ZootinZack

Salut àtous ! Un Montréalais qui se rajoute aux troupes

Second chapter of the Phantom Debris Initiative story. It got pretty insane up there. You can read chapter 1 here ! ======================= FIRST KERMAN IN THE MUN ======================= Bill carefully took a whiff of his flight suit. The smell was reminiscent of the time he had spent up there, on the Mun, years ago, but it also had a strong touch of... something else. "Jeb! he shouted. What the heck did you do to my suit?" Jeb turned around with an inquisitive look on his face, already in full attire - except the helmet. He seemed to try to remember something, and then burst out laughing. "Oh well, he exclaimed, now THAT's a funny story. You remember that time I took the new guys 'up for a little test drive' of the Icarus rocket and got them up to 100 kilometers, spinning super fast, and then one of the guys couldn't stop screaming his face off, and when he came back we realized he had a little uh, 'accident'? Well..." "Aw man..." Bill put a leg up his suit, with extreme precaution. "I didn't know you'd be putting it back on, Jeb justified. You should learn to have more fun in life." "If having more fun is making recruits pee in other people's flight suits, I'll pass." "It wasn't pee." They stepped outside. Hundreds of cameras were rolling under the scorching heat of Kerbol, as all of Kerbin watched their heroes walking purposefully towards the revamped Poseidon IV shuttle, attempting what no Kerman had attempted before: a controlled, precise landing on the Mun surface to bring back one of their own. Melman and Duncott, who had stepped out on the surface of the Mun to never come back, were assumed lost - no communication had been received from them, and their spacesuits could only hold oxygen for a few days at most. Their emergency remote EVA - which could be controlled from the capsule, and were implemented in case a Kerbonaut lost consciousness - were unresponsive. Of course in the official reports, only Tomson had gone to the Mun. "This is fishy, Bob had said at the time. And Bill, Jeb's craziness has clearly rubbed on you. No way I'm restepping in that nightmare factory." So Bill and Jeb, after not so much deliberation, had been the ones chosen for this extremely delicate mission. On paper, their mission was simple: retrieve Tomson Kerman, escape the Mun orbit, and return to Kerbin. Unofficially, they were also to report on the mysterious phantom debris that were orbiting the sub-surface's satellite. Tomson had been communicating his findings on a daily basis. It seemed the number of PDs had been reduced to only two according to his readings. He seemed to get more unstable by the day, grumbling incoherences and often passing the time by banging his head against his helmet. The "thud, thud" sound of it had soon became a sinister staple in the command control room: he was holding it together, but not for much longer. The Center's psychologist was attributing both Tomson's present behaviour and the missing Kerbonauts' to "stress-related brain trauma", and training of new recruits had been adjusted to include seemingly impossible scenarios... such as encountering objects orbiting inside the Mun. Jeb was of the opinion that "their minds just broke, it happens you know." Since the debris was moving inside the Mun quite independently from the surface, they had a very small window of time to make the trip, get Tomson, get all the info they could get their hands on about the PDs, and jet back to Kerbin. The good news was the debris' orbit had finally brought it under sunlight; it was actually going to stay there for a while, facilitating its study. Jeb strapped himself in the pod with an elated smile on his face, and watched as Bill did the same, a little more begrudgingly. He patted his shoulderpad. "Come on man, this is going to be SWEET!" Jeb said. "That's how you call an absolutely dreadful flight with a borderline sociopath to a small lump of rock thousands of klicks away?" "Lighten up, Jeb scoffed. You could be in the monitoring room, sitting next to our half-brain dead friend here. Hi Bob!" "Screw you, Jeb, I hope you crash!" Bob said in a light-hearted tone. "I love you too!" "Good luck you crazy bastards." Bill had to admit, for all his reserve, that his blood hadn't pumped in his veins in this fashion for a long time. Even Bob, who, as Jeb gently stated, had been rather extinguished since they came back from the Mun - immediately requesting a transfer to another branch of the Space Program - , was showing hints of excitement towards the mission, planning courses, even devising a more precise back radar to study the debris' movement under the surface. "All systems a go, Jeb said, verifying the controls for one last time. Command?" "Command stand-by for launch in ten..." The engines started heating up, and soon roared. Around them, dust and smoke was forming and rapidly evaporating in a chaos of white flashes. The rocket lifted itself, ever so slowly at first. They were going to the Mun. All the while they were travelling to the Mun, Jeb kept Tomson occupied. "So man, what's new in your life?" "Uuuh..." "I'm telling you there are ALL SORTS of freaky girls just waiting to jump on you when we go back." "Uh, ha ha. Ok. Cool." "No, I don't think you understand. There was a SEA of sexy vixens at the launchpad, throwing us their panties and screaming 'Give this to Tomson!' It was pretty awesome." Jeb had neglected to mention that the panty throwing had been, first of all, mostly directed at him, and secondly, was the handiwork of two or three old grandmas. "So we're going to have one hell of a party when we come back. Listen, have you ever been to Kerlifornia? It's beautiful out there. The sea, the babes, there are stands where you can buy sunglasses for like 3 kerbucks, and a literal infinity of surprising drinks like the Space Kraken, do you know what that is?" "Uh, no..." "Well, see, they take this whole gallon of vodka and a big bag of Skerttles..." This went on for a few hours. The Mun was closing by. Bill piloted a textbook orbit around it and managed to get their landing point within two kilometers of Tomson's capsule. (Writer's note: hey, it's the best I can do for now) "Control, we got visual on Tomson. Can you see?" Bob's distant voice cracked through the speakers. "Affirmative, we got visual. All eyes on you, guys." "Tomson, you ready to rejoin the world of the living?" "Preparing for EVA as we speak. I'm going out." All in all, it had been a month since Tomson had first landed on the Mun. He was hopping the surface happilly. Everyone could hear him hum an enthusiastic, albeit wildly musically incorrect, rendition of "Fly Me to the Mun". And right after what sounded like the second chorus, it stopped abruptly, followed by a loud screeching noise. Then, nothing. Bill looked frantically at all the readings. "He's gone, Tomson's gone. He was there, RIGHT THERE - Bill pointed at the screen -, a second ago. He just up and vanished." "He didn't vanish, Jeb said in an uncharacteristical, hushed voice. Sweep a back radar." "But..." "Do it!" Bill gasped, then slowly put his mouth to the microphone. "Uuuh Control, we've got a problem." Jeb looked at Bill in disbelief. "A "problem? No. Nononononono. Your wife's fat butt is a "problem". Not having clean underwear when you're about to go on a date with Kerstina Aguilera is a "problem". Dude's trapped on an orbit here. Under the surface. OF THE MUN. We are far beyond Problemland here, and fast heading to Crapstatic City." He paused, and let out a high-pitched laugh. "The kid's got me beaten! He's the first Kerman IN the Mun!" Then, regaining his composure, continued: "Bill, you got this? You have eyes on this right now?" "Yes, although they can't believe what they're seeing." "Now that's what I call a sub-orbital trajectory, am I right guys? ... No? Okay, okay. Too soon... Uuuuh can you send us readings from above?" "Okay, got it. We're going to try and retrieve him." Bill protested as Jeb pressed a few buttons, initiating the engines. "But you know what happened to those PDs when they tried to approach them!" "Yeah. They exploded and disappeared. But I'm waging it beats ramming through the surface of the Mun repeatedly. If anything we OWE him the right to explode. Plus, this is an unknown phenomenon. It might not react the same way with organic tissue." Bill pondered. Jeb was right. Considering all the unknowns, they had two choices: leave Tomson there, or try to go save him. There was no other way. "Okay, Bill said, suppose we could do it, what do we do next?" "Check it out. You remember those new emergency remote-controlled EVA suits they brought out, a few years after our trip?" "Yes, Bob had fainted on the surface, and you had to go and bring him back before he used up all his oxygen." "Snoring, might I add. So yeah. We'll have to gain access to his command pod..." "Because that's where the only remote control for the suit is." That was a precaution, ironically, that had been necessary due to Jeb's intempestive misuse of this very entertaining function to send various recruits flying off in random paths. "Then, Jeb continued, we'll have to get near his position. You'll be in the pod, controlling Tomson's jetpack, and I'll get as near to him as I can to guide you. Now go." Bill put on his EVA suit, and stepped outside. "Should take me about a minute to get there," Bob said, activating his jetpack. Jetting was a tricky business in general, and the uneven surface of the Mun made it all the more treacherous. The, shall we say, "experimenting" nature of the average Kerman made the whole thing downright dangerous, but Bill, except from a brief period in college, had never really been the experimenting type. After their successful Mun landing, an inordinate amount of the time had been spent analyzing and re-analyzing their various personalities, to try and recreate the feeling of the "Three Munketeers", as they had been called in the press. Jeb had been the fire, of course, and Bob the earth. Bill was the water, flowing through obstacles, never putting himself in an unsafe zone, always leaving a door open. Of course to Jeb, this was beyond infuriating. "Bob, trajectory please?" Jeb said. "There is... There is no trajectory," Bob replied. Jeb interjected: "I didn't say a 'safe' trajectory, Bob. I said 'a trajectory'." "Okay well... Uuuh... There you go, 32 degrees north, 5 degrees west, and keep it at about a 43 degrees inclination, and also..." Jeb pushed the lever to the top. The engines roared. "...Don't go full throttle!" Bill completed. "Bill, you're there? I've got Tomson in about one minute here... and if you're right, and if he's going to smash back on the surface, we got one shot at this." Silence. "I'm in, Bill grunted. Got the emergency remote... Right there." "Okay let's roll." Jeb caught a glitter of light, as if it came from the surface of the Mun itself. Kerbol refraction, he thought. Off Tomson's helmet. He saw the Kerbonaut shoot out of the surface at an impossible speed. "Got it. I got visual." "So now?" Bill shouted. "No, not now." "He's only going to build up altitude!" "Yes. He will also lose speed, that'll make him easier to control. Give him momentum right now, he's gonna shoot up like a rocket." Jeb waited until Tomson shot up, now only a glimmer over the black sky. "Okay now." He could see the trail of vapor come out of the jetpack. It was working. "Okay we got him. Control, we got him. We're going to lower him down to the surface, then I'm landing this thing. Bill? Slow burn to the ground. Slow... Kill some momentum left..." Tomson violently shot sideways. "Sorry, right... Okay stop. Now straight down, 2 seconds intervals, one shot. One, two, three... There you go. He's stable. Control, he's stable. I'm taking this baby down." Jeb slow burnt to the surface, passing Tomson on the way. His limp legs were jittering with every shot of jetpack. Lifelessly, Jeb thought. Jittering lifelessly. His heart sank, as he felt the landing gear bite into Mun dust. Hard as he tried, this wasn't a game anymore; it hadn't been since Duncott and Melman had disappeared. "Go on Bill. He's at two hundred, descending. Nice and slow." Tomson's body hit the ground softly. Jeb tried a half-hearted shout out: "Tomson? You there, buddy? He's not responding, Control. Bill, I'm gonna go check it out. Look out for those debris in the meantime, it seems we created one more when we let our lower stage go." This was good news to the monitoring room back home: it meant the phenomenon was probably repeatable. But it was of little comfort to Jeb at this time. "It's over man, it's over... Jeb said, to no one in particular. Let's get you outta here now..." He scooped the lifeless form in his arms. "Aren't you gonna buy a guy a drink first?" Tomson opened his eyes slightly. They were bloodshot, his skin was pale as a skinny top model. But he was alive. "Dude, Jeb said, a tear rolling down his cheek, we are SO going to have the party of a lifetime when we come back!" Tomson got agitated. "No. No we can't go back. We can't go back. We can't." He struggled with Jeb's grasp, escaping him. Jeb tried to laugh it off. "Uh, we kinda have to, buddy." "We can't. We can't." "Okay okay okay. We're not going back. Alright? We're not. I brought a few cases of beer, we got umbrellas, we got beach balls... You know what, we're good right here. Okay?" That seemed to calm him down. "Okay," Tomson said. "But we have to get them from the pod, okay? I'm gonna need your help. Bill, you joining us?" "Uuuh sure. Gimme a minute. Checking out something here." Tomson started walking towards the capsule, mumbling to himself. "The light... We can't go back... We have to be here... We HAVE to be here..." "What the hell is going on, Jeb?" Bill's voice cracked in his headphone. "I got no idea, but I think it's going to be an interesting flight back." They boarded the capsule. By that point, Jeb was honestly considering giving Tomson a taste of his own medicine, and knocking him out for at least long enough to de-orbit the Mun, and get on with their lives. Not that he didn't know how Tomson felt. Okay, he had NO idea how Tomson felt. Being the first Kerman in the Mun was totally something else, and the kid probably deserved a break from the multiple orbits he did right to the Mun's core. But he knew the feeling of wanting to stay, wanting to see, wanting to understand. And it seemed about the Mun like there was so much more to understand than they initially thought. Was it too much? Jeb had always asked himself the question. Going for "too much" had always been his style though. That was why he had become a Kerbonaut. The hatch door opening made him jump. Bill's head popped in. He removed his helmet, his eyes glowing from a mixture of excitement and apprehension. He shot a quick nod at Tomson but, oddly, it seemed like there was more important matter at hand. He went to the screen and typed a few keys. "I uplinked a picture from Tomson's capsule. I started to go through the pictures they took from last mission, wondering if we missed something, I thought he had died, so..." He turned to Tomson. "...Sorry." He continued: "Remember how we went over those pictures again and again back at Control?" Jeb remembered vividly the countless nights spent perusing every pixel of every single of the hundreds of pictures from the PHADE mission. Both Bill and him had them committed to memory. "Well, Bill said, I found one picture that wasn't at Control." "When I saw it I just thought it was bizarre and out of order. But then I remembered what PHADE-1 told us, right before they entered the PD hot zone. That they saw something unusual..." "...By the crater, cut Tomson, rocking himself. We have to be here. By the crater." "So check it out. It's right there. Here, let me zoom in." "Holy Kerballs." Jeb whispered. Tomson was still rocking himself but, on catching sight of the picture, became suddenly very still. He pointed towards the hatch. "The light, he said. We can't go. We have to be here."

Loved the way your craft lost one little piece at a time, and it REALLY looked like you were gonna make it too at some point !... As Prodigy said, the frozen lakes are a good idea on Minmus.

I played so much that when I'm just idle at my laptop (watching a video or whanot) my left hand automatically goes in W-A-D configuration with my pinkie alternatively on the Shift or Ctrl key. Also when I watch KSP videos, I get so into it that I try to rotate view or go to map mode, then realize I'm watching a video... then feel like a dumbass.

Awesome. Where did you get the voices ?

No, that's part of a larger shot as a Kerbonaut jumped on the Mun, just as Kerbol was rising.

Aaaah tipping over is the bane of Kerbonauts everywhere. Time to mount a rescue, and congrats on your first uh, landing !

Stupidest mishap: landing on the Mun, straight up. Feeling like a king, I jetpacked around for a while, then realized I had zero fuel to get back to my capsule (the rocket was quite high), and had forgotten to put ladders. Had to activate the Dumbass Protocol and organize a rescue mission to get both the rocket and the Kerbonaut back to safety. Craziest mishap involves a failed probing mission to the Mun surface, realizing I was way too low, way too fast and initiating a reverse burn. Didn't crash, but didn't have any fuel left. Hey at least I got on orbit... Around the sun... Still no idea how I'll get these guys back home.

Pwahahaha loved the ending! Good job!

Thanks for the input! Jeb and Bill will be back for another installment, that's for sure Sorry that's the way dialogs are written in french (although I should technically use the french quotation marks «» and the em dash) ... Not sure what the proper format is in English.

This is my first KSP story (English is my second language so, sorry?), inspired by a very peculiar bug a lot of us apparently experienced. Sorry if it's been done before. ============================ PHADE: The Phantom Debris Initiative ============================ The operator checked the numbers for what seemed the thousandth time, in disbelief. Something was wrong. And it was a little more than thirteen thousand kilometers away. "Sir, he called to the chief operator. You should come and see this." The operators were in charge of monitoring the many Kerbian objects outside of Kerbin. Their task was phenomenal given the Kerbal program's signature "let's just let these empty rockets take care of themselves... in space" attitude. The large amount of debris in orbit around both Kerbit and the Mun necessitated the creation of the monitoring bureau, who tried their best to keep things from exploding, although some directors inside the KSP argued this would probably be the best way to get rid of these debris for good. The chief operator bent his large frame over the chair. "What is it now, he sighed, checking the monitor." He paused. "This can't be right, Bob. Check it again. - I... I did. I can assure you the numbers are correct, the signal is strong. - And it's ours? - I would hope it is. I can even tell you they're giving off the signal of our rocket." Sent five years ago, the Poseidon IV-X shuttle had been one of the agency's greatest success: send a team of three Kerbonauts on the Mun and back. It had been a harrowing task, had taken years of preparation, but against all odds this mission succeeded, bringing the Kerbal Space Program on the forefront of space exploration. (It did help that the KSP was the only agency actually involved in space exploration.) "Well there are always discrepancies in the coordinates of these things. - Bill, with all due respect, this is not a 'discrepancy'. These debris are shown travelling at more than 2000 meters per second..." The operator caught his breath. "And they're shown moving INSIDE the Mun." ______________In-Mun Debris "I knew it." The now well-known suave, deep voice had come from a dark spot in the operating room. The First Kerman on the Mun. Decorated by royalty; honored by his people; adulated by a generation. A small light appeared, illuminating for brief seconds the lone Kerman's face. "Jeb, how did you... Hey you can't smoke in here!" Jebediah Kerman got up, ever so slowly. His body seemed to strech forever as he started walking smoothly to his interlocutors. "Sure I can, Bill. Change in policy." Ever since Jebediah came back from the Poseidon Mission, his behaviour had been, to say the least, strange. Without even a thought for his safety (or others', for that matter) he simply did or said what came to his mind at the moment. The last of his antics involved one of the center's roof radars, an extraordinary amount of champagne, a few beach balls, some prominent members of the Kerwomen Baskerball Team, and eventually a sizeable portion of the police force. Reports that a dolphin was involved had been promptly denied by the agency. But he was the best at what he did, and what he did was making rockets fly. Nay, soar. It was a thing of beauty to watch Jeb fly: one of his co-Kerbonauts had once called it a "beautiful ballet of brilliant insanity", and he had been every bit right. "You know, when we landed on the Mun... I always thought it was strange. We let go of our three empty rockets and... Nothing. There were no craters when we landed, no debris. Nothing. - We were on the darn moon, Bill answered. It's not like we were expecting to see anything. - We didn't even check for it, Jeb agreed. But now..." Jeb took a look at the monitor. "Now we must go back." The chief operator stared in disbelief. "You want to go back to the Mun?" Jeb laughed. "No, are you crazy? Kerking Bad is back on TV, and I have a tennis match with the President next week. Nah we'll just send... I don't know. People." ____________________Some people In the control room, all eyes were on the monitors. In the past few weeks preparations had been hectic, crazy, to put it briefly, Kerbian. Jeb had designed a brand new system that permitted him - despite the protests of the crew - to be in contact with the command pod at all times. Despite claims of a busy schedule, Jeb had been at the space center virtually every day, and had taken quite an interest in three brand new recruits of the now very popular Kerbal Space Program, who followed him everywhere as he oversaw preparations for what was now called the "Phantom Debris" initiative. Everyone took to calling it PHADE. Three PDs had been identified by Bob the operator at first, and a fourth one had been discovered on the other side of the Mun. It had been decided to wait until the PDs were under sunlight to permit better studying, but it seemed this was never to happen: they were rotating ever so slightly as to always stay in the dark. The Kerbonauts were ready. Three experienced, space-hardened veterans. The rocket - a Poseidon IV slightly modified for better steering - was ready. The control room was ready. Jeb was sitting in the controller's chair, an odd smile on his face. The exact same smile he had that one time he tricked the chief of the IT department into climbing on a rocket and launching it. He was retrieved from the water several days later, very blank, but otherwise unharmed. Charges were not pressed. "Okay guys, ready to launch? Jeb said. - Yes, sir!" three voices answered in unison. "Wait a minute, Bill said, squinting at the screen. These aren't Neil, Ed and Michael." Jeb scratched his head. "Yeah... Neil, Ed and Michael had a little, uh, mishap yesterday at my party, and if I remember correctly - which I might not - they're probably still in the bathtub." He shot a smile up. "But I found three really motivated, young and eager kerbonauts who were more than happy to take their places and... - HI !!!!!! - And do exactly as you say, Bill sighed. - And do exactly as I say, Jeb nodded. Alright boys. Ready? - YAY ! - We have countdown! 10... 9... 8... sevenfiveone SURPRISE LAUNCH YOU GUYS!" ________________________SURPRISE LAUNCH The trip to the Mun itself was rather uneventful, aside from Jeb's non-sequitur quips about various topics - tropical cocktails, the right temperature at which to raise chickens, how much energy would be needed to put an actual Kerman head in orbit - all about which he seemed to have gathered a suspicious amount of information. "Okay guys, he said in the mic. Now we're gonna burn it nice and slow, in orbit. There. - We have orbit, sir, 10 klicks over surface. It's... It's beautiful." Jeb smiled. "Yes it is, boys. Okay. You're going to the sunny side now. We're going to lose contact for a bit. See you on the other side. Then... The show's gonna start." Jeb took off his headphones. Bill was staring at him disapprovingly. "Whaaaat? Jeb snapped. - You're sending these boys to their deaths. - First, you don't know that. Second, that's the ONE thing they wanted to do. All their lives. Third, anybody we're sending to the Mun in those rackety things... I just mean there's a good chance for ANYONE to explode in these things. You and I... And Bob... We just got lucky. And look where it landed us." Bill scoffed. "First Kerman on the Mun, best buds with the director, hero to the world... YOU got lucky. Bob and I get to watch dead debris floating around all darn day. - Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Besides, you made what is maybe the most important discovery of all times right there. These things are going through solid matter. Or so it seems. Think of the implications." Bill pondered. "This is nonsense. Once we find a reasonable explanation, you'll be back to square one, as miserable as ever." Jeb frowned and opened his mouth, but said nothing. Bill went on: "You don't think I know what you're doing? With your little act? You're escaping this little greeb orb. You never got back from up there, Jeb. Not one of us did. It did something to us. - Yeah yOU're right..." Jeb paused, and put his headphones back on. "...It made me freaking AWE-SOME. Alright guys? Guys, you there? - Yes we... We thought we saw something by the crater, uplinking a picture now. - A PD? - No, definitely not. More of a... - Ok then, whatever, Jeb cut. You're getting close to the PDs' location now." ___________________Closing in The first Kerbonaut, Melman, spoke, his voice sounding like it was coming from a few miles away. Which was pretty impressive since it was coming from hundreds of THOUSANDS of kilometers in the sky. "Yes sir. There are four of them. More images uplinking. We can see them on the... It's... It's three kilometers away. And now it's... OH GOD! Here's another, it's about 4.8 klicks away. I saw it glint. I think? It's definitely a real thing, I... GOOD GOD!" _____________________4 klicks away The audio cut. All the personnel in the control room fell silent. Jeb pushed a few buttons frantically, sweat pearling on his gigantic forehead. "...from the GROUND, did you see that Tomson? I'm tripping BALLS over here. Sorry, sir This is... - Did you take PICTURES, Melman? We all appreciate your dedication here but... - Yes but sir, with all due respect, we are in the DARK here. We ran a few seconds of radar under the surface. These things are moving FAST, going right to the core at about 2000 meters a second, and popping back up. The highest one we recorded was 8430 meters high but, to be frank, it's hard to measure up here. _____________________Radar images with MET "They... We passed them. They came back down. - Land." A few people gasped at Jeb's remark. One discreet thud in the background seemed to indicate someone fainted. Bill put his hand on the mic. "Are you crazy? Bill hissed. - Don't be dumb, Jeb replied. I won't let them actually DO it. I'll land the darn rocket." Jeb removed Bill's hand from the mic, and spoke in his low, calm voice. "Okay guys. We're gonna let go of the last stage so we can land this thing. Don't worry. Just like we practiced. - YES! We're gonna land on the Mun? AWESOME. - As I said, just as we practiced. Maybe easier." Of course, Jeb had never talked to the direction, or anybody for that matter, about landing. "Okay I'm gonna land it, now... ALL you got to do is what? - Sit tight, Tomson, Malman and Duncott replied in unison. - That's right, sit tight." Everyone was watching, mesmerized, as Jebediah Kerman landed a Poseidon IX Explorer Pod, in the dark, from thousands of kilometers away. Sending out sequences as fast as fingers could type and faster. Anticipating, wizard-like, changes in the course. Then the unthinkable happened. It stopped working. The rocket was veering off course. A high-pitched voice came through: "We have to go after it! It's right there, guys, it's only 3 klicks, think about it... The answers... are only THREE klicks away! - Melman, stop! - We have to! Activating manual override! I'm flying after it." Jeb jumped out of his chair. "NO!" ________________________Flying after it "I'm flying after it. - Melman... Oh God, Duncott? Duncott do something! - No he's right, Tomson... We have to go after it. - KNOCK IT OFF! Jeb shouted, but it seemed the Kerbonauts couldn't even hear him. - You happy now?" Bill said, regretting it immediately. Jeb shot him a look of pure, unadultered disdain. "No, but YOU seem to be." Aboard the Poseidon, things were seemingly taking a turn for the worse. "Sir, this is Tomson. They... Duncott lost consciousness, there's too much G, we're spinning out of control and... Sir? - The head Tomson! The head! Jeb shouted. - What? - Hit Melman in the head! As hard as possible!" Jeb took a breath. "Now what you heard was probably: 'hit him pretty hard'. What I said was 'hit him, on the head, as hard as possible'." A loud clunk was heard. "Now what? - Now you give me back my toy, I'll save you guys." For the next fifteen minutes Jeb, muttering to himself, frantically ran around the control room, pulling levers, consulting gauges, and finally came to a halt, eyes half-closed. "This is the best I could do Bill. I'm sorry." Everyone held their breath. "They're... They're gonna... die?" Bill whispered. Jeb laughed. "Of course not. They're gonna land. Uuuuh, preeeeetty hard. I would have liked to get them closer to the PDs points of entry, but since these change all the time, that's pretty hard. And here... we... go." Grunts, clicks and clacks, shouts. And then nothing came from Poseidon for a few seconds. "S... Sir? We are... On the surface... Sir..." _______________________Almost landed "Right below us seem to be two of the remaining PDs, Tomson continued. - What do you mean, remaining? Jeb asked. - I, um... It seemed one or two of them, uh, exploded on impact of the Mun surface. - Instead of re-entering the surface? - Yes. - Just because you guys were hanging around? - I wouldn't know about this sir. We're going out of range. Talk to you in a few. - Do yourself a favor and keep an eye on your friends. And by that I mean keep them strapped down." Jeb thought long and hard. "Okay. They're going crazy out there. We got confirmation from Bob in monitoring that two of the PDs disappeared and stopped sending signals. There is something going on. - You don't say, Bill scoffed. - A little HELP here, Bill?" Bill sat down. "When I was on the Mun, he started, I remember the... emptiness. The feeling that there HAD to be... - ... HAD to be something out there, Jeb completed. - Yes. This uneasiness never left. It acted differently on us of course. We got all frightened and never wanted to go back in a spaceship. You got..." Jeb raised an eyebrow. "...You got weird. Well. Weirder. - So? Why are we talking about this?" Bill shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know why. It seemed like it made sense. - It did." Jeb pointed at the screen. "Video comm, coming in. One of my additions to the pod." On the screen, the grainy, panicked face of Tomson Kerman appeared. His nose was bloody, and his left eye half-shut. "They left, sir! - What do you mean, left? Where do they think they're going? - They took their EVA packs and left. They said they were "going after it". I have... I took one last shot of Melman as he was jetting away but... I lost contact with him a few minutes ago." ______________________Melman bobbing away "Seems like he was aiming for one of the last two debris, sir. - Okay. I tell you what, Tomson, Jeb said. You sit tight. Help is coming." Jeb turned to Bill with a glint in his eye and a smile on his face. "So... Wanna go back to the Mun?"

Have you taken a look at the tutorials? There are plenty of them around. Of course sometimes it's fun to figure things out by yourself, but when you just can't do something, it comes in handy.

haha yes I did realize that, albeit a little too late for it to be of any use... I have a feeling that HBA (Helplessly Bouncing Around) will become my favorite mode of transportation...

I've searched for that but I didn't find anything, so I'm sorry if this is common knowledge... I was on Minmus, landed in the big frozen lake, and decided to EVA to the top of the nearest mountain. Because you know. While we're there... While my first Kerbonaut crashed and poofed at an incredible speed, another brave soul got up there but used up all his fuel doing it, so I had no choice but to walk back to the ship which was 4 km away. This would take a good portion of my night, I thought. BUT I found out that (while you still can't warp), if you keep "W" down and alt-tab to another program on your computer, the little guy will just keep on walking... He's walking back to the ship right now ! This way, you can walk back to your ship while watching KSP videos on youtube Don't know if that would be considered a "glitch" but in that situation I found it incredibly useful.

...tasting the tears of joy of a baby unicorn. I've been playing for about a week now, and I have to say it's truly magical. Haven't even downloaded any of the plugins yet, but I'm looking forward to the development of what fast became a favorite game of mine. Thanks SQUAD !