Angelo Kerman

That's normal. My suggestion is to not put any kerbals in the module while in the VAB/SPH. I have to figure out how to add the KIS inventory module to a part with no crew capacity. If I can do that then I can fix this issue once and for all.

Thank you for investigating this further. It sounds like Terrain doesn't work too well with Remote Tech. I think that with stock antennas coming with 1.1, I'll hold off making further changes to the Terrain until the new version of the game is released. Meantime, the simplest solution is to remove the antenna module from the Terrain when using RemoteTech.

Reminds me of astronauts showing off space hardware during interviews before their flight.

Hm, let's find out. Part 16: Refits “He’s real all right,” Surina said. “Flesh, blood, the whole works. He’s as kerbal as any of us.” “Then how did he get here,” Bob asked, “KSC didn’t send any rescue missions. Yet.” “The Kraken, maybe?” Surina shrugged. Bob looked at Surina and said a silent prayer of protection at the notion that Martystu might be The Krakens’ doing. Val just shook her head. “Well, whoever he is and however he got here, he’s our problem now.” “Val, are we going to tell KSC?” “Moho no, Bill! They’re freaked out enough with Jeb just vanishing, and the whole end of the world thing. For now, we keep quiet. Talking monoliths, sheesh. Those things are just stone slabs.” “Yeah, but he sounds like he truly believes what he’s telling us,” Surina countered. “Just as sure as your stories about your first flight into space.” “I hear you, Surina, but the difference is that we have a record and physical evidence to back up our stories,” Val pointed out. “He doesn’t. ‘Hyperloop engines,’ seriously? He’s either delusional or hiding something. I’m betting both. Where is he now?” “Resting comfortably in the Pigpen’s loft,” Surina answered. “He kept complaining about sharp pains caused by aliens crawling around in his insides until I heard his tummy growling, and fed him some snacks. He gobbled them up like he never tasted any before. Food coma. Out like a light.” “Good. Let’s keep him isolated until we figure out what to do with him. In the meantime, we have 149 days until the Dres departure window. Let’s make every second count. Bill, Gerbles, I want to refit the Appaloosa for a trip into orbit. It’s time to reactivate the Pegasus and get her orbiting right. Let’s get cracking on the parts we’ll need. Everybody pulls their weight, including our, uh, ‘guest’ once he wakes up. At the very least he can help haul stuff.” --- It took several days of work to build all the components needed to refit the Appaloosa. While Bill was technically in charge of the project, he showed little enthusiasm, so Gerbles ended up directing most of the work. Finally though, the Appaloosa had new parts and a new purpose. “Bill, you’re in charge of the base until I get back,” Val said “But-“ “No buts, mister. We have a deadline and we’re short-staffed. With Jeb... missing... I'm flying this mission. Besides, you’ve been moping about Jeb for too long. I need you focused. Gerbles, you’re with me.” The team watched from the Ponderosa habitat as Val and Gerbles lifted off from Midlands Base. Appaloosa performed flawlessly, achieving retrograde orbit within a few minutes. Bob plotted an intercept course with Pegasus; it would only take a few orbits to rendezvous with their fusion-powered chariot. All the while, Martystu tried to offer advice on how to tweak the maneuver nodes; Bob simply ignored him. --- “Capture,” Gerbles declared, guiding the Appaloosa from the Backseat to grab Pegasus. “Time to go to work.” Wasting no time, the young engineer sealed the Backseat and stepped out into space. He grabbed the Clamp-O-Tron Junior docking port from the Appaloosa’s makeshift cargo bay and got to work. By sacrificing the Mobile Processing Lab’s underside crew hatch, he welded the docking port in its place. Not long after, Val released the grabber arm and docked Appaloosa to the new port. Gerbles immediately went to work securing the ship with struts while Val transferred to Pegasus. She began warming up several systems while Gerbles worked outside. One long EVA later, Gerbles installed new antennas, solar panels, RTGs and even decided to attach the Buckboards to the ship. The portable handrails he brought really helped with his EVA. Gerbles headed back inside, took a quick snack break, and immediately got to work reprogramming the Supernova using instructions sent by KSC. The engineer hacked into the engine’s firmware and changed just 20 bytes of hex code. He sat back, exhausted from the long day of work. “Your up, Val,” he said. Valentina swing the ship around to halt Pegasus’ retrograde orbit. For a few tense moments, the ship went sub-orbital, and she hoped that the engine would hold up. It did, and Pegasus resumed orbit, this time prograde at 75km altitude. She then swung the ship around for her next maneuver, and not long after, Pegasus aligned with Ike’s orbital plane. After a day of EVAs and orbital maneuvering, Val left Pegasus in automatic while she and Gerbles boarded Appaloosa for the trip home. With limited fuel, she had to do some guesswork to figure out where to start the deorbit burn. Though they landed off course, at least Bill could come pick them up. All they had to do was sit tight. --- “Let’s go get our friends,” Martystu said enthusiastically, rushing for the Ponderosa airlock while grabbing his helmet. “I’ll fly that plane of yours. We can look for the Kenlistar Awesum on the way!” “Wh- Wait, Martystu! Oh mulch, Bob, you’re in charge until I get back,” Bill yelled as he ran for the airlock. Martystu was halfway to the Long Flight before Bill made it out the door. “Come on, Bill! Our friends are counting on us! Last one aboard buys the next round!” “There not your friends, they’re mine,” Bill called back. “Get back inside, Martystu!” Too late. Martystu plopped into the pilot’s seat by the time Bill reached the Long Flight’s ladder. Moments later, he sighed in frustration as he closed the cockpit hatch and took the copilot seat. Martystu kept reaching for the controls, then stopped midway to reach for another set of controls. “Um, I’ll let you perform the takeoff, Bill,” Martystu said. “I know you need the practice. Cross-training is a good thing, right?” “Yeah,” Bill said sarcastically. He dialed the radio to Appaloosa’s frequency. “Val, we’re coming to get you in the Long Flight,” he radioed. “You’re what? You sure you can fly it? Why not get the Dunamobile?” “It would take too long in the rover,” Bill responded. “I think I can do it. I was a pilot once, long ago before KSC forced us to specialize. Then I had a bad experience, and decided to specialize in engineering. Besides, I’ve got-“ “The best pilot in the Fleet,” Martystu interrupted. Of course, Val didn’t hear him since he was still on the intercom. “I’ve got the autopilot to help me,” Bill finished. “I didn’t know you were a pilot…” “It was before your time, Val. Anyway, I’m rusty but I can do this.” “Ok, do what you think is best,” Val radioed back. "Don't break my plane." Bill fired up the jet’s engines and backed away from Midlands Base for her takeoff run. After trundling along the sand, the plane leaped into the thin air with some help from the JATOs and rapidly gained altitude and speed. “Nicely done, Bill,” Martystu said, “I’ll take over from here.” The kerbal grabbed the control stick and immediately yanked it to the left. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING! Let go of the controls,” Bill yelled. “Relax, Bill, I got this.” “No you don’t! Let go of the controls before we crash!” “Terrain, pull up. Terrain, pull up,” the autopilot calmly toned. Martystu froze with panic. Bill frantically looked for a control panel above and behind him, and flipped a switch. The newcomer’s control set immediately stopped accepting his input. Martystu watched in horror as the ground rushed up to meet them. Bill hit the auto-correct button and yanked the stick to the right. With the autopilot helping, he righted the plane and pulled up, narrowly missing the ground. Eventually the Long Flight pointed towards the Appaloosa. A tense ten-minutes later, they were just a few kilometers away when Bill began their descent. He had visions of slamming the plane into the desert floor at high speed, but fortunately, he set the Long Flight down, landing hard on the gear and bouncing into the air a few times before settling onto the ground for good. Even with the engines on full reverse, it took a full two kilometers to slow down. Finally though, Long Flight bled off speed and slowly turned around to taxi back to the Appaloosa. Bill’s hands shook uncontrollably the whole way. “You c-could’ve g-gotten us k-killed,” he stuttered angrily. Martystu sat in silence, dumbfounded. “Nice landing, Bill,” Val radioed. “You’re a natural.” “I d-d-d-do N-NOT want to d-d-do that again,” Bill responded. “Hey, you did fine! Any landing you can walk away from…” “Um, I’m-I’m j-just going to leave the f-flying to you, Val.” "You did good," Valentina said. “Besides, think of it as practice for when you fly the Dres lander. Don’t worry about it, I’ll fly us back.” --- “I don’t understand,” Martystu said to himself for the umpteenth time, frustrated about being confined to the Pigpen’s loft. “I’m the best pilot there is. Why, when I traveled into the mirror universe, the controls were all reversed but I still figured them out easily. What’s wrong with me?” Suddenly, all the screens in the loft experienced a runtime error. A monolith appeared out of nowhere, scaring the mulch out of Martystu. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Martystu,” the monolith answered. “You are as you should be.”

"Gene!" - Wolverine Kerman

Part 16: Not Jeb Yet “It’s been three days, Bill,” Val said. “He’s gone. Taken by The Krakens for who knows what reason. We have to face that and move on. We all knew the risks.” “I refuse to believe that,” Bill said flatly. “Bill, even if he was on Duna- which I highly doubt- his air would’ve run out two days ago. He’s dead.” “YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” Bill took a deep breath to calm himself. “He’s my best friend, Val, I can’t believe he’s gone!” “You have to let him go, Bill, we all do. We have to move on and complete the mission-“ Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the Ponderosa airlock door. “It’s Jeb! He’s back!” Bill cheered triumphantly as he bolted from his chair, slid down the ladder and raced for the airlock. He wasted no time cycling the outer and inner doors. Then his jaw dropped, crestfallen. “Er, hello,” the kerbal said, taking off his helmet. “Oh! Hi old friend! I seem to be lost, but I found your base and landed here. At least I think I did, I can’t find my plane.” “WHO ARE YOU,” Bill demanded, “And what did you do with Jeb?!” The kerbal shook his head in disbelief. “It’s me, Bill, don’t you recognize me? I’m Martystu[*].” “Who?” “Martystu? Don’t you recognize me?” “Buddy, I don’t know you,” Bill shot back. Martystu gave Bill a puzzled look. “I guess when I rammed that monolith with the Kenlistar Awesum to free you and Jeb, it must’ve given you amnesia. We’ll get you into the lab and I’ll fix you right up, old friend. But seriously, it's me! I’m Martystu, the best pilot, engineer, and scientist in the Fleet. Where’s Jeb? If you got out, then he and his doppelgangers obviously did, because I’m just that good.” “Actually I was hoping you could tell me,” Bill said angrily. “What are you talking about, Bill? You were there. In the monolith!” “What’s going on here, and who are you,” Val said as she made her way through the crew tube. “Oh my dearest Valentine, how I’ve missed you,” Martystu practically sang. “Absence truly makes the heart grow fonder.” The icy stare from Valentina could put out the sun. Martystu turned a few shades whiter. “Where. Is. Jeb,” Bill repeated, gritting his teeth. “What’s this about a monolith?” “Uh, right,” Martystu finally said, regaining his composure. “There was an incident. The Kappaverse Jeb and the Kerbfleet Jeb simultaneously ran into their respective universe’s monoliths. That caused a chain reaction that in turn pulled Jebediahs from all over the multiverse and into The Continuum, trapped by that insidious multidimensional monolithic monster. I was across the solar system at the time, so naturally I was spared from being kidnapped. “When the supersensitive sensor suite on the Kenlistar Awesum- my telepathically bonded ship, if you don't remember- detected the heist, I engaged the hyperloop engines and bloking device, and zipped back home. That monolithic monster was no match for my ship and my unmatched piloting skills, let me tell you! When I rammed it, it clearly broke apart, freeing all the Jebs back to their respective universes. It freed you too, Bill, don’t you remember? “I must’ve blacked out from the impact, because when I came to, I found myself standing near your base. I’m so glad to have my friends welcoming me home, even if you all have amnesia- which I can correct, by the way. The first twenty rounds are on me! Even better- I’ll have Martystu Enterprises rent us a five-star hotel as soon as we retrieve the Kenlistar Awesum and hyperloop home. As soon as I clear up your amnesia, I'll activate my Iron Marty armor and perform an aerial search for the Kenlistar Awesum.” Valentina and Bill gave each other incredulous looks. Val shoved a thumb in Martystu’s direction, not taking her eyes off her teammate. “Is this guy for real?” [*] The author wishes to thank Kuzzter allowing me the use of his character’s characters who participated (after a fashion) in the Plan Kappa/Kerbfleet crossover. Be sure to check out Plan Kappa, Duna, Ore Bust, Eve: Order Zero, and Jool: A Kerbfleet Odyssey.

Ok, I need more info to help. Do you have the logs? You cannot inflate the module in the VAB/SPH, only out in the field. The fact that you can't see the option out in the field suggests there's a problem somewhere with the install. How did you install the mod? It sounds like the Remote Tech config for the Terrain is off. I don't know anything about RT, so it'll take a bit to sort out. Yay, glad you figured out the problem. I have an update in the works. You can play with a pre-release config by downloading from here. I should have the official release in the next couple of days.

If you can't inflate them in the VAB/SPH, that is by design.

Annnd it seems Kenzie knows about Kerbfleet now as well! Total side note: Are there pictures of the Kenlistar Awesum anywhere?

Fusion engine + 4 FLM-14400 tanks of LH2. No launch window needed... just sayin.

I should hurry up and create the MOLE's radial rocket engines. That and add 2.5m interstage adapters... Pretty cool to see how airline flights work!

I appreciate you pointing that out, thanks. I think I corrected the issue in MOLE's Titan tank series, which are set to succeed the existing FLM series. My plan is to retire the FLM series (except the 3.75m tanks) and separate out the 1.25m and .625m tanks as separate downloads. Then overhaul the hex trusses and try to improve performance. I think there are just too many polygons to render, and the mesh colliders make things worse. That has to wait though, I'm on hiatus until 1.1 is released.

That me ght have to do with colliders. I haven't figured out why they spontaneously go boom. Try attaching them to the ground, see if that helps.

Wild Blue Industries could probably make a go of that 20.5% average kerbal stock seeing as they appear to be prime contractor for the colony tech. Still wouldn't be enough though, heh. Then again, they might be doing the noble thing and selling products at cost. Wouldn't put it past them. They should have WBI's sales team suggest a look at DSEV tech. Their fusion engine can help ignore launch windows with the right amount of fuel...

Loving the plot developments. The initial scene with the conspirators reminded me of the X-COM funding screen.

Cool beans. I'll poke around and see what I find. Thanks again, looking forward to giving the mod a try.

I was about to update Pathfinder's support for USI-LS, and this information is pretty helpful. Thanks for posting it.

would Kenlie mind if I borrowed Martystu for a bit?

Fun read! And I just had a wicked thought author approval pending... "It's been three days, Bill," Val said. "He's gone. Even if he was on Duna, which I highly doubt, his air would've run out by now." "He's my best friend, Val, I can't believe he's gone!" "You have to let him go, Bill-" Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the Ponderosa airlock door. "Jeb! He's back," Bill screamed, jumping to his feet. He wasted no time cycling the airlock. Then his jaw dropped, crestfallen. "Er hello," the kerbal said, taking off his helmet. "I seem to be lost, but I found your base and landed here. At least I think I did, I can't find my dear plane." "Who are you," Bill demanded, "and where is Jeb!" "Last I knew, Jeb was trapped in a monolith. My name is Martystu."

I should also add cups and a jug of "hydrazine." OOO, better yet, I'll put a still lab equipment in the Doc science lab IVA!

ROFL! First time I played with the FungEye, I did the exact same thing. The Release button comes from KIS. I think the latest KIS lets me disable that Release button. Not sure why you're not able to see the pictures. Only thing I can think of is Tariser and CactEye might not be compatible, but I'm not sure.

Glad it's working for you. It is a work in progress, but it's getting there...

Thanks for taking a look. Sounds like the trusses are causing problem. That narrows it down, thank you. Also, nice looking ship!

Part 14 Even with an army of translators on Kerbin helping her, it still took Surina several days to translate the writings. The translations flowed like branches in a tree, with the petroglyphs serving as the roots. Some branches led to dead ends while others joined with other branches. Eventually though, KSC uploaded a translator program into her kPad, along with several translated samples. “Guys, check this out,” Surina said during lunch. We’ve got some translations!” The team gathered around the lunch table. Surina fell silent for several seconds, reading. “Just give us the highlights,” Val suggested. “Oh, uh, okay... According to this, a group calling themselves the Ancients-“ “An elven go-gang? Cool!” “Shhh, quiet, Jeb,” Val scolded. “Anyway, the Ancients were a powerful race of beings,” Surina continued, “that created The Face. Uh, nothing here about who the Ancients were, but this says The Face is powered by geothermal energy. That explains the glowing controls you guys found. Sorry, this is pretty disjointed, I'll try to piece things together. There isn’t enough here to describe what The Face is for, but I recognize this section, so we can find out if we go back inside.” “OOOO,” Bill said, “let’s go!” “After lunch and a nap,” Val said. “I don’t know about you but I’m feeling a food coma coming on.” Bill just huffed, and then focused his attention on Surina, waiting for her to continue. “Ok, so, the Ancients built The Face, but they also fought with ‘the progenitors of chaos’ according to this.” “The Kraken,” Jeb said. “‘The Progenitors of Chaos’ comes straight from Old Scripture.” Bob’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “Y-you mean, they’re real?” Surina nodded. “Yup, it says here the Ancients fought The Kraken throughout the solar system, with most of the battlegrounds on Kerbin, the Mun, Minmus, and around Jool. They beat The Kraken- well mostly. This translation says The Kraken aren’t dead, just… dormant...” “Lunchtime’s over,” Val said, perking up immediately. “We need to know why The Face was built. Let’s head back out.” “Um, yeah, I think I’ll sit this one out,” Bob said. “I uh, well you know, somebody needs to mind the store.” Val looked at Bob, then at Jeb, and just shrugged. “Suit yourself. Anybody who wants to know more, meet at the Ponderosa airlock in ten minutes.” --- “It’s a doomsday weapon,” Surina said. “We know from the translations that the Ancients fought the Kraken to a standstill, and that the Kraken are now dormant.” “And the Ancients aren’t the same as the Creators, right?” “Right, Val,” Surina responded.” The All Mighty Squad created the universe according to this, but the Ancients came in afterwards. Their power is limited compared to Squad’s but it’s still vast compared to us. Anyway, the Ancients knocked down the Kraken into their dormant state, but weren’t able to kill them outright, so they built their doomsday weapon.” “Which is what,” Val asked. Surina read more of the glyphs before answering. “According to this, the Kraken can manipulate time. If they sense that they’re about to be defeated, they just reset the local space-time and possibly change it in their favor. Say for instance in one iteration, we never developed in-situ resource utilization technology, or we didn’t have to worry about communications ranges. But how do you defeat an enemy that can manipulate time? “I don’t know, drop them into a black hole?” “Exactly, Gerbles,” Surina answered. Gerbles looked surprised. “Time passes more slowly relative to the rest of the universe the closer you get to a black hole. So an hour to you next to the black hole could be fifty years to us much further away. But inside a black hole, time is meaningless. Trapped in or near a black hole, the Kraken’s ability to manipulate time would be neutralized relative to the outside universe. “Apparently, out past Plock there are millions of devices waiting to go off like a shaped charge, and generate some kind of implosion pulse that will turn Kerbol into a black hole. And I believe that the increased radiation and radio interference from the sun is in preparation of converting it into a black hole.” “And since we know that the solar radiation increased when we left for Duna, we set off the doomsday weapon,” Gerbles realized. “Actually,” Surina countered, “That was just a coincidence. The energy buildup has been going on for quite some time, and it picked up just as we left. And it’s getting worse…” “So, we’re doomed,” Jeb concluded. Nobody said anything for several moments. “Wait,” Val wondered, “If the Ancients had the ability to crush our sun into a black hole, why didn’t they just get on with it?” “From what I’m reading, there was a faction among the Ancients that wanted to preserve and study the Kraken instead of destroy them. They tried two things to counter the implosion devices. First, they tampered with the implosion devices to slow their energy buildup. That’s what this facility is for. They actually tried to completely drain their energy or short circuit them, but it didn’t work, so they went with a backup plan. Second, they- let’s see- ok, here it is. Second, they built counter-pulse devices and hid them in the asteroid belt between Duna and Jool. For some reason they didn’t activate their counter-pulse. Maybe they were discovered before they could activate it.” “Why do I get the feeling that we’re headed to Dres,” Val quipped. “Uh, yeah,” Surina confirmed. “There is another Face on Dres that controls the counter-pulse. According to this, triggering the counter-pulse will immediately trigger the implosion, though with reduced effect if triggered before being fully charged. So maybe the sun and solar system gets destroyed instead of crunched into a singularity.” “But if we do nothing, the implosion will hit us anyway, right?” “Exactly, Val,” Surina answered. “There is stuff here I can’t make sense of, but I think the implosion devices will fire automatically when Kerbol’s radiation output reaches a certain level. If we trigger the counter-pulse, then the implosion devices immediately go off at whatever energy level they have at the time of triggering.” “Great,” Val said as she sighed. “So if we do nothing, we get crunched into a black hole. If we go to Dres, and we can’t find the… Dres Face or we can’t fire the counter-pulse, we get crunched into a black hole. When in doubt, assume we get crunched into a black hole.” “Hey, if we get crunched into a black hole, at least we won’t have to file taxes,” Jeb quipped. Val just ignored him. “Bob, when is the launch window from Duna to Dres,” Val asked. “152 days, Val.” “And from Kerbin to Dres?” “312 days.” “Well what do you know,” Jeb chuckled. “We are the only ship in the quadrant.” “But once again we’ll be running out of snacks before reaching Dres, just like we did when heading to Duna,” Bob warned. “Why can’t we just enter stasis like those people in that space odyssey did that one time,” Jeb asked. “Oh, from, oh, what was it called… but yeah, they had cool stasis chambers,” Bill chimed in. Val was astonished at how Bill knew what Jeb was talking about. The advantage of knowing someone a long time, she thought to herself. “You know,” Bill thought aloud, “cryostasis might actually be possible. I guess I could... No, never mind... Wait, yes... Okay, yeah. Project Deep Freeze, it’s a fitting name… Guys, I think we actually could do it, but I need help from KSC to work things out.” “I think we better pack up and head back then,” Val said. Press Conference, Kerbal Space Center “At four pm yesterday evening,” Gene Kerman began, “the Duna One Expedition completed its investigation of Alien Artifact One, known popularly as ‘The Face,’ and boarded the Long Flight for the trip home. about two-thirds of the distance to Midlands Base, Kerbonaut Jebediah Kerman vanished without a trace.” Reporters scrambled to their feet, fumbling with their cameras to take pictures and shouting over each other in a vain attempt to ask questions. Gene simply waited until everyone quieted back down before continuing. “He is nowhere to be found aboard the Long Flight, and flight recorders and telemetry show that Jebediah appeared normal in one frame and in the next, he was simply gone. Unfortunately, Long Flight does not have the fuel to return to The Face, so Mission Commander Valentina Kerman elected to continue the flight to Midlands Base. They are expected to arrive within the next three hours. “We’ve checked the logs at Face Base for any sign of Jebediah Kerman, but there are no indications of his presence there. The small rover probe that the team left at the site has also verified that Jebediah is nowhere in the vicinity, nor is he located within The Face itself. “Surina Kerman is giving herself and the team a thorough examination, but thus far she’s found nothing out of the ordinary. No alien viruses, no unexpected doses of radiation, nothing but the expected health effects of kerbonauts taking extended excursions onto the surface of Duna. At this point, you know everything we do. I can assure you that Kerbal Space Center is doing everything we can to assist the Duna One Expedition in this unprecedented event, and we will hold another press conference as soon as we know more. I won’t be taking any questions at this time.” Gene walked away from the podium and out of the conference room while avoiding the screaming press mob. He found Wernher waiting for him in the corridor out of earshot of anyone else. “I zee you dezided to not tell zem about ze end ov ze vorld,” Wernher said. “I think Jeb’s disappearance will keep them busy for awhile,” Gene responded. “Besides, if the team can pull this off, there won’t be an end of the world. All we tell them is that the team suspects that there is a Face on Dres, and that it has answers to the origin of The Ancients. Can you make the Deep Freeze work?” Wernher nodded confidently. “Ja, Gene, ve can. Ve are vorking vith REPOSoftTech to create un freezer, und ve hav ideaz on how to stretch ze Pegasus’ vuel zupply.” “Good,” Gene responded. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

There was going to be, but I couldn't find the font on my PC. Thanks! I actually created my own model of The Face, complete with antechambers, and then textured it with writing. It was a rush job so it's not as nice as it could be and it tends to bounce on the terrain upon loading. But hey, you can actually walk inside and mess around.