KSK

Well apart from helping to turn this story around - not a lot really. And all critiques of forthcoming chapters (or indeed, this one) will be more than welcome. @superstrijder15 - thanks for the kind words and all I can say at this point is - hang on to your hat...

I doubt it'll fail. It might get a bit slower, unless Squad or TakeTwo pay whatever surcharge is needed to ensure that traffic to the site is prioritised*. Although it's not a terribly data heavy site anyway so we might not notice a slowdown anyway. *That might be one small benefit of KSP being owned by a deep-pocketed publisher.

Oh - now this is getting interesting. I like the writing and I like this particular take on the Original Three. Looking forward to more!

Next chapter is up. With special thanks to @CatastrophicFailure ,and especially to @Ten Key, for all the polishing. Instincts “Tell Jonton that I’ll be over as soon as I can.” “Of course I will,” said Patbro. “Come on, Joenie - the sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be there.” He nodded at Meleny in unspoken gratitude, raised his hand in farewell to a solemn Adbas and led the way down the path. Silently, Meleny and Adbas watched them go. As soon as they were out of earshot, Joenie tugged on Patbro’s hand. “Is my mum dead?” Patbro glanced down at her. “No,” he said carefully. “She’s not dead…” “I saw you look at Meleny,” Joenie said. “It was one of those looks grown-ups use when they don’t want to lie but they think telling the truth will be too scary.” She scowled. “I hate it when grown-ups do that.” “She’s still breathing,” said Patbro, “I wasn’t lying to you, Joenie, your mum isn’t dead. I don’t even know what really happened - I didn’t get a chance to speak to your dad before he sent me to get you - but Enely said there’d been an accident with her Kerm.” “Was it a bad accident?” Joenie’s voice quivered. “I don’t know, Joenie.” Patbro ground his teeth in frustration but managed to keep his voice level. “I just don’t know.” A bitefly landed on Patbro’s arm and he slapped it away. Joenie carried on walking, face scrunched up in thought. “Mummy might be asleep,” she said. “Like Daddy was when his Kerm got black spots.” She trembled, eyes brimming. “It was horrible. Daddy kept screaming. I tried to fight the tree for him but I was only little and couldn’t do anything. Then daddy fell asleep for three days and when he woke up he wasn’t the same any more. Mummy used to shout at him a lot, then she took me away to stay in her house with her Kerm. She used to talk to it a lot but she never screamed.” Joenie sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, then blushed and turned her face away. Patbro pretended not to notice as she carried on talking. “I think Daddy started getting better after my birthday. Maybe the butterflies helped. He was always talking to his Kerm - Mummy said he was part of the Kerm, helping it to look after the Grove but I didn’t know what she meant. One day, daddy told me all about it, how he had arms and legs and branches and roots and leaves.” Joenie giggled and she put her hand in front of her mouth. “Daddy told me that the beetles tickled him. He talked to me in my head and showed me the worms chasing each other.” Patbro smiled. “You’re lucky”, he said. “I can’t talk to my Kerm the way you used to talk to your dad. All I get see is a big mess of everything in the soil all jumbled up together.” Joenie nodded. “I haven’t asked Elton to teach me about the soil animals,” she confided. “Elton’s nice but he’s a bit scary too, like Grandpa. I don’t think he wants to talk to kerblets very much.” Patbro opened the passenger door on his truck before walking round the other side and climbing in behind the wheel. He checked that Joenie had her seatbelt on before looking all around and pulling away. “I think Elton does want to talk to you,” he said. “I think he’d like that very much.” Joenie looked at him through narrowed eyes but Patbro’s expression was quite serious. “Leave it a little while though, Joenie. Elton’s worried about your mum too and might not want to talk to you right now.” He started the motor and pulled onto the road. —————— The truck stopped opposite Gerselle’s hut and Patbro climbed out. The few small Kerm branches visible above the roofline swayed and rustled despite the lack of breeze and Patbro stared at them uneasily. Then the creak of passenger door opening and sudden patter of footsteps drove all other thoughts from his mind. “Joenie - wait!” Joenie stumbled, scraping her shin on a stone but scrambled to her feet and ran for her mother’s hut, heedless of the blood trickling down her calf. Patbro sprinted after her. “Come back, Joenie!” Joenie ignored him. She pelted up the path, hurtled through the front door and pushed her way through the crowded kitchen, nearly tripping over Enely and leaving a trail of indignant kerbals behind her. One of them opened her mouth to speak before her elderly companion nudged her in the ribs. “Close your mouth lass. That’s Gerselle’s young ‘un.” Mortified, the younger kerbal clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh Kerm - oh the poor girl.” Enely sprang to his feet, eyes widening in alarm. The sleep room door banged open and Joenie charged through. “Daddy!” She skidded up to the bed and stopped short. “Mummy?” She shook Gerselle’s shoulder, careful not to disturb the leaves wrapped around her head. “Wake up, Mummy. Please. I’m here now.” “Joenie!” Patbro raced into the room, the scent of cinnamon catching the back of his throat. He saw Joenie shaking her mother’s shoulder, saw Jonton getting to his feet; the villagers around him backing away as if in slow motion. Jonton’s head turned towards him and Patbro stopped in dismay, quailing at the look in his friend’s eyes. “Jonto…” “Fetch Joenie. That’s what I said.” Jonton’s voice shook. “Not ‘let her run away from you.’ Not ‘let her see her dead mother before I could do anything’.” He clenched his fists, molten torrents of rage and grief blazing from his eyes. “I asked you to do one thing. ONE SIMPLE BJEDLA THING!” Jonton’s gaze scoured the room. “AND YOU! NOT ONE OF YOU COULD STOP A LITTLE GIRL! NOT ONE OF YOU!” Joenie backed away from her parents, trembling like a cornered creva, gaze darting around the room. In the ringing silence following Jonton’s outburst, she bolted for the spare bed, squirmed past its stunned occupants and slid under the nearest leaf cluster. Jonton saw the movement from the corner of his eye and spun round to follow it. “Joenie! No!” He threw himself after his daughter, Patbro following close behind and narrowly avoiding a low branch. Jonton’s head scraped through a cluster of leaves, hairs brushing across his scalp and then recoiling from the roiling inferno of emotions raging beneath the surface. Vines erupted from the ground hurling both kerbals back. Their writhing tips seemed to taste the air, unfurling into double rings of needle sharp teeth from which clusters of thinner, paler tendrils emerged like pulsating tongues, glistening with ichor. Patbro landed hard, gashing his forehead on the floor. He rolled over and sat up, blinking blood out of his eyes. The kerbals on the bed screamed in terror, freezing as the vines lashed at them. The other villagers stampeded for the door, barging past Enely and knocking him to one side. The leaves closed around Joenie’s head and for a second, the thrashing vines froze. Seizing their chance, the kerbals scrambled off the bed and ran for their lives. Connecting to her mother's Kerm felt itchy compared to connecting to Elton but Joenie was in too much of a hurry to care. Ignoring the waves of agitation dashing against her, she called out with her thoughts as she'd been taught. Mummy! Where are you, Mummy? There was no reply. Joenie tried again, making the words in her mind as big and as loud as she could. Mummy - I've come to find you! The agitation around her boiled over into fright. <Gerselle!> <dangerdangerdanger> <make safe!> The vines whipped around and over Joenie’s inert form, wrapping her in a protective cage. One of them found the scrape on her leg and began to probe it. Jonton staggered to his feet, grabbed the roaming vine and tried to pull it free, crying out as it twisted out of his grip and slashed at him, its cluster of dripping tendrils trailing lines of fire across his face. He staggered back, eyelids aflame. ————— The sound of her mother's voice all around her brought Joenie up short. Mummy? <I am not Mummy. I am Jonelle.> <confusion> <you are Gerselle but not Gerselle> Joenie frowned. The voice wasn't talking like her mother even if it sounded like her. Then she remembered that Elton’s voice always sounded like her father's. Are you Mummy's Kerm? <I am Kerm. I do not know Mummy.> Yes you do. She talks to you all the time. She's talking to you now. An image of Gerselle's head wrapped in leaves flashed through Joenie's mind. Where is she? <said before. I do not know Mummy. I know Gerselle and Jonton and Enely and now Gerselle-but-not-Gerselle> Mummy is Gerselle, stupid! She has to be here. Mummy? Mummy! <Gerselle is not here! I told other kerbal called Enely to find her. Want Gerselle, not shouting kerbal!> She is too here! I saw her head in your leaves - she must be here. Tears pricked the corner of Joenie's eyes. Why are you hiding her - why are you being mean? <what is mean? Go away bad, angry kerbal! I want to talk to Gerselle! > She is. She is talking to you! I saw her. Joenie burst into tears. I want my Mummy now! The waves of grief and anger radiating off her made Jonelle wilt. I hate you - I hate you! Overwhelmed, Jonelle curled in on herself, withdrawing her vines and retreating behind her mental barriers. Instinctively she curled her leaves up too, slipping them free of Joenie's head. With a final anguished cry, the link to Joenie broke and echoing silence descended. Jonton rushed over to his daughter, a still shaken Patbro following at a discreet distance. Joenie lay twisted around on her bed, her face buried in her pillow, muffled sobs squeezing their way around its edges. Her feet flailed at the wall trying to reach Jonelle's trunk. Jonton dropped to the floor and tried to wrap his arms around her, only for Joenie to squirm away from him. "Go 'way!" "It's me, sweetheart. It's daddy. I've got you." "I want Mummy." "So do I, my love. So do I." Jonton climbed onto the bed beside her. "Come on, up you get - that pillow will be getting all soggy." Sniffling, Joenie uncurled herself, peered at him through tear-blurred eyes and screamed. ————— Horrified, Enely watched the vines flow over Joenie’s body. Their writhing grew more and more agitated, tips peeling back to reveal needle teeth and then squirming closed again. One vine flew free, a second joined it and then they all seemed to crumple in on themselves, sliding off the bed and leaving Joenie looking curiously exposed. He heard Joenie’s scream, saw her scuttling away from Jonton and for an agonising moment he froze, torn between his friends and their newly awakened Kerm. As if you have a choice, sefflek, he thought. Unless you want your weakness to finish what it started. Face set in a grim mask, he skirted around the room, eyes fixed on the ground around Jonton’s abandoned bed. Bracing himself, he darted forward and leapt, hitting the bed in a tangled heap. Behind him, the sleep room door flew open and Meleny hurried in, panting for breath. Offering up a silent thanks for the distraction, Enely slipped his head under Jonelle's wilted leaves. They squirmed over his forehead as if fighting against the touch of kerbal flesh but aeons old instincts were not to be denied. The last thing Enely saw, before the white light filled his vision, was Meleny putting her arms around Joenie. Jonelle? Jonelle - are you there? <Enely?> Relief swept over him. Yes, Jonelle - it's Enely. <nasty kerbal is here?> Nobody else is here - just me. <good. Nasty kerbal very loud, very angry. Said I was hiding Gersellemummy. Jonelle's voice was flat. <not hiding Gerselle. Don't understand mummy> Enely cast his mind back to life in his old village. The nursery hut, thick walled and whitewashed to keep out the worst of the desert heat. A place of sanctuary for new mothers carrying pouched kerblings or with very young kerblets. He showed Jonelle an image from inside the hut; female kermol sitting on brightly coloured cushions, sipping from glasses of water and watching their youngsters at play. Fluffy headed kerblets crawling around in search of playmates or peeking over the edge of their mother's pouches. Can you see the small kerbals? <yes. Many small kerbals. Some being carried by big kerbals> That's right. The big kerbals are all mummies. They look after the small kerbals. All the small kerbals have a mummy - a special kerbal to look after them. Enely sensed a sudden spike of curiosity. <why?> That's... complicated, Jonelle. Can you just believe me? <...yes. I see your picture, must be true. But it is very strange> I suppose it is. Now the... <the angry kerbal said mummy was called Gerselle. She said I was hiding her. I don't understand why. Gerselle is not here. Why did the angry kerbal say she was?> Enely swallowed hard and concentrated on the sight of Gerselle lying under the Kerm leaves. Because she saw her talking to you. <confusion> <this is not right. The kerbal in my leaves is Gerselle? But Gerselle isn't here> No, said Enely gently. She isn't. And that's why we need your help, Jonelle. He focused on his image, remembering the healing vines burrowing into Jonton and imagining them crawling out of the earth and slipping beneath Gerselle's skin. With a shock of recognition he remembered that the tips of the healing vines had also split into clusters of paler tendrils. We need you to keep Gerselle alive. <confusion. whywhywhy?> Please, Jonelle? Something in his voice brought the young Kerm up short. <I will do this for you Enely. But it is very strange> I know it is, said Enely but thank you. He paused. I have to go now though - I need to talk to Joenie. <Joenie?> The angry kerbal. Her name is Joenie. -------------- Jonelle's mental voice faded to a whisper and vanished. The light faded and Enely found himself face to face with a pair of blurry eyes. He blinked them into focus and the rest of Meleny’s face swam into view. Behind her, Jonton was sitting with one arm around Joenie, murmuring to her and holding a dripping cloth to his face with his other hand. He lifted his head as Enely sat up and let the cloth fall away. Enely choked back his own scream. Jonton’s face was a grotesquely inflated mask, one eye half lidded and the other swollen completely shut. A line of weeping sores marched across his forehead, the skin around them split and bleeding. When he spoke, his voice was mushy, his jaw moving as little as possible. “Did you get through?” In reply, Enely pointed at Gerselle's bed and then down at the ground beneath it. Jonton followed his gesture, his suddenly clenching jaw pulling his sores further open. “You’re sure they’re healing vines?” “Yes. They’re all the same I think.” Enely lowered his gaze. "Do you think it'll make any difference?" “No,” Enely replied at last. "But as the song goes, you never know till you try." He glanced at Joenie's tear-streaked face. "And I think we have to try." Jonton's arm tightened around Joenie's waist. "I think so too," he said. "And, Enely... you can wait with us if you like." Enely felt a great weight lift off his shoulders. "I would like that very much," he replied. "Thank you." Behind him, the vines wound their way up the foot of Gerselle's bed. << Chapter 78 Chapter 80>>

Ahh - I *think* the glowing goop is benign. Usual caveat applies - this is a @CatastrophicFailure story so expect the unexpected, but it sounds very much like the good 'ol mystery goo that turned out to be so helpful back in Book 1. Oooh - onions. Nice and crispy I hope? Om nom nom nom...

OK, @Kuzzter's latest Kerbfleet update brought up an interesting point - unreliable narration. Rather than derail the story, I figured I'd bring it up here instead. As in - what do folks think of it? Personally, I'm not a fan. Charles Stross's Laundry Files series are written using an unreliable narrator and it drives me buggy. The whole premise and worldbuilding behind the series is a bit weird anyway, so I'm never quite sure whether what I'm reading is weird because that's just the way the world works, or whether it's the good 'ol unreliable narrator at work. Gah.

Well I'm right with Kenlie on that one. I'm sure unreliable narrators can be done well but I'm not a fan of them.

Well that last line isn't at all ominous.. And how in the name of Igor's unlamented jockey shorts did Val wind up in a research outpost at the outer end of nowhere? Is she even on Kerbin? I'm not sure it's technically possible to start on a cliffhanger but you've surely managed it! Very much looking forward to seeing what happens next.

I have no idea about 3 but if 1 is a problem, even for toasters, then something isn't quite right. It shouldn't matter anyway - the game already handles a slew of company names and flags and all that we're proposing is that that number changes throughout the game. The way I envisage this working is that we would actually be starting off with a great many fewer companies and if the player decided to cultivate all the new ones that spawn throughout the game, growing the roster to its current size (or maybe slightly higher) as the game progresses. Regarding 2, if those players can handle the rocket equation, building a spacecraft with adequate power, guidance, propellants etc., basic orbital mechanics, powered landings, rendezvous and docking - then I'm pretty sure they can handle a bit of strategy too. If they don't - well there's always Science mode and Sandbox mode. Career mode is already stripped back to the point where it's barely a game - any improvements to it are necessarily going to increase the difficulty. Seriously - aside from the normal rocket building and flying challenges which are present in any KSP game mode, what extra tasks does Career mode currently require the player to do?

A little something while you're waiting. I took a crack at writing the lyrics for 'You Never Know', as sung by Fire in the Sky before the Pioneer 4 launch. I'm not much of a lyricist, so this should probably come with a cornball warning but with that said... Will I make it? Will I live all of my dreams? I see those mountains to climb and I’m sure They’ll be harder than they seem. But there’s one thing I know Though it might make me cry I’ll never know Never know till I try Will we reach for the stars? Will we live out all of our dreams We look up at the night and we know They're further than they seem But there's one thing for sure We can all learn to fly But we'll never know Never know till we try So they flew past the sky Never let go of their dreams Found all their mountains to climb Weren't as hard as they seemed Now they'll take the next step But first they will fly. And we say to them all. You'll never know till you try. Try to walk. Ohhhh they're gonna walk. Gonna walk. Gonna walk on the Mun.

It's one of those ideas that comes around every so often but opinions remain divided, even amongst the folks over on the Fan Works forum (myself included) who are really into their kerbal fan-fictions. Two questions - how do you actually do a story mode? And how do you do it well? It's not obvious - not to me at any rate. Taking my own fanfic as an example, I sometimes think that parts of it would work reasonably well as an in-game story mode. The problem is that other parts would be tedious beyond belief, even if you're the kind of player who spends more time reading the part descriptions and Kerbopedia entries than actually playing the game. Jumping back to @Richy teh space man's comment about making our own stories though - it would be nice to have better ways of doing that in-game. Some kind of crew biographies that update as you play ( a la Final Frontier) would be good, as would having a more dynamic Contracts system with companies that are founded, grow (or not) and maybe even go bust, depending on how you engage with them and how well you execute any contracts that you accept from them.

Opinions may reasonably differ on this point but I would regard that as a 'feature not a bug'. As in - if I don't use a particular part, there's an in-game way of pruning it from my VAB list. Also, as @KerBlitz Kerman mentioned, it introduces an element of strategy into contracting. One company might ask you to do all manner of crazy stuff - but you suck it up because they supply that key part (such as fuel lines). On the other hand, another company might want you to field test launch clamps on Duna or something equally silly, but you don't much care if they go bust, so you tell 'em to shove their contract in their engine bell and ignite it. You could also balance this by having new companies spawn to provide you with parts once you research the requisite tech. For example, say I've allowed most of the aircraft parts companies to go under/stop trading with me because I don't care about planes and haven't made them a focus of this playthrough. I research the final 'flight' node in the tech tree, unlock RAPIERs - and a startup company spawns with the aim of capitalising on this cutting edge technology I've just developed. The prototype RAPIERs are expensive as heck, only available in small numbers and, if part failures are switched on in your game, more than usually prone to failure, reflecting their cutting edge status. if you persevere with them though, the company grows, the supply of RAPIERs increases and they become more reliable. Conceivably - again assuming this feature is available - you also get access to the relevant part upgrades as a loyal customer.

Thanks! Good to see you back on the thread - glad you're still reading along! You could always check to see if@CatastrophicFailure has a couple of likes you could borrow - he never seems to run out. First draft of the next chapter is done but it's currently sitting in two halves on my tablet and desktop machine. @Ten Key has kindly volunteered to cast an eye over the finished article but I'd like to at least buff the weld lines out first and give it a coat or two of primer before handing it over! The chapter after that - working on that as we speak and I can confirm that the first two sentences are done! (Insert golf clap here). Time to get back to it then.

Heh - this is one question where KSP does give you a reasonable real world answer. Or at least a feel for that answer. Any KSP novice (cough) who's put a ship into a horribly eccentric orbit will know that a little bit of delta-V (relatively speaking) can result in a significant increase in apoapsis. So they wouldn't have had enough margin to recover S1 and put the payload in their contracted minimum transfer orbit.

Donating a big grin right here. I, for one, welcome our improved launch cadence Spaaaaaace Overlords!

Oh, chapter 16 was a fine chapter. Truly 'one small step' for kerbalkind.

Adding to @Snark's list of good reads, Diaspora by Greg Egan has kind of a mash up of all three concepts. Most of humanity exists as sentient software running on gigantic underground molecular computers. Cloning a personality is no harder than copying any other piece of software and personalities can be transferred to pretty much any vehicle designed with suitable computing hardware - including android avatars or spacecraft. Sending a 'clone' of oneself to explore space whilst staying behind yourself is straightforward, as is slowing down your personal running speed to the point where interstellar journeys at relatively low sublight speeds takes as much or as little subjective time as you like. It's a great book - real mind-stretching sci-fi.

Oh - I like these alternative reasons for the 'Kerman' name! A couple of stories in the Fan Works section have also explored the idea that Kerman isn't just a family name. In @Ten Key's Farlight story, Kerman was a title if I recall correctly - roughly equivalent to Dr (in the academic sense) or mastercraftskerbal. In my own headcanon, 'kerman' has a lot of historical and cultural significance. More detail here if anyone's interested and doesn't mind spoilers (I know @ZooNamedGames appreciates a bit of Kerbal lore. ) Basically though, the Kerman name shows how that particular Kerbal interacts with the other sentient species on Kerbin, and it arose from a pivotal event in Kerbal history that pretty much defined the structure of Kerbal society right up to the present day.

Thanks! Stay tuned - we've got a little way to go yet and I'm hoping you enjoy that too. And yeah - I would have a lot more patience for the auto-censor if it's replacements weren't so insufferably naff and if it didn't see fit to censor private conversations. I don't know how I've managed to talk to people all these years without a twee little software nanny to stop me accidentally polluting their ears with a naughty word. But somehow I have, gosh darn it.

I don't have any links to hand but this is @DarkOwl57's fourth(?) story in the series, so there's quite a bit of background to read and it's well worth reading. @DarkOwl57 - could you put links to your other stories in your signature? Would be useful for new readers to have all the links in one place.

@cubinator's comments on vitrification would still apply for your first option. If your artificial nutritional substance doesn't crystallise at cryogenic temperatures it will turn into an amorphous solid (or glass) instead. I suppose something really exotic might stay liquid but that seems like a stretch even for this scenario. Although it wouldn't much matter what you were using if it was supplying oxygen - there's no way this is going to work if your cryonaut's cells are still respiring - oxidative damage will kill them slowly but surely, as per @Vanamonde's comments. Nanotechnology? I guess. Although over cosmologically significant lengths of time you're going to have much the same problems with your nanites (or whatever you're using) that you will with any other small complicated blobs of chemistry - such as human cells. Simply put - how do you make sure that your nanites remain undamaged over that length of time, or taking that one step further - how do you make sure that whatever whizzy self repair systems they have stay operational and uncorrupted for long enough?

Oxytocin aka 'the cuddle chemical' might fit the bill? It's a complicated beast but some of its affects seem to be the kind of thing you have in mind. Edit: A quick Google search for 'love hormone' produces a load of articles about oxytocin, so it might be as close as you'll get.

Yep - I'm going to have to sleep this one out I'm afraid. The odds of me staying awake for another two hours are substantially poorer than the odds of weather conditions being favourable for launch. With that said - godspeed Falcon! With luck I'll catch the whole thing on YouTube tomorrow.

Why, thank you. And thanks for stopping by to say so! I couldn't resist putting in a small tribute to John Aaron. There are a couple of references to 'steely eyed rocketeers' in later chapters too, and one of my spacecraft crews was heavily influenced by Andrew Chaikin's depiction of the Apollo 12 crew in A Man on the Moon.

Level 2. I don't subscribe to Scott's channel and as far as I recall, haven't ever filled out the tech tree in a single game, so I guess I've failed to make level 3. Oh well.