CatastrophicFailure

OK, think I've got it. Have to go toil in the real world for now but someone please keep nagging me and I'll get it together tonight.

Trying to figure out how to add sub folders to a .zip at the moment.

Noted.

Hmm... that would be the problem then...

Ah so. Even Gael? (Crisis avoided, guys! Douse the torches, pitchforks back in the shed! And lock it this time!)

So, um... it appears I have broken something... Before I go freaking out and throwing logs willy-nilly, is this anything obvious? Just installed Research Bodies, is it maybe related to that?

Progress. I want this to be yesterday but take it slow, SpaceX, take it nice and slow.

My idea was definitely breathable, but just barely. On Earth there are a few settlements around the 5000 meter mark which is about .55atm. So it's quite livable for a person who's adapted. Tho with Kerbalism I've found the CO2 is the problem anyway. The two Kerbals I have stranded at sea level in my test game are slowly succumbing to CO2 poisoning. Not sure what'll happen when they actually run out of supplemental oxygen, either. But aircraft work pretty well and a base should be do-able. ETA: so, um... how exactly IS CO2 figured in the config? I just had a look thru it and I don't see anything.

The atmosphere curve stuff may be my doing, I was mostly griping around trying to get it right for my game and I will say please don't abandon poor Rald, I'm greatly looking forward to actually playing with fascinating conglomeration of genius from all y'all I've got now. Almost ready...

Second that. I might have tweaked Gael into a nice 24-hour solar day myself if I didn't like the look of Rald so much where it is.

From you. I just divided by 6.4 for the un-scaled config above. I have no idea if it would actually work at stock scale, now that you mention it. Also, @KerikBalm may want to take note here: I just ganked his raldinnermoon config.

Hmm. Is that KAS helmet remover or Texture Replacer? KAS let me remove helmets much higher. But if course, with Kerbalism, as soon as they take their suits off they start getting CO2 poisoning. Hmm, low gravity, high pressure, toxic barely-breathable atmosphere... it seems I have created Pandora.

The Strongback is finished and has been raised, there's photos somewhere. They'll add the crew access tower much later. I'm guessing the pad is structurally complete and they're now in the testing phase. I'll feel confident about an upcoming launch when I see a test fire.

@DarkFighter, et al... OK, gathering stuff together for my Rald craziness. Here's my Rald config: @Kopernicus:AFTER[Kopernicus] { useOnDemand = false Body { name = Rald flightGlobalsIndex = 199 Template { name = Laythe removeOcean = true removePQSMods = PQSMod_AltitudeAlpha, PQSMod_VertexHeightNoise, PQSMod_VertexSimplexHeightMap, PQSMod_VertexHeightMap } Properties { radius = 320000 geeASL = 0.33 rotationPeriod = 21549.4251830898 tidallyLocked = True sphereOfInfluence = 812233 description = Primitive Kerbals believed Rald to be the herald of the gods because the other celestial objects moved about the sky while Rald stood still, others believed it was the king of the gods. Kerbals on the other side of the planet didn't believe Rald existed - Many wars were fought. Later its study lead to science and navigation advances. It is believed to have formed at after a giant impact which also made Mun. It has also long been the source of invaders in kerbal science fiction. Its orbits close enough to be protected by Kerbin's magnetic field, allowing it to hold on to its atmosphere better. timewarpAltitudeLimits = 0 30000 30000 60000 120000 240000 480000 600000 ScienceValues { landedDataValue = 2.75 splashedDataValue = 3.0 flyingLowDataValue = 2.0 flyingHighDataValue = 1.75 inSpaceLowDataValue = 1.75 inSpaceHighDataValue = 1.5 recoveryValue = 3 flyingAltitudeThreshold = 7500 spaceAltitudeThreshold = 140000 } biomeMap = Rald/PluginData/BiomesFinal.png Biomes { Biome { name = Polar Caps value = 1.0 color = 1,1,1,1 } Biome { name = Kraken Mare value = 1.0 color = 0.012,0.329,0.576,1 } Biome { name = Kellas Sea value = 1.0 color = 0.020,0.20,1,1 } Biome { name = Lowlands value = 1.0 color = 1,0.788,0.055,1 } Biome { name = Lesser Volcanoes value = 0.5 color = 0.251,0,0,1 } Biome { name = Large Eroded Volcano value = 1.0 color = 1,0.682,0.788,1 } Biome { name = Krakatowa Gulf value = 0.5 color = 0,0.635,0.910,1 } Biome { name = Bay of Rivers value = 0.5 color = 0.639,0.286,0.643,1 } Biome { name = Curiosity Cove value = 0.5 color = 0.600,0.851,0.918,1 } Biome { name = Frigid Fjord value = 0.5 color = 0.784,0.749,0.906,1 } Biome { name = Pyramids value = 0.2 color = 0.349,0.349,0.349,1 } Biome { name = Ancient Settlements value = 0.2 color = 0.667,0.667,0.667,1 } Biome { name = Ancient City value = 0.2 color = 0.498,0.498,0.498,1 } Biome { name = Ancient Airport value = 0.2 color = 0,0,0,1 } Biome { name = Dunes value = 1.0 color = 0.573,0.565,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Karsis Plateau value = 1.0 color = 0.580,0.322,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Great Rift Valley value = 1.0 color = 0.58,0.067,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Kargyre Impact Basin value = 1.0 color = 1,0.576,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Rivers value = 1.0 color = 0.012,0.976,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Volcanoes value = 1.0 color = 1,0.149,0.012,1 } Biome { name = Coasts value = 1.0 color = 1,0.988,0.475,1 } } } Orbit { referenceBody = Kerbin color = 0.56683,0.5996605,0.55563,0.8813723 inclination = 0.0 eccentricity = 0.0 semiMajorAxis = 3435733.51 longitudeOfAscendingNode = 150 argumentOfPeriapsis = 0 meanAnomalyAtEpoch = 1.34000010490417 epoch = 0 } Atmosphere { ambientColor = 0.27451,0.21905,0.14483205,1 lightColor = 0.5797,0.58792,0.559,0.25 enabled = true oxygen = true albedo = 0.2 altitude = 50000.0 staticPressureASL = 55.6625 pressureCurve { key = 0 55.6625 0 -0.0103503 key = 1000 41.2557 -0.00851910 -0.00851910 key = 3000 27.1722 -0.00573779 -0.00573779 key = 6000 14.2599 -0.00311942 -0.00311942 key = 9000 7.31086 -0.00165699 -0.00165699 key = 12000 3.66142 -0.000857698 -0.000857698 key = 15000 1.79476 -0.000432219 -0.000432219 key = 20000 0.528330 -0.000130770 -0.000130770 key = 25000 0.151615 -3.81128E-05 -3.81128E-05 key = 30000 0.0429112 -1.08640E-05 -1.08640E-05 key = 35000 0.0120990 -3.05928E-06 -3.05928E-06 key = 40000 0.00344284 -8.58192E-07 -8.58192E-07 key = 45000 0.00100353 -2.44677E-07 -2.44677E-07 key = 50000 0 0 0 } pressureCurveIsNormalized = false temperatureOcean/seaLevel = 294 temperatureCurve { key = 0 293 0 -0.0004261126 key = 1000 282.8 -0.000573325 -0.000573325 key = 25000 153.7 -0.001877083 -0.001877083 key = 30000 150 0 0 key = 45000 150 0 0 key = 50000 160 0.003746914 0 } temperatureCurveIsNormalized = false temperatureLapseRate = 0.0024 temperatureSunMultCurve = true temperatureSunMultCurve { key = 0 1 0 0 key = 1000 1 0 0 key = 25000 0 0 0 key = 45000 0 0 0 key = 47350 0.4551345 0.0006885778 0.0006885778 key = 50000 1 0 0 } temperatureLatitudeBiasCurve { key = 0 30 0 -0.0957164 key = 50 0 -0.950278 -0.950278 key = 70 -30 -1.955704 -1.955704 key = 90 -50 -0.02418368 0 } temperatureLatitudeSunMultCurve { key = 0 18 0 0.06497125 key = 40 25 0 0 key = 65 20 -0.5202533 -0.5202533 key = 90 5 0 0 } temperatureEccentricityBiasCurve { key = 0 1.5 0 -3 key = 1 -1.5 -3 0 } adiabaticIndex = 1.48 gasMassLapseRate = 2.06477390407027 atmosphereMolarMass = 0.03596822 staticPressureASL = 13.51 } ScaledVersion { Material { texture = Rald/PluginData/RaldScaledSpace.png normals = Rald/PluginData/Normals.dds rimColorRamp = BUILTIN/desert_atmogradient rimPower = 2.06 rimBlend = 0.3 } } PQS { Mods { VertexHeightMap { map = Rald/PluginData/RaldHeight.png offset = -1398.0 deformity = 10500.0 order = 20 enabled = true } VertexColorMap { map = Rald/PluginData/RaldUpClose.png order = 500 enabled = true } VertexHeightNoise { enabled = False } VertexHeightNoiseVertHeight { enabled = False } } } Ocean { maxQuadLengthsPerFrame = 0.03 minLevel = 2 maxLevel = 16 minDetailDistance = 16 oceanColor = 0.00,0.33,0.44,1 Material { colorFromSpace = 0.10,0.33,0.44,1 color = 0.00,0.33,0.44,0.5 } FallbackMaterial { colorFromSpace = 0.10,0.33,0.44,1 color = 0.00,0.33,0.44,0.5 } Mods { AerialPerspectiveMaterial { globalDensity = -0.00001 heightFalloff = 6.75 atmosphereDepth = 150000 DEBUG_SetEveryFrame = true cameraAlt = 0 cameraAtmosAlt = 0 heightDensAtViewer = 0 enabled = true order = 200 } OceanFX { Watermain { waterTex-0 = BUILTIN/sea-water1 waterTex-1 = BUILTIN/sea-water2 waterTex-2 = BUILTIN/sea-water3 waterTex-3 = BUILTIN/sea-water4 waterTex-4 = BUILTIN/sea-water5 waterTex-5 = BUILTIN/sea-water6 waterTex-6 = BUILTIN/sea-water7 waterTex-7 = BUILTIN/sea-water8 } framesPerSecond = 1 spaceAltitude = 1500000 blendA = 0 blendB = 0 texBlend = 0 angle = 0 specColor = 0.05,0.33,0.44,0.5 oceanOpacity = 0.01 spaceSurfaceBlend = 0 enabled = true order = 200 } } Fog { fogColorEnd = 0.45,0.45,0.45,1 fogColorStart = 0.45,0.45,0.45,1 skyColorOpacityBase = 0.5 } } } } OK... maybe I do need to put everything into a .zip. Anyways, this puts Rald rock-steady in the KSC sky, but that's scaled up to 6.4x. It should still work at normal scale, but there might be some tiny defect in the math. Doublecheck with @OhioBob's number. Also, meanAnomalyAtEpoch = 3.14-ish will put Rald in the western sky, instead. Also, my Rald is tweaked here to have .55 atm pressure at sea level. Just enough to take your suit off with Texture replacer (also needs a file tweak.) I hope. Testing this now. @Galileo Is it possible to just prune out the relevant bits from the EVE config, or does that have to be a single file?

Aaaaand I'm out of likes for the day. Apparently they run on a rotating 24-hour period. Drat. Anyways... First off and most importantly, I see that in my haste I neglected to give @Ten Key his proper recognition for another indispensible round of editing (and not running away screaming when he heard the rest. ) I can canonically tell you this is not the first time poor Meg's hubby has been returned to her in a crate. But the last one had air holes. She's been worried sick. Because when P. Kerman says, "Nice going, Meg!" he does so without a hint of irony or sarcasm. Because P. Kerman has absolutely no concept of irony or sarcasm. Quite so. Val is the absolutely pinnacle of physical fitness. She's also, well, short. And Kerbals are fairly round to begin with...

Was expecting Titanic, got the Poseidon Adventure. Not disappointed.

Do they even have facilities to handle a 3-core stack at McGregor, if it is in fact a booster? Pretty sure they don't at Vandenburg. Pad 39 at the Cape was the only place being actively upgraded for the FH. And speaking of the Cape... delayed again. NET the 18th, now. And much as I hate to say it, I think it's gonna slip further. It seems to me qualifying a brand new launchpad is something that probably takes a lot of time and testing, and they haven't even erected a rocket there yet, let alone a static fire.

Ooooh what command pod is that? And the rest of the sticky-outie sciency-looking bits? I suspect Rald may occasionally get in the way of transfers to other bodies, tho it might get you the odd gravity assist too. @Galileo, at al: I think I can compress everything down to a single config, but I'll need some assistance with the MM code for only activating some of it (Kerbalism, etc) Not when I'm 20+ miles away from my computer, no. I can tell you how to put it in the east instead, that's an easy tweak. Two of them, now... well I suppose such an arrangement might be quasi-stable at the 60 degree Lagrange points, but KSP doesn't care about that anyway, so...

If you can give me oh, like, 10 hours, I'll send you my config that locks it perfectly in the sky just west of the space center.

Well, if it were real, Laythe would have no tides, since its tidally locked to Jool. Tylo might have some effect tho, someone else would have to figure the math on that.

Well, "like" is really the wrong word here, but I wanna seeeee Not to be facetious here, but... could you not simply land on the night side?

It's all this guy ----> @Ten Key. Genius, I tell ya.

I do all my writing on assorted Apple iThings™, almost never on an actual keyboard, so formatting, italics and such have to wait until I copy & paste it to the forum. I've tried pulling up the raw file from the device, but all I get is a monolithic block of text. So, yeah, not the most efficient way of doing things, but it works for me.

Chapter 96: Shadowscourge Presence... will... chaos flowed through the gap into Valentina's mind... to ravage... to corrupt... to take... it touched her very being... ...and paused, uncertain. It hesitated, as if remembering, something it was not accustomed to. As if remembering something far older, far deeper than even it, from a time before it was dragged from its infernal abyss into this realm. Alarmed, it tried to retreat, but Valentina seized ahold of it, and followed... *** Darkness... Only darkness... There was no light here. None at all. All the light had gone away. There was no light, and yet she could see. See, and more. The air was thick with dust and the stink of rot. This place was as dry as the tomb, yet dank as the grave. It was crumbling... but somehow, also melting. Home... this is someone's home...or... mind... The front door was torn off its hinges, smashed into splinters in the corner. The paint was peeling, the wallpaper sloughing off in great sheets like old skin. Here and there, holes in the plaster revealed the lathing beneath. Valentina moved to the wall, the floors creaking and crackling with each step. She raised a finger to it, and a large section just disintegrated and dripped away. This isn't real... none of this is real... Not a realization, but simply knowledge... as if remembering something she had always known, but never thought about... like the sun being yellow or the wind, cold. Nothing here is real... it is here so that my mind can comprehend it. She turned to an old, cracked mirror on the wall, and stifled a gasp. ...her eyes... ...her eyes...! The tiny, iridescent flecks in her eyes... the ones she thought about no more than the color of the sun... each one now blazed like a thousand suns, giving her light to see in this dark place. Enthralled, she again reached a hand to the mirror... it shattered and fell from the wall, the shards turning to dust and then nothing before they ever reached the floor. Valentina stared for a moment, when a noise drew her attention. Somewhere... down that hall. As she walked on, an entirely different sound made her look back. The large piano off in the corner of the ante room tipped, shuddered, then collapsed and fell through the rotted floor. She turned back, and continued down the hall. Here, old, framed photographs lined the walls. A tiny kerbling in a bassinet, flanked by his parents. Only... their faces were gone... faded away. The next picture... no, she did not know this youngster, now bouncing in a crib surrounded by more faceless family. These are... memories... Continuing down the hall, toward the noise, Valentina watched the boy grow up in the fading, yellowed photos. It soon dawned on her, she did know this person. It was the Kerb who currently had her pinned up against a crate in another world, struggling for life. She watched him grow, mature, and then... She stopped. Here, there was light. A faint, barely perceptible glow... a shadow of light, surrounding one photograph that hadn't faded at all. Here, the young Kerb stood in a cheap rental tuxedo, clasping hands with a pretty young Kerbelle in a plain white dress, certainly nothing that could be called a gown. They were both smiling brightly. This... this is a powerful memory... it grounds all the others... it is the last thing keeping this place here at all. There were more cracking pictures down the crumbling wall... but she heard the noise again. Valentina turned to it, and found a room. A small room, with a small bed. The disintegrated remains of a little boy's toys littered the floor. And there, huddled in the corner hugging his own knees, was the little boy. His clothes were old and torn, his hair unkempt, his skin filthy and bruised. He cried weak, sniffling sobs... the kind that come when you know crying will do no good, yet you have nothing else left. Carefully she approached, and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, "what ever is the matter, little one?" He didn't look up, or really move at all, just pointed over his shoulder. Over her shoulder... Valentina spun around, and wanted to scream. It was not darkness, darkness is simply the absence of light. This... this was the antithesis of light. It radiated not-light, is if pulling the light in and annihilating it like a dying star. It rose steadily, roiling, seething, churning from shape to shape. It's not real! It's not real! No, what's really there is far, far worse. The Darkness grew, shifted, coalesced. It was formless, yet it had form. Soundless, yet it had sound. Arm-claw-tentacle-appendage-things jutted from its not-flanks randomly, always shifting, changing. Its not-skin was the agony of a thousand faces, and hideous visions torn from the nightmares of a trillion slumbering beings. And this horror had a face, where the Darkness grew darker still, two empty pits of unfathomable nothingness. It floated... It towered over Valentina like a massif as the world faded away. It lowered its enormous, distorted, not-head to her, only centimeters away, its not-flesh a twisting mass of worms in carrion, and stared down into her with those abyss-like pools of nothing. BEHOLD. I AM DARKNESS. I AM DECAY. I AM DESTRUCTION. I AM—GAK! Valentina had done the only sensible thing she could do in that situation. She'd grabbed it by the throat. But a moment ago, it had no throat. She watched, mesmerized, as the whole of the creature twisted and reshaped every part of itself in a parade of ever more horrible things. Every part of itself, that is, but the part she now had in her grasp. Valentina watched. And she understood. "You? No. I. I am the Daughter of the Morning, the Firstborn of the Light. I am the Sword of the Broken. I am the Shield of the Bowed. I am Advocate, I am Councilor. I am Friend. I am the Voice of Justice, the Herald of Truth. Gadfly to the Wicked, Thorn to the Corrupt. I am the Beacon of the Last Day. I am the Final Cry. I am Shin-Breaker, Fork-Kicker, Eye-Spitter! I am the Scion of Vladimir. I am the Prodigy of Elena. I am Marath'inde Damane, the One Who May Not Be Leashed. I am Tenbish, I am the Shadowscourge! I AM VALENTINA KERMANOVA." She breathed in air that was not air, her face wrinkling just slightly, "and you are stinking lump of PЦTIЙ." The Enemy, the Other, squirmed in her grasp. She could feel panicking, trying to retreat. Yet trapped, it rallied, and the world shifted. Now, a flaming forest. Now, a burning hallway. Vague, indistinct, dream-like. The thing struggling in her hand became a familiar blackened corpse. Its charred and melting flesh oozed between her fingers. YOU CANNOT ENDURE THE FIRE I WILL—GAK! She drew it close, its ruined face, its nothing-eyes, and whispered, "I am the Fire." The world shifted again, "and you are not welcome here." The piano she had seen earlier dropped on its head, crashing through the floor in a splintered hole that instantly disappeared, dragging it away. Distantly, she sensed it fleeing... No, not fleeing. Driven, as by the scourge. Valentina blinked, and peered around, not at all sure of what had just happened. Now, she was... she was standing before the Imperial Throne in the Summer Palace, where she had once stood so many years before. Every detail, every atom, was crisp and right and perfect. Every detail... except one. The hanging gallery where the Imperium once sat... was gone. As she turned she swished, and looked down to find herself wearing an exquisite, iridescent gown. Colors danced and played across the fabric in hues she had never seen, and it even fit right. A little too right, she realized, and felt a bit of that color touch her cheeks despite the cavernous, empty room. No, not quite empty. Standing at the foot of the steps leading up to the dais was the young boy she had seen before. His face was clean, his hair tidy, and he wore an adorable little suit. He smiled at her, and then... ...then... ...then... ...she was floating... drifting... rising... Valentina's eyes snapped open. She and the unknown Kerb who still had his hands at her neck slumped and collapsed to the floor. He looked around, stunned, and saw her. "You..." he whispered, "it's gone..." He shook his head, then with adulation, "it's gone!" She crawled backwards a step, expecting the Kerb to come at her again. He only stared in awe. "You... you can't do that... how did you do that?!" he pawed at the wide smile blooming across his face, "it's gone!" "The... Shadow...?" Valentina asked. "I don't know what you did, but it's gone!" he practically squealed, "you saved me!" Her eyes flicked back and forth as the pieces clicked together in her head... Shadowscourge... "Edmund..." she mumbled, "there are others, yes? Like you?" "Yes... can you help them too?" "I... I do not know, I... maybe..." she thought for a moment, "this whole place, is everyone...?" "No, no," he shook his head, "there's not many. Only a few here, maybe a couple of dozen all over the world. Most folks here are just trying to make a root, or hide from something... a few true believers..." he paused, "It's... it's limted... like, every time it's spread, it gets a little weaker." He winced, rubbing at his temples. "People in power, yes?" she prodded, "The rich, the connected... leaders, yes?" He blinked, "hm? Oh, no. No, no, no. They're easily corrupted with worldly things, no need to waste...", again he winced, "we... they're janitors, garbage Kerbs, aids, secretaries. People no one sees. No one cares about. But they see all. Send messages. Do... things..." he shuddered. Concern spreading over her face, Valentina reached a hand out to him, "and it is all Edmund? Edmund Kerman, the Kerbonaut? He controls it?" The other Kerbal squeezed his eyes shut, opened them wide, "why's it getting so hard to think? Um, yes... no... Edmund controls us... them... the Tainted... does all the dirty work... but..." now he pressed both palms to his face, "there's someone else. Someone giving him orders. There's... friction... they don't... always..." "Who?" she prodded, "who is it?" "It's... it's... um," one of his eyes began to twitch. "Are you all right, friend? Should... I get help?" "No... my head... listen, there's... can't think..." he slapped the heel of a hand against his forehead, "there's someone else, and..." Suddenly his face jerked to hers, his eyes wide with terror, "oh no... no..." "What? What is it?" "Someone... else... important... danger..." he grabbed her shirt trying to hold himself up, his entire face now twitching and spasming, "you... you can't..." She put hands over his, tried to make sense... "Don't... t... t... trust..." "Who? Who!? A name?" His whole body quaked. His lips peeled into horrifying shapes, his throat convulsed. Throbbing veins rose through his skin with effort. One last throe... and she felt him relax and slump against the crate. Color drained from his face as his eyes glazed over, dull and empty. "No..." Valentina shook him, felt for a pulse. His head lolled against her shoulder. "Gah!" he jumped back, "where am I?!" He seemed to notice her for the first time, "GAAH! Who are you?!" Valentina let out a slow sigh, and raised a hand to her face, "let me guess. You have no idea who you are either, do you?" He blinked at her, "no, of course I know who I am," and recited, "P. Kerman, 42 Wallaby Way, Kidney—" his eyes popped wide. P. Kerman jumped up abruptly, lifting his shirt. He spun himself in little circles, peering over his shoulder as if trying very hard to look at his own backside. He pawed at his hips. Finally, relief washed across his face. "Whew, still there! Boy, Meg would really be miffed if that happened again, let me tell ya!" Valentina just stared. The relief washed away as quickly as it came, "oh boy... oh boy...! I did again, didn't I?" trembling fingers ran through his now-unkempt hair, "I—I—I—I told Megselle I was just going out with the boys, no big deal! Just down to the pub for a couple hours, and I promised to stick to Shirley Temples, too!" He seemed to notice her again, "wait a minute. Your accent. You and I, we didn't, um... you know..." "NO!" "Whew!" there was that relief again, "Meg would really be miffed if I came home with a mail order bride again, let me tell ya! The return shipping on those things is just like whoa. And besides," he gave her an utterly innocent grin, "you're kinda pudgy, too." Valentina's jaw dropped open. "So, where are we?" he said, looking around, "is this Downtown?" "It is a bit farther that," she rumbled. His face fell again, "oh boy... oh boy, I really went and did it this time, didn't I? Meg's gonna be so miffed! This is the wrong side of the track again, isn't it?" He took absolutely no notice of Valentina's mouth working like a fish, trying to find the words. "I—I—I—I—it was just a couple of Shirley Temples, I swear! But then Corlen ordered a bottle of something called 'absinthe,' and—" "Wait," Valentina finally broke in, "what is the last thing you remember?" "Well, this guy I met said he had something really cool to show me, but I had to go out the one-way door at the back of the bar and meet him in the dark, deserted alley," P. Kerman mused on this for a moment, "but if you can't trust a creepy random stranger in a trenchcoat you met in the bathroom of a seedy pub, then who can ya trust, right?" He beamed a happy grin at her. Valentina gaped a moment longer before burying her face in her hands, "you have got to be kidding me." At length, she stood up with a sigh. She put on her best diplomatic smile and pointed somewhere off behind him, "look! Um... is Superkerb!" "Really? Where?" thump "Goodnight, Mommie!" thud. She sighed once more and set to work. *** BANG! BANG! BANG! Wiping the sweat from her brow, Valentina finished pounding the last nail back into the crate. She thought about it, then added one more just to be safe. A low snoring sound drifted from inside. Maybe she should have added some air holes. She shrugged, and checked the shipping manifest one more time. BOTTLED WATER DEHYDRATED FOODSTUFFS SWEET SNACK FOOD FLASHLIGHTS READING MATERIALS ASSORTED SOFT SQUISHY THINGS She smiled at her handiwork then scribbled on the outgoing shipping label. DELIVER TO: M. Kerman 42 Wallaby Way, Kidney Lovely city, Kidney. She'd seen an opera there, once. Unfortunate name. No sooner had she finished, when the loudspeakers buzzed to life, "attention all personnel: stand down, secure from lockdown. All personnel return to duty stations." Shouldn't be long now. Finally, finally, she had a plan. Just get through this next bit, tell the Kommissar, and go find Edmund. It wasn't too late. She could save him. She could save everyone. But first, she thought, standing a little straighter, I have a rocket to catch.

So, um... been over a month now... moar?