Perfect Tomorrow - Chapter 4

[Creature]

 

Perfect Tomorrow

 

Chapter 1  - Above the Sky

 

I guess I do have a bit of a reputation as a reckless and hot-headed badS. When people speak of me, they call me fearless. But it’s all just a façade – a role for me to play. I don’t strap myself to booster rockets with duct tape and launch off to the skies cackling like a maniac. I’m afraid like anyone else. I worry like anyone else. Sometimes I think I’m even more afraid of things than the average kerbal. Just because I know the risks and take them willingly doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I remember it like yesterday, standing in front of the Reach 1 rocket. Which, by the way, was the closest thing I’ve come to strapping myself to a booster rocket and launching to the sky! Sure there was a capsule and a harness instead of duct tape but there was hardly any guidance systems, just a simple SRB with no way to shut it down and just a lever for me to pull to deploy the parachute. There I was, thinking of everything that could go wrong and I could barely take a step. It was madness. But you know, in situations like that you just need to take that step. And then another and another. Go through the checklist no matter how much you’re afraid and just, you know, just function. And that’s all there is to it. That’s how you’re brave.

 

-Jebediah Kerman, in the book The Founders by Melvin Kerman

 

Reach 1

 

 

 

The air around the launchpad had a particular smell that morning. The refreshing salty sea breeze coming from the bay and the membrane-punching fumes from the solid rocket fuel mixed with the almost tangible excitement that seemed to hang above the entire space center. Everything had been ready for the first launch for well over a week now, but the stormy weather had kept them grounded. It was a harrowing week. Every morning Bob and Valentina gathered in the command bunker, drank coffee and stared at the weather radar, hoping for the wind to quiet down. Every morning Jebediah prepared mentally for the launch, went over the launch procedures and checked the rocket with Bill. He put on his flight suit and sat in his wooden chair in the VAB, waiting. Every night he would take his suit off, stare at the turbulent sky in silence and prepare for the next day. But this morning was finally different. The air was a peace and the sky was blue. It was a good day to do something extraordinary.

Jeb closed the capsule hatch, put on his helmet and secured the safety latches on the collar. The lights on the board were all green and his harness was tightly fastened. All systems were go. The radio crackled in his ear as Bill contacted him from the command bunker.

“You all nice and comfy in there Jeb?”

“I’ve got the best seat for the show, so I’m not complaining.” Jeb tilted his head a bit and looked through the tiny window on the capsule. It wasn’t much but it did the job.

“Good to hear. We’re showing all systems green, can you verify?”

“Same here, Bill. I’m ready to launch when you are.”

“All right, then! Bob says radar is showing no air traffic in the area. Do you want me to do a countdown?” Bill asked.

“A what? Just hit the button Bill and – ungh!” The sudden kick of the rocket knocked the air out of his lungs.

 

 

The pressure from the acceleration made it hard for Jeb to breath. It kept crushing him harder and harder as the rocket burned through the rocket fuel and accelerated. Jeb tried to look at the g-force gauge but just moving his eyeballs seemed like too much work. It was high enough, that much was certain. Someone spoke something on the radio but the roar of the engine drowned the sound. It was probably just Bill anyway. A sudden jolt threw Jeb against his harness as the engine flamed out. He felt nauseous and a little light-headed, but it worked. Everything worked. Jeb smiled as Reach 1 coasted peacefully up to the sky.

Their sky.

 

Reach 2

 

 

The Reach 2 rocket was otherwise similar to Reach 1, except it was stronger, smarter and advanced. Valentina thought it was just fitting that she pilot it instead of Jeb, because, well… you know. The acceleration curve was somewhat gentler than on Reach 1 after Wernher tinkered with the propellant burn time somehow. Val leaned towards the window and let the view sink in for just a little longer. She was the first kerbal ever to leave the planet’s atmosphere but she didn’t really care about that. The mission was what mattered the most. And the cause of course, but everyone was ultimately in it for the cause so it didn’t count. But on a more personal level, it was really about the experience itself.

“Mission Control to Reach 2. You’re reaching the apoapsis at 174 kilometers. Prepare to detach the capsule.” Gene was using his trademark official voice. After the success of Reach 1 everything had become more formal. They used a countdown this time and the mission was actually planned.

 

 

“Copy that Mission Control, ready to detach in 3 – 2 – 1 – go!” The explosion from the decoupler wasn’t nearly as strong as Val had anticipated. 

“Capsule is detached and I’m falling back towards the atmosphere.”

The capsule started to accelerate. When it hit the atmosphere at 70 kilometers it was already travelling well over a kilometer per second and was still gathering speed. It stopped accelerating at an altitude of 50 kilometers and was falling at almost 1.5 kilometers per second. Val clutched the parachute deployment lever. She felt the air pressure start to decelerate the capsule. Within seconds it was again crushing her against the seat as the atmosphere started to thicken.

“Altitude 10 k, speed o-one t-t-thousand, f-f-fourteen g’s” Val grunted to the radio. She had trouble speaking. Something popped inside her eye. Flames licked the sides of the capsule outside. She struggled not to let go of the parachute lever or to pull it by accident as she was arm wrestling against the g-forces. Her vision was blurred and she wanted nothing as much as just let go and pass out. But there was no remote control. She had to stay awake to deploy the parachute.

 

 

“Five thousand meters, speed six hundred, 6 g’s.” It was easier to breathe now.

“Two thousand metes, speed three hundred.” She was still going too fast. The parachute would just rip to pieces if she deployed now.

One thousand meters and still too fast. Val squeezed the deployment lever. She might have only seconds to pull it. She bit her teeth together and kept her eyes on the control panel.

Six hundred meters. Parachute safety light flicked from red to yellow.

Five hundred meters. Green light. Pull the lever. Blackout.

The capsule hitting the ground woke her up. Her head felt sore, she must have hit it somehow when the parachute deployed. It had skipped the pre-deployment part entirely and deployed fully at maximum speed. A successful landing, then.

 

Reach 3

 

 

Even though orbiting the planet was a massive breakthrough and something entirely unheard of, the Reach 3 mission was quite uneventful. Jeb was the one to fly it and he would be the first kerbal to orbit the planet but Bill and Wernher were probably prouder and more excited about the mission than anyone else. The rocket was a technological marvel. It had a first stage consisting from solid fuel core as well as solid fuel boosters that would use a new, radial decoupling method to give the rocket some extra boost on the launch pad. But that was the simple part. It had also an upper stage that had a liquid fueled engine. It could be throttled, it could be re-ignited and it could be used as a barbeque, whatever your heart desired. Or so the engineers said. Oh, and there was a heat shield too to prevent the pilot from burning up on re-entry. Needless to say that was the part which Jeb was most excited about.

 

 

For Jeb the historic mission was in actually rather dull. The rocket boosted up gently with no extreme g-loads. Decouplers worked perfectly and he got into orbit nice and smooth. It was peaceful and comfortable to float in orbit. On the far side of the planet Jeb oriented the craft for a retrograde burn and lowered the periapsis back into the atmosphere.

 

 

A shallow re-entry profile ensured he didn’t have to repeat Val’s exciting maneuvers. It’s funny how things seem to work out when you have science and engineering to back you up.

 

 

Reach 4

 

 

After several unmanned test launches, the Reach 4 mission finally fulfilled the goal of the Reach program. Reach 4 consisted of two vehicles. The launch vehicle Aurora had two radial large SRBs and a two-stage liquid core and it was designed to lift a total payload of 5 tons into low Kerbin orbit.

 

 

On top of the Aurora was the newly designed spacecraft Ranger. Able to carry two kerbals to orbit, it had a command capsule as well as a separate KerbCan passenger compartment. The craft also had solar panels to power the climate control systems for both the capsule and the KerbCan and enough battery capacity to operate comfortably in the shadow side of the planet. Below the passenger compartment was a small service bay which was also able to survive re-entry.

The Ranger was piloted by Valentina, who was more than happy about the craft having a total of three parachutes. The mission was purely scientific. Testing the new spacecraft was obviously one thing, but they had run so many tests and simulations they knew it was going to work. They had a more ambitious goal in mind. To achieve their goals they needed knowledge. Knowledge about everything. The temperature, pressure, radiation, what it felt like to float in zero g, what it felt like to hop outside the spacecraft and how other biomatter would react to the vacuum of space. Despite Bill protesting loudly, it was Bob who was assigned the seat in the KerbCan and who was also tasked with being the first kerbal to go on a spacewalk.

 

 

Ranger launched directly on a high orbit, with apoapsis over 250 kilometers in order to study both low and high orbit conditions.

 

 

After just two orbits they returned safely back to Kerbin and the craft performed optimally. With a manned, tested and functioning spacecraft ready for mass production, the Work could finally begin.

 

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

The sounds from the space center carried far in the crisp autumn night. A figure stood on the grasslands, listening. The low growls of diesel engines contrasted with the high pitched wailing of hydraulic lifters. In between stern commands shouted by kerbals. And the clanking of metal. Oh, so much clanking clanking clanking! Like a metallic demon on a rampage.

The figure was wearing a dark green robe and a hood, but in the rural darkness it appeared otherwise pitch black, but the lights shining from the space center gave him an eerie greenish glow. Sudden bright flare from the firing rocket engine illuminated the grasslands like a tiny sun. The figure took off his hood and followed the rocket with his gaze as it rose to the sky.

 

 

Exactly two steps behind and two steps to his left was another figure, much taller and more athletic, wearing a grey robe and a hood. This one couldn’t see the rocket, but he could feel the light and warmth from the rocket on his skin. The raging sound washed over them and as it grew distant, they could head cheers and shouts from the space center.

“Oh my goodness, Brother Kerman, it seems that the informant wasn’t lying after all,” the green robed figure said in a soft voice.

“My my, dear Brother Kerman, you are undoubtedly and indubitably again correct in your statement. Shame that the Abbot wasn’t as keen to believing the informant’s story as he so desperately wanted him to,” the grey figure replied.

“Ahhhh, but the truth, you see, my dear Brother Kerman, the truth, it is its own reward.”

“Wise words, Brother Kerman, wise words. I will take my leave now. We will deal with these heretics.”

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Creature

[UnusualAttitude]

Great start! I like the excerpts from The Founders.  

And who are the hooded Kerbs, I wonder...? A radical branch of The Flat Kerbin Society?

[Angelo Kerman]

Aha! Nobody expects the Kerman Inquisition!

[RocketSquid]

What are those parts from? I know at least some of them are Stock Replacement Assets, but I don't recognize some. On further inspection, they are most definitely not.

EDIT: NVM, they're @Ven's stock revamp parts.

Edited May 19, 2016 by RocketSquid

[Creature]

On 19.5.2016 at 10:24 PM, UnusualAttitude said:

Great start! I like the excerpts from The Founders.  

And who are the hooded Kerbs, I wonder...? A radical branch of The Flat Kerbin Society?

Thanks!

Maybe, or maybe even something more sinister. We'll see.

 

On 19.5.2016 at 1:52 AM, RocketSquid said:

What are those parts from? I know at least some of them are Stock Replacement Assets, but I don't recognize some. On further inspection, they are most definitely not.

EDIT: NVM, they're @Ven's stock revamp parts.

Honestly have so many mods I've kidna lost track which part comes from which mod but I have Ven's revamp installed so I'll take your word for it  

Edited May 21, 2016 by Creature

[RocketSquid]

22 minutes ago, Creature said:

Honestly have so many mods I've kidna lost track which part comes from which mod but I have Ven's revamp installed so I'll take your word for it  

Everything but the small SRBS is, I think.

 

[Creature]

Chapter 2 - Curious Minds part I

 

Measurements of Charged Particle Fluxes in High Altitude Equatorial Magnetosphere Around Kerbin

 

Kerman, B., Kerman, L., von Kerman, W.

 

 

 

Abstract

 

Charged particle flux originating from Kerbol has been measured on Kerbin sea level in trace amounts in several experiments. However, the level of radiation is much lower than several theoretical models based on astronomical observations suggest. It has been proposed that Kerbin’s magnetosphere redirects the solar wind away from the planet’s surface. Until now there has been no way to extract experimental data from altitudes above 20 kilometers to support this theory. In this study we present for the first time radiation measurements from altitudes of 70 – 300 kilometers aboard the I.S.E.E. 1 orbital probe and 300 – 12,000 kilometers aboard the I.S.E.E. 2 Munar probe. The measured radiation levels started to rise linearly at 540 kilometer altitude, reaching a maximum value of 20 rad/h at 600 kilometers, after which it linearly decreased back to nominal level at 660 kilometers. Radiation level started to rise again at altitude of 5900 kilometers, rising linearly to a maximum value of 0.02 rad/h. The results support the theory of existing high energy radiation belt around Kerbin, reveal a previously undocumented area of nominal radiation and suggest preliminary levels of background radiation in deep space and around the Mun.

 

 

The printer churned out papers in the hallway of RnD center. Bob had always loved the warm feel of freshly printed stacks of papers. Scientific ones were his favourite, but scientific ones with his own name on them were a rare treat. He was quietly humming the tune of Space Cowboys while making sure all the papers lined up neatly. The staple had to be positioned at exactly 45 degree angle and just so that the folding paper didn’t cover any text on the following pages, but so that it wasn’t too close to the corner, either, to prevent the papers from tearing. He closed his other eye to aim the stapler. It was important to squeeze it, not pull it, or you might mess it all up and then you’d have to print it all over again. Sure, you could pull out the staple and do it again, but seriously, Bob refused to hand out those kinds of papers to anyone.

 

“Bob! There he is!”

“Ack!” Bob almost jumped as Gene’s voice startled him. He looked miserably at the staple he had just slammed in an odd angle and right on top of his own name. Great. Bob waved the now-messed-up article at Gene who was marching towards him along the hallway with Jeb right behind him.

“Look what you made me do! I can’t send this!”

“That’s right Bob.” Gene was again using his official voice.

“Oh well, it’s fine. I’ll just quickly go and send another copy to the printer if you promise to stay here and not let anyone touch the papers. Then we can talk.”

“No we’re saying you can’t send it at all,” Jeb said.

Gene was nodding along and interrupted Bob as he was about to protest.

“You know that we all agreed to keep a lid on things. You can’t go public like this!”

“But I need to publish it!” Bob explained. Gene might have his official voice, but Bob knew how to play that game too. He had his Science Voice. “If it’s not well documented, peer reviewed and published in a respected journal, it’s not science. It’s just a guy with a Geiger counter making notes. That’s not science, Gene. That’s not science at all.”

“We know,” Jeb sighed. “But still, we need to keep what we’re doing here a secret. We all agreed. You agreed!”

“Secret! Bah!” Bob’s voice went up a pitch. “Have you been on the kerbinet in a while, huh? Everyone knows about us. Everyone! And who here is surprised? I’m not. We’re launching massive pillars of fire across the skies and all over the globe. Any moron can just look up and see I.S.E.E 1 on a clear night.”

“Bob, you kno-,“Jeb started, but Bob interrupted him and continued his tirade.

“Besides it’s stupid. Maybe if we had gone public we’d have it better. Maybe we would’ve had better antennas on I.S.E.E. 3 and maybe the whole darn probe wouldn’t have crashed back to Kerbin. Even without the antennas we could’ve at least made it a publicity stunt. But now it’s just money spent on nothing, Jeb. Nothing!”

“Calm down, Bob. You just can’t do it. This is not the time for it,” Gene said.

“How is it not the time? I went up there myself! In an untested rocket! In a tiny can with no window! Just so I could get good measurements. And I made Bill angry like a hornet for pulling a veto on the mission.” Bob was clutching the printed article to his chest. His hands were wrapped around its edges in fists, squeezing the papers into a crumpled mess.

“It’s all the same to you guys, isn’t it? You get to do your piloting and mission controlling and engineering. But you’re telling me I can’t do my sciencing! What was I.S.E.E. 3 to you? A success? You got to play your little video game with the remote piloting. I poured a lot of time to the science package and it was all a waste. If I can’t publish, Reach 4 was just a waste for me, too. I was nothing but ballast! A lab rat in a can! Maybe I’ll start a band and that will be our first hit song! Lab Rat in a Can by Bob and the Silenced Scientists! Or am I not allowed to do that, either?”

“You can start a band if you want to, Bob,” Jeb said and took a step backwards. Bob’s anger had taken him by surprise. He’d never seen this side of him.

“I don’t want to start a band!” Bob screamed. “I have two PhD’s and they’re not in the band starting sciences!”

“Right, we get that,” Gene tried to smooth Bob’s fury. His voice had a sad tone. “I don’t want to do it, but you know we can stop you. Just please, please, please, don’t force me to stop you.”

“Fine!” Bob shouted and crumpled the badly stapled article to a ball and threw it at Jeb’s feet. “If you need me, I’ll be at the lab! Watering the plant!”

“Bob, no!” Jeb tried to say but Bob had already stormed out and slammed his lab door shut. Jeb’s voice trailed away. “It’s a plastic plant.”

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Imaging-based Space Exporation Equipment (I.S.E.E) 1

I.S.E.E 1 was the first unmanned mission to orbit. The probe core had no internal guidance systems, instead it had to remotely piloted from the ground by kerbals. The probe was launched using a custom-built Sparky One launch system, which used mostly same components as the Aurora and the previous Reach missions.

 

 

The documented purpose of the mission was to gather scientific data around Kerbin and map the surface area. What was left out of any document was the fact that the imager was capable of surveillance over almost entire Kerbin due to the fact that the probe was in highly inclined orbit.

 

I.S.E.E 2

Identical to I.S.E.E 1, the second probe was able to reach the Mun. This was the first mission to orbit another celestial body, but due to the strict non-disclosure practices, the world was oblivious to it's presense.

 

 

 

Like it's sister craft, I.S.E.E 2 could perform detailed surface imaging. This was done in preparation for future missions as well as for scientific purposes.

 

 

The probe also carried radiation measurement device which was used on the way to the Mun to study the previously proposed radiation belts around Kerbin.

 

I.S.E.E 3

 

 

Third I.S.E.E mission was sent towards Minmus, primarily for the same reasons as I.S.E.E 2 was sent to the Mun. The mission went smoothly and the spacecraft was designed from the start to have enough dV to be able to reach Minmus and perform the necessary orbital maneuvers in order to map the entire surface.

 

However due to several unfortunate oversights, the onboard antenna was not powerful enough to reach Kerbin from the high altitudes and connection was lost.

 

The craft performed an uncontrolled flyby and returned back to Kerbin. Contact was restored once the probe was close enough which allowed Mission Control to perform a small burn causing the probe to re-enter and be destroyed in the atmosphere in a controlled manner.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Creature

[Creature]

Chapter 2 - Curious Minds part II

 

Can you believe this leaked footage of the rocket ship blasting off to the sky and into space? Actually let me rephrase that: you shouldn’t believe this. It’s obvious that this whole spaceflight claim is nothing but a hoax. Let me get this straight outta the way first. I’m a very scientifical kerbal, OK? I don’t believe in any of this Kerbin is flat nonsense. It’s obvious that the world doesn’t end at our atmosphere so don’t go calling me crazy. If you go fast enough upwards, you’ll end up in a place which has no air. But this spaceflight thing is physically impossible. Here’s why:

Point 1: It’s obvious to anyone that rocket engine simply cannot function in space. Rockets burn fuel and the exhaust is pressurized. When the exhaust is released it’s coming out at a high rate slamming into the atmosphere. It can't move the atmosphere out of the way because there is too much of it so it moves the rocket instead. In the vacuum of space the exhaust is free to escape so there is no force applied to the rocket and the rocket will not propel.

Point 2: Look at the trajectory of the rocket. Now as anyone who has EVER paid attention in science class knows, the atmosphere is very thick up until about 10 km and once you reach terminal velocity, it takes huge amounts of extra energy to go faster than that in atmosphere. So if you factor these in, even if the so called orbit was possible, it would make sense to go as close to terminal velocity as possible and directly upwards to escape the soupy atmosphere as fast as possible and THEN tilt about 45 degrees and fly to orbit. But these guys, they tilt the rocket immediately after launch about 10 degrees and spend a lot of time in the atmosphere. So why would they do that? Because they’re not going to space, that’s why.

Point 3: On the footage you can clearly hear the rocket engine WHEN IT’S ALLEGEDLY ALREADY IN SPACE. Duh. Sound doesn’t carry in a vacuum. ‘nuff said.

Point 4: Now that we’ve established that it’s some sort of a hoax, then who and why are they doing this. Here’s the best part. They’re no one. Literally. I have spent weeks trying to dig up something about Jebediah, Bill, Bob, Valentina, Gene and whatnot. Anything. Phone number, car, address, anything. And I found nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. A similarly concerned friend of mine actually went so far that he tried to file an assault charge against Gene Kerman, just to see what would happen. You know what the police said? They said no such person exists.

So there we go. I don’t know what’s going on, but I sure as heck am keeping my eyes open and electrical sockets covered. I’ve attached my 400-page manifesto in the link below where you can read about this in more detail as well as about the pink monkey people conspiracy.

A post by user NotaNutcase on the forum Free Thinkers of Kerbin.

 

 

Gene was hurrying along the freshly paved walkway between the RnD center and the astronaut complex. Construction workers were busy tearing down one side of the materials lab building and setting up scaffolding for the upcoming expansion. Gene had been summoned to the main gate by Barb Kerman, a young but tough and eager security officer. Apparently there was some sort of a disturbance involving a well-known, high profile kerbal so in this case Barb had decided that it’s best to let Gene handle the situation. A good thing, too, Gene thought, since the last time Barb had defused a situation at the gate had involved several prototype sepratron boosters and a bucketful of mayonnaise. If this one truly was a “funds-kinda-guy” as Barb had put it, it was best to approach him diplomatically. Gene switched between brisk walk and a jog, trying his best not to arrive all exhausted at the gates.

Barb saluted Gene when he finally reached the gate and pointed at two kerbals and a very expensive looking car parked right outside the gate.

“I’ll handle this. Thank you, officer,” Gene muttered.

“Sir! I’ve got your back! Good luck, sir!” Barb shouted and took defensive position at the gate. Gene wanted to say something about calming down but the female kerbal looked menacing and so muscled she was probably two times heavier than Gene. It was better to just let it go. He turned his full attention to the two kerbals.

One of them was wearing a Stetson hat and what must be an extravagantly expensive suit. He was leaning at the car, looking very unalarmed and relaxed. Gene had seen some strange characters in his time, but the other one was easily in the top five. He was wearing a bright yellow hazmat suit and currently he was on his knees in the grass, frantically trying to search for something.

“Howdy fella!” the one in the Stetson waved his hand and straightened up. His voice had a thick accent. “The name’s Tito. Tito Kerman. You must be Gene, then?”

“That’s me. I’m the closest thing we have to a boss here. How can I help you?”

“Pleased to meet’ya. I’m here to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” Tito said and winked at Gene with a cunning smile, as if they were both a part of some unspoken, secret plan.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Gene replied. The confident kerbal he was facing seemed friendly enough, even a bit too friendly, which made Gene even more suspicious. The other kerbal had produced a magnifying glass from somewhere and was now studying intently something on the ground. Gene found himself thinking if some sepratrons and a shakedown with Barb was after all the better option here.

“What I mean is, I’m gonna give y’all a whole buncha money and in exchange you’re gonna give me a seat in one of your rocket ships,” Tito said. His smile was, if possible, even wider now.

Suddenly the hazmat-wearing kerbal sprang up on his feet and was right next to them in a few frantic jumps with hands waving in the air.

*Mumble mumble mumble!* He sounded distressed.

“Ah right, you are!” Tito said and shook his finger in the air. “What I mean is space craft. Rocket ship sounds so uninformed.”

*Mumble mumble!* The other kerbal smiled happily, gave a thumbs up and nodded his head.

If Gene had thought he knew what was going on before, he was now ready to admit that the whole situation had escalated into such depths of absurdity that he probably needed a hazmat suit himself.

“Right, so, you both want to go to space?” Gene tried.

“Nah, just me. This here is Walt. He’s the guy who makes sure I look good and do good.” Walt looked serious, nodded at Gene and returned to his spot on the grass, continuing his search.

“Right. So, why is he wearing a –“ he started but before he could finish his sentence, Tito took a step closer and hushed him. He wasn’t wearing his smile anymore.

“You must never ask that question! Never!” The casual and friendly man suddenly looked like someone just told him he’d have to go to war. Then Tito took a step back and the warm smile returned to his face.

“Listen, you don’t know what you’re asking. It costs a lot of money to launch a mission,” Gene said. Tito nodded and smiled.

“You’d have to endure a very uncomfortable launch with massive g-forces crushing you,” Gene continued. Tito kept smiling.

“And on reentry you’d be crushed even harder, you’ll be surrounded by a flaming inferno before the parachute deploys and yanks you with well over ten times the force of gravity in a violent, bone crushing, eye-popping blow,” Gene tried his best. Tito nodded and smiled even more.

“All this while you’re strapped to a chair in a can that’s smaller than a phone booth.” A short pause. “With no window.” Gene stared at other kerbal who just kept smiling.

After Gene had finished talking, Tito grabbed a briefcase that had been on the roof of his car and flipped it open in front of Gene. It was filled to the brim with cash in neat stacks.

“Sign me up!”

 

Tito's Rodeo

 

“Val to Mission Control. All systems go and ballast is tied up. Ready for launch.”

“So I’m ballast now? Are you sure it’s not all the money I poured on you that’s weighing you down, missy?” Tito protested sarcastically on the internal channel. He sounded cheerful and excited.

“Call me missy one more time and I’ll pull fourteen g’s at landing. Don’t doubt for a second I wouldn’t! That maneuver’s named after me!” Valentina laughed.

“Mission Control to Tito’s Rodeo, launch in 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 0!”

The familiar rumble of rocket engines pushed the Ranger up to the skies.  It was the first time an outsider was allowed to even see the rockets up close, never mind to get a seat in one. But Tito paid well and they could use the money. They had him sign a pile of all kinds of contracts about what Tito was and was not allowed to share of his experience. Walt had actually proven to be very professional and seemed to be full of good ideas.

“How are you holding up in there?” Valentina asked. She was enjoying the mild three gees just before booster separation.

“I’m not sure. Definitely one of the weirdest way I’ve ever spent my money. Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?”

“Don’t worry, nobody is controlling the rocket,” Val replied cheerfully. She wasn’t technically even lying, the rocket was flying nicely even without any control input. But she did nudge it a bit from time to time, just to make sure it was on a perfect trajectory.

A blast from the decoupler separated the second stage and shortly after Valentina ignited the engine. A gentle, long burn circularized the orbit and they were floating in space.

“So, we’re two hundred kilometers from anything living, trapped in a small metal bucket. Time to be honest. Why are you doing this? For real. This must be mostly a horrible experience for you,“ Valentina asked. Tito was silent for a moment before replying.

“For real? I’m not doing this because it’s fun. Honestly it is pretty awful. And it’s not for the fame or reputation either. Well it is, but not entirely. It’s because I believe in this. And I wanted to be a part of it in my own, crazy millionaire way. Someone needs to do this the hard way first. Maybe next time you bring someone up here, you’ll give them a window. Maybe even bring along some snacks. I don’t know if it makes any sense to you, but that’s the honest truth.”

“Good answer, cowboy. That just earned you the most comfortable landing I can manage.”

 

 

 

Rescue Ranger 3

 

“This is Gusgee Kerman transmitting blind on all frequencies. My spacecraft has suffered almost complete systems failure. During the second stage burn sequence the engine did not shut down as expected and due to a lack of manual override I ended up in an orbit with apoapsis at five point three thousand kilometers. The burn lasted much longer than was designed, which lead to some heat damage to my radio receiver and I have been unable to receive any long distance transmissions ever since. I attempted to perform a retro burn as instructed in the emergency manual to be able to attempt a re-entry but apparently the manual had false instructions as the burn sequence circularized my orbit instead, consuming the rest of my fuel. Afterwards I detected a massive power drain somewhere in the main engine and decided to decouple the pod to prevent it from draining my batteries. I still have life support left for about a week. My fate is sealed but I hope my story will be a lesson to all you who think manned spaceflight on untested rockets is a good idea. I am setting this message to repeat. I wish I could say I have no regrets but that would be a lie. Don’t repeat my mistakes. Gusgee out.”

Jenski flipped the radio in his pod off again. It was still broadcasting every fifteen minutes, which was good. It meant that Gusgee was likely to be still alive. At least his pod still had power. He focused again on his pre-flight checklist. He was the first to fly the Ranger LR craft on a real mission. He had been aboard the original model once and done all his training on it, but the LR version was an improved, Long Range version of the craft. It was essentially the same, though. Just a bit more fuel and a little less extra equipment. The countdown was closing on zero and Jenski did his best to keep his hands steady and not let the past haunt him.

 

After a precise burn and a long wait just floating across space, Jenski finally got the beep he was waiting for. The beep from a short range radar telling him that Gusgee’s pod was straight ahead.

“Jenski to Mission Control, I have contact. Executing maneuver delta one one. He punched in the command and the craft’s automated control system took over, flipped it into correct orientation and set the burn parameters. All it needed was Jenski to confirm the burn. He checked that the instruments matched the pre-calculated numbers and hit the confirm button. The engine fired for a few seconds and indicators lighted up to tell him that he could again assume command. Jenski switched to manual controls and turned his craft towards the signal.

 

“Burn complete. I have contact at 46 meters, velocity zero point one.”

“Copy that, Jenski. You’re clear for EVA. Good luck.”

Jenski depressurized the cabin and opened the hatch. 46 meters of pure nothingness was between him and Gusgee’s pod. He pulled himself through the tiny hatch and just floated freely in space for a few seconds, trying hard not to panic before engaging his suit’s thrusters. The tiny RCS plumes carried him across the void towards his target. The pod seemed to be intact but there was no light inside and it seemed to be missing a parachute. And a heatshield. Either they had been jettisoned for some reason or the pod would’ve never even survived the re-entry. All the same, Jenski was here to save the day and Ranger was perfectly capable of bringing both him and Gusgee home safely. He grabbed the handles on the pod and knocked on the door politely.

 

Jenski peeked through the window and saw a startled but otherwise healthy kerbal inside. He gestured to open the suit comms and Gusgee flicked on a switch in his suit.

“Did someone here order a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese?”

 

After hauling Gusgee back to the Ranger Jenski initiated the burn that would bring them both back home.

“Thank you again for saving me,” Gusgee said quietly.

“Don’t thank me, buddy. Just be grateful that we happened to have an extra rocket lying around. Well, several, in fact, but this was the only one able to reach you so far out.”

“I feel so stupid. Never should’ve trusted those guys. It just all seemed so legit and after you guys I just wasn’t suspicious enough.”

“Don’t feel bad about it, bud,” Jenski said. “I’ve been there myself. Except we had a Ranger replica so it seemed that nothing could go wrong. Turns out they had only managed to spy out the exterior design. Inside it was all chewing gum and duct tape. Lucky for us, that is me and my pal Agare, Jebediah himself and Valentina flew a total of two missions to save both our green hides.” He had decided not to be ashamed of his error in judgement, instead it had been pretty exciting to be personally rescued by such mysterious characters.

“So what happens next?” Gusgee asked.

“They’ll put you in confinement for a while. Then they’re gonna file a load of lawsuits to milk every penny from whoever it was that put you into that deathtrap and make sure they’re never gonna fly again. Then you’re probably gonna have a little talk with the Man himself, that is Jeb. And then, if you’re lucky, you can choose to join the cause and become one of our pilots,” Jenski explained.

“And if I’m not lucky?”

Jenski was silent for a few seconds. “Let’s just hope you’re lucky,” he said in a quiet voice. The pod started to shake as they plunged into the atmosphere.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

Gene opened the door to Bob’s lab carefully and poked his head in. Bob was sitting by his computer, playing a video game on one screen. On the other screen datastream from their latest Minmus probe was flowing in. After his character on screen died, Bob reloaded the game and glanced at the stream. He turned back to his game. Gene could see his shoulders rise in a silent sigh.

“Excuse me, Bob, mind if I interrupt?” Gene waited for Bob to close his game and turn to him before taking a few steps in.

“What’s up, Gene,” Bob greeted him. He looked more tired than angry now. It had been three weeks since their confrontation.

“I wanted to talk to you about that paper,” Gene started.

“It’s fine. I get it. I’m not going to break the rules. I’m just sorry about what I did to Bill.”

“He’s not mad at you, you know?” Gene said. “Bill’s not one to hold a grudge.”

“Still, he hasn’t flown a mission yet. That was supposed to be his chance. And he’s never going to be the first one to go anywhere. It’s always going to be pilots and scientists first. I told him he shouldn’t have chosen engineering as major!”

While Bob was talking, Gene opened his briefcase and pulled out a wrinkled, badly stapled stack of papers. He laid it on Bill’s work table and as a gesture tried to straighten it out as well as he could. Bob looked at Gene confused.

“I spoke to Wernher about this and we both agree you were right all along. No point in trying to hide things anymore, everyone knows about us. You can publish your paper,” Gene said. “But with one condition.”

A dark could swept away the smile that had started to grow on Bob’s face. Gene raised his hand and stopped Bob from talking and continued.

“Wernher said that the radiation belts should be named after you. So that’s what you need to change.”

Bob breathed in deep and looked disappointed. Gene was half expecting Bob to burst out in another fit of anger but instead he just shook his head.

“Don’t be condescending, Gene,” Bob said. “I don’t need you to make amends or treat me like a kid. I was angry because you were being unfair and prevented me from doing my job right. Just be fair and try to have more respect for my job and my commitment. That’s all I ask.”

A fair point, Gene thought. He would’ve felt the same way.

“Besides,” Bob continued, “Bob Belt sounds more like a floatation device than an astronomical phenomenon. It was Wernhers theory so they should be von Kerman belts.”

“OK, I’ll tell him the news.” Gene started to walk out but stopped at the door. Bob was already sorting through the probe data.

“By the way,” he said. “You should go meet Bill. You two need to start planning for your Mun mission.”

[Just Jim]

Oh, this is starting really good!  Using different book passages and excerpts at the beginning of the chapters gives it a very nice "Dune" feel, and I have to admit a twinge of jealousy I didn't think of it first... lol.   

I look forward to more!

[UnusualAttitude]

Yup. This is by far the most intriguing career report/story I've read so far. The mix of dialogue,  storytelling and various other documents really works. It has depth without a single dull moment. 

Really looking forward to see how this continues ! 

[Angelo Kerman]

In between working and modding, it's really nice to read well written stories such as Perfect Tomorrow. Bravo!

[Creature]

Thank you everyone for the encouraging words  

 

 

 

[Pronoes]

Hands down the most professionally written piece of fiction I've read on these forums. Kudos.

[Creature]

Chapter 3 - Thrust Issues

That mission was important in more ways than the general public thinks. Yeah, yeah, first Mun landing, breaking boundaries, exploring new lands, science, and so on, it’s all important obviously. What people don’t really understand is how it changed the way we work, the way we think and how we conduct the missions. The nitty-gritty-ground level stuff. It sounds lame, I know. But that’s where all the real work is done. Engineers always know the operating parameters of the machines they build, but they also need to know what the risks are when you’re outside the safe zone. And outside the safe zone is where the pilots live. They need to know exactly what the machine does so that they can make the judgement call. Neither pilots nor engineers can function if they don’t have enough data and that’s where the science comes in. Science is the canvas which our missions are painted on. You can’t see it, but without it there’s nothing.

So as a result we changed our whole training regime after the mission. Previously we hadn’t had the pilots truly involved in the engineering or science or vice versa. Unfortunately this meant that Bob and I had to start teaching poor Jeb some calculus.

-Bill Kerman, in the book The Founders by Melvin Kerman

 

Advance One

 

Bill sat in the capsule and didn’t really pay attention to radio chatter between Jeb and MC as they were going through the checklists. He was going through a mental checklist of his own. The previous weeks had been crazy and difficult, more difficult that he’d imagined. They had designed so much in so little time. The lander, the spacecraft and of course the enormous rocket, Nova, to lift the whole 52 tons of mission equipment to orbit.

The rocket was too big. Or the engines too small, which was the way Bill preferred to think about it. All those arguments with the finance people still kept bouncing around in his head. For being so savvy about numbers they really had a hard time understanding the rocket equation. Divide the payload in two and you can get away with two super expensive first stage rockets but you also need two launched. Put it all in one rocket and you suddenly need five engines. But if they had a more powerful engine, you’d again need only one and a lot less fuel. This made the finance people roll their eyes. They just didn’t get it. They had thrust issues.

Bill wasn’t worried though. Not anymore. Everything was ready, simulated, checked, simulated again and then checked some more. No need to worry now, his job was pretty much done. That’s how engineers roll. Spend countless of hours before anything really happens, worrying sick and tearing your hair out in frustration. Then just sit back and watch other people start sweating and worrying when they're using your design. It’s not like he could even do anything anymore if something went wrong.

When the countdown hit zero, Nova launch vehicle, their greatest engineering achievement so far, lifted off the pad. It was rising slowly, almost hovering above the pad, before starting to gain speed. Bill closed his eyes and let the sounds and the gently increasing acceleration carry him upwards.

 

“And second stage engine cutoff. Orbit stable at one twenty two by one twenty. Nice work with the rocket, guys!” Jeb said. The crew unbuckled their seatbelts. Bill and Bob started going through their own checklists while Jeb prepared the spacecraft for Kerbin departure configuration.

 

“Undocking second stage,” Jeb said on the radio. A tiny bump complemented his words and confirmed that the craft had separated. “We have cleared the lander, starting pitch and alignment maneuvers.” Fast response valves rattled somewhere behind them as the RCS thrusters pulsed and sent the craft in a slow spin around its center of mass.

 

 

“Target in crosshairs, closing in at zero point five, distance five meters. Two meters, speed zero point two, offset two degrees, correcting. One meter, offset zero. Contact. Engaging hard lock. Decoupling engine shroud. Decoupling lander from second stage. All systems green. MC, we’re docked.” After receiving confirmation from ground, Jeb took off his headset and closed his personal radio loop.

“How about that docking, guys? Never been so stressed while flying so darn slow!”

“Good job, Jeb,” Bob said. “MC confirmed numbers on our insertion burn. Node is up in ten minutes.”

“I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” Bill said quietly.

“I know, right,” Jeb said. “Wasn’t that silly idea after all.”

“Nope,” Bob confirmed. “But we’re not standing on the Mun just yet so we’ll have to wait before popping that beer open.”

“I can’t believe you guys managed to stash those in the lander. Gene would be furious,” Bill laughed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll bring you one back from the lander when we EVA over. A smuggled non-alcoholic beer for the loneliest kerbal in history. How sad is that?” Jeb said.

“I hope this part doesn’t go in any historical annals,” Bob said. “In fact we should probably toss the bottles out the airlock once we have a return trajectory from the Mun.”

“Or just leave them in orbit. Someone someday would get a great laugh when they find them,” Bill grinned.

Message from Mission Control interrupted their banter and still smiling Jebediah put his headset back on, flipped the microphone to position and started to prepare for the upcoming burn which would send them to the Mun.

After a five hour flight they were closing in on the invisible but important boundary which would transfer them from Kerbin’s gravitational influence to Mun’s sphere of influence. For Bob that meant work in the form of an EVA to inspect the science package on the lander and perform some important measurements high above the Mun. He floated by the service bay and signaled Jeb to open it remotely.

 

Bob turned on the headlamp and peered in the bay. Everything seemed to be functioning and the readings on all instruments were being recorded correctly. Some extra background noise in one of the enzyme activity sensors on the goo. The value on kinases seemed to be pretty high, though. Bob ran a calibration series on it and confirmed the coefficient of variation to be still under ten percent in the dynamic zone. Nothing wrong with the instrument then, but they should try to widen the range.

Suddenly Jeb started shouting on the radio.

“Congraaaatulations, record breaker!”

“The what and the where now?” Bob asked, looking around inside his space suit and immediately realizing there probably wasn’t anyone hiding behind him.

“First kerbal to float freely over the Mun, my dear fellow. We just got official confirmation on telemetry that we’re completely under Mun’s gravity now,” Bill joined in.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Bob said. “If you have MC on the radio, can you inform Linus the beta package on the goo needs to have a wider dynamic range, please. Or maybe a few microchannels with separate dilutions. Thanks.”

“Bill, why do we let him do this if he’s not even gonna gloat about it,” Jeb said, intentionally keeping the radio still on so Bob could hear him talking.

“Very funny, Jeb. I’m coming back in.”

 

 

An hour and one orbital circularization burn later Bob was back outside, this time with Jeb as they both transferred to the lander. The docking port was only able to transfer resources and data between the command pod and the lander. Future designs would allow crew to transfer through but for now it was considered unnecessary since EVA activities had been confirmed several times to be a safe way to move between spacecrafts.

After turning on all the lander’s systems, Jeb undocked it from the command pod, leaving Bill to orbit alone. Meanwhile Bob was rummaging around the containers.

“Jeb, is your radio loop off?” Bob asked

“Yes, why?”

“We’re in trouble.”

“What?” Jeb asked and looked back from this seat.

“The beer. It’s gone.”

“No way! They must have found it.”

“Yeah and not say anything until the mission is over. Standard procedure. Heck, we were the ones to decide not to tell the crew anything that’s not mission critical,” Bob said.

“Well this is mission critical,” Jeb muttered.

“But how can it be?” Bob asked. “I was the one who sealed off the lander and signed it. And it’s not just the beer! The whole box is missing. The one with emergency repair tools. Sure they could’ve found the beer and removed the box but it would be a serious breach of protocol if someone went inside after sealing and took away our equipment.”

“Good point. I guess we’ll have to find out once we’re back home. No way I’m gonna start THAT discussion over the radio when we’re about to do some serious history.”

“Right. There’s probably an explanation, but this sort of thing shouldn’t have happened. Just focus on the landing,” Bob said and took his seat. Jeb directed the lander towards their landing site inside one of the biggest craters.

 

Under Jebediah’s guidance the lander fired it’s engine in a long burst, cutting the horizontal velocity above their landing site. Jeb straightened the lander to a vertical orientation and flipped a switch to turn on the flight computer. He frowned and flipped it back off and then on again.

“Bob,” Jeb said. His voice had suddenly gone from the usual relaxed tone into pure stainless steel. “The computer’s not responding.”

“I see it.”

“Mission Control, flight computer is not responding. Soft reset not responding. We’re trying a hard reset now,” Jeb said on the radio.

“Copy that, Advance Lander, we confirm no signal from the computer,” Gene was on duty again. He wouldn’t let anyone else handle the first Mun landing.

“No go on hard reset,” Bob said. “I’m opening the main computer panel now.”

“Smoke! I smell smoke!” Jeb shouted both to the radio and to Bob. He got out of his seat and started heading to the emergency station.

Bob pulled out a panel covering the computer systems and tossed it aside. It flew across the cramped cabin, bounced from the wall and flew back, hitting Bob in the back of his leg.

“Ouch! There’s no fire. Repeat, there’s no fire. I can confirm smoke but it’s just a fried circuit board,” Bob said, panting slightly from the pain and panic. Jeb had a fire extinguisher already pulled out and he seemed reluctant to put it back until he was sure there was no danger. In the back of his mind he was keeping track of their altitude. They were in freefall and on their way to the surface. He started making his way back to the pilot’s chair.

“Hold on,” Bob continued. “I can reroute the altitude radar and fuel gauges but that’s all we’ve got.”

“MC, this is Advance Lander,” Jeb said. “Here’s the situation. We have no flight computer, but all analog systems are still functioning. We can still land.”

“Jeb. Bob,” Gene said, “it’s your call. But be advised that we have no telemetry feed and the deep space radar isn’t designed for flight guidance on the go. So if you go, you’re on your own. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” Jeb said. “Pilot is go for landing.”

“I understand too,” Bob confirmed. “Science is go for landing.”

“Copy that, Advance Lander, you’re go for landing. Good luck.” Even through the radio it was possible to hear Gene trying to hold his voice steady and bite back the urge to pull the plug on the mission.

Jebediah fired the engines again and killed most of the lander’s velocity. It wasn’t as fuel efficient as he’d liked, but they had the reserves to do it and it was safer that way. He kept firing the engine in bursts to keep the lander’s speed low nice and low. Once he saw the lander’s shadow drawn on the munscape, Jeb let the engine run on low thrust, just enough to keep their speed constant. He carefully adjusted with RCS and about one meter above the surface he killed the engine and let the lander glide down.

“Touchdown!”

 

The two kerbals suited up and depressurized the lander. Jebediah was the first to set foot on the Mun, soon followed by Bob. They hadn’t prepared any momentous quotes to say. The general public didn’t even know they were here. Certain important kerbals were following, of course, but there was no need to impress them with pleasantries. Simply doing the work they were doing here was more than enough.

However for both kerbals this was one of those moments in life which take time to grow before you start to fully realize how significant it was. One of those moments, when you’re too busy and caught up in the moment to feel anything, when all the things you need to worry about are more important than where you are. One of those moments, which you look back on much later and feel all the emotions, all the awesomeness and all the greatness that was in that moment and maybe with a bit of regret you wonder why you didn’t feel this way when you were actually there.

 

“Jetpack seems to be the best way to move around,” Bob reported back to Mission Control. He was flying towards Jeb who was already examining a fairly standard crater near the landing site.

“Yeah, the surface seems to be easy enough to traverse when it’s level, but this crater wall seems to be quite steep. Relying only on ground transportation would severely limit our operating capabilities here,” Jeb replied.

 

Bob landed gently just a few meters from Jeb. “I’m taking a sample from the rim of the crater now.”

“Stay here, Jeb, I’m going to check out if that rock over there is as interesting as it looks. I might want to sample that, too,” Bob said but he lifted his hand to get Jeb’s attention. Bob kneeled on the ground and started writing in the dust with his finger.

 

Bill had orbited the Mun alone three times when the lander lifted off and rendezvoused with the command pod. They didn’t have to perform any docking maneuvers, Bob and Jeb simply powered down the lander, took the few samples with them and EVA’d over back to the pod. One orbit later they had settled in and received the maneuver node which would send them back to Kerbin.

 

“Hold on, MC,” Jeb said while going through the checklist. “I get nothing from the decoupler. No green but no red either.”

“We confirm, Jeb. Nothing on our end either. Bill, we need you to check the wire connections while Jeb goes through rest of the checklist,” Gene said.

A few minutes later Bill opened the comms. “Nothing wrong with the wiring, MC. Requesting permission to go EVA and inspect the decoupler. We’ll have to postpone the escape burn by one orbit but I don’t think we can do it anyway if we don’t have a working decoupler.”

“We agree, Bill. You’re clear for EVA.”

Jeb and Bob waited with anxiety for Bill to suit up and listened to him go through the long checklist when inspecting the decoupler. Working with explosive bolts in a cumbersome EVA suit was best done with extreme caution.

“I’m opening bolt B seven now and sliding the panel open. Hold on. What in the… MC we have a problem. There’s no signal from the decoupler bolts because there are no decoupler bolts.” Bill was breathing heavily now. They had no way to detach the command pod from the rest of the rocket.

“Um… Can you repeat that, Advance One, did you say there are no explosive decoupler bolts at all?” Gene asked.

“That’s right, MC. Instead of decoupler bolts there’s just standard steel bolts used when the decoupler is being installed. These should be removed and replaced with explosive ones in the last phases of construction. It’s a safety issue,” Bill explained.

“Someone’s head will roll for this,” Gene said. “Get back inside Bill, we’ll try to figure this out.”

“Actually I might have a solution already,” Bill said. “If I cut out these bolts one by one now and replace them with quick release bolts, we can do the escape burn and I’ll just pop out for a quick EVA about an hour before we enter the atmosphere and detach the capsule manually.”

Gene was silent for a while, listening to his advisors. “OK, that should work. Bob, take the toolkit and go on EVA to help Bill.”

“Roger,” Bob said. “OK you’ve got to be kidding me. Bill, you haven’t moved the toolkit someplace else, have you? Cause it’s not here.”

“What? No, it should be in the engineering station.”

“Well it’s not.”

“What’s going on here? OK, the lander is still there. I’ll jetpack over and go grab the emergency toolkit. It should be enough.”

“About that. It’s missing too,” Bob said. “Along with the beer.”

“What beer?” Gene interrupted. “Did you smuggle BEER in the lander?”

“Gene, focus!” Jeb cut in. “No decoupler. Aerodynamic stress on reentry. Fiery death. Explosions in the sky and roasted kerbals. Termination of our activities. Solution now, shouting later!”

“Actually I have an idea,” Bob said. “But it’s risky and it’s crazy but in theory it should work. We could do a couple of shallow reentries with the engine facing forward. It should be able to take the heat, right?”

“Yeah, it should. As long as we can keep the craft oriented that way. It will want to turn but if you fly it tight, it should stay like that. We can still pop the heat shield off and the rocket with it so landing with parachutes is not an issue as long as we don’t burn to death,” Bill said.

“Right, let’s do a very shallow one first to test it out and then dip in more on following orbits. We still have lots of fuel so we’re tail heavy anyway,” Jeb pitched in. “Just remember, Bob, this was your idea. If it doesn’t work, I’m never buying you a beer again.”

Much to the surprise of everyone, the craft held it’s orientation easily with Jeb keeping it steady in the airstream. After three passes they had bleeded most of their speed and were preparing for the final reentry. They lowered the periapsis down to 20 kilometers. When the craft hit the thicker part of the atmosphere, the engine started to overheat.

They still had almost one km/s of dV left and Jeb fired the engine. It wasn’t designed for atmospheric use and the deeper they fell, the less power they got from it. But everything counted. Engine was at the limit, with overheat warnings beeping on the instrument board and showing a 95 % overload. Until it started to drop as they reached 15 kilometers and their speed dropped to mach 3. As the last drops of fuel were drained, the craft couldn’t hold it’s orientation anymore and flipped sideways.

Parachute indicators changed from red to yellow to green. Jeb deployed the parachutes which sent the whole rocket swinging in the air like some kind of a high tech children’s toy.

 

“You know guys,” Jeb said after checking the airspeed gauge. “I think we should keep the rocket. Mortimer will be happy to hear we’re taking this whole reusability issue seriously.”

Moments later the rocket hit the ground, falling over like a giant tree with only the engine nozzle sustaining some damage from the landing. The crew climbed out to breathe the midnight air and listen the overheated rocket popping and creaking after it had first swollen from absorbing heat and energy and was now releasing it and returning back to it’s proper form.

“So,” Jeb started cautiously, “now that we’re not being watched... Who do you think just tried to kill us?”

 

Edited June 7, 2016 by Creature

[UnusualAttitude]

Another chapter of awesome stuff.

5 hours ago, Creature said:

One of those moments, when you’re too busy and caught up in the moment to feel anything, when all the things you need to worry about are more important than where you are. One of those moments, which you look back on much later and feel all the emotions, all the awesomeness and all the greatness that was in that moment and maybe with a bit of regret you wonder why you didn’t feel this way when you were actually there.

This, in particular. Was this inspired by some quote from a real astronaut, or is it just something from your personal experience playing KSP? Or did you just make it all up? I certainly feel this way when I look back through the screenshots of some of my landings. So many things to keep track of when you're actually flying the mission, never enough time to step back and savour the moment... Guess that's one of the things that makes us go back and do it again, and again...

5 hours ago, Creature said:

“Gene, focus!” Jeb cut in. “No decoupler. Aerodynamic stress on reentry. Fiery death. Explosions in the sky and roasted kerbals. Termination of our activities. Solution now, shouting later!”

...and I love Jeb's blunt way of getting his point across.

If you stick at this, I predict that this report will have lots and lots of readers, very soon.

Edited June 7, 2016 by UnusualAttitude

[Creature]

2 minutes ago, UnusualAttitude said:

This, in particular. Was this inspired by some quote from a real astronaut, or is it just something from your personal experience playing KSP? Or did you just make it all up? I certainly feel this way when I look back through the screenshots of some of my landings. So many things to keep track of when you're actually flying the mission, never enough time to step back and savour the moment... Guess that's one of the things that makes us go back and do it again, and again...

Actually it's inspired by a quote from Fallout 4. It's about happiness in general there but it resonated with me on many levels so I wanted to bring the idea into the story somehow.

[Andem]

Wow. Just, wow. I started reading yesterday, and immediately loved it. You've got Frank Herbert vibes, Eoin Colfer vibes, and something else I can't quite recognize. This is incredible! The only thing wrong with it is that there aren't more of them!

[Creature]

30 minutes ago, Andem said:

Wow. Just, wow. I started reading yesterday, and immediately loved it. You've got Frank Herbert vibes, Eoin Colfer vibes, and something else I can't quite recognize. This is incredible! The only thing wrong with it is that there aren't more of them!

Thanks! I haven't actually read any Colfer, but now that you mentioned it I could go see if the local library has them since I've been hankering for some reading. I've been a bit pressed on time lately but more is coming as soon as I have all the elements together

[Commander Zoom]

Started reading just the other day, from a recommendation in another thread, and I must say that this does not disappoint.  All caught up now and eagerly looking forward to more.

[Creature]

OK so it's been a month already. Time flies when there's much to do and no time to play and write :/ I might have also enlisted during Steam summer sale to fly some Sturmoviks in the battle of Stalingrad so that too has taken up some gaming time. Anyway, my sincerest apologies for not updating the story. I haven't forgotten it!

The next chapter is almost done though, I'm hoping to get it up tomorrow or the day after. I must say it was also a bit of a pain to write since I had to play like 10-15 hours to get the missions done and fiddle with two separate installs so it was a bit of a mistake on my part to make it overly complicated. I'm definitely going to keep writing in the future, but will probably write more and play less to get the story rolling properly and more frequently.

EDIT: Also this seems to be in the fan works now and not mission reports? I don't mind but was just surprised to see it moved.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Creature

[Creature]

Chapter 4 - Shooting Stars

Mum, Dad,

I’m writing this down since I know you’d try to stop me if I came to talk to you and I don’t want to have to fight over this. My mind is made up and I’m going to be an adult now, just like you always told me to, and do what I think is the right thing to do. So as you’ve probably guessed by now, I decided to join, like I said I would. So you won’t be seeing me for a while. But trust me, it’s nothing like you think it is. I know. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and talked to the people there. They keep things a secret for now but everyone knows it’s not going to be like that for long. Once they go public, I can contact you again. I hope you understand. They have a mission and a purpose and that’s what I need in my life too, you said so yourself! They’re going to do something great. And if I have to sacrifice a few years of my life to help achieve that goal, I’m happy to do that sacrifice. Please, don’t be mad. Once you see what we’re going to do, once you see what your son will achieve, you will be proud of me. I promise.

No matter what, I will always be your son.

 

Experiment

 

 

Yep. There was a smudge on the window. And it was on the outside. It shouldn’t happen but there it was. A blur in Lodhat’s little viewport to the cosmos. You could hardly see it, but with the light coming in just so – a grey spot hovering over the world. It didn’t matter whether it came from an engineer’s greasy finger after a hasty snack before rolling out the rocket or from some sort of weird, high-altitude bug with a substantial horizontal velocity vector hitting the window during launch. There was a smudge on the window.

 

 

It was only day five and Lodhat was already thinking about turning this little bucket around and going home. He missed the outdoors. The long runs from the space center to the mountains and back. The beach. Swimming.

They called Lodhat’s mission by many names. Project X. Xperiment. He called it the Bucket. Or in all of its brutal honesty, some people called it just experiment. With no capital letter. Because that’s what it was. He was just going to stay up there for 30 days like a lab rat and come home. They would poke him with instruments afterwards and see if he’d sustained some damage from the long stay in microgravity. Maybe not the most exciting mission, but hey, he had an impressive physique and a long history of measuring his body composition due to his athletic background so he was best suited for the mission. It didn’t make it any less boring, he thought and traced the rim of the window casually with his finger while watching Kerbin roll under him.

 

 

 

Lodhat listened to the pre-flight checklist on the radio. Advance 2 was on the pad, ready to launch in a few moments. It was heading to the Mun. Now that was an interesting mission, they’d actually have to do stuff. Valentina sounded so calm and maybe a bit robotic over the radio that Lodhat almost suspected she wasn’t even a kerbal at all. But as soon as the engines lit up at liftoff, her barely contained, bubbly laugh betrayed something about her personality. Lodhat was on the other side of the planet during the launch so he couldn’t actually see it and since they launched at the same orbit as Lodhat, they’d remain on the other side.

It didn’t matter though. He could follow the mission from his own computer inside the Bucket. Advance 2 didn’t have a lander, instead they carried a resupply pod which they docked at the nose just like the lander and pushed it to the Mun. Apparently it was cheaper to bring just fuel instead of a brand new lander so they would intercept the Advance 1 lander, refuel it and take it down to the surface. Initially Jeb had protested against the plan as the Advance 1 mission had been compromised but they would actually check the entire lander, fix whatever was broken and at the same time see if such an operation would even be feasible.

 

 

 

 

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I was once Nelsen Kerman. My name hasn’t been spoken aloud in over a year. Still I do not forget Nelsen. He never goes away. This morning I woke up and made my morning devotions with him. I meditated on my Duty and listened to him speak to me about it. But after meditation I stood up and walked to the door. I left Nelsen sitting on my chair. He could not – would not – help me in my Duty so I need to leave him behind. He weeps as I close the door. But Nelsen always waits for me. After the Duty is done, he will be there and speak to me.

Now I am not Nelsen.

I am a Sinbearer.

 

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Lodhat had four seats to sit in. That was a sort of a luxury. Or it was supposed to be, at least. He strapped himself into one of the chairs for a nap. He had tried napping while floating free. It was relaxing until he bumped into a wall, woke up just enough to realize what was happening and fell back asleep just to bump into something else five minutes later. The chair was more uncomfortable but it was a steady discomfort, something he could control. Just like the mission.

A few hours later Advance 2 had rendezvoused with the lander and started to refuel and repair. Shelgen was the engineering mission specialist in charge of the lander preparations. That was one cheerful guy. Lodhat wasn’t a cheerful guy. He wanted to be sometimes, but he was more about doing than talking. Shelgen seemed to be proficient in both at the same time. Impressive work, though. He was able to install a new flight computer and new solar panels with solar tracking during a single EVA mission. Shame the lander could only fit two and Shelgen would have to stay in orbit and not even see the lander in action. Such is the fate of the engineer.

 

 

 

 

Lodhat closed his eyes and tried to imagine what the landing looked like. Valentina and the mission scientist, Agare, sent a constant stream of status reports on two channels during the descent. Lodhat pictured the lander in his mind, slowly gliding over the grey munscape. Val sounded a bit nervous. There had been some problems with the lander during docking. For some reason it had started to spin on it’s own, which could indicate a leak but nothing was found. In the end Shelgen had concluded that it was probably due to the faulty computer or the universe had a glitch. No phantom forces during descent though. Finding a good landing spot. A small boost and some horizontal RCS. A good spot located. Killed the horizontal. Steady on the throttle. And soon a touchdown. Probably some dust puffs. A small incline but the lander was stable. Nice job, everyone.

 

 

 

Lodhat saw all of this in his mind. It would be his future, too. Or something similar at least, but better. There was something more ambitious in store for him. The thought made him smile as he gently floated around his little home in orbit. He would be the first to pilot a Minmus lander when Advance 4 would launch.

He listened to the transmission and stared out of the window. Not the one with the smudge. The clean one. He listened to Val and Agare prepare for EVA. He listened them planting the flag and exploring the landing zone. Apparently Highlands was a pretty rough place to land.

 

 

 

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The desert sun burns bright. I look upon the Sin and it hisses and spits foul fumes in the distance, looking small now but it already weighs heavily on my heart. My Duty is to board the Sin and fly with it. It is forbidden and an abomination, but as a Sinbearer it is my role to do what must not be done so that the Brotherhood may benefit. It is my sacrifice and there will be penance later.

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Lodhat listened to Val and Agare heading back in to orbit a while later and meeting the command module. He took a small nap during their trip home and made sure he had an alarm to wake him up when the crew was coming home. He listened to them land and he listened to the Touchdown Boogie party they were having while waiting for recovery. He cheered them on the radio and they said they waved at him as he passed over their heads, shining like a particularly stubborn shooting star which just refused to stop glimmering. He waved back. On hindsight he probably should’ve told them that.

 

 

 

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On the ladder I make my final decision. They told me it is all right to feel uneasy about this. They said feeling like that only means I am not corrupted. I ascend the ladder and look at the desert once more before I steel my nerves and open the hatch.

 

 

The Sin devours me. Inside it is quiet and my heartbeats ring in my ears. I let the fear wash over me and focus on my Duty. That is the only way to conquer your fear. To function even when dread and terror scream in your ears.

 

 

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Hours and days and orbit cycles blended into one long, blinking existence. Lodhat spun around the planet time after time. He used to float near the window, one hand holding him steady while staring out and just trying not to think. Until he accidentally smeared the window with his finger. Now there was a smudge on the inside, too. He tried to clean it but only managed to make the smudge bigger.

Fifteen days of boredom behind him, fifteen days ahead. One cycle at a time. That’s how you get anything big done. You start out, it feels nice and fun for a while and suddenly it’s not anymore. Suddenly you just can’t do it. Exhaustion and boredom hits you in the face. At that time, when you’re absolutely sure you just have to stop, is when you need to keep taking those steps. Keep moving forward. It hurts, it’s awful and you can’t do it but you do it anyway. And that’s how you get anything big done.

He heard some things on the secure line. Interesting things. And a bit scary things. Bill and Bob had found some mysterious devices around the space center. Some kind of electronics but individually they didn’t have any clear function. Together though they could be combined into some kind of a communications and listening device.

 

 

He heard about Valentina’s investigations. About the secret base alarmingly close to the space center with prototypes of rockets, a mockup of a command pod and a surveillance tower.

 

 

He monitored her as she flew across the ocean to chase a lead, only to find an ancient occult site. Lodhat didn’t know what Valentina was looking for, but from the brief discussion with her, she didn’t find it. Someone had been there recently, though, so maybe the trail was still warm. All that detective work down below made him uneasy. Nothing he could do about it up here.

 

 

 

 

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I place the relics of Ascension and Judgement in front of me, the Commandments of my Duty. I reach for Ascension and place my hand over it. I meditate until the signs align and the beast wakes up underneath me. It is time. I ride the beast and mutter a prayer as I rise with it to the sky. The teachings are clear to me now, no kerbal is meant to leave the comfort of Kerbin like this.

 

 

 

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On day 21 of his mission, Advance 3 launched. This time he could see the launch from high above. The rocket looked like a tiny speck of light riding on a huge exhaust trail. Like a pen writing a poem about physics on the blue paper of Kerbin’s skies. Except the ink was a bit runny, of course, as the exhaust spreads quite easily. Being a gas in a gaseous medium and all that. But still very poetic, Lodhat thought.

Advance 3 had a new lander aboard. This one was the kind Lodhat was supposed to land on Minmus with. It was a bit smaller in size but also a bit heavier. However it should be easier to fly and land. Sure the weight cut into the delta-V budget a bit but the craft had so much to spare it wasn’t a problem. Lodhat wasn’t sure, but he did suspect the whole craft had been designed with Minmus mission in mind from day one.

 

 

Agare and Shelgen were aboard again, this time Gusgee was piloting the mission. That’s two Mun missions for them while he was stuck in low orbit for the whole time. Lodhat wondered if they were getting the same routine feeling. They say there’s nothing routine about spaceflight but as far as Lodhat was concerned, sitting in a bucket day after day was pretty much how you define routine.

They did their munar injection burn just 60 kilometers from his craft. Lodhat could see the plume from the engines as they accelerated on their journey. It wasn’t a spectacular sight by anymeans, just another bright dot against the dark background, but it was nice to know the dot had people on board. They were actually doing things here.

 

 

Advance 3 was a mission that would probably become a poster child for all the Mun missions. Everything was smooth. Gusgee brought the lander down in Northwest Crater with no hiccups at all. That was great news for Lodhat, the new lander was sleek and could perform translational movement with ease. They could probably hop around Minmus at least a few times before having to return. Gusgee and Agare completed the usual survey studies and returned safely to the command module just two orbits later.

 

 

Lodhat monitored their return and was lucky enough to see the shooting star that was their capsule during re-entry. He waved at them when they had their Touchdown Boogie and cheered as he flew over them.

 

 

A few days later Lodhat was almost surprised to realize his mission was over. The boredom and routine had become normal and now when it was over, all the empty time melted away and all that was left was just a few shining memories of great moments. He returned to his capsule and started to go over the return sequence.

After a short burn to lower the orbit he detached the capsule. He was committed to re-entry now. Gene’s steady voice was calling out his trajectory parameters to him. Lodhat couldn’t feel it yet, but the instruments showed him his pod was ever so gently rocking back and forth in the residual atmosphere.

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

The Judgement calls once and I reach for the controls. It calls twice and I arm the Celestial Fist.

 

 

It calls three times and I release the Fist. I can hear the fury outside and then it is quiet again.

 

 

I command the beast to turn around and slow down. Soon I release myself from it and fall until Kerbin’s waters embrace me again. I have fulfilled my Duty and I let myself feel happy for a while, just a small moment stolen for myself, before they come and collect me and it’s time for penance.

 

 

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Then something on the radio was not right. Gene told him of an unknown contact crossing his trajectory in less than a minute. The atmosphere started to thicken and he could feel the vibrations now. They couldn’t identify what was happening but Lodhat had no control over his craft and it was too late to abort. Then the one contact was suddenly twenty large contacts and each of those became an expanding cloud of tiny contacts. The plasma started to envelope his pod and he lost the radio signal.

 

 

First the shaking was normal, the pod vibrated steadily around it’s axis. Then several things happened at once and a second later Lodhat was piecing together the fragmented memories inside his head. He remembered the bright spot of light shining in the pod’s wall and the popping and whistling sound of air escaping. He remembered the sharp crack that shook through the pod just a moment before that. Something must have hit the pod, something the size of a marble.

 

 

There was the spinning right after that. How his heading marker suddenly jumped dozens of degrees off the retrograde marker. And the nauseating twist inside his guts when the airstream tossed his pod around like a plastic bag in an autumn storm.

And there was the thud in his back when something pierced his suit and hit his spine. There was no pain, at least not that he could remember. Maybe it was still coming. Maybe he would remember it later as a snapshot of this moment. But right now it was still peaceful. It was all very confusing and he realized the world was growing loud around him but at the same time it was becoming so very, very quiet. All the alarms were ringing somewhere in the distance.

Exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds later the pod’s automation would deploy his parachutes and bring the damaged pod safely to ground.

Exactly two days and three hours later Lodhat would wake up in the hospital.

Exactly four days and one hour later all his friends would turn up in his room and they would have his Touchdown Boogie. This time there was nobody in the orbit above waving at them, no shooting stars and open skies, just the fluorescent lights.

And exactly five days and two hours later the doctors would tell him he would never walk again.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Creature

[insert_name]

When will learn more about the nutcase with the Kessler bomb

[Angelo Kerman]

Wow! Nice story, glad to see it continuing.

[Andem]

Holy Mulch. Sinbearer? That's certainly a name...

[UnusualAttitude]

Awesome. Great to see this continue.

Poor Lodhat, at least he survived though... I hope Valentina's investigation makes rapid progress before LKO becomes too deadly.

On 11/07/2016 at 9:48 PM, Creature said:

EDIT: Also this seems to be in the fan works now and not mission reports? I don't mind but was just surprised to see it moved.

...maybe some funkiness when sal_vager pinned your thread. He might just have changed it accidentally. As a fiction-enhanced mission report, Perfect Tomorrow should be at home in either Fan Works or Mission Reports, so if you want it changed back just PM him.