of the photos included post-it-notes that kerbonauts were in the habit of leaving in their modules, some of which didn't show the KSP and its crews, to be the slick organised outfit they presented themselves as.

 

06 A trip to the big cheese

Having conquered the Mun (if two landings counts as conquering) the KSP set their sights on its little brother Minmus.

For this trip a new vehicle configuration was put together, that made use of the trusty "Terrier" engines attached to a vehicle that serve as both lander and a return vehicle to Kerbin. However instead of using these engines as the means to propel the spacecraft to Minmus, a large fuel stage with a suitable large "Skipper" engine attached to it (previously only used in launcher stages to Kerbin orbit) was used instead.

As the vehicle arrived in Minmus orbit with a large part of the transit stages' fuel remaining, it was decided to use that big engine for most of the descent to the surface, to preserve as much fuel as possible on the lander for the return to orbit and later back to Kerbin. Jeb, accompanied this time once more by Bob, used that big engine to ease the vehicle down towards the surface. With so much fuel thrust at his disposal, Jeb was tempted to "gun it for the horizon and see what happened", but thankfully he decided to follow the mission plan and continue the descent towards the pale green surface.

With less than 100m to go before arriving on the surface, the Skipper stage was detached and the four engines of the lander brought to life, to slow the vehicles for the final part of the descent. The detached stage drifted down towards the surface, to be greeted not by firery explosive death, but a dull thud (if one could be heard) much to Jeb's annoyance, who had been looking forward to a good fireworks display.

With landing achieved, the only thing left to do was to head out the hatch and check out what this little green world had to offer. In short, it offered massive jumps. Both Jeb and Bill entertained themselves for far more time than the controllers back at KSC were happy with, bouncing up and down in the very low gravity of the strange green moon.

Given the low gravity that they encountered here, Jeb decided to use his jetpack to propel himself a couple of kilometres west to a large flat area of terrain that they had spotted on the way down to the surface, unfortunately for him, he uncharacteristically misjudged the speed he was moving at across the surface when he came back in contact with it, following his 2km hop. The result was a long and painfull roll across the green terrain, before coming to rest just before reaching the flat area that had been his goal. Bob set off after him, also using his jetpack, but making sure to check his speed before dropping back onto the surface a short distance from his stricken crewmate.

At first Bob for horrified to see the tangled mess that his buddy was lying in, but when Jeb muttered something unprintable about punching the jetpack's designer in a sensitve spot, he realsied that the crumpled heap on the floor was alive at least. A moment later Jeb sprang back to his feet as if nothing had happened and asked "Ok, what's next". Bob was a little surprised at Jeb's miraculous powers of recovery and stuttered something about "well, we could look at that I guess", pointing at the rich green flat area ahead of them.

After staring out at the flat area for a while, the two ventured down to it, to check if it was solid or liquid. After a few tentative steps, followed by some less tentative jumping around, it was decided that the flat area was in fact solid. This valuable scientific nugget now in their possession, the pair jet packed back to the lander before returning to orbit.

In a break with previous missions, instead of bring the craft directly back to a re-entry into Kerbin's atmosphere, Jeb piloted it to a rendezvous with the space station, officially titled KOS (Kerbin Orbital Station) but known as "the pit stop" to the crew that used it. This would allow the lander to be refueled ready for a future crew to make use of. After a short break on the station after journey, the two crew returned to Kerbin using another vehicle that was equipped for re-entry.

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 3

"Nothing like a run under the stars to get your mind working overtime"

- Erlin Kerman -

06 Seeing red - 1st trip to Duna

With the Mun and now Minmus under their belt, and a growing space station in Kerbin orbit the KSP felt it was time to be ambitious... a lot more ambitious. So the decision was made to launch their first true interplanetary mission, with an expedition to Duna.

Duna had long taunted their green/blue world with its vivid redness, a factor almost as great in choosing it as their first interplanetary target as the fact that it was the easiest to get to.

The Duna Explorer lander and transfer vehicles were dispatched to the KOS (Kerbin Orbital Station) on separate launchers and rendezvoused there to be filled with fuel then docked together, before embarking taking a new pilot Herman Kerman and Bob Kerman on an even longer trip than the recent excursion to Minmus. After a journey of 270 days the Duna Explorer arrived at the red planet, only to discover that "some bozo" (Bob's words) had only calculated the fuel required for the outward trip, so the pair arrived their with almost empty tanks.

To fix this another transfer vehicle was dispatched to Duna, which would provide sufficient fuel for both the landing and the trip home. Some condiderable thumb twiddling later, the new transfer vehicle arrived at Duna and after undocking from the first, now empty, transfer vehicle, the lander Duna XL rendezvoused with its replacement. This new vehicle being was fat with precious fuel (plus a topping up supply of snacks) was a welcome sight for Jeb and Bob . Once refueled, Duna XL undocked and headed for the surface.


After a parachute assisted landing and the dust clearing from a quick burst of the engines just prior to landing, the crew of Duna XL looked out over the surface of this strange red world through the navigation window of their Mk2 Lander Can. Once all systems had been checked and made safe in case of the need for an emergency lift off, the crew exited the lander and descended to the surface, where they planted the space program's flag in the ochre coloured dust of Duna.

Once Bob had completed his scientific observations and collected samples of the surface dust and rocks. Herman and Bob returned to the Duna XL and made a rapid ascent to rejoin its transfer vehicle in orbit. Once docked, the crew hunkered down waiting for the launch window back to Kerbin, for them to light up the engines of the transfer vehicle. After the burn was complete, the crew took their last pictures from the navigation window, of the red world they were leaving behind.

Its work complete, the Duna XL detached from its transfer vehicle before making its insertion burn, eventually rendezvousing again with KOS after its long journey. Later they returned to the surface to reunite with friends, colleagues and family, not forgetting that "bozo" from the fuel management team that the pair wanted to have a quiet word with in a darkened part of the KSC.

 

08: Open to the public

Kerbin orbit was rapidly becoming a busy place, with the expansion work taking place on the KOS as well as more flights being made to the Mun and Minmus. This drove an expansion of the fuel storage capability of the KOS, which gave the management of the KSP the bright idea of getting into the space tourism business.

With such fervent interest in their activities and a large number of well heeled potential clients chomping at the bit to get into space, it wasn't long before their first paying passenger was being launched to the KOS for a short stay in LKO. Jeb was at first stridently opposed to this venture, stating that "space is for kerbonauts, not a bunch of frappuccino drinking CEO's" but after being reminded that as a founder member of the program, he was due a cut of those "sweet, sweet, space tourism funds" he soon changed his tune, followed shortly after by his car house and wardrobe.

In addition to the improvement in his own finances, Jeb was pleased to hear that all that tourism cash would help to fund flights to the more distant parts of the solar system.

 

09 Everybody loves Dres

 

For their next mission, the KSP set its sights on Dres; a rather dreary looking little world could be seen through Kerbin's telescopes, but it was chosen nevertheless.

A daytime launch from KSC in glorious sunshine was the perfect start to what was to become a chaotic mission, due to its use of the new AGU grabber unit as the core of the program's new transfer vehicle configuration; Propulsion Utilising Linear Linkage (PULL). This placed the transfer vehicle in front of the lander, which was dragged to its destination. This was found it to be a seriously flawed design and after a troublesome burn for Dres was abandoned before leaving Kerbin SOI, in favour of launching a supply vessel to meet with the lander and refuel it, before its descent to the surface.

After arriving in Duna orbit and refueling the lander was completed. the crew of Bill, Erlin and Henmal Kerman made their way down to the surface in a mostly uneventful journey, except for a brief moment of panic when it appeared that it was approaching the surface at too high a speed, however the engines at full thrust averted disaster at the last second.

Once on the surface the crew left their vehicle to examine the surface and take samples for further analysis. Erlin, a keen runner, also tested it's potential as the location of an extreme marathon race. He believed its grey solitude would be the perfect place for the more philosophical runner to consider there place in the universe. However the low gravity and dusty surface, made for poor running conditions, so the idea was quietly shelved, along with his flight status for a few months.

With science and fun and games over with, the lander made its way back into orbit, for a reunion with the supply ship to top up with fuel before the trip back to Kerbin.

On its return the capsule streaked across the the dawn skies of Kerbin's the southern oceans, before drifting gently to a touchdown on land.

 

 

 

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 4

"Knock, knock... you say who's there"

- Yermin Kerman -

10 What's that burning - a trip to Moho

Another mission, more fuel shenanigans. As had become the norm, a by the numbers departure burn from Kerbin to (you name it) was immediately followed by the realisation that there was way too little fuel remaining for a landing and the trip home.

This "shocking" realisation was first made by the mission's pilot Yermin Kerman, after putting the Moho Express in a comfortable 20km orbit of their destination. Noticing that the fuel gauge looked to be showing an reading of nearly empty, he gave the gauge a quick flick with his stubby index finger, then when it didn't budge, a good whack with his fist. Unfortunately neither of these textbook methods of fixing a dodgy reading worked, as the gauge still read "no landings for you today".

Yermin confered with the mission's engineer Rolley Kerman and the decision was made to call up a KSP special, i.e. send us more fuel asap. This was done in short order, but on arrival at Moho, it was realised that although there was sufficient fuel to almost top up the tanks on the lander, there was nowhere near enough to bring them home again.

Once a third transfer vehicle arrived at the toasty little world, the lander was filled brim full of fuel and separated from its propellant filled benefactor and headed to the surface. Fortunately getting to the surface was a straightforward task, that had Yermin commenting that "we're making this flying to other planets thing look easy". However this was a statement he would come to regret, when on his next mission, that would take him out to chilly Eeloo, a serious design flaw stranded the transfer vehicle in Kerbin orbit.

Yermin and Rolley ventured out onto the surface of Moho, which Rolley described as being like chocolate syrup on an ice cream cone (a strange analogy given their proximity to the nuclear inferno that lit the system) they set to work collecting surface samples and making some observations of Kerbol, "it's big and it's bright" was about the sum of their report.

Just before returning to the lander, Yermin insisted on going through his entire repertoire of "knock knock" jokes. Given his fondness for these, Rolley spent the next two hours listening to the king of comedy (in his own mind at least) before Yermin remembered that he'd left the popcorn maker (he'd insisted that this was essential equipment for a trip to Moho) running. On entering the capsule, they found it to be 1/2 a metre deep in the stuff. The combination of the jokes and the several hours they had to spend cleaning up Yermin's favourite snack, set Rolley in a foul mood for the return trip, vowing never to join the "that nutjob" on any future missions.

Having waited for the desired launch window for the return to Kerbin, the transfer vehicles engines climbed out of the depths of Kerbols' gravity well, pushing their little lander along with it. With the Moho Express' fuel reserves used up in the insertion burn into Kerbin orbit, the lander detached from it and rendezvoused with the KOS. A welcome change of location for Rolley, who by then was thoroughly sick of the smell of popcorn.

 

11 Far flung Eeloo

Following its mission to near the center of the Kerbol system, the KSP's next mission would take its crew to the outermost planet in the system, Eeloo.

Mere days after his return as pilot of the Moho mission, Yermin Kerman was to fly to the outer edge of the Kerbol system. Officially his response to this news was "Sure thing, strap me in". However unofficial sources say that he his reply was actually "What!... I just got back from Moho you $%"£!^& and you want to stuff me back in a ^&$%"^" can again... %&£* that. How about some RnR".

Whatever the truth, come launch day both Yermin and Bob Kerman were seated in their ship bound for for Eeloo, tha lander of which they nicknamed "Lucky" after Bob's dog. This was a name that they would almost immediately regret when, just after the start of the burn out of Kerbin orbit, it was realised that some "soon to be an ex-employee" had connected the fuel lines backwards between the the Rockomax Jumbo-64 fuel tanks and the small FL-T200 tanks attached to the nuclear engines of their transfer vehicle. Transferring fuel manually to the small FL-T200 tanks, Yermin and Bob put the vehicle into a circular orbit of Kerbin and waited for the arrival of a replacement transfer vehicle. Once docked with their new ride to Eeloo, an improved model with more fuel, just in case it was required, they set off again for their icy destination.

After a thankfully uneventful trip to Eeloo, Yermin and Bob detached their lander and descended to the surface, deciding not to test the vessels lights system, but instead to pick a nice safe daytime landing site, in case their lander's nickname decided to take a bite out of them again.

Once on the surface, even Yermin had to admit it was interesting to stand on the surface, look into the sky and know that all the other planets of their system were "roughly that way". After a bit more of his bar room philosophising, Yermin joined Bob in collecting samples, before heading back into orbit for a rendezvous with the transfer vehicle. After the longest "wait for the window" time in KSP history, the two travellers lit up the transfer vehicle's engines to begin their journey home.

On arrival back in Kerbin SOI, one last snag was to hit their mission, when it was realised that even the additional fuel of their replacement transfer vehicle was not going to be enough to get them into low orbit. So the newly constructed orbital rescue vehicle was sent out to refuel their craft, allowing it to rendezvous with KOS. On disembarking to the station, one of it's crew decided to play a misguided prank on the much travelled Yermin and told him that he had to report immediately for a mission to Eve. The result being a rather predictable brawl, with the unfortunate KOS crewman ending up in medical for a week and Yermin removed from the crew roster for an extended "cooling off period".

 

12 Learning the base hics

 

Jeb Kerman had been busy, very busy, what with of his newfound space tourism wealth to spend. But it wasn't long before he yearned to get back at the pointy end of a series of slow explosions once more, so he was named as the commander of the KSP's first Munar base, that was due to blast off from the KSC a few days before New Year.

This was launched by the largest vehicle constructed by the engineers of the KSP to date and with Jeb at the controls, the huge vehicle (by the standards of the day) made a smooth landing in the equatorial region of the Mun.

Publicly the mission of the base was to further research into the origins of the Mun and to test new hardware, however it had another, far from public one, which was to investigate some anomalous readings that had been made by satellites in orbit. The base was to act as home for a wheeled lander vehicle that would in the coming weeks be sent to various locations on the Mun's surface to investigate these anomalies.

Shortly after the arrival of the base, a lander, that had secretly been waiting for it in Mun orbit, descended to meet with it on the surface. the main purpose of the base with respect to its clandestine mission, was to keep the lander supplied with fuel for the multiple trips it was due to take to disparate parts of the Mun, in its investigation of the anomalies.

Before the lander was due to depart, New Years Eve came round and in keeping with tradition, the crew of the base held a party to celebrate. With the party in full swing, it was discovered that one of the the fuel tanks had been "accidentally" filled with alcohol, rather than regular propellant. With this discovery made, the contents of the tank was soon vented into the largest punch bowl shaped containers the crew could find (a row of helmets on the dining area table) to be joined by a large quantity of prune juice, to soften it up a bit.

The end results were inevitable, with the entire crew waking after their sleep period, suffering from "the sting of the Kraken" and finding evidence of the by now forgotten events of the celebrations. The entire base was leaning to one side, as one the the large wheels that supported it had been been broken as a result of the "coming in hot" game, they'd engaged in the night before, that had kerbal after kerbal, jamming on a prune punch filled helmet, then leaplng across the dining area table, sliding its length, and crashing into the opposite wall.

Another sign of the revelry, was that the super secret lander, instead of being parked next to the base, was now in a small crater some 2km away surrounded by a set of complex geometric shapes carved in the munar dust, along with some string and a couple of planks of wood.

With the base leaning at an uncomfortable angle, the most junior of the crew, Pilby Kerman was given the job of going outside to fix the wheel and retrieving the lander. Of course that meant the unpleasant task of jamming on one of the sticky helmets that had been used as a punch bowl the night before.

Once the wheel was fixed and the base righted, it was only a few hours until the arrival of the first tanker vehicle from Kerbin. These took the form of a Jumbo-64 with wheels attached at each end, to allow it to be driven across the surface to dock with the base to offload its supply of fuel. As its landing was handled remotely from Kerbin, the less than stellar state of the bases' crew wasn't an issue, but once on the surface, they had to take control for the delicate task of bringing it next to and docking with the base.

Despite the (more than) slightly the worse for wear state of the crew, the tanker was brought in a nice straight line towards the docking port, but instead of slowing in the last few seconds before making contact, to give a nice soft dock, the tanker was given a sudden burst of speed, the docking ports slamming together, damaging that of the tanker beyond repair. To make matters worse there was a dull thud heard through the structure of the base, followed by a familiar leaning to one side, leaving Pilby to jam on that prune soaked helmet once more.

Jeb decided that as base commander it was his responsibility to explain the situation to the team at the KSC and suffer the consequences, so without a moments hesitation, he flicked on the communication circuit to Kerbin and informed them that the tanker's docking port was irreparably damaged, probably due to vibration during launch.

With his record clean, if not his conscience, Jeb waited for the replacement tanker to arrive.

 

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 5

Due to this report containing highly classified images of a number of anomalies on the surface of the Mun, those without K12 clearance, or of a nervous disposition should leave the room now.

- From recently declassified meeting minutes -

13 Anomalous readings

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Weeks before their munar base was launched, a scientific satellite in Mun orbit provided strange data at a number of locations on the surface. With this data to wave in the face of those that funded the program, they were met by hands waving back at them, filled with cash, accompanied by pleas of “do something interesting, we’re sooooo bored of watching you guys plant flags”.

With this fresh funding in hand, an addition was made to their plans for the upcoming munar base in the form of a lander/rover vehicle that would travel to and from the base, to the locations of the anomalies, with top up of fuel being made on each return to base.

 

S5nGu01.jpg

The intrepid crew of the MOAR (Mun Observation And Research vehicle), Henley and Renlik Kerman took off from the base that had been their home for the past few days, heading for the location of the first anomaly.

Due to their vehicle being designed and assembled in record time, it was not equipped with the latest in anomaly tracking equipment, so had to rely on data transmitted to them from the satellite in orbit. This meant that each of it excursions would have it set down on the surface, somewhere within a few kilometres of their goal and then calculating the required direction of travel from there.

 

Spoiler

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After several minutes of driving across the surface, a bright blob on the horizon, that contrasted strongly with the dark munar surface at sunset became visible. With that as their guide Henley and Renlik homed in on their first anomaly.

 

Spoiler

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Henley flicked on the camera mounted inside the navigation window to give the team back at base and the KSC a view of what they saw.

“Are you seeing this guys” he enquired.

“Ahhh…. Yup” came the reply from KSC. “Before you ask we have no idea” they continued.

“It looks a lander on top of a large box” replied Henley.

Henley and Renlik knew that they knew about as much as they were going to, staring at the strange object from within their vehicle, so they donned their helmets and headed for the hatch.

 

Spoiler

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Out on the surface, the object appeared larger than it had appeared from within the MOAR, but before they could investigate it at close quarters, their vehicle needed some repairs.  On approach to the anomaly, it had momentarily leapt off the ground, before crashing back into it, breaking three of its four wheels in the process. Henley insisted that this must have been due to the mysterious affects of the anomaly, while Renlik insisted that his pilot was simply a lousy driver.

With repairs made, the pair made their way over to the object. Their first observation was that it appeared to be composed of stone, or possibly a concrete formed from the munar regolith. On closer inspection, they found that part was made of a shiny yellow metal, with some form of what appeared to be writing on it.

“So what do you think that is” Renlik asked his crewmate, pointing at the shiny bit of the object.

“Adveeertising” drawled Henley.

“Advertising” Renlik retorted. “Out here, in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Nothingsville”.

“Sure” Henley replied “why not”.

“Who’s going to see it” countered Renlick.

“Well we are” came Henley’s all too obvious reply.

Renlik shook his head, flicked on his jetpack and flew up to take a closer look at what appeared to be a representation of a lander on top of the object. He noted that the “lander” appeared a little less robust than the sturdy products of the program that he was part of, especially its landing gear.

“How would that thing survive a landing” he wondered, “Especially one of Henley’s”.

 

Spoiler

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Henley meanwhile had been scratching his head wondering what the writing on the side of the object could mean, so much so, that he almost rubbed off one of the red stripes of his helmet.

“So… what ya sellin’?” He muttered to himself.

Peering at the writing and squinting a bit, he decided that it appeared a little like old Keeglish, an ancient language of the kerbals, something that his mother had attempted to teach him the basic of when he was a child, to distract him from his rather dangerous interest in flying, especially dangerous given his apparent lack of skill at it.

“Haamstriiing… kneel-in’ haamstriing” he mused.

“I got it” he shouted excitedly over his radio “I know I got it”.

“Got what” queried Renlik.

“The answer… what this thing is fer” Henley replied.

“Ok, so tell, me is this thing for” asked Renlik, preparing himself for the inevitable.

“It an adver-tisement for hamstring cream. Yer know, for when it’s hurtin’”

Renlik was about to respond, but realising that this would simply draw out the ridiculous conversation, decided instead to just say “ok, sure” and head back to the lander. The guys back at the KSC would have a better chance of deciphering the lettering from the photos they had taken than he or his crewmate.

 

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Before returning to the lander to join Renlick, Henley took closer look at the object and asked “Do ya think I should whack a chunk off of this thang… yer know, as a sample like”.

Renlik took a look at the object out of the navigation window and was about to ask Henley to take off a small piece for later study, but for some unknown reason (given his fondness from a young age for collecting rocks) told his partner “No… don’t that. It does seem right somehow”.

Having found out as much as they were going to at this site about the mysterious anomalies, Henley returned to the lander and the MOAR took off for the short hop to the next location on their list.

 

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 6

No photos of any "anomalies" exist, the mission that took them does not exist, hell... I don't exist.

- An unnamed source -

Bridge to nowhere

Spoiler

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Back on the surface again Henley and Renlik headed towards the location of the next anomaly on their list. This time they set down within a couple of kilometres so they were able to get a look at the source of the anomalous readings just before setting down on the surface. Once their wheels hit the munar dirt, Henley spun up the wheels and headed for it.

Heading up the side of a small hill, the object at this location loomed over the top of it. It was clear that it was an arch of some kind, but details of what it was and what function it served couldn’t be determined from that distance.

 

Spoiler

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Henley brought the MOAR to a halt under the center of the arch by slewing the vehicle to one side, setting it into a violent rocking motion and throwing up a huge plume of dust. This had Renlik having to brace himself against the wall of the vehicle, to prevent his face making a messy impact on it.

Renlik looked over his shoulder at his pilot to find out the reason for this unconventional stop, only to see him giggling to himself.

Renlik put aside his anger at his crewmates' reckless sense of humour and jammed on his helmet and headed for the hatch, closely followed by Henley. Once outside the scale of the arch quickly became apparent… it was huge. Dwarfing their vehicle the arch had near vertical sides at the points where it met the munar surface and climbing high above the surface at its center.

“So, any ideas what this is” asked Renlik, without high expectations of any answer.

“Ah… nope” replied Henley

“I’m going to take a closer look at the base of it” informed Renlik, before hopping across the surface towards one of the ends of the arch.

On arriving at the base of the arch, it was clear that it was composed of a similar rocky material that the first object had been composed of, although a little coarser in texture. He reached out his gloved hand to stroke the surface and could feel the roughness of it through it. Looking over to see what his pilot was up to, he saw that he was busy doing something near the MOAR.

 

Spoiler

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Henley was indeed busy, placing the flag of the KSP under the center of the arch. He was determined to place it under the exact center, so he kept looking back and forth, between the top of the arch and the ground under the flag pole he was carrying, shuffling around in the dust as he attempted to find the perfect spot. Finally he decided that he had nailed the location of the center and jabbed the pole into the dust at his feet.

This object didn’t have the complexity of the previous object that they had examined, so after chipping of a small sample of the material it was composed of and taking some photos, the pair climbed back into the MOAR.

 

Spoiler

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“So, still no idea what this is” inquired Renlik “I’ve got a theory myself but…”

“I know, I know… I know what it is, I’m so stupid I didn’t think of it b’fore” blurted Henley “it’s a bridge, coz you know, the shape” he said, slowly moving his hands in an arc in front of his face.

“A bridge?” queried Renlik “why would it be a bridge, where does it go”.

“The other side” responded Henley “you ain’t too bright today is ya”.

As at the previous anomaly, Renlick decided that the best course was to avoid digging into Henley’s ideas any further and suggested that they head back to base to refuel.

 

Spoiler

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With the thought of the wider snack selection back at base, Henley gave it full thrust to blast the MOAR into a suborbital trajectory towards their home away from home. Once they had filled the vehicles fuel tanks (and their stomachs) the pair head off to the next anomaly location.

 

Spoiler

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“Ahhhhh” screamed Renlik

“Waahoo” shouted Henley as he swung the MOAR around to point the engines towards the rapidly approaching arch.

20 seconds earlier, the vehicle had been in a gentle final descent towards the surface near the arch that was the third anomaly on their list, but at the last moment Henley became bored of the smooth descent and decided to rotate it towards the huge object and give a quick full thrust burst on the engines, to get them there a little quicker. The result of which was a sudden lurch forwards, that had Renlik regretting eating those last couple of Kerby Krisps back at the base.

 

Spoiler

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Finally the pilot brought the vehicle to rest on the surface near the center of the arch.

“The look on yer face” laughed Henley.

“You idiot, what was that for” growled Renlik “I nearly lost my lunch”

“I know… so funny” his pilot replied

Renlik took a moment to compose himself, before suggesting that they head outside. Once on the surface, the pair again split up to examine different parts of the structure, with Henley taking a look at the base and Renlik jetting up to the top of the arch.

 

Spoiler

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Renlik came to rest near the zenith of the arch that stretched out across the surface below him.

“Wow, this thing is really big” mused Renlik to himself “hmmm… what’s that”

He leaned forward to take a look at some strange breaks in the surface of the arch, lines that stretched out along its length for some distance.

“I wonder what those could be” he said and proceeded to take some photos of the unusual surface details, then scraped a small sample of the material into a container.

Renlick had a great view from up here and he wondered who if the makers of the object might have taken a moment to enjoy the same one. Having soaked in the wonderful view for a moment more, he jetted back down to the surface to check up on what his crew mate had been up to.

On his arrival at the base of the structure he was horrified at what he saw. Henley was lying on his back staring up at the arch, but it wasn’t the pose of his pilot that gave him concern, but what he had evidently been busy doing while Renlik had been up on the top. Scrawled around the base in big red letters made of duct tape were the words “Henley wuz heer”. Renlik didn’t know what to be more shocked at, the vandalism of the structure, or his pilots appalling spelling.

“What the hell are you doing” shouted Renlik

“I’m resting” replied Henley idly flicking one of his fingers in the munar dust.

“No, I mean, what did you think you were doing when you stuck that on the object”

“Cool huh” Henley responded “I left one just like it at the last bridge we went to”

Renlik sighed, realising that at least when the follow up team visited these sites over the next few weeks, to make a more detailed study of them that Henley’s little arts and crafts exercise was likely to get him kicked of the flight roster, reducing by one, the number of crazy pilots he had to worry about.

Their initial survey of the arch completed, Renlick climbed back into the cabin of the MOAR.

 

Spoiler

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He took a moment to look out of the navigation window seeing through it both the magnificent arch, with all the questions about who made it, when and for what purpose and Henley. Henley at this moment was busy scratching his rear end through the fabric of his suit while carefully drawing a smiley face in the dust at his feet with the toe of his boot.

“Hey… time to get back inside” informed Renlik “we’ve got a schedule to keep”.

“Ok, be right there” the pilot replied, before dabbing his toe in the dust to form the final eye in his masterpiece and heading back to the MOAR.

With the pair safely back inside the vehicle, they left for their next anomaly site.

 

Spoiler

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Having been given a stern talking to by his science buddy, Henley opted for a more conventional approach to the next anomaly site, touching down a few hundred metres away and then proceeding from there on the surface.

Even from that distance it was clear that the anomaly was the same as the last two they had visited, another huge arch placed on the Mun’s surface by some unknown entity.

 

Spoiler

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Henley parked the MOAR just short of the arch, claiming that he was scared that the arch might fall on it if he parked underneath it. Renlik didn’t see the logic to this as the arches appeared to be perfectly sturdy and they’d survived parking under the previous two, but thought better of questioning the pilot on his reasoning.

After a short examination of the structure, after all it seemed to be identical to the last two they had visited, Renlik decided that he’d like to put up a flag himself, after all, why should Henley have all the fun. With the pole firmly planted in the munar dust, he released the catch that held the spring loaded flag and the support it hung from, freeing it from its casing. Renlik looked at the flag with the KSP logo emblazoned on it, then up at the arch and wondered if the two had the same purpose.

“Henley, can you take a small sample of the arch for me” asked Renlik

“Sure can do” replied Henley “do we have any dynamite on the ship”

“What the… no we don’t and that’s not…” Renlik answered frantically

“Just jokin’ with ya. I’ll chip off a little bit” chortled the pilot and with that removed a piece a little smaller than his hand.

 

Spoiler

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The pair and their sample back in the MOAR once more, Henley took the vehicle for a drive around the arch, so that Renlik could take a sequence of photos of it from multiple directions. Once these photos were in the bag Henley hit the throttle, causing the vehicle, which was almost empty of fuel, to shoot rapidly up from the surface, before gently rolling it over to head west and into orbit.

Behind them was left the enigmatic arch, alone once more under the stars.

Edited by purpleivan
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Part 7

"There is no substance to the rumours of evidence on the Mun of life beyond Kerbin. That's just crazy talk."

- The Minister of Official Explanations -

Monalitha

UFEIe6t.jpg

Rather than make the time (and fuel) consuming trip back down to their base on the surface of the Mun, only to then launch back of it again, the KSP made the uncharacteristically sensible decision to tank the MOAR up in obit.

With full tanks again the vehicle was directed towards an anomaly that the team back at the KSC believed was something new, not just “one of those crazy arches again”.

qLDeOxh.jpg

Even though Henley was doing his best to keep on the right side of Renlik by taking it easy across the Munar surface, it was only a matter of time before something came a cropper. In this case it was one of the wheels breaking due to getting to enthusiastic with the loud pedal.

Henley volunteered to EVA and fix the damages wheel, but as he only had only a passing knowledge of engineering, his fixes were of the give it a kick, then duct tape it variety. Fortunately this rudimentary fix had a miraculous effect on the wheel, allowing it to look and function as if it was brand new.

 

Spoiler

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As the MOAR approached within a few hundred metres of the anomaly, it became clear that this was no arch. At first it appeared as just a black speck against the brightly lit munar surface, but soon grew in the view through the nav window, that Henley was able make out that it was “some kinda black square thing”.

With the vehicle only a hundred metres or so from the strange object, it was clear that it was actually “square-ish” and appeared to be hovering some distance above the ground.

It was almost unfathomably dark, giving the appearance of a hole cut through the mun, revealing the black sky beyond.

 

Spoiler

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As he felt pretty proud of his wheel repair, Henley thought he deserved a little fun, so he slew the MOAR to a sudden halt, spinning the vehicle to the left, coming to a rest a short distance from the strange black object. Pleased that his quick manoeuvre hadn’t burst another wheel, he called dibs on taking a look at the anomaly first, Renlik, who was still recovering from the sudden stop, said “sure thing… go ahead, just don't break it”.

Henley approached the black object, looking up towards it as he got closer. Gingerly he made his way beneath , to see if there was anything on the underside to identify its purpose or origin, although a “Made on Duna” sticker was probably a bit too optimistic to hope for.

Finding nothing but more blackness on the bottom of the object, Henley decided to take a closer look at the thing, so he readied his jet pack, then flew up to hover gently (or as gently as the controls of “on or off” would allow) alongside it.

Staring into its inky surface, he was surprised to see something staring back at him, something that appeared to be a face. The shock of which made him forget about maintaining the hover and tumbling around helplessly for a moment, before recovering, just before hitting the surface. Rising up to the level of the object again, he heard Renlik over the radio.

“Hey, see anything interesting up there” came his crewmates query .

“Ah… dunno, maybe” came Henley’s less than clear response.

“Ok, I’m coming to take look” informed Renlik, drawing alongside his pilot a few seconds later, the pair of them now hovering in front of what to Renlik, did appear to be a face.

“Wow… what an ugly mug” opined Renlik “Only a mother could love that, I mean look at those eyes and and what’s all that fuzzy stuff around its chin.

“Well at least he’s a spaceman” remarked Henley.

“What do ya mean, why is…” replied Renlik before being interrupted.

“Caus he got a helmet on… gotta be a spaceman” the pilot replied.

Renlik was about to comment on how stupid that was, seeing as the helmet had no faceplate, but then realised that Henley might have a point, after all, how would they now what the technology of the species that had placed the object here would appear. Perhaps they had no need for a faceplate, which would have the huge advantage of making scratching your nose while on an EVA a hell of a lot easier.

“I’ll get some pictures” said Henley and returned to the MOAR to collect a camera.

While he was away, Renlik noticed that there was what appeared to be more writing of the same kind as they had seen on the first anomaly they had investigated and on his pilots return to the object, asked him if he could make out what it said.

“Na lemme see” said Henley, rubbing the base of his helmet with his thumb and forefinger as if he was stroking his chin.

“Ssssquaaark” enounced Henley. “Maybe them chickens” came his considered opinion.

“Chickens” Renlik said, none too impressed. “Interplanetary chickens”

“Sure… I mean they can fly cain’t they, they got wings” explained one of Kerbin’s best and brightest.

“There’s so much wrong with that I don’t know where to start” Renlik retorted.

“Naw… you just not usin’ yer ‘magination is all. I mean come on, it’s gotta be chickens. But real smart ones” the pilot replied, not wanting to give up on his theory.

Rather than try to talk his pilot down, Renlik decided to take a scraping from the object for study back on Kerbin, but was surprised to find that the tool he used failed to remove even the smallest particles of it. From this he concluded that the technology of its makers must be significantly more advance than that of the Kerbals, who’s creations had the habit of exploding at the slightest sign of force being applied to them, especially landing legs for some strange reason.

“What do say we go take a look at the next location on the list” Renlik asked his pilot.

“Sure thing. Not much more we can do here” came his response.

Minutes later the pair were heading up in another parabolic hop towards the next anomaly.

 

Spoiler

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On arrival, it was clear this was another one of the strange black objects as at the last site they visited, although this one at least was at ground level, which made an up close investigation of it less of a challenge.

In the light at this location, the picture on its surface was clearer, revealing what appeared to be three stars on the helmet. Renlik wondered what these symbols might mean.

“Watchya lookin’ at” enquired Henley, who had now joined him in examining the object.

“The three stars on the helmet” replied Renlik, now doubting the wisdom of telling his pilot this, as it would no doubt elicit another bizarre explanation.

“Hmmm…. now lemme see… starrrs” said Henley in deep thought, or at least as deep as he was capable of. “Well we’re in space” he followed. “Perhaps shows how many stars they’ve travelled to before they got here”.

“You could be right” said Renlik wistfully, his opinion of his crewmate lifted by this reasonable suggestion.

“The three stars of the chick’ns… makes ya think don’t it” replied Henley, his science buddy’s opinion of him now crashing back to ground level.

“I think we’re done here” stated Renlik “time to go refuel”.

“Can you take a picture or two of me with the chick’n” asked Henley “It’s fer me ma, so she can see what I been up to”.

Ah well, Renlik thought, even if those photos have no chance of making their way into the guys mother’s hands, at least his hearts in the right place.

 

Spoiler

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So Renlik took photos of Henley from inside the MOAR.

 

Spoiler

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As well as outside of it...

...with the “chicken”.

 

 

 

 

Edited by purpleivan
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