Alpha 360

57th Installment: "Kerbals! We are Home!" Rondal appeared again the next day. Obberty woke up from his unconsciousness. Unharmed luckily. I had my head wrapped cruelly tight to stop the bleeding. "I mean, I had worse injuries before I was fine with much less medication." I protested. Roni wouldn't listen unfortunately. Then Rondal appeared. I quickly unstrapped myself from the chair. Obberty sat up instantly. The shade held out his hands, "I'm not going to attack you this time. Just treat me like I'm here." I nodded slowly, wondering if this was a trick or not. "Um, Rondal. I'm just wondering who you got here? I mean, what did the Kraken do?" "Oh. He said that I could return to Kerbin with the rest of you. So, here I am." He made an attempt at a bow but started to spin out of control. He managed to catch himself and stop. "Sorry, still adjusting to all the space in here." He left the room, leaving myself and Obberty stunned. That was when Rondal became a permanent, if irritating and frightening, part of our crew. He didn't grow angry, and he seemed so snobbish, even to me. The worse part was that he was entering into our crew just nicely. One time Roni called out for somebody to fetch a roll of duct tape. When I arrived at the command module with my roll of duct tape, Rondal had beat me there with his. He gave a flourishing bow as he handed the duct tape to Roni. He was a shade, for goodness sake. Day by day he started to wear on us. He became busier and busier, doing jobs that me and Obberty usually would have to shoulder. It became harder and harder for me to remember that he was a shade. He now acted just like one of us. Obberty has confessed to believe that all that he spoke was true. That he was not a shade and had landed on Dres and returned to us. Assey's resolve weakens daily. Only me and Roni, ordinarily opponents, now formed a tight bond. I was first alerted to this bond when Roni asked to see me down in the sleeping quarters. It was the one place where Rondal didn't dare venture. Nobody knew why. "Okay, Roland. You know the situation. Can you help me get rid of him?" Roni confided secretly with me. "You're the expert on Kraken related demons and stuff. You tell me what to do and I'll do it." "Okay. Now, get some garlic and we will drive him away." I nodded knowingly. "No! I was kidding. We have to something much more, serious." I looked confused, and she explained, "Garlic is used successfully to drive vampires away." "Vampires exist?" "That's beside the point!" Roni answered exasperated. "We will have to use our guides to defeat him." "Wait. Our shades can defeat him?" "Yes. Shade Warfare has been used dozens of times in the past by different armies. The only problem is that mass destruction usually occurs." "Okay, so we have to wait until he can trap him in a barren part of Kerbin, then spring it on him and get out of place quickly." "I need to elaborate. Shade Warfare has been tested and used only once. That one time was the Gregmine incident." "That's a radio-active zone. United States of Kerbin dropped a nuke there to end the global war." "Yes. Shade Warfare is much more commonly known as, nukes." "Its illegal to use nukes anymore. We'll all get the death penalty if we kill someone using a nuke." "If we don't do it, then Rondal will be placed in a position of power and potentially rule over the face of the planet." I hook my head, "How does one go from celebrated kerbonaut to world leader." "Rondal is smart. Very smart. He can do it." "Alright. Lets wait until we enter Kerbin's SOI. Then we can make some more decisions." I replied. Roni sighed. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry. We can do something about him. We can do it." "I wish I had your optimism. But, we do have a chance." She smiled a weary smile. I left the module for the engineering booth. Our maneuver to get back to Kerbin was happening the next day. You can imagine my surprise when Assey announced the next day that Rondal was going to complete the maneuver node. But I kept silent. I wanted Rondal to believe that I was on his side. Roni did protest a little, but gave in. He started the engine and the fuel tanks started to go down. "Detaching outer fuel tanks." "And there they go." We waited for the final word. "And engine shut-down." Rondal announced. "What's our intercept?" "65 kilometers above Kerbin, our approximate speed will be 4,500 m/s." "How much m/s do we have?" I asked. "2,300 m/s. In other words, we did it!" The module erupted with happiness. We did it. We were on our way back home and we would make it. Even though everything was a disaster, we were going to make it back home. Even Roni was exuberate. Everything was going to be alright. Our intercept with Kerbin was going to happen in 100 days. I also looked at the Kerbal Transfer window poster and discovered something interesting. "Roni, come over here." "What is it?" "There will be a Duna Kerbin Window 75 days after our arrival back at Kerbin." "Which means that we will head Interplanetary again soon!" The next 90 days passed rapidly. We all were pining for home, even Rondal and Roni. Me and Roni started to meet more and more often. I didn't want to become too close, for even though it had been over a year, I still felt love for Elibert. Anyway, I shall skip this part of my journey. Even though I find interest in it, some people might be tired of the length of this narrative. I was the first to spot Kerbin. I saw that blue marble in the sky, and was struck by a wave of homesickness. It had been ages since I felt gravity. "Kerbin Sighted!" I cried out for the crew. Everyone rushed to the windows. Indeed, there it was. "Yippee!" Obberty cried out and started to do back-flips. Roni slapped me on the back, "Good for you." "Thanks." Two days later we slipped into Kerbin's SOI. "We'll be at Periapsis in 3 hours." Rondal announced. We all went to our stations. Everyone was silent. This was where we needed to be on full alert. If one thing got out of hand, then we would never see Kerbin again. "Firing engine! The Dres Endeavor has started the de-acceleration burn." Even though he was a shade, he had a good announcing voice. The engine shook the Endeavor from engine to habitation section. "Sorry for the bumpy ride, everyone." Rondal apologized. Kerbin loomed huge below us. We were returning home. "Half-way through the maneuver!" he cried. I punched the air. We a minute away from orbit. "10 seconds until engine cut-off!" "Engine shut-off!" "Kerbals! We are home!" I cried after his final announcement.

So glad to see this chugging along. Is there much new progress? Happy Explosions!

I find that space stations useful staging points. For example, if you can have a station which you can reach, and the launch out to Dres without a massive inclination change. That is just one example. One of those for a constant fueling post for supply missions to Minmus can help a great deal. But other than that, I can't see stations as being extremely useful. They're really fun to construct, but in the current version of the game, you can easily go through the tech tree without building a single space station, but building them is apart of experiencing KSP. Happy Explosions!

56th Installment: Rondal's Shade We left the SOI of Dres a day after Assey's speech. Eight days later we encountered Rondal's shade. I spotted him first. I saw a kerbal in the command pod, looking at the controls in wonder. "Hey there, Obberty. It looks like you haven't seen the controls in a while." I floated up next to him. He turned his face towards me. His eyes were bloodshot, his face haggard. "You don't look too good, come on." I turned towards the hatch. Obberty floated there, staring at the kerbal. The kerbal disappeared into thin air, leaving us wondering who he was. Assey saw him next. She was in the lab, talking to Bob's ghost when Bob stopped talking and looked quizzically behind her. Assey turned around and saw another kerbal there. "Obberty. I have told you not to disturb me when I'm talking to Bob." The kerbal smiled lopsidedly, and then disappeared. We all heard Assey's scream. Later that day we all met in the conference module. Roni was the only kerbal not to have seen him, but she knew what we talked about. "Its Rondal's Shade. I told you that he would come to collect his debt." I asked a question, "Just a moment. I want to get somethings straight. 1. Do all Kerbals turn into ghosts? 2. If not, which kerbals turn into ghosts 3. Are all ghosts of kerbals the same?" Roni looked sideways at me, but started to answer, "No. Not all kerbals turn into ghosts. Only Kerbonauts are sent to Eve, or where the Kraken places kerbals who offends him. Kerbals who die without leaving the atmosphere go into a place where time doesn't exist, or anything for that matter." "All Kerbals that are sent to Eve are split into two, a shade and a form. The form is the shell of the kerbal they used to be, a body without a mind. A shade is a mind without a body. Kerbals can only be rescued from Eve if the shade attaches itself to a being, or a body and a mind combined, and then can be transferred to the form and rejuvenate. A shade attached to a being is called a guide, So far, all of us except me have a guide which can then be transferred to their form on Eve." "As all kerbals are different, all shades are different. Shades come as tricksters, revengers, mentors, and finally companions. The Original Four are separated into these categories. Jeb is a trickster, Bill is a revenger, Bob is a mentor and Valentina a companion." Roni shuddered when she mentioned Bill. I felt like she let slip something she didn't want to say. And it revealed much. Apparently Bill wasn't a mentor as she previously claimed. He meant to avenge his death on her. But something happened, Roni changed. "What type of shade do you think Rondal is?" Assey asked. "I haven't met him yet, but he is not a companion nor a mentor. And these tricks he has been player are very sinister, which leads me to venture that Rondal is a revenger." "What do we do against a revenger?" Assey asked. Roni put a hand to her forehead and winced. "Roni, you're starting to not look good." Indeed, Roni's head started to gain a hue of red. "I'm fine." she waved our commented away. "So, what do we do against a revenger?" Assey insisted. I felt that Assey's panic grew by the second. "You change. Not physically, or even mentally, but emotionally. You give in and learn a hard lesson which will make you a better kerbal, if a tormented one." "What did Bill make you learn?" Assey drove the point home. Roni's cheeks grew flushed. "The same lesson that you are about to learn." "Wait. Rondal's shade appeared to all of us. Even Bob's shade saw him. This shade lacks no fear of discovery, in fact it wants discovery. Why?" "Maybe to teach us all a lesson." Obberty said, frightened. "But both you and Roni voted against not picking him up. You wanted him alive." I protested. I felt like this shade was different. Much different. "I mean, we made him a hero, if a dead one. I would imagine that he might want us to see him bask in the glory." Then a thought occurred to me. "Wait. What if he intends to pretend to be a kerbal. Like if he survived along with us. Maybe he wants to have Kerbin give him the honor he deserves." But that version of Rondal didn't match up with the Rondal I saw. "Maybe. Being a shade can twist the most well meaning kerbals." Roni answered. Another shudder racked her frame. "Hello Kerbals." We all jerked. Rondal's shade had appeared in the middle of the container. He looked completely physical. "Rondal." Assey gasped. "Ah, yes. Assey Kerman. Now you aren't the only Kerbal to make a worlds-first." "Okay. You have landed on Dres successfully. The first kerbal ever to set foot on another planetary body." Assey fought visibly to maintain composure. "Yes. Yes I did. And I returned from Dres and am coming with you to return back to Kerbin." He smiled a sickly smile. "But....." Assey hesitated. Rondal floated over towards her, moving without any means of propulsion. "But....." Assey gulped. Rondal grabbed her by the throat. We all startled. Obberty flung himself at the shade. The shade let go of Assey, and then hit Obberty over the head. Obberty smashed into the floor, unconscious. "Obb!" cried Assey. The first time somebody used his ridiculous nickname for himself. "Be quiet. You will repeat this after me." The shade smiled his sickly smile once more. "I landed on Dres successfully, and alone. I then returned to the Endeavor and am presently on-board for the return trip to Kerbin." Assey stuttered, "You landed on Dres successfully and alone. You then returned to the Endeavor and are presently on-board for the return trip to Kerbin." "He's a shade!" Roni cried out. "Rondal. You are not here! You are on Eve!" She yelled at him. "No. The Kraken has decided to give me once more a physical body. I am here. I am here. I am here." He repeated. "You can't be. You're a shade." "Do not repeat that word!" he yelled. Rondal floated over to me, glaring. I readied myself. When he came into range I punched him. My fist went right through him. I drew it out. His hand groped for my throat. I tried to knock the hand away, but once again my hand passed through him. I then kicked on the wall behind me and passed straight through him to the other side. He turned around, his pupils on fire. "Stop it!" Roni screamed. The shade now turned to her. I kicked back. I flew back through the shade and through the other side. Then he hit me over the skull. I hit the floor and rebounded into the ceiling, my head bleeding. I stopped myself on the far wall from the monster. "Rondal. Please stop hurting my crew. Please." Assey begged. Rondal relented, and with a final glare at me and Roni, disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Lets get you two into the medic bay." Roni said to me and the unconscious Obberty.

I went into Duna orbit before using TAC life-support. I didn't land but I orbited both Duna and Ike, as well as dipping into the upper atmosphere. In fact, the transfer vehicle I used was fully reusable as well. It was in a science mode save, so it took some effort to get there. Happy Explosions!

55th Installment: Death Claims all Heroes I looked down upon Dres. All four of us watched as Dres sped towards us. We were only going to be a day inside Dres' SOI. A pity that such a long expected project would fail so. There it was. A slight engine burn to change out orbit out of Dres. I wondered how were going to get home, the original plan being to stay around Dres until a Dres - Kerbin window opened. We were going to be stuck in an elliptical orbit. The engine shut off as we started to near our periapsis. We only had about 10 seconds in Low Space around Dres. Enough to try out a couple of experiments for Assey to process after we left Dres. And it was done. We were beyond Dres' Periapsis with our science hastily collected. Assey called us all into the main conference room. We all floated, awaiting Assey's statement. "Let's hold a minute of silence for Rondal. And his sacrifice to further our goals." "Hear hear." I replied. The others nodded. We stayed silent that minute. That long minute. I thought of the figure I saw inside the Explorer. Full of hope and happiness. Ambitious, searching eagerly for glory. My eyes grew wet. I wiped a hand across them. I killed that kerbal. I killed him. Stop beating yourself up, Roland. Stop it. You made the decision that was most clear to you. I should have played a bit less of a active part in that decision. No. I learned a valuable lesson. My ideology is not the only one, or even the best one. My thought conversation with Valentina broke off as Assey started a speech. Nobody knew she wrote a speech. Surprising. "I speak on behalf of our comrade, our fellow kerbonaut Rondal who is preparing to give his life to our cause." She stopped. "I know you and Obberty resent my decision to not rendezvous with the Explorer. I resent it myself. But, I do not regret it. If KASA loses anyone of us, let alone all of us, it will be a tremendous loss to our cause. Yes, the KSC has been short on money, sending its last coppers with us. This way, we can repay our debts and then become a driving force for moving kerbalkind throughout the stars!" Roni spoke up, "No. We all have debts to the dead. We will have a debt to pay to the dead. A life for a life. Misery for misery. You can't stop the cycle of life with strong words and initiative. In the end, death claims all heroes." ***Rondal's Perspective*** After a quick boost at the Apoapsis, I could target my landing site. I decided to try for the Dres Highlands. My supplies were out now. I couldn't do anything about it. My suit now had 2 hours of oxygen and liquids. The food was gone. I smacked my lips, feeling the pain of hunger and thirst. I fired up the engines of the lander. The Explorer only had about 300 m/s left. Not enough by 200 m/s. I waited until the engines ran out. They ran out with a crackle. The electronics turned red. I was about to crash. I gritted my teeth and scrambled for the airlock. I made it there. I yanked the door open, and was blown out into the darkness. I tried to get my orientation correctly to fire the RCS Thrusters on my jetback. It was final now. I was going to die. I was going to die in glory. I knew that much. I fired up the RCS thrusters, hoping I could land safely. "Kraken. You already have claimed my life. But please, let me land safely on this piece of dust. Then you can have me." I stated. I could feel that the Kraken understood. I now was just above the surface. I breathed in deeply as I ran out of fuel. I dropped onto the surface of Dres. "Ouch." I mumbled. I stood up and looked around me. Blackness everywhere. The Milky Way the only light in the sky. The stars looked down on me as I set up a flag on that forsaken soil. "Here I stand. The first kerbal to land on another planet. Doomed to die. Poor Variety, I love. Mother and Father, I love you. Commander Assey, you might have ordered me down here, but I respect you. Rondal Kerman Y2 D240 since launch of KASA. Farewell World." This is traced into the dust. Never to change, never to wake. It would stay there when Kerbals would return to Dres in the future. I sighed. My oxygen was almost out now. The question now was how would I die? Would I open the hatch of my helmet and die in the vacuum which killed me, or would I survive until my last oxygen reserves are out. I cried. I'm not afraid to say I cried over my thoughts of death. I had been left to die on an alien planet millions upon millions of kilometers away from home. I guess that death claims all heroes in the end, as it claimed me. Death in a heroic stand against nature, against the bad guys was honorable. I believed I was dying an honorable death, down on Dres. I breathed my final breath as I collapsed into the soil. I decided to stay alive as long as possible.. "Milky Way Galaxy, you're beautiful." I muttered. "Suit deactivating. Deep-freezing unit activating. Next unfreeze will be in 4.6 years when the next Dres Window arrives." I wondered what happened when a needle injected itself into me and I fell limp. I went unconscious, maybe never to wake again.

When going interplanetary, plan out at least the delta-v margins. I failed with this criteria and lost a valuable pilot in the process............ Just a warning Happy Explosions!

Its okay. If you want to start out with that water planet, go over and message @Gameslinx. He runs a discord which helps coders like you. I am in the process of making my own planet pack presently, and if you want, we can work together on that water planet. Could be useful.

I am using USI Life-support. I have used TAC Life-support, Snacks, Kerbalism, and the one above. My favorite of these has been TAC Life-support because of the challenge. Its not as hard as one might think to go Interplanetary using TAC. Its even easier with USI, because I just went interplanetary without nuclear engines 1. and without proper recycling 2. I still haven't upgraded the R&D Center to level 3. I have gone interplanetary using TAC, but nukes are necessary for that. Just my pick.

A great recovery mod is called FMRS. Short for Flight Manager For Reusable Stages. Look it up and be impressed.

54th Installment: Dres *Rondal's Perspective* Life is good. Life is great! I am going to arrive to Dres' SOI 2 whole days before the main mission. Before Endeavor. It has been quite cramped in the two modules I had. Only about the space of a small bedroom. But, they had books downloaded into the ship's main computer. A couple hundred of them. I was advised to read a book a day, to keep myself busy. I succeeded by this time to read all of the novels, most of the books on physics and half of the books on other sciences. I must say my knowledge has grown quite exponentially. When I come back to Kerbin, I won't just be a knuckle-head who landed on Dres, I would be a smart knuckle-head who landed on Dres and comes back to Kerbin better than when he left! Well, I might have put on a couple of kilograms of weight, but who cares? I can work off the extra when I get back. I can just barely see Dres with my naked eye. I did bring binoculars, so I used them. With them, I actually did see the planet Dres itself! Unbelievable. There it is. A speck of rock flying at astronomical speeds through the cosmos. It looks so small. In reality, its a 9th of the size of Kerbin and over a hundred of them could fit inside. From this photo, you'll think that its a rather dull place. But, it is full of craters, ridges, mountains, and a massive canyon called the Great Canyon. Its huge! Kilometers in length while being about 200 meters across. Its spectacular! To think I just might see it. My nerves are tingling! Ah, the maneuver node from the Endeavor has come in. Lets see it! Oh. Um. That's a hefty insertion burn. I wonder what's it for? Oh wait, here's a message. I read this in shock. I was to die. It was a simple as that. I could never return to Kerbin in shame. Never. I took a deep breath. I needed to be sane to land successfully. My brain pounded. I wasn't going to see my family again. I wasn't going to see Variety again. I wasn't going to see any of my friends again. The shock hit me sideways. The commander of the mission, the first kerbal to set foot on another world, had condemned me to die. To further the goals of Kerbalkind. To be another body on the alter of KASA. I would be respected. I would be forever mourned. The first kerbal to willing give his life to the space agency. I would be dead. My practical side of my mind told me. Nobody cares for you once you're dead. But I would die on Dres. I would be the first, and only kerbal, to set foot on another planet. Dying for that seemed to be dying because of sickness or disease. I died on another planet, because I could. That statement would place me in the fall of fame forever. Two mind-blowing days later and I entered Dres' SOI. It was relativity small, only about 34,000,000 kilometers across. Quite small actually. Anyway. I looked out upon Dres. The periapsis would be reached in the next two hours. I climbed down into the airlock and put on a suit. I was going to see the place where I would die. First hand. I could just barely see it. But I did. Emotions rocked my brain. Fear, Despair, Anger, all assaulted me. "Hello Dres. I have come to die on your surface. I will conquer and then be defeated." I muttered. I was going to die down there in a non-descript crater all alone in the universe. Sounded like a piece of cake. I sighed. All of my bravado was to distract me from my unstoppable doom. I was a piece for the Makers to play with, and they had decided to sacrifice me. I reentered the Explorer and waited for the insertion burn to take place. Soon it was upon me. Traveling at nearly 5,000 m/s meant that distances were traversed much more quickly than usual. Much more rapidly. I started the burn 20 seconds too late. A bit of a bummer which meant that the burn wouldn't be as efficient as it could be, and every drop of fuel was precious. The transfer stage now was depleted and detached. I fired up the four terrier engines that would bring me down to Dres' Surface. Hopefully. The engines kept on firing, lowering my orbital velocity. Then the Explorer was past the periapsis and still firing. As the Explorer finally chugged into orbit, I watched the first sunset in over 200 days. And it was my last sunset in this universe. Happy Explosions!

53rd Installment – The Story of Mr. Kerman – The Life of One / The Lives of Many “All Kerbonauts. Repeat All Kerbonauts. There is a serious problem, I repeat a serious problem!” We rushed into the conference hitchhiker storage container. “What’s the problem?” I asked, worriedly. “When we fly by Dres, we will be going 2,000 m/s faster than necessary. We don’t have an extra 2,000 m/s. This mission has now officially been named a fly-by mission. We will not attempt landing, orbit, or even and intersection with Gilly. We’re going too damn fast.” Assey hit the wall hard with her fist. We were stunned. All this effort to get to Dres, and the maneuver node was incorrect. Roni stared blankly into the floor. She probably was revisiting the scenario in which she had done the maneuver wrong and threated the entire Minmus Lander Mission. She had been tasked to fly the Endeavor to Dres. “Slow down, Assey.” I said, “We probably will be able to make an interception with Gilly, even if it would be for a couple of minutes. That would be enough to snatch up some science reports and give us a bit more to think about when we return home.” “That’s the blasted thing. The lander being sent from Kerbin to Dres, it has a very limited life-support with a crew member on-board. Rondal Kerman. A newbie who shouldn’t be on his way to Dres. We are ordered to rendezvous with him on the way to the fly-by. “But, we don’t have enough supplies for 5 kerbals. We will suffocate before we return to Kerbin.” I banged on the wall myself. It felt better than just floating around. “That is why I am coming forth with a new proposition.” Assey breathed deeply, “We will go through with this fly-by, but we will not rendezvous with the Explorer.” “I resent this remark! You are consciously leaving that kerbonaut to die in the depts of space. That’s despicable!” “I agree with Roni. You have no right to decide the life or death of a kerbonaut. No right.” Obberty pronounced. Everyone looked to me. I had the deciding vote. The captain verus the crew. Ranks do not cross. Royalty stays on top. Superiors first. My entire world view flashed before my eyes. The life of one. The life of many. “Roland. Tell us what’s your side.” Roni glared at me. I breathed in deeply. Roland. Why would you abandon that poor kerbonaut to die. Why? To save the lives of the four of us. To keep us alive so that we can survive with the science bounty from Dres. That’s why. We serve a greater cause than the life of one. I thought. I preferred this method of communicating with her. Much less embarrassing. Please. My heart stopped cold. Time dilated from my point of view. I saw the Explorer flying through space. I could see the kerbal at the controls of the it. His stupid smile covered his face. “I can’t wait to see the faces of my friends when I say that I’m the youngest kerbonaut to ever go outside Kerbin’s SOI. They’ll be like, ‘You’re the best! Rondal! The best!’” He laughed. His countenance took on a dreamy look, “I hope she waits for me. She should. I’m going to be a world famous kerbonaut when I return to Kerbin. Variety will wait for me.” This is who you are going to kill. He breathed into the window and made a little heart in it with his finger. This is who you are going to kill. An innocent Kerbal. Never done no wrong. Never killed, never fought, never had hatred. You're trading his life to the Kraken to save your own skin. You forget what I have to do. I have to revenge my fathers. I have to keep watch on-board this vessel. I am a king. Suddenly I was back inside the conference hitchhiker storage container. “What’s your decision?” “I.” Please don’t I swallowed deeply. I felt the emotions filling me up, but I stomped them down. “I. I am on the side of.” My voice dropped to a whisper, “The captain.” No. Why are you doing this!? The life of many over the life of one. It’s the law of life. Collective verus the Individual. Collective takes precedence. I just couldn’t take the strain anymore. I had just condemned a fellow kerbonaut to die. In favor of my life. I was disgusted with myself, but my decision had been made. I couldn’t change it. I couldn’t change me. I was unchangeable. Even with Valentina trying to get me on the right path. The Kraken had done too much damage. I blinked away stray tears, and then hurried down into the sleeping quarters. I crawled into a sleeping-bag. I was breathing more heavily than ever. The picture of the poor kerbonaut loomed in front of my face. Happy, expecting that life would be good to him. Too bad. Too bad. “I am a king. I am a king. I have done what a king should do. Sacrifice one for the lives of many. That is the way of kings. Oh, Maker help me.” I felt like my mind was being removed from my body. My body. I couldn’t move it now. What in the world happened. I tried to move something, anything. Nothing worked. I was completely immobilized. I tried to cry out, but I couldn’t. My eyes were stuck, staring into the ceiling. Oh Makers, help me now, I thought. Roni stormed down into the sleeping chamber. Notice me, I thought. I hoped. She looked around, and then saw me in the sleeping bag. Motionless. “Assey! Roland just had a stroke! He broke under pressure. Come on! We need to give him medical attention.” Assey stumbled down. She stared at my body, and then proceeded to unzip me from the bag. They pushed me into the multi-purpose room. I still couldn’t move. It took 10 days for my treatment to finally work. Roni Kerman was exhausted by that point and took the next 2 days off while Obberty flew the spacecraft. We had left Kerbin's SOI by then. We needed to create a maneuver to get into Dres' Low Space, which was about below 25 kilometers from the surface. Our rendezvous date with Dres was set 250 days from then. But I could never enjoy it. I made the choice, and now a kerbonaut would have to pay with his life. Unfortunately, the Life of One can never be greater than the Lives of Many. Happy Explosions

Here is another planet I have come up with. This is Planet Ekypt. Don't ask me where I got this name. I dream strange dreams....... Anyway, this is before I have worked on it using Gimp 2. Will also be programing it some time in the near future. This should be my first original planet. Happy Explosions!

52nd Installment - The Story of Mr. Kerman - A Confrontation I watched as Kerbin spun away below me. The ball of blue floated there in the blackness as we left it behind. Ollusionia was invisible by this time, dissolving into the blue of the planet. I sighed. "I'm coming back, Ollusionia." I whispered. "Mr. Kerman." I whirled around in surprise. Roni floated there, having exited the hatch from the command pod. "Yes, Miss Roni." I held on the wall to prevent me from flipping over as I made a zero-gravity adapted bow. "You really have to give us some answers. We're going to be on this vessel for the next 2 years." "Why are you confronting me presently?" "Because this inflatable habitat is on the way down to the sleeping quarters. Its been 3 hours since the departure burn." "Then continue down there. You look like you need you're sleep." I lied. She looked perfectly healthy. "I know I don't. I can see myself in the reflection of the window." She floated closer, "I need you to give me a name to call you by. Assey is tolerate, Obbertty complainant, but I am otherwise." I rummaged through my brain for a name to give her, "Roland. Call me that presently." "Alright, Roland. That is a posh name that sounds just like you. But, I would never accept that as your true name. You're too secretive." "Yes, I am." "Can you give me a simple reason why you are, beyond the fact you are hunted down on Kerbin. We are not on Kerbin. We are on the way to Dres, if I have to remind you." "I made a vow." I sighed. "Why? There has to be reasons behind vows." An internal voice inside me called out for me to at least give her a shred of knowledge about myself. Probably the new part of myself which I just recently absorbed. I pressed it down. But Roni spoke first, "You say that you are royalty. Well, there are no royalty left on Kerbin except in Hugoland, which all the royalty is well known and are celebrities. So, you are either descended from them, some result of a scandal. Or the other alternative is that you are the remains of a royal family massacred like they massacred their people." "We did no such thing." I spat out. I didn't spit for the fact that we were in zero-g and any liquid floating around was a harm to the electronics. "We. So you were once a part of a family. But you obviously don't mean the Hugolanders, so that means that that family is dead. Now, there were about 7 royal families throughout Kerbin who got what they deserved. Which one are you from?" "I am disgusted with your view of royalty. We are people who raise above the muck of average lives and lead countries out of misery and debt. That is our job." "I never saw a single one of your kind preform rightly. Including you." Outrageous. I swore underneath my breath. Roni continued to plow me under, "I lived under oppression. An orphan, out on the streets. I am here only because of my wits. Nothing else. Not money or power or a bloodline to throw around. That's how you are here. You have had an easy life. "Is that how it is. So its easy never to have a family and be cast out from them into the arms of the world than to be held on by your family until their dying breath, and be rejected by the world in the face of that tragedy? That's what it is now. You might think you're up here because of your wits, to stay from being a beggar. Well I'm only here because of my wits to stay alive. I have survived bullet wounds, betrayals, monthly. I have lived with the guilt of ruining multiple people's lives because they helped me out of a tight spot. Now, good-bye!" I glared at her and grabbed onto the ladder, threw myself up into the command pod. Obberty and Assey both hurriedly returned to their work. I kept going through the command pod and into a cupola on the side of the spacecraft. I shut the hatch and locked myself in. That wasn't nice of you. Don't throw your past around to get yourself out of painful situations. You know Roni has had terrible experiences in the past concerning those in power. And how do you know about the purity of the royal family. Royalty is well-known for corruption. "Shut up, Valentina. We were put in our place by the Makers themselves. They created the idea of kings and royalty. We were their first creations. We were beloved." Roland, as I will call you now, you are being unreasonable. You know the things you did, do you think that all of them were orders from the Makers? Us ghosts have tempers as well. Bill has complained that he has lost his temper with Roni at least a half-a-dozen times, and now I have lost mine with you. Jebediah and Bob really have an easy time. They were always the favored ones. "Val. I just want to be clear on this. Don't question royalty again. I know I can't do anything to you, but if you question my bloodline again I wish I could harm you in some way." Roland. Be more open-minded. That's all I have to say. Her voice left my mind, and once more I was single-minded. The stars looked back down upon me. Out there. Observing everything I had done. They would observe everything that I would do. Internal words inside me begged me to renew my promise. I closed my eyes as I renewed my vow. "I will see you, Kyleigh Kerman. Murderer of my Father. I will find you, I will hunt you down once I return to Kerbin. Then, once you are dead, I will reclaim my rightful name." I used his middle name, or his original name before he stole mine. I would never call him by the name he stole from me. I breathed in deeply, then opened the hatch. Assey had left for the science lab. Obberty monitored the instruments casually. "Hey Obberty." I said. I was now composed. Impassive once more. "Yo, Ro." He sucked coffee out of a bag. I glared at him for an instant, then moved on to the engineering chair. "When are leaving Kerbin's SOI?" "In about 2 1/2 days. I still can't believe that we're on our way out of our world." He smirked at his own joke, or more likely Jebediah's joke. "Funny." I murmured. I found stash of coffee and took one of the bags out. I then inserted it into a heater, noted the time from my watch and start to wait the first of 10 minutes until the coffee was ready. Obberty gazed off through a window just in-front of his face instead of the instruments. "Man, the stars are pretty. I wish I spent more attention in astronomy class." he commented. I stayed silent. Another minute passed. "I don't understand what has happened to me as of now. Jebediah is just an overpowering influence." He orate I snorted. Jebediah was a pretty bad influence to have, in my standards. Too personal. "I mean. I used to regard Assey as a beautiful friend kerbonaut or whatever. Now I'm seeing her in every reflection, and even now I am charting her face in the stars. And failing pretty badly." Obberty certainly had changed. Mayhap not for the better. "I mean. Why didn't you tell us that your name was Roland in the first place, and not mess with all this Mr. Kerman stuff. You certainly awed most of us with your elegance, but still. Well, it's nice to finally know you." He hit me on the shoulder, pushing me into the wall. "Don't do that again." I warned. "Opps, sorry." I shrugged as I pulled my coffee bag out of the heater. The heater was an odd piece of equipment. It was similar to a toaster. Sideways. With at least 6 racks. It did work well, though. The bags that we drank out of were just like Kool-Aided bags. Not that I ever used one before, but I had watched other kerbals use them. These were industrial grade, looking like someone had covered one of the Kool-Aided bags with duct-tape, covered that layer with another layer of duct tape, and then inserted a grey straw into the bag. Also covered with duct tape. Duct tape apparently was the favored industrial material. I sucked gingerly at it, then the hot coffee shot into my mouth. I winced as the hot liquid scalded my mouth. "Yes. I usually put the coffee in for about 5 minutes, though ten is supposedly the standard." I nodded. It took a couple more minutes until I took the next sip. I cast my mind back a couple of minutes. "Wait. You're in love with the commander?" I asked, horrified. "Yes. Deeply so." He gave a deep, heart-felt sigh. "Uh. Superior officers are above personal. You know. Ranks don't cross." He huffed, "You only think that because that's how you're brought up. Royalty and snobs like them." That was a quick turn. Jebediah was definitely a bad influence on him. "Its not personal. Okay. Stating fact." I replied. He returned his gaze to the console in front of him, full of buttons and lights. "Alright. Why do you bother about me, then?" "Because. I need some friends here. Roni is out to get my identity. That can never happen." "But, didn't you say that your name is Roland?" "I'm lying when I say that. I won't tell any one my real name until.....Until I fulfill my vow." He nodded, "Alright. I'll be your friend." Now that I thought of it, those were ominous words issuing from his mouth. Happy Explosions!

I am glad to start this thread out with a project which will come to fruition in a little while. Yes, yet another planet pack. But, still such a thing is an accomplishment of dozens of hours of work, if not more. I want to share my progress so far. Here is the basic map of the planet Pick as of now I know. Looks very messy, but still for a newbie like myself, quite an accomplishment. This is supposedly a planet topography map, with black being the lowlands and white being the mountains and the higher the place, the lighter the color. I would love to have some insight into the dynamics of planet building. So far, I have had some help from @Gameslinx, thanks to him, and I believe I have the adequate programs as seen in the spoiler below. Talking about Discord, I am starting a new one for this topic. If anyone wants to jump in, thank you. Here's the link https://discord.gg/8D6JVuj, Thanks for looking into this topic. Please bring your newbie, in-progress planet packs to see how others are faring. Happy Explosions!

51st Installment: An Engine to the Stars Here is the lander on the first of many 3.75 meter rockets. Actually, it uses a 3.75 meter engine stolen borrowed from a contract which required us to test in solar orbit. Not that that would ever happen, but that we would be able to use it. This rocket costs about 260,000 funds, which means that it drains the rest of our moneys. Looks like everything counts on this Dres Mission. Take-off is smooth, the giant quad engine in the middle producing more thrust than a mammoth. How the rocket is constructed is around a 2.5 meter spine of fuel tanks with three extra fuel tanks strapped to the sides. On those fuel tanks are a couple of mainsails, giving this rocket a total of 8,750 kilonetwons of thrust. Plus extra disposable solid rocket boosters. The core stage is running low on fuel. I have shut down the mainsails as the quad has a better ISP. Anyway, the entire contraption gets into space The first stage is then detached and the second stage fires up and gets the lander into orbit. Something I haven't mentioned is that a new kerbonaut, Rondal Kerman, is on-board because we don't trust the probe core. Looks like we might have an interesting situation when we reach Dres.... Since that is in orbit, it's time to get the timeframe corrected. I time warped about 300 days which means that the Dres Window is here. Over at the Dres Endeavor, a maneuver node is created. The Endeavor has only a 0.25 TWR, so there will be two burns to leave Kerbin's SOI. The first burn will exhaust two of the four outer fueltanks while the second burn will exhaust the two remaining fuel tanks. This might seem alarming but everything checks out. And, along with it all, I'm sending a dummy refueling tank too. Hopefully everything will work out with that......Hopefully. This is Endeavor's last sunrise. All the Kerbals watch as Kerbin spins below, highlighted by the sun. Their time has come. They will be leaving the shore and taking off to new horizons with an engine to the stars. Roni pushes the engine to full throttle just on time. The Vesta Engine fires up and the orbit starts to shift. The acceleration is gentle, but noticeable by the vibrating of the entire structure. After 4 minutes of having the engine on, the two outer boosters separate. A bit uncleanly. (I separated them one at a time because I didn't want to fail because I didn't check my staging) The Endeavor is now departing LKO. The Apoapsis is up beyond Minmus. Everything is as planned. They take one departing photo to send down to Kerbin. Their last. The Dres Lander now has its own maneuver to complete. Rondal at the controls fires the engine and the Dres Lander takes-off. He has renamed the lander, the Explorer. The Explorer's maneuver is also 4 minutes, but it sets it on an intercept to Dres. The outer ring of fueltanks detach, on their way to interplanetary space. There is loads of delta-v in this rocket, meaning that the lander will be fine. The Endeavor will be less fine. Well, you have to pay for going interplanetary early in the tech tree. I'm going to leave you all with this photo of the insignificance of the lander in comparison to Kerbin. Beautiful Happy Explosions!

So, I followed the instructions for the first minutes of the video originally in this post. I have created my own "planet" height map using the MS Paint. But, how do I do the coding part? Do I copy and paste a planet's code into MS Note, fiddle around, change the link for the height map and then fiddle around some more? That is what it seems like in your videos. Thanks for the help though, @Gameslinx. This has really widened my horizons. Happy Explosions

Could you hand a link to one of these videos? I'm working on a little side project to keep my mind busy.

Could you show me a bit more how to make a planet. Its a fantastic speed-run, but I would like a little bit more information on how to build a planet. I need to work on code and building a planet sounds like a nice challenge for me. Happy Explosions!

Wow, looks like somebody beat me to interplanetary space. That is fast progression if I say so myself. Happy Explosions!

Surprisingly, @Pipcard, I did what you did. Imgur just wouldn't keep my pictures. It was a painful business, so that's why I switched over to imageshack.

I like it better because imgur started to bug out on me. I don't know exactly what happened, but every third picture I would shove into it would be deleted. So all my albums there were just three long. I asked around about a site similar to imgur and imageshack came up. I'm on the 30 day free trial currently. I'm not against recycling my pictures, in fact I have to do it once a week to get rid of all of the junk screenshots I won't use again. Thank you, @Pipcard. This is my first attempt at a modular spacecraft, well a modular spacecraft that consisted of more than two parts. My only other interplanetary spacecraft was a nuclear powered reusable spacecraft. I'm afraid that save is lost, but now here I will be stepping up the game. The thing I failed to mention is that I'm sending a lander to Dres along with a fuel-tank to refuel the Dres Spacecraft as much as possible. Happy Explosions!

Some of my most fun creations have been RATO SSTOs where I would put two thumpers on the wings of the plane, then fire them up to get high into the atmosphere so that the whiplashes work enough to get half of the way to orbital velocity. If you haven't built a RATO SSTO, do so. Its an unforgettable experience.

50th Installment - The Story of Mr. Kerman - "This I swear by the Stars!" Ghosts haunted the past. Giving advice and warning against threats. They saved entire civilizations from the brink of disaster. How unlucky for the royal family of Ollusionia that a ghost did not show up to them. How unlucky of them to keep their path crooked. It took revolution in its purest form to wipe the land clean from their stains. I led it all. I personally spied upon the royal court. Charted the positions of troops, of supplies. Stole papers bound for the monarchist’s signature. I did everything possible to disrupt the court and to end monarchy and replace it with the only logical successor. Communism. The purest form of government of the people. I need to instate it across the land. And then, spread the good news across the globe. Communism is the answer to an evil government. All oppressed people of the world rejoice at the coming of the red. At the new regime which promised peace and happiness for all. It didn’t take long to become the close advisor to the king. A little while after that I touched the wife with my influence. She died in childbirth because of a bit of well-placed poison. The unfortunate brat being birthed survived and would be known as a survivor. I was in my early thirties when that happened. The youngest official at court. I grieved the most, almost to the point of suspicion. But nobody reached that point. Anyone who did was eliminated. The kerb, curse him, grew up with a very capable mind. I believe he figured it out, 15 years later when the revolution started. Even before revolution had been declared, the royal family suffered tremendous loses. From what was at least 30 direct family members, they descended to 20. They were a mournful lot in that banquet hall, where 7 more would fall, not including the dozens of so-called nobles. I led it from the back. The gunmen entered the hall and held them up at gun point. They asked for money, and they received it all. I grinned inside when one of the gunmen removed the ring from a pair of royal family members, the brat’s aunt and uncle. That was when the royal guards came rushing in. A firefight erupted. The brat, young as he was, managed to gather together at least 5 of the royal family to exit to a secret exit which had not been known to me. Other family members escaped from it. But I am glad to say I killed one of them as they exited the scene. During the firefight, before the brat escaped, the gunmen threw some kerosene around and then lit a match to it. It was a most glorious spectacle. Afterwards, the gunmen were killed. The royal guards then protected the remains of the royal family who stayed behind. The next day I escaped from the castle. I watched as gas canisters flew from cannons stationed around into the court. Nobody escaped the nerve gas we unleased. I led the search party around the country side, looking for the portion of the family the brat had saved. The goal was to exterminate the entire line, from the 8-year-old daughter to the 70-year-old grandfather we knew to be in their group. It was easy. That house was the largest around. It’s a wonder why it wasn’t pulled down there and then. I entered. The royal family was in shock. At least those who were there. The brat was missing. I walked up to the ex-king. He stared down, dejected. He had just lost everything, possibly including his son. “My old king. Where is your son? Did you send him away?” I mocked. “I won’t tell you. He will survive! He will be the last of our line no matter what you do to rest of us. He knows what you have done. He will avenge us.” “Pompous words from an old fool. I will kill you and steal the name of your son. It no longer belongs to your line.” I raised the gun. I fired. I laughed. I hit. **************************** There, out in the darkness A fugitive running. Fallen from Grace Fallen from Grace God be my witness I shivered as I listened to the song Vujaun sang the song in his despair. I had spent the last couple of minutes listening to Les Miserables over the hum of the Vesta. It never ceased to fascinate me. I never shall yield Until we come face to face Until we come face to face He knows the way in the dark But mine is the way of the Lord And those who follow the path of the righteous, Shall have their reward And if they fall as Lucifer fell The flame, the sword! "I know you're out there. I'll find you. I'll find you." I murmured to myself. I gazed out of a window upon the starry clouds above. The stunning stars stared at me, searching my soul. These crystals had watched me all these years. Only the stars knew me. And Him. Stars, In your multitudes Scarce to be counted Filling the Darkness With order and Light You are the Sentinels! Silent and Sure Keeping watch in the Night Keeping watch in the Night You know your place in the sky You hold your course and your aim And each in your season, returns and returns And is always the same I couldn’t hear the silencing of the engine. Our course now determined upon this engine to the stars. To the never ending, never changing stars. Dres, a star in the sky. I looked for it half-heartedly but I didn’t see its grey light. A treasure trove of science waited to be gathered from it, and I was on the team to do it. And if you fall as Lucifer fell You fall, in flame As it has been, so it’s written On the doorway to paradise That those who falter and those who fall Must pay the price Lord, let me find him That I may see him “Dead where he killed my father.” I inserted into the song. I could feel the tears coming into my eyes as I remembered looking from the closet. The black, oiled gun. The moans of wounded men. The smell of blood. He unsanctified the home where they cared for the remains of the royal family. Just 13 of us were left. But that was an unlucky number, and that called him there. Father’s last words were, “He will be the last of our line no matter what you do to rest of us. He knows what you have done. He will avenge us.” The puff of smoke, the shocking bang, the screams. The laughter. I had lied before about how my Father was killed in an accident. I often lied to myself the same lie. But Father was killed intentionally. And his murderer laughed. The killer still roamed free in the communist regime which set itself up over the afore peaceful kingdom. The song continued. I mouthed the words, repeating them over with new meaning. I will never rest Till then, this I swear This I swear by the Stars! My entire shivered, then I broke down into half tears. This wasn’t normal, but it felt good to finally release the pent-up emotion in me. I felt free. I looked out the window again. Kerbin hung in it like an ornamental jewel. Evil things had been done there, and many more evil things would happen. But, there were also happy things. Eli, KASA, Obberty, fool that he is, and Ollusionia. It was lucky to have it facing my departure from Kerbin. I traced the desert region over with my finger. Home. “I’m coming back. You might think you’ve seen the last of me, but you haven’t yet. I will return to reclaim the crown of my father’s and to reclaim my name which you stole from me. This I swear by the Stars!”

Oh shoot. I don't know what's the problem @obney kerman. Imageshack should work better than Imgur, but I don't know. Have you been trying everything you can? I might have to switch back to imgur in that case. Sorry that this had to happen to you