Munar Railways - a train on the Mun.

[Sharpy]

"Mister Kerman..."

"Jebediah, or just Jeb if you please."

"Alright, Jebediah. Have you reviewed the offer?"

"Yes, mister Kerman."

"Oh, just Dynan. It's only fair."

"Alright, Dynan. You surely realize we're getting a lot of nutcases here. People who want to go into low Sun orbit, scientists who wish atmospheric surveys of multiple spots on Eve, even one idiot who wanted to have a flag planted on Jool..."

Dynan's face tensed.

"...and when I strapped the first capsule on top of solid rocket booster a week after building a rudimentary launchpad by my junkyard workshop, they called me a nutcase too. Today nobody calls me nutcase. They call me a visionary."

"Of course. That's why I submitted this contact to you."

"I can tell a visionary apart from a nutcase, Dynan. But first I need some details explained. Let us recount..." Jeb pulled the contract from his briefcase and put it on the desk.

"...just tell me, what do you need this all for?"

"At Probodyne, we have developed a new kind of rover for the Mun. Safe, reliable, fast, fun to drive. Uses only Liquid Fuel, no need for oxidizer. We'd love to see it used in some picturesque places. It gathers some good scientific data too. Tourists love it, scientists love it. But its fuel consumption is... rather high. We need a base for maintaining a set of these rovers. The scientific data would be best processed on-site. And there should be rooms for staff and the tourists."

Jebediah frowned. "On wheels?"

"Uh... after the tourists get bored with one area and the scientists have looked under every rock, the base should be able to relocate to a different area."

"There is one more issue..."

"Yes?"

"A docking port. I hope you realize normal docking on the surface is nearly impossible?"

"Uh. I do. It's a requirement by the Commission of Space Tourism."

Jeb groaned. "Them. Alright. I'm willing to do it... but not exactly as you have envisioned."

"Yes?"

"We'll slap some port on it... Now other details. First, launch of so big a facility in one piece would be impractical. It will be assembled on site. Next, I hope you realize how much 6000 units of Liquid Fuel weigh? I'm not bringing it there. The base should be self-sufficient anyway, so it should have an ISRU unit. And the only logical way to make it mobile and not break apart when moving over rough terrain..." Jeb paused, taking a breath - "...is to make it a train."

"Building rails?" Dynan's eyes bulged more than usually.

"Oh, no. Just standard ruggedized wheels. But the base will be composed of multiple cars connected into a train, connected with flexible joints of a universal grabbing unit."

"They say bad things about that device."

"And rightly so. It's fickle. But you once you master it, it serves you reliably... mostly."

"So, what kind of cars will be there?"

"There will be the tourist module and the staff module. Living quarters for fourteen kerbals in total. It will also contain science experiments shielded in a bay."

"Wouldn't it be better to attach them to a lab? And what about that engine on the roof?"

"They are fragile, and since it's meant to travel on wheels, it counts as a rover. Do you know what rhymes with 'rover'?"

"ummm... cover?"

"That too. But I meant 'Roll over.' That's what they do. They all do it. Big, small, tall, squat, long, short. Some wizard developed a rover with center of mass below the surface of the ground. It was simply incredibly stable on Kerbin, taking high-speed turns without even a little tilt. Do you know what it did first thing after landing on the Mun?"

"It rolled over?"

"Bingo!"

"so how can we prevent rolling over?"

"We can't. We accept it. We build in such a way, that it's harmless. The staff car can set itself upright with the cargo bay doors. The front car will roll over the engine to a side, then needing just a small push. Plus it looks cool. Maybe the technicians can rig a fuel line to it for a boost uphill."

"Okay, I'm trusting your judgment. What's next?"

"The science lab. It can set itself upright with the reaction wheel."

"What are these struts for?"

"What did we talk about?"

"Do they help it roll back onto wheels somehow? I don't see how."

"No, they are to protect the Gigantors. The big solar panels, which would be smashed to smithereens if the lab rolls over. The lab could house two scientists, but I wouldn't sentence them to actually living there."

"Next come two fuel tanks. We'll launch them half-full, so that they aren't excessively heavy but won't require transfer stages."

"How are the engines decoupled?"

"We call it 'Crumple Buffer Engine Method." The craft can land at a velocity exceeding the engine's rated durability, engine first, and it decouples quite cleanly."

"So, the ISRU unit and that's it?"

"Not quite, but yes, the ISRU comes next."

"It has no own roll-over mechanism. It will depend on other modules for providing the needed torque. Still, the gigantors are protected by the drills. Of course in their folded state. There is an operator cabin so it can operate independently. Which it will have to, early on. It will be the first car deployed."

"Uh, why?"

"This all has to land somehow, right?"

"Of course."

"Besides the fuel cars, none other has its own landing capability."

"Uh, what exactly is this?"

"A skycrane. It can land the modules, but it will need fuel. The ISRU will provide it. And the last part... finding that ore."

"They won't flip over?"

"Likely one might. That's why two. If both flip over, we'll send more. They aren't terribly expensive."

[..to be continued...]

The Munar Train is complete currently. I will detail the adventures of the landing though, although screenshots may be scarce.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Sharpy

[Sharpy]

It took about a year for the project to take off. Other things kept Jebediah busy. A Dune mission, Eve probes, rescues, Minmus, crew schooling...

Finally the mission began with launch of the skycrane.

It kinda aaaalmost went alright. With the teeny tiny exception that the main rockets didn't have enough fuel to make orbit, and the skycrane had to use own propulsion for the last 600 or so m/s. Which left it with the tanks depleted in 1/3.

Then came the miner. A young female engineer recently recruited after being rescued from LKO volunteered for the mission, having passed her training involving sightseeing of the Kerbin system just a couple weeks ago.

Meet Trazy Kerman, the enthusiast. Not too bright, not too brave, but she loved the big rig which she was assigned to.

The launch was very standard. It went without a hitch, Trazy sat in the safety of a fairing through the ascent. The rocket guided by a probe core circularized the orbit and deployed the fairing, preparing to leave the payload and return for recovery.

"Hey, Jeb," said Bob. "I'm really feeling weird about this."

"Why?"

"We're essentially dropping a truck car into Kerbin orbit. Its only propulsion is the wheels. If there's a problem with the tug, she'll be stuck there until we rescue her."

"We rescued her once, we can do it again. There's a bunch of SavingKlaws from the last delivery."

"It's bigger than the pod we rescued last time."

"And what was the touchdown speed of that pod?"

"uh... 3.3m/s?"

"So if the rig impacts the ground at 20m/s, she'll still survive. Plus there's a tug waiting for her."

"I have a bad feeling about that tug..."

"Look, she can always get out and push."

"True that. Let's decouple it."

"Hey, Jeb."

"Yeah?"

"We've installed the probe core backwards again."

[Mister Dilsby]

Ambitious. Settling in with some popkorn to wait for the munar kraken to arrive xD Hopefully your well-thought-out robustness measures will work!

[Sharpy]

"Masterful encounter, Val. 0.1km five orbits away. Sometimes I'm worried you'll crash the crafts into each other when you get this precise."

"No worries, I'm watching it. Let's buy some donuts, it's over two hours until the tug catches up."

...

"See? Right on course. Just some teeny adjustments to get the prograde marker right on target. Now just using the RCS to brake and we'll pick her up."

...

"Val, the RCS?"

"Safety off, RCS on, fuel active, I'm firing retrograde and it's not working!"

"Val, brake!"

Valentina quickly flipped the tug around its crossbar axis and fired the main engines. The tug lightly knocked into the rig, sending it spinning, but soon SAS caught up and both vehicles stopped rotating, drifting apart slowly.

Valentina flipped the tug back towards the rig and pressed the prograde RCS button. The craft sat there motionlessly.

"Bob, did you install all the needed RCS thrusters?"

"I checked it. Twelve vernors. Two pairs for up/down and rotating along the crossbar axis. Two pairs for left/right and rotating along the claw axis. Two pairs for rotating across the cross-axis..."

"Which translate...?"

"Up/down. Uh."

"And this thing is supposed to land a whole train without any retrograde RCS?"

Bob scratched his head.

Jeb coughed. "I'll order a new one with the corrections applied, and... what can we do with this one?"

"Scuttle that junk," Valentina scoffed.

"It still has a plenty of good delta-V in it."

"I can do some work with it but we really need a good one for the landings."

"Can you get Trazy into Lunar orbit?"

"And how am I going to grab her with the klaw without retrograde control? Burn prograde and flip really fast? And hope for the best?"

"Val, what if we used the rig's klaw instead? Dock it to the probe core, using main engines to get forward speed?"

"And push instead of pulling? If it's even a little off center we'll spin like crazy. Also, do you know what happens when you dock a vessel in control to an extended craft?"

"Yeah, same thing as when the Ghostbusters cross the streams. You'll need to switch to the rig when the tug is about to connect."

"And if I fail I'll obliterate the known universe."

"Well... if you can't do it..."

"I CAN do it."

"Really?"

"Just watch."

...

"Yeah, nice! Trazy is now in Munar orbit and we just need to pick an ore-rich place to start. Can you land her?"

"No."

"No?"

"There's not enough delta-V left. She'll crash."

"Are you sure? You have still like... 900 m/s?"

"Enough for one perfect suicide burn. If I botch it, she's dead."

"So you can do it!"

"No. The rig is held by its klaw. I'd need to detach, move and hold it by the middle, somewhere around the inertia wheel."

"So?"

"No retrograde, remember?"

"You could flip the tug..."

"And by the time I have her grabbed I won't have enough fuel for landing."

"But..."

"But we're waiting for the second tug, period."

...

"Perfect! Grabbed just above the center of mass, wheels downwards, and the new tug works very smoothly."

"Val, move all the fuel from the old tug into the new one."

"Not all." Val grinned. "Need to save a little to deorbit."

"You just love crashing the spaceships, don't you?"

"Just watch the fireworks, they will be spectacular."

...

"Whoa! Did you see that solar panel? Hey, switch tracking on for that panel! How far is it going to fly?!"

"Uh... I'm getting minus thirty kilometers..."

"Show the orbit!"

"Ohhh. that explains it! A little more and it would escape the Mun's gravity! And it's gonna do an almost full orbit! How long to impact?"

"1 day 4 hours."

"Told you boys the fireworks would be spectacular? Okay, back to work. What now?"

"Land her at an ore-rich location."

"That is?"

"Switch to the survey satellite and find one near her orbit."

"What survey satellite?"

"Uh, Bob... can you whip one out real quick?"

"Real quick?"

...

about six hours later...

[Whirligig Girl]

*ahem* It's not a railway if it doesn't have rails. It's definitely a train, but it is not a railroad or railway.

[Geschosskopf]

Sharpy, you're a nutter . Best of luck.

*ahem* It's not a railway if it doesn't have rails. It's definitely a train, but it is not a railroad or railway.

Gregroxx, I dare you to say that to Overland. I dare you

[More Boosters]

Hah great read!

[Sharpy]

The three girls sat under the awning just outside The Rusty Rotor, the small cafeteria ran in a side of SPH. Sharing drinks, they were discussing their upcoming mission.

"So I heard Trazy made it to the Mun?" asked Leeliana.

"Yes. I was there when she squealed like wild when she saw the walls of the canyon rising a kilometer above her. She loves the place." Michelle replied.

"Canyon?" Gima asked somewhat worried.

"That's where we're going to land. Here." Michelle pulled out a tablet and picked the map of Mun."

"That's the shallow end, right?"

"Yes. There's supposedly a good deposit a short way north but with the current scanner sat we won't get any precise info. We must wait for the rovers and then we're supposed to relocate the train there."

"So, what is she doing currently?"

"Refueling the tug using the small amounts of ore at her landing site."

---

four hours earlier, at Mission Control

"Aaaand... we've got touchdown. Trazy, how are you?"

"EEEYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"

"Trazy! Are you okay?"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Trazy! Talk to me?! Are you hurt?"

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIII! So awesome! So huge!"

"Hey, talk to me girl!"

"EEEEEEE! Ekhem. KSC, this is Train-3, confirming touchdown.... Wheeeee!"

"She's okay." Val wiped sweat off her head.

"Alright, Val." Jeb leaned over the screens. "We've got to drop the payload."

"Negative."

"What do you mean, Val?"

"Have a look at this. The tug was supposed to land on its legs, drop the rig and let it drive away, right?"

"And it didn't?"

"There's at least a meter of clearance under the legs. It sits right on top of the rig, on its wheels. Simply put, it's too short. Not even the passenger modules are short enough to fit under it."

"I'm not sending yet another tug."

"Yeah, I hope so. This thing is more trouble than it's worth. Just give all the rest respective transfer stages capable of landing directly."

"But what about right now?"

"Just sit back."

Valentina pushed the throttle of the remote control console gently, watching the screens. The rig began rising off the ground and she immediately pulled the throttle two notches back. The rig descended and sat on the ground, the engines still blasting clouds of dust around.

"Disengaging the Klaw."

The tug deprived of its load shot vertically up, clearing the craft. Valentina pulled the throttle back, and slowly brought the vessel to a hover, stopping some 100 meters above the surface.

"Now let me find a bit of mostly flat terrain..."

"There, the bottom of the valley stops rising and descends into another depression..."

She tilted the tug for a moment, and let it float gaining horizontal speed. For a minute they waited as she surveyed the terrain from above, then she tilted it in the opposite direction bringing it to a stop. She throttled it down for a moment to begin descent, then brought the throttle back to a position that prevented the tug from changing its vertical speed. After another minute the landing legs for the first time touched the dust of the Mun.

"Tracy? Drive the rig up to the tug and start refueling it."

"eeeiiiiiiiiyes!" sounded from the radio.

"Carefully. Don't flip it. We won't have any means to set it upright in quite a while!"

"Got that captain!"

Valentina looked at Jeb nervously. He shrugged. "I understand her. How do you think it looked like when I first made it to the orbit?"

"Right. At least she's driving responsibly."

There was a long moment of silence. Then the radio came to life.

"KSC, we've got a problem."

The three kerbals in the mission control looked at each other in fear.

"...The Klaw doesn't quite reach up to the tanks of the tug."

"Ohhh..." Valentina deflated. "You're gonna give me a heart attack. There." she flipped the landing gear switch on the controls of the tug. "Better?"

"Yeah! Docked, deploying the drills! Whoa!"

"What?"

"The whole rig together with this side of the tug was lifted as the drills deployed. We've got 4.8% ore and starting drilling. I'll open the gigantors now and start the ISRU in a moment."

"Great."

"Wait, Val." Bob interrupted. "That's asking for trouble."

"How so?"

"The drills aren't meant to lift that much mass. Now that the tug is nearly dry, they can keep its weight up, but once the tanks are full, they will simply collapse under the weight."

"Well, there's one simple solution for that." Valentina toggled the landing gear switch again.

"Whoa!" Trazy shouted over the radio. "I'm now hanging off the side of the tug!"

"And that's how it's meant to be. Supported by rear wheels and the landing legs. The drills still sit deep enough to gather ore, don't they?"

Edited August 7, 2015 by Sharpy

[Sharpy]

Trazy kept grinning like crazy. She looked at a photo pinned in the cockpit of the rig.

Leeliana, Gima, Michelle and her on Minmus. And Midra, but they never really clicked, Midra being an introverted loner. And Long Way, the craft playing shenanigans with the reaction wheel.

Leeliana, Gima, Trazy and Michelle all came from different backgrounds, worked for different firms, all in space industry, but they all shared the same fate: an accident, getting stranded in space in a husk of craft, with diminishing supplies, and then being saved by an automatic probe, a SavingKlaw. Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts manufactured these small unkerbed crafts in bulk and would deliver a batch to the orbit now and then. Then whenever a kerbal was stranded, one SavingKlaw would detach from the delivery hub, arrive at the husk, then deliver it safely to Kerbin surface with help of abundance of airbrakes and parachutes.

Then each of them would have a talk with Jebediah, and enchanted by his charm and charisma, not to mention a promise of very decent salary and reasonable work conditions, they'd accept the job offer at KSC.

The four became good friends during the month they spent all across the Kerbin system, first a visit to Mun orbit, then a trip outside Kerbin's sphere of influence, then a landing on Minmus before return to Kerbin. They spent the time studying together, and learning more than they'd ever learned in their previous jobs.

Now was the time to put their skills to a test. And the remaining three friends would arrive soon.

Any hour now...

She looked with worry at the deepening shadows.

Dusk was coming.

[Sharpy]

"Liftoff!"

The two vehicles on a common carrier soared into the sky, gaining speed rapidly. Michelle held the rudder steadily, in a gentle gravity turn. Soon the white streaks of condensation were replaced by full-fledged flames as the vehicle crossed the upper atmosphere.

Then the flames went out and stillness of open space embraced them.

"Canyons..." Gima muttered. "Are you sure you can land in a canyon?"

"It's really no harder than landing in open field." Michelle muttered as she prepared for the orbital insertion burn. She held the throttle gently, observing the numbers on the screen, allowing time to apoapsis crawl towards zero at a tenth of normal pace. Three mainsails in the rear sent vibrations through the ship. The digits of the periapsis entry raced up, from deep negatives. As they reached the magical "75,000" she rapidly cut the engines. "So, the point of no return girls. These things have no parachutes."

"Do it," said Gima.

"We trust in you," confirmed Leeliana.

Michelle pressed the stage button. A clang, explosion of separation charges, a jerk forward, and the transfer stage with the two cars drifted forward, leaving the Cygnus class launch stage behind.

---

"Are you sure you can do it?" Gima kept worrying, looking as right in front of their vehicle the sun was hiding behind the horizon of the Mun.

"Hush," Leelana calmed her. "Let Michelle concentrate."

"Look, Gima." Michelle turned to her friend. "I can't guarantee I'll land close to Trazy, but I promise we'll land in one piece."

Gima just sat down closing her eyes.

"I'm not doing anything crazy. We have a plenty of fuel, we have well enough thrust, and two reaction wheels that can keep this baby upright at all times. I'll do it gently and carefully."

The last of the Sun vanished behind the horizon and only lights of screens and controls lit up the cockpit.

---

Michelle cursed. Other than the distant diamond of a marker of Tracy, the screens were black. Not a dot, not a shade of terrain. She checked the map once again. If she squinted, she could make out the shape of the canyon and the ship icon was overlapping it, with the middle somewhere in the middle of the canyon. She really wished for "hot spots" on these icons.

A steady descent of around ten meters per second, altitude above terrain around 1000m. Horizontal speed... 15m/s. Too high, but the ship was tilted lightly and the horizontal speed was bleeding off rapidly.

It was a third approach, one where Tracy was finally reasonably close, and Michelle was reasonably sure she was landing in the canyon. She watched the vertical speed and vertical acceleration markers, staying steadily at 10 and near 0 respectively. The absolute altimeter clicked its ten meters every second. The two friends sat in the passenger cabin, strapped on.

Michelle glanced at the radio-altimeter again. 600. That's fairly fast for the time it took. Horizontal speed 12m/s. The vertical speed grew to 12m/s and Michelle took time to first bring it back to 10 and then make the acceleration return to 0. Horizontal speed 10m/s, nothing to worry about. Altitude... WHAT? Altitude 30 meters?! How?! When?!

She pushed the throttle to the bottom. Three seconds should be a plenty to reverse.

Then there was an explosion, not even a second later. The constant hush of the Poodle died down and Michelle found herself in freefall. Then a bump, a rapid roll, then in the pitch darkness the rover hit the surface nose first, and pivoted sending the fuel tank forward. Another bump, another roll. Screams of Gima could be heard.

The vehicle dug its nose into the Munar dust once again, faster this time. They were falling down a very speed slope, rolling. For a moment Trazy considered decoupling, but then she'd risk the tank crashing into them. Again, they were falling, away from the slope, the tank pivoting under them. Then a loud explosion shook the ship, the stressed tank exploded. Now the two cars just bundled together by two decouplers and a bar rolled down.

Then several more bumps and everything came to a standstill. There was only darkness and sobs of Gima. Michelle realized the munar gravity pulled on her again - sideways this time. She breathed heavily in the dark.

[Sharpy]

She took a minute to recover, then she reached for the "decouple" button. The bar with the two decouplers fell away.

The crew/experimental car rolled onto its roof. She tried switching control to it to open the cargo bay doors. No such luck. Why? Oh, because it had no probe core or cockpit of any kind. "Smart move, Bob." Michelle cursed.

She tried the reaction wheel of the tourist/driver car. It swung a little, to and fro. Some more swinging, a small prayer about not rolling over, and the craft suddenly tipped onto its wheels. She grabbed the rudder and turned it around slowly.

The shape of the crew module loomed in the darkness, barely visible. She knocked into it, trying to push it over. Nope, no such luck. She backed off, then accelerated rapidly. The move lifted the nose of her car, and it slammed into upper part of the one tipped over. This time it worked, the vehicle rolled to a sideways position. One more bump and it landed on its wheels. She maneuvered around it and very carefully docked the claw to its docking surface.

"Michelle..." sounded Lee from the cabin behind. "Would it inconvenience you much if we switched the lights off?"

Michelle took a swift breath and started clicking the switches one after another. Soon all windows of the two cars lit up brightly, pushing the oppressive darkness away. She exhaled.

"Train-one, do you read me?"

"This is Train One. I read you. We have landed."

"Congratulations! Make your way to Train-three."

"Thanks for nothing," Michelle muttered. "Acknowledged. Heading towards Train-3 mark."

She activated the driver controls and started the vehicle. It took her only a moment to realize the trailer was... trailing, at an angle. She said a small prayer to Squad the Krakenslayer and pressed the "release pivot" button.

Everything was going alright until she corrected her course. The motors of the trailer wheels pushed, and the front car turned entirely to a side. She tried to straighten it up, but the vehicle refused to cooperate, sliding at an angle. Five minutes of fiddling with motors, steering control, and it was clear the two vehicles were firmly stuck.

A short prayer again, and she pressed the klaw release. It sat there, at a weird angle. She moved her car to the front of the other one, setting it centrally and began backing up. The rapid movement made her car make a stoppie, rising its back up, and... it stayed like there.

She tried the reaction wheel. She tried to turn the wheels.No effect whatsoever. Only now, with the back raised high "up in the air" (except it was vacuum) she noticed one of the rear wheels was busted. But currently she was slowly descending into a panic attack. The legendary Kraken's "Freeze Attack."

Maybe, just maybe the car could be pushed? Maybe the wheel could be fixed?

She pressed the comms button. "Train One to Train Three, do you read me?"

"Michelle?! I thought I saw lights!"

"Yes, Trazy! We... um, could really use your skills. I really hate to ask you to come at night, but... we're kinda in a pinch."

"Coming right up!"

Not a minute passed when the hiss of monopropellant hitting the surface of the car broke the silence.

"There, the wheel is fixed" sounded from the comms.

"Can you give me a push?"

"One push coming right up!"

There was a bang on the shell of the rear. Then the comms came to life.

"Heeeeeeelp!!! I'm falling!"

"Tracy! What's going on? How are you falling? Is there some hole there?"

"No! This stupid... Ouch. Ow. This stupid jetpack! Ouch! I hit the car, fell over, and it reset the vertical direction! It's keeping me on my side! Ow! Ow! I can't stand up! And there's the incline and I'm falling!"

"Try to... I don't know! Try the side thrusters?"

"Ow, ow, no, I'm still tumbling! Ow."

"Try to stop!"

"The moment I stop, I'm falling on my si... ow... my side, and start tumbling again!"

"I'll ask KSC to reset your jetpack!"

...switching to KSC...

"Bill, do you know how to reset a jetpack?"

"Not a clue!"

...switching back to the train.

"Oh Thank Squad it's back to normal! They are true miracle workers!"

"Okay, Tracy. Don't risk anymore, just come to us, there's a plenty of room, and we'll go to your rig in the morning..." whispering, she added "I hope."

Moments later the airlock hissed, and Trazy jumped in. The four friends hugged, exchanging greetings.

Finally, the two scientists sat back in the cabin, and Trazy joined Michelle in the cockpit.

"So, as you see, we have quite a situation Struck by Kraken, we may need a replacement vehicle from Kerbin."

"Pffffbwahaha! Old Michelle believes in Krakens!"

"Don't joke, Trazy! This is serious!"

"Michelle, tell me, what does this display stand for?"

"uh..." the pilot wanted to wipe sweat off her head but the helmet stood in the way. "I'm feeling so stupid now."

"Let me guess, the main battery is in the other car. This one has only the cockpit to keep the wheels powered, right?"

"Yep."

"And I'm surprised you still have light in the cockpit considering how thoroughly you killed its batteries."

"But the position? The stoppie?"

"Check again, how much does an MK2 cockpit weigh? And two passenger cabins? This thing is so front-heavy it can stay in this position indefinitely! It was just your bad luck your batteries ran out at a moment like this!"

"Trazy, you know, I'm so happy to have you with us. So what do we do now?"

"We go to sleep and wait for the lab to arrive in the morning. Aot last something good will come out of that risen rear. The lab's klaw is too high to grab us normally, but in this position it can! Then it will just open the gigantors and recharge us."

"Trazy, you're a genius."

"No, just an engineer. A very sleepy engineer."

[Sharpy]

eh... I ran out of steam and won't ever finish the story... but I should at least post the final result.