Kerbin Elcano Exploration Project - Epilogue

[Angelo Kerman]

Shout out to @adsii1970 for encouraging me to put this into the story. Thanks!

“Back up a bit so you don’t hit the truck,” Bill called out from the copilot seat.

“I got it,” Jeb said, not bothering to hide his annoyance. The Munar Landing Trainer’s jet engines roared as Jeb jammed the throttle up to gain altitude, then cut it and nudged it back up again to simulate a landing engine running in munar gravity.

“The engines aren’t going to like-“

“I got it, Bill.”

The engine controller balked, coughed up an alarm, and threatened to shut one of them down, forcing Bill to switch to a backup system. But the trainer landed safely on the ground, missing the graviolium truck by a scant few meters.

“See?” Bill just gave his old friend the “I told you so” look.

“Hey guys,” Bob radioed, serving as the training mission’s Capsule Communicator and knowing he’d be flying with Jeb next. “Gene wants us to cut our training short and report to his office immediately. He’s got a mission for us.”

“Uh, what? What does he need us for,” Jeb radioed back. “Tell him we’re busy.”

A few seconds later, Bob radioed once more. “He says we’re the only available flight crew qualified to fly an airship.”

“What? Why do they need us? The Akron and the Fulton are in-country. They’re the only airships that KSC has.” Jeb looked to Bill, who just shrugged.

“Not any more, Jeb.”

***

Six long days of travel later, Bill, Bob, and Jeb found themselves standing on the freezing runway at the South Pole Research Station, talking with the facility’s director and staring at an enormous airship. It looked like the Fulton, but without the upper landing deck, claws, and engineering gondola. It also had a cargo bay oriented like the later model Heisenberg airships.

“Let me get this straight,” Jeb grumbled, irritated by the side trek. “You guys toured the Fulton while she was still a museum at South Hope, took detailed notes, and decided to build a replica?”

“That’s mostly accurate,” Mathesar Kerman, the research center’s director responded. “We also looked at some historical documents. When KSC announced the Akron’s world tour, we thought that the space program would need another capsule recovery airship.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be, you know, doing research about the Antarctic? Studying thermians at geothermal vents or something?”

“Not Thermians, Jeb,” Bob corrected, “extremophiles.”

“Whatever.”

“Well, we are, Jeb,” Mathesar said, “and we are, but…”

“But what?”

“But, well, we get isolated out here, and too much isolation and monotony can make a kerbal go crazy. The team needs something new to do every now and then to keep their spirits up. One of my engineers is an airship enthusiast, and he toured the Fulton a few times, and uh… started building one of his own. He couldn’t keep it a secret for long- word travels fast at the base- and I saw the project as a way to keep everyone’s sanity. I let the team keep working on it as long as it didn’t interfere with their duties.”

“I’ve heard of homebuilt aircraft, but a homebuilt airship? Wow,” Bill remarked. “We should get Wernher to hire him. Building an airship isn’t simple.”

“Too late for that, I’m afraid,” Mathesar lamented. “The Air Force hired him. He starts next week. Some classified top secret project…”

“Ah.”

“How did you get the funding for this,” Jeb asked.

“Just some creative budgeting,” Mathesar admitted.

“I bet Gene flipped out when he found out,” Bob mused.

“He did, and then quickly realized that we just solved a problem he had.”

“The Ostrich,” Jeb noted. Several days ago, the Ostrich, a quad-tiltrotor designed as a backup support vessel for the Akron, flew from the South Pole Research Station to the Antarctic Anomaly discovered by SCANSat 1. After the research team found a giant atomic-powered temple of unknown origin and investigated it, the team decided that their findings were too sensitive to report via wireless and tried to fly back to SPRS. Unfortunately, the Ostrich was simply too underpowered and overweight to lift off the mountain again, even after discarding all non-essential hardware. Parie Kerman, the mission commander and tiltrotor pilot, had to break her promise to keep quiet about the airship so that her crew could be rescued.

“I’m really curious about how you managed to build the, uh, what’s her name,” Bill asked.

“We’re calling her the Liberty-class Capsule Recovery Vessel,” Mathesar answered. “Uh, CRV-1 in Navy nomenclature.”

“The Liberty. How’d you get the parts? There’s no way that ‘creative budgeting’ could hide components like that, they’re too large and too custom to go unnoticed if they were shipped from KSC.”

“You can find all kinds of things on the Lattice. We did a bunch of Mosaic searches for Last War-era surplus Cyclone engines, bought some gyros from memorabilia collectors, hired some metalworking companies from around the globe to build the superstructure, and even found the original suppliers who made the airship hull canvas. They make all kinds of fabrics now…

“We kept all that off the books and had them fly their stuff out here where we assembled them. She isn’t done yet though. The cargo bay’s gangplank and crane control booth, for instance, aren’t done yet, and we haven’t painted her name on yet, but she’s flyable. We think. Speaking of flying, why are you guys here?”

“We learn to fly airships as part of our astronaut training,” Jeb said matter-of-factly. “I’m surprised you don’t have your own crew.”

“Oh, I have some volunteers,” Mathesar admitted, “but nobody has flown one before. Besides, we were more interested in building the Liberty than flying her. But we figured we would find some retired airship pilots to train us.”

***

The SPRS science team cheered as their creation lifted off the frozen runway, turned around, and headed towards the Ostrich. Unlike the quad-tiltrotor, the Liberty had no trouble gaining altitude. Before long, she cruised along at 146 meters per second at an altitude of 3500 meters, easily beating the Akron and Fulton’s top speeds.

A half-hour later, the Liberty reached the Antarctic Temple and awaiting Ostrich. Jeb wasted no time and had Bill rig a cable between the airship and quad-titltrotor while the Ostrich crew climbed aboard. He hardly noticed a long cargo box that the crew gingerly loaded aboard.

“Let’s go, Bill,” Jeb called out, “hurry up.”

“Cable is hooked up, but we should rig some struts or another line for safety.”

“We’ve wasted enough time as it is, let’s get moving.”

“But-“

“No buts, get aboard or get left behind.”

The Liberty lifted off with the quad-tiltrotor slung underneath. They heard a loud metallic groan, but Jeb kept raising the airship’s altitude.

“Jeb, the winch is straining against its bolts, we need to set her down.”

Jeb ignored him. The groaning got louder.

“Jeb…” Metal screamed in protest. He pushed the throttle to maximum.

“JEB! We’re going to lose the Ostrich! SET HER DOWN!”

“FINE!” Just in the nick of time, the Liberty landed. Bill went aloft and secured the winch with additional struts, then hauled the Ostrich up close to the freight bay. The veteran engineer then connected some struts and hooked up an emergency line between the Ostrich and the Liberty’s command cab. Most likely it would just rip the cab from the airship, but it was a last-ditch jury rig. He climbed back into the cab.

“Ok, now you can go.”

Once again, the Liberty lifted into the sky. This time it had no issues.

The airship completed its maiden voyage by landing back at the South Pole Research Station, with her builders cheering loudly as the airship kissed the frozen runway. Everybody pitched in to disassemble the Ostrich and store its components in the airship’s freight bay for transport back to the KSC.

Several days and airport hops later, the Liberty arrived at Kerbal Space Center. Bill, Bob, and Jeb parted company with the Ostrich crew, who immediately unloaded their precious cargo and took it to one of the science complex’s newer buildings.

Gene Kerman had snacks prepared for the crew, it was going to be a long meeting.

“600 grand in exotic minerals isn’t hush-worthy, nor is that ‘giant atomic clock’ you found. The vonKermans could easily have built that. What’s in the box that needed an in-person report, ancient religious symbols?”

“Oh no,” Parie answered. As one of "The Next Three" astronauts, she never thought she'd make such an important discovery on the ground. “Something much more interesting.”

Gene gasped as Parie opened the cargo box. Inside held a skeleton with a squashed skull, long arms, and slightly longer legs.

“What is that,” the Gene asked. “Is it a genetic ancestor of ours?”

Parie shook her head and stabbed a stubby green finger at the skeleton. It was about 2 meters long with its bones laid out.

“That is no kerbal.”

[adsii1970]

"That's no Kerbal! It's a space alien!"

Great chapter! And Jeb... I can almost hear him now... "Read the manual?!? Do I look like the type to read the manual?!" As he ignores the sounds of metal fatigue, warning klaxons, and his screaming crew mates! Again, good chapter.

[Angelo Kerman]

4 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

"That's no Kerbal! It's a space alien!"

Great chapter! And Jeb... I can almost hear him now... "Read the manual?!? Do I look like the type to read the manual?!" As he ignores the sounds of metal fatigue, warning klaxons, and his screaming crew mates! Again, good chapter.

Yup, that's Jeb. Generally good natured until he gets frustrated or stressed, then he's a beast and not fun to be around. Definitely a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy. Fortunately Bill knows how to handle him..

[Angelo Kerman]

Contact Lost With Munar Science Rover 2

Kerbal Space Center: Walt Kerman, head of Public Relations at the Kerbal Space Program, announced today that the Kerbal Space Center has lost contact with MSR-2, the Aldrin Munar Science Rover. “Unfortunately, a gap in our Echo Relay communications network forced MSR-2 into safe mode,” Walt explained. “Once we had a clear signal again, we tried to contact the rover, but it wouldn’t pick up the phone, so to speak.” After several hours of trying, mission controllers decided to declare a Loss of Vehicle and End of Mission for the Munar Science Rover.

“We are all disappointed about MSR-2, but these things happen. Space travel is hard. Still, Aldrin proved the viability of the Buffalo rover system, and she discovered a second munar arch as well as other interesting geological formations. With a mission elapsed time of 247 days, 5 hours, 56 minutes and 33 seconds, Aldrin lasted far longer than her projected design life. We didn’t reach the last anomaly on our list, but that’s ok, it’s likely just a data glitch like the others- MunSCAN has many of the same issues that we fixed on SCANSat-1,” Walt said, referring to the SCANSat satellite repaired by the Brumby 4 mission.” So it’s unfortunate, but we definitely got our money’s worth.”

Like its predecessor, MSR-2 had its share of close calls, including losing its primary surface abrasion laser and hydrogen detection sensor during a previous crash, but thanks to its backup sensors, it was able to continue its mission…

[Angelo Kerman]

“The deorbit motor’s fuel tank just sprung a leak,” Janchell said. Both she and Valentina had been crewing MOLE-2 for the past 78 days. The leaking tank simply added to the collection of failures plaguing the ailing station that had nearly exceeded its design life twice over. “Between that, the Brumby’s dead RCS, and a busted gyro, not to mention the cargo craft’s leaking monopropellant tank and busted comms, I think it’s time to call it.”

“Looks like we’re not going to beat Jeb and Bob’s orbital record,” Valentina lamented.

“Agreed,” Janchell said, “but look at all the science we’ve gathered! So much data to analyze when we get home.”

“I think if we transfer fuel to the cargo ship’s tanks, we can store it there until our orbit lines up with the space center. Then transfer fuel back in and use it.”

“No objections here, boss,” Janchell agreed.

Valentina floated up to the Brumby re-entry capsule and powered it up. “Flight, MOLE-2,” Valentina radioed. “Time to come home. Station is falling apart. We’ll aim for the space center but no promises, a lot is breaking down up here.”

“We copy, MOLE,” Gene radioed back, “we’ll see you in a few hours.”

In the middle of her refit into a proper capsule recovery vessel, the Liberty found herself pressed into service again, this time performing the duty she was designed for. While ill-equipped for water recoveries, Bill proved her worth for land-based recovery on the airship’s maiden voyage, and Parie took advantage of that capability. It took less than 20 minutes for Parie and her team to fly to MOLE-2’s landing spot. “The Liberty definitely flies much better than the Ostrich,” she commented.

At the landing site, Gedra and Stelissa helped Valentina and Janchell exit the Brumby and seat themselves in the Liberty’s passenger cab.

Gedra then attached the airship’s crane cable to the capsule and hauled it into the cargo bay. Twenty minutes later, Liberty and her passengers recovered back at the space center, not long after sunset.

“Next time guys, she’s got to have her name painted on,” Parie said to the maintenance crew, “she’s earned it.”

***

“Aliens built that atomic clock in the temple,” Samalla said, reading the KSC expedition report during dinner.

“Where does it say that,” Payin asked her sister.

“It doesn’t but aliens made it. I’m certain of it. Technically it says the vonKermans created it, but it was aliens.”

“What makes you say that, sis?”

“Oh come on! An atomic clock found in an ancient temple? Definitely aliens.”

“Right, sis.. So all they found was an atomic clock and an ancient temple?”

“Yup, that’s what the report says- well, that and some exotic minerals. Why?”

“Oh nothing,” Payin responded, “I kind of wish I could’ve been on that expedition. I’m starting to get into architecture. That temple sounds pretty neat. I wonder what they used it for?”

“Maybe they practiced meditation there,” Munvan pondered, “learned how to shift their quantum consciousness.”

“Their what,” Kelbin asked, looking at Munvan incredulously. “I think you’ve been spending too much time working on your 'hobby' in the gondo garden…”

“No, seriously, dude,” Munvan retorted, “quantum consciousness theory is a real thing[*].”

“Seriously?”

“Totally, Kelbin. Check it. Like, quantum consciousness theory suggests that the kerbal brain interacts with the quantum foam- like, the subatomic structure of the verse. In one part of the theory, psychic phenomenon- like, uh, telepathy- isn’t much more than kerbals making a mental connection with the quantum foam. Or, like, precognition is just, like, getting a glimpse into another verse.”

“So, you believe in S.A.V.E. theory," Payin asked.

“Superimposed Alternate Variant Existences?[*] Yeah, girl, totally. I also believe there are multiple SAVEs, and like, since our brains are dialed into the quantum foam, we can glimpse at other SAVES and even shift our consciousness, you know? All it takes is meditation. Of course, all that is just conjecture without quantifiable proof, but it’s a totally awesome theory. Just imagine the possibilities...”

“Oh, so it’s like when the aliens give you a WASD,” Samalla said.

Munvan blinked. “WASD?”

“Weird Anonymous Spontaneous Directive,” Samalla explained. “WASD. You know, one minute you’re eating snacks or working in the shop, and the next you’re standing outside with a wrench in your hand, tweaking a Gold Digger drill, and wondering where the time went.”

“Uh yeah, I dig, girl,” Munvan nodded, “it’s not like that. It’s more like, you shift your quantum consciousness into another verse.”

“Is that something you can teach me,” Kelbin asked. Munvan did a double-take.

“Seriously? Uh, dude, I can teach you meditation… But like, shifting your quantum consciousness is most totally out of my league. It’s just a theory, but just think about the possibilities if it was real. Going to another reality would take, like years of practice, dig? Even if it were possible- and I highly doubt it- you’d have to start small, like shift into a branch of the current SAVE.”

“How so,” the pilot pressed.

“Ok dude, check it. Like say you’re flying along and you think something bad is going to happen. So like, you quickly take a mental snapshot of the verse and like, during your impending doom, you focus on something, a musical note, maybe. Well, like, you’re a pilot, so you probably like focus on an F9- uh, Falcon 9- launch.”

“There’s no ‘Falcon 9,’ Munvan.”

“Yeah, dude, I get it but, like- whatever... You like focus on your F9 or whatever, and bam! Your quantum consciousness goes into another branch of the SAVE, and you get another chance at not having a bad day.”

“Huh. What happens to the, uh, ‘branch’ of the SAVE you were in?”

“I dunno, dude, I guess it just like vanishes or something, but like, it doesn’t matter because like in that one, you’re, like, dead.”

Liscella scoffed. “And on that lovely note, I’m going to turn in for the night.”

***

“Excuse me, Captain,” Bobus said as he entered the Akron’s flight deck the next morning. The airship lifted off just after dawn in pursuit of the next anomaly on its list and was nearing the mountains. “The crew and I have a betting pool going on what the next anomaly is. It’s either a black monolith, green monolith, or another one of those tracking stations. The monoliths odds aren’t great but the payout is better. Do you guys want in?”

“Mister Bobus,” Captain James responded, “Navy regulation 146.3.1 clearly states that there are no betting pools aboard ship. It leads to discipline problems and fist fights, understood?”

Bobus looked shocked and embarrassed. “Yes, Sir,” he said sheepishly.

“Good, now pass the word along, we’ll be arriving at the next anomaly soon.”

The captain watched as Bobus left the flight deck, then turned back to the instruments.

“Twenty kerbucks that it’s none of the above,” Liscella declared.

“You’re on. How long until they realize that there’s no official betting pools?”

“With Kimgee aboard? Not long.”

***

The Akron wiggled its way between the icy mountains of the northern ice cap in search of their anomalous quarry. A frustrating search finally turned up a strange object resting at the base of a mountain. Captain James reluctantly handed over 20 kerbucks to his first officer.

The giant airship majestically landed near the object- it looked like some kind of kerman-made trash. “There’s a lot of radiation in the area,” Mosa noted, reading the gondo lab’s sensors. “We shouldn’t stay here long.”

Mosa exited the primary gondola clad in a hazmat suit and approached the object.

“It looks like some kind of space probe,” she radioed. “It’s definitely not one of ours though. We don’t have probes this big. I’m going around to the back side… Huh?”

“What,” Captain James asked over the wireless.

“I think it’s vonKerman.”

“It’s What?”

“It’s vonKerman,” Mosa repeated. “I recognize the writing. It also looks like it has an atomic battery that’s busted. That would explain the radiation.”

“Why would the vonKermans make a space probe,” Liscella asked. “They don’t even have a space program.”

“Maybe they had one once,” Mosa responded. “This has been here awhile.”

“Ok, we’ll have to figure it out later. Get back here ASAP and into decon,” the captain ordered. “Not much else to do here. We’ll report back to KSC and see what they say.”

[*] With a big shout out to @Parkaboy's Plan Kappa

[panarchist]

On 6/15/2017 at 2:13 PM, Angel-125 said:

It is a career save using stock tech tree, modified by the nodes that DSEV introduces. Science benefits reduced to 60%

Any chance you might tell us what mods are in use other than your own? I'd definitely love to know.

[Angelo Kerman]

10 hours ago, panarchist said:

Any chance you might tell us what mods are in use other than your own? I'd definitely love to know.

Sure, here you go:

[panarchist]

On 8/4/2017 at 9:58 AM, Angel-125 said:

Sure, here you go:

Thanks!  Looking forward to the next installment.  One last question - are you using Snacks for LS in this game? I see REPOSoftTech, but no TAC-LS directory, and I know you're not using USI-LS.  :-D

[Angelo Kerman]

29 minutes ago, panarchist said:

Thanks!  Looking forward to the next installment.  One last question - are you using Snacks for LS in this game? I see REPOSoftTech, but no TAC-LS directory, and I know you're not using USI-LS.  :-D

Yup, the Akron has a large stash of Snacks as well as a greenhouse. I'm also using BARIS, though with launch failures disabled until I can work on a cheat way to give flight experience to parts in existing saves.

[Angelo Kerman]

KSC proved to be just as confused about the space probe as the Akron’s crew were, so they did some checking with their VKR contacts. The Von Kerman Republic insisted that they didn’t have a space program, much less create the probe. Either they didn’t know anything or they were covering something up. It was yet another unanswered question asked on the airship’s journey around the world. But something else was bugging the captain…

“Raphia, are the gondolas still certified watertight,” Captain James asked.

“Uh, Captain?”

“You heard me.”

“Uh, um, they were checked and re-certified on our last layover, why?”

“Good,” the airship’s commanding officer responded. “Rig for water landing. Time for the old girl to go for a swim.”

“… Aye aye, Sir,” Raphia answered.

Liscella gave the skipper a questioning look. “I hope you’re referring to the airship and not her chief engineer,” she quipped.

“Of course. The high radioactivity at the last site is bugging me. I want to make sure we didn’t pick up any atomic dust. The salt water will scrub clean anything we picked up. Besides, we’re still waiting for permission to enter VKR airspace.”

The Akron flew lower and lower until she was just a few meters above the water. The captain then gingerly dipped the gondolas into the ocean, then eased the airship into the waves. By the time the airship settled into the equatorial waters, her gondolas were completely submerged. She dragged her hull for several hundred meters and create a wake before slowing to a stop.

 

With not much else to do while they waited for airspace clearance, Raphia took the cargo elevator down to the ocean and installed a submersible oceanography and bathymetry sensor to the engineering gondola. The instrument functioned perfectly but the results weren’t helpful.

 

“Too bad we didn’t learn anything new,” Raphia said, “but at least the science team at KSC will be happy we finally tested out their aquatic instrument. We should put in a request for a submarine next time.”

Raphia took the opportunity to go for a swim before heading back inside. The rest of the crew got jealous and they spent the day diving off the flight deck and swimming around. It was a good morale boost.

 

***

By noon the next day, the Akron finally had clearance to enter vonKerman airspace, and the airship immediately headed to their next stop: the Arakebo Observatory, located at the center of The Great Crater. It was a rare opportunity; few from the Kerman States had ever set eyes upon the observatory.

 

Built by the vonKerman Republic a decade after the Last War as a way to shift their focus back to science, the Arakebo Observatory was the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope. Used for radio astronomy, radar astronomy, and atmospheric research, it discovered several asteroids orbiting near Kerbin’s orbit, possibly the result of a planetary body that got too close. It even sent an interstellar message, known as the Arakebo Message, to the Valentine system four years go.

The kilometer-diameter telescope used a spherical aperture dish. Instead of moving the entire dish like the Anomalous Tracking Stations did, the transceiver moved around the bowl by means of a cable system. It worked quite well- at least until the cable system broke down. It was currently undergoing maintenance.

The vonKerman scientists weren’t too friendly to the Akron’s crew- not for political reasons, but because their arrival interrupted their work- so the facility’s director gave them permission to look around themselves. Captain James took Payin, Mosa, and Bobus in the Fido rover to investigate the telescope.

 

“This is made out of konkrete too,” Bobus noted, “but look here. You can see some of the effects of weathering, and there’s some moss growing over there. And if you look up, you can see some cracks that have formed, likely due to the foundation settling into the bedrock.”

 

“And none of the ATS’ had any deterioration,” Captain James said.

“Exactly. Arakebo is clearly kerbal-made, and it gives further evidence that the ATS’ are far more advanced than what we can do even today. We can match the size of the dishes, but we have to make them immobile, and we can’t match the ATS construction materials. Even the Arakebo is conventionally powered, I saw the generator housings on our way in.”

“Can we check out the observation deck?”

“Sure, Mosa,” Captain James replied, “let’s take a look.”

 

With their field trip to the observatory completed, the Akron began their cruise to Green Coast International so that the crew could officially go through customs. Along the way, the crew spotted their next anomaly; it appeared to be a lighthouse! Captain James immediately ordered the airship to ground so that the crew could check it out.

 

“Captain, the vonKermans are wondering why we’re deviating from our flightpath,” Liscella said.

“Tell them we’re making an unannounced TDT audit.”

“They aren’t going to like that,” she pointed out.

“Too bad.” He hit the ship’s intercom button. “Crew, this is the captain. Stand by to land and get ready to conduct a surprise audit.”

“Swell,” Kelbin said in frustration, “we’re astronauts, not atomic inspectors.”

The captain wasted no time upon landing, gathering Liscella and Raphia to perform the audit and leaving Kebin in charge of the Akron. The lighthouse staff protested the surprise inspection but the captain didn’t care. His team found the atomic device, a reactor designed to power the lighthouse, without much trouble.

A couple of hours of arguing and inspections to verify that the reactor couldn’t be used to produce weapons-grade material, the airship was once again headed to Green Coast International.

***

Per the Total Disarmament Treaty, the non-commissioned Navy vessel and former warship had to be inspected for the presence of any weapons before being given overflight permissions of the Von Kerman Republic homeland. Captain James anticipated a lot of paperwork and he was right. The vonKermans took every opportunity they could to ensure every scrap of paperwork was in order and went over every centimeter of the craft to verify that there were no weapons aboard- and took their time doing it.

When it became clear that the inspectors were stalling, Captain James insisted that they grant overflight permissions for the Akron’s inspection team, pointing out an anomaly on a carefully modified map and citing Article 7 of the Total Disarmament Treaty. After quite a bit of arguing, they quickly inspected the Ganges- refitted for extended flight- and granted it overflight permissions- with strict instructions not to deviate from its course.

 

“Captain, I never get to go on away missions, can I take out the Ganges this time” Kimgee asked.

Captain James thought it through and nodded. “I don’t see why not. Grab Raphia and Mosa as well, find out what we’ve got, and return.”

“Aye aye, Sir!” Kimgee enthusiastically gathered her shipmates, powered up the runabout, and lifted off the deck.

A half-hour of flying later, they found their target- another Anomalous Tracking Station- and landed to conduct investigations.

Sure enough, the atomic signature was nothing more than the tracking station’s power plant. When the Ganges tried to lift of though…

“Um, we’re too heavy to lift off the mountain,” Raphia pointed out, “I don’t think the- HOLY MULCH!”

“We’re slipping down the mountain,” Mosa yelled.

Kimgee stomped on the brakes, hard, and the tiltrotor slowed but didn’t stop. “Raph, Dump the fuel, dump the fuel!”

Raphia hit the emergency fuel dump in a last-ditch effort to stop their slide. Liquid fuel flowed out of the runabout and down the mountain. It worked, barely.

“Raph,” Kimgee said.

“Already on it,” Raphia responded, grabbing some power tools, connectors, and an emergency pylon kit. The engineer carefully exited the cockpit, quickly ran behind the tiltrotor, and slammed the emergency pylon kit into the ground. Next she bolted a connector to the pylon, and ran for the runabout, where she attached the other connector and linked the two together. For good measure, she grabbed a third connector and the winch, attaching both to the pylon.

“Best I can do, skipper,” Raphia said, “let’s hope it holds.”

 

“We’re not waiting to find out. Crew, we’re abandoning ship. If the Ganges goes down, we’re not going with her! Get your hazmat suits on, grab all the survival gear you can, and head for the base of that dish. We’ll stay as far away from the center as we can. Raph, grab the Buckboards, we’ll use them for shelter. That should buy us some more exposure time. I’ll radio the Captain…”

***

Captain James had a few choice words about the inadequate lift capacity of the runabouts. “I’ve had it with them,” was the nicest thing he could say. Given the situation, the captain invoked emergency procedures- he bribed the vonKerman officials with 30 grand to speed up their inspections. Even then, they had to wait until dawn for all their paperwork to be in order. But at last, the KSNS Akron cleared customs and was aloft once more.

 

When the huge airship arrived on scene, she set down next to the tracking dish- hovering more than landing solidly.

The Ganges crew quickly left their emergency shelters and made their way to the airship’s decontamination chamber. Raphia then exited once more, and rigged the Ganges as an underslung payload.

Unlike Jeb’s mishandling of the Ostrich, Captain James carefully lifted off once more with its underslung payload in tow, and slowly lowered the airship and cargo to the grasslands. Before long, Kimgee undid the winch cable, refueled the Ganges enough for a short flight, and flew the runabout onto Akron’s flight deck.

By late afternoon, the Ganges was back in the hangar, and the airship headed for its next stop.

 

*********

 

The journey thus far:

Edited August 27, 2017 by Angel-125

[adsii1970]

This is fun! Can't wait to see the next installment!

[Just Jim]

9 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

This is fun! Can't wait to see the next installment!

Agreed! I'm lovin' this so far!

[Angelo Kerman]

18 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

This is fun! Can't wait to see the next installment!

 

8 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Agreed! I'm lovin' this so far!

Thanks! Flying around Kerbin and exploring all the anomalies and such is something I had been planning for months- and had to create a whole mod to do. I've been flying each leg at 1x timewarp too- it's probably the slowest trip around Kerbin Circumnavigation Aviation Challenge... Anyway, I'm about halfway around the world at long last, and of course there are some really interesting anomalies coming up, some I haven't seen since they came from Kerbal Konstructs..

[Angelo Kerman]

The next morning, after the daily briefing with Mission Control, the Akron went aloft once more, this time heading northeast to their next quarry. The vonKerman citizens, having heard about the giant airship’s mission to fly around the world, sent greetings as the Akron passed by. Local radio stations announced its overflight while private radio operations contacted the crew. When Kimgee asked the captain if she could respond, all she received was a “harrumph” in return; Liscella took that as a yes and authorized contact.

Soon, the crew were flooded with all kinds of questions from the vonKermans: how do you go to the bathroom in an airship? What is it like in space? What have they found on their trip around the world? What do you eat in orbit? Their questions surprised Akron’s crew; they were so used to the vonKermans, former sworn enemies of the United Kerman States, being stoic and reclusive. And here they were, showing just as much enthusiastic curiosity about the unknown as the Kermans. Maybe they weren’t so different after all…

As the Akron approached Sterntal though, vonKerman air traffic control directed the airship to go around due to its restricted airspace. Captain James angrily shot back with TDT Audit regulations and proceeded ahead. There was little that the vonKermans could do to stop them, this was an official inspection.

“There, up ahead,” Kelbin pointed out the window from the copilot seat. “NavCon is pinging 20 klicks.”

“Yup, I see it,” Captain James replied. “Take her down for a closer look. When we get there, I want you to lead the inspection team.”

“Yes- er, aye, Sir,” the young Air Force pilot said, trailing off.

“Something on your mind, Kelbin?”

“Uh, Sir…”

“Spit it out, Lieutenant.”

“Sir, I’d like to resign my commission. Being a treaty inspector isn’t what I signed up for. I wanted to be an astronaut. I’ll stay on until we’ve finished our tour, of course, but after that, I’m done.”

“I see. You might get just about any assignment you want when we’re done if you stick around, you know,” Captain James pointed out, “you’re good at what you do.”

“Yes, Sir, thank you Sir, but filling out endless reports and answering mountains of questions about every detail of our inspections isn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be out there, exploring. I’m good at what I do, yes, but too often I get stuck doing something I don’t want to do by my superiors, just because I’m good at it.”

“Astronauts spend a good chunk of their career on the ground, Kelbin. It’s part of the job. So is doing stuff you don't want to do. You think I want to be overflying vonKerman Territory? Moho No! But these are my orders and I carry them out. If you resign your commission, you’ll never get a shot at space…”

“As it is, Sir, I don’t think I’ll get my shot even if I stay,” Kelbin retorted.

Captain James sighed. “It's your call. Very well, lieutenant. Put your resignation in writing and I’ll accept it once we finish our tour.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Kelbin said simply.

“Now call Liscella to the bridge, and get ready to lead the inspection- that’s a missile complex!”

***

Kelbin, Raphia, Payin and Samalla boarded Fido for a trip around the complex. They drove right up to the launch pad to look around.

“This complex has been here awhile, look at the rust and weathering. Doesn’t that look like a launch tower? This pad seems like it’s set up for space launches,” Kelbin noted.

“It could also be an old missile service tower,” Raphia pointed out. “Can you imagine if they put an atomic warhead on a rocket and launched it at us? They wouldn't have lost all those bombers during their Final Strike, and our bombers wouldn't have needed to make one way poof-trips during ours. They must’ve been very close to using rockets before the Last War ended, this pad looks serviceable.”

“Let’s take a closer look.”

The away team gathered at the tower base and looked around some more.

“That’s a crew elevator for sure,” Kelbin said, pointing at the lift basket.

“Or it lets them inspect the warhead,” Raphia countered.

“I don’t know, I’m not convinced. Let’s check out the VAB.”

“These doors are enormous! Either the vonKermans built rockets here, or their atomic missiles were gigantic,” Kelbin said and whistled.

He drove the rover around the building and found one of the smaller entrances. “Samalla, monitor the dosimeters. Payin, Ma’am, you’re with me.”

Kelbin, Payin, and Raphia exited the rover and found the door controls. It didn’t take long for Raphia to bypass the locking mechanism, and soon they were inside.

They found industrial machinery covered in cloth tarps and hundreds of crates gathering dust- some recently disturbed- and labeled in vonKerman. The team pointed their video cameras at them, and Dr. Munvan translated the wording into terms such as “engine components” and “guidance units.”

“Guys, stop! My Geiger counter is spiking,” Payin yelled. She waved the sensor around, finding the strongest reading. They traversed the maze of crates, guided by the Geiger counter. “Over there,” she said, pointing to some crates. It looked like somebody pried one open. Inside was a vault of some kind, but its door was slightly ajar.

“Hey, I know that radiation signature,” Samalla radioed from the Fido, “that is weapons-grade blutonium!”

“Away Team, this is Akron,” Captain James broke in. “Get back to the ship immediately. We have company.

[Kosmonaut]

I envy your talent of taking something so simple and making it so awesome 

[Geschosskopf]

I've been reading this story with great interest.  It's quite good by itself, and I'm also taking it as a lesson on how you envision your mods being used.  Thanks for the inspiration.

And as to the story,......  "dun dun dun

[Readerty2007]

Loving the story!

[Just Jim]

Now things are getting interesting 

[adsii1970]

14 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Now things are getting interesting 

This is an understatement of "galactic" proportions...

Another great chapter and love the use of your mods...

[Angelo Kerman]

“Well moho. That’s not one of those tracking stations,” Gregorio Kerman sighed in frustration and said.

“That’s a monolith, right? I saw a picture of the one at KSC,” Janzel Kerman, Gregorio’s producer and videographer said.

“Yeah, it is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great discovery, but I was hoping for a tracking station.”

“Can’t you just use that picture that your source gave you?”

“Sure, Jan, but it’s not going to have the same impact as standing under a giant radio dish. Plus, the public interest in finding new monoliths is already starting to fade. Oh well, we’ll make the best of it. Bilford, can you land this thing on that plateu?”

“You got it, boss,” Bilford mcKerman answered. “We’re at the limit of the tiltrotor’s hover altitude though.”

“Well, don’t break it, it’s a rental,” Janzel quipped. With much jostling, Bilford finally managed to set the craft down. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. The brakes kept the tiltrotor from slipping down the mountain. Barely. Gregorio and Janzel got out.

“Squad it’s cold up here… Can you get a shot of me standing next to the runabout? I think that’ll look good for the intro,” Gregorio said.

“Ok, got you framed pretty good.”

 

“Ok, uh, test, testing, one, two, three.”

“Yep, your mic is hot.”

Gregorio cleared his throat before speaking again. “Three, two, one. We’re standing on- what is this place called?”

“Chunuktofa,” Janzel responded. Gregorio gave her a puzzled look. “Chew-nuk-toe-fa,” she repeated slowly. “It means ‘Stone Top’ in ancient Haktok.”

“Ok… Uh, three, two, one. We’re standing on Chunuktofa, which is Ancient Kerman for Mount Stone Top. Long ago, the native Haktok trekked up the mountain to pay their respects to the gods. But were they really gods? Or something else?”

“That’s good,” Janzel nodded. “Ok, let’s get a shot of you with the vista in the background.”

Gregorio traveled down the slope, right to the edge of a sharp drop. Jan carefully framed the shot to hide the monolith. “Ok, go.”

 

“Ancient Scripture describes sites like these as battlegrounds where the Ancients and the Kraken fought each other on Kerbin, but the ancient Haktok word for warfare and the word for knowledge are easily confused. It’s more likely that places like this were sites where disciples of the gods gained knowledge and shared it with their tribe. The original Scripture, not the modern redacted version, even suggests as such.

“Which is more likely? Well, there’s no sign of warfare where we’re standing… Ok, now get a shot of me with the monolith in the background.”

“Does the original Scripture really say that?”

“Yeah! It’s really exciting,” Gregorio answered. “That’s why I was expecting to find a tracking station. But why would you need a radioactive- hm…” The kerbals repositioned themselves, occasionally slipping on the rock. They finally got the shot they wanted though.

 

“Below me,” Gregorio continued, “is a monolith that we found after painstaking research-“

“Yeah, if you call ‘painstaking research’ flying to the anomaly marked on your source’s map,” Janzel interjected.

Gregorio gave her a dirty look, then looked at the slope and realized that it was too steep to climb. He repeated himself, and continued. “We can’t get any closer- this monolith is just as radioactive as the others recently found. Why? Because the gods used the radioactivity as beacons when they descended to Kerbin. Buy why would all-powerful gods need a beacon? Gods need no such technologies. They would need them if they weren’t gods. But if they weren’t gods, then beings that powerful- or more advanced than us- could only be one other thing.

Aliens.”

 

“Dun dun duuuuun,” Janzel joked. “Between this and your exposition on the tracking stations, you’re really going to grab ratings!”

***

“So, you’re telling me that we share our DNA with that alien creature? I find that hard to believe,” President Kenny said.

“That is correct, Mr. President,” Dr. Clarke Kerman, principal investigator of the Extraterrestrial Biological Entity’s (EBE) remains, answered. “In fact, we share about 8% of our DNA with the alien.”

“Eight percent? How is that possible? I’ve never heard of this species in the fossil records from anthropology class, and from what I remember, we have a clear evolutionary trail. And it doesn’t include them.”

“The prevailing theory is convergent evolution- similar environments and needs beget similar evolutionary paths,” Dr. Clarke responded.

“That’s not the only theory,” Dr. Niven, Clarke’s colleague countered. “It’s also possible that the alien, or aliens, altered our evolutionary path using a Kerbal Endogenous Retro Virus.”

“That is highly unlikely, Doctor,” Dr. Clarke interrupted, irritated. “There is no evidence to suggest-“

“Then how do you explain The Great Explosion of Kerbal Intelligence around 200,000 years ago-“

“Gentlekerbs,” the President interrupted, “I’m sure this debate is fascinating, but we’re getting off topic. It sounds like this ‘convergent evolution’ theory of yours is the most likely answer. Now, any idea about where they- it- came from?”

Dr. Niven spoke up before Dr. Clarke could. “One theory is that it arrived in a vessel of some kind from a planet far away from our own. Another theory is that it crossed over from another S.A.V.E. That stands for-“

“I’m familiar with superimposed alternate variant existences theory, doctor,” the President said simply. Dr. Niven looked momentarily stunned, opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and then took a breath before stammering on. “Uh, we, uh, we believe it is more likely that the alien arrived in some kind of craft from another world. It’s something we should be looking for, Mr. President.”

“Duly noted. Is there anything else?”

“Sir,” Dr. Clarke spoke up, “I’d like to discuss the possibility of revealing the alien remains to the public-“

“Absolutely not! The public would panic,” Ryan Kerman, the KIA Director spoke up in protest.

“With shows like Galaxy Trek? That show has all kinds weirdness,” Dr. Clarke countered, “like sentient land-walking octopuses that communicate using radio-based telepathy, glowing asteroids that defy gravity, giant-“

“Guys, enough,” the President raised his voice. An urgent message flashed onto his laptop screen. He exchanged glances with Director Ryan, who received a similar notice on his phone.

“I agree with Director Ryan,” he said, thinking quickly. “This administration will not be revealing the existence of aliens to the public, and that’s final. Sharing DNA with extraterrestrials? The public would go crazy. They just can’t handle the truth. Look at how they reacted to Gregorio Kerman’s ‘Ancient Astronaut’ video show. Doctor Clarke, Doctor Niven, thank you for your report. Now if you’ll excuse us, I have other matters to discuss with Director Ryan.”

The Kerman Intelligence Agency’s Director waited for the two scientists to vacate the presidential office before speaking. “Well, this is a new development…”

The president sighed. “First this whole ‘Ancient Astronaut’ business causes an uproar, next we find out that we share DNA with an alien species, and now, Captain James just reported that he thinks he’s found an old VKR missile complex! We’ve had atomic inspectors in the vonKerman Republic before, how did they miss this? We need a better way to keep tabs on the VKR than surprise audits.”

Director Ryan knew an opportunity when he saw one. “Actually, Mr. President, the MOLE-2 mission has already demonstrated technology that we’d need…”

Edited September 29, 2017 by Angel-125

[Geschosskopf]

All very mysterious.  I'm very interested in seeing where this story is going.

But where are the alien autopsy photos? 

 

[Angelo Kerman]

2 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

All very mysterious.  I'm very interested in seeing where this story is going.

But where are the alien autopsy photos? 

 

They're too gross to show...

[Angelo Kerman]

Chapter 13: Lucky You...

“I was the lead scientist for Project Star,” Oskar vonKerman argued in his thick accent. “I know every centimeter of this facility! We have no weapons here. Nein!”

“This is a missile complex,” Captain James insisted. “You’ve got weapons grade blutonium stored on sight!”

“Nein! We had rockets, not missiles! We had instruments of science, not explosives! We wanted to use them for peace! Exploration! But the military wanted to rain atomic rockets down upon your country, so we destroyed them! We have capsules carrying kosmonauts, not atomic warheads! No warheads. Nein!”

Captain James shook his head. “And you ended up losing scores of bombers instead, like we did.”

“Yes,” Oskar admitted, calming down. “We… miscalculated the military’s response…”

“That, Sir, is an understatement,” Captain James said icily. “But what about the missing blutonium?”

“That… that is a problem, ja. But under the Total Disarmament Treaty, I swear we will account for it!”

“That’s not good enough. My government wants full accountability,” Captain James said.

“We account for every gram of blutonium. Every gram!”

"Then why was the crate busted open? The vault door ajar?"

"Kaptin," Oskar said calmly. "Nothing is out of place. Nothing. You probably startled one of the workers here with your entry into the facility."

Captain James wasn't buying it. "Probably...? There's no telling what some crazed individual will do with that missing stuff..."

Oskar paused and sighed and walked over to a crate, pried it open, and gave the contents to the captain. Captain James gave the scientist a quizzical look.

“It’s a radioisotope thermal electric generator,” Oskar said proudly.

“A what? Is this a bribe?”

“Nein! It is a gift. Proof that we used blutonium for electrical power, not bombs. Blutonium gives the best electrical yield as it decays and heats the thermalcoupler. The amount missing exactly matches the amount used in the generator. I will add that one of the RTG housings is also missing. We track everything. This is nothing more than misplaced paperwork and a frightened worker. We will find the missing blutonium, I swear it! We simply need time. You are an official atomic inspector, ja? So I can give you this proof. My government will cry, but Treaty allows it as long as we have an observer to verify its destruction. But again, this is for electrical power, not weapons. Give me two hours, and you will have account of the missing blutonium.”

Captain James rather enjoyed watching Oskar nervously squirm as he thought it over, then silently nodded.

***

Moha 1, 1967

“But Gene, MOLE-3- Gateway Station- is supposed to be our first permanent station in orbit and our transport hub to the Mun,” Bill pleaded loudly.

Gene was still hung over from last night’s Turning of the Year party, and he didn’t need this argument. Year Two of the Kerbal Space Program wasn’t off to a good start. “I know, Bill, but with the discovery of the vonKerman’s old launch complex and their tracking stations…“

Bill gave Gene a dirty look. He didn't believe the official explanation of the anomalous tracking stations. Gene continued anyway. “The president pulled strings to re-purpose the station to keep an eye on them.”

The program's lead engineer was furious, MOLE-3 was his pride and joy, though Wernher vonKerman, the Chief Technical Officer, might disagree. “We are a private company, how can he ‘pull strings?’”

“Technically, we are a government agency that is commercially funded,” Gene reminded Bill, “like the post office. Without government backing, we couldn't fly so much as a model rocket.”

“Gene, Gateway is set up for research, not spying...”

“And we'll get a chance to do that research...”

“In polar mulching useless orbit...”

“... Which is better than nothing at all,” Gene continued. “And that was a hard-enough concession to get. The KAF wanted the whole thing. This way, it's a joint effort.” Bill scoffed at the idea. “Look, Bill, the President is concerned about the abandoned vonKerman space program, and he believes they might have secret missile complexes hidden somewhere. He wants a network of DenEye satellites to keep track of the vonKermans, and they're prone to breaking down. The Kerman Air Force, needs a station to keep them running. That means handing over Gateway and training their astronauts and staffing the station until they're ready. And that means we’re working for Project Dolores for the time being.”

“Dolores? That's what they're calling my station now? ... This is going to put Munshot way behind schedule,” Bill pointed out, throwing his hands up in frustration.

“I know, Bill, and I'm just as furious as you. But we need the government's blessing to fly, and we all knew when we started Kerbal Space Program that in exchange for leasing us this old military base for dirt cheap and letting us launch rockets, they could call on us to help with national security at any time. And they called. At least they're paying the bill, and we get to send our astronauts to it, and we can use part of the station to continue our research.”

“Great, that’s just great, Gene,” Bill said icily. “But now all our pilots are tied up. And what are we going to do for our LKO hub?”

“We accelerate development of Enterprise, temporarily using its modules as a space station, and up the timetable on Skybase too.”

“The Enterprise? From Scripture? I thought the public wanted to call it the Protector. JJ Kerman even offered to get the cast of Galaxy Trek together for the ship’s unveiling if we named it the Protector…”

Gene shrugged. “The Lattice polls are still open. Protector is losing out to Shippy McShipface. I am not calling DSEV-1 Shippy McShipface. Giving the public a chance to name our first deep space exploration vessel is turning out to be a bad idea…”

Author's note: Yup, MOLE's space station parts were not only inspired by the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, but by Project Dorian as well.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Angel-125

[panarchist]

"Shippy McShipFace" - classic.

[Geschosskopf]

10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Author's note: Yup, MOLE's space station parts were not only inspired by the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, but by Project Dorian as well.

Never knew such a thing was ever contemplated.  How'd you get it all put together without BARIS delaying the project several months?

 

Edited October 10, 2017 by Geschosskopf