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We Who Witnessed [Chapter XIII - "New Beginnings"]

Kerbinchaser

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Kerbinchaser

Kerbinchaser

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Chapter III
"Arrival"

The steady whooshing of the blades almost put Darryl to sleep. His 5' 7" body could barely fit in the machine made for 3 feet "Kerbals." On the left side of the chopper, the sergeant held onto a bar while the wind billowed his clothing. The other soldier, who appeared to be a private, sat next to him looking out the right window, his arm resting on a heavy machine gun.

Darryl glanced out the right window and saw a large building of about 30 stories high below the helicopter. The sergeant who was in the doorframe was now leaning over the side, waving his open hand in a circle motion. As the aircraft slowly descended onto a helipad, Darryl met the gaze of a human being. The first he had seen so far. The gentleman looked about six feet tall, and he had slick brown hair. In one hand he held a notepad, in the other a two-way-radio. The helicopter blades powered down and the man approached Darryl. 

"Sergeant, what did this man do?"

The sergeant saluted the well-dressed man.

"We found him spying on the wreck of the Osprey II, sir. We took him into custody without much trouble."

The man frowned. Looking at the soldier, he formed a reply.

"sergeant, you know as well as I that humans can't enter our world without the rift. He was probably just confused and maybe a bit frightened. Let him go."

Acknowledging his superior's command, the enlisted soldier untied Darryl's arms and apologized for the confusion. 

"Yeah, it's okay, but where AM I? I mean, who are these green men? And how are...You here too?"

The gentleman chuckled. 

"It is a long story my friend. Come on, let's go to the ground. I'll explain everything."
 

Darryl followed his new company and hopped in an elevator. As it slowly began moving downwards, Darryl was amazed to find a rocket standing in a large pit being worked on by an army of workers and engineers. Astounded, his jaw dropped in amazement. It was a larger vehicle than anything ever made by humans. It was a 7 stage craft, with 8 boosters surrounding the main stage, with a large lander nestled on top. As the duo passed through the 21st floor, a large section of fairing was bolted to the top of the spacecraft. The sound of welding, hammers, and bolt drills filled the air, which smelled like grease and fuel. As both arrived on the first floor, which was marked with a large sign saying: 

Danger! Explosive bolts and falling debris.
All workers must wear head protection. Violators will be prosecuted. 

Darryl left the elevator with the new gentleman, who had identified himself as Jack Nickolas. Leading Darryl to a small rack, he handed him a yellow hardhat with a badge on the side. It looked just like the NASA symbol, but with the words KASA. Putting it on, he followed Jack near the large rocket while explaining what was happening around him.

"This is our newest rocket. The Orion IV. Capable of travel up to the planet Eve. Massive thrust with a crew capacity of 4. Hopefully it will launch us to the heavens."

"Wait a second. Where the hell is Eve? It sounds way further than our solar system."

"You have a lot to learn Darryl. We aren't in your solar system. We are in the Kerbol system, in the larger galaxy of Astros."

Darryl pondered this and asked another question.

"So how far away am I from home?"

"Darryl, you're in a parallel universe. This is your new home."

They left the VAB, and Darryl went to a temporary suite that had been assigned to him by Jack for a few nights. 


Sitting at his small desk in his slightly larger apartment which had just been given to him, Darryl had sprawled multiple books and manuscripts all over the oak wood. 

First was a novel about his Earth, written by another human which had apparently died before he had arrived. Also on the desk were human movie cassettes, possibly recovered from other people who had entered this universe with it on their person. He also had various rocket manuals, books about Kerbol and Astros, and "The Saga Of Emiko Station," a novel written by a being with a pen name. Darryl didn't know if he was a Kerbal or a Human, but the name was @Just Jim. 


As he continued to study, the unnerving truth began to sink in. He would never see his family again, never do anything of human nature again. He was stuck on this "Kerbin" with some green beings and one other human. He slumped over on the desk and began drifting into sleep.

At the same second, a small tap tap on his door woke him. Nodding, he looked over.

"Comph in..."

The door swung open and there stood Jack, leaning against the frame.

"How are you doing Darryl?"

"Besides the fact that I just learned my life is ruined, I'm okay. Why?"

Jack picked up a chair and carried it closer to the other man. 

"Because I wanted you to know some things. First...Guess how old I am."

Darryl surveyed the man. He was perfectly clean shaven, he had very light wrinkles, and his face shown with youth. 

"I'd say 26...28?"

"80."
Darryl retorted back. "You're EIGHTY? That's... That's impossible!"

Jack smiled slyly. "Not on Kerbin. There's no age. The human body reacts to these atmosphere conditions a bit better than on Earth. There's no pollution either. Sure, people...I'm sorry, Kerbals...Die, but they only die if they get in accidents or die of a sickness. There's no "Died of old age" here. As long as I stay healthy, heck...I could live for another century at the least."

His jaw hung open. Darryl liked the sound of no age, but without other humans, who would help keep his sanity? "Well, how have you stayed alive without other humans? I mean, maybe Kerbals are like us in some way, but without human interaction, you'd go crazy!"

"There are human settlements here. The current human population on Kerbin is around 10,000. More people keep coming through the 'rift.' As long as they keep coming, we keep housing them."

"So what the hell is the rift?"

"That's a story for tomorrow. Get some rest."

Jack stood up and left the room, leaving Darryl to stew in his thoughts. Crawling into his small bed, he fell asleep quite quickly. 

 

Edited by Lo Var Lachland
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Kerbinchaser

Kerbinchaser

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7 hours ago, The Minmus Derp said:

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW  YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH! Dunnanunnanunnanunna!

Hehehehe. Thanks for the excitement. It really keeps me going. 

6 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

According to Chekhov's Gun

What? Who's that? Thanks for the support!

Oh and also: 

Do you like the smaller chapters or should I write them larger?

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Ultimate Steve

Ultimate Steve

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27 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

Hehehehe. Thanks for the excitement. It really keeps me going. 

What? Who's that? Thanks for the support!

Oh and also: 

Do you like the smaller chapters or should I write them larger?

Either length is fine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov's_gun

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Kerbinchaser

Kerbinchaser

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Chapter IV

"Thoughts"

Darryl slowly opened his eyes. Drowsily reaching for the alarm clock, he clicked the snooze on the very loud blaring. Coughing lightly, he looked around.

"Crap. So it wasn't a dream. Or...Maybe it is. Maybe it's just a long dream. I don't even know anymore."

Pulling his pants on one leg at a time, he stumbled, quite tired, to his desk. As he rubbed his eyes and surveyed the books and materials he had laid out the night before, strewn this way and that. A pen lay nearby, used to write furiously and take notes. The blue ink showed all over the pages, with notes about everything imaginable scrawled all over the paper, some quite deep, obviously written with anger. 
 

Sighing, Darryl slowly strolled over to his door, where he very quietly and carefully opened it. The hallway was quiet and the constant din of the A/C system made an almost soothing sound as the tired man put his bare feet onto the cold linoleum floor. Adjusting to the temperature, Darryl checked his watch. 
"4:50 AM. I wonder how many people...Kerbals...Are awake right now."
Darryl continued down the hallway, until he reached a small stairwell. Also descending this, he found himself on the main floor of the Astronaut Complex. He was surprised to find a relatively large group of kerbonauts wearing tee-shirts and sweat pants playing pool and reading in the lounge. Darryl shuffled in amidst strange looks from the Kerbals, and poured himself a cup of coffee. 

Sitting down at one of the circular tables, he slowly sipped his tea and watched the game of billiards. As his coffee cooled down, a slightly taller Kerbal entered the room and exchanged greetings with the others. Some saluted, others called him sir, and a handful slapped him on the back and called him Jeb.

Sitting down across from Darryl, he opened the conversation.
"Is this seat taken? I haven't seen you talk to anyone yet. Have you met one of us yet?"

Darryl shrugged.
"Not really in a nice way. I met a few soldiers as they hauled me aboard a helicopter, and I met Jack Nickolas."

Jeb grinned. 
"Mr. Nickolas is a good man. I'm glad you met him. Oh, I'm Jebediah by the way. Jebediah Kerman," he said as he extended his green hand in greeting.

"Darryl Whitman. Nice to meet you Jebediah. Can I say Jeb?"

Jebediah chuckled. 
"Of course. No one calls me Jebediah around here. That's reserved for my three closest friends, of whom I only have two now."

Darryl frowned. 
"Did one of them pass away?"

Jeb looked towards the table.
"Yes, actually. The one I was the closest to. Her name was Valentina. She was killed last month on a routine commercial flight. It crashed in the mountains. There was no way anyone could have survived."

Darryl squeezed his hands together, trying to think of a response.
"I'm sorry to hear that. How old was she?"

"Heh. Well, in your years, she was 90. In our years she was 26. She certainly didn't look 90 according to the many humans who met her."

Darryl smiled gently, but sat in silence, as the two of them avoided eye contact. The two men didn't know what to ay after that, so as Jeb read his newspaper and the other drank his coffee, they didn't speak, but when Jeb was done, he got up, smiled heartily, and bid goodbye to Darryl, promising that they would see each-other around. As Darryl finished his coffee and left the table, the other kerbals began saying hello as he left. Apparently Jebediah starting the greetings showed the other ones that he was a good guy.

Grinning all the way back to his suite, Darryl opened his door with happiness, and changed into his newly issued official KSC Uniform. Jack had told him that in order to get in and out of various buildings, he would need the outfit and a badge, the latter of which was given to him after he had talked to Jeb by the desk assistant at the Astronaut Complex. 
 

Darryl brushed his hair, straightened his suit, and left once again, this time to visit the administration building, where he would be given important things to make his life on Kerbin easier. 

Jack met him at the small office, and they both went in. There at the front desk was the second human Darryl had met while on Kerbin, a 50 year old woman who looked 22. She greeted Jack first.
"Hey Jack! Is this the newcomer?"

"Hey Stacey. Yeah, this is Darryl Whitman. He arrived through the rift yesterday. I thought you could hook him up with what I told you about."

She beamed. 
'Of course! Come with me, Mr. Whitman."

Darryl was led through a double door and into a colder room which looked like a small warehouse. Looking at the large shelves, he saw many items, some he recognized. On a peg board sat many different kinds of keys; on a shelf lay sleeping bags, neatly rolled and stacked; and on yet another were cans and cans of food.

"Mr. Whitman, this is the National Kerbal State's Human Recourses distribution center number 32. Here you can find human food that we've genetically modified from things here on Kerbin, other food that has come in through the rift, sleeping materials, clothing for humans, car keys, house keys, you name it. You can take most things freely on a food-stamp until you get a job at the KSC or elsewhere, and then you can buy it from us for a small price. You can start by picking some new clothes, an extra key for your suite, a Kerbin-City public transport key, (trust me, you'll want it,) and some food. Everything else will cost you."

Darryl began choosing some new clothing, starting with some jeans and slightly small tee-shirt, as well as some socks and a few slacks. He grabbed quite a few microwave meals, and then some MREs. He also took a transport key, but as he glanced at the board with all the car keys, he inquired what it was for.

"That board, Mr. Darryl; is filled with care keys for the various golf-carts around the KSC. To rent a cart it costs :funds:10 an hour."

He glanced at Stacey and tilted his head, like a dog would do in confusion.
"I'm sorry Ms. Stacey, but what are 'funds?' Are they the Kerbal currency?"

Stacey showed a small smile.
"Yes they are, one fund equals 50 cents in American Currency, which means whatever cash you had on you when you entered Kerbin is now yours. And, if you happen to have any bank receipts in your pocket, we can transfer those to funds as well."

Darryl quickly opened his wallet and flipped through it.
"Um.. I have $84 exactly in cash, roughly 300 dollars on this visa card, and..." As Darryl struggled to remove a card which was stained with blood, he ripped it out of the wallet. "And a bank receipt for my current savings account, with $2,405 in it."

Stacey took all the money and went to the back of the building. 

Returning a few moments later, she handed him a stack of paper money, which resembled American cash except for the fact that it had Kerbals on it, and the paper was stained a faint but deep red color. 
"Mr. Whitman, you have :funds:4,978. I would recommend finding a job before doing anything with that."

Thanking Stacey, Darryl left the building with his new items and strolled back to the Astronaut Complex. A stiff breeze had picked up by the time he returned, and the flag in front of the building was fluttering, and various small pieces of trash in the parking lot began to blow everywhere. 

As Darryl settled in his bed for a nap, he realized that Jack had still not explained the 'rift.' 
oh well. He was too tired to ask him right now. As his mind went into darkness, his brain was filled with thoughts and dreams, that kept repeating to him:
"You'll like it here. No aging, barely any death, no crime so far...And they have a space program. You'll like it here..."

 

 

Edited by Lo Var Lachland
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Kerbinchaser

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Chapter V

"Rift"

The next day, Jebediah took Darryl on a trip to see the KSC. They hopped in a little utility-cart. Going nowhere in particular, the pair drove around. It was a funny sight to see; A three foot tall almost dwarfish Kerbal driving an almost six foot tall human in a cart made for Kerbals.

"So Darryl, here's the Space Plane Hanger, where we build aircraft. It's my favorite building here, because it's fun to watch in action. It's a fully operational airport too." Hearing a low but loud droning, the two looked west to see a large four-engine turboprop transport making an approach to runway 09. 

"Ah yes, here comes our weekly arrival of more human goods. The Government collects human items, and then ships them to us in a Kerbus A400M. Today we're getting a shipment of food, mostly canned goods, as they're the only actual human food we get. The other things we make by hand from genetic engineering.

The very weighed down aircraft almost staggered in the air as it lumbered towards the ground. It touched down with difficulty with a small puff of smoke from the landing gear, and the sound of the engine got more high-pitched as the pilot jammed all four props into reverse thrust.

As the large machine hesitantly slowed to a crawl, the crew made a right turn and taxied onto the ramp in front of the hanger. Slowly but surely, the A400 finally came to a halt as ground officers ran to place wheel chocks and begin the un-loading process. Darryl watched for a few moments, and then turned to Jeb.

"Jebediah, I've been here a few days, but Jack still hasn't told me what the 'rift' is. Could you explain it?"

Jeb stared at him and rubbed his chin. 
"Actually, I can't. I have no idea how it works. I can give you an overview if you want..."

Darryl nodded his head. 

"Alright, this will be fairly long, but here goes. 10 years ago, the first human appeared. His name was Ralph Douglas, and he appeared in the middle of the desert. We only found him when one of our fighters spotted a message scrawled into the sand. He barely made it. Needless to say, it was all to waste. He couldn't live all alone, so he... Well... You know."

Darryl nodded. 
"Well, when he first came in, what was your first reaction?"

Jeb pondered this for a moment and then answered:
"Well, to be honest I didn't know what to think. When he arrived we treated him as a potential enemy, because we didn't know what 'humans' were at that point. I think that added to his depression and loneliness. All of our scientists couldn't explain it, and it wasn't until more began popping around that we realized this wasn't going to stop."

"Well, has English always been your language? I mean, with no connection to the human world, how did you know what the dilect was?"

Jeb grinned.
"One time an English professor came through and realized that our language apparently sounds a lot like two languages on your planet, Russian and Spanish. He quickly decoded it and taught us English so it would be easier to communicate with new rift travelers."

"So what IS the rift? I mean, I didn't go through a portal or anything, I just went to sleep and woke up in a field."

Jeb glanced at the sky to think and then looked at Darryl, biting his lip.
"Here's the sad part...You're actually dead. When a human enters the rift they die in your universe. So on Earth, your first personality is actually dead and buried. Your second persona...You...Is alive here."

Darryl just stared at jebediah with a blank expression. His eyes began to get moist. 
"So you mean...That no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I will never get back to Earth, and even if I did, I'd be dead?"

Jebediah nodded.
"That's what we figure. Everyone who's come through the rift remembers either vividly or faintly; a injury/sickness/accident before they entered Kerbin. What do you remember?"

Darryl choked up.
"A car accident...I cra..I crashed my car."

Tears welled up in Darryl's eyes as he continued to listen, now biting his knuckles and looking at the unloading of the aircraft.

"I know it's hard to hear, but Kerbin is just as good...If not better, than Earth from what I hear."

Darryl looked at Jeb and scoffed.
"You'll never know what Earth is like. It's amazing. Beautiful landscapes, a MASSIVE amount of creatures and flora, the most diverse spectrum of cultures and skin colors as you can imagine...I mean, you all are GREEN and that's it! No dark green, no light green, no OLIVE green for God's sake! You all are generic and dumb! I would rather trade assured death to get back to Earth."

Jebediah gawked.
"Well isn't that nice. I like being able to freely visit every planet in our solar system without having to worry about your American 'NASA' budget. Why don't you try something called space exploration? It's nice."

Jeb put the cart in gear and sped off towards the astronaut complex, neither of them not talking the whole way back. As Darryl walked into the building, he mumbled something along the lines of "Thnmphs for the rfde Febediah." Jebediah smirked and slammed on the accelerator, heading to Mission Control. 

Darryl fell onto his bed in his room and thought about everything that he had left behind. Once again, his mind transitioned into sleep, his brain flooded with memories and thoughts of Earth. Sunsets, animals, the breeze, his family...

 

Edited by Lo Var Lachland
Version 1.0.4-Minor Editing fixes
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Chapter VI

"Juliet"

The rain made a plink plink sound on the roof of the silver sedan as it sat, idling, on the side of the road. The Woman inside it sat inside nonchalantly, scrolling through her phone notifications, most from guys who had failed to court her in the past, and now were coming around for a second try. As she opened her social media account, a phone call came through, scaring her on the dimly-lit evening. 
"Hello? This is Juliet...What? No. No, you can meet me tomorrow at noon. I need to go somewh...What? When? No. I said NO. Hello? Hello?"

Hanging up, Juliet sighed and continued to flip through the alerts. Finishing off her third beer, she tossed it into the passenger seat and continued to allow the phone to consume her on this rainy but very mellow night. In her car were various things, mostly alcohol and old drive-through meals. Juliet was a beautiful blonde, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with freckles and a thin body. Most people would call her perfect. 

Not far away, in the wind and continuous rain, stood a man with a black umbrella watching Juliet's car. He was wearing a strange shirt, resembling that of a Nyan Cat. It was a 2D view of a cat wearing a jetpack, surrounded by a blue background of the stars. Standing with raindrops pouring down the side of his umbrella, he stared at the silver car, now made more reflective from all the water on the surface of the metal. Writing in a pad, (which was now soaked) the man struggled to get the ink to stay. Finally, after a audible "humph," the gentleman backed off into the darkness. 

Juliet however, put her car in drive and began rolling, unaware of how drunk she was. As she rounded the corner of the nearby intersection, she found herself face to face with a large truck slamming on it's horn and trying to skid to a stop. That was the last thing she saw. 

The next thing she saw, was a hot sun staring her in the eyes. Closing them quickly to avoid the burning, Juliet turned over to find herself on a beach next to a large ocean. The waves made a loud crashing sound, and various shorebirds ran across the sand, looking for grubs and small creatures. Long grass swayed in the gentle breeze on this beautiful sunny day. The blue of the sky was disrupted by various blots of white clouds. 

Slowly sitting up, sand falling out of her clothes, Juliet stared out to sea. The water was choppy but looked good enough to swim in. She considered taking a dip, but figured it wouldn't be worth it at this moment. Glancing down, she realized she was still wearing the clothes that she had on before this happened. Checking her pocket, she realized her phone was still in her car. Looking behind her, she was alarmed to find the first half of her vehicle buried in the sand. From the hood to the back of the front seats was sitting, quite randomly, in the middle of a sand dune. The engine was smoking, and the entire front was crushed, like it had slammed into a brick wall.

Juliet strolled to the car, now with flames licking out of the oil tank. She decided she HAD to get her phone, so she ran to the drivers side, covered her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket, and opened the door. Groping in the now blackened interior, she suddenly felt a smooth metal rectangle, and hauled it out of the center console. Jumping backwards, Juliet hacked as smoke filled her lungs. Throwing her arm on top of her chest, she lay down in the soft sand and stared into the sky. 

Tomford looked out of the window of his aircraft as it slowly lumbered over the desert. In the distance, he spotted a thick plume of black smoke rising into the clouds. 
"KSC Center, this is Kessna Romeo Delta Foxtrot Niner Zero Seven. I'm approaching Kermanton and I see smoke coming from the coast. Have any aircraft been reported missing?"

"Negative, RDF907. All aircraft have completed their flight plans or reported back. Check it out for us, will ya?"

Tomford swung his plane to the west and headed closer to the large column of thick dark smog. As he approached he noticed that there was a large hunk of metal burning near a woman, who was waving to him. 

"RDF907, center. I found a victim of something. I don't know if it's a pane or something. I bet it's an aircraft that went down, but from what you told me it doesn't make sense." 
 

 Juliet was waving her hands as profusely as she could, and the plane circling her dipped it's wings to signal that she had been spotted. 

After a few hours, a ship appeared on the horizon and shortly after that a helicopter approached, its white and orange colors shining in the sun. As it hovered over her it spit sand in all directions, and Juliet had to  shield her face from the debris. It drifted to the left of her, and landed on a grassy spot near Juliet. A man in a suit flanked by two armed men hopped out.

Juliet noted that they were extremely short, except for the suited gentleman, who was now removing his glasses. 

"Welcome to Kerbin!" Said the man in a thick American southern accent. 

Juliet could only crook her head at the man and smile slightly. 

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