PHADE, chapter 3 Interlude - Project Odysseus

[ZootinZack]

Not a complete new chapter, and severely lacking in multimedia... But as I'm working on chapter 4 I thought you would enjoy this tidbit of background. (And to be honest... We all need to enjoy some of that 0.17 goodness!)

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SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

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Strange readings from the Mun have revealed debris floating beneath the surface of the satellite. A capsule of three Kerbonauts were sent to investigate, but their mission was cut short by mysterious malfunctions and apparent mental breakdown of the crew. After Jebediah Kerman, from Kerbin, took the rocket down in a catastrophic landing, two of the Kerbonauts, obviously mentally unstable, disappeared on the surface of the Mun, leaving Tomson Kerman alone. (Read Chapter 1 here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/17281-Writing-Pictures-PHADE-The-Phantom-Debris-Initiative)

Sent on a rescue mission, Jeb and Bill Kerman managed to land near the crash site, only to see Tomson vanish as well beneath the surface of the Mun. After a heroic, successful rescue, they are ready to go on, when Bill discovered a photograph in the crashed capsule, showing a mysterious and seemingly unnatural structure. Tomson, agitated, vehemently refuses to leave the Mun, claiming they "have to be there". (Read Chapter 2 here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/17990-Writing-PHADE-chapter-2-First-Kerman-in-the-Mun)

As Bill, Jeb and Tomson make their way to the mysterious anomaly, things are brewing back on Kerbin. Bob Kerman, their trusted friend, finds that the KSP, or at the very least high officials inside the KSP, have known about the anomaly for a long time. He reveals that J. Edgar Kerman, actual KSP director, found the artifact himself while orbiting the Mun. After the crew makes a catastrophic landing near the anomaly due to an unknown force making the rocket unstable, Tomson flies his jetpack under the Arch, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. (Read Chapter 3: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/20013-Writing-Video-Pictures-PHADE-Phantom-Debris-Initiative-chapter-3-Lies)

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CHAPTER 3 INTERLUDE: PROJECT ODYSSEUS

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Bob was rummaging frenzily through the files. The sheer amount of information, combined with the mess that was this filing system, if one could call it as such, made the job almost impossible. At breakneck speed he was sending request upon request to the computer... To no avail.

After feigning extreme disinterest in Bill and Jeb's cause, he had somehow gained J. Edgar's trust, and was able to move around a little more freely. It hadn't been very hard: over the course of the past years, after landing on the Mun, Bob's only interest had been to bury himself in tedial, meaningless work. He had become the perfect bureaucrat, mulling over minute, unimportant details such as what exact number of pens and pencils was optimal for a KSP worker - too few, and they would end up going back for more too often, resulting in a loss of productivity; too many, and they would carelessly leave them lying around, which meant in the end buying way too many pens and pencils.

In truth, his trip to the Mun had deeply affected him. Space is mind-bogglingly big, had written Douglas A. Kerman, and he had been right: Bob's mind had been totally, impossibly, irreversibly boggled. His ego couldn't take it; his sense of purpose had been crushed to the point of non-existence. Where Jebediah's self-worth thrived on the accomplishment, Bob had only found there his own insignificance.

He had needed those small, trivial things, because they made him feel huge in comparison. Like he actually mattered.

Luckily for the trio though, that meant he had taken a keen interest in the rich history of the Kerbal Space Program, and it looked like the answers to the Mun Arch might be lying not in the present or the future, but in the past.

Of course all the official, main files from the Odysseus Project had been either deleted, intentionally corrupted, or simply never written at all.

"Gotcha," Bob said, pulling up a file on the screen.

But the Space Center Psychological Help Department was, and had always been, a completely separate entity, prone to clerical errors, neglect, and often plain lunacy. At least for Bob, this was finally paying off.

Interview #3765 [Date: ----CENSORED----]

Conducted by Dr Ichabod Kerman, upon the return of ----CENSORED---- from PO-000123. See file ----CENSORED---- for additional mission details.

DR KERMAN: Hello ----CENSORED----. How are you feeling?

----CENSORED----: Like crap. I'm feeling like crap.

DR KERMAN: Can you tell me more about the reasons?

----CENSORED----: They're dead. They're both dead. Do you need another reason?

DR KERMAN: Do you feel it is your fault?

----CENSORED----: I should have been able to... Do something. Something else.

DR KERMAN: There were twenty three minutes forty seconds of complete blackout of communication between Odysseus and Kerbin during your trip... Tell me more about those twenty minutes.

----CENSORED----: Okay... First off, I know we're going to blame the engineers or something, because that's what we do here, but let me tell you Odysseus performed perfectly. Not a single glitch. It was almost boring. We got in a perfectly circular orbit around the Mun to observe the... The anomaly. And then we got closer. And... That's when it started.

DR KERMAN: How did it start?

----CENSORED----: Well, ----CENSORED---- started being very agitated, talking about "going there" and "landing this thing". Despite the fact that we didn't actually have landing gear. Despite the fact that we hadn't been trained to do that at all. You understand that? Soon ----CENSORED---- joined in the frenzy. I had on my hands two perfectly incapacitated Kerbals, and they were getting physically threatening and very, very agressive. ----CENSORED---- started pulling on levers like he had absolutely no idea what he was doing - which, let's be fair, was probably true, being a geologist after all - , he was shaking and sweating, while ----CENSORED---- was egging him on loudly. In the distance, I could see the anomaly getting closer, and the closer we got, the crazier they'd get. Those weren't the orders we had received. We couldn't land this. No one could have landed this, it was an orbiter. This would end in everyone dying. You understand that? Everyone dying, millions of Kerbucks down the drain... A catastrophy for the Program.

DR KERMAN: That's when you decided to...

----CENSORED----: I had to think fast, you understand that? So I put on my helmet, strapped myself in and... Oh God...

DR KERMAN: Please go ahead.

----CENSORED----: I... I only wanted to calm them down. I opened the hatch. Oxygen flew out in a second. I thought they would... come to their senses... But ----CENSORED---- got sucked out immediately, gasping for air. He looked at the Arch, then back at me. He was gone. His eyes were glazed. He was... He activated his jetpack, but he never tried once to get back in Odysseus.

DR KERMAN: What was he trying to do?

----CENSORED----: He was firing up his jetpack towards the anomaly. That's the last I saw of him.

DR KERMAN: And what about ----CENSORED---- ?

----CENSORED----: He hung on... Uh... He was hanging on to the controls, still making us lose altitude. We were at barely 9000 meters. The rocket was flying all over the place, threatening to crash. I had to... I had to secure the ship. That's what they train us to do, you understand that? Secure the ship at all costs.

DR KERMAN: So you made him let go.

----CENSORED----: Yes. I... I looked him straight in the eyes and made him let go. He was struggling. He was hitting me with all he had. I had to... I had to react. So I... I pushed him out. One more second, and the course would have been irreversible. It had to be done.

DR KERMAN: What did you do after?

----CENSORED----: I corrected the course and aborted the mission. With the depressurization, I only had enough oxygen left to go back. Barely made it too... Instruments showed I passed out on re-entry. But I don't even remember escaping the Mun's orbit.

DR KERMAN: And you yourself didn't feel any side effects from this trip?

----CENSORED----: Yes of course. I'm obsessed with going back. But I know I can't. I couldn't... Handle it. The images are burnt in my head. That's the only thing I can think of.

DR KERMAN: Your deceased colleagues?

----CENSORED----: No. The Arch. Every time I look up to the sky... I've been trying so hard... So hard... Not to think about it.

DR KERMAN: You will undergo rehabilitation over the next few weeks. Then, we will let the disciplinary commitee decide.

----CENSORED----: I need a nap. I need several naps.

DR KERMAN: That's all good. Everything will be alright.

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RECOMMANDATIONS: ----CENSORED---- seems tired, but rather balanced considering his ordeal. We would recommend him being put under observation and medication for several weeks, but his impeccable control in the line of duty has to be commended. Able to make hard decisions, following rules and regulations, ----CENSORED---- is an exemplary Kerbonaut and upon reflection, we withdraw our previous recommandation to get him on early retirement plan.

Bob quickly copied the file, and headed for the door. He gasped as he opened it and stepped out.

"It's a little late for work, Bob. What in Kerbol's name are you doing in PsyHelp?"

The towering, menacing silouhette of J. Edgar Kerman was blocking his way.

"Yes, I am... I'm concerned with the rocket, sir."

The director raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"So, I was looking up the psychological profiles of Bill and Jebediah Kerman, sir. I'm suspecting they might be unstable, I'm trying to find a way to make them come back, should they ever try to, uh, take matters into their own hands."

J. Edgar Kerman reflected on this lie for a few moments.

"Those psychological evaluations are classified, Bob. What you're doing is very illegal and I should arrest you immediately."

"Yes I know but..."

"...However seeing as the situation could easily get dire, the director continued, I will let it slide. Just tell no one you or I were here. And no more... Personal initiative. Are we clear?"

Bob sighed.

"Yes, sir."

"Go on home now. It's going to be another long day tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

Bob walked out of the building, and looked up, not believing his luck. Inches from him had stood the man who had killed two fellow Kerbals. The director could have crushed him here and there, had he been discovered.

The Mun was shining in the dark sky. Bill and Jeb were up there, and they needed him.

He looked over his shoulder, and started sprinting to the control room. He had to let them know. He had to get on the radio now, and tell them to stay away from whatever that thing was.

As he got in the control room, Bob stopped dead in his tracks as a thought hit him. He had been panicking so much that he hadn't even given it a thought, in the moment.

He didn't have any business in PsyHelp at this ungodly hour. Fair enough.

But what was J. Edgar Kerman doing there in the middle of the night?