Forgotten Space Program

[Angelo Kerman]

2 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I'm not saying it's aliens.....  

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

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.

That guy with the hair was at the conference I went to over the weekend. I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was alien con hehe. Anyway, if it is aliens, I'm real curious to know how it plays out.

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, Angel-125 said:

That guy with the hair was at the conference I went to over the weekend. I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was alien con hehe.

Giorgio Tsoukalos always reminds me of the Centauri from Babylon 5. At least in the shots where his hair is all shot out. Made me wonder if he wasn't secrectly an alien.

And hey, while I know where this story is going, if it was aliens it wouldn't be much of a Kerbal space program story. (Unless you consider the kerbals to be aliens..... In which case it's definitely aliens.)

[cubinator]

It probably ties into the whole update-world-changing thing somehow.

[KAL 9000]

Aliens.

[DragonsForce]

Thargoids.

[DarkOwl57]

@Cydonian Monk I am creating my own story, and I have been alerted that if I continue on my path, I may be somewhat equal to this story. I don't quite share this opinion, but if you could give me some hints on my story telling/writing, that would be really amazing. 

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, DarkOwl57 said:

@Cydonian Monk ... if you could give me some hints on my story telling/writing, that would be really amazing. 

Second Great War, right? It'll be a little while before I have a chance to read through what you've posted so far, but sure, I'll give it a read. Fair warning: might not be until later in the week.

Meanwhile you might get more constructive and timely replies from the Writer's thread (and it's likely best to take this particular conversation there, or to PMs, so as to not be off-topic in a bunch of different places): 

 

[DarkOwl57]

12 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Second Great War, right? It'll be a little while before I have a chance to read through what you've posted so far, but sure, I'll give it a read. Fair warning: might not be until later in the week.

You know what it is?!?!? Wow... To be known by the writer of Forgotten....... dang......

13 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

It'll be a little while before I have a chance to read through what you've posted so far, but sure, I'll give it a read. Fair warning: might not be until later in the week.

Oh, take your time, take your time! I need to prepare my fingers for the great typing that shall take place. 

Edited November 1, 2016 by DarkOwl57

[Cydonian Monk]

Weirdness and randomness update time. 

My PC went a bit wacko, and sometimes had 8GBs of RAM and others had 16GBs. At some point the little clip that ejects thee DIMM from the motherboard broke, and apparently said DIMM was just barely in alignment. So occasionally, mid-game, the DIMM would either heat up enough to work out of position or get bumped. Windows would then offer to start killing people and processes unless I gave it some more memory.

The DIMM responsible has been sacked. Or rather secured back in place by being moved to another socket. I'm planning to push this system to 32GBs, so I guess I'll get to properly repair this soon.

I've not looked into KSP 1.2.1 yet, or if any mods need updated, but I expect to be fully on 1.2 or 1.2.1 by next weekend. 1.2 worked well enough for me when I tested it last, aside from some issues with existing craft. 

Will probably have an update tonight, if not expect something tomorrow.  

Edited November 6, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Geschosskopf]

6 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Will probably have an update tonight, if not expect something tomorrow.  

Dammit, just when I'd finally gotten caught up!  Just kidding, glad to see this is still in progress.

That's a nasty version of Laythe you have there with the sulfur clouds.   Kudos for landing a plane on that particular Hellish island, which I tend to avoid as much as possible.

[Cydonian Monk]

1 minute ago, Geschosskopf said:

Dammit, just when I'd finally gotten caught up!  Just kidding, glad to see this is still in progress.

That's a nasty version of Laythe you have there with the sulfur clouds.   Kudos for landing a plane on that particular Hellish island, which I tend to avoid as much as possible.

Welcome back! 

The vision I've always had of Laythe is not a pretty one, and I've experimented with gas and volcano layers in EVE for years now. If the game engine and my graphics card allowed it, my Laythe would be exactly that - nasty and hellish with many different layers of atmosphere at work. A bit like Eve the planet, just with nasty glowing bits. Volcanos, lava flows, gas clouds, typhoons, tsunamis, electrical storms.... Basically - it looks all pretty and inviting through the telescope, yet when the kerbals get there they learn the sad truth - It's a nightmare. Nothing can live there. Unfortunately I've found that using more than 4 layers or so in EVE leads to INCREDIBLE lag, and so I settle for the happier compromise that is this Laythe.

That one island... Jebediah Island, as Brotoro named it. I've crashed so much junk there in saves and experiments past. The hotels there do not leave their lights on for travelers - They dig graves instead.

[Geschosskopf]

1 minute ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The vision I've always had of Laythe is not a pretty one, and I've experimented with gas and volcano layers in EVE for years now. If the game engine and my graphics card allowed it, my Laythe would be exactly that - nasty and hellish with many different layers of atmosphere at work. A bit like Eve the planet, just with nasty glowing bits. Volcanos, lava flows, gas clouds, typhoons, tsunamis, electrical storms.... Basically - it looks all pretty and inviting through the telescope, yet when the kerbals get there they learn the sad truth - It's a nightmare. Nothing can live there. Unfortunately I've found that using more than 4 layers or so in EVE leads to INCREDIBLE lag, and so I settle for the happier compromise that is this Laythe.

Yeah, I understand Laythe was originally supposed to be like Io.  But it isn't, and gravity in KSP works differently than ours, so my own view of Laythe as a perverted paradise is that it routinely gets hit by comets and asteroids sucked in by Jool.  After all, it seems like every bit of land is part of a crater rim, and is itself heavily pocked with smaller impacts.  Which means impact tsunamis must be frequent, and devastating because most of the land is rather low, and so is the gravity.

[The solid fuel chemist]

Whoa, what did laythe ever do to you guys? Here I was picturing it as a tad cold paradise and you literally just turned it hellish. How about you wait for the second gas giant (cough *sarnus* cough) and take out your anger on one its moons, not innocent laythe!

Spoiler

You can do anything you want to tylo though. That is one evil moon (don't tell him I said that)

 

Edited November 7, 2016 by The solid fuel chemist

[waterlubber]

On 10/31/2016 at 5:25 PM, DragonsForce said:

Thargoids.

Bugs, you mean.

 

something something Vallhenge barnacles something something "Marco Qwent for Bob Kerman" something something modular terminals

[Geschosskopf]

13 hours ago, The solid fuel chemist said:

Whoa, what did laythe ever do to you guys? Here I was picturing it as a tad cold paradise and you literally just turned it hellish. How about you wait for the second gas giant (cough *sarnus* cough) and take out your anger on one its moons, not innocent laythe!

What did Laythe ever do to me?  Years ago, when Kethane was the only only ISRU there was, many's the time I went there only to find exactly zero Kethane available on dry land.  Which meant, in an age when even parts hacked to have the density of neutronium refused to sink of their own accord, exactly zero Kethane was available to exploit.  And regardless of that, at no time in the long history of KSP have Kerbals ever been able to breathe the air of Laythe.  It will allow conventional jets to function but no more.  So you'd go to the trouble of sending a jet there, and fly around the place, and see nothing but a light scattering of sand dune islands, all essentially the same, and also a few too hilly to land on without a deathwish.  And while you were doing this, you'd realized that such a place could not exist so close to a major gas giant.  It should either be like Io or be under continual cosmic bombardment, or both.  And either of which would likely preclude it from having a useful amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, so conventional jets really shouldn't work there.

Laythe is a siren in the Homeric sense.  She lures you in and then goes for the jugular.  So it's only fitting that Laythe should have some obviously evil traits.

[Cydonian Monk]

The Jebediah Kerman

"Wait, you're serious? You want me to fly?"

He was going to leave his response to a simple nod, but Macfred felt it best to make his intent clear. "Yes, Jebediah. Serious. Think of it as paying a debt. We did you a favour bringing you to the surface. This is all we ask in exchange." Smiles and grins all around. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen a kerbal glow, but this Jebediah character was close to it. 

"I, I... I'm speechless. I thought it was a joke."

"No joke."

"Wow." Jeb dropped into the lower cabin and emerged a few seconds later in full EVA suit. "You know all I do is crash, right? I mean, I try to fly, but since that time in the alien ship..."

"Just go before I change my mind. Thomlock has the flight plan."

It was a simple mission. Probably the simplest of the planned flights, though operationally it was no different than the previous ones. Jeb would fly to the northwest, passing over a new island and relaying his impressions back to them. Every now and then he'd pop off the science instruments, which would also relay back to the LDAV. No landings, just a simple out and back.

Not even Jeb could screw this one up.

For some reason this mission was making Macfred more nervous than any of the others. (Except possibly Gletrix's Laythe entry and landing.) This time they were handing control of their only aircraft over to a completely unknown kerbal with the hope he would return. Sure, Thomlock recognized him, and the others at the Edge of Infinity seemed to think he could fly. Yet to Macfred he was basically a tourist. 

If he crashed, and survived, there was no going and getting him. The LDAV was the only exit from this moon. They didn't have enough fuel to go pick up a stranded friend, nor did they have enough food to wait for them to walk back. Or swim back. A crash here was a death sentence, walked away from or not. The cold equations demanded their sacrifices.

All they could do was watch the telemetry and video and hope Jeb knew what he was doing.

"I didn't think that was possible," he heard Thomlock exclaim as Jeb pulled some unknown bush pilot stunt to get airborne. The roar from outside as the Aluminium pulled up hard and spun around to the northwest did not help his nerves. Not at all.

The first part of the flight was rather dull. Aside from that takeoff, of course. Jeb was ecstatic. They heard endless commentary from their guest pilot as to just how much the clouds looked like cotton candy. Grumbling when they vetoed his plans to pop open the canopy. All he wanted to do was see if the clouds actually were that sought-after confectioner's treat. Really.

No, it was a routine, boring survey flight. If he repeated it enough times Macfred thought he might believe it. Routine. Routine. Routine. And it was just that, routine. Right to the point when the actual survey work started. 

"Ooooh. This is a nice island all right. Real pretty." And before they could respond.... "I'm going to take a closer look."

An alarm went off. Gletrix was rigged into the remote operations console in the LDAV's cockpit, watching Jeb's progress. Ready to take over. Just in case. Macfred wondered what this alarm was about when Gletrix keyed the radio.

"Al-X-4B, be advised you're descending at more than 30 degrees."

"Got that much right, but my name's not Al."

Gletrix looked down to Macfred and shook her head. Another alarm. Followed by yet another. Macfred decided to climb up to watch the mess first hand. Red and yellow lights. Descent, airspeed, collision, the works. The lights on the board were bright enough to cast the entire cockpit in an orange glow.

"Jebediah, there's terrain ahead."

"I see it. Coming at me rather fast too."

Alarms sounded faster than Gletrix could acknowledge them. She eventually gave up and turned off the buzzer. The G-force alarm lit up last, indicating the craft was pulling up hard and well into the "hey, this should be lethal" range. After that most of the other alarms cleared. Jeb had, somehow, pulled up and was now flying just a few meters above the shore.

"This is great! Tell Thomdude his plane is alright by me."

Gletrix shook her head and just stared at Macfred. Jeb was skimming the waves, mere centimeters above the water. They could only imagine the wake he formed as he screamed past, water kicked up in protest of the passing metal. Macfred couldn't avoid the nightmare vision of the craft clipping one higher than expected wave. He was certain the next alarm to go off would be the one for loss of signal. That final loss of signal.

"Hey, there's a nice flat spot coming up ahead. I'm going to check it out."

"Negative, Jeb. Just survey the island from the air."

"Bah, where's the fun in that?"

A new warning light - jet engine overheat and overstress. Jeb had punched the thrust reverser while dancing just short of Mach 1, and the plane was none too happy about it. Next the airframe stress meters went red, as did Macfred's vision. He hadn't signed up for this insanity. 

"Gear down, coming in for a landing. Touchdown."

And just like that Jeb had landed. And nothing had exploded.

Yet.

"This is a really nice spot here. Good view of the edge of Jool if you get up on your tiptoes. We should build something here."

"Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know. A junk yard? An industrial park? A confectionary? I'm sure I'll think of something."

And just like that Jeb was airborne again. A quick tour of the island from the air and he was on his way back to the LDAV. Relaxation found Macfred again, the only worries remaining being the landing the the low fuel in the Aluminium. He'd make it back, yes, but there was always the question of whether or not he would land right away or choose to pull some stunt. 

They had relaxed enough that all of them had gone outside to watch the landing, Gletrix included. To them the Aluminium was just a speck on the horizon, a distant bird riding the thermals. It dipped lower as it approached, banking to the the east and lining up for their makeshift base. All in all a normal approach.

And then Jeb's voice came scratching across the radio.

"Hey Glechick, you can fly this thing remotely, right?"

"Yeah Jeb. Why?"

"You might want to get ready to do that."

Nervous looks were exchanged. Macfred motioned Gletrix back towards the ship as he tried to get a clear view of the approaching aircraft. Nothing looked out of order, the craft seemed to be flying ok. What was this stunt about?

"Why?"

Gletrix had started up the ladder already before asking. And that's when Macfred saw it. The white speck on the outside of the craft. The glint of light off a helmet that was somehow outside the cockpit. The bright white of an EVA suit against the dull grey of the aircraft. 

The one. 

The only.

The Jebediah Kerman.

"Just trust me."

They watched as the speck flipped back from the aircraft, missing the port wing by centimeters. Well, all of them except Gletrix, who was clambering up the side of the LDAV at a record pace. The jet started to veer downwards as it passed overhead. She was through the cockpit door and had her hands on the controls just as it started to spiral out of control. A few tense seconds and she had it banking back, hopefully lining up for a landing. Choice words were muttered into the comms that day. Choice words that need not be repeated.

The small speck drifted towards the shore, a small parachute emerging moments later. The whooping, the cackling, the laughter they heard over the radio told them all they needed to know.

Jeb had arrived.

They watched for what seemed like forever as Jeb drifted to the ground under the silks. Cool. Despite being stunned by the recklessness of it, Macfred had to admit it was an entirely cool thing to do. True bravado. True insanity. This was not a kerbal to be messed with. They watched in silence as he walked back up the hill towards them. Calm, cool, collected. Jeb. 

Questions. Macfred had questions. The mystery chute he had landed under was apparently a gift from Bill. The other strange resident of the Edge of Infinity had crafted it for Jeb following a particularly bad crash. It tucked away into his EVA pack, displacing a bit of EVA fuel in exchange for a chance to jump and survive. 

Macfred and the others were still talking about the madness they'd just witnessed when Gletrix popped out of the top of the LDAV. She had landed the Aluminium just down the hill while the others were standing around with their jaws rubbing the bottom of their helmets. Her tone was not one of amazement, more one of frustration. Exasperation.

"You!" She pointed down at Jeb, not that anyone could have any doubts as to who she was screaming at. "You!! Are you insane!?"

Jeb shrugged and replied with only one word. "Possibly."

 

--

Remotely Controlled Kerbal

Some time later once everyone had calmed down Agake approached Gletrix.

"So you can really fly that thing remotely?"

Macfred wasn't sure if she was trying to edge on Gletrix or ask a question. Of course she knew the answer - Agake had been there when they designed the Aluminium. She had watched as the first Aluminium reentry test article had burned through the atmosphere, disappearing into a cloud of debris from which it would never to reappear. As it happened it was a bit of a rhetorical question, but also a request. She wanted to see the gas cloud that was forming at the southern tip of the island. The sulphur cloud. More proof of volcanic activity.

It would be a tough flight, with no guarantee that Gletrix would have a radio link to the Aluminium the whole way, but Macfred decided to sign off on it. It was a short jaunt, they had enough fuel. What could go wrong? Plenty, but Jeb's stunt had already put those worries out of his mind. Agake would be safe, and Gletrix would see to it.

It really was a rough flight, for both pilot and passenger. Without the aid of SAS the aircraft had no easy way to keep its wings level. Macfred wondered how their scientist was handling the turbulence. From the sound of it she was enjoying it... perhaps Jeb's insane confidence was contagious? More than likely she was disguising her visits to the barf bag with the humor they were hearing on the radio.

The closer the craft got to the site the more obvious it because they'd need to fly in under the clouds. This made all of them a bit nervous, as it meant they could possibly lose the radio link. Gletrix had given Agake a quick crash-course on how to fly should they lose touch, and even suggested ways she could use the flight computer to fly back. Hopefully it was advice they wouldn't need.

It ended up not being a terribly useful trip. Yes, they collected some good samples and made a few detail observations. Unfortunately the source of the outgassing was obscured by the cloud, and Gletrix flatly refused her remote passenger's requests to land to take a closer look. Instead they agreed on making a few passes, Agake pulling science data from all the instruments as the craft passed through the yellow gas cloud. 

The flight back was uneventful. It seemed to have a relaxing effect on Agake, who had spent almost her entire time at Jool with her eyes glued to a microscope or other piece of science gear. Now all she could do was enjoy the ride. 

It was curious to Macfred that the most unlikely of candidates, Agake, would be the last to fly in their little exploration aircraft. It had served them well, four total flights on Laythe, two to different islands. It would hopefully be found useful by future explorers, whoever they may be.

Gletrix parked the craft slightly downhill and inland from the LDAV, Agake taking the short walk back. She had collected several good samples during the flight, and woudl no doubt be eager to catalog them and mark them for future study. It still amazed Macfred how much data his crew had collected just from Laythe. They'd be lucky if the LDAV was powerful enough to carry them, their passenger, and all of their data back to orbit.

Most importantly, and somewhat sadly, the end of this flight meant their exploration of Laythe was almost over. Soon they would be on to bigger and better things.

Soon.

 

Navigation: Next Post

Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[greenTurtle1134]

6 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

A crash here was a death sentence, walked away from or not.

Reference identified to @Kuzzter's Kerbfleet Trilogy (Duna Ore Bust, Eve Order Zero, A Jool Odyssey):

Quote

And if crash you should, your landing's good

if it's one you can walk away from!

From Jool Odyssey when a rookie pilot crashes a plane. Also mentioned in Eve Order Zero when a pilot barely survives landing on Eve.

Now, @Cydonian Monk, was that intentional?

(this is what I get for reading all the fiction at once.)

 

[Mister Dilsby]

3 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

Reference identified to @Kuzzter's Kerbfleet Trilogy (Duna Ore Bust, Eve Order Zero, A Jool Odyssey):

From Jool Odyssey when a rookie pilot crashes a plane. Also mentioned in Eve Order Zero when a pilot barely survives landing on Eve.

Well...no.  As for the first one, I think the reference you're referring to is from @Dman979 Kerman's opening statement in the "A Few Good Kerbs" trial at the end of Eve: Order Zero-- "Convict my clients and you sentence us all to life imprisonment, right here, altitude seventy meters!" That's not the same as a death sentence  As to the second, "any landing you can walk away from is a good one" is a meme probably as old as human aviation. 

Nope, this is all @Cydonian Monk, his creation. Maybe he's drawing from some of the same source material as me, but that ominous hexahedron has been around here a lot longer than my old cavalry hat  

[Cydonian Monk]

@greenTurtle1134 - What @Kuzzter said. Merely a statement of facts and the repetition of the eternal mantra.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Dman979]

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

As for the first one, I think the reference you're referring to is from @Dman979 Kerman's opening statement in the "A Few Good Kerbs" trial at the end of Eve: Order Zero-- "Convict my clients and you sentence us all to life imprisonment, right here@Cydonian Monk, altitude seventy meters!"

The story, all names, characters, and events shown are entirely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people, events, or characters is purely coincidental.

[KAL 9000]

Classic Jeb.

[greenTurtle1134]

3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Well...no.  As for the first one, I think the reference you're referring to is from @Dman979 Kerman's opening statement in the "A Few Good Kerbs" trial at the end of Eve: Order Zero-- "Convict my clients and you sentence us all to life imprisonment, right here, altitude seventy meters!" That's not the same as a death sentence  As to the second, "any landing you can walk away from is a good one" is a meme probably as old as human aviation. 

Nope, this is all @Cydonian Monk, his creation. Maybe he's drawing from some of the same source material as me, but that ominous hexahedron has been around here a lot longer than my old cavalry hat  

No, not the death sentence part, the part about walking away from crash landings. Oh well. Overspeculation for the win!

[Cydonian Monk]

21 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

No, not the death sentence part, the part about walking away from crash landings. 

Yes, the pilot's mantra. That definitely goes back to the dawn of aircraft, if not the dawn of the English language. I've heard recordings and read quotes of folks using that phrase that include Alan Shepard, Yeager and his Edwards cohorts, and even pilots from the Second World War. 

I suspect nobody presently alive can claim to have first uttered those words. 

[Geschosskopf]

13 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Most importantly, and somewhat sadly, the end of this flight meant their exploration of Laythe was almost over. Soon they would be on to bigger and better things.

When I was very small and watched Captain Kangaroo, one of the puppets had a sad song about coming to the end of a lollipop.  That song always goes through my mind when my Laythe jets ultimately run out of fuel.

Oh well, put the ol' Al-X-4B out to pasture for a few years, until you can build an airport around it   That's a nice design.

[kunok]

I laughed so hard to this, good chapter.

One recommendation, better to not put stranded things that maybe need in future in wheels, just retract them. I'm remembering some update and my old aircraft nothing really important but this scene remembered me. Specially all those almost crash