For the Colors of the Sunset - Summary posted, story abandoned

[Ultimate Steve]

 

For all those whose dreams seem out of reach

 

Chapter One - Dreams of Space

Spoiler

"Francine - "

"And you better not do any loops! Keep completely level at all times, do you have a backup harness? You filled the tanks, right? And your chute has been checked? Oh, no barrel rolls, or inversions in general - "

"Francine, he'll be fi - "

"And don't stay past dark!"

"Francine, if you had stopped thirty minutes ago maybe we would have had a chance of not staying out past dark."

"Grandpa, when are we going?" asked Daniel excitedly.

"As soon as I stop worrying, I guess," replied Francine. "Who am I kidding... Everett, you are the best pilot I know. I mean, not that I know many pilots... But you're better than most pilots!"

"Is it true you flew around the world?" asked Daniel, wide eyed.

"Many times, my boy!" said Everett, smiling. "The first time when I was just 26! I remember my first ever flight... I believe I was 12, then."

"I'm six and a half!" said Daniel.

"I seem to recall being sixteen," said Francine.

"Were you nervous, mom?"

"I'd never been more nervous! Hurtling through the air, held up by what might as well be magic... On second thought, Everett, are you sure he is ready? Six and a half..."

"Don't worry, mom, I'll be safe!"

"I'm just... Just..."

"Don't worry, Daniel, about your mom being afraid for you... It means she loves you. And Francine, I promise I will take good care of him."

"Mom?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"I love you!"

"I love you too. Everett?"

"Yes?"

"Fly safe," said Francine as she hugged him.

"Will do. Alright, Daniel, are you ready to fly?"

"Yeeeeaaaaaah!"

"Alright. Follow me!" Daniel, grinning, followed his grandfather up to the footholds on the side of his airplane, the Summer Dance. "Alright, wait up there for me," he said as he lifted Daniel up onto the wing.

"Grandpa, when did you decide you wanted to become a pilot?"

"That was a long time ago," he said as he lifted himself onto the wing, "but very shortly after my first flight. Now, don't think this means I want you to become a pilot... Daniel, I want you to never let me, or anyone else, decide what you do with your future. It's your life, not mine Got that?"

"Yes, Grandpa!"

"One, two, three, UP!" Everett had lifted Daniel into the cockpit.

Everett got in and then harnessed himself in, and then harnessed Daniel into the small lap harness. There was room for them to sit side by side, but Everett felt that it would be safer to have Daniel in his lap.

"Bye, Daniel!" shouted Francine.

"Bye, Mom!" The engine on the Summer Dance spun, faster and faster, reaching idle speed. Everett placed a noise-cancelling radio headphone set over Daniel's ears.

"Can you hear me?" asked Everett.

"Yes, Grandpa!"

"Good. We're about to take off."

"Grandpa?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"I'm scared."

"And that's nothing out of the ordinary. Tower, Summer Dance ready at runway 18. Requesting permission to take off."

"Granted, Summer Dance." The engine noise grew. Daniel looked at his mom. She was waving. He waved back. The plane began to move. And a few seconds later,

They were in the sky.

Daniel's fears almost evaporated in those first few seconds. Here he was, in the air... It was a wonderful feeling. Euphoric, even! He was awestruck by the view, so much that he did not say a single word for several minutes.

"Grandpa, this is beautiful!"

"It never gets old, I'll tell you that!"

"Is this what you do every day? Fly around?"

"Well, not every day... But many, yes."

"Is that your job?"

"Well... No, it's not. I haven't had a job for quite some time..."

"Mommy says that flying is expensive."

"Yes, it certainly is... My father, your great grandfather, was a businessman. I invested some of the money he gave me, and accumulated wealth through an extraordinarily lucky investment..."

"What's in vested?"

"Ahh... That's a story for another day."

"So we're rich?"

"A little bit. Not too much, though. Enough to make a difference. I try not to parade it around too much."

"Grandpa, the mountains!"

"Yes, I know! If it weren't for your mother I'd be daredevil-ing as close as I could! But I shouldn't set a bad example..."

"Grandpa, can you tell me the story again?"

"Which one? I cannot count them myself!"

"The one about the pirates!"

"Ah, of course! It was a long time ago... The aircraft carrier KSS Midnight, one of the first ever, along with her crucial cargo of the defense plans for the entire western shore, which were being shipped to Far Kitalia for refinement, had been taken over and held for ransom by one of the last great modern pirates, Captain Sarnok. Me, I had planned on landing on the carrier to refuel this very plane... But as I flew over, at a high altitude, I saw their wooden ships and knew something was amiss. It was night. I turned off my engine, and swooped in, as quiet as a mouse, and landed under the cover of night! I knocked out one of the guards, and made my way to the holding cells, where the captain was being held... There was only one guard, whom I dealt with accordingly... I freed the captain, and we snuck through the ship, managing to steal the plans and some fuel! We took off, waking all the pirates up!"

"Of course, we were still low on fuel, landing on the nearest coast on fumes! But, we brought back valuable intelligence on the pirates' position, and because of that, we almost caught them! They abandoned the carrier and crew before they were caught, though. And the plans got through to Far Kitalia safe and sound."

"That sounds awesome!"

"Oh, it was... And terrifying!" The Summer Dance turned towards the sun.

"Grandpa... It's... Beautiful."

"Yes, my dear grandchild, it is."

"Grandpa, can you take me to Far Kitalia?"

"Someday. Not now, your mom is waiting for you... But in a few months, or years, absolutely yes! I can take you anywhere you want to go!"

"Anywhere?"

"Yes!"

"Kinsi-world? Kerscard? The great Desert?"

"Absolutely! Even the Great Crater Lake and the Mighty Manley Ridge!"

"What about the north pole?"

"We'll have to wait until you're a little bit older for that, I'm afraid!"

"Alright, we should turn back now."

"When can we go flying again?"

"Tomorrow if your mother will allow it!"

"I want to do this every day!"

"So do I!"

"Hey, Grandpa?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Can you take me there?" Daniel pointed. Grandpa Everett searched for what he was pointing at, before realizing what Daniel was pointing at.

"Ah," said Everett. "The Mun. Farther than I have ever been, farther than the Summer Dance can ever dream of going."

"So we can't go?"

"Well... There have been a few that have gone there, and only a few. They are the noblest and boldest of explorers, ones who strap themselves to massive towers of explosives that will shoot them far up into the sky, and beyond... They are called Astronauts. The best of the best, the greatest of the greatest."

"So, no, Daniel... I am sorry, I cannot take you there. That is beyond my reach, and I am far too old to undergo the journey. But, if you truly put your mind into it, your passion, your soul, maybe some day, eventually, you can take yourself there."

And so Daniel stared at the Mun, and smiled.

 

================== Twelve years later

"Up we go!" said Daniel with glee as he flipped the elevator's control switch.

"Goodbye, Kerbin!" said Lloyd as he gazed around the surface of the mobile launch platform.

"After all this time," Daniel began.

"We're flying to the Mun!" said Tracy excitedly.

The elevator began moving upwards as Daniel performed the Kerbin Salute.

"Should all go well, we will not descend back down to this elevation for one week!"

"Except on the Mun," added Tracy.

"Years of dreaming... Years of doing... And it's finally almost here!" said Daniel. The elevator rose to its final level and stopped. The three soon-to-be astronauts stepped off and approached the railing, looking down at the Odyssey 18, the rocket and capsule that would take them to the Mun.

"Daniel, Tracy, and Lloyd, you are go for boarding."

"Roger that, control!"

"Just like the movies... But this time, it's finally real!"

Daniel boarded, followed by Lloyd, then Tracy. Briefly, Lloyd looked out the gap in the crew access arm and saw his grandfather's biplane parked several kilometers away. He smiled. He was about to complete the dream that had manifested itself in him twelve years ago.

"Control, this is Odyssey 18, Daniel is go for launch."

"Lloyd is go!"

"Tracy is go!" The trio wore expressions of excitement and anticipation.

"Roger that, Odyssey 18. Initiating terminal countdown. Twenty. Nineteen. Arm retract commencing."

"Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve."

Daniel's heart raced. It was finally happening. At long last. Eleven. Ten. Nine.

"Eight. Seven. Main engine start!" The entire crew braced themselves, excited nearly to death as the five LV-T45 Swivel liquid fueled engines roared to life beneath them.

"Four! Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

 

 

BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP***BEEP

*click*

Daniel woke up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had wanted so much to press the snooze button, to return to his dream. But if he did, he would be late. And this summer in general, he really didn't want to be late... People were waiting for him. And an exciting day awaited him.

Not as exciting as my dream, he thought to himself, but pushed the thought aside. If he didn't get up now, and flip a switch on the other side of the room, an army of alarm clocks that Daniel had amassed over the years would all go off, and he would have to switch them off one by one. He got up, walked over, and flipped the switch. He proceeded to change into his standard issue uniform. And then, instead of taking the time to do something more productive, he opened the sliding door and walked to the balcony, father away from his dreams of space.

"Dreaming again, weren't you?" asked Lloyd. Daniel jumped.

"Oh, hi, Lloyd. Yeah."

"What was it this time?"

"You, me, and Tracy were going to the Mun on board the Odyssey 18."

"Ah."

"I woke up when the countdown was at one."

"HOLD HOLD HOLD!" said Lloyd jokingly. Daniel chuckled.

Daniel, Lloyd, and Tracy had been three of the few dozen lucky Kerbals to be selected for KASA's on-site student internship program. Daniel was the youngest of the bunch, he had only just graduated high school, but he displayed exceptionally high marks. Lloyd hadn't done as well in school, but he had been in College for three years already, and had demonstrated incredible aptitude for anything electronic. You name it, he knew what it did, how it worked, how to fix it, and how to make it Rickroll you. No joke. He managed to Rickroll his college professors via microwave once. Lloyd and Daniel had quickly become close friends early on in the internship - although most of that was because they were roommates. In fact, the KSC's old residence building had overflowed ever so slightly, so Lloyd and Daniel got their own room to themselves in the new, fancy residence building that was still mostly vacant at this point. The only other person in the whole building was Tracy, who was one year into her Master's degree in Chemistry, and easily the most qualified of the three. They tended to get along well.

"Except the Odyssey 18 isn't going to the Mun," said Lloyd.

"Nope. Just the space station, with a fresh crew and tons upon tons of supplies."

"We'll just have to wait for Odyssey 23."

"Ahh, the Block II. I'm glad it's finally on the schedule, it's about time."

"Block I is pretty good at what it does, though," said Lloyd. "Lunar orbit missions, heavy satellite launches, and station resupplies. With a better service module a lunar mission is possible."

"Yeah. But, Block II... That's when things will start taking off.

"Well, yes... But as far as you or me getting into space? I can't wait until someone does reusability properly. Then we'll have a chance."

"Even still, you have more chance than me," replied Daniel, staring off into the distance.

"Well, yeah. Hey, I'm so-"

"HEY GUYS!" shouted Tracy from the bottom of the building.

"You're a bunch of slowpokes!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" shouted Lloyd. "Dan's been dreaming again!"

"Ah! About me, I suppose?"

"Oh, yeah, you two were at an extravagant dance - "

"Shut up, Lloyd!"

"And there was lots of kissing!"

"It was another dream about space!" shouted Daniel, shoving Lloyd away from the edge.

"And was I in it?"

"Well... Yes. But there wasn't any ki- "

"Yeah, I know, it's just Lloyd messing with you!"

"And besides, you have a boyfriend, and of the three of us, you are by far the most qualified to be an astronaut."

"True, and true. You know, I bet I can beat you to the facility by walking!"

"Come on, it doesn't take us that long to get ready!" said Lloyd.

"That's because you skip your de-odorant application!" she said as she turned around and began walking.

"I do not!" Lloyd's face reddened.

"Come on, let's get ready!" said Daniel. Several minutes later, the two Kerbals were racing down the stairs towards the parking area.

As they were the only ones in the building, there was only one vehicle, which the KSC had loaned them.

"Shotgun!" called Lloyd.

"It's not like you have any competition, Tracy's gone."

"True." The vehicle started up, and Daniel reversed, then pulled out of the garage, and past the absurdly oversized speed bumps.

The contractors had put them in a few times as large as they should have, for some reason, and the paperwork for fixing it was taking forever going through Congress.

Daniel spotted the Mun in his mirror and sighed. He also realized at that point that his mirror was tilted considerably upwards, so he adjusted it.

"I'm just saying, she's cute!"

"Uh, she has a boyfriend, she's four years older than me, and even if I was interested in her, I think it would be best to keep this whole internship thing on a friendly basis."

"But you can't deny that she's cute?"

"Oh, look, here she is now!"

"You didn't get very far!" said Lloyd, rolling down the window.

"It's called admiring your surroundings," said Tracy.

"Hey, I admire my surroundings!" said Lloyd.

"Only when you're surrounded by cute women," I said.

"Haha, very funny," Lloyd said.

"When is the last time you actually stood around and admired a sunset or sunrise?" I asked.

"Okay, point taken. When's the last time you asked someone out?"

"Okay, point also taken."

"Well, when's the last time either of you... Got selected to be the Capcom's assistant for the Odyssey 18 mission?" Lloyd and Daniel gasped.

"No. Freaking. Way!" said Daniel as he put the car back into gear.

"Not me," said Tracy. "Someone named Samantha."

"Oh."

"I'm backup Capcom's assistant, though!"

"Yeah, and I'm the secondary backup Capcom's assistant, I guess!" said Lloyd.

"And that makes me the overseer to the secondary backup assistant to the Capcom," said Daniel.

"Haha!"

"But seriously, congrats!"

"So, what am I doing today," said Lloyd looking down at his phone. "Ooh, programming the new ground cameras! Followed by, unfortunately, more tedious edge case thermodynamics."

"I'm helping with propulsion dynamics on a far-future lunar lander."

"Ooooh!" I said.

"What are you doing today, Daniel?"

"Well, I can't check, I'm driving," said Daniel. "But if I had to guess, packing plans for the Picasso. Or maybe more structural analysis for future infrastructure, who knows."

"When are they going to transfer you back to the main R&D complex?" Daniel asked Tracy.

"Oh. Well, sometime. I hope. I guess that one explosion was a bit much?"

"Oh, please, they'll let you back in, miss master's degree," said Lloyd.

"The real mystery is why they haven't kicked you out for rickrolling yet," said Daniel.

"Simple. I have restraint. I could hack the astronauts' headsets on Odyssey 18. But I won't. I may be slightly dumb, but I'm not stupid."

"You sure about that?" I asked.

"We're talking about the guy who hacked the system and changed everyone's grades to 13.37 percent in the fifth grade," said Tracy.

"When did I tell you that?"

"Yesterday."

"Oh."

"Do you think we'll get to talk to the Odyssey 18 astronauts before they go up?" I asked.

"I sure hope so!" said Tracy. "Sandy Wright Kerman is basically my hero!"

"Even more than Jebediah?"

"Yeah. Slightly."

"And they're both on this mission! Plus that Far Kitalian, Lofase."

"We're here!" announced Daniel as he pulled into the parking lot of one of KSC's engineering buildings.

"Well, have fun, y'all!" said Lloyd as he undid his seat belt and exited the vehicle, making for the building. Tracy followed. Daniel locked the car.

But the Mun caught his eye again. He stood for a few seconds, staring at it. A goal so impossibly out of reach for a normal person, and for him... It might as well be Andromeda. Because he... He... He shook the thought. Maybe the rules would change. Maybe space tourism would take off. Maybe he had a shot someday. He jogged to catch up with his friends.

And a few minutes later, he was at his workspace, today with Calvin, one of his favorite engineers to work with.

"Hey, Calvin!" Calvin turned.

"Daniel! You're on time!"

"Yup! I had to sacrifice a proper breakfast," he held up a Pop Tart," but here I am!"

"Guess what we're doing today?"

"Structural analysis."

"No. Guess again!"

"Packing plans for the Picasso?"

"No!"

"Turn around!" said Cal excitedly. Daniel did and gasped.

"No way!" said Daniel as he walked over to the central table with Cal.

"I present to you, the very first prototype reaction control thruster for the Block II service module debuting on the Odyssey 23!" announced Calvin enthusiastically.

"We're finally seeing hardware!"

"Today, we've been assigned the heroic duty of taking it apart very carefully and putting it back together as a confirmational analysis on the assembly process. It has been put through operational stresses three times the expected maximum for longer than it will have to go through those peak stresses. And also, we get to test it with low pressure compressed air to test for leaks and stuff."

"This is awesome!" said Daniel as he reached out to touch the thruster. "Oh! Are the models done?"

"I don't think so, but you can check."

"Hold on, let me just get a few tools... Hose... Dan, can you grab the yellow remote?"

"Right!" said Daniel as he drew his attention away from the 3D printer which had been printing some models of potential future projects for the past day and grabbed the remote off of the desk.

"No, the yellow one," said Calvin.

"But this is the yell - Hey!"

"Ah, sorry, just messing with you," said Calvin as he took the remote and began hooking up a hose to the thruster. A few seconds passed. "Sorry, Daniel, I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Yeah, yeah... I'm just not in the mood for those sort of jokes today."

"Were you dreaming again?"

"Well... Yes."

"Oh. Sorry. I really shouldn't have said... Sorry, it slipped out. I didn't mean to make you feel - "

"It's okay, Calvin. Don't worry about it."

"It must seriously suck."

"Yeah, you're right, it seriously sucks."

"What's it called again?" asked Calvin.

"Extremely minor Tritanomaly," responded Daniel, with a very loud sigh. "Greens supposedly appear ever so slightly less vivid. I'm not colorblind enough see any tangible effect, but I'm still too colorblind to be an astronaut."

 

 

 

Hey,

I didn't want to start another huge project,

Since I have trouble finishing them,

But this one will be shorter,

I have an outline,

16-18 parts,

At most,

Enjoy.

 

Mod list (KSP 1.6.1):

Spoiler

Textures Unlimited

Airplane Plus

Astronomer's Visual Pack

Community Category Kit

DCKinc

Distant Object Enhancement

Easy Vessel Switch

Firespitter

Glass Things

Grounded (the original inspiration for this story)

Kerbal Attachment System

Kerbal Engineer

Kerbal Hacks (some KIS props)

Kerbal Konstructs

HyperEdit

Kerbin City

KerbinSide

Wenchang Launch Facility

Kerbal Inventory System

Kosmodrome

KSC Floodlight

KSC++

Loading Screen Manager

Modular Rocket Systems

Modular Launch Pads

PlanetShine

Procedural Parts

Pro Props

RealPlume

RealPlume Stock Configs

Scatterer

Smoke Screen

Texture Replacer

Textures Unlimited Stock Config

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Transfer Window Planner

TweakScale

Vessel Mover

Waypoint Manager

MiniAVC

Module Manager

 

Inspired by:

This Reddit post. It made me think about the other 99% of the space program and how it would be interesting to drive around and do stuff. So I asked the name of the vehicle mod (it's called "Grounded") and went wild with every ground relevant mod I could find, and came up with a story.

I hope you enjoy the story, and I hope I can keep up with it!

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Ultimate Steve

[KerballingSmasher]

So... this never happened did it?

[Ultimate Steve]

2 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

So... this never happened did it?

I've got boatloads of ideas that I've started and never finished. In the event that I go on to college without making progress on this story I may post the outline if anyone is still interested, but that's still over a year from now.

There's so much I'd do if I just had the time.

[Ultimate Steve]

So yeah this didn't end up happening. I'm still months from college but I don't anticipate continuing with this, as much as I'd like to. I have had almost zero motivation for productive things recently despite having all the free time in the world. Thanks, Corona.

Anyways, here is the summary of what I had planned for this story. If it had came to fruition, I think it would have likely been one of the best things I'd ever written, because unlike all of my other stories, it had themes and questions and plots planned out from the beginning, and aims to say something deeper about the world we live in (then admittedly goes against it? Kinda reasonable both in-context and for the sake of a happy ending but ehh).

The core thing that made me start writing this is twofold. The first would be the quote from the Reddit thread, which is, IIRC, "We can't all be Kerbonauts, can we?" The second was the idea that, for most of us, there is a day where we have to give up on our dreams. Especially amongst the members of the KSP forums, there is a sizable proportion of people who dream or have dreamed of becoming astronauts. However, as we mature we realize that the odds of us actually going to space are very close to zero, unless some huge revolution occurs in the space industry... Which is pretty much why I am now foolishly putting most of my hope in a dubious crumply flying water tower with no abort system...

 

But what happens when someone has no hope, then finds it, then has it abruptly crushed, along with nearly everything else in his life?

Spoiler

Chapter 1 (already up there) - Dreams of Space

A young Daniel, Son of Francine, Grandson of Everett, is taken on a flight in Everett's old biplane, his first flight, and the two talk briefly about Everett's adventures. He had been lucky enough to win a small lottery and live out his dreams of exploration and adventure. A similar dream is born in Daniel, as he asks to go to the Mun. Everett tells Daniel that it will be very difficult, but one day it could be possible.

While growing up, Daniel is diagnosed with extremely mild color blindness. This, while having little effect on his day-to-day life, disqualifies him from being an astronaut under the current rules.

Due to his outstanding academic ability, he is selected for a KASA internship while still relatively young, along with Lloyd and Tracy, who he quickly befriends. Lloyd is good with computers but is the most immature of the three. Tracy is very smart and the most extroverted of the three.

In this universe, there are large parallels to our universe, but in this reality, the SLS/Orion project, dubbed Odyssey, is far ahead of schedule and cheaper than expected but never really had a true "purpose," beyond space station crew rotations and cargo deliveries. The notional "Block II" of the Odyssey system, which is theoretically capable of lunar landing missions will make a debut, but there are still no very clear plans for a landing, much like our reality pre-Artemis.

It is not mentioned in the chapter, but commercial space companies are far behind in this reality, with it unclear how far ahead the SpaceX analogue has made it. The Falcon 9 analogue likely exists but did not gain reuse capability after several failed tests.

Space Tourism is also far behind, somehow delayed even more than it is in our reality.

Daniel wakes up after a dream about flying to the Mun on Odyssey 18, which is the next Odyssey mission but will only go to the ISS analogue and not the Mun. The three friends drive to work, with Daniel at the wheel. At work, his main co-worker, Calvin, and Daniel work on tests for a component of Odyssey 23, which will sport the first Block II service module.

Chapter 2 - No concrete name, possibly "Rocket Road" or "Road to The Stars"

Probably not the same day as Chapter 1, Daniel gets to work with Lloyd and Tracy on some sort of machining test for a future rocket component (according to my notes, possibly a custom fairing), giving us a deeper insight into how they fit together as a friend group. During the test, Daniel briefly looks away to watch a livestream of a foreign rocket launch, something he does often and will continue doing throughout the story.

Shortly afterwards, he is asked to drive a vehicle pulling a core tank for an Odyssey rocket (potentially Odyssey 19, or maybe it is another Atlas-V esque rocket and not an Odyssey as the Odyssey would be too important) from one building to another, because the normal driver was currently unavailable and Daniel had some experience with driving lower value supplies around the complex. He accepts. While carefully navigating the tank through the KSC complex, some sort of antenna or power tower collapses, falling on a course to hit and destroy the tank, but thanks to a quick reaction and his superb driving skills, Daniel manages to save the tank. However, the tower falls over onto the van that Daniel uses to drive the trio to work one day, yet the van sustains little damage. Someone remarks that maybe they should build rockets out of the stuff they build the van out of.

Daniel is congratulated for this.

Chapter 3 - The Driver

The trio are driving down the road blasting music in the van on a day off, on the way too or from a social outing, generally having fun. This lets us explore more of the friend dynamic and also offers insight into the family situation of all three. Some of this is kind of important, but the story would work without it.

When they show up to work the next day, the preparations for the launch of Odyssey 18 are well underway, with the rocket undergoing late-stage preparations in the VAB. The backup crew will arrive by airplane to little fanfare (as they are the backup crew and the primary crew has two very famous astronauts on board), for final training and mission prep. After hearing about his skillful driving, an official semi-jokingly asks Daniel if he wants to drive the stair truck for when the crew gets off of the plane. Daniel semi-jokingly accepts, but stuff plays out so that he actually gets to do that later.

While unloading the backup crew, Daniel briefly meets one of them, and he talks briefly about his dream. The astronaut tells him that he thinks he will make a good astronaut someday. Daniel's heart sinks, but he doesn't have the heart to tell him that he can't be an astronaut because of his slight color blindness.

Chapter 4 - Final Integration

The trio are allowed to observe and help a little bit with the integration of Odyssey 18. Daniel helps load some semi-late-load payloads into the resupply module (a-la Space Shuttle MPLM), as packing arrangements is something he has helped with on paper for a while. This is the first time he's been this involved with a launch campaign. Daniel being "the official space program driver" is the meme-of-the-week basically around the space center, and due to schedule conflicts on behalf of the actual operator, Daniel is asked to drive the crawler-transporter, with the Odyssey 18 on top, to the launch pad.

He gets to do this, but, at least in the outline, it is between chapters.

Chapter 5 - Launch Day

The trio drive to work once more, IIRC Tracy gets to be a backup mission controller or something so she gets dropped off at control. The media shows up in droves. Daniel's fame as "The Driver" and someone getting sick leads to Daniel getting to drive the astronaut van, with the astronauts inside, to the launch pad. On the mission are Sandy Wright Kerman, Lofase Kerman, and Jebediah. Sandy and Jeb are two of the most famous Kerbonauts ever. On the way to a pad, Jeb strikes up a conversation with Daniel and takes a liking to him. When at the launch pad, Jeb invites Daniel to come up the elevator with him. The present official protests, but gives in at Jeb's insistence. Jeb, who displays a casual yet epic attitude about the whole thing, jokingly asks Daniel if he's like to come with him. Daniel laughs it off, and while he is honored, he is saddened by the fact that he can't. The two bid farewell, both wishing each other luck. On the way down the elevator, Daniel has a talk with the official who didn't want him up there in the first place, but he isn't angry any more, instead surprised and kinda proud (probably the not right word, maybe in awe?) of his sudden bond to Jebediah.

Looking for a viewing area to see the launch at, Daniel spots his grandpa's plane, the Summer Dance, at the airport. After a while, he finds him and the two have a happy reunion, having not seen each other for a few months. They watch the launch together, and it goes off without a hitch, the three astronauts safely reaching the ISS.

Chapter 6 - A Shining Beacon (? All of these chapter names are being applied right now based on the summary and outline, the actual names would have probably been different)

A couple of weeks later, Daniel has a few days off and takes a plane back home to see his family. His mom (Francine) lives in Kerbin City, the under-construction futuristic city of tomorrow, designed by Kerbin's greatest minds with the intent to be a shining technological beacon to provide optimism for the future. Living there is kinda expensive, but again, Everett is mildly rich and will provide what Francine can't. During his visit, he takes a Hyperloop-esque transport, one of the only ones existing so far, to the extremely prestigious Kerbin Institute of Technology, where he plans to go to college at, to check up on a few things and solidify his academic plan. His education is being paid for mainly by Everett, but also by the scholarships he managed to get and his night job.

When he gets back, Daniel has dinner with his sister and mom, and the family has happy discussions. All of a sudden, a loud noise was heard. Daniel pokes his head out of the door just in time to see Everett impressively land the Summer Dance in Francine's smallish backyard. Dinner continues with Everett joining. It is obvious that Everett is getting old, but he still acts as young and enthusiastic as ever.

Chapter 7 - The Cliff

This would have been mainly a filler chapter with more of business as usual for Daniel's KASA internship. That day, however, a SpaceX analogue launch is happening at a different launch site, and Daniel takes a break to watch the livestream. This is the maiden flight of the (non-reusable) Falcon Heavy analogue (far closer to V1.0 than Block 5 as most of that progression never happened). It promises to begin lowering the cost of access to space, and generally offers hope for the future, especially a small amount of hope for Daniel's dream. However, it explodes several seconds after liftoff, much to the disappointment of almost everyone. The failure hits the SpaceX analogue, not very hardly because it was a test flight, but they have already been struggling as of recent.

Chapter 8 - The Fall

A month or two has passed. The trio are preparing for the launch of Odyssey 19 (mission unspecified in the outline), but Tracy has drifted slightly apart from the other two as she has gotten closer with her boyfriend. Not much, but a noticeable amount. Odyssey 19 will launch in just a few days. However, part of the way through the day, he receives news that Everett has suffered a severe stroke with essentially zero chance of recovery. He rushes to the hospital that he is at, and after a while they have to turn his life support off. Deep in mourning, he receives news that night that he has been laid off from his night job due to the business's financial difficulties.

Chapter 9 - The Winds of Time

Daniel attends Everett's funeral. His mom and sister are there, as is Lloyd, but Tracy, who really wanted to be there, unfortunately couldn't. Daniel's dad is also notably absent. Many of Everett's old friends, including many pilots, who do a flyover in Everett's honor, are present, and they reminisce and share old stories about the adventures they went on with Everett.

Daniel, still deeply saddened, returns to the KSC in time for the launch of Odyssey 19. It is scrubbed, likely for something mundane like a mechanical issue. A minor hurricane is on its way, prompting concern, but a launch is attempted the following day. Throughout the launch window, issues push the launch further back, and the hurricane begins to intensify far faster than expected. At the very end of the window, the launch is scrubbed due to high winds. The hurricane was arriving far faster than expected. The rocket is detanked and preparations begin to roll it back into the Vehicle Assembly Building. However, the accelerating and intensifying hurricane slams into the coast, with one alarmingly fast gust toppling Odyssey 19 as it rolls back, reducing it to a crumpled heap of scrap metal. An evacuation order is given for the KSC without much regard for active projects as this intensity and speed was not expected. Daniel escapes in his KSC van, noting how remarkably resilient it is to the elements.

Chapter 10 - The Waters of Fate

The hurricane took a turn south, slamming into Kerbin City. The anti-flood systems had not been fully built yet and failed accordingly, leading to a city-wide flood. The city is evacuated. Daniel's sister is moderately injured in a car wreck escaping the city. The family home is seriously damaged, and the place where Francine works is destroyed. Tracy's family offers Daniel's family their house to stay at for the time being.

Chapter 11 - The Death of a Dream

A few days later, after the dust settles, the family discovers that Everett's will had been lost in the hurricane. Due to local inheritance laws taking effect, the system decides that the majority of Everett's estate will go to Daniel's dad, Everett's first born son. There is a legal protest but it fails.

The implications of this set in - Francine cannot afford her home in Kerbin City any more, although it doesn't really exist any more. Daniel's sister is recovering and the hospital bills will be fairly substantial. The biggest casualty story-wise, however, is Daniel's tuition to Kerlington Institute of Technology. He is left unable to afford his planned education, and he is past pretty much all application deadlines so he must wait another semester or year to go anywhere else... And everywhere is a step down from KIT prestige-wise.

Upon arriving back at the KSC, he finds that the damage was substantial and it will set the space program back months, if not a year or two.

Daniel's present and future have collapsed, and he begins snapping at people frequently, even Lloyd and Tracy. He immediately apologizes, but despite his friend's best efforts he remains an emotional wreck for a while.

One of the Solid Rocket Boosters from Odyssey 19 is remarkably intact. It should be noted that Odyssey, especially its SRBs, are far smaller than those on the SLS, as this universe is still Kerbal-sized. The SRB is deemed not safe enough to be used on an operational mission, but nobody knows how to dispose of it. Daniel is tasked with, along with a transport team, transporting this booster to a warehouse where it would await its fate.

While on the way, an idea pops into his head - building a makeshift space capsule, stealing the booster, and launching himself into suborbital space. He briefly dwells on the idea, as it gives him some hope for his dream, but quickly dismisses it as it would be dangerous and impractical, not to mention illegal. Besides, he thought, he wasn't that desperate.

Chapter 12 - Hope

The family makes a visit to Everett's storage facility, which is a hangar at an airport, to try to plead their case to Daniel's father, who is generally a selfish uncaring jerk, and who divorced Francine for a richer woman. He and his wife are going through the storage unit, mainly with an eye for value. Francine tries to talk to him but it doesn't work. He is being unreasonable and selfish as per usual, obviously enjoying watching Francine beg and suffer. When that fails, Francine at least asks him if she can recover a few precious family heirlooms. Daniel's dad retrieves them but burns them in front of her, laughing cruelly. The family leaves, exhausted and disappointed. As he is leaving, Daniel notices Everett's plane, the Summer Dance, in his dad's "throw-away" pile. He doesn't say anything for fear that it would be destroyed like Francine's heirlooms were.

Later, in the middle of the night, he sneaks into the airport and steals the Summer Dance using a key that Everett had given to him many years prior. He flies it hopefully away, finally joyful he managed to save one of the defining elements of his past long enough to bring it into his present.

However, during the flight, Daniel spots the Mun. He recalls his first ever flight with Everett in which his dream of space was born. He recalls the whole mindset of "You're so smart and talented - You can do anything if you put your mind to it!" that he was told his whole life and the backup astronaut's assessment that he would make a good astronaut, and Jebediah's in-jest invitation to join him on his journey to space on Odyssey 18. Lies and unrealistic expectations. Toxic Optimism. And it would have made some sense, too, if it weren't for the stupid defect in his eyes that made the greens slightly grey, his curse at birth that made his dream impossible. Why couldn't he choose his dream? Why did whatever diety or process of randomness that existed or didn't exist curse him with an ambitious and impossible dream? Why couldn't his dream have been to be a janitor? Something easy, something he could accomplish and be happy for the rest of his life! Why? WHY???

In a fit of rage, Daniel sends the Summer Dance into a nosedive, screaming all the way down. He then realizes that, even if just for the sake of the plane, this is not what Everett would have wanted. He pulls out of the dive, kind of close but not hollywood-stereotypically-last-second close to the ground, crying, and flies around a little bit before flying to and landing at Lloyd's dad's house.

He doesn't know Lloyd's dad that well, but well enough that he can show up unannounced. However, he is gone, and will be for a while. He works in construction (possibly as an architect) and will be working on a project for a while. Daniel parks the Summer Dance in Lloyd's dad's garage, utterly defeated and drained. He felt like he needed some hope, even just any at all, in order to continue on. Then, he remembers that he has hope - the Odyssey 19 Solid Rocket Booster.

He quickly sets to work calculating what he would need to to build a minimalist one man space capsule using only readily available materials. He quickly realized it will be incredibly unsafe, and if he applied the usual safety requirements to it, it would never fly. He still cares about his life, despite his earlier outburst, so he sets his sights on a 1 in 5 loss-of-crew number for the capsule only. The booster was something he couldn't control, who knows how damaged it was. He felt like these odds were an okayish balance between his hopes for the rest of his life and his hopes for his dream.

He stays up nearly all night working on this, falling asleep in the morning for only 1-2 hours. When he wakes up he feels a little bit better, and almost laughs at himself for his outburst and optimism towards his deathtrap rocket.

However, he is late to his internship. He flies the Summer Dance to the space center, but due to his haste, lands hard, severely damaging the plane's landing gear, rendering it unable to fly until after repairs could take place, repairs which he didn't have the money for.

Chapter 13 - Descent Into Madness

Daniel's internship, while still the best part of his day, goes downhill tremendously. Calvin has been laid off as his job is not necessary to the current KASA operations, which is picking up the pieces from the hurricane. This leaves Daniel without Calvin as a mentor figure. He didn't even get to say goodbye in person. The hurricane has sent a cascade of delays through the space program. The second test flight of the Falcon-Heavy analogue fails, and financial troubles lead to the SpaceX analogue undergoing a change of leadership and scope, meaning they will never really go beyond their Falcon 9 analogue for the foreseeable future.

Daniel's mom is working as a waitress for low pay. Daniel's sister is still not in the best condition to work. Daniel has been looking for work, and the only jobs he can find are those that would require him to give up his internship, and he would rather stick around as long as he can as it is the highlight of his life and the only place he has regular contact with friends.

Before the launch of Odyssey 18, Jebediah had agreed (although maybe he had forgotten) to hand out with Daniel for a bit when he came back to Kerbin. However, his mission in space had been extended due to the lack of crew launches. A Russian-analogue Soyuz-analogue spacecraft is being prepared for launch earlier than usual with a relief crew. Both Lloyd and Tracy are selected to go to Russia-analogue to help with the launch, but not Daniel. Due to Daniel trying to keep the pain to himself, trying not to burden his friends (which is, most of the time, a toxic mindset), he hasn't confided the full extent of his struggles in them. While video chat is a thing, Daniel's damaged mindset leads to him not wanting to inconvenience them with his nagging, although they do talk.

The events of this chapter are spread out over the course of a few weeks. Each one pushes Daniel closer to his breaking point. He goes back to his tiny capsule and works on it first out of whimsical imagination, then semi-ironically, then, as a "what-if." He slowly transitions to truly believing that this is his only way out - that he'll either die in a blaze of burning rocket fuel and be relieved of all of his struggles, or launch and witness the sunrise from suborbital space, accomplishing his dream and reinvigorating his optimism and happiness. Slowly he blocks out all other thoughts.

The date for the booster transport has been set, it will be taken to a test range to be fired in order to simulate what would happen on an actual Odyssey mission.

The next Odyssey mission, Odyssey 20, will be an unmanned space station module, although they are considering launching Odyssey 21 first to alleviate the crew situation on the ISS.

Chapter 14 - The Penultimate Day

The day before the day of the booster heist. Daniel's capsule lies half completed in Lloyd's Dad's garage. Daniel knows that it is practically impossible to finish it in time. Financial conditions are now as such that he needs to withdraw from his internship soon, but currently, the family makes enough to care for 2 of the 3 of them...

Throughout the story, there have been references towards Daniel's KSC van being oddly indestructible and nearly airtight. In an act of desperation, after not nearly enough calculation, Daniel hastily converts the van into a space capsule, using sealant on the inside, finishing the capsule's SCUBA-based oxygen system and transferring it over, attaches the parachute he made to the roof, and wires the basic control circuit to the dashboard. He also removes the seat belt and installs a harness. At the end of the day, the fins, ballast section (the booster is waaaay too powerful), igniter, launch rail, and "capsule" are ready, but Daniel has second thoughts, briefly having a moment of clarity - This contraption was madness and had an unreasonably low chance for success. Sure, his dream might be dead, but there is so much more to life than whimsical childhood fantasies, even if it REALLY sucks to lose them. His family had been through as much as he had been through, adding his death would not be fair in the slightest. However, this thought is quickly dismissed due to Daniel's separation, anger, insanity, and tunnel vision, etc.

Daniel does, however, write goodbye letters, leaving them in the garage.

Chapter 15 - For The Colors of The Sunrise

Daniel goes to the KSC for his internship, and although his reputation as "The Official KASA Driver" has worn off, he still got them to let him co-drive the booster. Arriving nervous, determined, and disheveled, multiple people ask him if he is okay, but he responds with the short lie of "yes." After driving in the correct direction for a while, the police escort returns home as the booster is now out of their jurisdiction and relatively without threat. He spikes the other driver's drink with sleeping medicine (not like anything harmful or malicious, just like an appropriate amount of Z-quil or something), smashes the vehicle's tracking device, and turns back towards Lloyd's dad's house.

Once there, he used Lloyd's Dad's small shop crane to hoist the ballast tank and the van onto the front end of the booster, then bolts the rudimentary fin control system to the bottom of the booster. After some tests, he is satisfied, and then sets about his modification of the trailer into a launch rail, welding brackets onto the booster and the rail onto the trailer. There are many delays throughout this process, and he is running substantially behind schedule for the sunrise.

Meanwhile, all the way over in the Russia-analogue, Lloyd and Tracy are at an alcohol-filled party celebrating the successful launch of crew to space on that Soyuz-analogue. Lloyd gets into a skill/ego contest with one of the coders there and drunkenly yet expertly hacks his way into deducing Daniel's location, although is initially worried that he had lost the competition as he didn't think Daniel would be at his dad's garage. Daniel was supposed to be at the booster test range by now! However, he was a bit suspicious, but then, after conversing with Tracy, they put the pieces together. A call to the test site reveals that the booster had not arrived yet and was hours late, and they had lost track of the truck. They were sending search vehicles out at this moment. Lloyd accesses the house's security cameras long enough to confirm what Daniel is doing, albeit through a very poor quality and questionable video feed. The two are shocked that he was willing to go to these lengths, and try to call him, but he does not answer. The two call the KSC explaining the situation but are laughed away at the utter ridiculousness, thinking its just drunken ramblings.

However, one of the Russian-analogue guys at the party, an older man (potentially the same one that Lloyd was having an ego competition with), overhears them talking and asks if the Daniel they were talking about was the same Daniel as Everett's grandson Daniel. When they answer yes, the guy asks if he is in danger. They say yes. He says that many, many years ago, Everett and him were comrades, and that Everett had saved his life. He had never been able to repay him. He offers whatever he can do to help Daniel.

The three take a fast training jet and leave to help rescue Daniel.

In the time it takes them to fly, and then drive the rest of the way, Daniel had finished the launch rail and gently backed the trailer, with the booster on it, off of the edge of a carefully measured cliff, so it rested at a near-vertical angle. He sets up the ignition system and tests the controls, before boarding the van and using sealant to seal the final door shut. The launch window for being able to see a sunrise while in space begins.

However, at that moment, Lloyd and Tracy come racing down the road in their car, stopping and racing towards the rocket. Daniel finally picks up his phone, advising the duo to back up as it was going to get very loud very soon. Lloyd and Tracy do not oblige, and attempt to talk Daniel down. All of Daniel's struggles come pouring out, emphasizing how he didn't see a probable reality where his life gets back to the quality it was before it went downhill. This way at least gave him a chance at having his dream come true - It wouldn't otherwise, with the way the space industry was headed, and with his color blindness.

Lloyd and Tracy emphasized how they cared deeply for him, even though they hadn't been doing the best job of showing it recently. They talked about how his family cared for him, about how much Everett believed in his potential, about hope and joy and love and loss and luck and unfairness... All the while, Daniel has his finger on the launch button.

Then they ask Daniel if he cares about them. He says yes. Tracy, followed by Lloyd, sits down directly underneath the booster's nozzle. Daniel breaks down crying, and, after breaking the door seal, exists the craft and goes down to meet the two. They all hug it out.

Chapter 16 - What Next?

The trio (mostly just the Lloyd and Tracy as Daniel is an emotional wreck at this point) quickly convert the trailer and booster back to what they were like before, or at least as close as they can get it. The trailer was kind of bent but mostly okay after being backed down a near-cliff for use as a launch pad. They managed to slip it the rest of the way back down, and hooked the truck back up, before driving it further into the middle of nowhere. Lloyd fixes the tracking device and Tracy tells Daniel to tell control that their electronics (including GPS) cut out and they got lost. Tracy and Lloyd leave to relieve suspicion, and Daniel arrives at the test site. The damage on the booster and trailer is largely overlooked as while they got "lost" they went on at least one gravel road, with the dust covering up the imperfections.

Later that day, or potentially a few days later, the trio go on a walk, admiring the sunset. The question "What Next?" comes up. Tracy and Lloyd have semi-concrete plans, but Daniel reveals that he will submit his papers of internship resignation the next day. He'll move the family to someplace short of labor, and go work a job, potentially general manufacturing for a while, to provide for his family, and maybe pursue college a few years down the line.

While on the walk, the Russian-analogue man who flew the two back to the KSC was driving around sightseeing and says hi. He asks if the Summer Dance was still in the family. Daniel answers to the affirmative, and he agrees to show him later. He joins the conversation and reveals that he has connections with a semi-obscure Russian-analogue aerospace school, and that he might be able to pull some strings scholarship-wise if Daniel would be willing to learn the language.

As the sun sets, Daniel's mom calls him with the news that she has found a better job, and that his sister is making good progress towards her recovery.

The four watch a livestream of the SRB test firing. It violently explodes upon ignition.

Chapter 17 - Dream On

Daniel, now getting into old age, prepares the Summer Dance, which is still operational, for a flight. This flight is his grandson's first flight. The scene and the conversations greatly parallel those of the first chapter. The two take off from the large, sandy beaches, with the grandson enjoying it tremendously much in the same way that Daniel did when he first flew with Everett. The grandson points towards the disc in the sky and tells Daniel that he wants to go there someday. Daniel smiles, telling his grandson with unwavering certainty and confidence that he will be able to go there someday very soon.

The camera view changes to reveal that the Summer Dance has been flying on Laythe, and that the grandson had been pointing towards Jool.

 

 

^^^The most probable ending.

Alternate Ending 1 - The Abrupt Reversal

The second half of chapter 16 is skipped, leaving all of the final sense hope and optimism until the final few sentences.

Alternate Ending 2 - The "Nothing Changed" Ending

No chapter 17, or an altered chapter 17 taking place on Kerbin. The hopeful ending is a bit cliche and which route I took would have likely depended on how hopeful I felt about my own dreams of space at the time I wrote the ending.

Alternate Ending 3 - The Ending Without Hope

Like AE 2, but without or with a heavily altered part 2 of chapter 16. This would be really cruel, though, I don't know if I could bring myself to end this on a genuinely depressing note. Could be worse, though, we could have:

Alternate Ending 4 - The Depressing Ending

Where Tracy and Lloyd don't get there in time and Daniel launches and blows himself up trying to launch. I would have surely never ended it this way though. The next few are also hypothetical, I came up with them right now, actually, and I would 99.999999% certain never have done this.

Alternate Ending 4A - The Very Depressing Ending

Tracy and Lloyd are taken out in the explosion

Alternate Ending 4B - The Extremely depressing ending

Despite Tracy and Lloyd being under the booster, Daniel fires it anyway.

Alternate Ending 4C - Steve Are You Okay?

Alternate Ending 4B, but Daniel's flight is successful. He gains all he thought he would from his spaceflight but cannot enjoy any of life (in prison) afterwards because he cannot live with the realization that he killed his two best friends for his dream.

Alternate Ending 4D - STEVE STOP

Alternate Ending 4C, but the guilt hits Daniel so hard so early that he doesn't open his parachute on the way down.

So, with the more depressing endings covered, there are two interesting other alternate endings that *could* work, but would invalidate the message I'm trying to send. To be fair, though, the happy ending also invalidate the message.

Alternate Ending 5

Daniel successfully launches himself into space in his van, returning with any range of emotions that could lead to many, many different endings, from a new sense of optimisim to "Is that really all there is?" and everything in between. He would get into severe legal trouble for doing all of this, though, and the story could still easily end sad.

Alternate Ending 6

There is some sort of time sensitive event that required the attention of the Trio, which was built up earlier in the story. Right after convincing Daniel not to launch and hugging it out, the three get notice of this event, which is happening very far away, and all pile into the van and launch towards this in a dangerous and thrilling race against time, landing in the beat up, charred van just in time to save the day. This doesn't fit in with the tone of the story at all, and is pretty improbable. I have no idea what this event would have been, I only thought this ending up because it was an excuse to fly a booster-van across the planet to save the day.

 

Yeah. Unfortunately I never got to finish this. If anyone wants to do something with the idea by any chance, please contact me, but be warned that I tend to be quite protective of my ideas and visions.