Jump to content

The Outer Planets Adventures! [REBOOT PENDING]


KAL 9000

Recommended Posts

11 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

I would have thought that was a mental illness.  But does it also turn you into a stick figure?

According to the Official Kerbal Medical Dictionary: 

XKCD: A frightful disease, with no known cure. In the early stages it drastically reduces the victim's girth and strength. As the disease progresses, the victim loses his/her marbles and intelligence before, when the disease has done its work, reducing the victim to a mere stick of their former self, incoherently babbling the simplest of words. 

The best medication and treatment available can only slow the progress of the disease, but scientists are hard at work figuring out a vaccine and/or cure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm planning on sort of a subplot of his struggling with the disease. Hopefully he keeps his mind long enough to get back to Kerbin, where a cure may or may not have been researched (even I don't know).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The asteroid had flown silently through space for billions of years, a piece of refuse from the formation of the Kerbol system. It had flown by many planets many times, and this time, it skimmed just above Jool's atmosphere. The gravity assist it recieved kicked it off towards Sarnus, and it arrived shortly before the Sarnus Explorer. It was captured by Sarnus' powerful gravity, and after a few orbits, impacted Ovok. Debris escaped Ovok's feeble gravity and flew out into space. The debris orbited Sarnus, but at one point, it happened to intersect the Sarnus Explorer's transfer orbit between Eeloo and Tekto (it was delivering fuel from STEAMINGPILE and freeze-dried snacks raided from FLAKEE to BATHMAT and the TOPERs and TRASHCANs). 

"Sir, I'm detecting a micrometeorite cluster on an impact trajectory with us. ETA 27 seconds."

"Adjust course with RCS." 

"Yessir... Sir, we won't be able to adjust course in time!"

"Kerm! What's the average size of the micrometeorites?" 

"6 inches, they're unusually large."

"What is our hull rated for?"

"At the speed they're coming at, we can withstand a 3 inch average size." 

"Uh-oh. ALL HANDS, RED ALERT! ALL HANDS, RED ALERT!" 

"Impact in 3... 2... 1..."

There was a huge BOOM! as the micrometeorites impacted the ship. MechJeb automatically rotated the ship so that it would present the smallest possible cross-section to the cluster, but that was all they could do. 

"Sir, I'm picking up impacts in Hydroponics, Airlock 02, and the sensor/communications array!" 

"Multiple hull breaches detected!" 

"Seal bulkhead doors to and from the breached sections."

"Sealed. Hang on, I've got impacts on the LV-Ns, radiators, and the main rector. Sealing those, too."

"We're through!"

"I want both Engineersmates suited up and patching the hull breaches NAO!" 

"Yessir! Oh, wait, I'm an Engineersmate. See you, Captin." 

Two spacesuited figures gripped handholds on the now-crippled ship, duct tape in hand. They desperately patched and sealed the damaged sections, but there was no way the ship would be fixed in time for Tekto arrival. 

---

Again, the next pictures are coming soonTM! Stay tuned for the next part of the adventure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Hey Captin, I have an idea. We might still be able to limp into Tekto orbit!" 

"But how?"

"Well, our engines work by passing fuel by the main reactor. This heats it up, and the fuel expands. When it goes out the nozzles, it produces thrust."

"I know, so?"

"The nozzles and radiators were damaged, but they're easy to fix. The reactor, not so much. It'll take me a couple hours to fix the nozzles and radiators, but a week to fix the reactor!"

"Right. And we arrive at Tekto in 2 days, which is why we can't enter orbit of Tekto right now." 

"But what if we heat up the fuel with something else?"

"How? We're barely producing enough power for life support and communications on the backup RTGs, and it's not like we can cut power to either of those." 

"Exactly! The RTGs aren't 100% efficient. They produce waste heat-" 

"-Which we can use to heat the fuel! Of course!" 

"Right. But the RTGs only produce a tenth of the heat the reactor does, which we can compensate for by burning longer: 2 minutes instead of 12 seconds."

"Have you run the numbers?"

"Yep. KER says it's doable."

"Okay, make the necessary modifications."

--- 

KER is Kerbal Engineer Redux [4TH WALL BREACH DETECTED] Kalculation Equipment for Rocketry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Tekto orbit... 

"Howdy, guys. Need a tow?" 

Gergas had come up in a TRASHCAN. One of the RTGs onboard the Sarnus Explorer had failed due to the extra stress, and the ship was stuck in an eccentric, inclined orbit. 

"Sure, Gergas." 

Gergas quickly constructed a Klaw out of spare parts and latched onto the ship. 

"MEE-MO MEE-MO" 

Everyone Else: "SHUT UP GERGAS!" 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

KSC looked up the names of the crew of SE-2 on KerbNet. Turns out, most of the crew are still around! We're visiting each one to find out more. To start with, Jeb and Bill decided to visit Truiki, who opened a bionics company. 

So Jeb and Bill got in Jeb's ATV, and rode off into the sunset Runway 09. 

After an hour or two, they entered New New New Kerbin City (Kerbin City had been destroyed in a booster accident, although no one died, New Kerbin City was destroyed in... another booster accident, but still no one died, and New New Kerbin City had been destroyed in... yet another booster accident, but still no one died). 

There it was, on the corner of ROUND-8 Street and LV-909 Boulevard! On either side of the buisness, there was a building. One was, apparently, "Deeman Kerman Law Firm", and the other was "Rockomax Conglomerate, New New New Kerbin City Office". The sign on the door said, "Truiki Bionics".

Jeb opened the door and walked in. The building, from the outside, looked tiny, and Jeb saw the inside was just an elevator. He waited for Bill to get in, then pressed DOWN. The elevator doors closed, crappy music started playing, and the elevator descended. After about 2 minutes of descent, the elevator arrived at the bottom of its shaft, and a display panel read, "300 meters underground". The doors opened, and Jeb and Bill gasped. It was HUGE! A whole complex was under here! 

Robots on treads scurried from place to place, carrying all sorts of equipment, tools, medical supplies, and bionic body parts. One robot had several tools in its manipulator arms and was busily repairing another. Several were powered down in recharge ports. There was only one Kerbal visible, engrossed in reading on her Kindle [No first letter change required!]. 

"Excuse me," said Jeb, as he quickly stepped out of the path of a robot driving somewhere, "Are you Truiki?"

The Kerbelle replied, "Yes. Yes I am. Are you here for bionics?"

"No, we're not here as customers. We're actually here to ask you if know anything about the Traveling Circus?"

"You know about the Circus? Where are you from?"

"KSC. Our expedition to Sarnus found some, you're not going to believe this, zombies on Tekto. They're quite friendly, and apparently their names are Gergas and Elite. They told us about the Circus."

"GERGAS? ELITE? They haven't popped!?"

"How long has it been since you got home from Sarnus?"

"I dunno, a year? But a few weeks after we got home, everything just... changed. I've kept in touch with the other crew, and Orbles says that Ink, Blob, and Mask say that the OPTC stuff, like the ships and crew, got transported to an alternate save, an alternate install, even!" 

"Wow."

"Yep. By the way, what are your names?"

"Oh, I'm Jebediah Kerman, but you can call me Jeb. And that's Bill Kerman."

"Jeb Kerman? The Jeb Kerman? Lord Jeb?"

"Well, as far as I know, I'm the only Jeb in this save. There is MechJeb, and KAL's Jeb plushie IRL, but anyway... I did meet some other Jebs from other saves and installs back at the end of the Kerbfleet-Kappa Crossoverlude. I got Emiko Jeb's autograph!"

"ANYWAY..."

"Oh, yeah, thanks, Bill. So, anyway, are you the only Kerbal here?"

"Besides the Kerbals getting bionic parts installed in surgery, yes. I made the robots, and they are built to pretty much run the place by themselves."

"Oh, COOL! Did you use the binary-coupling gyros for..."

---After Bill and Truiki's engineering discussion---

"Thanks, Truiki. By the way, why is your facility underground?"

"You're welcome. Pesky zoning laws! Here's a copy of my business card for both of you."

So, Jeb and Bill set out in their ATV for the Pyramids, to talk to Munvey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The ATV rolled to a stop at the base of the largest pyramid, and Jeb and Bill climbed to the top. 

"Hello there, Munvey." 

"Oh, hello. What brings you two Kerbals here?"

"Well, I'm Jeb. That's Bill. We're from KSC. We found out about the whole Traveling Circus thing, and we wanted to know if you knew anything more."

"What do you want to know? Here, would you like something to drink? Water? Soda?"

"No, thanks. Well, here's what we know..." 

After the conversation with Munvey and thank-yous all around, they left again to find the rest of the crew.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The team at Sarnus contacted KSC. Halfrunt has been put into cryosleep to stop the disease from progressing further, but now they need more Glykerkol, a replacement Kerbal for Halfrunt, and living space for the two new crew members, Gergas and Elite. 

The KSS Kuzzter, an Intrepid-class mothership which completed the Jool-5 mission, has been hibernating in Kerbin orbit ever since it returned and an SSTO picked up its crew. Now, it is seeing life for the first time in ages. 

Tanker after tanker refuels it, bit by bit. Life support is restocked, the new habitat is installed, extra containers of Glykerkol are packaged, the new cryosleep pods from RepoSoftTech are added, and, finally, an SSTO delivers the replacement Kerbal. 

The onboard MechJeb unit plots a maneuver node. The Kuzzter will fly by Eve, Duna, and finally Jool, gaining enough speed to reach Sarnus. It will be refueled there, by the unmanned ISRU base being set up on Hale, trade the new Kerbal for Halfrunt, drop off the Glykerkol and habitat, and return to LKO, where a waiting SSTO will wake up Halfrunt and rush him to a hospital. 

Then the Kuzzter will again remain silently in LKO, waiting for the next time it needs to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/2/2016 at 9:01 AM, KAL 9000 said:

According to the Official Kerbal Medical Dictionary: 

XKCD: A frightful disease, with no known cure. In the early stages it drastically reduces the victim's girth and strength. As the disease progresses, the victim loses his/her marbles and intelligence before, when the disease has done its work, reducing the victim to a mere stick of their former self, incoherently babbling the simplest of words. 

The best medication and treatment available can only slow the progress of the disease, but scientists are hard at work figuring out a vaccine and/or cure.

Ten hundred words we say most often...ON SPACE BOATS??? WITH WATER PUSHERS???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I've been trying to update this for a while, but due to a combination of Kraken attacks, realizing my writing is terrible, and updates, I'm going to have to abandon this. 

But don't worry! The first installment of a reboot that will (hopefully) be much better will be coming soonTM

@Red Iron Crown @Vanamonde @AnyModerators Lock this thread, please. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...