Just Jim Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) “The Princess of Duna”A Flash Kerman adventure Chapter 1 - A Flash in the Night “No, No NO!” The screams were so loud they could be heard outside in the thin Duna atmosphere as the sun dropped lower, and began to cast weird crimson shadows across the sand. “I will NOT marry that… that… Platy-Pig!” Valentina Duneman howled as she slammed the main hatch of their colony outpost shut and began descending down to her rover, the Buttercup, so she could get away from here as fast as she could. “Now dear…” her mother's syrupy voice followed. “You have obligations… responsibilities… you know...” "Shut up, Mother..." Val whispered. "Now be reasonable," her mother droned on, not hearing a word Val said. "If you marry the Boss, think of the status!!! Why, you'll be a princess... my daughter, the Princess of Duna..." "Mother... stop.. please, just stop," Val cried, and shuddered. "How... how could you???" "But dear..." CLICK!!! Val switched frequencies, climbed down to the surface, and walked over to the re-fueling controls. Val's family owned the northern most refueling outpost in the Canyon... at the Boss's discretion. So long as they paid his percentage, and other occasional "requests", they survived. But lately, as Val grew older and more beautiful, the Boss's attention had turned from profit to... other matters... First it was little things... surprise leniency for late shipments... occasional extra parts and supplies when none were requested. But then when Val became old enough to consider marriage... that's when everything changed. The favors became gifts, each more lavish than the last... and each returned. All but one. The Buttercup. Val looked over and watched as the refueling line retracted up and away from her prized rover. Then she ran over to the Buttercup rear hatch, but paused as her father’s voice came across her helmet’s speakers, trying to be as calm as he could under the circumstances. “It’s alright dear,” he sighed. “Try and understand…” Understand… understand??? That her own parents were trying to force her into marrying the biggest monster on the planet…. Boss Kerb himself??? Understand??? “I’ll be at the twins…” was all she replied, then switched the receiver back off, and pushed the little rover as fast as it could go across the darkening red dunes… Out on the dunes Val began to calm back down. She loved it out here, where no-one could try and tell her what to do... or who to fall in love with!!! "Calm... calm..." Val whispered to herself. "He can't get us out here..." About an hour later she arrived at the fueling-camp of her two best friends, the twins Bill and Bob Duneman. The camp itself was nestled under a huge inflatable heat shield, which was obvious for kilometers around, and earned it the distinctive name of “The Mushroom” The twins were Val's best friends, and maintained the northern fuel stop, under Val's parents. No one really came up this far, only prospectors, and the occasional scientist, which gave Bob and Bill pretty much free reign over this whole area... a fact that had paid off more than once to their favor. But as Val drew close, she saw no signs of the twins anywhere. "No-one home?" Val shrugged, then climbed inside, took of her helmet, and shouted into camp's on-board the intercom. "Hey... Guys,... where are you???" Roughly 10 kilometers to the west, Bob and Bill Duneman were almost too ecstatic to hear Val's voice coming over their helmet speakers. They had been out searching for Blueberries... a semi-precious stones that colonists to the south valued as jewelry... but instead they had stumbled across a recently un-buried meteorite!!! This was a huge find... there was almost no iron to speak of on the surface of Duna. But meteorites like this were often iron/nickle, or possibly some other combination of metals. And depending on the ore content, the boss might just pay handsomely for one this size!!! "Val... VAL... Wait until you see what we found" Bill laughed, then turned serious. "Val??? Woah.. hold on.. calm down... What's wrong?" ""Slow down..." Bob continued. "Is it the Boss again?" And for the next 40 minutes Bob and Bill continued their scans while they let Val rant and cry and vent... "OK... look..." Bill tried to be as consoling as possible when Val finally calmed down. "We're going to be here all night anyway, you've got the outpost to yourself. Just stay there and relax." "Feed the Mystery Goo, please," Bob finished. "And stay out of the snacks!" "Thanks guys... you're the best friends ever. I promise to feed the Goo..." Val sighed and switched off her microphone... then giggled wickedly. "But no promises about the snacks..." About an hour later, after polishing off every cheese snack she could find, Valentina came back outside to visit and feed the twins pet Mystery Goo. “Hi, little Gretelly-Goo…” Val grinned at the goo. Bob hated the name, but tolerated it only because it seemed to get a slight response…. Strange at it was. Then again, everything was strange about Mystery Goo’s… and this one was no exception. “How’s mama’s little Goo-Goo,” Val giggled… then paused and listened. Bleep… bleep… bleep, bleep, bleep bleep bleep… CHIRP!!! Val knew that sound, and ran with excitement to the seismometer and it began to bleep and chirp even more wildly, indicating either one of two things… a very rare Duna-quake… Or a nearby meteorite strike!!! “Come on… come on… talk to me….” Val whispered, then squealed at the results and ran over to the central control unit for confirmation. “YES!!!” she cried as she scrolled through the data, and found the three lines she needed. [LOG 13:37:46.917] Seismic Event Detected on Duna - Impact of 625354.094157549J. Total Mass 7.234574. Initial Velocity 10.86369. Distance 14422.9120508503. [LOG 13:37:46.917] Seismic Event Detected on Duna - Impact of 625354.094157549J. Total Mass 7.234574. Initial Velocity 10.86369. Distance 14571.7136548678. [LOG 13:37:46.917] Seismic Event Detected on Duna - Impact of 625354.094157549J. Total Mass 7.234574. Initial Velocity 10.86369. Distance 10254.3406469206. The twins had three seismometers, one at camp, the other two located 20 kilometers north and west… but she didn’t need a computer to do a simple triangulation, and realize the impact was only was only 10 kilometers or so away!!! The mass and velocity seemed slightly skewed… but she didn’t care. Like the ones the twins had found, a meteorite was worth thousands more than any Duna-berry… And a newly impacted one??? Perhaps even enough to buy herself out of this disgusting marriage!!! And if she hurried, and was very, very lucky… she might get there first, and stake the rights to the claim!!! Oh, this was too good… she laughed… “Mine!!!” Then she ran back to the Buttercup, locked in the estimated coordinated, set the fuels to full power, and barreled off into the night as fast as the little rover could handle. It was only a few minutes later that Val reached her quarry, crested a small hill, and her excitement turned to astonishment as she realized it wasn't a meteorite all... It was a crash site!!!! For a couple minutes Val just sat and stared, unsure what to do. It looked like... well... like a rocket. But rockets, and anything to do with returning to space, were strictly banned by the Boss. Could it be a new version of one of the Boss's hideous Dune-Bot's??? "No... not a Dune-Bot" Val shook her head... "There would be others nearby..." Then Val froze... Was that a... a light??? Yes... there it was again... there was a light flashing behind the wreckage... Slowly... cautiously, Val put on her helmet and climbed out to investigate. What a mess... Val thought to herself as she crept closer... then she froze again as... something... walked around from the front of the wreck and stood facing her! Something that... glowed??? "Ahhh, poor Neeshka," a voice sighed over val's headset. Then the figure noticed Val standing and staring... adjusted it's helmet, and walked up to her with a smile. "Ahhh, I knew you'd be here!" the figured stood and saluted her. "Jebediah Kerman, ma'am, at your service... my friends call me "Flash"" Val just stood in stunned disbelief... then laughed weakly... "Yeah, I can see why they call you that," She whispered softly, then saluted back. "Valentina Duneman... what.... who are you? What happened???" "Flash Kerman, Ma'am... and... well... you know how everything seems to be going good,... until it isn't?" "Yeah...." Val turned and looked at the wreck... "Just how hard did you hit your head?? "Everything was perfect. Neeshka... my ship... was preforming brilliantly. All systems were green during the decent... until we got about 2 kilometers from the surface... And... well... Honestly I don't know what happened." Flash paused and shook his head sadly. "There was a terrible groaning, and then an explosion, and I lost one of the landing pods... then the auto eject system kicked in... and well, things got all spinny." "Last I saw it was headed straight down..." Flash sighed sadly. "I honestly can't believe this much survived intact..." "Goodbye girl," Flash saluted his wrecked ship. "I will never forget our time together." But Val was having a hard time processing all this... "Your name is Kerman... Flash Kerman??? Kerman?" She asked again. "And how hard did you hit your head???" "Pretty good," Flash laughed. "May have scrambled my brains a bit. But I'm pretty sure I got my name right." "Kerman??? As in... from... from..." Val couldn't finish "From Kerbin." Flash smiled. "Where else??? No-one believed us. But we knew you'd be here... Dr. von Kerman was right!" But..." Val started, then stopped... How??? This was impossible... everyone knew The homeworld was dead... Kerbins were extinct!!!! Yet here he was... this... crazy Kerb... calling himself Flash. But what about the weird neon suit... and what was quite obviously a wrecked spaceship??? To make it all the worse... Val couldn't help but notice he was also... well... he was kind of cute... even if he was stark raving crazy... "Listen... It's not that I don't believe you..." Val began, then stopped suddenly... FOOM Val's blood suddenly went cold as she felt the sand vibrate under her feet... FOOM FOOM "OK, Crazy Kerb, I don't know who you really are," Val's tried to keep her voice from trembling. "But we need to go... now!" Jeb felt it as well... and didn't like how it felt like something coming... closer... "What is that?" he frowned at Val. "Dune-Bot..." Val whispered back... "Run.... RUN!!!" And without waiting she turned and ran to the Buttercup, Flash following quickly behind FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM The sand was beginning to dance around them as they reached the Buttercup hatch and crawled inside. Val ripped off her helmet and outer suit, strapped herself in and began to back away as Flash joined her and began to strap in. Even inside they could feel the Dune-Bot getting closer... and closer... "So now what?" Flash asked. "Can we get away from... whatever that is?" "Possibly..." Val smiled slyly. "Are you up to trying something incredibly stupid... Flash?" "Always, Ms Valentina!" Flash laughed back. "Always." The Buttercup rover was one of the most sophisticated rovers on the planet, equip with the largest scanner available, as well as 4 powerful fuel cells to power it. It had been a gift from the Boss to Val... and while she had shunned every other one of his advances, she had taken one look at the Buttercup and fallen in love with it, and kept it as her own sanctuary, and means of escape from reality and into the peace of the dunes. But a short time after he father had made one small alteration to it... in case of emergencies. It was. after all, equip with fuel cells... ...which require fuel... and the buttercup could hold nearly 100 units... 100 units that could be put to other use as well. Val took a deep breath, reached over and hit three switches in quick succession... "Hold on..." she reached over and slapped a 4th switch. "Engaging emergency Vernor thrusters,.... now!!!" And the Buttercup lurched forward as two small, but powerful thrusters roared to full power, sending the little rover flying across the dune into the night... and hopefully far, far away from the approaching horror... And so begins the adventures of Flash Kerman Edited October 17, 2019 by Just Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisias Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Great! I missed your writings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavscout74 Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Loved it, glad to see you writing some more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerballingSmasher Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 New series! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conric005 Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 could this brand new series have any correlation to The Saga of Emiko Station? hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Kerman Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 (edited) Kerman’s aliiiivvee! So is @JustJim! Loving the new story! Edited June 1, 2019 by Angel-125 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaDizzy Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 And two weeks from now I was going to sit down and watch Dune... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrcarrot Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 This Boss guy is giving me some 2nd-Dimension Doofenschmirtz vibes... I predict he's missing an eye.(Based on his desire for complete control and his robot army) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 @Just Jim returns! Looking forward to reading this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 (edited) Thanks everyone... 18 hours ago, Conric005 said: could this brand new series have any correlation to The Saga of Emiko Station? hmmm... No... this is a completely different universe. Truth be told, my original idea was a sort of Disney style adventure called Princess of Dres... But I couldn't really come up with enough to flesh it out. Then a bunch of you started making jokes on the Emiko thread about me writing "Flash Kerman"... and when I rolled it around my head a little, I came up with this... which is loosely based on Flash... emphasis on loosely... lol. But it all kind of fell into place. In the movie version iIm fairly sure "Flash" was also the main character's nickname, not his real name... I'm not even sure if they say his real name... so that kind of fits... And Dale... Val... yeah... close enough... Most everything I wrote up weeks ago, so it went much faster than an Emiko chapter. But for obvious reasons, i had to wait for the release to do the actual screenshots, which I threw together late Thursday evening. So again, this is loosely based on Flash... loosely... I will be taking a lot of artistic licence... but I'll also try to keep it "Flash... Ahhhaa... Savior of the Universe..." Oh, one more thing, this story I'm keeping stock... other than really liking @Mrcarrot 's idea of an eye patch, I don't think I'll need mods for this one. And it keeps things much simpler for me... 13 hours ago, DeltaDizzy said: And two weeks from now I was going to sit down and watch Dune... I would SO add sandworms if I could make them work... lol I highly recommend the 2000 mini-series over the movie if you can get a copy... and the sequel "Children of Dune" highly, highly recommend!!!! A really, really good teaser-spoiler from each... Spoiler From Dune Mini-series: From Children of Dune Mini-series Edited June 1, 2019 by Just Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaDizzy Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 2 hours ago, Just Jim said: I would SO add sandworms if I could make them work... lol I highly recommend the 2000 mini-series over the movie if you can get a copy... and the sequel "Children of Dune" highly, highly recommend!!!! A really, really good teaser-spoiler from each... Reveal hidden contents From Dune Mini-series: From Children of Dune Mini-series The only issue is that its happening as part of a "Friday Night Movie" type thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulgur Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Flash, ah-ah, saviour of the universe! Flash, ah-ah, he saved every one of us! Flash, ah-ah, he's a miracle! Flash, ah-ah, kerb of the impossible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelocityPolaris Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 YESSSSSS There's just something so precious about cheesy sci-fi action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted June 3, 2019 Author Share Posted June 3, 2019 (edited) I just realized something... if I change Ming and add a K... it becomes King... That doesn't work. Should I just leave it Ming? Or change it around, or make up something new???? Same with the rest of the cast, but they're easy.. more than anything I'm just really stuck on how to name out chief baddie... I'm up for suggestions Edited June 3, 2019 by Just Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IncongruousGoat Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 23 minutes ago, Just Jim said: I just realized something... if I change Ming and add a K... it becomes King... That doesn't work. Should I just leave it Ming? Or change it around, or make up something new???? Same with the rest of the cast, but they're easy.. more than anything I'm just really stuck on how to name out chief baddie... I'm up for suggestions How about Mink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerballingSmasher Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 3 hours ago, Just Jim said: I just realized something... if I change Ming and add a K... it becomes King... That doesn't work. Should I just leave it Ming? Or change it around, or make up something new???? Same with the rest of the cast, but they're easy.. more than anything I'm just really stuck on how to name out chief baddie... I'm up for suggestions 3 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said: How about Mink? Or... Kong... DONKEY KONG/DK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 4 hours ago, Just Jim said: more than anything I'm just really stuck on how to name out chief baddie... Dave. On a serious note, Maximilian, Bancroft, Lester, Oberon, Zandor, or maybe you could use the existing Mortimer Kerman Duneman character, depending on what your needs are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulgur Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 (edited) I believe I read about something called the mekon... can't remember what it was though. EDIT: Looked it up. I stake my claim upon any and all KSP Fanworks based (however loosely) upon that story. Edited June 3, 2019 by fulgur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon5 Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Wow! I really like this start of a story (I think that's what it is) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conric005 Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 15 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said: Dave. On a serious note, Maximilian, Bancroft, Lester, Oberon, Zandor, or maybe you could use the existing Mortimer Kerman Duneman character, depending on what your needs are. I agree with Steve, those names could work. I think Oberon would work as the villain's name (but that's because I had to read that Shakespeare play for English. :P) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon5 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 when will the second chapter come out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulgur Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 DON'T POKE THE BEARS WRITERS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon5 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 23 minutes ago, fulgur said: DON'T POKE THE BEARS WRITERS okey dokey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, Dragon5 said: when will the second chapter come out? 10 hours ago, fulgur said: DON'T POKE THE BEARS WRITERS 10 hours ago, Dragon5 said: okey dokey It's cool, you're new here. But yeah, that's one of the biggest unwritten rules in the fan fiction area, do not poke the writers. I don't really mind now and then, it just tells me people are interested. But it could get really annoying if everyone did it all the time. To answer your question in general, I can only work on this on weekends, so I'm aiming for a new chapter every 2-3 weeks or so, if possible. But no promises. My job comes first... Edited June 5, 2019 by Just Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Kerman Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 It’s like Flash Gordon meets John Carter of Mars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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