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Ghouls in Jool: A Halloween Writing Challenge

UomoCapra

By UomoCapra
in 2018

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TheRiskyBrothers

TheRiskyBrothers

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Posted (edited)

High Orbit

Spoiler

 

Dim light was all that the pod’s lamps could manage.  I could turn them off, save some charge. But my fingers are too cold to push the tiny “light” button through my gloves.  It’s all I can manage to keep the spanner in my grip, like I know what I’m doing. Bill was the one who was good with computers, not me.  Bill’s suit got ripped when the tank blew. Now he’s floating frozen and limp at the back of the hab mod, gloved hand still clamped like a vice around the tear in his sleeve.  I don’t even know why I’m back here, even if I could get the computers back on, what then? I’d know exactly how close to zero d/v we have?

I shake my head in my helmet, trying to get some sense back.  The mission.  We have to complete the mission.  That’s what I was trained to do, what I was born to do.  There’s still some RCS left, if we use it right, we can slingshot around the mun back to kerbin rather than orbiting the rock. Finally, I snap a cable into its socket, and the machine hums back to life.

Yes.  Yes! “Val, I did it,” I rasp.  “The computer, I fixed it. We can go home now.”  I pull myself out from the maintenance panel, to where Val’s body still lies strapped in her command chair, frozen blood cakes the shrapnel holes in her uniform and clinks against the inside of her visor.  “We can go home now, we’re all going home…”

The computer screen flashes to light.  Yes! We’ve got rcs! I switch to the orbit calculator and… Something’s wrong with our orbit around the mun, it looks different than it did when we finished our last burn.  Instead of looping around the frontside of the planet for an easy capture, it like we’re going the other way, and on out into space. That‘s not possible. It has to be wrong, it has to!  I hammer the controls madly, anything to bring the orbit calculator back.  Tears well in my eyes, probably the last moisture I have. The blast must’ve pushed us into a slingshot orbit.  I can’t bring my friends home. I’m not going home.

I’m never going home.

I watch the altimeter click higher and higher, and the clasp to open my visor beckons.

 

Happy spooky season, folks.  Have some sci-fi horror goodness.

Edited by TheRiskyBrothers
moon->mun
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Bill Phil

Bill Phil

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Posted

My submission:

Spoiler

It was a dark and stormy night at the Kerbal Space Center. Jebediah Kerman had just been called to a meeting, something that he despised. He pulled himself out of his comfy chair (a rare luxury at the KSC) and found himself in a plane en route to the meeting location. He thought it was a weird place to pick. The Island Runway. He wondered why Gene and Wernher had chosen it. It was a bit far for a simple meeting.

Once he was in the old and dusty room, he saw his fellow Orange-suits: Bob, Bill, and Valentina Kerman. He waved and they huddled together and conversed like old friends would. They speculated about the purpose of the meeting, cracked some jokes, and when the time came they found their seats.

Gene walked up to an ancient stand and cleared his throat. "Thank you for coming. I know this is strange, but I must demand that what is said in this room stays in this room," he said. Jeb wondered why Gene was so serious. Surely it couldn't be that important?

"As you all should be aware from High School physics, the vast majority of large celestial bodies in our star system are impossibly dense. Considering that nothing is of uniform density, it is highly likely that the cores of these bodies are even denser than their average density. As of approximately one day ago, the Mohole Project, an attempt to drill to the mantle of Moho, finally bore fruit."

"Woohoo!"

"YEAH!"

"Alright!"

The astronauts were, understandably, celebrating. Gene almost didn't have the heart to stop them.

"I'm afraid that this success is not worth celebrating." The astronauts were rightly confused. "The Mohole Project did not hit the mantle of Moho. Rather, they hit metal. Processed metal. Analysis shows that it is artificial. Soon after, the Mohole Project Team continued further, and found an enormous planet-sized cavern. According to our instruments, a black hole sits at the center. As it stands, our star system is likely an artificial one."

The astronauts' faces dropped. Wernher continued.

"Our star system was built by an intelligence beyond our own. The intentions of these beings are likely completely alien to us. And as Gene said, we must keep this under wraps. Though I doubt we will be able to for long."

The room fell deathly silent as the astronauts considered the implications.

Word count should be 399.

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Kerbalstar

Kerbalstar

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Posted

Eve.

Spoiler

"And whatever you do, don't go outside. LOS in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, LOS," The last words of Mission Control echo in my helmet. In order to save my life, Mission Control had decided to land the Ecto-1 on Eve, pending a rescue mission. That rescue mission was in route. All I had to do was wait. Wait for 3 years. In the Ecto-1. The Ecto-1 wasn't cramped, by spacecraft standards, but it was still small. It had 2 hitchhikers, a viewing cupola, and an MK. 2  lander can for control. Not that it would be controlling much now anyway. I was supposed to meet up with the Gilly-2 crew, Jim, Snark, Badie, Felipe, and Lucas. But there was a, let's say miscalculation, and my ship dipped into Eve's atmosphere. What I said about Mission Control "deciding" to land the ship on Eve was a bit of a lie. It wasn't much of decision. I lost my engines, solar panels, fuel tanks, and everything else except the RTG and the hab section. Amazingly, the same atmosphere that burnt off most of the craft, also, with a little help from the extended long range antenna and solar panels, cushioned the impact so that the hab section survived. I was in the cupola when the Ecto-1 impacted anyway. Now I had to get comfy. Real comfy.

3 weeks later. 

I woke up and took my normal trip up to the cupola. I saw the same thing that I saw every day. Nothing. Nothing but purple ground, purple sky, and purple clouds. 

5... weeks... later...

Knock. Knock. I woke with a start. What was that noise? I went up to the cupola. I saw nothing.

Later that day.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. I heard it again. 
"Who's there?" I shouted. There was no answer.  
Knock. Knock. I ignored it.

5 days later.

Knock. Knock. I heard the sound that had plagued me for 5 days. The knocks got closer together every time it happened. Now it, whatever it was, was knocking almost every minute. I couldn't take it anymore. I went to the cupola, which I hadn't been to for 5 days. I looked outside. All I saw was a thick purple haze. Then I thought I saw something getting closer. A tentacle approached the spacecraft, closing fast! I covered my eyes and waited for the impact. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes. The tentacle was gone. I ran down to the airlock in the bottommost hitchhiker. I donned my spacesuit. As I got in I radioed KSC.
"KSC, I can't take it anymore! I'm going outside!" I said and turned off my radio. I depressurized the airlock and stepped outside. My suit flashed pressure warnings at me, and the suit computer started shouting in my ear.
"High atmospheric pressure and temperature detected. It is recommended to seek shelter immediately." I turned off the suit computers warning. As I took another step, I saw a huge green figure, with tentacles, and two huge eyes rise up in front of me. Then, everything went black. 


I floated in the inky blackness. Suddenly, a voice boomed all around me. 
"Take good care of my child, Kerbal, and I shall release you from my domain." Then everything went black again.

"Colonel!" "Colonel Julian Kerman!" I opened my eyes and was greeted by a Kerbal bending over my prone body, as I laid on the floor of a hitchhiker module. 
"What happened?" I asked.
"We found you laying on the ground, unconscious. We immediately brought you into the Ecto-2.  We also found this laying next to you," He said, and held up a small purple thing, with tentacles and big eyes. It writhed in his hands and smiled. It made a happy cooing sound. 
"So that's what she meant. She's a mother," I said.

Here you guys go!

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qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted

Bit late for entry, and not sure how good it is. But IDK was kinda fun to think how to make it.

Spoiler

***File Received, Log Dump***

Y32 D024

“Good bye and happy landings!”

Those were my last words to the crew returning back to kerbin as I settled into maintaining the high orbit station Hey Where’s My Sandwich for 2 weeks. Why I was left alone I don’t know. But hey, I had snacks and a nice book, so nothing should happen right?

Right?

Y32 D28

Something happened. The station feels a lot cooler, although the LS systems don’t show any change in the settings. Gonna have to check out maybe why. Other than that everything’s nominal. That book is quite good. Wonder if Edgas will ever say anything about his feelings to Val.

Y32 D056

A persistent knocking has developed right outside the hatch, though the camera shows nothing. The next crew should have come here by now. I’ve read the book too many times now. I need a blanket, its much too cold.

Its knocking harder now.

Y32 D062

The knocking stopped. Maybe I should be comforted by this, cause at least its stopped annoying me. But why knock only to stop abruptly?

Y32 D070

Something definitely went wrong. Yesterday the station sensors noticed a high spike in (SOMEFORM) radiation before the navigation systems just kind of gave up. It doesn’t indicate that we are actually in orbit, just kind of suspended. Then looking out the window I noticed all the stars went out.

Y?? D??

I’ve been stuck here for ages. I don’t know where I am. The night is black and long. The book is worthless. All the manuals are no help. I don’t know where I am.

Y?? D??

I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who I am.

Y?? D??

Is that a face?!?! HELLO?

Y?? D??

I have to end it. I HAVE TO END IT. AHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!!

***End of Log. No more records found***

 

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UomoCapra

UomoCapra

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Posted

Thanks everyone for participating! These short stories are fantastic and I've enjoyed reading them very much :D. From this point onward any story submitted won't be considered.

In the coming the days we will take the arduous task of choosing the best ones and  among other things (such as the originality, quality, humor and spooky factor) we will consider the number of likes , so you can help us out by liking your favorites short stories, too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
StrandedonEarth

StrandedonEarth

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So, it appears no announcement on winners this weekend.While waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, I realized something I should have had in my story. While I don't expect this final-final draft to be judged at this late date, (edited:)if my story is one of the chosen, I hope this version could be published in the newsletter, whenever that will be...

Spoiler

Every year during the three hundred and thirty-third night, mysterious things start to happen at the KSC. None of the KSC staff want to stay that night, as weird noises abound around the Center. The only exception is Mortimer Kerman, who gleefully volunteers to be the caretaker for that night from his usual haunt in the Admin building, where flickering lights and soul-shaking screams scare all others away. In the deserted Astronaut Complex, ghostly footsteps and flushing toilets are heard. The great radio dishes of the Tracking Station creak, grind, and squeal as they turn,  but only during that night. Pale apparitions are seen streaking down the runway, rising briefly before vanishing below the waves, while the big display screens at Mission Control fill with static.  Even though the VAB is shut down for that night, the cranes and other machinery start moving with nobody at the controls. Fire and smoke bloom on and around the empty launch pad as a muted roar is heard, and hundreds of tiny glowing krakens scurry around the Research and Development center. A steady tap-tap-tapping punctuated with whirring fills the Spaceplane Hangar, without a soul in sight. They call it "Sotreum ed Aid"

When day finally breaks on that seemingly endless night, everything grows quiet again, and Mortimer starts to look sad and oddly younger. The tiny glowing kraken all vanish without a trace. But when the brave kerbonauts start arriving at the Astronaut Complex, they are shocked to find all the kerbals that had been KIA during the last four hundred days sitting around, drinking koffee...

or maybe not...

Edited by StrandedonEarth
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qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted
On 11/11/2018 at 9:39 AM, StrandedonEarth said:

While waiting for what seemed to be an eternity

As of Tuesday night, still nothing.

Hope it doesn't actually turn into an eternity.....

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StrandedonEarth

StrandedonEarth

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When @Vanamonde wrote up the TOTM, he mentioned that a lot of staffers were down sick. I can only assume that's the case here. But still, it would be nice if someone would at least tell us that...

*listens to crickets chirping out the theme from Jeopardy!*

How about it, @Just Jim, any word on your end?

Edited by StrandedonEarth
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UomoCapra

UomoCapra

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Hi there o/

Just wanted to give you all a little update: It's been a lot harder than we thought to choose the best short stories; they are all amazing and we are grateful and happy to see such a great response towards this challenge. I know we said we would announce the best short stories earlier, but due to the complexity of the decision, we decided that it'd be better to have them included in the upcoming KSP Loading... (which is coming sooner than you'd think,), and let you find out there which our favorite stories were.

Thanks again for being so amazing and for your patience :)

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StrandedonEarth

StrandedonEarth

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Posted (edited)

Ok, now you’re just teasing us. :P

1 hour ago, UomoCapra said:

Included in the upcoming KSP Loading... (which is coming sooner than you'd think,), and let you find out there which our favorite stories were.

My guess is somewhere between this afternoon and Friday evening. 

I was going to list my three favourites, but after perusing them again, I realized you’re right, it’s hard to pick just three. I definitely liked “Heart of Jool,” “Clank” was cute, “High Orbit” was grim and grisly, and “Fright Night at KSC” captures the Hallowe’en spirit nicely. But I may be biased on that last one :cool:

Edited by StrandedonEarth
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Vanamonde

Vanamonde

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Posted
11 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

When @Vanamonde wrote up the TOTM, he mentioned that a lot of staffers were down sick. 

Sorry to confuse you, but 1) that was a joke and none of us are ill, and 2) the moderators are not involved in this writing challenge anyway. 

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qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted
On 11/14/2018 at 12:44 PM, UomoCapra said:

we decided that it'd be better to have them included in the upcoming KSP Loading... (which is coming sooner than you'd think,), and let you find out there which our favorite stories were.

New ksp loading is out. Nothing there? Or is it still that hard to decide? 

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