CatastrophicFailure

Of course, this is where I run out of likes for the day.

OCISLY: Suddenly, a rocket!

Doug (or is that Bob?) just sitting there with his hands steepled like he’s watching a not particularly interesting news story....

GO!GO!GO!

Failed again, you could even say, after that fire a few days ago, both incidents apparently from pipes coming loose.

Looking at the debris, it’s actually kind of encouraging, maybe. Except for one spot that I see, which doesn’t look like part of the pressure vessel, the base metal failed without any apparent regard to the welds. It’s all ripped to shreds but the welds still held, and that’s a sign of a proper weld. Now if they could just fix the whole “GSE leaking fuel and now crap’s on fire yo” part. And simply because EXPLOSION! !: oooooh... aaaahhhh... Also, there goes their deposit...

Man, they couldn’t‘ve scripted that exchange any better. that’ll buff out...

Competition is good, and BO’s overall strategy of “make haste slowly” is also quite complementary to SpaceX’s “test hard, fail hard, test again.” Both approaches have their merits. As @tater once amusingly said, BO’s secrecy sometimes makes it hard to be a fanboy, for all we know they could have a backlog of completed rockets in the back of the factory just waiting on the launch complex to be finished, but New Glenn will be a danged impressive rocket to see. Let’s save the “us vs them” for the proper target: Boeing.

Well... Starship has officially launched its first payload at least...

So it would seem. Except not perhaps the right kinda show...

This reminds me, Scott Manley had a very quick bit in his vid about Virgin’s not-going-to-space-today launch, SpaceX has a launch manifested for next April that’s going into a zero-degree, equatorial orbit. That means one great big L of a dogleg over the equator. The mission, IXPE, was originally slated for a Pegasus launch, so it’s just a tiny little thing, but we all know how well that’s been working lately. Tho the fact that SpaceX is price-competitive with a dedicated smallsat launch platform...

Oh cool, they got it mounted. I think linking directly from NSF is discouraged, but they've been watching that big thing which is a couple of welded-up stainless steel rolls, probably for ballast for the hop.

Called it.

Lets hope it wasn’t Thunderstruck.

Elon has trouble getting Elon to say anything useful.

Does it have a Tower? This sounds like it needs a Tower. Oh, and Beams...

Hope the swelling goes down. Really should see a doctor, looks like a nasty glandular condition there...

I’m taking the day off too, if only because I’d already picked it months ago and they just happen to be launching. Hopefully. Personally, I think it’s gonna be a scrub, but the question is, would you rather have a day off for day off stuff that doesn’t involve a rocket launch, or miss possibly the biggest spaceflight event of the last ten years?

I’ll do ya one better...

@tater you poor man. —break— ..just a reminder that this exists...

This thread is not dead. Special thanks once again to @KSK for putting up with me. Behold, he comes! His footfalls shake the root of Nations, And before him lay broken crowns! His price is blood, and his debt is flesh, He shall strike the hands from their wrists, And pluck the eyes from their faces. Chapter 44: Falling Down Dibella Kermanov closed the door behind her with a soft click. She carefully picked her way across the polished marble floor in stocking feet, her eyes exhausted yet wide, tinged with red above and dark bags below. With an unsteady sway, she settled onto the couch, reached past the tea to the other bottle, and took a heady swig before trading it for her cup and saucer and nearly collapsing back into the cushions. Valentina laid a hand on her arm, “are you... all right?” The tea disappeared in a single loud gulp, “I have never seen anything like it. And I have seen... terrible things...” Off in the corner, Edgas pushed a broom across the floor with the blank expression of one engaged in a Sisyphean labor because one simply does not know what else to do. The scattering o broken bits ahead merely shifted from one place to another. "And how is... she?" Valentina asked softly. "Still sleeping," Dibella shook her head, "Burdous is in watching over her now." "We were," Dibella swallowed hard, "we were just sitting... reading... not saying much, save to compare a line of text here or there. I noticed her start to grow... anxious, not a thing I would ever expect of such a kerbelle. But, perfectly understandable, under the circumstances, I told myself. But then she became agitated pacing back and forth and mumbling to herself. I tried to ask but it was like I wasn't there. And then, all at once..." Dibella reached again and took another long gulp, "all at once she just started screaming. Wailing. She was inconsolable! I tried to calm her but she shoved me away like nothing. Then... then... things started flying off the walls, and then the walls started flying off the walls, and then this couch came through the wall, and I thought the whole building was going to come down right on top of us! I don't know how long it went on, but somehow I had the presence of mind to get the Darnitol™ from the medicine cabinet, and managed to get her to take a sip of tea after I'd dumped the whole bottle in. It was... barely enough to calm her, and she just sat there on the floor, weeping." Her cup empty, Dibella looked between it and the bottle, but in the end just poured herself more tea, "it was... agonizing to watch, I cannot imagine what it must have been like to..." she grabbed her own elbows, and just shuddered. Off in his corner, Edgas apparently decided his pile was as large as it could be, and began gathering another with the long broom. "It is true, then," she said, not looking up, "Roland... Roland is..." Valentina shuffled around, wrapping an arm around her old friend's shoulder, "Roland has... moved on, as I think he would have wanted. He stood and was true, but... I was not fast enough to see what was coming." Peering up from her arms, Dibella offered a wan smile, "you cannot blame yourself, not at all. Even with what little I have known of that kerb, any other who could best him is dangerous indeed," she regarded her friend for a moment, "yes, I think you are the entire reason anyone made it back at all, and our adversaries were denied their prize, and that is what matters most.” Her eyes wandered to the wobbly end-table, "is... is that it?" Edgas made an annoyed grunt from across the room. He trundled over, took the gilded scepter from its resting place and handed it to Dibella. She stared at it a long while before speaking, “so much trouble... so many lives... for this...” A soft click drew their attention, and the three turned to find the Empress coming forth, Burdous supporting her by her elbow, looking worried. Her face was calm and assured, as unreadable as stone. The gold and diamond tiara on her head was set just so, and the thick, pale braid upon her shoulder was neat and even, but the rest her hair and makeup gave subtle tells of being hastily put back in order, the red around her eyes not quite hidden. She approached the group, pausing a moment to smooth her voluminous skirts, before fixing each one in turn with her eyes, finally landing on Dibella. “I must beg your pardon,” the slightest bow of her head, “the emotional flow of the Bond is very strong. When it is severed, the results are unpredictable, but always... severe.” Valentina’s ears pricked up, “Bond?” The slightest wave of a hand, “another time. But you have retrieved the scepter?” “Er, yes, Majesty,” Dibella took it up, and with a far more severe bow, proffered it with both hands. The Empress took it with a nod, her eyes casting over the shining gold, gleaming jewels, and impossibly intricate engravings and filigrees adorning every centimeter. And then, casually tossed it onto the floor. A few more jewels went clattering off across the marble to join various piles of debris. Four mouths fell open in unison. But then, as the eyes above those mouths watched, the little island of space on the floor debris surrounding the scepter suddenly grew wider. “Stand back,” the Empress cautioned, her eyes fixed upon the golden shaft, “I am not strong in Earth, this will... take some effort.” She produced an unremarkable, dull-colored ring, slipping it on the first finger of her left hand and then touching it to the blue münstone around her neck. For a time... a long, uncomfortable time... nothing at all seemed to happen. The Empress stared down at the scepter, her brow creased in concentration, her eyes making subtle little motions as if she were seeing something no one else could. Edgas had just cleared his throat and looked about to speak, when a tiny jewel pinged from its setting and skittered off across the floor. Another followed, and then another, and more simply fell down onto the marble. The delicate gold filigrees softened and grew indistinct, and then the entire scepter wilted to the tile. It began to take on a dim, ruddy hue... and all at once kilograms and kilograms of solid gold simply became liquid, and spread out in a gleaming, shimmering puddle of wealth. The marble beneath let out a loud crack in protest. Almost unnoticed, the Empress gasped and stumbled, and for a moment Valentina thought she might collapse, but then her eyes grew wide and alert, fixated on what now lay in the golden pool. Her face edging on something like awe, the Empress reached out a hand, only to snatch it right back. “No,” she said softly, “I should not even touch it. One of you, perhaps...” “Us?!” Edgas snapped, “that thing must be burning hot still!” The icy edge returned to her face, “I assure you, it is not.” Valentina grunted and rolled her eyes, “ugh, here...” She reached down, her own hand hesitant, but the puddle already dull and still. She tapped the object once... tapped it again, then picked it up with the smallest effort and a faint click. She... expected... something. After everything, she thought there might be... a brilliant sunbeam shining from a break in the clouds? Subtle, otherworldly music as the entire world paused in awe? Or just some chubby wingéd creatures playing horns? Yet, she felt nothing unusual, except perhaps the faint taste of blue in her ears. It... wasn’t really much to look at, either, though there was a certain beauty to its simplicity. The Staff in her hand was maybe half a meter long, utterly featureless, and of such pure white Valentina could not tell if it was just that white or maybe glowing slightly. One end was a couple of centimeters wide, tapering along its entire length to a sharp point, so that it was more a very long cone than a rod. She flipped it around to gaze at that point. For a moment she thought of testing it with a gentle finger, and then thought again. “Whoah,” Burdous breathed next to her, his eyes wide, “why do I get the funny feeling that if you looked at that thing under an electron microscope, the tip would be only a single atom wide?” “Far less than that,” the Empress intoned, “the Power can manipulate the physical in ways you have not yet glimpsed.” “Whooooah...” Edgas peered closer, “hm... Looks dangerous. You could put someone’s eye out with that thing.” “Good point, here—“ Burdous grabbed the Staff with one hand, an apple from the obligatory fruit bowl on an end table in the other, and— Schluck. The already still room dropped into dead silence. Dust motes hung in a sunbeam through the window. Dibella’s hand rose slowly to her mouth. Burdous’s expression didn’t change much, the same squiggly little smile, his wide eyes perhaps a bit wider, and... not quite looking in the same direction. More so than usual. Slightly. The silence was soon broken by a shrill keening from deep in the back of his throat. It rose in urgency, dropped, settled into a lilting melody that was quite undecipherable as cry or laugh. One foot began to stamp at the floor. And still, his expression never changed. Much. Valentina raised a tired hand to her face, “PЦҬЇИS ДGЭD ԠЏԠ ДИD ДLL ЊԐЯ ЩДҪԞҰ ИЄPӉԐШS, hold still.” Schlorch. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” “Quit squirming, you are getting it all over—here, hold this.” “Ew...” “Guh, you missed bones but hit artery, bleeding like stuck pig now. I will have have to sew this, but first, come over to fireplace, need red-hot poker.” Whine. The Empress clicked her tongue and seized Burdous’s chin with a hand, “you ignorant, fool of a kerb!” A moment later Burdous’s entire body went rigid, his face snapping up to the ceiling and sweat breaking out on his brow. As quickly as it came on, it passed. “Whoah. That’s hot,” he muttered as he stood there, wobbling just slightly. His eyes popped wider as he brought his hand up and flexed it before them. Then he looked around, wiped it on the couch, and looked at it some more. “Cool, I’ve got a scar!” he held his open palm up to Edgas, “check it out, we’ve got matching scars! We’re scar-bros!” He thought a moment, “we should go to the fair.” Edgas just looked at him. Burdous frowned back, hand still raised, “don’t leave me hanging, bro.” Edgas raised a hand... to his face. Instead, the Empress snatched Burdous’s hand down, chiding him, “you must be more careful with yourself, the Staff is no mere toy,” she began mounting the stairs and half-turned to the others, “now, let us retire to the library, Lady Dibella has had some unexpected insights on the location of the Genesis Stone—“ Burdous’s head snapped around, “Lady?!” Dibella actually blushed. The Empress waved it away, “her... unique experience grants her a much different perspective than I. Now come, we must arrange passage to the Mün—“ “The Mün?! The Mün?!?” Edgas set down the Staff and bounded after her, “have you lost your tiara’d mind?” “Edgas!” snapped Dibella. He didn’t seem to notice, “we barely got away from the museum, someone died back there!” “I am aware,” the Empress said, and the room seemed to grow cold. “The whole world’s going down in a handbasket, and you wanna go jaunting off to the Mün?!?” “Um, guys...” “I think you are letting your own experience cloud your judgement.” “Guys...” “You’re damn right I am! Going there cost me two friends already!” “Guys...” “We cannot allow fear or circumstance to jeopardize our mission, you of all people should understand what is—“ “What good is our mission if it gets us all killed?!” “GUYS!” “What?!” Edgas spun to Burdous. He pointed to the wall-screen, “look!” [...sure there is no radiation threat to the environment? No, we are still investigating that, what I am saying is that we have not, to this point, detected any traces of radioactive fission products, which points us to some sort of pure fusion device. So then it was a... hydrogen bomb? No, not hydrogen. This was something new, something even our top minds have never seen before, something that was thought technologically impossible. Instead of hydrogen, this device used nitrogen and oxygen as fuel sources. Could such technology be scaled up, then, to create even more powerful weapons than the one used in Kleptogart several weeks ago? That is possible, but I think the bigger concern here is that this device was able to be transported by a single individual, or a small team, in an ordinary kar, and completely undetectable due to its lack of a fission primary. More of these devices proliferating unchecked is, I think, far more terrifying. Mr. Commissioner! Mr. Commissioner! Yes, you there? Grimbal Kermanev, KMRD-TV, are you then saying this incident was some kind of act of... terror? I think the choice of target could only have been meant to send a message, but I stress the investigation remains ongoing. Mr. Commissioner! Mr. Commissioner! Yes, you? Chadwick Kerman, Newsday.com, Mr. Commissioner, do you have any response to the growing number of posts on social media calling the bombers, quote, “heroes and patriots?” I’ll have to refer you to the politicians on that, I’m just a cop. What about rumors that they may have been sponsored by Omorkian intelligence? Once again, that kind of question is above my pay grade. Ladies and gentlekerbs, I’m going to have to bring this to a close, you all now know almost as much as we do, but I will reiterate the most important part: we are seeking any information on these three kerbals: an Omorkian national, his Kleptogarti accomplice, and an unknown kerbelle. A fourth conspirator may have been killed in the blast, but these three suspects remain at large. They are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous, if you encounter them do not confront them, call the FSB immediately. This was the scene just moments ago outside Kernobyl where Chief Commissioner Dmitri Kerman of the Federal Security Bureau wrapped up the day’s press briefing following the horrific incident at the Imperial History Museum. We are now returning you to the developing situation in Kermangrad, where a few protesters this morning have swelled into an angry crowd completely surrounding the Omorkian Embassy, but we’re going to leave those pictures up in the corner of your screen. If you have any information on these suspects, please call or text...] Edgas spun around, “well that’s just great, now we’re wanted fugitives!” “Edgas!” Dibella snapped back at him. The Empress’s face remained calm as stone, “our time is even shorter than I feared. Come, we must make arrangements.” She hurried up the stairs. “Arrangements? Really?!” Edgas followed, “we might’ve just started a war! Not like we can just click over to Münshots.com for some first-class tickets now! “Edgas!” Dibella grabbed his shoulder, “control yourself!” “No, he has a point,” Valentina broke in, “whatever that is, we cannot travel openly now.” “Um, guys...” “Just the idea is crazy! We can’t go back to the Mün, someone’ll die up there, or worse!” “Our research is not yet complete,” the Empress eyed him, “but we must begin moving now.” “Um... guys...” “It... does seem a bit extreme, Majesty,” Dibella offered hesitantly, “traveling in deep space is not exactly... routine, even if it is accessible.” “It’s insanity!” Edgas kept screaming, “something stinks about this whole mess.” “Guys...” “Our options are rapidly closing,” the Empress shot back, “we must find the Stone before the door is shut.” “At least, we cannot stay here,” plead Valentina, “before we can think of the Mün we must regroup.” Edgas roared at her, “whose side are you on, anyway?!” “We are on same side,” she clapped her hands to his cheeks, “what is with you?” “Guys!” He slapped them away, “and then what? Where do we have to go for this other thing, the sun?!.” “Calm yourself, Edgas Kerman.” “Wait, I know, next you’ll tell us it’ll be fine as long as we go at night!” “GUYS!” “WWWHHHAAATTT???????” Burdous pointed out the window, “is... is that a tank?” In answer, there was a flash, and the roof overhead exploded. Glass and metal and heavy wooden beams crashed down to the floor far below, smashing the far staircase to splinters. Flaming bits of debris fell all around the group and they, too hit the carpeted floor of the landing. Valentina forced herself to her knees, squinting in the dust, trying to pick some useful sound from the ringing in her ears. An instant later, the front door exploded too. Now a thick black mass flooded in from outside, screaming and wailing, firing guns as they came. The Children of the Kraken. “Run,” Valentina gagged, tried to draw air into her lungs, “RUN!” She grabbed whoever was beside her and shoved them ahead of her down the hallway... only to snatch them back again at the last moment when the hall disintegrated into splinters and fire. She pulled them back down to the floor with her beneath flaming tendrils that spread out across the ceiling as if hunting. “Back, the other way!” she barely managed to croak. But when she stumbled back to the head of the stairs, she found only the teeming black hoard surging up towards her. There was no thought, only motion, as if her body moved unbidden. She leapt and scrambled up a high statue, wedged herself between it and the wall, and shoved back with all the force her small frame could muster. The statue toppled and she went with it, landing smoothly on the carpet while it slammed into the stairs and began rolling down them. Heavy bronze met flesh and bone below with predicable results. Valentina seized the Empress, who seemed on the edge of panic beneath her serene face, “where we go? Is there another way out? Another exit?” The Empress’s eyes darted back and forth, unseeing. She squeezed them shut, shook her head, “the Grail Room.” Then with more strength, “the Grail Room!” Valentina nodded, glanced around to make sure everyone was now standing. She had taken a single step toward the far hall when the ringing in her ears was chased away by a new noise. The entire building began to shake, weakened by fire and explosions, but now also from the pounding exhaust of the massive black VTOL that slewed into position above the gaping hole in the roof. At once, a dozen lines dropped from its belly, and more Children slid down into the chaos. One took notice of the group, pirouetted on its rope and flung itself sideways, making a hard 3-point landing directly in front of them, blocking the far hall. Slowly, ever so slowly, it raised its head. It fixed them with an eyeless gaze beneath a bulbous helmet. Only its mouth exposed, lips so scarred and ragged they could not fully close pulled back from jagged shark-teeth. It opened its mouth and hissed, a bare stump of a tongue just visible, and raised a submachine gun. Once again, there was no thought, only motion. Valentina took two quick steps, hopped up to a suit of armor, grabbed the axe from its gauntlet, spun around and— Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-THWOCK! Ack. Thud. “Holey—“ Burdous gaped at the now-unmoving shape on the floor, “when did you take a level in Bad-S?” “Probably about when I died, come on!” Valentina half dragged, half shoved the group forward while the slithering, screeching mass crested the stairs. The Empress hesitated, “wait... the Staff!” Valentina spared a quick glance below, and found the spot where it had been an undulating black mass, “too late!” Bullets whizzed just over her head, all around them the walls began to splinter and crack. As they fled down the hall, every room they passed to their left exploded into fire and carnage, and every one to their right was overwhelmed by a teeming mass of dark-cladded bodies pouring in through shattered windows. “In here!” she skidded around a corner, threw someone stumbling across the room. As soon as they were in, the Empress waved a hand at the towering doors. They crashed shut with an ear-splitting noise that didn’t quite mask the crunch of one Child caught between them. An instant later, four massive oaken beams, each as thick as a Kerbal, slammed down into place. Wham! Wham! Wham! WHAM! The four stood there, panting, collapsed or doubled over and staring at the doors. “Is... is everyone here?” Valentina managed, “is everyone all right?” Mumbles and vague assents answered her. But before she could shift her mind to whatever came next, a new sound arose from the far side of the door. A sound that, somehow, gave her images of a thousand ravenous hammers. “You’ve got to be kidding me...” Edgas huffed, “they’re going to shoot through the door!” “The window!” Valentina sprang up, but dove for cover a moment later as the high stained glass window also exploded, bullets tearing into the ceiling and far wall. “Cannot go that way,” she gasped. Her eyes shot around the room, every wall covered in shelves full of who-knows-what, but... “no way out.” She charged to one wall, snatched the Dagger That Never Dulls, and began stabbing it against the surface as madness threatened to overtake her. A moment, a year later, Edgas came and gently took it away. She shook her head at the small chips in the plaster, “solid stone.” Exhaustion chased away the madness as she stepped to the Empress, “is there another way out? Anything at all?” The Empress only shook her head. The cracking of wood and showers of splinters drew their attention. At first very small, but growing ever wider before their eyes a hole began to open up in one massive door. More shells tore through it, sending the group scrambling once again, and effectively cutting the room in two with a lead curtain. The hole grew wider. “Do something!” Edgas seized the Empress’s shoulders, “do something!” “Hey!” “And what would you have me do?” her cool eyes fixed him. “I don’t know, you’re the sourceress! Throw fireballs, summon ice shards!” “I can’t.” “Why??” She looked at him, something edging in her voice, “because I don’t know how!” The gunfire abruptly ceased, leaving weak beams of sunlight from the shattered window hanging in the dust. A helmeted head squeezed through the ragged hole in the door, scanning around the room until it found them. It let loose an ear-splitting shriek that grew and grew in intensity as it struggled unsuccessfully to squeeze its shoulders through. In rage and frustration, it bit down hard on the wood, whipping around and tearing loose splinters and teeth. Then it disappeared, and the gunfire resumed. “That will not hold them much longer,” Valentina stepped in front of the others, taking the Dagger from Edgas, “find something to defend yourselves.” Even this, she looked at the gleaming blade in her hand, will be little use against that. Then Valentina heard Burdous cry out, “no!” and turned to see the Empress charge into the hail of bullets. A crimson spray erupted from one shoulder, staining the far wall, and with a ping loud enough to hear over the din her tiara flew from her head in prices. Yet as if feeling nothing, she grabbed something from the far shelf and dove back through the maelstrom to the others. Pausing only to wipe the blood from her eye, the Empress concentrated very hard on an empty patch of space in the middle of room, cradling something in her other hand Valentina could not quite see. Then before her eyes, light burst forth from empty space. The single brilliant point hung there for only a moment before stretching out into a glowing shaft. It seemed to rotate about its own axis, gaining width, and sort of... shimmered, into a bright hole in the air itself. “Jump through!” the Empress cried out, gathering up her voluminous skirts, “and whatever you do, don’t touch the edge!” She jumped, and as if in demonstration, anywhere those bits of fabric touched that rippling edge, they were shorn off with the most peculiar noise, falling to the floor while she... disappeared. Screaming rising above the staccato ring of gunshots jarred the others from their stunned stares. Dibella glanced back toward the doors, “can’t be any worse than here.” She slapped Burdous upside the head, “into the garbage shoot, flyboy!” and jumped. “Hey, that’s my line!” he followed. Edgas gawked a moment more before shaking his head, “more like into the fire.” He jumped. Valentina tensed... then, not quite knowing why, she charged into the torrent of bullets. She heard them whizz by her head, felt them flick her hair, but reached the shelf, snatched the Holey Grail, spun around and threw it back through hole in the door. Almost at once, the screaming on the far side became... much more frantic. She wasted no more time, and dove through the other hole. It slammed into her like a sledgehammer. Air so thick and muggy that for an moment she thought she was suffocating. Sweat instantly broke out on her forehead from tropical heat, and she stumbled forward on something soft and yielding. Her brain struggled to comprehend the bizarre mix of signals her senses poured into it. The look of terror on Edgas’s face barely cut through it. “Behind you!” Again she turned, to find a bloodied Child loping through the void they’d just come through. It snarled and raised its rifle. Once more motion simply came, and to her own horror she found herself reaching for the rifle barrel. There was a sound, she felt like she’d been punched, yet she somehow managed to use the leverage of her smaller stature to twist and push, catching the Child off balance and making him stumble backwards. He fell, there was an awful wet noise that turned her stomach, and the snarling abruptly ceased. “Close it!” Valentina spun to the Empress, “whatever you did, un-do it!” The Empress nodded, did... something, and the glowing hole in the air reversed as it had grown, then winked out to nothing. Valentina stood there, panting, staring at where it had been. She raised the rifle still in her hand, which somehow felt lighter. It just sort of... stopped, about halfway along its length. Where it was not, she could clearly see the inner workings— those which hadn’t fallen out onto the ground— even the cordite powder trickling out from cartridges in the magazine. Everywhere the metal ended, it gleamed in the peculiar light, as if polished to a mirror shine. She threw the rifle down, tried not to look at what was there next to it, and hoped that was the source of the growing feeling of wrongness sweeping over her. Valentina turned to the others, her breathing growing shallow but not slowing. They stared back from three masks of horror. “Your arm...” She raised her arms... but only one hand appeared before her eyes. Somewhere, there was an awful grating sensation, and pain, but it belonged to someone else, a thousand lightyears away. The sweat on her brow grew icy, and the vague awareness came that she was going into shock. I will pass out now... As shadows began to dance around her vision, the Empress came forward, and clapped hands to her cheeks. “The bone is shattered... but, the pieces are there... mostly,” she said softly, her eyes making little motions, “I can Heal this...” An instant later every muscle in Valentina’s body seemed to snap taught at once, as white-hot fire coursed along her nerves. She cried out in a loud voice, but as quickly as it came, it ended. The two kerbelles stood there, staring at each other, panting in the humid night air. Then Valentina sat down hard, and the Empress collapsed. “No!” Burdous rushed over to her, while Edgas knelt by Valentina. “You... alright?” She held up her other hand before her face, flexed it a few times. It felt weak and tingly, as if she’d been sleeping on it, but it seemed to follow her command. She nodded a vague assent. Edgas turned, “how is she?” “It’s... not that bad... I think,” Burdous answered, “she’s just fainted.” “Good... good...” Edgas plopped down himself, a familiar and, somehow comforting, look of overwhelmed-ness washing over his face, “which leaves the bigger question...” His eyes turned skyward, where an enormous planet, cast in red and blue, green and white, hung before angry, roiling crimson clouds in an alien sky. “Where the hells are we?”

Have a source on that? Not to challenge but I’d always heard Mercury was stuck wherever the Atlas left it, until return time.

Wait, what? I thought the whole Atlas booster wound up in orbit, as Mercury capsules had no way of adjusting their own orbit (other than solid retros for deorbiting), only attitude control?

This might have gotten buried back up-thread, but interesting read here about Crew Dragon’s abort modes. There’s actually eight of them, one on the pad and seven in flight, some of which involve retrograde burns of the SuperDracos in order to hit a certain splashdown target, and especially later in flight need the SD’s to be very precise for the same targets, it’s not all just “burn like hells til the tanks are empty.” And yes, there’s even a short abort-to-orbit window. That kind of control even in an abort is one advantage of liquid engines I suppose.