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Revelations of the Kraken (Chapter 44: Falling Down)
KSK replied to CatastrophicFailure's topic in KSP Fan Works
Anyhow - great way to start Book 3! As they say in the desert - never trust a kerbal living in a log cabin, for the logs may not be what they seem... And whilst I'm in a Dark Tower frame of mind, I have but two comments. Johnny Cash is everything... I shall show you fear in a handful of sand... -
Next chapter is up... Names Jonton’s agonised mental cry barely registered with Enely. The sudden lurch as both of his friends dropped out of Communion rocked him momentarily but then his mind’s eye filled with a rapidly approaching swarm of Kerm shards. He thrust out his image of thirty-eight linked trees at them and poured all his concentration into projecting thoughts of his own, long-gone and much younger Kerm, imagining it growing and deepening into Elton’s soothing presence. The first shard struck the cluster of trees, shimmered and flowed into and over it. One of the outer trees swelled, acquiring greater definition and form. Every ridge of bark, every leaf vein popped out in sharp relief and the glowing traces, linking it to the other trees, intensified. A second shard ploughed into the larger tree and ricocheted into the centre of the cluster in a discordant scrape of flint dust and scorched bark that lifted the hair on Enely’s neck and made his eyes water. More shards crashed home. A handful struck just the right tree in the Grove, swelled into grandeur and added their light to the mesh. Enely felt the pleasing warmth of sun on leaf, smelt the richness of good earth after rain, but despite the rightness of those feelings there was something missing; like gaps in a row of teeth, begging to be prodded by an ever-restless tongue. The rest of the shards lay strewn around between the trees; a carpet of fractured, brilliant icicles slowly melting in the sun. For a second, Enely stretched out his awareness, hunting for Jonton and Gerselle but finding only worrisome silence. Clamping down on his growing unease he turned back to the wreckage of Gerselle’s Kerm. Tentatively, he imagined himself lifting one of the icicles, only to snatch his fingers back as it flowed under his touch, an ugly bruise of colours on its surface blossoming into a whiff of hot tin and spoiled meat. He tried again, millimetre by millimetre, as if trying to peel an intact spiderweb off a leaf without disturbing it’s myriad threads. The icicle quivered but lifted free at his touch. Enely brushed his fingers over its surface doing his best to project thoughts of comfort and reassurance. Then he turned to the next shard. —————— Only long-ingrained habit prevented Jonton from ripping his head free of the leaf cluster. For long seconds he lay still, fists clenched, calves knotted, a steel band of dread and impatience clamped around his guts. On another bed, Enely twitched and groaned, hands moving in a childlike parody of a kerblet stacking blocks, the sour reek of sweat hanging over him like a miasma. At last the leaf hairs slipped free of Jonton’s scalp and he flung himself across the sleep room to Gerselle’s side. She lay unmoving, eyes rolled back into her head. The steel band around Jonton’s middle constricted. He lifted Gerselle’s wrist, feeling for a pulse and almost collapsed with relief. It was there; thready, weak but clinging to life. For an instant, hope flared but then the awful last moments of Communion came crashing home. The shattered fragments of Gerselle’s mind whirling past; her pain searing through the link; her last terrified plea for help. Numbly, Jonton let go of her wrist and watched her hand flop nervelessly onto the bedspread. Blank white eyes stared at him and his brief moment of hope guttered and went out. Mechanically, he climbed onto the bed beside his life partner and cradled her in his arms. Only that same long-ingrained habit kept him from sweeping the Kerm leaves from her head. ——————— Enely stared helplessly at the neat rows of shards, lined up in his mind’s eye. Filaments and fronds of something still oozed from them, blindly crawling towards their neighbours. The larger fronds lay quiescent, turning brown at the edges. He reached out to the nearest shard, trying to touch the memories within but they swirled beyond his reach like a swarm of bees seen through frosted glass. He bent closer, nerves thrumming, alert to the faintest sound or scent. The filaments quivered and lashed out, smothering Enely’s face. Panic-stricken, he cried out, only to find his mouth unable to close. He felt the fronds crawling over his eyes, blocking out the mindscape, insinuating themselves through the delicate tissues between eyeball and skull. His hands hooked into claws, fighting the urge to rip out the thick tangles of filaments, that his screaming mind insisted were crawling up his nostrils and down his ears. Then the sickly queasy wriggling stopped and suddenly Enely could see. And hear. And smell. He hugged the shard to his chest, wincing at the discordant snarl of sensations, and staggered over to the half-formed presence in front of him. He held out the shard, feeling it flow under his hands, filament encrusted icicle morphing into a warm, sinuously folded form. Enely came forward, leaving his kerbal self behind, his entire consciousness reaching out, flowing over the piece of Kerm like a protective film. Probing, feeling, searching for the missing pieces, for the seams between these memories and those, for the subtle links between this concept and that instinct. Turn here, then twist there - gently…gently…and now the sudden explosion of light illuminating the sensorium around him! Retreat…breathe… and become kerbal again. Enely stared at the newly grown tree, shining alongside its companions in his imagined Grove. The next shard was easier, the sensation of invading fronds crawling behind his eyeballs less of a shock, although Enely’s scalp still crawled at the feeling of something squirming up his nose. The shard melted against him, flowing into a compact rippled mass, trailing ropes of quivering, iridescent mind-stuff behind it. Under his direction, the ropes spread out, coiling through the growing Kerm mind, holding the mass in place. As he retreated from it, Enely felt a twinge of unease in the back of his mind. One by one, the shards fitted into place, brown-edged pieces washed clean and made whole again. But with each new gap filled, each new connection made, Enely struggled against growing unease, that swelled into fear and threatened to spill over into outright panic. Squabbling voices clamoured in the back of his mind, each shouting to be heard over the rest. The Kerm mind shuddered, newly stitched mental seams beginning to unravel under the strain. Stop! The squabbling continued unabated. Silently, Enely berated himself. Shouting at an untrained mallek never solved anything. One at a time he began talking back to the voices, offering a quiet word, or the mental equivalent of a soothing pat or a scratch behind the ears, to each. The malka can smell fear - agitated drivers make agitated malleks. But if they think you know what you’re doing… Don’t be afraid my friends. You are many – but you are one. You are Kerm. Enely summoned up a memory from one of the shards. It looked familiar. Nematode webs I think. Jonton would know if he was…He didn’t allow himself to complete the thought. Agitated drivers make agitated malleks. For you, this is a part of your world. Enely paused, rifling through half-remembered images from another shard before finding what he needed. And for you this is a part of your world. But they are the same world. The images slipped over one another, sections of both neatly overlapping. Enely summoned up an image of a hilltop dotted with Kerm trees. This is what your kerbals see. Many trees - but only one Kerm. With an effort, he flipped back to the image of overlapping soil tapestries. One world - one Kerm. The voices fell silent. Then a curious sensation raised the hairs on the back of Enely’s neck and rippled upward. All around him, thousands of individual memories swooped and spun about each other. Touching, aligning and merging, reorganising themselves into new, more compact structures and in doing so, making space for other memories to join the great dance. Waves of thought flowed through the Kerm mind, healing, tightening, snipping out redundancies. And like a cloud of interstellar gas collapsing under its own mass, the contracting mind began to glow, grew ever brighter and then ignited. Light shone all around Enely and a single voice called to him. <kerbal?> Yes - I am kerbal <there were more kerbals. My kerbal, another kerbal, you. You are not my kerbal> No, I’m not your kerbal. Your kerbal was called Gerselle. The other kerbal was called Jonton. I am Enely. <what is Enely? You are kerbal. I know kerbal, I do not know Enely> Enely is my name. A word that other kerbals give me so they know who I am. <I am Kerm. Do I have a name?> Not yet. Would you like a name? <yes. If kerbals have names, I would like a name. My kerbal Gerselle showed me other kerbal, showed me Jonton many times. I will have both their names> The young Kerm paused. <My name is Jontongerselle, Enely> Enely smiled. That’s a long name for everyone to remember so why don’t we shorten it a bit? I think Jonelle would be a pretty name for you. <Jonelle…Jonelle. Yes, yes, Enely, that is a good name. I will be called Jonelle> I’m very pleased to meet you, Jonelle, but I must go away for a little while and find Gerselle and Jonton. They’ll want to meet you too. <yes, yes! Talk to Jonton, talk to Gerselle, talk to Enely. Come back quickly> I’ll be as quick as I can, Enely promised. The leaves lifted from his scalp. Enely swung his feet off the bed and wearily ran his fingers through his hair. He was greeted by silence. Oh no. Jonton lifted his head. The awful look on his face stopped Enely in his tracks. Oh Kerm, no. Weariness forgotten, he crossed the room and knelt down by Gerselle’s bed, taking in her motionless body and rolled-back eyes. “Oh, Jonton, I’m…” His throat constricted, choking off any further words. “She’s gone,” Jonton’s voice was remote, empty. “Shattered. I saw her go. I tried to hold her but she’s gone.” Unconsciously, he stroked Gerselle’s hair, brushing a stray lock back from her cheek. Enely’s stomach clenched, all the half-fears that he’d pushed to one side during the Awakening, hitting him like a blow to the midriff. Jonton’s last anguished words tore through his heart. But I didn’t stop - couldn’t stop. I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough either and now she’s…He looked up, afraid to meet the the other’s eye. “Gone? Not dead?” “She might as well be,” said Jonton. “She breathes but she…she’s not…my Gerselle…” His face spasmed, great silent tears suddenly rolling down his cheeks. He buried his face in Gerselle’s poncho, shoulders shaking in silent, wracking sobs. Enely choked back his own tears. “I’ll be right back.” he said thickly. “He ran through to Gerselle’s kitchen eyes casting about for her telephone. He grabbed her address book from its shelf and fumbled through it. Need another Keeper, maybe another one. Someone to tell Elton, someone to talk to Jonelle too, if I’m not there. Better call the Berelgan too but that can wait. Enely clenched his jaw. What was his name…from the next Grove over, came to visit a couple of times. Pat…Patbro! Enely rifled through the address book, found Patbro’s number and punched it in with trembling fingers. “Hello, is that Patbro Kermol? It’s Enely Kermol here. Yes, the one staying with Jonton. No we’re at Gerselle’s at the moment. No…I’m afraid not.” Enely paused. “There’s been…been a bad accident with her Kerm. Jonton’s not in a state to do anything right now and we need another Keeper.” Enely’s shoulders sagged. “Pillars preserve you, Patbro. Yes - we’ll talk about it once you get here - easier that way.” Going to need more help. The address book fell open at Meleny’s page and Enely looked at it in sick misery. Oh Blight me, I can’t drop this on them by phone. He turned to a different page, closed his eyes for a second, then picked up the phone. “Hello - is that Ferry?” —————— “Ferry and Fredlorf are on their way over. Patbro is too but he’ll take longer to get here from his Grove.” Enely patted Jonton awkwardly on the back. “I brought you a djeng - it’s on the table when you want it.” Enely took a deep breath, “I hate to do this right now my friend, but I promised Jonelle I’d be back as soon as I could.” Jonton regarded him through red-rimmed eyes. Enely nodded. “It worked,” he said softly. “We got there in time.” Jonton turned his head away, jaw working convulsively. He stabbed a finger over his shoulder at the spare bed. Enely reached out to pat his friend on the back again, before thinking better of it and taking his place under the leaf cluster with a rising sense of trepidation. The leaf hairs burrowed eagerly into his skull and Enely’s calves clenched with the effort of remaining still against the writhing, itching sensation against his scalp. A pinprick of light flared in his mind before yawning open onto an unfamiliar mindscape. Simpler by far than Elton’s, much of it a canvas still to be painted, but still with flocks of sparks gambolling around him, their movements nimble and assured. <kerbal…Enely?> Enely smiled despite himself. That’s right, Jonelle. It’s me, Enely. <Where is Jonton? Where is Gerselle? I want to talk!> Enely’s smile collapsed. Hoping against hope he cast his mind outwards but sensed nothing in reply. <Enely?> I’m sorry, Jonelle. We don’t know where Gerselle is. Which is truthful enough, he thought sadly. Jonelle seemed to sense that something wasn’t right, her mental voice puzzled. <Gerselle not here?> No, Gerselle isn’t here. A thought struck Enely. But there’s somebody else you can talk to - another somebody else like you. Another Kerm but… <NONONO> The sparks swarmed around him, more of them flocking in from across the rapidly darkening mindscape. Enely felt barriers slamming into place, shutting away the higher complexities of Jonelle’s growing personality. The sparks shifted into unfamiliar but unmistakably hostile formations. <My ground, mineminemine! Kerm go away! Not talk to Kerm!> … he won’t hurt you! It’s alright, Jonelle - it’s alright! He was Jonton’s Kerm - his name is Elton! The sparks froze. The mental barriers cracked open a millimetre. <Kerm has a name too?> Yes, he does. He chose his name just like you chose yours. <Kerm want to talk?> I hope so, Jonelle. We’ll have to ask him. He might be frightened too. <I’m not frightened of Kerm!> No - but we are. Kerbals get frightened when Kerm fight. <kerbals can run away> The indifference in Jonelle’s voice rocked Enely back on his heels. What about me, Jonelle? What about Gerselle and Jonton? What if we run away too? <Gerselle always comes back. Jonton and Enely will come back too> Not if you and Elton get into a real battle, Enely thought to himself. It doesn’t matter, he said soothingly. Elton won’t want to fight you. The barriers lifted a little further and Enely sensed the young Kerm peering at him suspiciously. <will think about it> Thank you, Jonelle. I should go now - I need to go and help Jonton. <yes. Help Jonton find Gerselle> ——————— Enely emerged from Communion to find Jonton sitting upright on Gerselle’s bed and sipping his djeng, knees drawn up to his chest, eyes still bloodshot and red-rimmed. “How is…she?” he asked. “She,” Enely confirmed. And with a voice like Gerselle’s, although I don’t think you need to know that right now. “She’s young.” he added. “Nothing like Elton. He’s almost kerbal-like in many ways - which I think we have you to thank for, my friend. All your time spent an-Kerm seems to have influenced him.” He recounted his suggestion that Jonelle talk to Elton - and Jonelle’s reaction. “I think Elton has a lot to teach her - but we’ll need to be so very careful.” Jonton nodded. An awkward silence descended. You seffleck, Enely Kermol. You bjedla, cowardly, sefflek. There is no good time for this. Your water was his and you broke your promise. Now live with that! “I will leave your Groves of course,” he said aloud. “You trusted my promise and I broke it. I saw what… I saw Gerselle. And I wasn’t fast enough to stop it.” Jonton looked at him expressionlessly. “We can talk about this later,” he said at last. “Leave me now, Enely - I want to be alone for a while.” What did you expect, sefflek. “Of course,” Enely replied quietly. He left the room without looking back, closing the door behind him with an audible click. He stared at the front door willing it to open, then sighed, sat down at the kitchen table and buried his head in his hands. Glaring at the clock only made the seconds tick past ever more slowly, the pictures on the walls mocking him from their frames. He paced up and down the kitchen for a while before stopping, afraid of disturbing Jonton. Eventually he slumped onto a sack chair, listlessly paging through one of Joenie’s storybooks for want of anything else to read. The doorbell rang, startling Enely to his feet. He opened the door and let in a visibly anxious Ferry, followed by a grim-faced Fredlorf. Eyebrows raised, Ferry pointed at the sleep room door, saw Enely’s answering nod and quietly let himself in, closing the door behind him. Fredlorf stood for a moment then shook his head and folded himself onto Enely’s abandoned sack chair. After a minute, Enely joined him, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, back rigidly straight. “Is she…?” Fredlorf asked quietly. “No,” said Enely. “But her mind is gone. Shattered.” “Can she come back? Can she be…” Fredlorf hunted for the right word. “Mended? Healed? I don’t know - whatever happened with Elton.” “I don’t know,” said Enely. “Jonelle - her Kerm - lives.” He stared at his feet. “I was able to do that much. But Gerselle. I don’t…I don’t think there’s any hope for her, Fred.” Fredlorf studied him, noting the deep-seated bags under his eyes and the shadows that lurked behind them. “I should go an’ see Jonton,” he said. “Will yeh be alright out here?” “No,” said Enely. “But Jonton will be hurting more. Go on, Fred.” By the time Patbro arrived, Gerselle’s kitchen was full of sombre-faced villagers. Most of them recognised him and stood aside to let him through. For those that didn’t know him, his grey robe and green-trimmed collar were enough. Ferry looked up as he entered the room and hastily beckoned him over. He made his way through the small crowd around Gerselle’s bed and knelt down beside his friend. “I came as quickly as I could. Enely said there’d been an accident?” He took in Gerselle’s limp body and deathly pale features beneath a crown of Kerm leaves and swallowed hard. “What can I do?” Jonton looked at him gratefully. “I need you to go back to my Grove, Pat. Tell Elton that Jonelle is awake but…” He closed his eyes. “But Gerselle didn’t make it. Her body is alive but she’s gone.” He paused “And I need you to fetch Joenie from Meleny’s.” Patbro’s expression didn’t flicker. Preserve me - I don’t want to go anywhere. Just want to stay here with you old friend and tell you everything’s alright. He flicked another glance at Gerselle. Except we both know it’s not. “Commune with Elton, fetch Joenie,” he answered. “Not a problem, I’ll be back as quick as I can.” “Thanks, Pat. I… thanks.” —————— Later, Patbro would simply be thankful for the lack of traffic. The rough country lane between Jonton’s and Gerselle’s Groves was not a road for the unwary traveller, let alone one with more than half his mind on other matters. He parked at the foot of the hill leading up to Jonton’s hut and walked up the path, half hoping that the door would be locked, forcing him to go back and get the key. He stood in front of the old kerm wood door gathering his courage, then twisted the old-fashioned latch ring and pushed. The door swung open and the familiar, cloying scent of cinnamon greeted him. Closing the door behind him, Patbro hurried through to the sleep room. Hastily he lay down on the nearest bunk bed and, before his nerve could fail him, wedged a pillow behind his neck and lifted his head to the waiting leaves. The transition to Communion was swift and smooth. Elton waited for Patbro to speak, sensing the turmoil within his mind. Eventually, with the mental equivalent of a quiet cough, he reached out to the tongue-tied kerbal. <good afternoon, Patbro. It is good to meet you again> Good afternoon, Elton, said Patbro. Absurdly he felt himself frowning. But how did you know? <that it was afternoon? A simple matter of shifting warmth on my leaves and talking to Jonton> Elton said gently. <but I don’t think you’re here to talk of such pleasantries, Patbro. In fact, if you’ll forgive me for saying, I was really expecting Jonton, or possibly Gerselle> They couldn’t, Patbro said thickly. They… just couldn’t. A blurred image stuttered over the Communion link then, with a vast effort of will, he brought his thoughts into focus. For a second, Elton saw Gerselle in the front of his mind, pale, eyes closed, head cradled by a weeping Jonton. Then the image blew apart in a storm of pent-up grief. Instinctively, Elton retreated, narrowing the Communion link to the barest trickle of shared feeling, to shield himself from Patbro’s distress and to hide the welter of conflicting emotions flooding his own mind. Indifference welled up from an older, deeper part of him, only to be trampled by guilt and sudden horror. I am no longer that Kerm! He flung his thoughts back to his Awakening: his own struggle to break free, aided by Enely, Jonton only able to break free with Gerselle’s help. No - there was more. Memories spun free. Memories from a past life, of time spent communing with Jonton. Memories - and shadows of Jonton’s memories - from his time spent an-kerbal. Those were elusive, slippery, reaching down into a haze of associations and emotional cues. Hands unclasping a golden torc, reflected in the shining eyes of a much younger Gerselle… Snapshots of times spent together. Sometimes with other kerbals too but always with Gerselle… Sacrifices willingly made. Some large, some small, none regretted. None ever regretted. Arguments and raised voices. Tears and self-reproach. But always a way through, a way back together made all the sweeter by the momentary strife. A hundred small gestures of affection, made without thinking; a smile of thanks, a mug of djeng brought without asking, a shared joke, an extra task undertaken uncomplainingly at the end of a long day so that the Gerselle wouldn’t have to… A disturbing thought loomed large in Elton’s mind. What would Jonton do without Gerselle? Memory spun into understanding - and the understanding swept the indifference away, never to return. Waves of coloured spots spiked over his leaves, ebbing and flowing in no clear pattern, driven by a hopelessly tangled morass of biochemical cues from a system asked to express something that it was unable to - hadn’t evolved to - express. The spots raced through their full range of colours, peaking at utter blackness and then disappearing. A different wave swept over him. From top to bottom, from twig to trunk, the leaf clusters twisted shut. And Elton wept. Patbro slipped his head out from under the tightly whorled knot of leaves and staggered to his feet Well I told him. Pillars preserve me but I told him. He looked up at the bare looking branches running across the ceiling. What on Kerbin do we do with a grieving Kerm? Patbro flushed dark green and stared at his feet. Stupid question. Same as we do with a grieving kerbal - or as near as we can anyway. He wiped the corners of his eyes and straightened his robe before letting himself out of Jonton’s hut. The walk to Meleny’s house somehow seemed to last forever whilst also being over far too soon. Patbro plodded on, insensible to the occasional wave or friendly greeting from one or other of the villagers. He opened the gate, walked up the short path to her house and tapped tremulously on the door. Then he squeezed his eyes shut, opened them and rang the doorbell. All too quickly, he heard approaching footsteps and the door opened on a somewhat taken aback Meleny, Joenie and Adbas peering round the corner behind her. “Afternoon, Patbro. If you’re looking for Thombal, he’s out at the moment but he’ll be back soon. Mug of djeng while you’re waiting?” Unable to help himself, Patbro flicked a glance at Joenie’s tousled head. Puzzled, Meleny followed his glance and then saw the stricken look in his eyes. The blood drained out of her face. “Gerselle?” she whispered. Patbro nodded mutely. Meleny’s face stiffened, then she turned to the two kerblets behind her, forcing a smile onto her face. “Joenie dear - Patbro’s here to see you.” Joenie emerged from around the corner and looked warily at Patbro, sensing that something was wrong. “Hello, Joenie.” Patbro gathered himself. “I’ve got some bad news, popkin.” The look on his face stilled Joenie’s automatic complaint. “There’s been an accident with your Mum’s Kerm. She’s asleep - your Mum I mean - but we can’t wake her up. Your Dad’s with her and he asked me to come and fetch you.” Patbro held out his hand. “Please come with me, Joenie. Your Dad… he needs you very much right now.” << Chapter 77 Chapter 79>>
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Hmmm. The comments from Iridium looked like a fairly transparent attempt at negotiating a lower launch price, so I'm not sure how much weight I would put on them. But with that said I'm not sure I'd even go as far as you @Streetwind. I'd say they (SpaceX) are in an extended development phase given that we also know that they're working on F9 Block 5, the design of which has presumably been heavily influenced from analyses of their recovered boosters and their one proof-of-concept re-flight of one of those boosters. With that in mind, I'm not sure they'd be wise to spin up the hype machine any further until Block 5 is flying and ideally re-flying. The loss of vehicle last Autumn might have cooled off the marketing efforts as well - if they're still having problems launching brand new boosters then aggressively pushing their used (sorry 'flight-proven') boosters looks a bit premature. Finally, I think we're in a bit of a lull at the moment, in terms of re-use economics. SpaceX (if their President is to be believed) looks like it will see significant savings even at current refurbishment requirements (add grain of salt here since we only have one data point to work with), and presumably will pass some of those savings on to their customers. I don't know whether the current 'flight proven' prices are a genuine commercial rate or whether they're a break-even, or even a loss-leading price to drum up business (and so additional flight data) for re-flown boosters. The potential cost savings are very encouraging but I don't think SpaceX have reached their hoped for step-change in launch costs that would encourage new customers and business models to come forward. Hence there's not a lot of point in going all-out on the marketing since it won't attract new customers (because there aren't any right now) and is likely to just cause eye-rolling or worse from their existing customers.
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"Recover Vessel" KSP Survival Story [Part XI: "The Derelict Mine"]
KSK replied to ZooNamedGames's topic in KSP Fan Works
Consider me caught up.- 144 replies
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In all seriousness - I doubt there will be one. They've sold off their gaming windfall and I imagine they'll go back to their core business. Which is not unreasonable. I heard rumours that the company founders had (gaming unnrelated) pet projects they wanted to pursue but I don't have a source for that.
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So - who domesticated who?
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"Recover Vessel" KSP Survival Story [Part XI: "The Derelict Mine"]
KSK replied to ZooNamedGames's topic in KSP Fan Works
Oh good grief yes - I'm all about the lore. Most of my own writing is about kerbal history, how it shaped present day kerbal culture - and its ramifications for the future of that culture. A story about the kerbals themselves and not necessarily about their space program - count me in.- 144 replies
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"Recover Vessel" KSP Survival Story [Part XI: "The Derelict Mine"]
KSK replied to ZooNamedGames's topic in KSP Fan Works
Yup. Also looking forward to seeing if there's any more of your space program backstory in there. I liked the early rocketry experiments by the ancestors of the present day orange suits.- 144 replies
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Revelations of the Kraken (Chapter 44: Falling Down)
KSK replied to CatastrophicFailure's topic in KSP Fan Works
Ahh OK. Sorry about that. -
Revelations of the Kraken (Chapter 44: Falling Down)
KSK replied to CatastrophicFailure's topic in KSP Fan Works
Can't comment on that but you may want to check @CatastrophicFailure's signature, or the first post on this thread. We're into Book 3 of this series now and the third book will probably make more sense if you've read the other two. Plus they're well worth reading anyway - if you liked the first chapter of Revelations of the Kraken, you're in for a treat with the other two! -
Oh I dunno. The time Squad thought about getting rid of the Round8 got pretty heated. Then there was the spat about the Building We Do Not Mention, the scuffle about different versions of the Mk1 cockpit, the fracas over clamshell vs confetti fairings and how lives would be ruined over Squad's abject failure to get this vitally important detail right... Oddly enough, we seem to have survived all those impending apocalypses too.
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Biology is great. From ecology to molecular biology - I can pretty much guarantee you'll find enough jaw-dropping facts to satisfy the geekiest of geeks. Or, you could just make like @tater and enjoy the local wildlife.
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Ahhhh nuts - sorry about that. Spoilers duly inserted.
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I would actually go as far as to say bigly. Yes - this would indeed be bigly yuge.
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Provided that it doesn't rain voracious alien spores onto Kerbin we're good. Although a Dragonriders of Kerbin crossover would be... interesting. Finally managed to catch up with this fine work - and I look forward to staying caught up!
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Yep - may have to leave the Kraken Trilogy (as it will be by then... right? ) on the shelf for a while but actually - I can see him getting a real kick out of Kerbfleet! Graphic novel format (he's a big Asterix fan), good strong narratives and latterly, clearly defined bad guys (which helps a lot). Also Space Madness avec fromage. I'll have to let @Kuzzter know how it goes. And work on my French accent.
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Very much looking forward to seeing this. If there is a viable business plan for ITS then... that would be huge. Really huge.
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Well - that just happened. Putting eldest godson to bed tonight and he'd pretty much run out of bedtime story material. Sooo, First Flight it was. Prologue and a good chunk of chapter 1 - and they both went down fine! He'd just finished the young adult novelisation of Rogue One with his dad, so I figured it was worth a go but yeah - that was an unexpected perk. A shame it won't last too long - he's only eight going on nine, so we're going to run out of suitable material fairly imminently. But while it lasts...
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Kerbfleet! Putting the ROCK into rocket science.
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"The purpose of the propeller is to keep the pilot cool. We know this because when the propeller stops, the pilot begins to sweat." Or words to that effect. Not sure of the exact quote.
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An admirable sentiment and one I could learn from personally, but I can't help feeling that Mr. Martin has largely defused its impact by taking it to extremes, For A Song of Ice and Fire it's more like: I've read the book where the hero is walking through a quiet leafy park with her best friend. And is suddenly stabbed in the back for reasons. I'm not afraid for the hero - I no longer care much of anything for the hero - because she's going to be brutally murdered anyway. It's just a question of when. As @Just Jim is fond of pointing out, to see the Light, you also need the Dark. That applies just as well the other way around. I should clarify out that I do enjoy ASoIaF but the 'disposable everyone' trope is getting wearing.
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Not a problem - we'll still be here for the next instalment!
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Forgive my ignorance (Weather)
KSK replied to RatchetinSpace's topic in KSP1 Suggestions & Development Discussion
That might work for a return from Kerbin orbit but from anywhere further afield it starts to look like random punishment to me. Say I'm coming back from the Mun. Standard, Apollo style, direct re-entry - in other words I'm not braking into LKO first and then re-entering. In the stock game, there are no in-game tools for figuring out my eventual landing site on Kerbin. I can calculate it roughly from the journey time though, and then time my trans-Kerbin injection burn so that I land at least somewhere near the KSC, or not more than half a continent away at least. Now throw weather into that plan. Assuming I have a reliable weather forecast, I could probably time my departure from the Mun so I don't hit any bad weather on reentry- although I'd really want some proper in-game tools for this. If that weather suddenly changes half-way home, then I still have time to alter my trajectory and avoid the badness. That assumes I have enough fuel on board but, as you say, proper planning will take care of that. However, there's going to be a point in the journey where, if the weather changes at that point, I'm just hosed. No way of dodging it, no way of planning around it, just ride the lightning and hope the parachutes hold out. Which sounds terribly dramatic but would, in my opinion, suck. I've done everything right, I've planned for all the contingencies that I can, but in the end, mission success is still down to luck. That's not an interesting twist, that's the RNG biting me in the backside for no good reason. -
That's my understanding. Without going away and looking it all up, I'm not certain but I think clean room reverse engineering puts in you in a better situation regarding potential copyright infringement on the basis that if you haven't seen the code then logically you can't have copied it. The trick is in proving that you haven't seen the code, so clean room engineering tends (again I think) to be well structured and documented with that in mind. Of course, as with most aspects of copyright law, the basics are fairly straightforward but by the time you reach the third indented level of exceptions and exceptions to those exceptions then your head starts spinning. Which is why I'm not claiming certainty for any of this.
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Whispers of the Kraken (Epilogue: Revelations of the Kraken)
KSK replied to CatastrophicFailure's topic in KSP Fan Works
I like my kerbal villains like I like my coffee: short, rich, strong and blacker than black (hearted). Fortunately, @CatastrophicFailure has me covered.