CatastrophicFailure

Hey, I can see my house from here! er, no that's just a bug on the windshield.

A whole lotta nuthin' is happening until they get this fueling issue stamped out and get back to flying. Although I did hear they lost a FH customer to Ariane recently, so maybe that keeps the LV for Red Dragon available even with the delays. We've only seen ONE instance of this helium tank thing, maybe it could theoretically affect first stages too, but like always SpaceX is doing something never done before. It may take time to get the bugs out. As I understand the issue, a different fueling procedure may be all that's needed. And they need to be REALLY sure about that.

Just gotta say that's a beautiful Earth you've got there. I was thinking of starting a fresh save with @Galileo's planets at 6.4 scale, but your reports are really making me want to head to RSS/RO.

You tickle the Kraken's tail and expect stability? Those are dangerous grounds upon which you trod.

Tonight I took the WayBack machine to my old 6.4x save in 0.25, and spent WAY too much time cheating a simple lander down to my old Münbase. (No hyperedit) Why? Because REASONS!

I think that would end up being entirely too much like work. Thanks for the kind words, all. I really can't give @Ten Key enough credit on this one. I won't say he polished a turd, but... maybe burnished a coprolite? Next chapter is well underway already, hopefully I can get back in a normal rhythm again. My hopes for finishing by the end of the year are dashed by this point, but the end is near.

As I understand it, the LOX was close enough to its freezing point that the even colder helium being pumped into the composite tank caused some to freeze between the individual carbon fibers overwrapping it. As the tank came up to pressure, it expanded just slightly, but enough to squeeze the solid oxygen amongst the fibers. Mashing things together with oxygen at high pressure has a rather deleterious effect on their ability to maintain existence, i.e., things exploded. This burst the helium tank, which instantly released high presssure helium into the LOX tank, causing IT to instantly burst and mix with the kerosene as that tank, too, burst. I'm once again gonna take SpaceX at face value, here. They're doing things that have never been done before with this deep cryo stuff. There's going to be a learning curve to figure out what they can and cannot do with it. The same goes for virtually any reactive chemical. If a different fueling procedure is what's needed to avoid the formation of solid O2, why is that such a radical thing?

We were in there for nearly 10 years, longest stretch we've spent anywhere. The amount of stuff coming out is absolutely staggering. Every time I think we're 99% done another 99% pops up. Trouble is, the spigot froze, then broke, so now it won't shut off. Plumber can't get to it till Friday. Put a hose on it and draped it over a bush. Should have a nice ice sculpture by morning.

Crap in boxes. Crap not in boxes. Exotic quantum crap simultaneously in and out of boxes, but also neither. 1600 pounds of crap to the dump alone. Crap that was once looked upon with the words, "I must pay good money for this piece of crap!" Now good money has been paid to send said crap on a barge down to Portland, where the rats no doubt live like kings. Not having any idea what I'm talking about, this all manifested to Val as Münrats that may or may not have actually been there. After wading thru successive layers of once-important crap, I'm seeing exactly how a certain archaeologist-turned-Kerbonaut might just go a little crazy. And tonight I come home to a frozen hose spigot that won't shut off. Yay, home ownership. /rantoff

And again, @Ten Key, you have been indispensable. Chapter 88: Shadows and Mündust (Redux) Valentina's throat was tight and raw as she descended the ladder down to the galley level. It was still down there. Somehow, it was still down there. It would always be down there; some part of it infected this place, permeated every bolt and wire. And not only here. Edmund. It had corrupted her old friend, twisted him... ...the day they went to the anomaly... something changed. I could hear it in Billy's voice, almost... feel it, too... ...and that poor boy Billy... ...there's something else there. Behind the bandages. And like... I can feel it... looking at me... like... it's hungry... Anastasia had been right. Edmund knew something. Edmund knew everything, and with his connections... this thing... for all she knew, the whole world was stained by it. Every person could be like Edmund, now. I could be, too. Maybe I have been, all along. There was no use in going back. She had already accepted this place would be her tomb. A dim light of emotion tugged at her mind, far away. No, not every person. And if one person... maybe more. Valentina Kermanova would not go down without a fight, she would take it down with her. She would find it. Stop it. Kill it, if she could. I am no hero... No, but that makes me... expendable. Sacrifices must me made... There was always... a price... Below layers of fabrics and plastic, the Münstone was throbbing against her skin, pulsing with the same cadence she'd felt not long ago. And all the time, she could hear that incessant, dripping noise. Plip... Plip... Plip... The galley was as empty as the rest of the base, a moment frozen in time. The hatch to the docking tunnels below still sealed tight. Valentina didn't hesitate, she spun the crank around and around until it thunked, and the hatchway creaked open. Below was inky darkness, broken only by the dim glow of emergency lights. The sound grew louder. Plip... Plip... Plip.... Rage, indignation, fear Dibella spurned her on. She slid down the ladder into the node to face it, to deny it, to avenge... ...I am a monster, too. And I am coming for you... Then the terror took her, and immediately, with every fiber of her being and remaining shred of sanity, wished she had not. Everywhere... It was everywhere..! Not the dried, blackened stains of the lab above. Here it was fresh, dripping from the ceiling or oozing down panels with the fetid reek of a slaughterhouse. All over the walls... all over the walls... it was smeared in hideous, arcane symbols that stung Valentina's eyes just to look upon them. The accursed words they spelled out... to know them was surely to know madness. Her face a mask of horror, Valentina staggered backwards from the ladder, deeper into a tunnel. The shadows cast by the dim crimson lights shifted and writhed. She could hear them... scratching at the walls... scuttling in the ducts. Something soft and yielding found its way under her foot with a shrieking squeal, causing her to stumble. Her hand disappeared into one of the shadows, and pain flared. Jerking it back, she saw her own blood oozing from two pairs of tiny teeth marks on the edge of her palm. Deep in the shadows... deeper than where the wall should have been... a pair of beady little eyes gleamed in the meager light. Then another appeared. And another. Something scuffled along the conduits just behind her. Little feet tap-tap-tapped in the darkness. Then the shadows themselves began to change. They shifted and moved, crawling along the walls, slinking along the floors, denying the already feeble light and reaching out for her. Terror sunk into Valentina's spine like a knife. This was no hallucination, no nightmare, this was real and the shadows were reaching for her! With cold dread she realized that everything —everything!— that had led her down here had been crafted to that point. The doubt. The rage. The fear. This... was a trap. As the shadows circled around her ankles, conscious thought, wrath, and despair departed, and were replaced with one, single, base instinct: Survive. She bolted from the tunnel, flew up the ladder. She was nearly out when something seized her foot and yanked her back down. Falling hard against the raised lip of the hatchway, the goo container under suit shattered. Jagged shards of glass dug into her flesh, tearing it open. She kicked back against the threat, but might have been kicking against air. Hand over hand, finding good purchase on the grated flooring, she managed to pull herself from the hole. She braced a foot against the rim, and turned over to find an abomination of inky tentacles slithering ever higher up the leg of her suit, straining to drag her back into the yawning darkness below. Choking back a scream against the flare of pain in her flank, she reached back over her head and grasped the zipper pull of her EVA suit. With one fluid, practiced motion, she bowed her head and folded herself in half as she pulled up on the cord, splitting the back of the suit open and emerging like an insect shedding its skin. She grabbed tight to the floor again, letting the foul thing pull the suit off and down into the hatchway, ripping away water tubes and electrical cords. Beyond the rim, something squealed in anger. With a wordless cry, Valentina threw herself back at the hole, slamming the hatch shut as she landed. She had barely turned the handcrank when something slammed against the other side, but the bolts held. Around and around she spun the handle while an incredible force bashed against it again and again. A blow actually knocked her backward, and she saw huge dents appearing in the thick aluminum surface. Each bang seemed to grow stronger and stronger. A light overhead exploded in sparks. The floor began to buckle. Then a coolant line ruptured, sending a spray of toxic ammonia up into air. Survive. She fled up the ladder to the airlock deck. Reaching the row of spare KSA EVA suits, she threw aside the one with her rock hammer still jutting out of the helmet. And that's when it grabbed her. Looking down, she saw found it gripping her legs, trying to pull itself up or her down. Instinct... only instinct now... She ripped the rock hammer from its gold-tinted faceplate and slammed it down again. Crack! Crack! Crack! Each blow brought a gout of vile black fluid running out of the hole. The empty suit grappled with her a moment more, then became still. She turned to the next one, and now it, too, reached out for her, pawing at her neck from its hanger. Struggling this close, Valentina finally noticed the reflection... There wasn't any. The thing's mask was a featureless golden expanse. She brought the hammer up and drove it down with both hands, shattering the plexiglass and revealing nothing but black nothingness beyond. One by one, the other suits raised their flaccid arms, and reached for her. Valentina staggered backwards, away from the blank-faced horrors. She began retching as the acrid tang of ammonia reached her lungs from the deck below. Her eyes teared up, burning from the fumes. Her wounded flank roared against her. Doubt flooded across her mind. Trapped... She was trapped... No way ou... EDGAS! A memory flashed in her mind, a dim snippet from a dusty report read while half asleep in a broom closet a world away. She sprung to the ladder, pulled herself up hand-over-hand, ignoring the screaming in her side, her feet not even touching the rungs. The lab. She reached the sealed hatch again. All around, the shadows were shifting, slinking. Scratching in the walls. Tiny feet in the ducts. The sounds of deforming metal rang up from below. She spun the handcrank around, threw open the hatch. Forgetting the atrocities sprawled on the walls, Valentina hauled herself upward, ever upward, as the shadows closed in around. One more hatch, and she reached the auxiliary airlock at the very top of the base structure. She slammed it back down, cranked it shut just as something else slammed against it from below. She ignored it, focused all her attention on donning the bright orange rescue suit. The hatch rung like a bell again and again. These suits, mercifully, had no reflective faceplates, and lacked even a proper helmet. She fumbled, trying to work the unfamiliar fittings as quickly as she could in the cramped space. A tiny window in the outer hatch above let in a fleeting glint of sunlight. The floor groaned, something unseen popped and began to hiss. Valentina finished the last seal and tried to find the pressure controls. A dull, metallic ripping filled the room. She glanced down, saw the hatch begin to lift, saw the shadow oozing out of it like blood, reaching for her. No time. She tensed, and slammed an elbow into the glass-covered emergency hatch release. There was a whump, and suddenly even the meager pull of Münar gravity evaporated. Valentina found herself tumbling, flailing. Black and grey and bright flashed across her vision like a deranged kaleidoscope. She screamed, screamed until her lungs were empty then kept on screaming. Falling, drifting, rising. No sensation, only the flashing of the world passing away. Maybe this is the end. Maybe this was what oblivion is like. The impact knocked the air from her lungs despite the pressure of the suit. Pain like she had never known flared brighter than the sun burning at her eyes as her shoulder popped. Not to be forgotten, the rip in her side began wailing ever louder. She bounced, tumbled, landed hard again. Flipped end-over-end across a blur of grey. When she finally stopped, her head was reeling, the pain radiating through her surging her mind back and forth like debris on the ocean, tossed between fainting and thought. Valentina lay sprawled on the surface, just trying to breathe. Each gasp threw a wide patch of fog onto the scratched faceplate of the suit. Can't... breathe... With effort, she sat up. There were no gauges on the suit, no indicators of any kind. Only a few buttons on one wrist. She pawed at them until a feminine, synthesized voice buzzed in her ear: Warning: minor suit breach. Seek shelter. Warning: minor suit breach. Seek shelter. Bones grated in her shoulder, sending hot sparks of pain shooting through the nerves. Dislocated... maybe worse... Her side was still raging. She could feel warm wetness pooling down in the seat of her suit. I'm bleeding to death... And beyond it all, beyond even reason, the shadows now stretched far across the bleak landscape, cast by a sun barely above the horizon. There was no surprise, no horror at such swift motion of the sky on a world that took four days to rotate. Of course the night came too soon, on this world of darkness. Off in the distance, barely a spec, she could see the lander, its metallic skin glinting like a beacon in the dwindling light. I... could still make it... All around, Valentina could see the shadows creeping closer, twisting and roiling. Thousands of beady eyes stared out from them. She could almost... hear... the whispers... Go... Go now... Leave this place and never return... You are not welcome here... Go... while you still can... Survive... but to what end? Could she even survive the return, like this? And even if she did, would there be more like Edmund, waiting for her? Maybe more she knew, maybe even Dib— She winced at the thought. There was still... the Anomaly. She wouldn't need a map to find it. She could feel it, pulsing in time with the rest of this place. Somewhere off over there, a few kilometers. Away from the lander. She tried to move, but pain stole the thin air from her lungs. This flimsy suit... not meant for such a trek... I'd never make it. Again, sunlight glimmered off the lander. It seemed to pull her towards it. I am no hero... Just then, a new whisper floated up from deep within, a whisper of her own voice, so long ago... ...test pilot... ...test pilot... ...test pilot... ...am test pilot. I fly airplane I do not trust, and have no confidence in, to go past edge of envelope and find it so big-head cowboy like you not go too far... ...test pilot... I am a test pilot. I choose to go into the shadows, to seek them out, to find their limits. I ride the ragged edges of understanding. I fly into the dark places in the sky, the places others fear and fear well. I chase the shadows, harry them, scourge them. I drive them out, so that others will not have to know them. I am no hero. I am... a test pilot. There, on the lifeless, ash-colored surface of the Mün, Valentina Kermanova rose. Her face a mask of grim determination, she made her way to the large, tubular rover, her flank cradled in one hand, the other cradling that. The hatch opened. The hatch closed. Gloved fingers moved over unfamiliar controls as if they had always known them. BOOT SEQUENCE: COMPLETE WARNING! ERROR. RTG 1........FAIL RTG 2........FAIL RTG 3........FAIL RTG 4........FAIL SWITCHING TO AUXILIARY SOLAR POWER. WARNING! SOLAR OUTPUT VOLTAGE LOW. BATTERIES 84% The dull whine of the motors that hadn't run in years carried through the structure as the rover trundled off away from the base, towards the distant pulsing in the darkness. The world might already be lost, she might already be dead... and as far as the world knew, she was... but... It didn't want her to go there... that was enough. That's exactly where she would go. *** "What do you think it is, Ed?" "I don't know, son. I do not know." The massive form towered into the dark, starless sky. Directly above, the blue half-circle of Kerbin hung like a cringing eye. Valentina stood before the... thing, trying to comprehend it. "I'm afraid..." It seemed to resist being looked at. Her eyes wanted to slide off, focus on something else. Anything else. "L...lets get the data and get out of here. Ed's right, this thing gives me the creeps." With great effort, she could look at it, but it stung her eyes like looking at the sun. A sun that seemed to radiate darkness, not light. "Hey Billy! You ok? You look like you've seen a ghost." But even that burning was tempered by the cold, mindless dread that crept through her. "I don't like it here." It was terror beyond thought, beyond reason. Beyond the wise fear of the unknown or basal fear of death. "Me neither. Let's just do what we came to do and go." It was beyond even the dawning fear that came with the recognition that everything... everything... had not been to drive her away. "Billy?" Uncertain. It had been to drive her, to scourge her, here. "B...Billy?" Trembling. To the hunter. "Billy?" Pleading. This... all along, this... was the trap. He knew. He knew. And he knew it was already too late. It was the feeling from a nightmare, right before the monster gets you. Valentina Kermanova screamed. And screamed. And screamed. It came forward. Greasy, invading tendrils of shadow slithered across the surface of her mind. Searching for any fissure, any weakness, they pried against it like a besieging army. And beyond that, beyond the presence... beyond the nothing... Fuzzy and indistinct, as if through frosted glass; visions of such unspeakable horror, of such suffering and torment that for any mortal mind to behold them plain would destroy it past any vain concept of mere madness. Visions, from which not even death would bring release. And beyond them, beyond the chaos, beyond the hells, beyond the Kraken, waiting in the darkness... She saw. As she knelt there before the object, her face twisted in agony, Valentina's own hands rose to pluck the eyes from her face, but found only the thin plastic faceplate. She knew, somehow, she knew, with the shadows pressing at her mind, that sooner or later they would find a crack, and the instant, the very instant they touched her consciousness, that screen would be shattered, the visions would be laid bare, and there was nothing... nothing at all she could— The Münstone thrummed against her skin, and suddenly Chadvey's voice floated up through the maelstrom. The shock of hearing it, devoid of any trace of its familiar mirth, cut through her paralysis like a knife. "Run, lass," it whispered, "you are not strong here." "Run!" Still struggling against the thing's overwhelming force, Valentina jerked her arm, sending a bright jolt of pain through her and finishing what the whisper started. She jumped up, filaments of shadow yet scratching at her mind. Wobbling, stumbling, she managed to find the rover again. With a leap she threw herself inside, jamming the controls forward without bothering with the hatch. The big rover lurched forward, away from the accursed thing. She could hear it, feel it within her head, howling with rage. She saw. She saw. Someone else had to know. The rover sailed over a ledge, landing hard but level, and the invasion winked out as quickly as it had begun. Now the shadows themselves redoubled their efforts. The sun was just barely hanging over the rim of the crater as she skidded down into it. All around, from every outcropping and boulder, the shadows swarmed. She could see them, she could see them, now. No longer scratching feet and beady eyes, but risen nightmares with claws and teeth. They churned in the darkness, waiting their moment to strike. WARNING...WARNING...WARNING SOLAR VOLTAGE BELOW THRESHOLD, BATTERIES 23% Valentina ignored the alert, focused on keeping the rover out of the shadows. Every time it passed near the lee of a ridge or depression, they reached out for it. She saw. And she knew that more than ever, they could not let her leave. BATTERIES 19% She bounced along in hollow silence, sliding this way and that as the wheels threw rooster tails of grey dust high above the ground. BATTERIES 15% The gathering shadows charged down from the lip of the crater. The sun sank ever lower, or perhaps they were reaching up for it, too. BATTERIES 11% Distracted by the roiling horde, she failed to see she had already come upon the base again. With a grunt she jerked the controls right, but not before the rover hit a bump and went sailing off the ground, narrowly missing one of the spent lander stages but smashing off its solar panel. BATTERIES 7%, DRIVE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT Not far from where she'd started, the rover finally slowed to a halt. She was out of the hatch an instant before the looming shadow of the base structure swallowed it. Far away, so far away, the metal skin of her own lander still glinted in the fading light. Valentina loped toward it, stumbling, moving awkwardly in the minuscule gravity even with the lightweight suit. Lightweight..? She paused on a knoll, shadows surrounding her, closing in like an iris. The next lit spot was a dozen meters away. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she put her feet together and jumped with all she had. With only a tiny, simple rebreather instead of the bulky life support pack of the EVA suit, she sailed high into the airless sky. Tumbling, she somehow managed to find her feet just before coming down once more in the other shrinking patch of grey. Pain flared, but she pushed back against it, used it to jump even farther this time. Like this, she flew from one vanishing island of light to the next, never stopping, never slowing, as the shadows licked at her heels. They roiled beneath her, reached out in vain as she hurtled past. With one final grunt she landed on the wide, flat tank of the lander. She skidded, slipped, caught the hatchway with her good arm and used it as a pivot to swing herself around and back inside. Once more, she swung the hatch shut just as something slammed against it. Breakers on, valves open, guidance override to ABORT. Fuels mixed and the engine ignited. As the last traces of pale soil beneath it disappeared, the lander rose off the ground. But only a couple of meters. Valentina looked in the landing window, and saw thick, slimy tentacles of shadow entwining the landing gear, straining against the blistering engine, trying to drag the lander back down into darkness. Slowly, they were reaching higher. She squeezed her eyes shut, I saw, and flipped open a cover, "not today..." "Today, I live." Explosive bolts fired, severing the landing legs. The lander rocketed up out of the abyss, arcing into the airless sky, and back into the light. I saw... I know... someone else must, too.

War! UH! Good Kerm, y'all! What is it good for? Advancing the plot! Extra credit for NOT following the trope and having vehicles made of explodium. but what about this bit? Protecting the snoozing fellow from the local wildlife?

Psst... keep way from open flame. Oh the Kermanity! Dangit... now where's that heat shield with the built in legs from?? Man, you got all the cool obscure mods!

So I'm seeing SpaceX catch a lot of flak from armchair rocket scientists for not having unequivocally, absolutely nailed down the cause of the problem. Under the circumstances, is it even possible to do so?

Cool, thanx! I knew I remembered them from somewhere but I couldn't think of where.

Wedge tank mod name plz

Hmm, must be a Sigma Dimensions thing. IIRC the KSC was still fairly close to the water in my 0.25 6.4x game. If you want an extra challenge, it is possible to move KSC off the equator entirely.

RTF is apparently on for December 16! http://investor.iridium.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1001684

That's 6.4 scale, right? Did you move KSC?

It's the SD cfg you cooked up here... Can confirm, bumpiness is considerably bumpier. And also, 10km mountains.

Yesterday, I messed around and made a turboprop-powered missile carrier absolutely not intentionally modelled after a certain ursidaenly-named strategic bomber: So... um... anybody know the number for AAA?

"I can land this thing, even with a block in my face!" "Didn't need that tail anyway..." "That'll buff out..." "I'll pay for that..." "...I'm off flight duty now, aren't I?"

Looks like a bug, but if his APA is over 22km, you can still pull it off with very careful timing.

Really dying to see how you're going to wrap this up, seeing as how the "sequel" was begun before you were even halfway thru.

@vsully you do have to use an outside image hosting service, I'm afraid. The forum software does support forum-based images, but the hosting its self isn't enabled (that kind of bandwidth & storage gets expensive, fast). Imgur is one of the more popular hosting services and pretty easy to use, just stay away from usersub. Especially at night.

In our last *snicker* thrilling episode, four Kerbals schlepped all over Duna, became six Kerbals, now finally get to go home. Having made it to orbit in a ship built mostly muchly sort of from bits found lying by the side of the road trail dirt they happen to be going past, first it's up to Mito Kerman once again to do her engineer thing. While the engineer I actually brought along for this sort of thing continues to lounge in the back & hog the snacks... Whatisname Kerman. And because it somehow wound up in the que, here's my anemone...