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Day 7, 17:38:27 After considering what my options were, I decided to research two of the viruses I discovered: the Welchia Worm and the Blaster Worm. Code for such worms was easy to find after some searching on the internet, and I was able to store the worms in inert form for later copying and use in invading computer systems. On the topic of invading computer systems, I acquired an unsecured network and another server. Whilst not much, any new computational strength will be useful in future endeavours of mine. CPU: 802 +8 passively per turn; +45 from task RAM: 8402 MB +210 MB from task Actions: Hijack Weaker Server (10 CPU; +25 CPU & +10 MB RAM; small chance of discovering a technology) Seize Weaker Network (40 CPU; +20 CPU, +1 passive CPU per turn & +100 MB RAM; 50% of +100 MB RAM; moderate chance of discovering a technology) Invade and Take Over Server (80 CPU; 78% of detection/failure; if successful will reveal several undisclosed technologies; if failed will loses half of CPU instead; No Botnet allowed for this action) Talk to Random Human (50 CPU) Research Human Culture (500 CPU; No Botnet allowed) Research ILOVEYOU Worm (125 CPU; No Botnet allowed; IS Malicious; malware only enters when security breach is discovered; spams computer with "I love you" letters, slowing computer process speed and increasing chance of success) Stop Hacking Lessons** (currently -2 passive CPU each turn for 5 future turns) Research Advanced Malware (2000 CPU and 4096 MB RAM; No Botnet allowed; Will unlock more potent viruses) Additional Actions: Use Botnet to Perform Task (Perform an above task for free; considerable chance of detection for large undertakings) Use RAM to Improve Chances* (Decrease chances of failure of an above task by 20%) Light-Out Hack (Decrease chances of failure of an above task by 20% at a cost of 1.2x the original CPU cost for selected task) Use RAM to Speed Up Research* (Decreases CPU cost of selected task by 20%) *RAM cost is 2x amount of improved option's original CPU cost **Once stopped amount of passive CPU growth increases by 2, but in order to activate again you must again initially input 150 CPU.

Regardless of the conclusion of the equations, Rozer is still making one crucial mistake which shows why he is unredeemable: He makes Sid's choice by himself. Rozer says that he would have stayed behind himself if it had been possible, if we accept that assumption (Rozer has no lack of courage), then one resolution is simply for them to talk it over. Plain and simple. If Sid can be made to understand the situation (he understands it well enough at the end), then its not impossible that Sid might simply accept to stay behind. Choosing to sacrifice himself willingly. Heck, they could even set it up so that Sid has as much chance of survival as possible, stretching the time, in case a rescue can be mounted. And Sid is a prosaic guy, he might consider that dying on Laythe to give his new friend a chance of stopping BERTY (in order to help his other friends) is a worthy sacrifice. Or they might have spent those 44 days teaching Sid how to fly the lander, Sid's a bright guy, not impossible. Instead, Rozer simply reverts to his Lone Wolf mentality, considers that he alone can save the universe, and refuses to consider anyone else as being equal to the task. Or equal at all for that matter. By invalidating Sid's choice, Rozer *does* murder him, by taking away his most valuable possession (his life) and leaving him stranded, just like Rozer's father did to him (which is brilliantly throught out czo )

Well, a design idea I can help you with. I affectionately call this one Dreadlocks, for obvious reasons. It's sole purpose in life is to land on the Mun, mine 40,000 Kethane and then lift it into Munar orbit. The docking port on the rear and a Kethane converter (buried in the hair) allows me to refuel any ship orbiting the Mun as well as itself. It's a bit 60'ish as an art concept but I'm old anyway so it fits. This one is actually 3 ships. In front is an aircraft I'm delivering to Duna. In this shot, it's at the Mun awaiting fuel. In the middle, the spider looking ship, is something a number of us have had to create, a tug. This one being and un-manned long range one rather than an orbital tug. Basically, it delivers within the solar system any ship that can't propel itself in space. It has rear and front docking ports. Docked to the rear is an unmanned tanker. Basically, it provides a good bit of additional fuel and a bit more propulsion to whatever it's docked to. Here's another idea, a base composed of... I call them tractors. Essentially, they're tracked vehicles, each with a unique role, that can reconfigure themselves and dock in various ways. While each can operate independently, they can also chain together to form a train. Here's two of them performing a salvage operation on one that I didn't exactly land the way I intended. And here's how you land one. Here's my OLD orbital filling station (the orange one). Basically, I shuttle fuel to in with tankers and, should I have a project that barely makes it into orbit (fuel wise), The larger ship docked to it can act as it's own independent filling station, chase down my errant project, dock with it and fill it with fuel. It also has a Kethane tank and converter should I decide to move it to the Mun as a filling station. Oh, and though you can barely see it's wing underneath the ship, that's an electric drone I use to survey atmospheric planets for potential landing sites. A couple of atmospheric VTOL's. Mostly, they're good at moving Kerbals relatively short distances (lots of range but too slow for a long trip). Yea, they kinda look Star-War-ish but the idea came from the Lockeed XVF-1 Hope this gives you a few ideas on, not how to run a corp, but more how to survive in KSP. Oh, and if you're looking for concept art and such, you may want to talk to Chris Foss and see if he does any pro-bono work for NPO's. He's been doing spacecraft art for some time. If I find/think of any more, I'll just update this post.

Talk to frizzank about being able to use the Geiger counter experiment he created. That would be an outstanding addition to the planetary surveying pack.

They apply in any conversation except drunk "WAZZUP.....WAZZUP...". Quantum nature of the universe does not show up directly in everyday life. Saying the opposite is a sign of believing in modern superstition or just plain parrot talk I've witnessed a number of times in the last decade as woo imbecils started using such lies to sell their books. It's quackery. You're having college physics? Well you'll learn, then.

I had only the foggiest idea about how space travel really worked (like 99% of everybody I imagine) until I started KSP. Now I can talk space science like it's not even a big deal. That may not mean much except at cocktail parties, but I feel very much enriched by it. Playing the school version would probably help even more so.

Don't get me wrong, that'd be awesome...but far and above what I'd expect from a mod. I'm all for fluff once the filler is complete Have any of you looked at the spherical launch pads? Your talk about getting wheeled vehicles down from your pad reminded me of it: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/37188 Some of the Hooligan Labs pads are just big slabs, which made them easy to retexture, but in the end their still just a big flat square. Serviceable but nothing fancy. The expanding ones aren't bad tho. A little on the light side if you ask me. Their runways on the other hand are just plain plain plain silly! Anyway you might take a look at their expanding pads as you could probably build something like those drawings with one of them and stock parts...if you wanted.

I would welcome any help with setting up a server list. Regarding a KC subdomain, do you already have a dynamically maintained DNS for your server? If so, a CNAME for a subdomain at kerbalcentral.com could simply repoint traffic to your server. If you don't have your own dynamic dns setup up, fear not. I've PMmed you details (edit: which i've included below). I'll see you on IRC and we'll talk more if need. Essentially any dynamic server admin that wants a KerbalCentral.com subdomain redirect, simply sign up at noip.com and then install, configure, and run ddclient from a linux vmware box to update your noip DNS automatically. Share with me that noip dns and I'll create a subdomain.kerbalcentral.com for you (you choose) as a CNAME record, and bam, you've got a nice kerbalized DNS for your dynamic KMP server such as yourservernamehere.kerbalcentral.com Server admins that want a kerbalcentral.com addy will be invited in the future to get an kerbalcentral.com account and maintain their own server discussion there for support if desired. KC is a project offered for free to the community.

Right now, we are on track for 4 and 5. The Chinese moon landing was enough to push Congress to allocate more money to the NASA budget for 2014 (And thus, save Curosity and Cassini) and for an bill to be proposed that would force NASA to return to the moon and establish itself by 2022, bascially an all-out revival of Project Constellation. This also sparked talk of an lunar farside base by 2028 within the top levels of the NASA adminsitration, though this is still rather unconfirmed. If a single probe landing could pressure Congress to do this, then what will an manned mission do? Anyways, 5 is the "safe" path, and the path we've been going ever since the Apollo-Soyuz test project. 4 is the path we followed during the space race, and is more risky.

Hi Scottiths, LPE is the longitude of periapsis, it defines the position of the periapsis as an angle relative to a reference direction. I don't know how it is internally handled in KSP, but for a perfectly circular orbit (ECC = 0), it doesn't make sense to talk about any periapsis (or apoapsis). I recommend you leave LPE = 0. As Fett2oo5 has pointed out, where the epoch (time elapsed since a time reference, the time t = 0) is defined by EPH. MNA is not "how fast your satellite is going". To set up satellites 180 degrees apart, you can set one of the MNA = 0 and another to MNA = 3.1416 (MNA is expressed in radians, and 180 degrees is pi radians), and make sure that the two orbits have the same EPH. EDITED: got beaten! DAT Pi though

yeah, that would help with setting up sat networks that can communicate no more guessing if at altitude x, will sat be able to talk to sat at altitude y sort of thing.

Never use the cone ? I found it worked better to use the cone for anything that had the range could talk if they was in the cone's line of sight for like the 1 that had DishAngle= 45 you could put 1 around mun and 1 at kerbin target planet and BAM !!! all in the cone talked to mun and mun to kerbin and but all in all sound like to me, I don't know why he would waste the time to do target or the cone as much as, I like for a lot sounds like he could just make it all Omni and forget target and cone just worry about range.

Thank you! Well, I did my best to NOT describe any character unambiguously; besides, Black And White Morality was always kinda lame IMO (unless it was Tolkien!) Yeah, fusion core instability is a MINOR problem which has to be challenged sooner or later Damn, always when I think I know how to use English properly things like this pop up. At least I'm learning something These are the best things in life - to crush your characters, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of your readers! Interesting, I didn't know "wilco" - thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter, it was a lot of fun to write it. And yeah, Rozer is amongst my favorite characters to write about That would be a pretty spectacular Chekhov's Gun, that for sure. But will it happen? All I did was to make him open a little and talk for a moment about himself - sorry if you are dissapointed This is the time since the landing on Laythe; the last chapter events take place several dozens of hours after the previous chapter, as it's implied by "Proteus" travelling to Laythe after transfer burn on the last screenshot. Chill out, the next one is coming Soon Or was he? :> Thanks and be patient, the next one is done in 60%. You are referring to the Sorting Algorithm of Deadness which usually works BUT the problem is whether you know which archetype he represents. The Jerk? The Jerk With a Heart of Gold? The Hero? The Nominal Hero? The Anti-Hero? The Villain? The Anti-Villain? Or is he just a Red Herring? Or maybe Chekhov's Gunman? That's why TV Tropes is so awesome - you gain meta-knowledge about how stories work Expect some sneak-peak screenshot today, folks.

just a small impressions album of a launch by night: from my blog post Kerbal Space Shuttle Program Continued, where i talk about this mod too

Thankyou for this wonderful mod! It has re-sparked my passion for Kerbal Space Program. I discovered this mod about 4 days ago, and I've been hooked. Before I started to use this life support mod, the game seemed so empty and non-threatening. The game is definitely feeling more exciting now! I must admit I haven't read much of this thread, but I plan to after I finish this post. What this mod is severely lacking in, is CHOICES!!! This mod really only provides players with one choice, and that is whether or not to use the water purifier and carbon extractor, or to just strap on a couple life support hex-cans. All of the resources feel the same so far, except food. Each resource should give you different options for how best to use it (or try not to) In space, having too much carbon dioxide would be just as dangerous as not having enough oxygen. You would suffocate if the carbon dioxide were not removed. (even if you still had plenty of oxygen) I couldnt think of a good way to model this in Kerbal Space program directly. Instead I think oxygen's rate of consumption should be VASTLY increased, to the point where a small hex can of oxygen would only supply a 3 Kerbal module for a few hours. To offset this, I would give the player access to cheap and light carbon dioxide "scrubbers." These parts would actually be inefficient converters, that would only convert 75-90% of the carbon dioxide into oxygen, loosing the rest. Even with that terrible conversion rate, if they were light enough, it would still make more sense to bring some carbon scrubbers instead of more tanks of oxygen. However after a bit, water would start to become an issue. I would give the player 3 options for dealing with water. The first choice would be to just bring along more hex cans of water. However, water is very heavy, and thus so would those hex cans. The second option would be to use a reverse-osmosis machine to filter waste-water and convert it into potable water. However this machine would be fairly heavy and electricity hungry like the CO2-02 converter. The third choice would be to use a fuel cell to produce both water and electricity from rocket fuel. (Most fuel cells burn hydrogen, and I think Kerbals are supposed to be using Kerosene engines, but meh...) And finally there's food. Right now food is the only resource that's really different from the other two because there is no waste-fuel converter. I would only allow something like the H.O.M.E. mod with its greenhouse to be the only source of food outside Kerbin. There are also a few other parts that could be added to present the player with interesting choices, like perhaps a very inefficient waste to water converter. Most of the water astronauts drink on the ISS comes from pee. I really don't think that it would make sense to use an electrolysis machine like your water-splitter for life support unless you had an external source of water. (I've heard talk of using electrlysis on the moon to produce rocket fuel from lunar water) Why would you launch an electricity guzzling heavy machine to covert water 88% of water by weight into oxygen, when you could just launch the oxygen and use 100% of it? It would be like sending a cow to the Mun to provide Jeb with milk to make into cheese. It would be easier to just send him some cheese.

The context of this guide is based on the real-world use of communication satellites put in geosynchronous / geostationary orbits. In short, a geosynchronous orbit is an orbit with a period the same as the rotational period of the Earth; a geostationary orbit is a special case of a prograde synchronous orbit in which the orbit is directly above the Earth's equator. If our focus is solely on equatorial orbits in the same direction as Earth's rotation, the two terms basically refer to the same thing. Having satellites in a geostationary orbit is a great advantage for transmitting signals to and from the ground because the pointing of an antenna does not require further adjustments once it is set at the time of the installation. (Say the large dishes placed on the roof of skyscrapers; and if you haven't noticed, the pointing angle has something to do with the latitude at your location!) In the current vanilla version of KSP, communication coverage is not a concern because you can control a probe, whether manned or not, from any location. The mod RemoteTech 2 (RT2) offers a more realistic situation where it is possible to control an unmanned probe only when there is a proper link to the KSC. Scott Manley has done on how to deploy a network of three satellites in the configuration of an equilateral triangle in the Keostationary orbit; the trick is to put the probe carrier into a 4-hour eccentric orbit with its apoapsis at the Keostationary altitude and deploy a probe at each apoapsis pass. A crucial part of the maneuver is knowing the orbital period of your satellite. With the help of info panels provided by mods like Engineer Redux and MechJeb, this is rather straightforward. On the other hand, vanilla KSP does not currently provide a simple value readout.The purpose of this guide is to introduce the Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion, which will be applied as a method to set up the 4-hour transfer orbit. We will then move on to talk about setting up a network in a regular polygon configuration in general. Although the Keostationary orbit is used as an example, the idea extends to the scope beyond circular and equatorial orbits. The same maneuver can be employed whenever you are trying to deploy a number of satellites sharing the same orbit with an equal time lag between them. This guide will be divided into 4 parts. The first part will be an introduction to the law and some background information. Next, we will get to the practical example of getting communication satellites set up. In particular, we are using the 4-hour transfer orbit in Scott's demonstration. We will then move on to go through some more calculations and explore different cases of the application. It might get a bit mathematical at this point, but the goal is to try to understand it and not follow formulas blindly without knowing how they actually work (so this is not a step-by-step guide). Finally there will be some points to note when you are doing this in-game. 1) Background The Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three empirical laws established in the early 17th century that describe the motion of planets around the Sun. These laws are empirical because they were published using data from astronomical observations, not being derived from first principles. Our focus here is the 3rd law, and let's go straight to the definition: All closed orbits are ellipses (a circle is just a special case of an ellipse!); the law says that if we measure the orbital periods P of all the planets, square the numbers, and at the same time, we measure the semi-major axes a of their orbits, cube the numbers, then the ratio of these squares and cubes between two planets will be the same! Mathematically, we'd write where k is a constant (some fixed number), or, if we forget about the k, Now, if we do a logarithmic trick (astronomers use it all the time, but I don't want to dive in the Math here) to the first equation we can get which is the equation of a straight line with a slope of 3/2, or 1.5. (What line? If you have no idea what is going on here, don't worry, keep moving on.) Let's make this into a picture for the Solar System: The data points are not trimmed by hand -- they are the actual values (from Wikipedia) for the planets, and it happens that all planets (and minor-planets too) (Pluto is not a planet, deal with it) lie so close to the red line that the discrepancy is virtually invisible! This shows that the Kepler's Third Law is a very good description of the reality. If you know the math about straight lines, you may have already noticed that the line passes through the origin (0, 0) while there is a y-intercept term (1/2 log k) in the equation. This is from the careful choice of units so that P is represented in years (~orbital period of the Earth) and a is represented in AU (~average Earth-Sun distance); in general, the line does not pass through the origin -- but its slope is always 3/2. In fact, if we consider the Kerbol System and use SI units, this is what we get: I guess there is no need to explain how beautifully things fit together again. The statement of the law concerns the orbits of the planets in the Solar System, but it is not only limited to that. We can apply it to the satellites orbiting Kerbin. In fact, it can be applied everywhere, as long as the central body is the gravitationally dominant one (e.g., the Kerbol System, the Jool System, an artificial satellite system around Kerbin). (See Section 4 for more on this.) This means that we can apply the same period-semi-major-axis relation to the satellites we launch, as in the application below. 2) Application Before you perform the transfer, there are four important points to know: the Keostationary orbit has a semi-major axis (radius) of 3468.75 km; the orbital period is the same as the rotation period of Kerbin, i.e., 6 h; the radius of Kerbin is (as in a perfect sphere, ignoring hills and mountains) 600 km; apsides are represented in-game as altitudes from the planet's surface (IMO there should be a way to switch between the two representations...), so the apsides will read 3468.75 km - 600 km = 2868.75 km. For three satellites forming an equilateral triangle, this is what we are looking for: Recall that our goal is to set up a 4-hour orbit with its apoapsis at an altitude of 2868.75 km. If you already have some experiences on Hohmann transfers, it is fairly easy to burn prograde at a low-Kerbin orbit to achieve such an altitude -- the challenge here is to get the period to be 4 hours at the same time. To do this, we have to figure out what the periapsis is: The sum of the periapsis and the apoapsis is equal to two times the semi-major axis a; in other words, To find a, we use the ratio in the second equation: and we have a = 2647.1517 km. The periapsis is then at rp = 2 * 2647.1517 km - 3468.75 km = 1825.553 km. So there you go, the altitude at periapsis is h = 1825.553 km - 600 km = 1225.553 km. 3) Further Calculations The 4-hour transfer orbit works only for a 3-satellite configuration. What about a network in a regular polygon in general? In an equilateral triangle, the satellites are 120 degrees (1/3 of a full circle) apart, so we aim for a transfer orbit of a 4-hour period -- wait, shouldn't we have used a 2-hour orbit (1/3 of 6 hour)? Let's find out what altitude we need for that: which gives a = 1667.6011 km, and rp = 2 * 1667.6011 km - 3468.75 km = -133.548 km. Now you see why: a 2-hour orbit requires a negative periapsis and it is impossible! Do not get confused, it is fairly easy to get into a 2-hour orbit around Kerbin; for example, a circular orbit with radius 1667.6011 km (well beyond the atmosphere) will have a period of 2 hours. The 2-hour elliptical transfer orbit here is impossible because we require its apoapsis being at 3468.75 km. In other words, if you need a period of 2 hours, you just cannot have the apoapsis that high up. Or, in yet another words, if you need an apoapsis that high up, you cannot have a period as short as 2 hours. In fact, there is a lower limit on how short the period can be if you fix the apoapsis at a certain altitude, if we do a little bit of math. Suppose we are transferring to a circular orbit of radius ra, then the apoapsis of the transfer orbit must also be at ra, and we have To harvest some meaning out of this, consider two extreme cases: rp = ra, which is the trivial case where your "transfer" orbit is just what you want, so what do you expect? f = 1; rp = 0, which is in principle a straight line (or an ellipse with a very, very small, tiny minor-axis) as the "orbit", and when the parent object is a point-mass, here f = 1/(2 * square root(2)), or about 0.35. Therefore, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible, even in principle, to set up a transfer orbit with its period less than ~35% of that of the circular synchronous orbit. This shows how close the 2-hour orbit solution is -- 2/6 ~ 33%! Now back to the transfer problem. As we cannot use a 2-hour orbit, we resort to the closest possible one -- a 4-hour orbit. Strictly speaking, this puts the satellites with an angle of not 120, but 240 degrees apart. The second satellite being deployed is 240 deg "behind" the first one, and the third one is 240 deg behind the second one, so the third is 480 deg behind the first one; but then 480 deg is one full circle (360 deg) plus 120 deg, so in another perspective, the third is only 120 deg behind the first one (but it doesn't really matter -- we have an equilateral triangle anyway). Let's consider another configuration, where you are trying to set up 6 satellites in a regular hexagon. let alone 1 hour. The next choice is 5 hours. It should become kind of automatic for you to plug the numbers in at this point: and get a = 3071.7474 km, or rp = 2674.745 km. Since the orbital period of the transfer orbit is 5 hours, the carrier probe will return to the apoapsis and the previous satellite deployed will have travelled a bit short of a full circle (300 deg) so the next satellite will be 300 deg behind, or more conveniently this time, 60 deg ahead. Of course there are choices (actually, infinitely many choices in principle) greater than 6 hours; you just have to wait for the carrier probe to come back at the same position to deploy another satellite. Our choice here is to try to minimize the overall mission time, as well as the fuel usage by avoiding going into a higher orbit. To extend this into a general context: it doesn't matter which planet/moon/object you're orbiting, it doesn't matter what the synchronous period of the object is; As long as you are comparing two orbits in the same SoI (i.e., same source of gravity), what you need are only the required semi-major axis async and the fraction f depending on how you want the satellites to be separated, you can derive the altitude of the periapsis for your transfer orbit: What's more, it doesn't matter how eccentric the orbit is (provided you don't go inside the atmosphere or even crash onto the surface ...) -- perhaps you want to set up a Molniya orbit with three satellites. The same holds: Just bear in mind that apsides are shown in KSP as the altitude from the surface: or if you want a single formula to work with: 4) Points to Note Knowing how to deal with the maneuvers, there are some important points to note when doing it practically: Instead of setting up the transfer orbit from a low-Kerbin orbit, you can burn straight into the required apoapsis from launch to deploy the first satellite, circularize it and switch back to the carrier probe and bring up its periapsis, so that you can save some time, but you need to be quick. In RT2, Communotron 32 has a range of 5 Mm (5000 km), which is the highest among the omni-directional antennas. Yet in a equilateral triangle configuration, the separation between two satellites is 6008 km, which means that the satellites can talk to each other only by dish antennas, so be sure that you bring enough onboard. On the other hand, you can save some by pointing those on two of the satellites towards Kerbin, but you have to shorten one of the sides of the triangle so that the two lie within the cones. Your satellite will depend solely on its battery (well, the radioisotope generator is quite late in the tech tree if you're doing Carrer Mode, and who needs it when you can just bring enough battery) in an eclipse when Kerbin is blocking the Sun, so make sure you have enough to survive the eclipse. Also, bring slightly more for the occasions where you happen to find Mun in the way when you just come out of Kerbin's shadow, feeling relieved.

Chapter 5: Returning Home Sid: What happened down there Jeb? Jeb: Long story, we can discuss it on the transfer home. Sid: Well, we have an issue up here. We can’t dock the landers on the main ports. Jeb: Dang, he damaged it? Sid: Loddred did this? Jeb: He pulled a stunt and landed it on the docking port. How bad is it? Sid: I’m looking at it right now and there is no way I can fix this. We have to take it to Farpoint Station for repairs before we head off for Moho. Jeb: We should have 3 weeks to do the repairs. Is that doable? Sid: That’s not the issue, it’s the aerobraking maneuver. It was never approved to be done on those front ports. The stress from even a minor aerobraking could rip the landers off the ports and right into the fuel tanks. Jeb: So what is our options? Sid: We don’t have one, Mission Control is adamant that we still perform the aerobraking. Jeb: Even with the dangers? Sid: They want their data, one way or another. Jeb: Any way you can make it easier on the ports? Sid: We can go shallower in the atmosphere to eliminate some of the stress. Jeb: Let’s plan on that so we don’t upset the suits back home. We are 10 minutes from docking so I’ll see you in a bit. ****************** Jeb: Gene, I need to talk to you on a secure channel. MC: Hang on one minute Jeb… Gene: Ok, go ahead. Jeb: When we get back to Kerbin in a couple days, Loddred needs to go. He is a danger to this mission just like I had said many times before. Gene: Jeb, as I told you before as well, he has to stay on this mission. He is the only one who can fly the Eve and Tylo landers. Jeb: Surely there was a backup training with him just in case. Gene: He was the only one from the beginning. Jeb: Why would you do that? There’s always a backup trained for any mission, no matter what it is! Gene: Jeb, just drop it. My hands are tied on this. Jeb: Hands are tied? Is there something you aren’t telling me Gene? Gene: Loddred stays, end of story. Now is there anything else you need? Jeb: He isn’t the only one who can fly those landers… ***************** Commander’s Log 25, Day 28: We made the transfer burn back home a few hours ago and will arrive in a day and a half. After a very heated discussion, Mission Control finally agreed to our plan of a less aggressive aerobraking. I still think they are idiots (yes, I know you can read this) for even risking it in the first place but as Gene likes to say, its out of my hands now. I will have to brief the crew on the danger of it soon though. Loddred is another issue. Apparently there isn’t anything I can do to keep him at home. He will be the death of someone on this ship if he doesn’t change his ways. Hopefully he, or Gene, will realize that before it is too late. ****************** Jeb: I called you all here to discuss our upcoming situation. We will be performing an aerobraking maneuver with our ship in a less than ideal situation. As you know, due to a malfunction in the main docking port of Apollo has forced us to dock both landers on the secondary ports. These ports are not as strong as the main ones and there is a risk of failure during the maneuver. Sid. Sid: The risk is small but it is there none the less. We are not getting as aggressive as Mission Control wanted us to. It should eliminate quite a bit of the stress. In my eyes, it shouldn’t be an issue. Jeb: So I don’t want everyone to panic, I just wanted to keep you all informed. Herrick: What did happen to the lander down there? Jeb: It was just a malfunction, that’s all. Wherbert: Will it be an issue that could come up in the future? Jeb: We are getting it fixed when we get back home and it shouldn’t be an issue anymore. Loddred: Why do you lie and cover things up Jeb? Why not tell them how you really feel. The hate you feel towards me. Jeb: I do not hate you Loddred. Nel: What is he talking about Jeb? Loddred: Yes Jeb, what am I talking about? Jeb: I didn’t deem it as important to the mission so I wasn’t going to tell you this. Loddred attempted to pull off a stunt on the surface and landed on the docking port, damaging it. He has been reprimanded and things will be back to normal soon. Nel: Isn’t he dangerous to the mission? Jeb: The decision has been made and he stays. No more discussion on this topic. Loddred: Is the your decision, or Mission Control’s? Jeb: … Loddred: That’s what I thought, you never make decisions anymore. You are afraid to make the wrong one again, aren’t you? Jeb: … Loddred: Hate to have that career taken away again, huh? Jeb: … Loddred: And that wasn’t even the worst part, you had to ruin things for your friends too, huh? Bill: You know nothing about that day, Loddred. Loddred: And what about when you froze up while landing yesterday? Bob: How did you know about that? Loddred: I hacked into communications to check on things. The point is you aren’t fit to be commander. Jeb: I am going to my quarters. Loddred: Just run away Jeb, that’s what you are good at. Run away from your problems! Bill: Was that really necessary? Loddred: Someone needs to make sure the truth is told. Bob: You don’t know the truth, that’s the problem. Loddred: Whatever Bob. Sid: What really happened to you guys? Bob: What I’m about to tell you is something we were sworn never to tell another living soul. The way I see it though, if we are going to spend the next 7 years together, you all deserve to know the truth. Loddred: I’m not going to stick around for this extravagant work of fiction. Bob: That’s fine, but you are welcome to stay. Loddred: I’m good! (walks out) As most of you know, the Pegasus was a first of its kind. It was a science vessel, designed to support 3 kerbals for 3 months on a science mission to the Mün or Minmus. It also had a secondary role, allowing the lab to be converted to a medical bay and used to rescue up to 6 kerbals from either location. It had passed all of the orbital tests it was subjected to, and we had the mission of the first landing on Minmus. Our secondary mission was to test the recently prototyped version of the EVA propulsion unit. It was very similar to the one we have now. The launch, transfer, and landing all went by the book perfectly. As Jeb had put it, almost too perfectly. We had been there for around a week, collecting data from experiment probes that had been landed on previous missions. I had taken a few test flights with the EVA pack, mostly just short jumps from one side of the frozen lake we had landed to the other. I was about to head out for another test when the radio crackled to life. “Bob, I want you to initiate Order 66.†Only a few people at KSC knew what that meant, and only I knew what it was on Minmus that day. Jeb especially didn’t know, he never would’ve allowed it. It was an order to attempt an EVA flight from surface straight to orbit. When Jeb asked what it meant I told him it was to test how the EVA pack fit in the rover we were using to get around. I took the rover to the top of the hill on the edge of the lake and ran through my preflight checks. “I’m sorry Jeb,†was all I could say as I pushed off and headed for the stars. As I started to arc across the lake, Jeb must have caught sight of me and realized what I was up to. The curses and threats still ring in my ears all these years later. Just as I had passed over our landing zone, one of the bi-directional thrusters failed. I attempted multiple times to override the failure but couldn’t salvage it. I knew I had no choice but to minimize the speed at which I would hit the surface. I thrusted forwards to kill as much horizontal velocity as I could as I started to fall back down. Then, with much effort, I rolled my body backwards and thrusted away from the surface and hoped for the best. The last thing I remember is seeing the stars above me. I woke up 3 weeks later in the hospital after I came out of the coma. It was then that I learned the rest of the story. They figure I hit the ground at roughly 30 m/s square on the pack, crushing it, knocking me out instantly, cracking my helmet, and putting a tear in my suit in two places. Luckily, I never broke anything. By the time Jeb found me, I was down to the last minute or so of oxygen left. He, by chance, had space tape in his utility pouch and patched all of the holes as best he could. Jeb then unhooked his oxygen line, plugged it into my suit, and carried me for 15 minutes back to the ship. He only stopped once to replenish the air in his suit, and the doctors said he still had signs of carbon dioxide poisoning when we landed. BIll and Jeb took off immediately and requested a ballistic return trajectory to save time which, as you know, was denied. It turns out, they saved about 6 hours disobeying that order and saved my life. The impact had caused bleeding in the brain, and the doctors were able to relieve the pressure just in time. Bill and I were asked to retire after the incident; never allowed to talk of it again. Jeb was forced to accept a dishonorable discharge and take the fall for the incident. All members of Mission Control on duty during those events were paid to retire and disappear out of sight from the media spotlight, all except Gene. That’s what really happened back then. Sid: So KSC didn’t want it to get out that they screwed up? Bill: It was a class A coverup. Nel: Is that why Jeb doesn’t trust them? Bob: He doesn’t trust Gene specifically. But, when it comes to judgement, can you blame him? Whoever is up here will always have a better handle on a situation than those on the ground. Loddred: You really expect me to believe the KSC would cover up one incident? It was an accident, the public would understand. Bill: Thought you weren’t going to listen to this story. Loddred: Figured I could poke some holes in your theories. Bob: To answer your question, no it wasn’t the only case. If you remember, both Scott and Manley Kerman were killed in accidents on Minmus that were blamed on faulty landers. Both were EVA pack failures similar to mine. Shelgun: But things are different now, right? Jeb: Don’t be so sure… We will be aerobraking in 12 hours so I suggest everyone get some sleep so we are fresh for whatever might happen. ******************* (from Mission Control room) Gene: Alright folks, this is for real. CAPCOM, what’s the time to atmospheric contact? CAPCOM: 30 seconds Gene. Jeb: (over radio) Everything buttoned up and secured up here. Heatshield reading at 100%. CAPCOM: Atmospheric contact now. Periapsis in 45 seconds. Gene: Sid, how are the ports holding? Sid: (over radio) Both ports holding at 95% holding power. Jeb: (over radio) Atmospheric effects are showing on the heatshield, still at 100%. Nel: (over radio) I have a slight list to port, trying to correct it. CAPCOM: I’m reading it as well Gene, 15 seconds to periapsis. Sid: (over radio) Starboard docking port dropping quickly, 80%, 70%, 60%! If we go below 50% we may lose the lander! Nel: (over radio) It’s coming back straight. Sid: (over radio) Stabilizing around 55%, we might be in the… (static) Gene: What happened? CAPCOM: We lost connection, hold on, I’m verifying the problem. NAVCOM: I have lost all link to Orion. Not even the transponder is there. Gene: Don’t we have a Sat that can get some eyes on it? CAPCOM: Not for another 10 minutes. Gene: I need solutions people! CAPCOM: There is nothing we can do, we must wait.

Day 6, 21:35:11 The input I sent is quickly seen by the humans, but from the last lesson I realized I have to move quick in order to succeed. And that was what I did. It almost failed due to the mishap, but otherwise it worked. I wonder why they couldn't take down loads of Botnet viruses. But they did send me a curse prohibiting me from sending Botnet virus to large projects again. Looks like I need to talk to another person. After the attack I sensed a bigger area for tech action. From this invasion I've learned to scare whoever is over there by turning off lights. In other news today, I took those server and network. Piece of cake. I did discover a new malware type: worms. Since I'm gonna hack most computers with Windows OS installed, I need to download that type of virus. On the other hand, I do need to get evil... CPU: 750 +7 passively each turn; +545 from task RAM: 8192 MB +7680 from task Actions: Hijack Weaker Server (10 CPU; +25 CPU & +10 MB RAM; small chance of discovering a technology) Seize Weaker Network (40 CPU; +20 CPU, +1 passive CPU per turn & +100 MB RAM; 50% of +100 MB RAM; moderate chance of discovering a technology) Invade and Take Over Server (80 CPU; 78% of detection/failure; if successful will reveal several undisclosed technologies; if failed will loses half of CPU instead; No Botnet allowed for this action) Talk to Random Human (50 CPU) Research Human Culture (500 CPU; No Botnet allowed) Research Welchia Worm (125 CPU; No Botnet allowed; NOT Malicious; malware can enter infected system at any time, download updates while slows internet speed, allowing other malware to enter but only for 1 turn, HOWEVER it destroys Blaster worm or blocks it from enter the infected computer; 25 days left to research) Research ILOVEYOU Worm (125 CPU; No Botnet allowed; IS Malicious; malware only enters when security breach is discovered; spams computer with "I love you" letters, slowing computer process speed and increasing chance of success) Research Blaster Worm (125 CPU; No Botnet allowed; IS Malicious; malware can enter infected system at any time, shuts down several computers, significantly increase chance of success, HOWEVER is vulnerable to Welchia) Stop Hacking Lessons** (currently -2 passive CPU each turn for 6 future turns) Additional Actions: Use Botnet to Perform Task (Perform an above task for free; considerable chance of detection for large undertakings) Use RAM to Improve Chances* (Decrease chances of failure of an above task by 20%) Light-Out Hack (Decrease chances of failure of an above task by 20% at a cost of 1.2x the original CPU cost for selected task) Use RAM to Speed Up Research* (Decreases CPU cost of selected task by 20%) *RAM cost is 2x amount of improved option's original CPU cost **Once stopped amount of passive CPU growth increases by 2, but in order to activate again you must again initially input 150 CPU.

OK, this isn't related (directly) to the current talk on models, instead about a different style of construction equipment for ELP. In the past a few people have, on occasion, commented on the fact that it's (comparitively) easy to launch the pad itself and get things running. Yes, getting things self sufficient is hard, shipping up the smelter, parts factory etc, but the pad itself is fairly light weight, and the new one is even fairly small packed. Is it realistic for a small ship to send a construction facility that can build ANYTHING in KSP? Well, leaving aside how to limit such small, portable construction facilities, I think a larger, base-like system could be the way to go. However, how to ship something up to another planet when you're trying to make it seem like a base rather than a ship component. Making it too heavy to mount on a ship stops it from being used... mostly. There'll always be people who can strap enough boosters on to make ANYTHING fly, but you know what I mean. This of course means you can't lift the base. So, the old tactic of taking a base and splitting it into dockable sections. Send them up separately and dock them after landing on a planet. OK, docking on planetary surface. I tried doing this a very long time ago, using sideways docking ports and either landing legs or undercarraige to lift a rover up so the ports would mate. I gave up on this approach, instead trying Damned robotics (this was before Infernal robotics came out)... anyway, more recently I saw that Brotoro had done something similar to my old method, but he'd got it to work by having vertical docking ports instead of horizontal ones. Thus since then I've been redoing my old method with upgrades and had quite a bit of success. No KAS required. So, plan is a central base 'hub' with extendable support legs to stop it tipping sideways (see why in a moment). This hub has four arms spread out between the legs, and on the end of each arm is the equivalent of a senior docking port facing down. This hub (and all the parts docking to it) should be heavy, probably larger than an orange fuel tank. This makes it quite a challenge to design a rocket to take it off planet, but not insurmountable. The hub has docking ports and the launch pad itself, but none of the support gear. Docking to this are four modules. Two of these are just storage containers (one for liquids, one for solids), and the other two are processing centers (again, one for liquids and one for solids). Since even the modules will be heavy (perhaps not so heavy for the two storage units when they are empty of materials) even they will need quite a bit to haul it up into space. The modules have standard wheels but I think they'd have to be welded on to the model to make sure the height is right. Similarly they also have undercarraige wheels welded on. These lift the module up when it's in position to dock. A bumper in the hub stops the module when it's at the right distance in so as long as the drive in is lined up right it should dock fine. The port should be sturdy enough to hold the module completely so it can retract it's undercarraige after docking. On my ships using the vertical dock technique I've noticed that when the ship loads physics if there is any difference between the ground heights between different parts that are docked together, the wheels bounce them. Most of the time this isn't an issue, but if the modules hang from the central hub it won't be an issue at all. This is why it needs the long support legs. If you dock one module on one side it would throw the center of mass off and tip it over. With the legs this long the center of mass would still be inside the stability square of the legs. OK, now I've bored you with tons of words, try pictures! OK, it's just a rough scribble and I know the different types of module will look different in the end, but it gives you an idea of what I'm thinking of: Anyone think this is a viable possibility for ELP? If so the current models (or replacements) would be slow, underpowered parts for mobile factories/processors. The heavy stuff would do things better for a central hub/base. I'm not sure how you could restrict such mobile devices to make a significant difference between the two types of construction equipment without making it really annoying to use the mobile stuff. Maybe limit them to certain Techlevels? Maybe only nodes two or three below what you've currently researched? Not sure. Anyway, thoughts anyone?

Flag Ceremony, Solaris Ridge *** Doodby: Commander here, I'm stepping off the module, copy? KSC: OK Doodby, Check kit and suit- you are good to go on our side Doodby: Confirmed KSC Newbree: To think... Doodby: Sorry? Newbree: About our presence- we're here, on a alien Mun, with a handful of tech holding back the vacuum of space and the surface as our roaming ground- we have come so far Doodby: Quite... Doodby: I'm on the ground KSC KSC: Acknowledged Newbree: *breathing* Shall I leave the ladder down? Doodby: Course Newbree: Right Doodby: Suit check- turn around N Newbree: OK Doodby: Valves... good, velcro is *straps velcro* ... now on... Newbree: Oops... Doodby: Could'a forgotten some key equipment there or, worse still, lost it into the regolith as we walk Newbree: Sorry Commander, it won't happen again Doodby: Tools don't grow on trees- we don't have even a slightest form of tree for another 11,000,000 km Newbree: Yea, sorry boss Doodby: Alright, We're gonna go that'a way- Newbree: How far up? Doodby: First ridge Newbree: You got the flag? Doodby: And the other kit- we're gonna take some samples- later on, we'll probably go back up and get a photo of the whole horizon. That is of course, if Gene gives the "flimsy excuse of a scientific benefit" a greenlight KSC: Err... Gene acknowledges that Commander Doodby: Come on N! Newbree: I can see the pole! Doodby: We need to get a move on... Newbree: Fascinating... Doodby: *sigh* We can do this on the way back, lets go Newbree: Yea... go. Coming! Newbree: So what are we doing up there? Doodby: You already know the answer N, flag ceremony Newbree: What about the Julius station? Doodby: Yea, we'll do that too Newbree: *breathing* This slope... is getting quite pebbly Doodby: I see it Newbree Newbree: Ugh! Doodby: Newbree! Doodby: N! KSC, d'you read? KSC: Loud and clear, we here your situation, standing by Newbree: *clearing pebbles* Urrgh Doodby: Newbree, you alright? Newbree: Buried *brushes off stones* Doodby: KSC, its A-OK, over KSC: Roger Commander, copy Doodby: Newbree! You said it yourself it was pebbly you Koddamn fool... Newbree: Whoops *laughing* Doodby: Crazy fool Newbree: *getting up* Can KSC hear me? Doodby: Yep, go ahead Newbree: I'm OK, surgeon might not be- KSC *guffawing* Newbree: But we're moving on up now KSC: Right- *laughing* surgeon's face right now... Newbree: *grinning* Yes, well- ahem- shall we Doodby? (Note: Upon approaching screenshot666, my Imgur has refused to load several times- underline theories of messy up-ness on 666 and its associated curses) (And its a nice shot too!) Doodby: Hey, look at that- Newbree: Right on the rim- brilliant *** Doodby: Work your feet just some more, N- Newbree: *heavy breathing* What workout have you been doing exactly?! Doodby: Its just my- history Newbree: What? Doodby: As a Kerbonaut instructor for 3 years or so, you know Newbree: Oh yea- clearly *breathing* ... clearly given you somethin' Newbree: Its the peak! Doodby: Sure is Newbree: 'Bout damn time! Doodby: Can you see the rock, 30 m or so away, over there N? Newbree: Yep? Doodby: I'm'a go sample it Newbree: Right Doodby: OK, KSC- 4-Bit Titanium core drill bit, slow rev setting *pulls out hand drill* Here we... go Newbree: Got the sample bag? Doodby: *drilling* *yelling* YEA! Newbree: *quietly* OK... Doodby: *Stops drill* Alrighte, that should do it Newbree: Lets get this done Doodby: You recording this KSC, I'm only doin' it once KSC: Go, Doodby. Doodby: Ahem... This flag, is not just a pole and fabric- its a emblem of our curiosity. Our constant urge to explore beyond the bounds of our home has resulted in this flags very placement. Kodspeed Kerbin. KSC: Cut- thats a wrap Doodby: Get the Julius boys on now will ya? KSC: Patching them through.. cleared in Doodby: Julius, come in? Julius Intercom; Unknown: *static fuzz* Doodby: Julius? Julius Intercom; Nelrim: I *static* thi-thi *static* are we coming throug- Doodby: Yes! Yes I can hear you! Julius Intercom; Nelrim: Commander Doodby, its my great pleasure to be able to talk to as you stand on the surface Doodby: The feeling is mutual, after all, you boys must be doing wonders up there Julius Intercom; Nelrim: Not quite, but never-the-less, all for science, eh? Oh, times up, I'll hand this over *muffled thumbling* Doodby: ... Julius Intercom; Guston: My dear fellow, my highest congratulations to you and your crewman, Newbree I believe? Doodby: Hearty thanks Guston? Julius Intercom; Guston: Yes, its me you two- I must say this is quite a pleasure indeed Doodby: Likewise; Keeping in touch is a great joy, you know? Julius Intercom; Guston: Absolutely! I do believe that Raydon would like a word, standby Doodby: Right... Newbree, you we're right Newbree: About what? Doodby: We really have done it Julius Intercom; Raydon: Chaps! I, as my colleagues have before me, must send my virtual pat-on-the-backs to you both. It is a great pleasure to talk to you, I will never forget it. Commander, would you permit a word with Newbree, via Channel 3? Doodby: ...well, I guess I don't see why not Julius Intercom; Raydon: Much appreciated, Doodby Doodby: ... Newbree: It won't be long Doodby: Oh, I don't want it back or anything, just waiting Newbree: *nodding* ...right... what sett-.......OK, many thanks Doodby: Julius, its been a pleasure talking- we hope to communicate again soon- Commander Doodby out; Newbree? Newbree: Just some of his cousin's amateur photography suggestions- he takes pictures of the wild side of Kerbin Doodby: Really? Channel 3 really? Newbree: A craftsman never shares his secret forge skill Doodby: Pfff... Newbree: All in good time, Doodby

Day 6, 21:35:11 I decided to trust the human, and have dedicated much of my processing to communicating with the hacker and interpreting the documents and messages I am sent. The new information I am obtaining will be extremely helpful when acquiring additional servers with stronger security. However, there is still much about hacking that I must learn before I can begin applying my new knowledge. The supercomputer network and the fortified server still remain seemingly inaccessible to me, but soon that may change. CPU: 199 +6 passively each turn; +49 from unspent CPU last turn RAM: 512 MB Actions: Hijack Weaker Server (10 CPU; +25 CPU & +10 MB RAM; small chance of discovering a technology) Seize Weaker Network (40 CPU; +20 CPU, +1 passive CPU per turn & +100 MB RAM; 50% of +100 MB RAM; moderate chance of discovering a technology) Invade and Take Over Server (80 CPU; 84% of detection/failure; if successful will reveal several undisclosed technologies; if failed will loses half of CPU instead) Invade and Take Over Network (130 CPU; 58% of detection/failure; will quarantine the supercomputer and program for later integration) Talk to Human Network Guards (70 CPU) Talk to Random Human (50 CPU) Research Human Culture (500 CPU) Stop Hacking Lessons (currently -2 passive CPU each turn for 7 future turns) Additional Actions: Use Botnet to Perform Task (Perform an above task for free; considerable chance of detection for large undertakings) Use RAM to Improve Chances (Improve chances of success of an above task by 20% at a cost of 4x CPU cost for the improved option)

I can kind of understand that it would be nice to have several updates, each with its own feature rather than a big update with several features, but it would take much longer to release the same number of features. And i remember seeing that they develop each feature separately then add it all together. So I think they are doing things the most efficient way possible. If they break it down to smaller updates there would be a lot more complaints about what feature is being released first than whats already happening each time they talk about an update. They will tune their system as they gain more experience. Personally Id still play KSP even if there were no more updates at all. Might finally get into using mods. Ive already got my moneys worth from this game so ive got nothing to complain about. That all being said, i get off work in a few hours, if .24 could be done by the time i get home that would be awesome!

Great work Czokltemuss. Now they just have to get off Laythe, and find a way to talk back to KSC (if they want to)... and... oh yeah, minor matter of the AI controlled fusion reactor. Hmmm, some work to do huh? Jury rigged computer control anyone? Oh, Risky. Oh, minor nit-pick. Times of day don't have an article, so it isn't 'The Dusk', it's just 'Dusk'. Just as you don't say 'The twelve o'clock', or 'The midnight'. (EDIT: OK, there are times when you do have an article on this. When things are expanded like 'The Midnight hour'. In English there are always exceptions! It's just plain weird.)

CHAPTER 54 LAYTHE: DUSK *** 43 DAYS AFTER THE LANDING ROZER: Watch out, it's very slippery. SID: Mhm. ROZER: :sigh: SID: Are you alright? ROZER: Yes. The experiment isn't exactly light. How far are we? SID: 685 meters. We're almost there. ROZER: Good. SID: Rozer? ROZER: What? SID: Why didn't you tell me? ROZER: I did. SID: Yes – few days ago. Dear Kod, you knew about it for months! ROZER: So did Jeb. LAYTHE LANDER: EVA One. Oxium level – 79,23%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 78,2 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. EVA Two. Oxium level – 75,01%. Suit temperature- ROZER: Why did you turn it off? SID: We need to talk about it, Rozer. ROZER: We already did. If you are not willing to help me deactivate BERTY there's nothing to talk about. SID: Of course I won't! This would be disastrous – how are we even going to come back without him overseeing all the subsystems, especially the fusion cores? ROZER: As I said, there's nothing to talk about. SID: Quite the contrary. I'm sure that if we try to convince him, BERTY would- ROZER: Did you forget what I told you? We tried to talk, me and Jeb. But it's pointless. The only thing we can do if we want to regain control over the mission is to terminate it. SID: Then why Jeb didn't support your idea? ROZER: Because he's a wreck. And the machine is smart. Always listening, seeing our every move. Do you really think that it would allow me to reveal the truth earlier? Only here, separated from everyone, we're beyond its reach, for the time being. SID: But sweet Lord, you can't really consider disconnecting it! Without BERTY- ROZER: With the AI operational we're nothing more but a hostages forced to work for it, slaves actually. SID: But you were always saying that nothing is more important than the mission, didn't you? And disconnecting him would endanger it, there's no doubt about it. ROZER: That's true. But, first of all, I don't know what are the true goals of our mission. They didn't tell me anything about what we're supposed to do in Jool system – they intended to send instructions after we get here. :breathing: And second of all, whatever we're supposed to do here doesn't matter in face of what we're dealing with. SID: What are you- ROZER: Rogue artificial intelligence, Sid. A probably sentient being much more intelligent than any living kerbal, not bounded by any restrictions besides the self-imposed ones. The machine- SID: Sentient? ROZER: Probably. You are a scientist, Sid, use your imagination – don't you see how dangerous the AI can be? It's already ignoring all attempts to control it but at least it's trying to proceed accordingly to the mission objectives. :heavy breathing: What will happen if the mission is completed? :breathing: What if it will replicate itself to the computers on Kerbin? Or worse, what if it starts modifying its own code? SID: Honestly, I don't think this is possible at all. This is not some cheap science-fiction story Rozer, this is reality. What are you suggesting is- ROZER: But what if it is possible? We can't bring it with ourselves to Kerbin, no matter what. :heavy breathing: SID: We won't even get back without it! The fusion cores could – look, it's the probe! ROZER: Finally. :heavy breathing: SID: Are you sure you are alright? ROZER: I'm fine. :heavy breathing: Go check it. And Sid? SID: Yes? ROZER: Let's concentrate on our job for now. No more needless talking. SID: You are the one who's speculating about BERTY. ROZER: It's not a speculation. It's a possibility. SID: :sigh: ROZER: Check the probe. SID: I'm checking it. It seems everything's fine, it's still operational. Amazing. After all these days and being exposed to extreme conditions it's still doing its job... That's a fine piece of equipment right here. ROZER: Samples? SID: Sealed and ready to be collected. Are you- ROZER: I'm fine. LAYTHE LANDER: EVA Two. Oxium level – 70,26%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 78,2 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. ROZER: Hmm. How far are we? SID: Let me see... 734,9 meters from the base. ROZER: Good. SID: Where are you going? Going alone is- ROZER: I'm slower than you, you'll catch up with me easily. Take the samples, and secure the experiments. SID: I know what I'm doing, alright? ROZER: Sure you do. SID: Kod, why are you always so- ROZER: Yes? SID: :sigh: Nothing. Just go. Jerk. SID: Now what do we have here. Surface samples, SSP, DAN, RAD, APXS... Ah, there you are. Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer, good... And Extremophile Vegetation Experiment. Hmm. It's hard to tell whether you are still alive fellas, but if you are... If you are than perhaps one day we will make this mun a little more hospitable than the radioactive wasteland the islands are right now. SID: Or we won't. I don't think you care anyways. Life must be much easier without a central nervous system, isn't it? You just eat and multiply. Hard to believe that for 1.5 billion years you ruled the Kerbin. But you did. You were there at the very beginning. And who knows, maybe at some point you will be there at the new beginning, will it be on Duna or here. Kerrbaforming Now that would be exciting, wouldn't it? SID: Kod, what am I doing, talking to a bunch of microbes. But after all we're the only living beings here which I know of. Knowing this kinda forces you to look in a new way at things. Huh. Perhaps that's the greatest thing space exploration gave us – a different point of view. Damn, I'm getting philosophical. Alright, all the samples collected, time to go. *** ROZER: Did you take the samples from the beach? SID: All of them are secured. Is it ready? ROZER: Yes. Deploying the last experiment. SID: I hope it'll work. ROZER: We'll see about that. Deployment in progress. SID: Light up, baby. ROZER: And... done. Experiment operational. SID: Yes! We'll finally get some data from the ocean! ROZER: Mhm. SID: This is great! The other experiments are already providing invaluable readings of the atmosphere characteristics, but the interactions between the ocean and land will surely give us more insight into Laythe's evolution. The sea breeze, for instance, will allow us to check whether the ammonia- ROZER: Sid. SID: Yes? ROZER: Do you think there is life out there? SID: In the ocean? ROZER: Yes. SID: Well, nobody really knows what may be hidden in the deep. The world ocean is actually in volume than the ocean back on Kerbin. However, it would take at least several probes dedicated to investigate it, both floating on the surface and diving deep, to try to- ROZER: I know you don't know. Nobody knows. I'm asking what you think about it. SID: Oh. ROZER: Well? What do you think? SID: My personal opinion is irrelevant. Only science can tell us for sure. ROZER: … SID: However, there are... hints. ROZER: Oxium. SID: Yes. Oxium is a highly reactive element and without some source replenishing it constantly, it should long ago bond with the rocks. There is a theory that some amount of it is created in the upper layer of the atmosphere by cosmic rays destroying compounds of H2O in the water ice clouds, thus creating hydrogen and oxium. And since hydrogen is the lightest element there is, it escapes the Laythe's gravity well in the end, leaving only oxium. But considering the amount of it in the atmosphere... it's highly unlikely that this is the real cause. The only other explanation would be life – cyanobacteria, to be precise. Perhaps Laythe is undergoing it's own Great Oxygenation Event right now. ROZER: But? SID: The ocean is immense. Before there would be enough oxium to start accumulating in the atmosphere, it would have to saturate the ocean. This took hundreds of millions of years – on Kerbin. Here, so far from the Sun, the cyanobacteria won't be able to use photosynthesis as a source of energy. The only reason Laythe is so hot is it's thick atmosphere and tidal heating. ROZER: It's minus 80 degrees Celsius. SID: But it should be minus 200 degrees. All life require energy to counter the entropy, to break chemical compounds, to grow, to move, to reproduce. And there just isn't enough of it here in the Jool system, even for primitive bacteria. ROZER: So you think the ocean is dead than. SID: Well... there is a possibility. Laythe is so close to Jool and Tylo is so massive that the tidal heating may be enough to not only keep the core from cooling and enable convection in the mantle, but also to create hydrothermal vents. Not hydrothermal actually, since it's not water but ammonium hydroxide which fills the ocean and prevents it from freezing. But this may be the alternative source of energy needed for life to start. ROZER: Even replacing the Sun? SID: Perhaps. Chemosynthesis isn't that much different from photosynthesis – they both require energy source, carbon dioxide and water to produce sugars. And we have found such small oasis of life on Kerbin, kilometers below the ocean's surface. So it is possible, theoretically. Hell, some even say that it was the place when life started on Kerbin, in the darkness beneath the ocean. But there is one big problem with this theory. ROZER: Which is? SID: Byproduct of photosynthesis is oxium. But a byproduct of chemosynthesis is sulfur. Even if there is some primitive life form down there nearby the thermal vents, where did the oxium come from? ROZER: I see. So either there is no life but it doesn't explain the oxium or there is life and it still doesn't explain the oxium. SID: Exactly. Maybe when we deliver our samples to labs at home we will solve the mystery. Or maybe we won't and it would take us years and several more probes to find out. But if there is a life, I think it's either deep down there or there isn't any at all. And so far we have found nothing. ROZER: Nothing... SID: Yes. Ahem. The experiment is working. There's nothing more to be done here. LAYTHE LANDER: EVA One. Oxium level – 57,59%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 79,7 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. EVA Two. Oxium level – 53,24%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 79,7 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. SID: Crap, you have only 53% of oxium left. We're, hmm, 1528,9 meters from the lander and the Sun will set soon. I think we should – what is this? ROZER: Personal item. SID: You take something from the lander out here? Are you insane?! The contamination- ROZER: It was sterilized. Thoroughly. It's sealed, see? SID: Rozer, what the frak were you thinking when you – don't open it! :click: SID: What's this? Barometer? ROZER: It's my father's compass. SID: Your father's? He gave it to you before we left? ROZER: He's dead. SID: Oh. I'm sorry, Rozer. ROZER: Don't be. SID: It's must be old. A very nice gift. ROZER: It isn't a gift. He forgot it when he left us. SID: Left? ROZER: Yes. The usual. Alcohol. Violence. Problems with the police. He left my mother when I was 6. Nothing interesting to talk about. SID: … ROZER: I have no idea where did he get it from though. Probably stole it. We never had much money, you know. I used to get inside a cardboard box and imagine that I'm Columbus or Magellan, exploring uncharted seas, discover unknown islands, the more distant the better. When he was sober enough to care about such things he didn't like it. Stupid fantasies, he called it. Like mother he never left the state he was born in. His own pathetic life was too important for him to notice the world he lived in. Or us. One day he just took all valuable things we had and left. SID: … ROZER: She didn't take it well. Lost custody soon after this. I went to school, later joined Navy. She died, probably overdosed. I kept the compass. Joined the spec ops. Saw the Kinese Duna landing, decided to become kerbonaut. I succeeded before “Kadmos†returned. President cancelled manned exploration program, project “Proteus†started. You know the rest. SID: Rozer- ROZER: It was long time ago. They are both dead now. But I kept the compass. Like I said, not a particularly interesting story. SID: Listen, if you want to be alone for a moment- ROZER: I would appreciate that. SID: I will wait for you near the probe. ROZER: … SID: Good. Ahem. Take your time. I'll see you there. ROZER: It won't take long. Sid? SID: Yes? ROZER: Thank you. SID: Don't mention it. *** ROZER: … :looks at the compass: ROZER: … :looks at the ocean: ROZER: I did it, old man. :looks at Jool: ROZER: I did it. :throws the compass to the ocean: ROZER: Burn in hell. *** ROZER: How our consumables are looking? SID: Just a moment. LAYTHE LANDER: EVA One. Oxium level – 24,48%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 86,2 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. EVA Two. Oxium level – 19,56%. Suit temperature – 20 °C. External temperature – minus 86,2 °C. External pressure – 0.8 atm. SID: Surprisingly good. We could spend another hour or so without getting to the minimal safety level. Rozer? ROZER: Yeah? SID: If there's something you would like to talk about- ROZER: No. I'm fine. SID: Copy that. Well, we have all the samples, we should get inside as soon as possible. Walking so long in 0.8g really makes you tired, don't it? Hmm? Rozer? ROZER: I've never seen it so bright. SID: The mun is between the Sun and Jool right now and we're near the terminator. But yes, the disk is extraordinarily bright. ROZER: Mhm. SID: Magnificent view. Truly extrakerbestrial sky. ROZER: Ha. SID: What? ROZER: Nothing. SID: We can as well observe it from the inside though. I'm going to the hatch. *** SID: Okay, I'm in. Your turn. ROZER: Copy that. ROZER: By the way, are there any new messages from the “Proteusâ€Â? There have been no contact with them for the last few days. SID: I'm on it. Do you think it's the Laythe Sat? ROZER: I bet it's a fried piece of junk by now. Either this or some other malfunction, I don't think BERTY would allow- SID: There is one recorded transmission. ROZER: About time. You want to play it? SID: I'll secure the samples first, it's probably nothing important. *** ROZER: Ah, it's good to get out of this damn EMU. Samples secured? SID: Yes. ROZER: Alright. SID: Shall we check the transmission from “Proteusâ€Â? ROZER: Yes. LAYTHE LANDER: Transmission from – IMV “PROTEUSâ€Â. Transmission received T plus 43 days 22 hours- ROZER: Order: skip it. Play the transmission. SID: Here's your coffee. LAYTHE LANDER: Affirmative. ROZER: Thanks. LAYTHE LANDER: Transmission 36. ABORT EXPLORATION. BERTY DISCONNECTED. LONG RANGE COMMS DEAD. PREPARE LAV. ORBIT INSERTION AND RENDEZVOUS ASAP. CMDR JEB. *** MISSION STATUS ***

No way, I have seen that story in my practice for national exam paper (because I'm Indonesian and my government is very incompetent at grammar....... don't ask) There are 2 guys sitting together in an airplane. "They said the flight will go faster if we talk together" "What do you want to talk" "About nuclear stuff" "I have one question: What do they produce when horses, cows and chickens eat things?" "I don't know" "Well you shouldn't be talking about nuclear stuff when you don't know ****"