Eeloo is No Goddess

[Atubara]

---
Valentina sat alone in her ‘cell’, a replica of a bedroom that was on the Laythe I. For security purposes, she couldn’t leave her room after entering. Tomorrow was too important to botch up. She wondered where Jebediah was, supposing he hadn’t gotten back to the R&D department yet. She kicked off her covers and walked over to the cheaply made desk and ran through her legal papers. The excitement for the big day made her too skittish to sleep.

    The contracts ran through dark scenarios. If she died off the surface of Kerbin, all of her mortal possessions and savings would be distributed among the staff of the KSC, a la first come first serve. Good thing she didn’t have a house. If she were injured upon return, she’d receive a hefty paycheck and a purple heart. Valentina grinned to herself. If she ‘accidentally’ cracked her femur, that’d be an easy purple heart. It would right next to her Medal of Honour and her Air Force Combat Action medal. What pretentious names, she thought. She picked up the fresh, new blue jacket for the mission tomorrow. It looked like the one for the Eve mission all those years ago…

    She slipped it on, feeling the soft leather warm up her arms and back. Wonder how many cows had to be skinned for it? She shuddered for a second and chastised herself.

    “This is skin, alright,” It was part of the mission uniform, though. White short-sleeved shirt, black pants, white socks and the jacket. The astronaut suit would make the whole ensemble feel super uncomfortable. She could feel the pants inevitably chafing. Gross. Both shoulders had the mission patch on them, an embroidery of perpetual Joolrise over the shores of Laythe with bold white lettering ‘LAYTHE I’. The landing site was chosen so that the station would be near the shoreline and Jool would be near the horizon, with the viewing deck facing towards Jool. Every little parameter was planned out, like always. Valentina shook her head. She had no clue how the Laythe I would take off in the first place. It was too heavy according to her knowledge.

    Her mind felt scattered. The prospect of tomorrow was too exciting. Jebediah exasperatedly walked through the door, snapping out of his exhaustion when he heard it lock behind him. Valentina turned and lost her train of thought. Not like she had a cohesive mindset to begin with.

 

“Don’t worry, the lock is just for security. I thought you were in another room?”

 

“I couldn’ find it. I just came in the first room I saw,” Jebediah hoarsely responded, feeling his throat still sore. He rubbed his neck as Valentina examined his demeanour.

 

“Were you yelling? Your voice-”

 

“I came ‘cross an old err, old friend. Primal scream therapy, Val,” 

 

“Was it Bob?” Valentina felt her words shyly squeak out, nervous in asking. Jebediah simply nodded his head, not wanting to stress his larynx any more than it already was. He slumped over onto the bed, groaning. She didn’t want to provoke any malignant feelings by asking more questions. She sat next to him and swiped a finger through his combover, feeling his arm wrap around her waist.

 

    “Jeb you shouldn’t do that… there could be cameras in here,”

 

    “I know there ain’ any in ‘ere. They only have those in the active centres,” He cleared his throat and spoke softly.

 

    “You think we could you know? Cuddle? It’ll be years before we have a chance like this again-”

 

    “I wouldn’ risk it with the guys here,”

 

    “Oh… mhm,” Valentina cleared her throat and kicked her feet. That was a little awkward.

 

    “Yer’ due tomorrow?” He took a swig from her water bottle. She only nodded and blushed in response. She only got like that on that special day. Jebediah slung his sandy bag off of his shoulder and set it on the floor.

 

    “We should rehearse the speeches fer’ tomorrow,” He handed her a little booklet for the convocation set the next morning.

 

    “I already have mine memorised. Did you even look at it, Jeb?!”

 

    “I’m an astronaut, not an actor,” He thumbed through the first few pages, skimming through the boring text.

 

    “Huh, well don’t act like you weren’t in those movies in the 70s!” Valentina waved her finger at him. He flinched and nervously laughed from surprise. She wasn’t supposed to know about those ‘movies’.

    “That's completely unrelated to the task at hand.”

 

    “Sure,” She scoffed and snagged his booklet to start highlighting his parts. Oestrogen spikes made her cranky. Jebediah shifted down into the bed, hands in pockets. There goes the proposal. He'd have to see when to try tomorrow.
 

[Atubara]

Jebediah rolled his eyes and traced the seams of the blanket as Valentina went through the booklet for his parts.

 

“How much is there?”

 

“Not much, probably about ten lines total. Enough to make history,” She handed back his booklet to him.

 

“Just like always,” She winked and yawned, forgetting how tired her body was.

 

“You should go t’ bed, I’ll look through this, okay?” He rubbed his neck again as he got up. Valentina yawned again and rubbed her eyes before lying down and draping the blanket over herself.

 

“Be quick, we both need to sleep. It’s really late..,” She trailed off before passing out. Jebediah only hummed to himself as he turned off the overhead and studied the document. He only took a few minutes before taking the spare pillow in the drawer and choosing to sleep on the cold floor. The implicit religious tone of the booklet must have gotten to him.

Vivid, surreal imagery of symbols once long-forgotten to him dripped through his mind. Probably through the remains of his frontal lobe. He ‘woke up’, his environment assuming the look of a ruined stone tomb. He cautiously inspected the new area. He was in a state of unprecedented alertness. Looking down, he had a blanket made from a thick husk.

 

“General Bop! There are no more animals on the Northern sector!” A man in Spartan attire ran through the hall and stopped at the entrance of Bop’s room to report on the battle. The harrowing voice sprung his attention to its fullest. He stood up, throwing down his blanket and putting on his helmet before running outside. The light of dusk temporarily blinded him as his men surrounded him with stained spears and shields. They bowed before him after they set their weapons down in respect. Bop walked to his nearest soldier and took his sword, holding it up to the waning sunlight to inspect the rust. The infantry was parading in the far horizon, their stark silhouettes decorating the red sky. He lowered the sword and wiped the red off onto his tunic, not taking care for staining his gear.

 

“Did you spare the female king like I commanded?” Bop turned to his adviser.

 

“Yes. She waits in the pyramid of Tutunjebahn to the West,” He pointed to the pyramid with the statue of the titular king. Bop scoffed at the statue. The first attack on Eygpt made it slump to the side without any fingers being laid upon it, as if it were preemptively admitting defeat. Four of his rickshaws carried him on a carpet to the great pyramid as the sun set in the distance. The men laid him down, taking care to not dirty the rug in the sand and lit torches for him. Bop stood up and headed inside the dark corridors, only illuminated by four guards with dim torches. After what seemed forever of walking and admiring brief moments of the strange drawings on the walls, he and his guards came across the marble room where the female king had been chained and shaven. She squinted and gasped at the light, shaking in her chains to try to run away.

 

“Leyh?!” She screamed, with no response from the men.

 

“Leyh jeri neteki ne jinka?!” The woman screamed again, her jewelry rattling and echoing through the halls with her voice.

“Ne jinem wi’ neh wedtha senib,” Bop stepped forward and calmly responded, taking care to articulate his language correctly. He approached her, gently grabbing her jaw and proceeded to violently shake it loose as she screamed.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Bop sloppily jammed her jaw bone back into place.

 

“Put in the records that the female king Vall was weak, like the rest of her kingdom,” Vall started crying, as if she could understand the language of her captors.

 

“Should we dispose of her now?”

 

“No! For the gods..! I shall bring her home as a trophy to our victory at the Western Empire!” Bop took a torch and whacked one of his guards with it. He looked back at Vall, her mouth and eyes replaced by waterfalls. He stepped back, noticing the tombs had turned to damp blackness. Vall’s mouth contorted into an abyss, her jaw snapping impossibly backward and spilling out more rancid water. Bop ran in the opposite direction from Vall, being greeted with Moho rising from the dark, spewing smoldering flame and smoke. Bop panicked and tried to run elsewhere before Moho grabbed him.

Jebediah woke up in a blind moment of fear, being immediately comforted by Valentina.

 

“Looks like we both ended up with an hour of sleep, huh?"

 

“Y-yeah… I guess..,” Jebediah rubbed the back of his head,trying to recollect his fuzzy dream. Maybe it was for the best to not think about it. That was a scary dream.

 

“I didn’t have a good night either. I dreamt about some hippie with long hair and glasses yelling about ocean children and universes,” She chuckled and offered a hand to help her friend up.

[Atubara]

---
1981, Day 405

Launch of the Laythe I
---

The day of reckoning had finally come. A day to mark the start of the new era of science, discovery, and technology!

    The KSC campus was flooded with journalists, religious folk, and eager scientists and everyone else in between. Gene Kerman dusted off the nostalgic vest he wore for the first Mun landing. Gus Kerman and his crew made last-minute checks through the massive vessel to triple check every little screw was in place. Linus Kerman sat unblinking and unmoving at his seat for the convocation. He’d occasionally look down and see his fingers involuntarily twitch. He blinked for a moment and when he opened his eyes the sea of once-empty chairs were filled by a gigantic audience. Convocation had started. Jebediah was at the podium, delivering his final lines as he shuffled slightly in the uniform.

    “...while you are at home, wrapped in the comfort of yer’ loved ones, me and Valentina will be alone in a paradise made for hundreds. Our journey will be almost four years long on the way up, and every day until we land on Laythe, we’ll be working hard to make sure everythin’ is on track for you and your families watchin’ at home. Dr. Wernher?”

    “To address the protocol for the landing for future reference, the KSC has prepared a set of instructions in case our brave pilots encounter intelligent life on Laythe. They are not allowed to go outside without sterilisation, they are not allowed to interact with the life without direct permission from the ground crew, and they are to recite specific symbols to the life supposing it is intelligent. We know not if Laythe has life on this day, day 405 of year 1981 A.B., but to find life there will be the first instance of life elsewhere than Kerbin.
    For the religious, we offer a moment of silence for prayer before concluding this convocation,” Wernher bowed his head and held his hands behind his back in respect. Jebediah ended the moment and adjusted the microphone on the podium.

    “Just as Laythe gave life to our very species in legend, we must take it upon ourselves as kerb to give life to another world. Duna was promisin’ but Laythe has much more potential,”

    “Keep note for the critics out in the audience and at home that there are plans to colonise Duna by the 2000s. Bill Kerman, Elite Kerman and Tom O’Kerman, that’s the crew… Are you out-? Ah! I see Tom jumping out of his seat! I’m as excited as he is. Convocation is over! The staff has put together a party and endless snacks for you to enjoy as we prepare for tonight’s launch! Don’t miss the time, 3 o’clock! Las tres en punto!” Valentina smiled and waved the crowd off, fixing her pants behind the podium after the camera crew left to record the party.

    “What are you looking at? These pants are horrible!” Valentina scowled at one of the event managers that looked the wrong way at the wrong time. She straightened herself out and followed one of the scientists to the R&D Department so she could take care of her eggs. Jebediah stayed behind at the guest space and watched the cleaning crew put up the chairs and clean up stray messes. He had about half an hour to screw around before suiting up and boarding the spacecraft. He drove one of the spare shuttle carts towards the inland where the grass started properly growing past the sand. There was something he wanted to check there before he left.
    A somewhat large bulb had grown out of the soil and he had seen the shape in a photo some tourists took that ended up in the campus newspaper. The pointed top and the rounded bottom was a dead giveaway that this was no regular plant. He poked the side of the ~30 cm tall plant and felt something squirm inside of it. A pair of tiny hands came out between two of the petals and next a head. The small kerbal looked up at Jebediah with an expression of curiosity and wonder, its heavy head trembling from not being used to being held up. The pilot sat down and touched the creature’s hands, smiling and humming to encourage it to come out.

    “Cute lil’ guy ain’chya? I don’ know who died and flew over here, but I know people who’ll be nice parents,” He gently petted the baby’s head as it opened up the bud for him.

    “Glad I caught ya young. There’s some real bad people out there who do some real wicked stuff. This might hurt for a second,” Jebediah flipped out his army knife and quickly snipped the umbilical cord, watching the plant twitch about frantically. The baby started crying in Jebediah’s shirt, much to his chagrin.

“You won’ even ‘member this lil’ man,” He grumbled to himself and took off his jacket to cradle the baby as he got back into his cart. The drive back to the astronaut complex was slow and he got back with minutes to spare before his schedule demanded he change and board. He was supposed to go back into the old, abandoned part of the complex for security purposes. Good thing the staff fixed the place up to look like how it did decades ago. The pool table and the dart board were still in one piece but the marimba wasn’t so lucky. Bill was in the other room helping Valentina get her space suit on.

“Hey Jeb! Just like Bop VII huh?!” He chuckled and turned her around to make sure there weren’t any zippers, buttons, or straps undone. He stopped and noticed the little creature Jebediah was holding.

[Atubara]

“Except now I’m the one with the baby,” Jebediah carefully held out the plantborne to Bill to let him inspect it. Valentina sat on her old bed and silently watched the two men talk about the puppy.

    “I didn’ know I could be right ‘bout that plant. Looks like my huntin’ days paid off! Lemme see ‘m,” Bill took the baby from Jebediah’s warm jacket, prompting the baby to start whimpering in the relatively cold air.

    “Did ya talk t’ Vanessa already?”

    “Yeah, she’s been wantin’ another kid and this is much easier. Maybe we can raise ‘m as a dog if it becomes too much of a hassle in our old age,” Bill gently rocked the baby and wrapped it in the sheet from the bed.

    “Hey, uh, did ya by chance take care of the little rocks too? Luggage managers got a bit cranky wit' me,” Jebediah croaked, barely managing to get his words out in an attempt to whisper.

    “Little rocks?” Bill looked up from the baby to face Jebediah, confused by his wording. He quickly realised what he was referring to.

    “O-Oh, yeah! I got them taken care of. Pitch down, yaw west. I gotta get yer’ gear,” Bill winked and chuckled, setting the baby down to fetch Jebediah’s suit. Valentina scratched the back of her head, confused at the code lingo Bill was using.

    “Little rocks?”

    “Uh, yup’m, just some personal keepsakes,” Jebediah nervously laughed.

    “Okay, I guess,” She shook her head and retrieved her helmet.

    “See you on the launchpad in 10,” Valentina waved and left the room without a word. Bill gave Jebediah the look of -hey man you gotta let her know- to which he responded with a look of -shut up I’ll get to it dude- and checked the pocket as soon as he slipped the suit on. Sure enough, in the lower left interior pocket, there were two little rings tucked underneath a pair of socks. Jebediah smiled and sucked in his stomach to let Bill zip up his IVA suit.

    “Duna give you speed, Ike give you luck,” Bill saluted Jebediah after checking his suit and handing him his helmet.

    “Jool give me mead, Eve give me-” Jebediah sang along with the old folk song.

    “Those ain’ the words! There's a kid in here! Git on out there b’fore I slap ya, champ!” Bill heartily laughed at his friend’s juvenile attitude.

[KSK]

A duck?

 

[Atubara]

@KSK

You know, I was having a bad morning and that made my entire day. 

[Atubara]

Any suggestions? I might make a graphic novel in the remastering process and I can't decide. Doing kerbals would make the biological/social traits of the characters more believable in the scientific context, but humans would make facial features more recognizable to unfamiliar audiences... I might do kerbals but I don't know at this point.

 

Side note, I suck at drawing human faces. Everyone has high cheekbones and chiseled faces! That's not realistic! 

[Atubara]

-
Valentina sat in the large cockpit, still taking time to soak in the amazing quality of the interior. The inside was decorated with beautiful greenhouses and artwork. There were life-sized murals of famous works of art with mathematical and scientific symbolism thrown in to look twice as stunning. 
    Symbolic language was scattered about the interior. An ancient work from Michelangelo Kermanicci from the Renaissance was repurposed to serve as the main art for the atrium of the vessel. Valentina saw more graphical motifs as she passed through the massive atrium, looking at all the bedrooms and complex piping of the greenhouse. There was Jool giving a right triangle to Laythe and Tylo as they stood on the disk of Kerbin. The pilot put her hand one of the annexes of the huge work of art, where an artist imitated the style of den pictures of early kerbals sitting around a fire. Weird to think that kerbals had hands for feet at one point. Valentina looked up and over to the opposite side of the atrium where a mural of the solar system was painted. An arrow arose from Kerbin and went to Jool, following the path the Laythe I would take. She would’ve taken more time to soak in the art, but after peeking at the clock, she realised she need to go immediately.

It was a long climb and walk just to get into the cockpit. The art on the walls may or may not have extended her walk a little bit. No wonder why it was so expensive. They probably did all that just to help encourage creativity among the future colony. Also more incentive not to wreck the whole thing, that might explain the two pilots team. The control panel was streamlined and pleasant to look at, being colour-coded for convenience. There were shiny new cameras mounted on both sides of the interior of the cockpit. She figured that they would be used for relaying the mental state of her and Jebediah back to Kerbin. The plan was to do that every day along with a check on health and vitals. Fun.

    “Hey Val,” Jebediah tapped her shoulder and unwittingly scared her. 

    “GODS!! Don’t do that when we’re live,” She laughed it off, wanting to keep her integrity intact in case the cameras were streaming feed already.

    “Haha, sorry. Just wanted to yet ya’ know we’re clear for launch in 3 minutes,” He sat down in his seat and adjusted his finicky soft cap before putting on his helmet. Valentina nearly forgot to put on her own, scrambling to slip it on in a timely manner. The sun was setting behind the western mountains, casting its scattered light about and turning the sky a lovely pink. The runway had to be tempered and greatly enlarged to hold up against the Laythe I’s massive weight and size. Excited kerbals ranging from commonwealth families and amateur astronauts crowded safely behind gates surrounding the runway, almost everyone holding some sort of glow stick.
    Gene Kerman cleared his throat and readied his microphone, pointing to his assistant, Bobak, to go live.

    “The crazy guys who built this thing just wanted to let you know that the engines are seriously powerful. Don’t get knocked out! We can’t really afford something like that happening,” Valentina scoffed at the Philly accent ringing through the comms.

    “Oh come on, Gene, hasn’t every launch thus far just been a glorified test drive?” She throttled the engines up to 80% and engaged the attitude control. Jebediah laughed hysterically at the delivery of her snarky comment.

    “Very funny, just don’t laugh if you wreck that thing beca-”

    “Ugh Gene! Stop bein’ a killjoy. You’re not even full-time anymore. Put on Bobak, he’s cool,” Jebediah double checked the steering on the wheels and wings, opening the hatches to the air intakes.

    “Bobak present! You guys seem set and we’re ready to launch when you are!” Gene crossed his arms and passive-aggressively took a sip of his coffee as his wife laughed at the pilot’s excursions. Valentina nodded to her partner and he smiled in response.

    “We’re ready to light ‘r up. Give us the countdown!”

[Atubara]

-
Millions of television sets broadcasted the launch live across the world. Countless films, commercials, TV shows, and radio shows would go on to copy the moments of the launch. The two pilots making fun of the senior flight director, the brave and controlled behaviour of the pilots as almost 15 g’s worth of force pressed them into their seats and propelled the craft up and out of the atmosphere, the flawless way everything was executed. Everything was perfect for everyone but one man.

Linus had his television set off, his radio dismantled. He skulked within his office, hearing distant cheering from the crowd all the way at the runway. He grabbed the Eve idol and threw it at the mirror, shattering both items.

    “You LIED TO ME!!” Linus yelled and collapsed onto the floor, feeling claustrophobic as the room appeared to melt and loom over him.

    “Eve..,” He started hyperventilating and reached for the red and white pack on his desk, sloppily bopping his hand around in a search for a lighter. He lit a cigarette and let the rest of the pack spill out onto the floor as he crawled over to the corner to think. Eve said she would stop the screaming and the visions a̦͍̱̖̹ń̟d̲͝ ̞̹s̢͈͎̣̟h̜͚̠e̝̗͟ ̗̼̟̲lì̦̼ḛ̼͚̥d̨̗̜…

    Linus’ vision turned pink and then black.

There was a man in a suit, his hair slicked back with grease, glasses slightly askew. He buzzed for a moment to warm up his mouthpiece before sticking it into his trombone, blowing a few fuzzy notes before the lights turned on behind him, lighting up the band. He smiled warmly and approached the edge of the stage.

    “Hello and welcome to the Glenn Kerbell Band! We have a wide selection of songs for you tonight and a special guest! Come on out, Artie!” He gestured to the side where another famous band leader walked in with his clarinet.

    “Let’s begin the beguine,” Artie slyly muttered, adjusting his reed. Glenn turned around and counted off the band, starting the easy tempo. Linus sat in silence deep in the audience. Here he was witnessing the union of two of his favourite musicians. He looked around, noticing the rest of the chairs were empty. He looked at the stage. No more music, no more band. Linus got up from his seat, walking onto the stage where the band was. A woman in a extravagant dress. She looked like a flapper, her hair cut short and her dress decorated with elaborate rainy designs.

    “Your body finally shut down, it needed to rest,” The woman’s voice was ethereal and piercing. Linus grimaced and before he could respond, she continued, stepping behind him and inspecting his lab coat.

    “No, you’re not dead. Just asleep. I don’t know what you were so worried about, honestly. I got that house-boat into the sky where you wanted it. Just like I promised,”

    “But Eve, the-”

    “Do not talk back to me,” Eve hissed and singed the corner of his coat before walking back to his front and facing him. She continued,

    “Your soul is only worth three aurei, I can only do so much. In fact, I have done a lot for you. I could stop caring what happens to you at any point!” Eve scoffed and crossed her arms.

    “Not like any of this matters to you, this is a just a dream. You aren’t a kerb of Jool. To you and your practical magic, I’m not real. Your magic disproves my existence in the mortal realm. If I really do exist, then you should be grateful. If I don’t, then why are you getting worried?”

    The smell of coffee opened Linus’ heavy eyes. He steadied his stiff limbs and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He frowned where his cigarette stained the carpet and burned the side of his lab coat.

    “Dear Linus, you missed it! You shouldn’t have stayed up so long, yeah?” Wernher offed a fresh cup of coffee Linus. He reluctantly took the cup and took a sip, feeling the caffeine slog through his veins.

    “Was everything okay?”

    “Mhm, the craft is going to enter its burn in a few hours. Happy late new year’s!” The old man chuckled and grabbed a party horn, playfully blowing it. Linus sighed and struggled himself up. His mind felt clear. Maybe it was all the stress of the mission giving him the migraines.

    “It’s not too late for a celebration yet, I have another bottle of 1945 Yeoja Nunmul in the ground floor’s wine cellar. You have to try it! I know the guy that made it, a lad from Korea-” Linus stopped listening to Wernher ramble on about a story he must have told dozens of times already. He didn’t take to heart what his dream was about and quickly forgot what it was about, not wanting to think about what Eve said.

[Atubara]

Everything ended rather anticlimactically. The Laythe I completed its burn on the first day of 1982 and continued on its normal course with a small adjustment planned mid-course to be on target with the schedule. Several jobs opened up for people inspired to become scientists. Plans for a similar mission to Duna started coming to fruition. The story isn’t quite over yet.
 

This entry turned out to be three pages long on Google docs, so the spoiler here is that it's super mega long. It should be just one more entry and that's the end for this entire section.

 

Spoiler

 

THE DAILY GRASSLAND

1983, DAY 409                P3a

Retired astronaut Bob Kerman is in legal trouble again for the murder of an infant. Bob places fault on a theoretical therapy method known as ‘rebirthing’. Bob hired a therapist named Chuck Kerbía to carry out the process on a baby that Bob found in an alley near his apartment, leading to the death of the baby.

Currently, an investigation is being carried out to check the liability of the the therapist. Bob’s trial will be held on the first day of the second minth of 1984. Investigators thin-

...

The rest of the paper was too soggy to make out any more words. The rain flushed out the alley’s gunk onto the sidewalk. Linus smirked and shrugged, scooting the paper under the dumpster with his foot. He was only walking through the city to see a rare Minmus transit over the sun. People lined up in crowds near the beach to see the spectacular event. The post-precipitate weather made a rainbow on the horizon under the transit. How pretty. Solar eclipses were much more frequent and stunning than a transit, but the event was still cool anyway. Linus thought back to a time where he seen the transit of Eve in front of the sun with his old solar telescope.

The KSC staff in the tracking station took a break to look at the Minmus transit. The R&D department predicted a short power outage would happen in the afternoon due to a powerful solar flare erupting, so most of the day shift staff were discharged for the day. No electricity meant no work getting done.  Linus was the only man left in the tracking spacious tracking station before the electricity outage was supposed to happen. Everyone else was either watching the transit or playing frisbee outside.
    The door opened downstairs. Linus looked down from the balcony onto the ground floor, seeing Bob saunter around, as if he were disoriented. Linus grinned a sick smile and twined his fingers together, resting his hands on the fencing. The only light sources were dim computer monitors on the ground floor, flickering in brightness due to the solar flare.

 

    Suicide is painless,

   Bob looked up blindly, not knowing where the sudden voice came from.

   And it brings on many changes,

    He looked up towards the balcony, faintly recognising the voice as Linus’,

    And I can take or leave it as I please,
    
    before he recognised the song as well. Linus cackled as he made his way down the steps, clapping for Bob.

 

    “Good job! I can’t believe I didn’t have to say anything before you screwed yourself again!” Linus laughed again, making Bob step back a little.

 

    “L-linus, I-I-I-”

    “Don’t explain yourself, you sicko… Gross, you smell like cheap alcohol and vomit! Drinking is harmful to a person's insides, don't you know?” Linus waved his hands as if to ward away the smell. 

 

“Hu, huhu,” Bob wheezed and sloppily wiped his face with his sleeve, stumbling backward onto a desk.

 

“Ugh, I don’t know how you got on campus, but you’re too inebriated to have fun making fun of, come on,”

 

“N-no…! I d-d-don’t want to go!”  Bob whined. Linus thought of a way to rose Bob.

 

“Are you here to see Jebediah die?”

 

“I w-w-an” Bob laughed and started to fall asleep on the desk he stumbled onto.

 

“I’m not going to question why you still hate him… I thought you patched that all up but 
since you’re now apparently an accomplice to kerbslaughter, you must be a liar as well,” Linus petted Bob’s head, looked at the clock on the wall, and waited a moment for the power to shut down. The room turned completely black, spooking Bob back awake. A lone computer flickered on.

 

“This is the emergency computer, one of the ones connected to the Laythe I. This one’s important because it controls the connection. There’s a specific crypt that I know how to corrupt that will permanently render the satellites on the vessel useless,” Linus turned to Bob, who was almost stirred sober by the haunting consequence.

 

“O-oh,”

 

“You’re so cute when you realise how much power I have. It’s like you forget,”

 

“O-okay, uhh, l-l-listen fer’ a s-second, I uh, i-it’s th-this is a b-bit much,” Bob propped himself up, feeling Linus’ warm hand cradle his own. Linus opened Bob’s palm and traced the lines with his thumb, all while staring at the computer screen.

 

“There’s no security cameras active, no one watching. It’s now or never, and when the lights come back on, his fate is sealed no matter what you choose to do,” Linus took his hand away, gesturing towards the computer. 

 

“B-bu-”

 

“But nothing. We both know about your distorted mindset when it comes to this,” Linus winked. Bob dryly gulped and gave his associate a desperate look before nodding.

 

“So brave, finally picking a clear side,” Linus sarcastically scoffed and typed a code that was four lines long into the terminal. Bob recognised the language of Linus’ code as C++, a new language on the scene. Linus wrote a simple replicator.

 

“When the power comes back on, this little virus will spread to the Laythe I and overload the memory banks without a sound. It’ll trash the RAM of the onboard computer and nobody will know until it's too late,” Bob stood in shock, feeling his stomach turn itself into a knot. Why would Linus do that, after all the work and fuss?!

 

“Th-this ain’-” Linus slapped Bob, gripping his collar and shaking him.

 

“THIS is what you wanted, and THIS is on YOUR hands! I have a solid alibi. You? Not so much. See you in about 20 or 30 years,” Linus threw Bob onto the floor and started to walk off. He ran after Linus, and was met with a metal pipe to the face, knocking him out cold. The lights came back on as Linus was tinkering with a LCD screen all the way in his office, holding it up to the light when the overhead stuttered to life.

Little red and blue flickers reflected in his window. He smiled and hummed to his favourite song as the police sirens skittered to the tracking station.

Eeloo is no goddess...

 

 

[Atubara]

---

The pleasant alarm woke up Jebediah. Valentina was already tucking herself under her covers, done with her four-hour shift. He climbed over and strapped her to the bed so she wouldn’t float around in the room. They worked in both four-hour shifts that overlapped for two hours when they both happened to be awake. The onboard lighting system was starting to slow down each day. By the time they reached their destination, they would be fully accustomed to the day/night cycles on Laythe. 
    The door opened with a light hiss as it always did, letting the fresh aroma of the greenhouse into the resting area. Their bedroom was right under the cockpit and led into the huge atrium of the ship. Jebediah yawned a bit before stretching, freely floating into the open space. The complex piping that wrapped around the ship was durable and served as objects to catch and hang onto. He grabbed the edge of a greenhouse module, opening the hatch to snack on a tomato. The greens really had grown nicely.
    Jebediah climbed his way back to the cockpit, loosely buckling himself into the seat. He checked the attitude control and rubbed his eyes before checking in to ground control. It was his job to warm up the satellites and wait for Valentina to wake up before they could contact home. The machinery was acting off, either disregarding a command that was issued or doing something else entirely. He dismissed it as him being tired and typed his command in slowly just in case he didn’t type in correctly beforehand. The engineers back home made the interface a lot simpler than having to type in several lines of code.

    >open petals

    He sat in silence for a moment, inspecting the screen flicker and freeze. He groaned and tapped the screen.

    >COMMAND CANNOT BE ISSUED
    >INTERNAL MEMORY CORRUPTED
    >ᚙ5 ERROR
    >ᚙ5 ERROR
    >ᚙ5 ERROR

    Jebediah rubbed his eyes, scoffing at the message. He wasn’t familiar with computers, barely understanding the keyboard alone. He scratched the back of his head and remembered the time Linus got so frustrated with teaching him how to type. Jebediah vaguely remembered that the engineers also programmed a ‘hyper-advanced AI’, whatever that meant. Something about being able to answer questions. He cracked his fingers and started to type again.

    >what is the error?

    >MEMORY OVERLOADED
    >INTERNAL MEMORY CORRUPTED
    >ᚙ5 ERROR
    >ᚙ5 ERROR
    >ᚙ5 ERROR

    The screen kept scrolling through the error message, and the scrambled characters didn’t look good at all. Valentina understood computers more than he did.

    She woke up, letting her muscle memory take over her hands to unstrap herself from the bed. She blindly flew around the cabin, grabbing hold of the food cabinet and finally opening her eyes to get out a pouch of caffeinated beans. They weren’t great when dehydrated, but it was the closest thing to coffee she could get. Jebediah unintentionally scared her awake by climbing up to the drawers.

 

    “You gotta check this out, there’s a probl’m with the computer. Won’ let me turn on the satellite,”

    Valentina worriedly climbed to the cockpit with Jebediah, unsure what to do without an onboard manual. She turned on the monitor and typed in the prompt that was supposed to activate the array.

 

    “That’s the same thing I got earlier. I did’n do anything to it. It said that its memory overloaded,”

 

    “I don’t understand how the memory could be full already, much less overloaded. It doesn’t save any information..,” Valentina muttered. She grabbed her EVA suit from the console and started to suit herself.

 

    “I’m going out there to see if it’s a problem with the actual satellite. Maybe we could even do it manually,”

 

    “You want me out there too?”

 

    “On second thought, you can stay near the ceiling of the atrium to monitor me. Something like this isn’t worth the risk of harming two suits,” Jebediah nodded to her plan and started making his way to the top.
 

[Atubara]

Valentina could only think of how ground control was acting. She and Jebediah had never been behind schedule to contact ground control. They must be freaking out by now. 

    “Val? Can you hear me?” Jebediah spoke through the low-range comms system, making sure she was still in his line of sight.

    “Clearly! Don’t worry. I forgot how big these things were,” She tried to pry open the petals to no avail. Only the central dish was facing upward. She crawled over the petals, tugging her tether cord with her carefully so she wouldn’t snag on anything.

    “Can you check where Kerbin is? This one might just be enough to maintain a weak signal,” Valentina pushed herself on the dish to see if she tilt it manually.

    “It should in the constellation Polemistis, near Kanopus,” Jebediah estimated the location of Kerbin, rubbing his chin to check over his words. Valentina looked up, taking in the scary emptiness of the celestial sphere. The stars never twinkled like they did on Kerbin. Polemistis was where it should be, conveniently near the zenith. Sure enough, there was a tiny light blue dot near Kanopus. She adjusted the dish, feeling the creaking echoing through the metal she was standing on. She turned to Jebediah, giving him a thumbs up. His smile turned to a grimace as he started to wave his arms and point. The comms must of dropped out. She turned around, seeing a little bright dot in the distance, probably a planetoid. She shrugged and started to crawl back, picking up her tether inch by inch. A little static pop. The comms came back on.

    “I know you’re excited about that little dot over there, but you aren’t like that usually,”

    “VAL! GIT IN RIGHT NOW!”

    “No need to yell, wh-” Valentina was cut off by a small asteroid slamming straight into the hull in front of her. She smacked her lips and started to quickly hop to the entrance so she wouldn’t get hit by one herself. Jebediah had already run off, presumably to the cockpit to check the radar for bigger specimens. A fair sized asteroid violently struck Valentina as she clasped the airlock, severing her tether and knocking her out in the process.

    It was cold.

    “Val?” She opened her eyes. She felt a lot weaker, and there was a comforting pressure holding her down. She wasn’t in space anymore? She sat up slightly, brushing hair out of her face and rubbing her eyes. An old man smiled to her and offered her breakfast. Without responding, she stood up. The gravity was giving her vertigo.

    “Valentina?” She was in a slate blue room that felt homely and warm. She looked down at her hands briefly. They were wrinkled and aged. An unfamiliar ring rested on her left hand. She walked out of the room, confused where she was. The next room was the size of a nice living room, with a patio of sorts leading outside. The house was on a beach. The sand had gone up to around a quarter of the screen upward, as if it were buried. The air became cold as she approached the screen. The man gasped and tugged her back.

    “Val, you can’ that! Can’ go out,” Valentina pushed the man off weakly, stumbling for balance as her heavy head weighed her down. She made her way to the screen again, catching herself on the window and looking outside. The sand looked grey and lifeless, the water was an unnatural shade of blue. The sky didn’t look quite right either. Her eyes made their way up in the sky until they hit a large, stunning sliver of bright green. She screamed and fell down, scared of the green thing in the sky.

    “Valentina, let’s go back to bed, you’re sick,” The man warmly took her hands.

    “W-who are you?! Where am I?!” She started to panic, shaking from the cold metal floor and resisting the man’s help.

    “Valentina.., you’re starting to forget me too? It’s me! Jebediah?” Valentina huffed again and pushed his hands away.

    “You’re not Jeb! He isn’t old!”

    “Val, it’s 2008. We’re both old,” Jebediah dryly chuckled and walked over to the wall to grab a small mirror.

    “See?” Valentina stared at the old woman looking back at her. Her hair was light brown and mostly greyed out, her face covered in age. Her hands were shaking from stress.

    “Wha..,” She felt that hot feeling in her eyes again. She looked back up at Jebediah kneeling down in front of her. His face came to her. The quivered lip and faded smile in the wrinkles. What happened? So many questions flew through her mind. This wasn't right. She couldn't have just lost decades off of her time again, could she?

    “Let’s go to bed, okay?” Jebediah sighed and smiled again at Valentina, who was frozen in shock. She took his hand and let him help her up. He looked outside, making a sarcastic comment to her to lighten the mood.

    “I’m tired of lookin’ at Jool everyday,”

 

(Okay it's finally over! Time to rehaul 'er mhm. I'll let this thread float for a little bit. Tell me what you thought. Drop any criticisms and comments. Even an analysis would be cool. You can PM me if you don't feel comfortable sharing your opinions in the public domain.

Before I continue, should I go for a proper rehaul of this story in a chapter system so i can flesh it out better and make it more cohesive, or should I go for a telling of another part of my canon?

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you guys. Seeing notifications on my dashboard lightens up my day!) 

[Atubara]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7se1Lc0vwwmZDNnOEhJbnFELW8/view?usp=sharing

 

There are many gods

all of them dead or lost

and I know that they

wont save us today.

 

Between us and them

there's nothing but crime and sin

and I know

that you never prayed.

[FleshJeb]

This is some unholy agglomeration of Alfred Bester, Algys Budris, Gene Wolfe, Ursula LeGuin, and CJ Cherryh, and I LOVE it!

EDIT: Of course I would forget Cordwainer Smith, Roger Zelazny, and Samuel R. Delaney--All of whom do "haunting" rather well.

Edited March 29, 2018 by FleshJeb