576 Kelvin: Chapter 3-- A Peculiar Arrival

[Alpha 360]

Prologue: Year 2110

Spoiler

There sat Moho in the sky. Its blazing hot surface kept it relatively un-touched. There was also the fact it wasn't very appealing since Minmus was colonized and now people looked to Laythe, a moon of Jool, with expectant eyes. Orbiters are found in quantity around Moho though, that was how the secret came out. 

Who am I? I am Bill Kerman, brother to the pioneer and scientist Bob Kerman. He now lives on Minmus, and here am I stuck on Kerbin with the majority kerbal civilization. I have over seen the construction of Minmus City number 1, about now I live in exile. Why am I talking about Moho and me being banished from Minmus in the same breath? Well, its a long story, but we have time.

This is the start of a new series. This is NOT related to Advancing through Hardships, this is an entirely new alternate universe. I am going camping though these next few days so expect sometime before the first chapter. 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Alpha 360

[Alpha 360]

A Night Out of Three

I plan for there to be an update every other day, but it might not go through. We will see.....

Spoiler

The transport shuttered and shook as it raced across the ice at fifty meters a second. Maintenance crew 17 was going to duty. The great flats stretched out forever before them, never reaching the horizon. A kerbal grumbled something to himself, I ignored him. We needed to reach mass driver number 3 in eight minutes, and this was the speed necessary to reach there in time.

“Bill, why are we up at this crazy hour? It’s supposed to be 3o’clock at night, and we are driving faster than this machine can go with damaging anything.” Jihed asked me, still half-asleep. He was notorious for his laziness, but he knew everything about Minmus there was, and circled it more than once so he was needed. Every one of them had to be up here or the colony would be lacking something. If they weren’t needed, they would be sent back to Kerbin in the extremely cramped fuel shuttle that sent fuel back to LKO.

“Because the MD is overheating because of some blown circuit. We have to fix it fast.”

“Why the eight other kerbals in this jeep?” he often crossed the line for disrespect when he was tired, I chose to ignore it since every kerbal's cooperation was needed.

“Because we need them, I’m the chief engineer of these MDs, and I’m going to make sure nothing goes wrong.” The responsibility rested heavily on my shoulders. If anything went wrong, somebody would replace me, that was a fact of life. The other day a worker who caused a brief electrical cut had been sent packing by the administrator.

They reached the mass driver and the driver pulled over, “Everybody head to the airlock. Move it.” I hastened everyone along, every minute counted. There was more grumbling than usual, but that was because of sleep. Here on Minmus you were allowed only six hours of rest, and these laborers were losing an hour of sleep.

The airlock cycled slowly, almost too slowly for my liking. After a good while the doors opened and we stepped out into the night. Everything was pitch black. Somebody switched on their lights and the others followed suit. These lights illumined the long track, running out of the ice into the air.

The mass drivers symbolled the one reason that the five thousand inhabitants of Minmus City 1 stayed here. Each track was two kilometers and could accelerate barrels of raw materials back down to Kerbin orbit where they were guided into even longer tracks suspended in majesty which captured the barrel using magnetic leverage.    

I felt proud of these works of machinery that I pioneered through countless difficulties. One of these difficulties was that overheating due to an extra-heavy barrel or multiple launches too close together. The wiring for such a complex object was immense, that was the reason behind that two-hundred and fifty electrical engineers were stationed here.

“Gentlekerbs, let’s get to work.” I said taking the lead. They followed me dutifully, completely aware of the consequences if they didn’t. I grinned to myself, the shoulders of authority were heavily laden but they were shoulders of complete authority which was a useful benefit on a world which wanted to kill you at every step.

It didn’t take long to find the broken circuit and once repaired, the radiators turned on and started their duty. Not too see either, it had been a good hour’s work and even I was sweating. As we stepped back a black object fired from the mass driver. It was there for an instant, then it wasn’t. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the black speck flying off into infinity.

No one needed any word to lead them back into the transport for maintenance crew 17. Everyone stank, which luckily kept them awake during the uncomfortable drive back to their hard beds. Nobody had a smidgen of comfort here, the only more or less discomfort.

The driver hit a rock, sending the transport into space.

“Crap!” one of the crew exclaimed. From the cockpit, a curse sounded. The transport tumbled. I had strapped myself in, but most of the crew hadn’t so they went tumbling around the closed interior, cursing.

“Hell!” cried one as he slammed into the back of the driver’s seat.

I gripped the sides of the chair hard and grounded my teeth, this really stank. When we hit the ground, we were facing sideways. The transport was made of titanium fused with platinum, the hardest substance available on Minmus. We hit the ground with a crunch and the metal bent all around me. The floating crew were thrown against a wall, the smash of kerbal flesh against metal audible in such an enclosed space. The transport hit again, this time the driver managed to use the control thrusters in the front to land on the wheels. The control thrusters burned downwards, keeping us on the ground.

A few seconds later the driver turned on the brakes and everyone’s neck whiplashed.

“Why the crap did you do that!” a crew member pouted, nursing a swollen jaw.

The driver unbuckled and deactivated the transport.

“We’re home, that’s why you jackass.” He glared at the others, daring them on. None took the challenge.

I unbuckled, and felt my neck. It throbbed like nobody’s business.

“You hear that, it’s time for all of you to crawl into your comfortable feather beds and have good dreams.” It was the customary speech which meant, ‘Sleep until you’re needed.’

The kerbals groaned as they stood up. Several had bleeding noses and one a cracked jaw. It was a running joke that if you hadn’t broken your jaw, you weren’t a Minmusling.

I sighed, it was a night out of three. I stumbled out the airlock with the rest of the kerbals and made my way to the administrative quarter. This quarter was built above ground, living space for twenty-five. You had to be good to have your living quarters here, and I was good enough.

I entered block number 6 and made my way to door 12 in the row. When I pushed it, it opened. There were no locks or keys on Minmus.

The room was quite bare, each room was meant to be converted into an office once the sleeping period was finished. The bed folded up against the right wall and the desk the left wall. I climbed onto the harsh metal bed and pulled a sheet over myself. Tomorrow would be a new day.

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Alpha 360

[Alpha 360]

A Tale of Two Space Programs

Spoiler

I woke up at the sound of the buzzer in my room. I sighed then readied for breakfast. Minutes later I entered the cafeteria and sat down at a table. Most of my friends were there, all minor chiefs of certain divisions. My brother, Bob, sat at the ‘big boys’ table with the administrator and the deputy administrator.

“I heard that MD 3 broke down yesterday.” stated Fiffey, “I also heard that your transport flipped on the way back.”

I nodded, there was no denying that, “But MD 3 is back on line.”

She nodded. She was concerned with the landing pad and lander maintenance, and was put a level higher than me.

One of the newer, lower level chiefs leaned into the center of the table and asked, “Have you heard the news? KSI is planning to send a manned mission to moho, of all places, in a year. It’s causing quite a commotion.”

Fiffey piped up, “Ha, they’ll get nowhere. We have already since a hundred probes to the surface and they know it. It’ll be completely fruitless. Look at us, does KSI have any colonies? No. Does KSI have all the infrastructure in place for planetary colonization? No.”  

One of the veterans interrupted her, an older skotch gentlekerb, “You’re forgetting one thing lassie, and that’s that we’re all on the same side. I worked for KSI in LKO for three years before coming up here. They are the ones who have all the fancy equipment in LKO which are receiving our exports. There’s no good or bad here.”

 “Ha. We have the upper advantage in raw resources and kerbpower. They could never catch up.” Fiffey stood firm on her belief.

“Well, you got a point there.” I sided with her. I was very loyal to ISP, international space program, and I viewed KSI with my nose in the air.

The elder decided it was fruitless to press the delicate subject and resumed his morning meal. In was in the middle of a conversation with the chief habitat engineer on how crews could be stationed at MDs which could repair it at a moment’s notice when Bob beckoned me over to the big boy’s table.

“Good luck.” Fiffey wished me well as I stood up and went up to by my brother’s side. I nodded back at her, then I faced the administrators.

“Bill, sit down here.” Bob patted me on the shoulder and I sat down in the vacant spot.

There was a uneasy silence for a moment, then the administrator spoke up, “Bill, we have been going over your profile and we have decided to promote you to chief engineer of the facility.”

I sat astounded for a minute, then I asked the first question that came to mind, “I’ll be responsible over every piece of machinery on Minmus, and if anything fails I’ll answer to you, right?”

Bob nodded, “Yes, you will be called upon for any major failure and will answer for it.”

Something became very apparent very quickly and I mentioned it in short, “This is a crappy job.”

Again my brother nodded, “It’s one of the worst, but with the most power and rewards.”

“Rewards?” this was the first time I heard of rewards.

“Let’s say if you succeed for several years, you will become a potential administrator of a fledgling colony on the other side of this lump of ice.”

“Alright, when are you going to promote me?” It was the obvious question, but one or two of them seemed to react to my straight-forwardness in the wrong way.

“In a few weeks’ time, don’t worry though, it’ll happen.”

I got up to leave and they let me, so I assumed that the meeting was over. I crossed back to my table where my companions looked eagerly to me for answers.

“Gentlekerbs, I am going to be promoted.” I said as I sat down.

As I sat down the speaker announced loudly, “Everyone, breakfast in officially over. Get to your work.”

Everyone had a good laugh at my expense as I looked dejectedly at the voluminous amount of food still heaped on my plate.

A few hours later I found myself outside in my Eva suit looking over the sight were the fourth and supposed final MD would go. This one pointed north and was the only one pointing north though we did have one pointed retrograde to the planet’s rotation.

It was near the number 2 landing pad where Fiffey was working with a team to repair after the lift-off of an extra-large cargo vessel from the Minmus Station.

A crackle of radio latter, then I could hear Fiffey.

“Hey, Bill. I have a few minutes so can you kindly explain why you were sent to the big boys table?”

I smiled, I admired Fiffey’s nosiness and general courage, “I am going to be promoted to chief engineer on Minmus in a few weeks.”

There was a pause, then she spoke, “So you are going to be my superior?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Do you remember what happened to the old chief engineer?”

“Yes, vividly.”

“They tied him up like a chicken and tossed him into the nearest spaceship back to Kerbin because he had gone mad because of the stress.”

“He was a soft fellow, I’m not. Listen, I have admired you for a while and now I realize that you have admired me for a while also. Why don’t we go out on a date just to celebrate my promotion?”

“Alright, whose cabin are we going to feast at?”

“Mine, I can push a few favors here and there to get us adequate supplies.”

“I’ll be there at eight. My workers need me now, good-bye.” The link terminated. I gazed up into a sky and laughed. Mother fate had been looking out for me the last couple years I lived here.

“Thank you.” I mouthed at the sky. A transmission came from the administrator and I opened it.

“Bill, we need you and everyone’s engineering skills here. Yes, you are being promoted early but we have a task before us. Are you with me.”

I gave it only a second’s thought, looking back I should have thought more, “Yes, what do you want me to do?”

That was the beginning of my troubles.

 

[Alpha 360]

 A Peculiar Arrival

Spoiler

The next week important news came to me. I had been promoted in a bare bones ceremony of a few dozen kerbals witness and a simple, “You’re the chief engineer now, get to work.” Laxness was not practiced habit on Minmus.

I read the news on my desk, my brow furrowed in concentration. It read, ‘The chief science director of KSI, Werhner Kerman, had proposed a visit to ISP’s colony on Minmus. He says that the transport to the colony has been arranged with KSI officials and the goal of this visit is to investigate how the Minmus colony is run and to observe the inner working of the social society.” It went on to say that Werhner was pleased to have the opportunity to work with ISP and that sharing of knowledge is vital for space exploration.

I was rereading it when Fiffey entered my room, “Bill, an amateur telescope has picked up a large lander heading for the Minmus station and that this particular lander has inflatable habitats on the side for extra room. Please tell me who or what it is.”

I grinned at her, then I told her, “It’s a VIP, a big deal VIP. From KSI to, quote on quote, investigate how the Minmus colony is run and to observe the inner working of the social society.”

“A psychologist?” Fiffey’s face screwed up in disbelief.

“A scientist.” Her face didn’t show any revelation on who the VIP was, and I left it at that.

“Tell me plainly.” She demanded.

I smirked even wider, “Its confidential, I already gave you plenty of hints. Why else were you here?”

She looked around, trying to counter my ace, but then she hung her head in defeat, “We need more material and kerbpower to repair launch pad 1, you remember that the cargo transport we since back full of metals. It broke the ice underneath the launch pad, not to mention what happened to the actual launch pad.”

“I can get you the materials, but not the manpower. Remember we are building another mass driver, you will have to drive yourself and your men through the night. I’m sorry.”

She shrugged, “You’re a jerk, but I can manage.”

I decided to return a compliment, “You’re a whinner, can you return to your work.”

She rolled her eyes and left room 12.

As she left Bill got a call from the administrator, “This is your boss. Have you read that clip of newspaper I sent?”

“Yes, I have. Everything will be shipshape, I promise.” Bill thought of all the things needed to get done, a blown circuit in a solar array, the landing-pad, the hot water heater had a pressure leak and constant observation on everything else.

“If there is a mash-up with Werhner, you’re fired instantly. Don’t worry, we’ll place you with somebody else with enough sense to keep their job. I hear.” The administrator had been all smiles up to this point. Bill suspected it was to give him a bit of wayward movement to get comfortable. No there was none of that.

The next two days were a nightmare for Bill. He was rushing to and fro with crews engineers behind him. The solar panels were fixed, the interiors cleaned and scrubbed down, the launch pad repaired just in time.

On the morning of the third day, Bill stood outside with five hundred kerbals who could be spared on the moment to attend to the VIP’s arrival. Bill wiped the visor of suit, then remembered he could get the sweat off his face.

There it was. A streak of blue in the black sky as the nuclear powered landed was making its deorbit burn. The light reflected off of the object for a brief instant, a flash of light brighter than any ordinary star. The blue light beginning to grow brighter. A star was obscured by its body. Short, squat, and ugly as crap was the general descriptions of the landers in the ISP armada. It crossed in front of the sun, a long black shape with unique curves. It was now descending straight for the pad. It was painted a yellow and black, like a bee.

The yellow name on the side read, “The Yellow Jacket”. It was now at 50 meters, and falling at twenty meters a second. A quick burn later and the beautiful creation was sitting smugly on landing pad.

A hatch opened on the bottom of the vehicle and three Kerbals stepped out in single file. Their visors weren’t transparent like ours, they reflected the sunlight, making them looked like burnished bronze or gold.  

The one in the front faced me, then the gold/bronze shade slide upwards and a kerbal looked out from the helmet.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as we searched for each other’s links, but it only took a second to connect.

“I’m Werhner Von Kerman, chief scientist of KSI.” He introduced himself.

I shook his hand, “I’m Bill Kerman, chief engineer of the Minmus colony.”

It took a little while for introductions to be made to everyone important. Fiffey was a little troublesome, and gave me a mischievous glance as she pretended spit on the ground, even when she was wearing a helmet.

I switched to our private channel, “Fiffey, stop that this instant or you’re fired!”

“When did you get too big for your boots, mr. bossy.”

I gave her a meaningful glare, then guided the VIPs into the base. I was fairly interested with the Werhner’s party. Werhner was an older gentlekerb who was energetic for his age of 63. He was inquisitive on everything like the materials used in the building of these tunnels to the closed-loop life-support malfunctions.

There was a psychologist with him. He was a chirpy little fellow which was surprising given his job. He was also the most difficult to get out of a bar as I later discovered.

The last fellow, Lejyl, I found most intriguing though. She was very tall for a kerbette, but she was very much a beautiful kerbal. She was thin as a wire and she walked slightly unstably but she didn’t seem to be a weakling. She had introduced herself as Werhner’s personal assistant. I thought there was more to her than meets the I, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. We were on our way to the administrator’s office when a slab of concrete went hurdling through space directly at our small party.

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Alpha 360