czokletmuss

Well, Rozer did break his leg months ago on Duna.

Sweet parts! Thank you very much Yup, it was from good old Nautilius pack - shame it's not supported anymore. Come on, there's more to it than just Anyone Can Die... right? The Force (and Plot Sensibility) is strong with you. Oh. Am I that predictable? Are these the first symptoms of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy? Do you really expect a Shoot A Shaggy Dog ending? Will I stop using rhetoric questions? What's going on? I have to admit it's fun seeing how you speculate while knowing exactly what is going to happen in the next chapter or two Speaking of which: another sneak-peak screenshot! No release today (probably) - my Soon is getting as long as waiting for Asteroid DLC, I know. And I'm sorry for that - but don't worry, there is a little extra surprise coming soon for you

I'm aiming at the release during this weekend (I would like to release at least one chapter per week like before) but remember, no ETA; plus I have an important social gathering so to speak this Sunday so I may not have enough time to polish the text. Anyways, second sneak-peak screenshot: Nice, thank you very much

Tricked by my own story? That would be something BTW can anyone tell me whether there are any new interesting mods which appeared during my break? Anything especially worth looking at?

I've recently returned to KSP after a long break and I'm eager to test your parts in game

Being a writer of this AAR, this is all I want to say:

Yes it is Another mystery or another part of the same one? Thanks and good, it was intended to Of course it isn't :dun dun dun: Oh yes, so called "Ike station"... It will - take a look on the sneak-peak screenshot Thank you We'll see about that Interesting theory but I think it fits Space Race period more than near future of "The Grand Tour". Corrected! And to show you that I'm really back and the status of the next chapter is "work in progess", here's the sneak-peak screenshot from the chapter 62: BTW I find it interesting that nobody noticed how big "Proteus" is relative to the DSS

I'm going to sleep now so if there are any grammar errors or stuff like this please let me know but I'll be answering for your posts in 12 hours or so

CHAPTER 61 RENDEZ-VOUS: DUNA SPACE STATION *** DANREY: Undocking completed, LAMGML separated. RCS online, everything's nominal. We're good to go. JEB: Copy that. Let's run the tests. DANREY: Roger. JEB: Okay, first the navigation. Enter the coordinates and check whether you can get lock on the station. DANREY: Copy that. CAMBO: :sigh: JOHNDON: D-don't worry, doctor. It p-probably won't t-take long. CAMBO: Oh no, I'm fine with this. More than a year in deep space with all systems in a hibernation mode? Dan can spend as much time on checking these systems as he wants. JOHNDON: I agree. It's a p-pity that we couldn't have check all of t-them before. DANREY: We did. It's just not everything can be checked with LAMGML connected to “Proteusâ€Â. Okay Jeb, I have the coordinates in the computer – nav system is locked on the Duna Space Station. JEB: Yeah, I see. That's great news. Alright Dan, now before we are going to proceed please check the external camera. DANREY: Copy that. JOHNDON: Jeb, d-do you really think that the station may have b-been damaged? JEB: I don't know. Why? JOHNDON: T-that's why we're checking the camera, isn't it? JEB: No. Well... yes. Maybe. Anyhow you may need it for manual docking if the autodoc system stops working. CAMBO: Speculation about the station is pointless. We're going to be there in the next few hours – than we will know the truth. DANREY: External camera operational. JEB: Say again? I'm not getting it. DANREY: You mean the video feed? JEB: Yes, all I see is – no, wait. I have it now. DANREY: Problems with data transfer? JEB: Probably. Okay, we'll take a closer look at this later. Now, the next thing is... pressure vaults. DANREY: Copy that. Be patient guys, it won't take long. CAMBO: No problem. JOHNDON: T-take your t-time, Dan. DANREY: Sure thing. And don't worry – we'll arrive there today. *** DANREY: Cambo? Hey, wake up doc – we're getting close. CAMBO: Hmm? What? DANREY: We're about to cancel relative velocity to the station so expect some G. JOHNDON: I still d-don't understand how can you just t-take a nap like this when we're about to rendez-vous, Cambo. CAMBO: Being well-rested improves your concentration. Besides, he's the pilot – we don't have anything to do before we arrive there. DANREY: Braking burn in five, expected acceleration 8 meters per second. Three. Two. One. Ignition. JOHNDON: Uh! CAMBO: Just breathe deeply! DANREY: Dammit! Four, three, two, engines cut-off. Relative velocity zero point 1, checking the orbit... JOHNDON: :gasps: CAMBO: Just calm down and breathe, it's over. We should – why are you laughing? JOHNDON: We've b-been too long out here, didn't we? :gasps: Even after few seconds it really hurts. CAMBO: It? JOHNDON: Gravity. Are even g-going to survive the landing on Kerbin? CAMBO: Johnny, listen- DANREY: We're here. We're definitely nearby the station. But... JOHNDON: B-but what? DANREY: It's not responding and I'm trying to establish a connection on every KASA frequency. CAMBO: Does it mean there's nobody there? DANREY: I don't know. Maybe the comms system was damaged? CAMBO: Aren't there backup systems which should work even if the main one is broken? DANREY: They are. But I'm not getting anything... it's just a dead silence. CAMBO: … JOHNDON: … DANREY: Uh, sorry. Poor choice of words. Johnny, could you please take care of the external camera while I'm trying to connect with the station? JOHNDON: Sure. CAMBO: I don't like it. We should be getting something, right? Was there any coronal mass ejection which could damage the station? DANREY: Well, hypothetically- JOHNDON: Ex-cam online. CAMBO: It looks... different. DANREY: There was at least one cargo mission sent here, remember? They wanted to expand the station. JOHNDON: I think they d-did expand it. Can we get a little closer? DANREY: Yes, give me a minute. CAMBO: Assuming the comms system is broken and solar panels are still working what could be the cause of this? JOHNDON: We'll find out soon, d-doc. CAMBO: Sorry, I'm just thinking loudly. But still... why is it damaged? JOHNDON: A lot of things can go wrong in d-deep space. CAMBO: I'm not talking about the cause of this, I'm talking about how could it stay that way. JOHNDON: You m-mean the secondary comms system? CAMBO: No. I mean why it wasn't repaired? DANREY: Johnny. JOHNDON: I'm on it, let me just – wow. DANREY: Could you elaborate? Or better give it on the main screen so that we all can – oh damn. CAMBO: So they did expand the station after all. DANREY: Frak me, it's twice as big as it used to be! JOHNDON: These are new solar p-panels, designed to maximize the energy output as f-far from the Sun as to Dres orbit. CAMBO: Why we didn't get them? JOHNDON: Considering p-power consumption of “Proteusâ€Â? We could run a coffee machine or two with them near Jool and the f-fusion cores generate enough energy to light up the entire city. CAMBO: What about LAMGML? DANREY: Too big and too heavy – could you zoom in on these modules? JOHNDON: Sure. JOHNDON: The one on the left is a small crew habitation m-module with additional monopropellant tank, I think. The other one on the right is a service module – you can see the nickel-hydrogen b-battery with solar arrays and I think there's a control m-moment gyroscope placed on the top of it. Probably b-backup life support system too – see these four solar panels on the service module? DANREY: Emergency power system. Yeah, so I think they didn't have problem with this – it seems like the station has all the juice it needs. CAMBO: So what now? Can we even dock? DANREY: Standard common berthing mechanism should still work and I don't see any punctures in the hull so there should be no problems with pressure. But if it won't to work we're going for an EVA, so suit up – I'm sending a report to “Proteusâ€Â. JOHNDON: And? DANREY: And when we're done we dock. DANREY: Depress completed, connection secured. Are you ready? CAMBO: Yes. JOHNDON: Could we just open the h-hatch please? DANREY: Okay, opening the hatch. :air hissing: DANREY: We've got pressure. Doc? CAMBO: I'm reading 1013.25 hPa – standard sea level atmospheric pressure. Breathable, the oxium level – wait, something's not right. JOHNDON: They are reprocessing oxium using electrolysis like we do, maybe the generator- CAMBO: Oxium is fine, it's the CO2. JOHNDON: Too much? Carbon dioxide scrubbers could've- CAMBO: Too low – I can barely detect it, only traces of it in the atmosphere. DANREY: So what does it mean? Doc? The ECLSS took care of it, right? No big deal. CAMBO: It means nobody has been breathing here for a long time. But that's not everything – I'm not getting methane or hydrogen sulphide either. JOHNDON: Hydrogen sulhpide? CAMBO: Anaerobic metabolism of the microorganisms originating from the gastrointestinal tract normally produces such gases during the second stage of the post-mortem decomposition of the cadav- DANREY: Good Kod, doc – what the hell are you talking about?! CAMBO: Nobody has been breathing here for a long time but I also can't detect the presence of any bodies, which leads to question – where is the crew? DANREY: What bodies? We didn't even enter the fraking station, all we have are these readings for Kod's sake! CAMBO: I assure you we won't find anyone here. JOHNDON: M-maybe we should check the station first instead of arguing? DANREY: He's right. Let's split up and get to work – I'll go to the command module and try to get some data from the station. You check the power system. JOHNDON: Copy that. CAMBO: And what about me? DANREY: Search for the crew. Or any signs of their activity – go. CAMBO: :sighs: *** CAMBO: I've searched everything – no sign of the crew. DANREY: There must be something, doc, they were here. The new modules didn't assemble themselves, right? It's not such a big station after all, so I suggest you take a look again. It'll be easier with the lights on, Johndon is working on it. CAMBO: I said I've searched every- :sighs: What about you? Any progress? DANREY: Well, there are good news and... strange news. CAMBO: Strange? DANREY: I don't know how to put it but it appears that there is literally nothing in the database from before a certain date. Nothing, zero, nada, zip – no data. I thought it was just a memory corruption problem but then I checked the date and guess what: the data was erased on the same day the distress signal has been transmitted. CAMBO: What? But is it even possible to erase all data like this? DANREY: Not really erase, I didn't find anything which would indicate anyone's intentional action. It' just like... it evaporated. And I don't mean only reports from the base or things like this – no, I'm talking about all the data acquired during station assembly, fabric data, whatever was gathered and stored during the journey from Kerbin orbit to Duna. It simply is no there. And not, it's not possible as far as I know. CAMBO: Hmm. Coronal mass ejection after all? DANREY: Perhaps – what else could it be? But all the systems are working nominally so far, on the backup power system I mean. I just don't get it. We should probably take a closer look at the hardware to- JOHNDON: Hey! Can you hear me? DANREY: Loud and clear – did you get the main power system to work yet? JOHNDON: Yes, I think so. Come to the hab m-module. DANREY: Let's go, Cambo. *** DANREY: And? JOHNDON: Just give me a m-minute. DANREY: I thought you said it's done. CAMBO: Beautiful. DANREY: Huh? CAMBO: Duna. The Red Planet. DANREY: I appreciate your sensibility doc, but it's really not- :power converter whirring: CAMBO: Oh! JOHNDON: We've got p-power back! DANREY: Fantastic! Good work Johnny! I'm going to the command module, maybe I'll get the comms system to work too. JOHNDON: Roger that. Shall I contact with J-Jeb? DANREY: I'll tell him when I check the communication. JOHNDON: Okay, we'll – what are you doing? CAMBO: Can you hear this? It's ECLSS running on 100% again. No contamination in the atmosphere, no mold or bacteria detected – actually the atmosphere here is more pure than the one on “Proteusâ€Â. So I say we're safe to – uh! :air hissing: Take the helmets off. Hmm. JOHNDON: What is it!? CAMBO: The smell. It smells... unused, sterile. Like a cleanroom. Perhaps... perhaps nobody was here in the first place. JOHNDON: Imppossible – what about the new modules? CAMBO: That's what puzzling me to. There must be someone up here, in orbit – yet there are no signs of the crew. They couldn't leave using cargo ship, they didn't stay here either, so assuming KSC didn't send a rescue mission for them... where are they? JOHNDON: You think... you think they are still- DANREY: I've got readings! CAMBO: The missing data? DANREY: No, the current readings from the sensors – they are all working! JOHNDON: Really? All of them? DANREY: And there's more – remember this good news I told you about Cambo? CAMBO: Yes? DANREY: According to the data from the life support system the supplies for the station are intact. Guys, we're talking here about food and water and oxium for several months at least! JOHNDON: That's amazing! DANREY: I know right? And it's not only this rehydratable crap we have left on “Proteus, we are talking thermostabilized and irradiated meat, bread, rice, nuts and – oh my Kod, they have a canned beef here! CAMBO: Canned beef!? DANREY: And cookies! And condiments, even pepper and mustard! JOHNDON: What about coffee? Do we have coffee?! I m-mean the real one! DANREY: I don't know, we need to – frak me, frozen vegetables! And fruits! JOHNDON: No way! DANREY: Holy crap! When was the last time you ate a real vegetable, pal? Two years? CAMBO: We do have fresh vegetables on “Proteusâ€Â. DANREY: With all due respect Cambo, your little greenhouse project is nothing compared to this. Plus I hate carrots. CAMBO: They have all the nutrients and vitamins you need. And you said repeatedly before the mission they they are your favorite vegetable. DANREY: They were before the mission. I have to contact with Jeb right now, we need to – where the frak is your helmet?! *** DANREY: Okay Jeb, we're ready – we may begin the approach. JEB: Copy that but take it slow and easy, it's going to be nothing like LAMGML. DANREY: Roger. Err... Jeb? JEB: What? DANREY: Are you sure you don't want to- JEB: I am. JOHNDON: We d-did get the communication to work again. DANREY: Yeah, we did quite a lot yesterday and even the data transfer shouldn't be a problem. JEB: No. DANREY: Listen Jeb, we both know that you are a better pilot so- JEB: So I should dock a space station to “Proteus†manually from here? It's much safer when you do this being connected to the station. Dan, we talked about this – you can do it. You just need a little confidence. DANREY: I don't know whether it's a good idea. Even Rozer- JEB: He isn't going anywhere from here and I'm not leaving “Proteus†with him onboard. We are going to try a safer option first. Come on, concentrate and do your job. You can do it. DANREY: :sighs: JEB: You can, Dan. DANREY: Frak it. Okay, here we go. RCS online. JEB: Slow and easy, Dan, slow and easy. CAMBO: Did you feel it? JOHNDON: It's just the h-hull vibrating – this RCS was d-designed for station-keeping, not precise maneuvers. DANREY: You aren't helping. JOHNDON: We d-did recalibrate it though. DANREY: Just please be quiet. Frak! JEB: Dan, you are off course. DANREY: I know! Correcting. JEB: Take your time, this isn't a race. Small bursts, let it move a little and correct. And be careful with yaw on this, momentum is going to be tough. DANREY: Oh crap... JEB: I see, just counter it. And relax for God's sake – you have tanks full of monopropellant. *** DANREY: Frak, not again! JEB: Just counter it and go back. :sighs: How much monopropellant do you have? JOHNDON: Twenty one percent. JEB: Twenty one? I thought it was thirty one? JOHNDON: It w-was an hour ago. JEB: Damnit. Okay Dan, change of plans. DANREY: What? JEB: Sorry but you're down to almost 20% of monopropellant and I'm sure as hell won't be able to dock “Proteus†to the station. DANREY: You mean you are going to do this manually? JEB: It seems so. Prepare the LAMGML for undocking. *** DANREY: And braking completed, relative velocity zero point one. We are ready – are you getting the video feed? JEB: Yes. Is the station ready? Ned and others are waiting in the airlock for a long time now. JOHNDON: Everything is r-ready. CAMBO: Good luck, Jeb. JEB: It's not about luck, doc. DANREY: Good Kod, you are almost there! JEB: ... JOHNDON: One m-meter. Zero point n-nine. Eight. CAMBO: Incredible. JEB: ... JOHNDON: Five. Four. Thirty centimeters! DANREY: And contact! JEB: Uh! Securing connection. CAMBO: Are you okay? JEB: We're good, we just got some momentum. This station is one fat bird, I'll tell you that. DANREY: And? Is the connection- JEB: I've got readings! You hear me? I'm getting data directly from the station! JOHNDON: Yes! CAMBO: But is the station responding? Does it react to commands from “Proteusâ€Â? JEB: I'm about to find out – lights on. JOHNDON: It's working! DANREY: Yes! The lights are on, Jeb! It looks beautiful – can you see it? Oh man, you are brilliant! JEB: Yeah. CAMBO: Magnificent work, Jeb. JEB: Thanks but we'll celebrate later. Dock as soon as you can, we've got lots of work to do. DANREY: Copy that – I can't wait for these supplies to be taken from the DSS. JEB: I'm sorry to disappoint you but you won't be the one to carry the containers. DANREY: What do you mean? JEB: Additional supplies are a very pleasant surprise but we didn't come here for them. We've come for our people, our crew and they are probably still on the surface. There is no other option – we must land on Duna. *** MISSION STATUS ***

30 minutes.

I'm not releasing unchecked chapter even if it means I'll be uploading it tomorrow, sorry. I would give you more screenshots to make waiting easier but I can't without giving you spoilers This was your comic? Awesome!

It's 10:30 PM in Poland and I still have some work to do so relax - I may even finish after midnight. But hey, quality is more important IMHO and after such a long brake I prefer to be late even a couple of hours than to release something crappy

I'm almost done, I still have to check grammar and stuff so there may be a slight delay but it's (finally!) coming. EDIT: The last sneak-peak screenshot:

I'm writing it as I type this post - well, not exactly but you catch my drift.

I was thinking tomorrow.

Just letting you know - I reserved this weekened for some decent amount of writing

After 11 months during which I used to release (more or less) one chapter every week small break was indeed very needed to catch some breath. Apologies for those who are impatiently waiting for the next chapter (rest assured, having written 60+ chapters I'm determined to finish this story) but apart from saying "sorry!" all I can do before the upcoming release is - of course - to tease you a little more:

Because, as it turns out, the threat of Russian military intervention is smaller with every passing day and the situation is slowly stabilizing (it's still bad but at least stable!), after spending the last several days reading news concerning Ukraine I would love to put it all aside for a time being and concentrate on something else for a change. T minus 48 hours Thank you all for support and kind words although I think Ukrainians needs them more right now than Poles, with Poland being NATO member and all - but we are always getting nervous when stuff like this happens near our borders and hey, after WW2 one shouldn't expect anything else.

Thank you. I hope the tension will finally cease to rise sometime this week.

Probably but I'm thankful to the mods that they didn't delete it - it's a real thing, not some ranting about this or that political party.

3500 Russian troops landed to have unexpected excercise in Kaliningrad Oblat near Polish border! Source: http://www.fakt.pl/rosyjskie-cwiczenia-w-obwodzie-kaliningradzkim,artykuly,447645,1.html

Nobody knows what they really are planning to do and that's what makes this whole situation so much more intense. Crimea issue is very complicated. Thanks man. But it ain't that bad so far - there are rumors about military movements in Poland (KTO Rosomak spotted in several places on the road)but we're probably not going to do anything without NATO. And good, because if even a single Polish soldier is attacked, than NATO is attacked and if NATO is attacked, the nukes are being armed in Russia and USA. But considering that we lost 20% of population (6mln people) in WWII and after the West decided that Central Europe is not worth dying for (Yalta Conference) our whole country has been moved 400 km on the map. Almost everyone has someone in the family killed or injured by the Soviets or their puppets during Cold War and since Russia was our greatest enemy since 17th century every single Pole understands the gravity of the situation. You can think about our governments attitude like this of Isreal minus the nukes - we won't let it happen again: Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140302-700628.html So yeah, $50bln more for the military in the next few years. And we have a decent army with experience from Iraq and Afghanistan, ranked quite high by GFP - actually higher than this of Spain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Mexico or like 80 other countries. And we even have more tanks than Germany right now... Besides, for the first times in years leaders of all the parties support PM Tusk in 100% in respect to what's going on and even the leader of the opposition who for 5 years ignored every meeting or invitation from the president showed up there yesterday. So we are really serious about all this. Okay, something to light up the mood becaue I'm getting more nervous:

Thank you, we may all need some luck soon... http://youtu.be/vBtZMAgCE_Q EDIT: And Polish army moving to the East (probably - I hope it's just some mistake and the video was taken near German border during some training): http://youtu.be/z4uubVAZXwU **** me.

By the way, these photos were taken today in front of Russian embassy in Warsaw in case you are interested.

Sorry for the delay although you should know that I'm not intending to make this break between chapters longer than 3 weeks. I wanted to write a little during the weekend but with Russia invading our neighbour and NATO armies possibly being deployed on Polish soil in the next week I can't really concentrate on the story right now.