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Meh, the only real problems I've ever had with Windows had to do with the INSANE amount of bloatware/crapware that comes preinstalled with most pre-built laptops/desktop PCs. I mean, seriously, why include utterly redundant network and audio control centers, which do nothing but change settings in the "proper" control panels built into the OS? And that's not to talk about pre-installed trialware, especially antivirus software...

This next part is a little shorter and is something of an interlude from rocket building. Hopefully this thread in the story will make more sense in a few chapters time! The Other Side The village lights twinkled in the dusk as Jonton toiled up the hill towards his home. It had been a very interesting day indeed but for now he was more than a little footsore and simply looking forward to a bowl of something hot and maybe sitting out on the porch for a while with his feet in a basin of cool water. No wind tonight either to put a chill on things he thought to himself as he trudged up the garden path. The front door opened, spilling out a fan of warm golden light onto the ground. Gerselle stood in the doorway looking partly amused and partly exasperated. “What time do you call this, Jonton Kermol?" Jonton opened his mouth to speak but saw the corner of Gerselle's mouth quirked upwards in a half smile. “I'm not sure," he answered “but I do know it's way past supper time."He sniffed the air appreciatively. “Fortunately for me, it seems like someone left some white bean stew on the stove." He gave Gerselle a brief hug. “Think I'll just wash the road dust off before supper. This kerbal will be a lot nicer to be around after a quick hose down." Gerselle wrinkled her nose at him. “You just go ahead and do that. It'll make this kerbal a lot nicer to be around too." Jonton chuckled as he went inside. The house was a fairly normal kermol dwelling - a simple circular hut, built around the trunk of a Kerm tree with three walls marking out rooms for sleeping, eating or bathing. The kermwood walls were polished to a soft inviting glow and colourful homespun rugs littered the floor. Jonton stepped through into the bathing room, slipping off his rumpled travelling clothes as he did so. Grabbing a large handful of dripping sweetmoss from the pool, he sponged himself vigorously, the water running off his skin in icy rivulets. Shivering but feeling much refreshed he took a spare poncho from the rail and padded out onto the porch, fingers combing his hair back out of his eyes as he went. A steaming bowl of stew was waiting for him on the table and was demolished in short order. By the time he had helped himself to a second bowl from the stove, Gerselle was waiting for him on the porch, rocking back and forth in her chair. “So, were the stories true?" Jonton pushed his empty bowl away with a contented sigh. “Sort of. Or at least the more sensible ones were. There was definitely a rocket - and three crazy kerbals packed into a can on top of the rocket too. It didn't fly around the world though - I'm guessing the kerman are probably working on that part." He looked wistful. “Actually, I say crazy but they seemed like pretty level types to be honest." Gerselle shifted in her chair. “Were there many other kermol at the launch?" “Quite a few actually. Patbro was there, Ludvis as well. Didn't recognise too many after that but there were plenty of grey robes dotted around the crowd." Jonton scratched his head. “The Interplanetary Society were careful to come over and talk to us too - actually, some of us went back to their factory afterwards to have a look round and meet the team." Gerselle looked amused. “Interplanetary Society?" Jonton nodded. “Kerbin Interplanetary Society is what they call themselves. Bit of a grand name at the moment really - the flight this afternoon was impressive but it sure didn't go near any planets other than Kerbin. He smiled. “But like I said, I reckon they're working on that. Not that I blame them after seeing those pictures." “Pictures?" asked Gerselle curiously. “Pictures of Kerbin, taken out of the window of the last rocket they flew. A lot of them weren't that good but there was one that was simply beautiful. Kerbin on one side, all greens and blues, the dark sky on the other but with even more stars." Jonton paused. “And the Mun rising over the horizon." Gerselle looked at him. “We could always go kerman for a year or two you know," she said softly. Jonton smiled again. “It's a kind offer, love but we've got plenty of time yet. I have a feeling they'll be flying into space for many years to come." He gazed fondly at the tiny tousled head peeping sleepily out of her poncho. “Besides, living amongst the Kerm does have its advantages." Little Joenie wriggled as she was lifted out of her pouch and squeaked grumpily in the sudden cold as she was passed across to her father. Jonton wrapped his daughter in a corner of his poncho and murmured to her in soothing tones as he snuggled her into one shoulder. Joenie burrowed into the comforting warmth and promptly fell asleep again. The two kerbals sat on the porch as the Mun rose over the trees, sometimes sitting in companiable silence, sometimes talking of this and that. Eventually, Jonton couldn't hold back any longer and yawned widely, trying his best not to disturb the sleeping kerblet at his shoulder. Gerselle made a shooing gesture at him. “You get to your bed, Jonton Kermol - you know you've got a long night ahead of you." He reluctantly unwrapped his daughter's fingers from his ear and gently handed her back to her mother. The bedroom was fragrant with the faintly cinnamony odour of Kerm leaves and Jonton noted absently that the new buds near the ceiling had finally opened. The large clump of leaves at the head of his bed unfolded as he approached, making a very inviting looking pillow. They rustled slightly as he lay down, curling themselves around his head. As Jonton drifted off to sleep, he was only vaguely aware of the familiar tickling sensation of hundreds of wispy leaf hairs burrowing into his scalp. That night he dreamed of rockets and kerbals flying far out beyond the reach of Kerbin. High above his head, the Kerm trees rustled in the still night air. << Chapter 7 :: Chapter 9>>

Personally, I'd like to order a saturn style planet with rings. All this talk about rocheworlds has gotten me wanting the discworld...

I'll talk terms for the creation of an asteroid belt. CEO of Disaster Area speaking.

I find funny that you're trying to rationalize "why Earth should have beat the Combine" when is much more logical to think that an alien civilization that lives on conquering worlds will wipe out whatever resistance we might try to muster. What you should be questioning is "Why is the Combine so weak during the events of the game?" But all of this is moot, the premise of the story is that the Combine conquered Earth, end of discussion. Whatever fault you might find is of no relevance, if needed the authors can talk more about the Combine and explain why the events occurred the way they occurred in order to justify the premise of the story.

There are plenty of books out there that talk about theoretical designs that can reach at most 10%, the lovely Cold War Orion project being one of them. However, if by current technology, you mean and propulsion system that we currently use, yes, chemical rockets could do that, but you would probably need to burn all of the hydrogen/helium/etc in Jupiter to do so. Now, if you want to define that as (which is what I assume you mean) practical designs that we currently use, an ion drive with enough fuel might do it. I'll run the math to see how much Xenon you would need. EDIT: Okay, I punched in the numbers for the Dawn spacecraft into the rocket equation via Wolfram Alpha, and began to mess around with the amount of fuel. It would take over 1,184,000 kg of Xenon gas to get to 1% the speed of light. Now, I got this just be altering the initial mass of the vehicle, and due to the fact that the vehicle would have to be much larger than Dawn to hold all of that gas, than the amount of fuel would increase even more. Now for the part that makes that ~1.2 million kg of fuel seem really impractical. At $120 per 100 grams, that puts the price (on fuel alone) to be $14,208,000,000. EDIT 2: Yeah, PakledHostage is right, the speed of light is 300,000 km/s, so 1% of that is 3000 km/s. I don't feel like doing the math since you can imagine how crazy the fuel and cost requirements would be.

Erm, guys, all this talk about FTL drives is a bit silly. We already have a mod in-game that makes getting to Jool in five minutes or less a reality.

I don't want to talk too much about why children are so obsessed with themselves, and why they love computers and television, but much research has gone into it, and it often shows something different from what most people believe. To get an accurate position of this from a child is almost impossible. From the research I have seen, a child's love of television can come from many things, including the ability to accurately make predictions (Even if what they are doing is post-diction), be part of a social group, or being able to teach somebody else something. The first one normally applies to young children, but the second and third often applies all the way to adulthood. On computers, I feel that the more into a computer a child is, the better it is. Children who play games on computers will likely make strong social connections that may last a long time, and many children who get into computers will often want to know how to make something for whatever they do on a computer. The idea that computers are only bad for a child are wrong, and there has never been anybody to prove this. There have been, however, people that proved gaming and working on computers can improve certain technical and social skills. From my experience, children are overzealous about things outside of the house, assuming you mean current events and going outside. All of the children I know love to go outside given the right temperatures. I, personally, prefer time outside when it is cold, or is raining. As to current events, children will often take sides and defend their positions. They are erred in most cases, as they aren't likely to be taught proper research until they get of college age, and they often take the sides of their family, but they do take part.

Yes, yes, we are all kinds of friends now. Good, good. So, how about we talk a little commerce? Sounds like you Kerbals are in the market for quite a variety of planets. So far on the menu for your particular universe we have the following: -Minmus class. Your basic bargain planet. We can give you these in bulk discounts. Cheap enough to do your own asteroid belt! I am afraid the base model only comes in grey/greygreen (as you have noticed). But we do offer a custom paint job as an extra. See Joker for a more... shall we say.. extreme example. -Gas Giants. High mass make these a pricey item. But a recent find has made gas cheap! 2 for one on sale now. -Tylo class. Vacuum moon. This is what you really want to put your base on! Isn't it? We have very affordable models ready to orbit your star! -Duna class. A real planet! Now you have arrived! Imagine custom terrain and a plush arid atmosphere to make aero braking and parachute descents a breeze. Named best in class by McPlanet. -Lathe class. Above + Oceans. Coming soon! (Once we sop up the ocean from our last go). Premium Extras: Suns. Not as pricey as you might think! -Single (any size!) -Simple Binary (bargain at half the price!) -Binary with Manilo center. (Mmmm) Prices? If you have to ask you cannot afford.

brain doesnt run on a clock, it is totally asynchronous. you cant just crank it up (well you can speed it up a little but it involves substances that will probibly kill you and is illegal almost everywhere). but something like an i/o chip would be pretty cool. cpu can talk to the chip, and the chip can talk to your brain (actually it would probibly be more of a chipset, you would want chips in places like the occipital lobe and the motor cortex, speech center, etc). the whole system of implants would talk to a host chip and that chip would talk to the computer via some kind of interface, such as wifi. this also allows things like radio telepathy as well as a control interface for computers and several other kinds of machines and vehicles. of course you might as well throw in a cpu in there as well so you can preform math and logic at a superhuman rate.

Wow. Talk about over engineering your rockets man. I generally quad my engines rather then use the mainsail, and combine that with asparagus staging instead. Most rockets weigh in at the 150-180 ton range, are just about as efficient, and generally good enough for launching 40-60 ton payloads to the Mun. Lately however I've been focusing on smaller launch vehicles, and building a orbital industry of sorts that allows you to re-fuel a tug in a 80 km orbit at a space station, pick up cargo from the same orbit, and then deliver that cargo be it a lander, or components of a base to the Mun or elsewhere. While slightly more time consuming the amount of delta-v saved is actually quite impressive.

Sorry to go slightly off-topic, but there are hard limits on what the Earth can give us. Let's focus on power. I'm not going to lecture you on the environment impact fossil fuels have-climate change is a big issue, but I'm going to talk purely in an economic sense. Oil and coal are predicted to last several decades, a few centuries at the very most. That's at current demand, we're going to need much more per year as the "third world" develops and industrialises. Also, we can't just wait for the last deposit to dry out, and immediately switch to something else- it takes years, decades even, to change an entire infrastructure. We can either do that now,when we are functioning and progressing as a species,or do it later, and spend that time finding new forms of power in the dark ages. Since most people alive right now rely on infrastructure that will no longer exist, there will not be enough food or water or medicine for everyone... It doesn't have to be like that. We could transition gradually to something else. My comment above mentions solar power stations in orbit around the earth-setting up enough to provide power for everyone will cost billions or trillions of dollars-but is that any different to the trillions invested in fossil fuels, that will evaporate when that last barrel of oil is pumped from the ground?

A must see movie! Maybe someone can remake the Europa-1? Lets talk about the movie here, fist of all, what was the budget? I heard it was shoestring.

HP customer service I find is sort of hit or miss, sometimes its like what you described, other times it borderlines Dell (ya, it can get that bad). I find Toshiba's tend to be relatively well built. I cant really talk about Lenovo without going into tin hat mode though.

Hey could you talk to the Dev for the Chatterer plugin on spaceport? Having this plus space audio clips while on EVA from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/chatterer/ chatterer would be amazing! Also providing an audible distortion to the sounds from chatterer while in EVA would add to the immersion as well!

I've attempted, and failed to make a reaper, I was wondering has anyone? Post and talk here

Ah, such happy Kerbals. Now that the unpleasant talk of jaws has subsided I can address a few questions. Release date. Yes! Yes Indeed! You will be very happy to know that we know the exact time your new planets will arrive down to the very millisecond. And I assure you we here at Kragrathea NEVER miss a date. The hyperspace time/date is exactly 1.2.8.16. You will be issued a hyperspace tracking number the moment we process your species payment. Map of the universe. Well, no. I am afraid the universe is somewhat beyond your compression. And it would be too big a file, more than a few stars out there you know. That said I might be able to bash together a local map, time permitting of course. Making your own planets? Oh, heavens no. You would blow yourselves to bits in no time. And why bother yourself? Leave the heavy lifting to Kragrathea. Mushroomman, too many questions my friend. I don't have the memory I did when I was your age. Here are answers to the ones I remember.Yes, probably, definitely not (I am offended you asked) and "What?". Duna close to kerbin? Ah I see how you could be confused. That isn't Kerbin nor is it Duna. Those are full scale cardboard stand-ins of your planets. We use them on our Fabulous Kragrathea Factory Floor when we are assembling planets. It is essential to consider the view of the other planets in the clients system when designing a planet. How else are we to get that perfect shade of atmosphere that compliments colors of the gas giant the planet will eventually orbit? When those shots were taken we were considering a blue planet/ruddy atmosphere pallet. Magnificent, isnt it? I assure you no detail is too small here at Kragrathea.

Chapter 2: A Strange Encounter Part Two (yes, the bump was needed) Jeb resisted the temptation to ignore the knock and relax. His back ached as he trudged towards the door. The person standing there was instantly recognizable. One of Jeb's friends that he hadn't talked to in at least a decade. Jeb: Hello Bill. Come in. (in that unexcited tone) Bill: Well am I glad to see you. Jeb: What do you want? Bill: *Sigh* Glad you're in a great mood. Jeb: I don't need no more of this bullcrash reminders of the Space Program and how it crashing ruined my life! Bill: Please don't get mad. I only came here to talk about life with you and share stories and such. We haven't seen each other in a decade. Jeb: And I'm OK with that! Go back to Tylo Bill! You want to share stories? I haven't had a single good moment since those idiot Kamericans put my Son on that dumb untested fighter jet. Bill: Well then we can start now. Jeb I understand how bad things are going for you. Losing your Son, Wife, and Job. Ever since Hephaestus every single Kamerican Kerbonaut has had to face challenges. You've got to stop living in the past. Jeb: But I have no future. I was born to be a kerbonaut; an obsolete job. They shut us down for a reason. That's what I've come to have known after my son's death. It's good that our kind die off unsuccessfully. Make room for those Probe Pilots they want now. Bill: Jeb stop. What's wrong with you becoming a Probe Pilot? I remember you a courageous young man who planned to land on every planet and moon in the solar system. Jeb: Those were my stupid days. I know better than risking lives for a purpose that makes no sense. There is little thrill in being a Probe Pilot. But I don't want any thrill anyways. Bill: If you're going to be like this, forget it. I guess those 3 days of finding you and driving here were useless. Jeb: Go back to Tylo! Bill casually walked out. He got in his car and drove off. Bill turned on the radio and listened to the news. He was going to show that Jeb how to be a real Pilot.

Nice screenshot, bad landing! (I'm one to talk. My latest attempt to put a probe around Mun sent the probe -way- off course.) Well, any landing you can crawl away from is a good one. Glad to know you got Jeb back. Next time, less sideways...

Well, true video games have only been around since 1962, starting with Spacewar!. I have played Spacewar!, but games from 1962-1980 can be a little hard to play, unless they are arcade-style. Games got really good and easy to play, in my opinion, during and after 1985. This happens to coincide with the appearance of the MS DOS for personal computers. This is when games got really beautiful, for the time, by introducing videos, and even some types of three-dimensional terrain. If you want to talk good, older games, Pac-Man, which came out less than a year after Adventure, was a good one. Adventure was good, and I can still remember spending hours trying to find the only Easter-egg in the game.

All this talk about MechJeb and it's Autopilot when I recall a Live Stream with Squad saying later down the track they hope to implement Kerbals doing activities that you ask them to do, this includes flying your Ship to Orbit if you wish. The stats will effect how efficient they are in the task though. Personally I use MechJeb and I have never used Autopilot. I love it purely for it's information Windows, I try and avoid using the Map Mode or creating any Nodes, and MechJeb provides me the information I need to fly my ship 100% Manually. Sure there are many parts out there that are "Cheat" Parts, but honestly, the people who use those Parts I don't see as the people who will be playing Career mode at all, they obviously only play the Game to screw around and have a good time in their own way. But there are also alot of Mods out there that add extra to the Game, such as RemoteTech which I've just started getting into and have no idea how I lived without it, as well as KAS, it's Mods like these that I'd love to have the ability to use in Career, you get no benefit from them but more creations to build and challenges to over-come. If Squad do allow Mods in Career Mode, and people want their Cheat Parts in the game, then sure, they payed for the Game, so they should enjoy it in which ever way they want.

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question. Do move it if that's the case. Thanks. How did this game enter-and effect-your life? I ask this because it probably isn't the same reason you buy other games. Kerbal Space Program is not a global sensation-yet. Other games I play, I bought because my friends won't shut up about them, so I might as well see what the fuss is about. This time, nobody I know knew of the existence of this game. And then they knew, because I would never shut up about it. On the 1st of July, 2012, 375 days ago today, I was looking through my youtube subscriptions, and I notice this video about this game called "Kerbal Space Program"... I think to myself "FyreUK? Well, I only really watch them for the Minecraft builds... but why not? They revealed to me the existence of H.A.T. films, that was a good discovery. Besides, it has "Space Program" in the title, so it must be good." I fell in love. With a video game. About little green men. Inside spaceships that I myself can build and fly and land and crash. I needed to know more. Luckily, in the comment section, I see this post "Hey, you might want to check out this dude called trydyingtolive. He has a lot of KSP videos, and you might learn a thing or two." I look up trydyingtolive, and I learn a thing or two. The man gives me a crash-course in orbital mechanics. I didn't even know what a "Periapsis" or an "Apoapsis" is, before I watched his videos. I see that this game is science at work, it is how NASA does it. Then I spot in suggested videos a certain "Danny2462". I see that this game is also completely, magnificently insane. Danny shown me that "Kerbal" is not just a noun, it's an adjective. More players of KSP become known to me-Kurtjmac, Scot Manley, Pleborian, The Solar Gamer, HOCgaming, xPDxTV- the whole lot of them filling my brain with wonderful memories-Harv and TheMattDennis16-not the same Matt who introduced me to the game-race to get a flag on the Mun, a suave Scotsman giving a nugget of space history, Danny unveiling his orbital mass relay, Pleborian trying to skycrane down a base station on the Mun, only to accidentally release it a few kilometres too high... I download the demo. I get into orbit. I "attempt" the Mun. I fail, then I succeed. I do it again and again, getting better each time. I buy the game on steam. I send probes to the other planets. Now, very recently, I have put boot prints on the Duna soil. This game isn't even nowhere near finished, and even then, even now, it's the greatest game I have ever played. What about you guys? How has your time with this game been like? How did it start? Sorry if I'm talking about myself too much. You talk about yourselves, if you want. In the words of a great Kerbal, "Cheers".

Chapter 3 - So... Is anyone outside? *Bump* Bill: Not again.... Bob: I'm surprised that Jeb and Kirk did not wake up. That is the 15th bump in the last 2 km. Bill: Yeah- me too. Hey Orbit team- come in Orbit team! Lenwise: Lenwise Here. You are following the path to the refinery, perfectly on track. We are surprised. Bill: Yeah. We put Jeb to sleep. Bob: And Kirk. Lenwise: I understand. I would have done the same- your telemetry on the first drive was insane. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Lenwise: What was that? Is there a loose panel outside? Possibly a light hanging from a wire or something? Bill: We don't think so. Everything checks out, and an electrostatic hull-pulse showed no ruptures or gaps in the plating. Bob: Cameras did not pick up anything either. Lenwise: Is this turning into a horror show down there? Or are their really space snakes? Bob: .... Bill:.... Bob: I am rather sure that this is not a horror flick. Lenwise: There is alot that we don't know about the mun still, and there might be a biosphere we cannot see yet. Bob: And that's why we should not jump to conclusions. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Bill: Well, I think we should wake up Jeb and Kirk. Bob: Agreed. We are almost there anyway. *Bump* Bill: Hey Jeb. Jeb! Jeb: Wha? Blurg? Kirk: What happened? I feel... Jeb: Are you OK, *hick* Kirk? Kirk: Burg.... Jeb: Kirk- You might want to head to the bathroom. Kirk: Yeah..... Bob: Do you think we used too much sleeping gas? Kirk: BLAAAARRRRGGG!!!! Bill: No. No I don't. Kirk: I HATE MICROGRAVITY..... BLURRRGG!!!! MC: That sounds unpleasant. Jeb: I hate this crap. Bob: Space travel? Driving on the mun? Jeb: No, the tri-mix - sleeping-gas mix... It always makes me nauseated. *BUMP* Jeb: What was that? The shocks- Bob: We know. That's why we woke you up. The port side seems to be bumping unusually hard. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Kirk: BLUURRRRGGGGG.... Bob: Oh, then there's that.... Jeb: The tapping? Or the vomiting? Bill: The tapping. Jeb: Well, is there anyone on eva?.... Nope. There are all four of us present. Kirk: So *hick* who's out there? Jeb: The ghost of early probes? Maybe those SWARM AI that escaped? MC: Jeb, we have been tracking the SWARM since they entered the Joolian system. They destroyed our jool-system probe. You know- Jeb: I know which one. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Kirk: Which one? MC: This one. Kirk: Oh... That looks... Nice. I guess. MC: Anyway- we lost the probe. We have been tracking the SWARM, and they are nowhere near you. AT ALL. Jeb: Right. *Bump* Jeb: Stop the rover. Bill: But we are only 3 km away! One hill left! Jeb: If that bumping and the damn tapping- *TAP-TAP-TAP* Jeb: yes, that, I will go absolutely insane. Bill: What, you can go more insane? Jeb: I am not dignifying that one. Kirk: Launching micro-probe. 29 left. Bill: Damn. We should get some of these into the ship. Kirk: No kidding. Pulling an image now: Jeb: That would cause the problem. Kirk: How can you be so calm? WE HAVE A MISSING WHEEL! Jeb: Judging by the directions of the bumping, there is probably more than one. Bob: Doesn't the micro-probe have lights? Jeb: No. No, it does not. Bill: Who's going out? Jeb: Dibs- I will go, as long as I don't need to clean the air filters from Kirk's little... Learning experience in micro-gravity. Kirk: *Hurk* Thanks.... BATHROOM.... BLURRRGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bill: Deal. *Ten minutes later* Jeb: I don't see any movement... Bob: Well, then, check up on the wheels. Jeb: Starboard-side wheels are clear. Jeb: Middle wheels are clear. Already I can see that the right side- MC: Jeb, use correct terminology. Jeb: Fine. The PORT rear wheel is out. *DINGDINGDINGDING* Jeb: Geiger counter is going off- the RTG is leaking. Bill: Well... I can pull an emergency vent of the RTG when you are back in the rover. Jeb: My suit should be enough protection for now. Jeb: Ready for the fix. Everyone brace yourselves! Kirk: Will this be bad? Jeb: You tell me. All done with this wheel. Jeb: I am going to get the next one. Jeb: Done. Coming back in. Bill: So.. Venting the RTG. *Alarms sound* Bill: It is venting. Jeb: I wish we could get a picture. Lenwise: You guys are emitting radiation visible from the sats up here! Jeb: Seriously? That.... AWESOME! Lenwise: I bet that it's glowing out there. Jeb: Lets see... Launching micro-probe. 28 left. Jeb: No, we are not glowing. *SCREEEEEEECH* Jeb: Ok, that was freaky. I'm heading outside. Kirk: Why? How? Jeb: Because I want to see what happened, and I have no idea how something can scream in vacuum. Bill: That's just the servomotors on the RTG resealing it. Jeb: Right. Bill- Help me with my helmet while Kirk goes insane. Kirk: Thanks Jeb. Jeb: Right- I'm out. Jeb: Looks like the RTG resealed just fine... But the wheels are out. Different ones than the first time- hang on, I'll fix them. Jeb: Done. Bill: Hey Jeb, listen: *TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP* Jeb: I can't see anything out here.... Besides the rover and the Mun. Bill: You mean there is nothing moving? Jeb: No, nothing is moving. Bob: Are you sure? Jeb: No, but I don't want to stay out here too long.Let me get back in.... Jeb: Guys, I have a plan. Everyone else: What? Jeb: Stay with me for this one, alright- lets get as far away from here as fast as possible. Kirk: I second. Bob: Jeb, you have the wheel. Jeb: FINALY! *Ten minutes of screaming terror come next. I don't think you want to hear it. *Wait, you do? *Alright. Here: Bob: ROCKROCKROCKROCK!!!!!!!! Bill: AAAAAARRRGGGG!!!! Kirk: WHY? WHY DID YOU NEED TO JUMP THAT ROCK JEB? Jeb: Because it was cool. Kirk: YOU ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL!!!! *This sort of thing goes on for 10 minutes. It gets boring. Anyway.... *After 10 minutes of screaming, swearing, and odd noises, our intrepid kerbalnaughts arrived at their destination. Bob: Hurg.... At least the tapping noise has stopped. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Bill: Oh COME ON! Kirk: Let's just ignore it. Jeb: So, welcome to another alien artifact. Kirk: You want to do the honors? Kirk: Sure! Kirk: Kirk AWAY! Jeb: Feel free to check out stuff out here. You have a couple hours of o2 in your tank. Kirk: Cool! Kirk: Oooh! A platform! Jeb: That's not... Nevermind. Jeb: Come on back- we need to get to the refinery. Check up on it. Kirk: Right. Kirk: Goodbye platform. Jeb: That was part of the first manned munar expedition. Kirk: Oh yeah, you flew on that one, right? Jeb: Yeah.... Jeb: Wow. That actually looks intimidating. Bill: So... Who gets to go out there, and grab the cable. *TAP-TAP-TAP* Jeb: Dibs! Bill: Damnit! Jeb: Guys, this thing is HUGE. Jeb: I mean, really huge. Kirk: And mostly fuel. Jeb: Kirk: I regret saying that. Jeb: Well, no time for fun. Just let me grab that connector and... WHOA. This thing is heavy. Bill: It needed to be resilliant to do what this thing did. Jeb: I bet... *Ten minutes later* Kirk: Come on man! I am dying out here. Jeb: Hold-*pant*-on. This-*pant*- weighs more than I-*pant*- do! *Another ten minutes later* Jeb: Arg. Alright- take the measurements QUICKLY! Before I fall off this thing! Bill: Not measurment- we need the details of the wireless connector line before we can talk to this thing. Jeb: JUST DO IT! Bill: Done. Just press the orange button on the side and the cable will retract. Jeb: Whoa! That was fast! Bob: Did anyone get a picture? Kirk: No, it was too fast. Jeb: So next we are supposed to.... *checks clipboard* Check the effect of a hypersonic fuel extractor? Kirk: Seems like it. Jeb: So what am I supposed to do? Bill: Stand next to the thing. Jeb: Wait. Bill: What now? Jeb: I saw the tests for the versions of these things. I saw a kerbal disintegrate because he was slightly too close. Bob: Did you get a picture? Jeb: I wish. It happened so fast... We were getting bits of him out of the experiment for days. Jeb: So... Is it active? Bill: Yup. Jeb: My boots feel funny. Bill: We have fuel siphon! Come on back. Jeb; Gotcha! *TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP....* Jeb: Mind if I drive? Kirk: As long as it gets us away from that tapping, sure. Go for it. Jeb: Bob & Bill: NOOOOOO! Jeb: Goodbye Refinary! Jeb: 22 km? 30 minutes, easy. Everyone else: AAAHHHHH! Jeb: Stop screaming. I have not even gotten that fast yet. *sound of accelerator* Jeb: Ok, now you can scream. Everyone else: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, So that chapter took a while, and I will have another update within the next 24-48 hrs. The companies will be making a reveal soon! Teaser Pic:

Well apparently void due to totally messed-up landing, but wow, talk about extreme tests of patience... Definitely deserves a special mention for the Under 9000 run. Heck, it is even a whole new challenge in its own right! Try going for the manual run. Who knows, you might probably do it Hmm, I will consider that. Congratulations! **OP updated.

H2 (formerly History International) runs Universe, which is semi-informative, but they won't talk about any astronomical phenomenon without contriving some way to explain how IT COULD WIPE OUT ALL LIFE ON EARTH!!! That gets really old. But the thing that broke my heart, and I can barely stand to watch it since, is the time they made some poor astronomer explain the relative sizes of things in terms of monster trucks. Yes, monster trucks. 　 　 (Amy Mainzer is pretty hot, though.)