Forgotten Space Program

[Cydonian Monk]

As of today, the Forgotten Space Program mission report has been running for two years (and one day, because I'm running late). Two years is an incredibly long time, more than 5% of my life. This year has been unexpectedly busy and distraction-filled, so the pace is nowhere near what it was two years ago. I landed the crew on Vall on the 12th of February and returned them to orbit on September 15th; and didn't post this until now, the 3rd of December (or the 4th, because of course it's late). So it really hasn't been two years - just sixteen or so months with a bunch of dead air shoved in the middle. 

This likely wouldn't still be a going concern if I didn't have readers. So to preface this 91st post I'll say thank you, and I hope you enjoy.

----

Exit Vall, Stage Outwards

It was a simple matter to bond the two Sulphurs together, a procedure both Thomlock and Gletrix had done hundred of times by now. They docked the "rescue" shuttle to the business end of their lander, more to save themselves from running fuel between the two than for any other reason. A small amount of monopropellent was moved into the Sulphur 5, just in case they'd need it, and then the disulphide boosted itself into a higher orbit. 

The ascent from Low Vall orbit was the opposite of the descent. They climbed into a much higher yet eccentric orbit, altered their orbital plane to match that of their fuel can, and then dropped down to rendezvous with it. This process took several hours, but saved a considerable amount of fuel. 

Thankfully the fuel depot was in exactly the same orbit where they'd left it. (Nothing is absolute in this universe, and there was always the possibility that whatever accident had claimed the rest of the Potassium 3's cargo would have returned and finished the job.) In absence of a source of electricity its onboard computers had once again died, but unlike before it had not started into a dangerous tumble.

The crew transferred fuel into the two Sulphurs just as soon as they'd docked.

Macfred ran an inventory of their fuel reserves once everything was settled. As suspected, they would have enough fuel to visit both Pol and Bop. Enough even to land on both, and maybe bring back some samples. Tylo orbit was out of the question (even a very high orbit requiring a low-energy capture), so they would at most visit four of Jool's moons. Their mission had only been designed to land on three of them, and they'd lost one of their fuel depots early after arriving at Jool. All things considered they were doing quite well.

A quick review of the orbits of their target moons led them to choose Pol as their next visit. Traveling to the outermost known moon of Jool required a small plane change, a bit of time, and for them to take their fuel depot with them. They would not have enough fuel to return here, top off, and then go to Bop. It also required one of the shuttles having its engines pointed away from the rest of the stack, a maneuver which Gletrix completed while the others were resting.

Seven days later they made their escape burn, leaving the icy moon of Vall behind them forever.

--

Pol-italicized Pol-lution

It first appeared as a dark spot against the backdrop of stars. Thomlock wasn't even sure what he was seeing, but the ship's computer was convinced a small moon was exactly where he was looking. Small being the operative word, less a moon, more an unexpected bit of matter expelled by one of Jool's mighty belches. As this speck caught up to them, it took on the features typical of an airless moon - crisp shadows, areas of absolute darkness with ridges illuminated inside them, a dull shade of emptiness, et cetera, et cetera. 

Yet this was a strange moon. It was a dark brown color, at least from the first glance. Rather difficult to spot, such a low albedo and its dull, humorless tone. Soft against the universe, sharp against itself. And the closer they got, the more Thomlock could swear it was green. And brown. And green again, just not a healthy green. Green the shade of a morning following a late night on the town. And strangely lumpy, too. This was no moon, it was a disgusting blob of kraken disgorgement. Disturbing enough even to take away his appetite.

Their capture burn was considerable for such a small lump - 403 meters per second. This would place them into a relatively tame retrograde orbit, inclined 175 degrees against normal. The math at this excretory speck was rather kind to them at least, their final orbital velocity only a quarter of that on approach. It would've used more fuel to enter an inclined prograde orbit than it would to just burn from their present situation.

Not that their inclination mattered anyway - the Calcium survey had identified only two anomalies on the moon, both near the equator. One was an unknown device broadcasting as a flag, the other an object of super-dense matter most likely made of exorem; another monolith. The crew agreed the likely monolith was the more interesting target; the flag would be a nice alternative, but unlikely to reveal anything of importance.

They already knew kerbals had landed here.

It was Gletrix's turn as lander pilot, so Thomlock found a comfortable chair in the lower cabin and let her take the controls. It was a simple job, not really befitting of her masterful skills, but this and Pol were the only moons left to land on. He wondered if perhaps he shouldn't have let her land on Vall so he could instead take one of these easy ones, and then remembered she had piloted the Aluminium down to Laythe entirely alone. Even with his two landings she would come out numerically ahead, and she had the most dangerous of the landings all to herself. 

Their chosen landing site wasn't exactly in the safest of neighborhoods. Their anomaly was resting atop the ridge one of the excreta's many lumps. To land near it they would either need to land directly atop the ridge, or come to rest on a somewhat unconventionally steep slope. The low gravity wouldn't tip their lander, but there was a chance it might slide down the hill away from them. They had no idea what the surface of this speck was made of.

The landing became more interesting when they discovered the entire moon was covered in strange, spiky mounds. Towers of muck, reaching outwards to spread their disease to the void. Small volcanos of puss, congealed into oddly shaped towers. Thomlock's stomach turned.

It was in that moment he had an epiphany. 

"Hey kid," he motioned to get Macfred's attention. "I've got this great idea for launch clamps."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We'll make 'em bigger. And taller. They'll work just like the old ones, but they'll be blue instead of red. And big. You should wire this back to Kerbin so they can get started on it."

"I'll get right on that."

Of course he didn't move, but went back to looking out of the window. Figures. They'd listen to Thomlock when he had an idea for an aircraft, or some new spacecraft, but individual parts? Not so much. (Little did he know a random intern had the exact same thought back on Kerbin. He ran to his supervisor with the idea, who then entered into discussions with Wernher up in orbit. They both agreed that, yes, they could make larger launch clamps. And maybe they should paint them blue instead of red. For reasons. The intern would go on to be just another worker bee while his boss moved onwards up the ladder.)

The anomaly turned out to be further down the slope than they originally thought, and Gletrix had to make a last minute belch from the engines to dodge two pillars of puke. The Sulphur landed, or Thomlock thought it did, then started going up again. An RCS burst sent them back to the surface, which they yet again missed. He could hear Gletrix softly utter a curse in the cockpit before cutting the engines. 

They stuck the next landing. Stuck directly into the goopy, disgusting surface.

The cockpit and all of their windows were facing uphill and away from the anomaly, so at first they had no idea what they had found. Agake slinked off to take her usual readings and do the "landing science" while the rest got their bearings and suited up for the EVA. No doubt several of the reports Agake was taking made reference to the odd composition of their new home. A spiky, sickly colored, disgusting little moon.

In regular succession, and without fail, each of them climbed out of the cockpit, let go of the ladder, and tumbled backwards to the surface. As then, as each got to their feet and slopped the strangely adhesive dust from their suits, they noticed the monolith. The dark green monolith. Thomlock could've sworn it was singing to him.

Agake wandered off towards their alien discovery when Macfred reminded them of the proper ritual - the flag planting. And so they begrudgingly held their excitement for the monolith and fought back waves of nausea over the surface while Agake inserted their marker of success into the soft rumination. 

"And so, the crew of the Sulphur 5 arrived here to find a mysterious green box." She used the force of jabbing the flag into the ground to vault over it, fire up her EVA pack, and then jet away towards the monolith. "Let's go see what it is!" Before long they were all four standing on it, poking at it, or otherwise bothering it in ways that future generations would find improper.

Thomlock couldn't place his finger on it, but something about the monolith seemed familiar. Was it the tune it was singing? It wasn't really singing, not audibly, not on the radio, but when you were in its presence you felt like it was singing. It was a feeling so impossible to describe that he thought it best not to mention to the others. Surely they felt it too. Why had he thought of launch clamps when they got close to it? Why had that thought even occurred to him? He didn't care about launch clamps.

Was this part of the park's control equipment? Or was this The Machine? 

Their ever vigilant scientist tired of the strange green construction first. According to the Calcium's scans there was another biome nearby, and she wanted to gather samples. Macfred agreed, and so Agake jetted over the ridge while they continued to gawk and meditate on the meaning of the word SQUAD.

She was back before they even noticed.

"It felt lonely over there," Agake said on her return. "Over away from the monolith. There was a distinct point where the spires of gunk stopped, or appeared to stop, but otherwise the surface was the same. Just... lonely. There I was, looking out into this great empty plain and I felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was very strange." 

After the last several munths Thomlock wasn't sure what "strange" meant, but he nodded anyway.

The Sulphur's computer blipped at them as they were climbing back inside. Another anomaly had been detected by the Calcium during their EVA, and this one was moving. Moving very slowly that is, but it was metallic and it was just over the hill from the anomaly, making it only that much more suspicious.

Were they being followed? Was this some alien spy?

They scrambled to their sets while Gletrix fired up the engines, none bothering to remove their EVA suits. She hit the thrusters so hard giant globs from Pol's surface shot up, some sticking to the rear of the craft. It was just a quick hop - up, a short burn sideways, and back down.

The first they saw of their spy was a flash of sunlight reflecting off of some unknown surface. And then again. Gletrix brought the Sulphur in low and came to a hover. Familiar shapes formed as they descended - legs, solar panels, an engine. This was some sort of old probe, and it was skidding down the side of one of Pol's many ridges. Occasionally it would encounter some elastic lump and rebound into the void, only to come down softly shortly after and again continue its slide.

It showed no signs of stopping.

Thomlock tapped his suit radio and addressed the crew. "We're never going to catch it like this." He unbuckled his seat, grabbed his EVA pack, and drifted towards the rear docking port. "Gletrix, hold off on the main engines for a couple seconds while I slip out of the rear airlock. I'll head down and hold on to it while you find a place to land."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Yeah, maybe." He kicked open the docking port, venting the rear cabin's atmosphere with it. The force of the decompression shot him towards the surface and the probe, and most likely boosted the Sulphur 5 back towards orbit. From the corner of his eye he saw a glob that had been stuck to the docking port shoot off into the distance, never to be seen again. One less unwanted surface sample to worry about.

The rest of the crew landed some distance down the slope while he wrestled with the probe. It was a strange craft, not an entirely unfamiliar design, and it appeared to still have a small electrical charge. He had no idea what had set it to bouncing and sliding, and there were no obvious signs of damage. Perhaps it had been bounding around this tiny mound of waste for many years, having never completely landed. Or maybe their own landing had disturbed it, one of their bounces sending this probe upwards and away.

They would never know. He grabbed at the legs with his left hand and used his right to jet down to the surface. Even then, with him holding it, dragging it backwards, the ancient probe continued its slide. He was just dragging more of the gelatinous surface along with it. He gave his jetpack a quick burst, hopped over to the downhill side, and leaned in. Put his back into it, put his mittens against it, pressed with his EVA pack, planted his feet firmly in the muck.

Finally it stopped.

"That's quite a prize you've got there, you old kerb." He looked up to see Macfred in front of him, space wrench in hand. "How about we take a look inside this thing, hmm?"

Thomlock pushed away and motioned towards the stilled beast. "Be my guest, kid." 

There wasn't much to the small probe, just a simple fishbowl filled with various gizmos, some lights, and lots of batteries. The two goo containers on its side were empty, the goo having long ago made their escape. The probe core appeared to have had a small reaction wheel, but some unknown force had robbed it, wrenched it free. Perhaps it fell off while bouncing around, perhaps the goo took it with them. Who knows. 

Despite their best efforts they were unable to bring the probe back online. And forcing the antennas open did not result in radio contact. Eventually Macfred closed the probe's hatch, put the bolts back in place, and declared it a lost cause. Thomlock ran his mittens over the builder's plate, but couldn't scrape enough of the heavily encrusted Pol Glop off to make out a name.

"It doesn't look like any of the other probes we've found," he said while glomping back to the Sulphur with Macfred. "Then again, the probes we found on Laythe weren't of the same design either. Just lots and lots of different yet similar things, scattered into places where they shouldn't be."

"Too bad we can't take it to Laythe orbit and give it a closer examination. Or maybe pack it away for the return to Kerbin."

"No, we've done enough of that. Enough dragging these old things about. This is where it belongs. It's an artifact now, a sort of flag, a totem sent by some madkerb and forgotten on the surface of this krakens-forsaken moon for the rest of eternity. Let's get out of here."

And with that the muck spires of Pol were behind them. The other flag on the surface wasn't interesting enough to warrant another landing, and Agake managed to gather samples and data from all but the most inaccessible of Pol's biomes. They rendezvoused with the their traveling fuel depot, topped off their tanks, and made their way to Bop. 

--

Much later, back on the surface of Pol, the Gambler 13 probe blinked to life. It gave its landing gear a quick twitch, and then bounded once more into the void. It had no idea why those strange green creatures were, why they had held it down, why they were so interested in it. It had been a scary few minutes as they dug around inside of it and pulled on its ears, but now they were gone and it was free once more to stroll about on the surface of Pol. 

Wheee! <Poing!> Freedom!

 

--

Navigation: Next Post

Edited January 31, 2018 by Cydonian Monk

[Matuchkin]

2 years since the three interns were blown through the VAB wall by an ignited flea-killer. May they rest in peace.

Press F to pay respects.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Matuchkin

[cubinator]

Loving the 2001 references with the monolith. The singing, the poking, the idea, and the sentient space probe. There's just one thing missing, a particular screenshot...I'll see if I can take care of it later.

[Geschosskopf]

8 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

As of today, the Forgotten Space Program mission report has been running for two years (and one day, because I'm running late).

Congrats!  It's been a great read and I hope it comes to a fitting conclusion in the distant future  

 

8 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The landing became more interesting when they discovered the entire moon was covered in strange, spiky mounds. Towers of muck, reaching outwards to spread their disease to the void. Small volcanos of puss, congealed into oddly shaped towers. Thomlock's stomach turned.

This whole post is the most imaginative explanation of Pol ever.  Ick!  But so fitting.  Geez, I hate that place, what with all its misplaced surface colliders.

BTW, I always thought the spiky things were alive.  They reminded me of an old "Gumby" episode from long, long ago.

 

8 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Wheee! <Poing!> Freedom!

So, what's the backstory on this probe?  Or even what it's MET is  

[Cydonian Monk]

3 hours ago, Matuchkin said:

2 years since the three interns were blown through the VAB wall by an ignited flea-killer. May they rest in peace.

Press F to pay respects.

I never established whether they lived or died. Presumably they didn’t have magic EVA helmets on, so..... <F>

 

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

Loving the 2001 references with the monolith. The singing, the poking, the idea, and the sentient space probe. 

Thanks! 

That idea unlock thing felt strange when it was added to the game, and in need of an explanation I just decided to roll with the 2001 references. 

 

2 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

This whole post is the most imaginative explanation of Pol ever.  Ick!  But so fitting. 

Thanks! It’s a strange place, and I felt it needed a change from the “we think it’s pollen” flavor text the game wants you to buy in to. I mean - how would kerbals know? They originally thought it was an actual speck of pollen on the telescope.  

Quote

Geez, I hate that place, what with all its misplaced surface colliders.

Maybe I got a bit lucky, but I think that bug has been fixed (at least in the base game). It was a super annoying one though. 

Quote

BTW, I always thought the spiky things were alive.  They reminded me of an old "Gumby" episode from long, long ago.

Wow, that’s perfect. I think I know where the artistic inspiration for Pol came from now.

 

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

.... and the sentient space probe.

Quote

So, what's the backstory on this probe?  Or even what it's MET is  

No deep back story, and Gambler 13 isn’t likely to appear again. Just a random one-off bit of weirdness. I figure it’s been in the vicinity of that monolith long enough for things to... develop. Maybe it’s the monolith’s pet?

MET for the Gambler probes is somewhere near 36 years. (Launched May 8th, 2014.) They were the last full series of probes I launched before biomes were added to the game, so there’s 1 or 2 of them on every body in the Kerbol System. They were followed by the ABISS probes - All Biomes In Stock System (or Automated Biome Independent Science Station or somesuch) - though when those were launched only Duna, Kerbin, Kerbin’s moons, and Eve (?) had biomes. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Cydonian Monk

[Thedrelle]

10 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

A small amount of monopropellent was moved into the Sulphur 5, just in case they'd need it, and then the disulphide boosted itself into a higher orbit. 

Molecular humor!

I love it!

Edit: does that mean when it docked with the remains of the potassuim 3 it became Potassium Disulphide?

Edited December 4, 2017 by Thedrelle

[Geschosskopf]

10 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Wow, that’s perfect. I think I know where the artistic inspiration for Pol came from now.

That's always been my thought, and maybe some KSP culture as well.  Green guys going to space, the spaceship being destroyed, etc.  Geez, I remember seeing that show (it's a 2-part thing, way longer than that snippet I linked) when I was very small (back when it was FAIRLY new  ) and it gave me nightmares.  But OTOH, I so wanted to have that toy spaceship, which I never was able to find.

 

10 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

No deep back story, and Gambler 13 isn’t likely to appear again. Just a random one-off bit of weirdness. I figure it’s been in the vicinity of that monolith long enough for things to... develop. Maybe it’s the monolith’s pet?

MET for the Gambler probes is somewhere near 36 years. They were the last full series of probes I launched before biomes were added to the game, so there’s 1 or 2 of them on every body in the Kerbol System. They were followed by the ABISS probes - All Biomes In Stock System - though when those were launched only Duna, Kerbin, Kerbin’s moons, and Eve (?) had biomes. 

Well, I hope Gambler 13 has a nice life bouncing around Pol, and that the Monolith throws it a bone once in a while.

[DMSP]

I haven't read this in almost half a year. I think if I'm going to come back to the forums I better start catching up!

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Cydonian Monk said:

That idea unlock thing felt strange when it was added to the game, and in need of an explanation I just decided to roll with the 2001 references.

It's perfect.

[cubinator]

[Angelo Kerman]

Congrats on two years! It's been a fun ride. And maybe that probe is V'Ger's younger sibling...

[UnusualAttitude]

15 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

As of today, the Forgotten Space Program mission report has been running for two years...

Well, congratulations and good luck with the terrible twos. These mission report thingies do have a habit of dragging you back if you leave them unattended for too long... 

Your description of Pol is deliciously creepy. I am now mulling over possible explanations for a subsurface ocean of pus that might explain the volcanoes of goop. Maybe with gravitational tides, a sprinkle of comet dust and a few billion years of evilution, anything is possible...

[Railgunner2160]

Thought I'd mention this, but Stellaris actually has a Anomaly event where you find out an asteroid is actually a giant piece of space poo. Gotta love the developers over at Paradox, they include so many interesting anomaly's to find!!

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, Railgunner2160 said:

Thought I'd mention this, but Stellaris actually has a Anomaly event where you find out an asteroid is actually a giant piece of space poo. Gotta love the developers over at Paradox, they include so many interesting anomaly's to find!!

Haven’t seen that one! Sounds like it must be part of the Leviathons DLC, which I’ve only barely played. I still haven’t even bought Synthetic Dawn.... I’ve been stuck in CK2 and HOI4 too much to really have time for Stellaris. [Last time I played a “full” game of Stellaris, one of the civs died because they built Dyson Spheres in half their systems (before that was limited to 1-per-civ), and then lost the other half of their systems in a war.]

[Cydonian Monk]

Children of Bop

A busy silence had descended on the Sulphur 5's crew. The transfer to Bop was still many days off, and the crew had been struggling to keep themselves occupied until the escape burn from Pol. Even that was but a brief respite in the gulf of time between liftoff from Pol and arrival at Bop. The 107 days between the two were possibly the longest stretch of down time they'd had at Jool.

At first it was a nice break from their exploration tasks. Then it became a dangerously boring stretch of time. Agake and Macfred had kept themselves busy reviewing the samples collected from Vall and Pol, Agake more so than Macfred. At least Macfred had other tasks to distract him, such as his endless scanning of the radio frequencies. Gletrix was studying the finer points of programming for kOS, occasionally annoying the ship's computer with new routines. 

As for Thomlock? He was helping the rest as best he could, but he continued devoting his time to recording his experience in the Anzol System in writing. The stories of Albro and his plan to save all of Kermanity and end the Cycles. It was an enormous project, moving every living kerbal to the safety of the moon Espadarte, and Albro and Thomlock both might likely spend the rest of their natural lives trying to complete it. 

Yet something didn't make sense. 

"Have you ever seen a young kerbal?"

Thomlock's question ruptured the silence with a disturbing fury. His three crew mates looked up in unison, confusion on their faces, their tasks forgotten. He repeated his interrogation. 

"Have any of you ever seen a young kerbal?"

The ship's computer blipped as Gletrix saved her latest kOS exercise. That done she shut down the terminal and turned to face her mentor. 

"Say what now?" 

"A young kerbal. A kid, a child, a baby, a whatever. Have you seen one?"

"Of course."

"When? Where? How old? Be specific."

"C'mon now, T, don't be absurd. I was young once, as were you. Same goes for these two. How did we get here if there aren't any young kerbs? Of course they exist. We've just been so busy that we forgot them."

"Forgot? Nonsense." Thomlock thought for a moment. "When I left Kerbin, when the Hawk 3-2 started its endless and lonely circuit of Kerbol, kerbals weren't even divided into sexes. No males, no females, just kerbals."

"Whoa, What?! That's it, you've lost it! Out of your fool mind!...."

Agake put her hands up to stop Gletrix. "Thomlock, that's not possible. It's not like kerbal physiology is an unknown science or some new phenomenon."

"I mean sure, maybe there were female kerbals hidden away in a breeding factory or some place far away, but I'd never seen one. Same for kids. The only other kerbals I remember were exactly like me. Even Albro said something to that effect, about kerbals being a manufactured species that didn't need to reproduce. Yet the more I think about it, the less it makes sense."

"Wait, so, you're saying you don't have any..." Gletrix motioned towards Thomlock's suit....

Macfred interrupted her. "Are you suggesting we're grown in vats?"

"I don't know."

"Why would this old friend of yours need to move us out of the Kerbol System if he can just grow more kerbals whenever he needs them?"

Thomlock shook his head. "I don't know. That's another piece that doesn't fit. I'm not convinced his plan has anything to do with saving us. Maybe The Park needs to be empty to stop the Cycles?"

"He wouldn't need to remove us for that, right? Couldn't he just kill all of us?"

"Geez, Agake...."

"What? It'd be the simplest way. We're pretty easy to kill, and these ships are all paper thin. A bit of high-velocity dust and we're history. You'd have to get everybody on Kerbin, though, if you wanted to wipe us out. Maybe turn the atmosphere to poison or create a bunch of kerbal-eating cacti. He must need us for something."

"And why does he care about the Park anyway? Isn't he free to do whatever he wants?"

"I don't know." Moments passed before Thomlock returned to his writing. "Look, just forget I brought it up. Of course there are young kerbals. Somewhere." He didn't sound convinced, and all four turned the idea over inside their heads several times. What could they trust if not their memories?

The arrival at Bop and the distractions it brought with it couldn't come soon enough.

 

--

Nothing much of note occurred until Bop slipped between the two Sulphurs and the Void. Macfred had downloaded the scan results from the Calcium 5 before they even set up their capture burn. Bop had a number of anomalies and obviously kerbal-made craft scattered around its surface, just like the other moons of Jool. One anomaly in particular grabbed Macfred's attention - a large blip identified by the Calcium 5 as containing organic compounds. 

So their first landing site was obvious. There were other anomalies on the list, but anything potentially alive and in large enough quantities to be detected from orbit would always be first. There was a brief discussion among the crew and then it was decided. They had no idea what they'd find, but the ruling theory suggested it was the remains of a carbonaceous asteroid, the heat from its collision perhaps forming hydrocarbons or some other beneficial compound. Bop had a low enough gravity that enough matter from such an asteroid might have survived a low-speed impact. Another theory suggested it was a naturally occurring outcropping on the surface. 

They undocked from the other Sulphur and started their descent towards Bop. In the dark, as is only right and proper.

At first the anomaly was little more than a speck on the surface. A tiny dark grey blip. Or was it green? It was large, whatever it was, and they were anxious to see it up close. Anything naturally occurring hydrocarbons this far from Kerbin would greatly increase Bop's importance. With it they could make fuels - real fuels, not just that manipulated water stuff - and then they'd be truly free from needing assistance from the homeworld. 

Gletrix was bringing the Sulphur 5 down almost on top of it. The others were looking over their shoulders, eyes focused beyond the  rear docking port's tiny window. Oft the shuttle would make a course correction, the speck moving out of view momentarily, returning yet larger and more menacing moments later. Green. It was obviously green. Perhaps it was living? Sone form of life that could survive in the harsh vacuum of space?

An unreal terror took each as they realized what their eyes were seeing. A horror from beyond the veil of time awaited them on the surface. In turn they would shiver, avert their eyes from the beast, lock their focus on some mundane object ahead of them. Another shiver would later take them, disrupt their anxious fidgeting. One would tug on their seat harnesses, another check their helmet, yet another would look nervously out of side window. Not one of them thought to stop their descent towards damnation - their fate was now sealed.

A scream tore through the Sulphur 5 as its legs touched down. A chill ripped the souls out of its occupants to shreds. A gasp from the cockpit. Gletrix was the last to see it for what it was. The engines cut out, the death rattle of their machinery giving way to the silence of the grave.

They sat still and motionless for quite some time, each secured in their seats, afraid to move lest they attract unwanted attention. The straps of their harnesses meant safety, the sight outside did not. 

Macfred finally broke the trance.

"Well, I have no intention of sleeping here, so unless the rest of you want to leave I suggest we get outside and go about our business."

"You first."

Macfred made his way out of the cockpit and down the ladder, stopping at each rung to ensure the great beast wasn't moving. He stepped off of the ladder with great caution, placing one foot in the dust gingerly after the other. He wasn't taking any chances, and was ready to jet back up to the cockpit at a moment's notice. Dark visions whipped around his mind; hidden tentacles grabbing him from the dust, dragging him to the maw of this monster.

It was staring at him. One great golden eye peering into his very being. He could feel it rifling through his thoughts. Every part of him said to get back into the shuttle and leave this place. He tiptoed into the silent darkness, further from safety, closer to his certain death. The void itself breathed down his back, yet another chill ran up his spine.

Wait, why did it have only one eye?

"Hey!"

His sudden exclamation caused screams in the shuttle.

"Relax, relax. Everything is ok everybody. This one can’t hurt us. It's dead."

"How...." Chittering questions uttered forth from the mouths of the condemned. "How do you know?"

"It's not moving. One of its eyes is looking right at me. The other is lying in the dust, detached and loose, looking at nothing but the infinite beyond." That didn't make it any less terrifying. Even when felled, the great green beast awoke some primal fear. An instinct telling them all they needed to know about these abominations. "It's safe, for now. All the same I'd rather not hang around longer than necessary."

Nervous laughter permeated the flag planting ceremony. All four faced away from the terror as Gletrix drove their marker carefully into the regolith. Each was certain they'd turn to find a tentacle reaching for them. Nothing happened. The terror remained. What if it wasn't alone?

Agake was the first to approach the dead Kraken. She jetted over, hovered in front for a short while before landing atop its corpse. The others held back, wondering what fate awaited their scientist. At first she walked around gingerly, nudging the beast with her foot. Then suddenly she fell to her knees and started pounding on it with her fists. The others gasped.

"It's petrified. Hard as the rock it's resting on."

At that she sprung up and took off at a sprint. They watched in abject terror as she jumped off the end of a tentacle as though it was a diving board at the local pool. She tumbled end over end before catching herself with the EVA pack and hovering back atop the beast. 

Macfred made his way to the creature's one remaining eye. Even here, up close, it felt as though the great golden eye was still looking at him. The pupils appeared to have collapsed in on themselves, leaving an X-shaped cross mark. Was it dead? Or was it squinting?

He was reaching towards it when the chatter on the radio interrupted him. Agake was discussing her initial observations from atop the creature.

"It's small and underdeveloped. I think it's a juvenile. I see no signs of trauma, no obvious injuries except the dislodged eye. It likely died of natural causes."

"That shouldn't be possible."

"Of course it's possible, Thomlock. They're organic, they're lifeforms. Nothing lives forever." 

"No no, not that. Being a juvenile. I agree, it's too small to be an adult. Remember that structure you found in orbit? What was it, Macfred? Thing 1?"

"Thing A."

"Right. Anchorpoint Station. Well, Albro described a Kraken attack as he was leaving Kerbin for Jool. Two of these beasts, and neither fit completely inside the framework of Anchorpoint. These are huge creatures, they travel shrouded in darkness and are capable of swallowing ships whole. They'd have to be five or six times the size of this one to match Albro's description."

"So?"

"Don't you see? It isn't fully grown, isn't properly developed. This isn't an adult. I was told in no uncertain terms these creatures had been designed to be sterile. Unable to reproduce. There shouldn't be young kraken running around so as to wind up dead on a moon of Jool. This creature is impossible."

"Maybe that's why it died." Agake walked past them towards the shuttle, carrying a handful of goop she'd extracted from the beast. "If Albro was being honest, and the Kraken were intended to be sterile, they've obviously mutated to where they're not. It's unlikely the result of such a mutation would produce viable offspring. It could've been deformed, undersized, or had any number of internal defects. It's also missing two tentacles."

Gletrix was exasperated. "You don't know that! Nobody knows that! Nobody has ever seen a kraken and lived to tell about it! This could be a full grown adult for all we know! Maybe they're supposed to have six legs!" She stormed off towards the ship and disappeared inside. Thomlock and Agake shook their heads and continued their discussion.

"If they found a way to reproduce, it might explain why your friend Albro decided to lock them up inside the asteroids."

"It might also have something to do with his plan to evacuate The Park."

"Maybe. Either way, I don't know that there's much left to gain here. I've taken a sample from the base of the tentacles, and as curious as I am I don't think it'd be a good idea to climb into its beak and have a look around. Too bad we can't take the whole thing home with us." 

Macfred kicked some dust around and took one last look into the eye. Only his reflection stared back. This creature was huge. If this was a juvenile, how big were they when fully grown? Bigger than the VAB? A chill moved him to action. "Ok, we're done here. Let's pack up our things and move on."

Even knowing the kraken was dead, each felt a great sense of relief at finally being out of its presence. The great dread had lifted from their souls.

 

--

They set off directly to the second anomaly. Gletrix kicked the Sulphur onto a very short suborbital trajectory, intending to bring them down directly on top of it. The scans from the Calcium satellite had shown this to be yet another concentration of Exorem, meaning this was likely another monolith. 

That theory was proven long before they landed. A long, wedge-shaped shadow stretched across the surface. A shadow that could only have been cast by one object. 

The engines were singing as they descended, a happy note rang throughout the ship. Each found the note familiar, and pleasant memories welled up in their imaginations. This was a good place, a nice spot on a nice moon. The air in the cabin had a sweetness to it, calling to mind the favorite snacks of the crew. 

Thomlock snapped his fingers loudly.

"That's it!"

"What's what?"

"I just figured out why the complex Aluminium designs didn't hold up under simulation at hypersonic velocities." He pulled out his journal and wrote down the ideas which were tearing through his mind. "It's so obvious now."

(Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to the crew, a similar conversation occurred on Kerbin. The techs reviewing the plans of the Titanium shuttle each had an epiphany, and subtle alterations were made to the design.)

Agake gave Thomlock a quizzical look. Something wasn't right here. "I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"This is the second time, and it's obvious what's going on, but I just don't understand why. Why are the monoliths feeding us these strange ideas?"

"Don't look a gift snack in the wrapper, kid."

"Is it a one-time thing? If we come back later will it give some other secret to us? And why is it doing this? Is it connected to some greater knowledge? Can we hack it? We need to set up a long term research post at one."

Macfred glanced back at Thomlock from the forward cabin. "Did Albro say anything about the monoliths?"

Thomlock shook his head. "Never even mentioned them." Or did he?

"I'll make a note to suggest more research into these things. No doubt The Forgotten will be on board." Macfred watched as the giant green monolith came into view outside his window. "Wow, now that's amazing."

The lander bounced as its legs touched down. The engines cut. The happy note rang louder still.

 

--

The shuttle was quiet, its atmosphere stale. The sun was in a different position in the sky. None were certain what had happened, nor how much time had passed. All four of them were strapped in as though they had just landed. The mission clock told a different tale, saying they landed three hours earlier.

A flag stood proudly at the base of the monolith. One of their flags, it definitely wasn't there when they landed. Its transponder beeped firmly on its radio frequency. None remembered placing the flag. None of them could even remember having left the shuttle. Each had the strangest sense of deja-vu. 

Agake was holding sample bags in her hands, her hand writing clearly showing she had collected them from near the monolith. Her rock hammer lay on her belly, its head split clean down the middle. She had used that hammer to break free samples from every moon they had visited. Now it was useless. 

Macfred climbed up into the cockpit, finding Gletrix just as confused. A yellow post-it note hung from the hatch. He recognized his writing. 'Third time was not a charm.'

"I think we're done here. Gletrix?"

"Uh, yeah. You've got it boss."

Macfred descended to his seat and strapped himself in, uttering a soft "ok" once ready. Not another word was spoken as Gletrix brought the engines online and took them to orbit. None of them would ever set foot on Bop again. 

 

--

Minutes later they had rendezvoused with their ad-hoc station and mobile fuel depot. Each recorded the missing time on the surface in their mission notes, but made no other mention of it to the rest of the crew. Each knew something unnatural had occurred, and that knowledge was sufficient.

A vow was made to never return to the cursed moon of Bop. No fanfare accompanied their departure.

 

--

Navigation: Next Post

Edited March 19, 2018 by Cydonian Monk

[cubinator]

Good. Really good.

...

Really good.

[Cydonian Monk]

36 minutes ago, cubinator said:

Good. Really good.

...

Really good.

Thanks!

Edited January 31, 2018 by Cydonian Monk

[obney kerman]

Great new chapter!

[adsii1970]

On 12/4/2017 at 9:25 AM, Geschosskopf said:

Congrats!  It's been a great read and I hope it comes to a fitting conclusion in the distant future  

The way-distant future. As in way-way-distant!

22 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

"Forgot? Nonsense." Thomlock thought for a moment. "When I left Kerbin, when the Hawk 3-2 started its endless and lonely circuit of Kerbol, kerbals weren't even divided into sexes. No males, no females, just kerbals."

Glad to see I am not the only one who incorporates the pre-.90 games into the story. I had a Kerman, Ralph, who only appeared in one game lineup. So, when I began anew in 1.0, I made sure to add him to the roster. I also have a reference to the pre-Valentina days with Jebediah claiming that there's no way she's even a real Kerman or at least questioning why she just suddenly appeared! It's fun to play around with those things in the story!

Great chapter!

 

[Cydonian Monk]

12 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

The way-distant future. As in way-way-distant!

I can only promise it will continue until the story has run its desired course.   

12 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Glad to see I am not the only one who incorporates the pre-.90 games into the story.

One of these days the original Mk3 shuttle cockpit will make an appearance.... And probably some other ancient artifacts. Lots of pre-0.90 stuff scatteted around. 

 

17 minutes ago, obney kerman said:

Great new chapter!

12 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Great chapter!

Thanks!

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The 107 days between the two were possibly the longest stretch of down time they'd had at Jool.

Yeah, gas giant systems are inconveniently large to tour with a single crew.

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

"Forgot? Nonsense." Thomlock thought for a moment. "When I left Kerbin, when the Hawk 3-2 started its endless and lonely circuit of Kerbol, kerbals weren't even divided into sexes. No males, no females, just kerbals."

Amen to that.  I'm firmly against applying any sort of humanocentric preconceptions to KSP and Kerbals.  I've never forgiven Squad for forcing me to have to contrive a way to ignore something I never wanted in my game.

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

They undocked from the other Sulphur and started their descent towards Bop. In the dark, as is only right and proper.

Especially at Bop.

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Not one of them thought to stop their descent towards damnation - their fate was now sealed.

That has a vaguely familiar ring

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I was told in no uncertain terms these creatures had been designed to be sterile. Unable to reproduce.

Well, it's a park, and definitely not from Planet Coaster, more like from Jurassic I guess

 

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

A flag stood proudly at the base of the monolith. One of their flags, it definitely wasn't there when they landed. Its transponder beeped firmly on its radio frequency. None remembered placing the flag. None of them could even remember having left the shuttle. Each had the strangest sense of deja-vu. 

But I could hear unicorns farting rainbows in the distance as they were landing.  Why would they ever want to leave such a place?  Especially if they don't remember anything that happened there.  It's like non-stop Mardi Gras  

Anyway, great chapter. 

 

3 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

Glad to see I am not the only one who incorporates the pre-.90 games into the story.

Oh, you're by far not the only one.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[Cydonian Monk]

18 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

That has a vaguely familiar ring

Glad you caught that.  

 

18 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Yeah, gas giant systems are inconveniently large to tour with a single crew.

Especially while trying to conserve fuel. There was a bi-elliptic option for the transfer that was completed in less time, but it required twice as much fuel. No bueno. 

20 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

It's like non-stop Mardi Gras

And much like modern New Orleans there are probably cameras everywhere recording everything..... 

22 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Anyway, great chapter.

Thanks!

[Geschosskopf]

27 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

And much like modern New Orleans there are probably cameras everywhere recording everything....

But that's a good thing.  When somebody tells you later that you did something especially risqué, and you wonder if he imagined or you forgot it due to over-indulgence on both your parts,  you can place a bet and then check the footage

Edited February 1, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[Angelo Kerman]

Life finds a way...

Great read, and really cool to see how they react to a legend.

[Cydonian Monk]

6 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Life finds a way...

“Bop... Finds A Way” was my original title for this bit. I decided that while it would’ve worked, it didn’t. And it conflicts with part of an upcoming title which might also have “A Way” in it. 

8 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Great read,

Thanks!