Forgotten Space Program

[DragonsForce]

Amazing as always. And no, landing gears don't just explode on takeoff, that's madness. (Hides the "Revert to Launch" button)

[0111narwhalz]

14 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

At least it wouldn't slide over her flag, as there's no way an aircraft can slide uphill.

Just like there's no way a wheel can spontaneously combust, right?

[waterlubber]

Happy 1000 replies.

Spoiler

 

[Cydonian Monk]

On 10/16/2016 at 10:33 PM, Angel-125 said:

That pyramid is sure to turn some heads in the future.

Less so than Eve Henge, I would hope.... Regardless, future archeologists in the Kerbol System are going to be soooooooo confused.

 

On 10/16/2016 at 9:27 PM, cubinator said:

I sense a disturbance in the Fourth Wall...

23 hours ago, DragonsForce said:

And no, landing gears don't just explode on takeoff, that's madness. (Hides the "Revert to Launch" button)

23 hours ago, 0111narwhalz said:

Just like there's no way a wheel can spontaneously combust, right?

Laythe's oceans have nothing on the salt I have over KSP v1.1.x's wheels. Paint is peeling on the wall behind my PC from the copious amounts of nautical terms oft rattled off or thought of. *grumble* *grumble*

(The above image is not canon... merely an artifact of my 1.2 testing. No, Thomlock is not really stranded on the other side of Laythe because a quicksave was loaded while he was in flight. Nope.)

Things are getting better though. Yep, they are.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Cydonian Monk]

I Could Fly Here Forever

And so it was time for Gletrix to take flight once more. Taking off from the LDAV's landing site was easy - just throttle up and point downhill. Between the thrust and the gravity the Aluminium was up to speed in no time, and gently lifted itself into the cerulean skies. 

She forgot to pull the ladder in before take off. Its rattling noise outside the cockpit went unnoticed for several kilometers. After she heard it, she first thought there was something wrong with the jet engines, or the port wing, or the landing gear. All manner of terrible things ran through her mind. And then she remembered, of course, the ladder, and pulled it up in short order.

The flight plan was simple. Gletrix would circle the bulk of the island they had landed on, verifying the map data collected in orbit. On the way back she would head inland to stop at the ground contact their Calcium 7 probe had discovered. The strange probe. If possible she would head down to the lake where the Calcium 7 had been deposited.

The first landmark she reached was a nice, peaceful-looking bay. She reasoned it might make for a nice place to build a base, with the smooth slopes near the shores and the gentle slopes of the land around it. Perhaps some future crew could make use of it. Maybe even build ships here to sail out into the endless sea. Surely no tsunamis could disturb this tranquil shore.

Otherwise the flight along the western coastline was remarkably unremarkable, with constant yet inconsistent dunes and bluffs jetting out of the ocean. She cut inland some distance south of the bay, wanting to fly over their mystery probe. No need to fly all the way to the southern tip of the island - nothing to see there except more sands and rocks. Let some future beachgoer leave their footprints there instead.

The land was beautiful, especially with the noxious air casting it into varying shades of lilac and aquamarine. It was strange to Gletrix how the air could behave so differently here than back on Kerbin. It was essentially the same air, but the presence of just a small amount of sulphur and other poisonous gases twisted it. Made it more attractive yet more deadly.

She came in low over the probe, flying over it several times to get a good view. IPX-10, its icon flashed on her mapview. It had power apparently, spitting out an occasional atmospheric reading. Not likely strong enough to be heard in orbit, but at this distance the data was loud and clear. 

It had landed in a nice spot. Flat, level dunes surrounding it, only a few large boulders visible above the sands. She brought the Aluminium down gently and drifted over to it. 

It seemed so perfect, sitting there in the sands, perched on its tiny, bird-like legs. How long had it remained there, undisturbed? Laythe was volcanically active, that much they knew. For a small probe such as this to still be upright meant this particular location was relatively safe. Perhaps this island was a good spot for a base.

She brought the Aluminium's systems down, set the brakes, cut the engines, lowered the ladder, and radioed back to the LDAV that she was going on EVA. Macfred advised caution (what else is new?), Agake made her promise to pull any science data the probe might still have. Thomlock asked how his plane was handling.

The ground was in good shape. These dunes had formed long enough ago that they were starting to settle. The composition felt more like soil than sand, thikcer and heavier than the salt, sand, and ash she had found on the more northern parts of the island. It made walking over to the probe all the easier. It also meant her plane wasn't slipping off the side of the dune.

The builders plate dated the probe to roughly the same age as Kelgee Station. Other paraphernalia suggested it was likely built by the same program, too. Many, many decades previously. The probe's internal clock suggested it had launched some 42 years and 61 days previous. An ancient artifact, as far as space probes go.

She ended up spending several hours with the probe. Agake was trying to run science reports remotely over their tenuous data link, but the probe never responded quite like they wanted. Eventually Macfred authorized her to climb onto the probe to see if she could get into its computer core.

What could it hurt?

There was really only way to get on top of this thing - climb one of the legs. She checked her footing, checked the ground underneath her chosen leg, then grabbed onto the lowest part of its supports. Just as she put her weight on the leg, the entire thing exploded into a cloud of dust. 

More concerning was what happened next. The probe, having sat upright on this dune for 39 or more years, came toppling over towards her. She backed away quickly, pushing off of another leg as it too disintegrated at her touch. 

It was all over in a few short seconds, the damage done. She hopped up, brushed herself off, and debated whether she should radio back to the base. They would never find out if she didn't tell them, and she could just claim the lander was locked up tight once she got inside of it. No, best to be honest with Macfred. What was there to be afraid of?

"The good news is I can reach the probe core."

"You're implying there's bad news."

"Yeah. About that. When I pulled myself up onto the lander's leg it exploded."

The flurry of noise on the radio over the next few seconds was best ignored. Macfred was already deep in damage assessment mode when Agake pushed her way onto the radio. 

"What do you mean by exploded? Did it combust? Or was it rotted out?"

"Rotted. Dry rotted, I guess. Almost like it had been hollowed out or something."

She spent several minutes describing the legs and what stubs were left of them. In the end Agake had her collect several samples of the legs to bring back. None of the rest of the probe was anywhere near as brittle as the legs. And it seemed the probe itself was still functioning, though one of its antennas was now bent beyond the point of repair. 

The sun was falling low in the sky by the time Agake had finished quizzing her over the decayed probe. She decided it was best to skip the southern tip of the island and move towards the Calcium probe next. Its final resting place was the lake just to her northeast. Not far away, really, just a few kilometers. She taxied over to the edge of the lake, discovering there was no safe way to get to their Calcium probe.

Macfred instructed her to head back to the LDAV. It was growing late, and he didn't want her airborne after dark. It was hard enough to land on the dunes during the day, landing in the pitch black was simply not going to happen. 

Liftoff was just as easy here as it was at the LDAV. Aim downhill, throttle up, hope for the best. She skimmed the surface, hoping for a sighting of their probe, finding nothing. By now it had definitely sunk to the bottom. Probably dissolving in whatever caustic mix an inland lake such as this was made of.

Still, it was an attractive body of water, glowing green and orange with the reflected sky. Simple beauty. Nature at its finest.

From there she turned due-East until she reached the shoreline. There were a few really nice spots for bases on this side, too. One peninsula that jutted out nicely, though no bays as attractive as that on the westward side. She marked it on her map and turned inland. There were three lakes she wanted to check out. Three lakes she had seen when she was first coming in to land.

The sunset was breathtaking. All of Laythe was breathtaking. She could fly here forever. Gliding down over the lakes, skimming the surface, enjoying the beauty and the colors that enveloped the entire scene. Such a perfect place. They should have come here ages ago. How could such a tiny moon be so much more beautiful than Kerbin?

Far too soon she had crossed over the lakes, and the LDAV and its landing site were crawling over the horizon. She was tempted to fly to the North, explore a bit more of the land as the sun set, but Macfred had already spotted her and was expected her to land. Probably for the best, as the intoxicating sunset could only lead to disaster if she stayed up too long.

She took the same approach used previously, landed well away from the LDAV and drifted up to the party.

The crew had gathered to watch the sunset, four kerbals silhouetted against the the glittering ocean. Thomlock suggested she just leave the samples, come watch the sun slip beneath the sea. All the science and other data could stay in the aircraft until morning. She knew Agake would never last that long, but waddled over to them anyway. She could pick it up on the way back. Night on Laythe were long, very long.

The sunsets more than made up for the long dark. The distant sun faded away, five kerbals absorbing the tiniest bit of its light on these alien shores.

One day down, many more to go.

 

Navigation: Next Post

Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[cubinator]

*vigorous applause*

[Wahgineer]

@Cydonian Monk, you mentioned the southern tip twice, and completley ignored it. I have a sneaking suspicion that something is lurking down there.

[Cydonian Monk]

16 minutes ago, awsumindyman said:

@Cydonian Monk, you mentioned the southern tip twice, and completley ignored it. I have a sneaking suspicion that something is lurking down there.

I swears officer, I don't know nobodies named no Checkhovs and don't have nones of their guns hangings on no walls. None them Russian types rounds heres now, see.  

[Wahgineer]

@Cydonian Monk

When you've been reading as constantly as I have for as long as I have (for FUN, none the less), you learn to pickup on the hints and clues. That being said,  I have greatly enjoyed this story ever since its beginning, and have been a fan since Ad Lunam.

 

[cubinator]

7 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Surely no tsunamis could disturb this tranquil shore.

[Cydonian Monk]

57 minutes ago, cubinator said:

... Interstellar gif....

It's a reference, just not to that. Think Long-term, not short. (Though argueably that visit in Interstellar was the longest of terms.)

[Cydonian Monk]

*grumble* *grumble* IPS decided to double-post that last, so let's pivot and make this a 1.2 update comment. 

I think I've found a launch profile for the LDAV in 1.2 that works, so the plan is to update this save the rest of the way to KSP v1.2 now. It'll be in the middle of the next update. Also means I can stop using Alt-F12 to turn on "no collision damage" just to avoid the exploding landing gear on the Aluminium 10. 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Cydonian Monk
IPS is bad at its job.

[Cydonian Monk]

3 hours ago, awsumindyman said:

I have greatly enjoyed this story ever since its beginning, and have been a fan since Ad Lunam.

Thanks.

Speaking of Ad Lunam, I've recently been editing it, mostly to clean up the Forum Migration bugs but also to fix certain problems. My writing style has matured over these last two years, and much of how Ad Lunam was written wouldn't make it through my present standards. The story and the spirit are remaining the same, of course, but that particular bit of prose has always needed an editing pass. 

So far the only edits I've posted are the first post (very minor sentence structure change) and the Epilogue (which needed a good bit of cleanup). After @Kuzzter's Jool comic panels yesterday I figured I might as well post the updated Epilogue.... Seemed to be relevant again. Cleaning up those tables in the second post might be beyond my patience, so it'll likely get spoilered-away.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Angelo Kerman]

While I haven't read your previous stories, I'm definitely enjoying this one. Those pictures on Laythe are inspiring, I haven't bee out to Jool since 0.23.5, so it might be time for me to head that way again. And I think the explorers are more to worry about that tsunamis: sulphur in the air plus water vapor plus oxygen = sulfuric acid...

[Cydonian Monk]

6 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

And I think the explorers are more to worry about that tsunamis: sulphur in the air plus water vapor plus oxygen = sulfuric acid...

And Aluminium doesn't mix too well with Sulphuric Acid....., or rather it mixes quite well. It just produces Hydrogen and Aluminium Sulfate, which as it so happens mixes extremely well with water. 

[Commander Zoom]

As I've said before (elsewhere, I think?), good ol' H2O is actually pretty amazing/terrifying, as solvents go.  We just don't think about that much because we ourselves are mostly made of it and stuff dissolved in it.

[waterlubber]

Not to mention the oxygen atmosphere.

[cubinator]

On 10/20/2016 at 0:11 PM, Angel-125 said:

And I think the explorers are more to worry about that tsunamis: sulphur in the air plus water vapor plus oxygen = sulfuric acid...

 

On 10/20/2016 at 0:23 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

And Aluminium doesn't mix too well with Sulphuric Acid....., or rather it mixes quite well. It just produces Hydrogen and Aluminium Sulfate, which as it so happens mixes extremely well with water. 

 

42 minutes ago, waterlubber said:

Not to mention the oxygen atmosphere.

I'm starting to wonder why Laythe hasn't just plain done this yet:

[waterlubber]

Aluminum really doesn't react because it forms an alumnium oxide protective boundary on itself

[Cydonian Monk]

4 minutes ago, waterlubber said:

Aluminum really doesn't react because it forms an alumnium oxide protective boundary on itself

Well, yes. That's one of its good traits. Especially if it's been deliberately anodised before being launched into space.

Pretty sure HCl or a death star laser will strip it off though. Or simple galvanic corrosion. 

[waterlubber]

3 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Well, yes. That's one of its good traits. Especially if it's been deliberately anodised before being launched into space.

Pretty sure HCl or a death star laser will strip it off though. Or simple galvanic corrosion. 

That's why magnesium and zinc exist.

[cubinator]

On 10/21/2016 at 2:31 PM, Cydonian Monk said:

HCl or a death star laser

Let's just take a moment to consider that you said those two things in the same sentence, in the same context...  

[Cydonian Monk]

Fire in the Sky

The green flash was curious. Thomlock had heard tales of seeing such a thing just after sunset, mostly from old sailors who could barely remember their own name. Was it suppoed to be good luck? An ill omen? Or just the universe's way of saying "hello"? He couldn't remember. Stories, all. Yet this flash was real, as were the clouds. The clouds. Were the clouds heavier tonight? They seemed dark. Dark clouds bring dark... how did the phrase go? He'd forgotten already.

Dark. This moon was never really dark, at least not where they had landed. Yes, the Sun had gone down, but there was more than enough light to work by thanks to Jool. A yellow glow. A green glow. An occasional black dot, shadow cast by one of the many moons. Even the clouds would play with the light, moving in front of the green orb, strange shadows playing on the dunes. Wind whispering as it slid over the dim sand.

Just before sunrise was the only time it was ever truly dark. The sunlight would fall on the lower limb of Jool then disappear entirely as they fell into the jolly green giant's shadow. That was a cold dark, a strange dark. A green ring would shine around their host, casting an eerie light that was neither fitting nor proper.

Agake and Gletrix were still outside gathering samples when he crawled into the cabin. Nap time. Rest time. He needed rest for his flight tomorrow. It was likely to be the longest any of them took while on Laythe, traveling due west and in search of a small probe. Circumnavigating the other large equatorial island. And for much of it he would be "in the dark," radio-wise. Sure, there would be intermittent contact through their various orbiting satellites, but those would make for very short conversations.

He awoke hours later to the sounds of a loud discussion. Agake hadn't looked up from the microscope since sunset, captivated by the samples of the IPX lander's legs. Captivated and confused. The lumps of metal had been honeycombed-out by some unknown force. All that was left were very brittle remnants that almost held their shape.

Gletrix wasn't helping ease her confusion. No, she was convinced aliens did it.

"All this acidity, all the gas clouds, all these deadly things and the first option your mind jumps to is aliens?"

"Sure! Why not? All this heat and all this water. Something has to be alive, microbes or larger, even if they rode here on that probe. Or some other probe."

"Unlikely." It was quiet for a few moments, and Thomlock was about to drift back off into his nap when they struck it up again. Aliens. Not aliens. Maybe aliens. Maybe just sulphuric acid. Maybe tiny snails. Maybe bad snacks. Maybe aliens.

"Look, there's no way I can say for sure until we're back in orbit, but I'm pretty sure it's just...."

"What if it really was caused by micro organisms? Some sort of contamination. Wouldn't it be dangerous to risk going back to orbit? We could cross-contaminate Kerbin!"

Thomlock unstrapped from his seat and grumbled himself awake. Kids these days, always going on about aliens and gasses and whatnot. He crawled up into the cockpit to find Macfred going over strange readings from their probe orbiting Vall. Apparently there was a structure, or set of structures, somewhere in the moon's southern hemisphere. Macfred was trying to determine if Bob or any of the others at the Edge of Infinity knew anything about it. They suggested aliens. Aliens.

Alien nonsense. Neverending.

--

Sunrise was weird. First there was a glow on the horizon. Then it went pitch black. Parts of the moon started to turn orange. The water. The clouds. A thin rim of light formed at the top of Jool, and then suddenly - Day.

Thomlock was ready to go, and had been since the alien argument engulfed and consumed the entire crew. Even Jeb was getting in on the action, going on about mysterious craft and other unexplainable structures on Kerbin. How he had been zapped up by a weird light and taken into some alien ship. Thomlock crawled out to the Aluminium in the pitch black early morning just to finish his nap. And now it was day and he was airborne. 

Where did the morning go?

He climbed aggressively after leaving the base. The higher he flew to less air there was to hold him back, the further he could fly. The Aluminium's engines operated better when they were above the troposphere anyway - he had designed the plane for exactly this sort of cruising. From this height the clouds took on a pink, cotton candy look. The ocean was still its soft candy blue. The sky nearly black overhead. He realized he'd skipped breakfast and dug a snack out of the bin. Cotton candy. Figures.

Gletrix kept him company for the first part of the flight. Their radios worked for a while, not needing line of sight thanks to Laythe's healthy ionosphere. The further out he went the more noise the radio would pick up though, thanks again to Laythe's healthy ionosphere. And perhaps a bit to Jool's. Eventually they hit the limits of their equipment and he was alone. Silence and static. The whispers of the wind.

One of the things he hadn't anticipated was his speed. Laythe was small enough and turned slowly enough that he could outrun the sunlight. At first he didn't think this would be much of an issue. Sure, it would be darker when he arrived at the island, but he could land on the beach and enjoy the sunrise one more time. 

The clouds grew thicker and heavier. And orange. And dark. Jool slipped out of view, sinking into the horizon behind. The Sun was again low in the sky.

The noises from outside the cockpit were eerie. Scary, even. Whispers on the wind, rumbling noises of nothing as heavier air pockets slipped past the aircraft. It was nothing Thomlock hadn't heard before, but before he had always had someone to talk to. Now the noises were his only friend. At 10 kilometers above the alien waves he really needed something to talk to.

The clouds continued to grow heavier and heavier the closer he got to his target. So heavy the he didn't notice the other island to the south until he drifted over a thinner patch of the clouds. Black landmasses dotted the dark blue ocean, reaching up into the horizons. None of these islands had names. No names that he knew. Even if he named them it was unlikely anyone would remember years from now. Munths from now. Days from now.

A blip appeared on HUD. Very weak radio contact, 92km out. The probe. The cloud bank to his North was worrying, but the one in front of him was even moreso. Heavy, orange clouds. Clouds that seemed to glow, and not with the light of the Sun. What was he flying into? The sun was still behind him, but was unlikely to be 90km on. He dropped down through the heavy clouds, looking for the shore. Best to land and wait.

It was unnerving, dropping down through a seemingly endless cloudbank to find the ground. If not for the radar altimeter he'd have worried about a mountain appearing out of nowhere in front of him. Even with it he was a bit concerned. Whatever was going on, this was the worst weather he'd ever flown through.

The clouds parted. Beneath him spread the shore, rocky and rough. Dunes heaped violently on one another. Nowhere safe to land, best as he could tell. The sun was low on the horizon, the sky itself cast into that familiar range of colors. A heavy haze covered everything, and even at these lower altitudes it was difficult to see. Visibility was next to nothing.

All he could do was push on. Go west, old kerb.

The land was blasted and dark, soot and ash mixed in with the sands. Presumably this island was one of the many still active volcanoes, a suspicion somewhat confirmed by the acrid air outside his canopy. He had to climb again, the land rapidly gaining elevation as he progressed westward. The very tip of the ridge was in sunlight, but nothing else. The clouds obscured it.

He followed the radar blip and the radio contact to its source, seeing nothing in the pitch black as he flew over. No way he could land here, not even with all the technology in the world. He pulled to the North and headed back for the ridge, hoping to find a spot flat enough to park his plane until sunrise. The ridge itself was the best he could find. He landed, drifted into the dark, set the brakes, and decided to wait until morning.

The sky to the north glowed with an unhealthy orange and red hue. He climbed down to collect samples and test the air. Ash settled on his hands as he held them out. Ash made up most of the ground under his feet. The orange glow to the northeast lit the world, casting everything into a flickering glow. Only one word could describe it, this new land he'd discovered.

Hellscape.

The Edge of Infinity circled overhead, granting him a brief radio link back to the LDAV. As it so happened, the observers on the station had been seeing increased activity on Laythe. Even in just the last few hours. The cloud Thomlock had flown through had started as a thin gas streak shortly before sunset. Its growth was unexpected. Those on the station suspected there was now a full-on eruption taking place near the island's peak. 

Perfect timing.

There was also a new out-gassing at the southern tip of the island where the LDAV landed, though it appeared to just be a small sulfur cloud for the moment. No doubt they would be able to feel it should it grow to be more. A few spots out of their reach had also lit up, as had the aurora at the moon's poles. For the first time in some many years they were visible during the day instead of just at night. Very heavy magnetic activity.

It seems they'd picked a great time to visit. Wonderful.

The wind shifted while Thomlock was waiting, and he had mostly clear sky overhead when the Sun returned. The data stream from his target was still going, weak as it was, and not more than 20 km from his perch. So he slipped off of the ridge, bit into the air, and glided over to its landing site. It was on the side of a hill. Of course it was. Everything here was on the side of a hill. Even the sides of the hills were on the sides of a hill.

He almost missed it. He'd expected to see a craft more like the one Gletrix had found. This one was indistinguishable from the boulders dotting the landscape. He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a light blink on one of them, only to realize he was where he needed to be.

At the Gambler 9.

It was a strange device, apparently dropped to Laythe from orbit and landed on now lot parachutes. It rested softly on the sand and ash, only slightly buried. It didn't appear to be resting on a heatshield, Thomlock wondered if it wasn't somewhere nearby, now buried. The more he dug around the craft, the more he realized it had been buried until very recently. Probably some strong gust of wind or a healthy storm in the not too distant past had come along, mercifully clearing the solar panels. Granting the probe an extra life. A chance to start up once more.

Unfortunately its clock had reset, and so he had no good idea how old it was. Its electronics were generally in bad shape. He gathered up what science data he could, took a few more samples, and then planted a flag. A flag. Why not? He'd flown here just like the others. Why shouldn't he get a flag too? 

Satisfied that he'd found everything of interest, he climbed back into his jet and slipped away into the sky. If he worked it out right, he might just be able to swing around to the west of his volcano, and maybe get to see some real action. It was ricky, deliberately flying into an ash cloud for the second time. But how many others could claim to have seen an active volcano on an alien moon?

Not many.

He hoped.

This island was incredibly rugged and rough. It was obvious from the air that volcanic activity was not uncommon here, the ground constantly changing underneath. They were lucky they had chosen to land where they did - their island was smooth and old. Charming, one might say. This island? It had all the impulsiveness of Jebediah, all the danger too. Young and deadly.

There was a large basin in the middle which he guessed was the usual caldera. Some mountain had been blown away some hundreds or thousands of years previous, leaving only a void. It was dark, dead land. Darker and deader than most of the moon.

Thick yellow clouds enveloped a peak further north. Much further away than it had seemed to Thomlock this morning. The clouds formed a hard line at the edge of the atmosphere, occasionally pushed upwards by the roiling air. The temperature sensors told the tale, but you didn't need to know the heat was there to see it. Updrafts and gusts were everywhere, even buffeting the Aluminium. One particularly hard gust worried Thomlock enough to pull out and up. Enough for one day. Enough for one life.

Crashing into a volcano on an alien moon was not something he wanted to be able to brag about.

The cloud covered most of the north end of the island, and thinned out into a pale yellow color as it stretched out over the ocean. The Sagan Sea. In the end there was nothing to be seen of the volcano, assuming there even was one, just this giant cloud of discolored gas. Something was burning, but exactly what wasn't something he had an answer for.

He made sure to take air samples at several points. In the thick of the eruption. In the lesser gasses high overhead. Near the surface. And so on. Hopefully Agake would have some answers, or at least more questions.

It was a quiet trip back. 

The trailing wisps of the cloud were still below him when Jool appeared over the horizon, but the air had cleared before the purple limbs of their island reached out of the sea. He approached their island from the north, having gone out of his way to stay in the clean air. There was nothing specifically interesting about the northern tip of their island, aside from the shallow hills and the smooth beaches. Much better land than the hellscape he had just visited. 

Macfred called to say hello when the radio link was reestablished, and so he had a friendly voice to guide him in. There were snacks waiting for him at the LDAV, and Macfred talked about some of the plans they had made while he was away. Only a few more days on Laythe, and then it was back to orbit. Back to space. Off to Vall and other moons. Off to Kerbin all too soon. 

It was good to go flying again, yes. That was something an opportunity he would never turn down. But it was also good to be back at base. Back with friends. Safe and sound. And he could claim to be the only kerbal to have flown through a volcanic eruption on an alien moon.

How many others could claim that?

Only the aliens.

 

Navigation: Next Page

Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[DMSP]

I like the ending. Hinting at something, @Cydonian Monk?

Otherwise, another amazing chapter with amazing visuals. So when they head off, that's it for the Aluminum, right?

I think it needs a big finale for all the work it did. Maybe a big Boom?

I'm sure Jeb would approve.

[Cydonian Monk]

50 minutes ago, DMSP said:

I like the ending. Hinting at something, @Cydonian Monk?

I'm not saying it's aliens.....  

50 minutes ago, DMSP said:

Otherwise, another amazing chapter with amazing visuals.

Thanks. Laythe has been amazing, even if the airplane wheels were a tad frustrating. 

50 minutes ago, DMSP said:

So when they head off, that's it for the Aluminum, right?

I think it needs a big finale for all the work it did. Maybe a big Boom?

I'm sure Jeb would approve.

I think Jeb might have something in mind. We'll see.

I'd like to leave the Aluminium there for future use, if possible. I know that's not likely with its undersized landing gear and other peculiarities, but perhaps future Laythians can put it in a museum or something. 

 

Incidentally, I decided to stick with KSP v1.1.3 after I discovered the Aluminium X-4B wasn't entirely happy with 1.2. I know the LDAV will make orbit in 1.1.3, so for now I'm just going to stick with the first change of plans and upgrade after the crew is back in space. All the mods seem to be ready, so really all that's holding me back now is myself.