Audacity: Memoirs of a Kerbonaut

[jimmymcgoochie]

HA! Made you look! 

Next chapter is coming SOON^TM but I actually have to, you know, write it and stuff...

[Mikenike]

30 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

HA! Made you look! 

Next chapter is coming SOON^TM but I actually have to, you know, write it and stuff...

You done said that it was gonna be soon earlier this last month.

[KerballingSmasher]

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

HA! Made you look! 

*insert bruh here*

[Dirkidirk]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:16 PM, KerballingSmasher said:

*insert bruh here*

 

Warning: contains a large amount of audio.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Dirkidirk

[jimmymcgoochie]

At last, the next chapter is ready! Sorry it took so long, but this is quite a big part of the story so it's important to get this bit right.

Chapter 13 – Love, and loss

The KSC press room was buzzing with speculation, seasoned veterans of the Space Program and newcomers alike unsure of what they had been called in for. Their confusion was heightened when Gene Kerman took to the stage instead of Walt, an event that only occurred when particularly significant announcements were going to be made. The room fell silent, so quiet that they could hear the faint hum from the sound system, until Gene spoke.

“As most of you are already aware, the Dynawing-class shuttle Dauntless was launched in the early hours of this morning on DSM-82 to perform routine maintenance and upgrades on the Kerbble Space Telescope.”

He paused for a moment, and some of the most experienced correspondents felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs as they began to work out the reason for the press conference.

“Two hours ago, Dauntless was struck by a micrometeor shower whilst docked to the KST, resulting in catastrophic damage to both the shuttle and the telescope and depressurisation of the main crew cabin. Mission Specialists Mitrey and Billy-Bobny and Mission Pilot Gerzer were all struck directly or indirectly by debris, and killed.”

A collective gasp echoed through the room as cameras whirred and flashbulbs blinked like bursts of machine gun fire. The loss of three Kerbonauts in a single event was the worst accident the Space Program had faced since the Woomerang disaster over a decade earlier.

Gene waited for a semblance of calm to return before continuing.

“Mission Commander Valentina Kerman was on EVA when the micrometeoroids arrived and was struck by secondary debris from the shuttle, resulting in serious injuries and loss of communications.”

The room was utterly silent- the potential loss of one of the 'Big Four' was itself headline news, but the loss of an entire shuttle crew headed by possibly the most experienced veteran in the Program was unheard of.

“A private spaceplane, callsign Firebird, belonging to K.V. Roe and Company was already on site at the Space Centre and so was tasked with a rescue mission under Section 7 of the Space Program Charter. Its crew consisted of K.V. Roe test pilot Thombert Kerman and Cadet Second Class Martina Kerman, who attempted a powered EVA rescue of Commander Valentina.”

There was a ripple of surprise at that; Cadets were normally forbidden from interacting with external agents during their training to prevent accusations of insider trading by suppliers or allegations of cheating by the Cadets themselves. In addition, it was only after graduating to First Class that a Cadet was given their first space flight, and some considerable time after that before they got their first EVA; for a Second Class Cadet to even consider performing an untethered EVA was unthinkable.

“This mission was able to successfully recover Commander Valentina and began its descent. However, shortly afterwards Firebird reported being struck by debris before re-entering and suffered critical structural damage. McCauliffe tracking station detected multiple tracks diverging from the Firebird before it broke up on re-entry.”

A second collective gasp and more camera flashes greeted the latest revelation.

“The pilot of the Firebird and former instructor at the Space Program, Thombert, was believed to be on board during re-entry and is presumed dead. Commander Valentina and Cadet Martina are believed to have boarded a prototype re-entry vessel being carried as a payload by the Firebird; Harvester station tracked their initial descent profile but observed an anomaly shortly before loss of signal due to terrain. No further contact has been made with this vessel and its current status is unknown. At this time, Commander Valentina and Cadet Martina are officially missing in action. Thank you.”

Gene walked off the podium and out of the room, ignoring the chorus of questions from the press. He headed straight to his office where he closed the door, sat down at his desk and stared blankly at the opposite wall.

Four dead, two more missing; three Kerbonauts doing their jobs on a routine mission, blasting off just a few hours ago from the launchpad at McAuliffe launch site with smiles and waves to the crowds and cameras, never to return; Commander Valentina, hero of many a child who dreamt of following in her illustrious footsteps, head of the outreach programme taking rocket science to schools, left floating in space after being crushed by the very spacecraft she had commanded; a private test pilot bravely responding to the call for help from the Space Program and paying the ultimate price for his efforts; and Cadet Martina.

Gene could still remember reading the news article about the brilliant schoolgirl who had built an air-breathing rocket out of scrap parts in her garden shed, a tale reminiscent of the junkyard-built rocket which had ignited the world's imagination and kick-started the Space Program itself when it seemed space exploration was about to end. He also knew that K.V. Roe had spotted the device's potential and put considerable resources into developing it further, but only after ensuring that the young Martina had properly patented her invention and even fighting in court on her behalf when the patent was challenged. Now she had ridden into orbit thanks to a device she had played a pivotal role in making, conducted a daring EVA rescue mission- and quite possibly burned up in the upper atmosphere on the way back down again.

Six either dead or missing in the space of a single day; only the Woomerang disaster could top that grim figure, and just like on that day Gene felt like he had aged a decade since he woke up that morning.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it at the same time, and Gene looked round to see Wernher, as expected- for all his knowledge on matters scientific and mechanical, Wernher still hadn't mastered the art of knocking a door and then waiting to be invited in before entering it.

“Ground stations Harvester, Nye and Musgrave just sent over their data on that 'micrometeor shower', and they confirm what we saw over in the Tracking Station. That debris was orbiting retrograde, and matched the Dauntless' trajectory almost exactly.”

Gene was speechless. There could only be one explanation.

“Sabotage?”

Wernher nodded gravely.

“It certainly looks like it. Someone deliberately launched that debris straight into their path to try and disable or destroy either Dauntless or the KST, or both. Wherever it was launched from was out of line of sight of any of the ground stations and the rocket managed to climb to orbit, circularise and scatter its payload before it reached Dauntless.”

“Orbit?”

 “A sub-orbital shot would have dropped back into atmosphere long before Firebird got there. Since they reported seeing a shower of debris, from the same direction and spread over a larger area, before they got hit and were closely matching Dauntless' original trajectory, it's very likely to be the same event.”

“Do we have any idea who is responsible?”

“No, but when we find them I'd be happy to strap them to the front of an SRB and watch them break apart on re-entry.” Gene was surprised by the venom in Wernher's voice; while he had had some spectacular outbursts before when part tests hadn't gone to plan or rocket launches had failed, they paled in comparison to the cold fury Gene now saw in his eyes, and suspected was mirrored in his own.

There was another knock at the office door and Walt entered, looking unusually flustered.

“This just got flagged by one of the PR team. We've been in touch with K.V. Roe and they're checking out the tail number now, but-”

“Slow down, Walt. Flagged what?”

In response, Walt handed him a tablet and started a video file playing. The image was slightly grainy and shook a lot, partly due to being recorded on a phone on a boat, but there was no mistaking the black arrowhead-shaped object that came swooping into shot and splashed down in the sea before beginning to sink tail-first.

Gene shot to his feet, his tiredness of moments ago gone.

“When was this uploaded?”

“It's a live stream. We've rolled it back a bit to catch the splashdown but if we skip forwards again-” Walt took the tablet and prodded at the screen, making the images stutter forwards; Gene could just make out the boat being filmed from approach the downed shuttle and two divers jumping into the water before it stopped scrolling.

Just in time to see the two divers pulling a motionless body out of the water. A motionless body wearing a Space Program branded T-shirt and with a face he had seen just minutes earlier in the press conference.

“Where is this?” he asked.

“About two hundred klicks north-west of Yeager,” Walt replied.

Gene picked up his desk phone.

“Get the fastest plane we've got on-site fuelled and ready to leave, NOW!”

He turned to Walt.

“Contact Cadet Martina's next of kin and arrange a plane to transport them to Yeager as fast as possible. Hold the press off until we get positive confirmation: I don't care if they cry censorship, invoke the Charter or get signed and stamped orders from the Global Council demanding full disclosure, nothing- and I mean nothing- goes out without my say-so. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” Walt didn't dare to argue.

“Wernher, with me. We're going on a little trip to Yeager.”

By the time they crossed over to the Spaceplane Hangar, a Kestrel-class supersonic jet was on the tarmac being fuelled up and checked over. When they boarded they found Natalia sitting in a rear-facing seat with her seatbelt fastened, staring at a fixed point far beyond the rear bulkhead of the plane's passenger cabin. She didn't react at all when Gene sat in the rear-facing seat directly opposite her, when the plane's engines started up or even when it accelerated down the runway and into the sky.

Gene noticed that the fingers of her left hand were moving, about the only movement he could see aside from her breathing. It looked like she had a metal washer or spacer in her hand and was subconsciously rolling it between her fingers.

“Nate,” he said, but she didn't even blink. “Natalia,” he tried again with the same result. “This is not your fault."

"Freckles," she replied.

"Freckles?" Gene asked, confused.

"The little freckles on the back of her left leg that look like a face. The way the ends of her hair go all frizzy if it air dries after it gets wet. That silly big smile she has whenever she goes up in one of those e-gliders, flying with the wind in her hair and nothing else up there but her and the open sky. I have to remember those little details because if I forget them, I forget her, and...”

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before opening them again in alarm.

“Why are we turning?”

Gene hadn't even noticed the plane banking, but when he looked out the window he saw the Space Centre go by and soon the plane banked again to perform a second U-turn. He looked over at Wernher, who had somehow managed to fall asleep in the few minutes of flight time and was now blinking in confusion.

“We're landing already?”

The plane began rumbling as its landing gear deployed and created turbulence underneath the fuselage. Seconds later they touched down again and taxied quickly towards the Spaceplane Hangar where a yellow transport truck was just arriving. Three people climbed out and began walking- no, running- towards the plane before it had even stopped rolling.

The stairs had barely unfolded when the first newcomer began running up them two at a time, barrelled past the startled technician who had just opened the cabin door and a moment later had grabbed Gene by his waistcoat lapels and nearly lifted him out of his seat; 'nearly' only because he was still wearing his seatbelt.

“WHERE IS SHE!?”

Gene looked up at Jeanette’s terrified, furious eyes and tried to formulate a response. What was he supposed to say- “Sorry for shooting your teenage daughter into space in a prototype nuclear spaceplane to perform an outrageously dangerous untethered EVA rescue despite her having no experience and no training for that task.”?

“Jean, put the nice ‘man down,” Martin said from behind her, carrying a sleeping Sasha in a carry seat.

Gene felt her grip loosen, saw the anger drain from her face leaving only fear and more than a hint of anguish.

“Why, Gene? Why her?”

“There was no other way. Nobody else was available in the time we had. We thought of as many possibilities as we could, but there was no other way.”

“All this technology, all those shiny buildings, and in the end all you could do was throw an untrained teenager out an airlock and hope for the best?”

“Three of my Kerbonauts died in space today; do you think for one moment that I would just sit there and watch our most experienced veteran- and a close personal friend- burn up in the upper atmosphere or suffocate when her life support failed, and do nothing at all to prevent it?”

Both Kerbals looked at each other and saw their own emotional turmoil in the other’s eyes. The argument ended and both took their seats as the door was closed and locked and the jet’s engines started up.

For the second time in ten minutes the plane took off and began climbing as it flew east. Even at Mach 3 the flight would take hours and the sun would already have set by the time it landed.

Quite possibly in more ways than one, Gene thought to himself. People are already clamouring for investigations and inquests, and if it turns out we sent a child into space to her death, this might just be the last day of the entire crewed spaceflight programme.

***

Air.

Cold, damp, beautiful air.

Clean, life-giving air flowed into her lungs, oxygen percolating into her bloodstream, and her body responded- heart rate rising, brain stuttering back into action. Instinct took over again and she gasped for air, but this time she found it and suddenly she was convulsing on the floor, spluttering up lungfuls of brine and replacing them with lovely fresh air.

Everything was painfully bright and she flinched away from the light until a shadow moved in front of it. The image shifted slowly from black and white to monochrome to colour, a green shadow in front of a blue sky, then a face marked with concern looking down at her and speaking, the words eventually penetrating the fog in her brain.

“...me? Come on, you can do it, wake up now...” She tried to reply but her voice was an unintelligible croak. The face shifted slightly and suddenly cold, clear water trickled into her mouth, instantly becoming horribly salty and she spat it back out. More details came into view- the face resolved into that of an older teen with marks around it from where he had been wearing a diving mask; that same mask lay behind him attached to scuba gear. She was lying on the deck of a boat, the wooden planks stretching away towards the rail and the sea beyond.

Sea... That was important, why was it- Val. Val!

“Val!” her voice was barely a whisper. She tried to sit up but was immediately hit by a wave of intense dizziness and her head flopped back down to the deck with a thud.

“No, no, stay down, don't get up.”

“Val!” she said again, her voice slightly stronger.

“Yes, you fell right out of the sky,” he responded, not understanding.

“No, Val! In the, the,” what was it called? “shuttle. Stuck.” Why couldn't she put words together properly? She was an astronaut, not a baby! “Val stuck!”

At last the teen understood.

“Val? As in THE Val?” He asked in amazement. Tina nodded, even that minor motion taking far too much effort.

“Danton, quick! There's another one still inside!” he shouted, strapping the scuba tank back on and securing the mask before jumping over the side. Another face appeared, a younger girl who picked up the water bottle and trickled a little more of it into Tina's mouth, which she managed to swallow.

“Did you really go into space?” the girl asked, and again Tina nodded but felt slightly less dizzy than last time. “What was it like? Floating up there, all of Kerbin stretched out below you?”

“No time... to look.” The girl seemed confused by that answer.

“No time? But you were up there for hours! We saw the launch on TV. Are you just used to it because you've been up so many times, Val?”

Tina almost laughed, but the effort was too great.

“I'm not Val, I'm Tina. What's your name?”

“Carley. You're really not Valentina? Because you look like her.”

“You think so?” Tina felt inexplicably happy about that, probably due to all the endorphins still floating around her brain.

“Val is my hero- she broke through the highest glass ceiling of them all, right out into space, and proved that girls can be astronauts just as well as boys can.” Carley's eyes flashed with steely determination. “One day, I'm going to be an astronaut just like her.”

“Val is my hero too! She's why I joined the, um... Space Program.”

“Really!?” Carley could barely contain her excitement. “That is so cool! Have you ever met her at the Space Program? What's she like? Have you flown to space with her?”

Unwanted memories crashed into Tina's mind and she started crying.

“I don't... I don't think she survived.”

A loud splashing followed by shouting came from somewhere behind her, but she couldn't turn round to see its source. She saw Carley look, watched the colour drain from her face and then she started crying too. With immense effort, Tina turned her head just in time to see a third teenager- presumably Danton- stick his fingers down Val's throat, triggering a gag reflex and suddenly she coughed water all over the deck, but her eyes never opened.

The two boys very carefully began removing her spacesuit, struggling with the locking mechanisms on the gloves and waist. When they managed to remove the top half of the suit they both gasped in shock at the extent of her injuries, her under suit soaked with blood and stuck to her body in a strange shape that hinted at serious internal damage underneath.

Danton put his ear directly over Val's mouth, listened for a few seconds then said “She's breathing, at least. Not much and it sounds like there's a bag of popcorn going off in there, but breathing.”

“She's alive?” asked Carley, voice trembling with emotion.

“For now. Keep an eye on her, Carley,” he replied, pointing at Tina, “Patmon, get that first aid kit up here ASAP, Tomul, get us moving back to port as quickly and more importantly as smoothly as possible”

Tina saw the first diver- Tomul- move to the boat's controls, heard the engine throttle up and felt it begin to move, the sudden motion making her feel horribly seasick. Carley recognised the symptoms just in time and managed to move Tina's head out of the path of the putrid puddle as it slowly sloshed across the deck and over the side, then slowly moved her over to the side of the boat's cabin and got her propped up against it with a bucket. She went down into the cabin and came back with another bottle of cold water, condensation immediately forming on its sides in the warm sea air.

By taking tiny sips spaced well apart, Tina managed to drink half the bottle without being sick again as her balance slowly recovered. Carley sat beside her, correctly reading her mood and staying silent despite clearly wanting to ask a lot of questions. Finally she couldn't stay quiet any longer.

“What happened up there?”

“Dauntless was on mission when it got hit by some kind of micrometeor shower and damaged.”

Tina took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing.

“We got hit by something too, lost a wing and started re-entering. I got Val into that little shuttle but Thombert, the pilot, he... he tricked me! He made me leave him behind, even though he knew Firebird couldn't survive re-entry with that much damage.”

“Then why did he stay?” Carley asked. “Why would he choose to die when he had a chance to live?”

“Because he knew there was no way for him to get out. He had to stay to keep the Firebird stable enough for us to get out and to stop the engine from exploding and raining radioactive fallout across half a continent.”

Carley turned pale. “Your plane was nuclear!? What happened to the nuclear bit then?”

“The engine was designed to detach if there was a problem and come down on its own, then parachute to the ground safely.”

“That still sounds pretty dangerous though. Why would anyone want to put nuclear reactors in space?”

“Because until someone invents nuclear fusion or a warp drive, a nuclear thermal rocket is the most efficient way of getting around.”

“But what about ion drives, or those new 'PIT' thingies?”

“Ion thrusters and the like might have higher ISP but they're either incredibly weak, incredibly power-hungry, or both. If we tried to power Trailblazer with an array of PITs, they'd weigh nearly three hundred tons in total and would need about four square kilometres of solar panels to power them.”

“Are you OK?” Carley looked at her in alarm.

“Considering everything that just happened, I feel fantastic.”

“Danton, there's something really wrong with her!” Carley shouted. “She's talking gibberish and her face is all lopsided!”

The deck suddenly lurched ninety degrees and Tina fell onto her left side. As soon as her head hit the deck it felt like something red-hot had been stabbed into her left eye, blocking her vision in that eye and sending pulses of indescribable pain shooting straight into her skull. Her brain decided that enough was enough and she blacked out, but the last thing she saw with her right eye, was her left eye lying on the deck.

***

It seemed to happen in slow motion.

The plane was two hours into its flight, streaking across the afternoon sky at Mach 3.

Sasha was crawling up and down the aisle of the plane, happily oblivious to the oppressive atmosphere around her

At the same time, Natalia continued her incessant finger-twirling, the metal ring polished almost to a mirror shine after more than two hours.

For some reason, most likely fatigue in the muscles controlling her fingers, Natalia dropped the ring; it fell to the floor and rolled under the seats before re-emerging into the aisle at the back of the cabin. Right in front of Sasha, who could scarcely believe her luck at having a SHINY NEW THING appear without warning and roll right into reach of her little fingers.

So she did what any baby would do when confronted with a SHINY NEW THING: she picked it up and put it straight in her mouth.

Natalia leapt to her feet with a cry of horror and rushed towards Sasha, but collided with Jeanette who had done the same thing and they both fell on top of a sleeping Wernher, who promptly woke up gasping for air from Natalia elbowing him in the stomach and a throbbing headache from Jeanette head-butting him in the face.

Sasha laughed at the chaos, until that made her start choking. With a speed he didn’t know he still had, Martin swooped in and grabbed his younger daughter, slapping her back with one hand while sticking a finger of his other hand into her mouth until she vomited profusely across the floor. The no-longer-shiny metal ring was suddenly propelled out of Sasha’s mouth, rolled back towards the front of the plane and straight under Jeanette’s foot where it was instantly flattened.

“Noooo!” Natalia wailed, picking up the flattened disc and trying desperately to bend it back into shape. It was no use: still lightly coated in baby sick, it was too slippery for her to grip onto it and she couldn’t get any leverage. She slumped on the floor in defeat, crying bitterly.

 “Nat, it’s OK.” Gene comforted her. “When we land, we can have someone take a look at it and fix it if they can or replace it if they can’t.”

“You can’t replace it,” Natalia sobbed. “Val gave it to me the day she left for Yeager last week.”

“She gave you a spacer?” Wernher asked, confused.

“It’s not a spacer, Wernher, it’s a ring.” Gene corrected him.

“An engagement ring.” Natalia added.

Everyone stared at her, stunned by this revelation.

“The first time she asked, I said no, because I was afraid of what people would think, or say, or do; but then this-“ she pointed to her belly and Gene immediately understood, even if nobody else did- “happened and I realised that none of that mattered- and then she told me all the terrible things she’s lived through and I made up my mind; I’m not afraid of it any more.”

She sat up straighter with a defiant look in her eyes.

“Valentina is my fiancé.”

Chapter 14

Edited February 5, 2021 by jimmymcgoochie
Spellchecking edit

[Misguided Kerbal]

What a nice treat for halloween! You sure threw in some plot twists!

[KSK]

19 hours ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

What a nice treat for halloween! You sure threw in some plot twists!

And then some!

Not getting good vibes about Tina though...   Lopsided faces are not a good sign, especially  after hypoxia.

[Mikenike]

On 10/31/2020 at 6:58 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

“Valentina is my fiancé.”

*SIGHS IN DISBELIEF AND SADNESS*. Since when was Val gay???? Why not have her hook up with Jeb, or Bill, or Bob. Someone who is actually important in the KSP universe. All jokes aside, great chapter with phenominal twists

19 hours ago, KSK said:

And then some!

Not getting good vibes about Tina though...   Lopsided faces are not a good sign, especially  after hypoxia.

Agreed. Someone needs to send her to the hospital wing at KSC.

[DerkyJerkyWreaksHavoc]

38 minutes ago, Mikenike said:

*SIGHS IN DISBELIEF AND SADNESS*. Since when was Val gay???? Why not have her hook up with Jeb, or Bill, or Bob. Someone who is actually important in the KSP universe. All jokes aside, great chapter with phenominal twists

 

I agree with @Mikenike. i like the story but you absolutely killed it with Adding Gay relationships. Jeb would've been the perfect guy. He has Badass traits like Valentina and they are BOTH pilots. im not here to politically correct people but SERIOUSLY, stop with the Gay relationships when it comes to stories. you know what, maybe i should make my OWN STORY. Yes... YES... this Kerbals' got a plan all right!

[Misguided Kerbal]

I don't get why everyone opposes the gay stuff. I personally think it is a great twist. Also, I believe @Mikenike's comment was a joke.

[DerkyJerkyWreaksHavoc]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:16 PM, KerballingSmasher said:

*insert bruh here*

BBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....

 

[Gojira]

Honestly: who cares? The writing quality is top notch, and it's not like it's that big a deal anyways. Gay relationships do exist in real life.

[KSK]

2 hours ago, Gojira said:

Honestly: who cares? The writing quality is top notch, and it's not like it's that big a deal anyways. Gay relationships do exist in real life.

Exactly. No particular reason why the default for a fictional relationship needs to be straight.  Also , have a quick re-read of chapter 7 - it seems that folks are more relaxed about such things on @jimmymcgoochie’s version of Kerbin. Which is cool.

[jimmymcgoochie]

2 minutes ago, KSK said:

Exactly. No particular reason why the default for a fictional relationship needs to be straight.  Also , have a quick re-read of chapter 7 - it seems that folks are more relaxed about such things on @jimmymcgoochie’s version of Kerbin. Which is cool.

That you've seen so far. I cant say any more than that because spoilers .

I'm genuinely considering calling the next chapter "And if you thought that was a plot twist..."

[GuessingEveryDay]

30 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

That you've seen so far. I cant say any more than that because spoilers .

I'm genuinely considering calling the next chapter "And if you thought that was a plot twist..."

On 10/31/2020 at 7:58 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

Her brain decided that enough was enough and she blacked out, but the last thing she saw with her right eye, was her left eye lying on the deck.

[Mikenike]

19 hours ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I don't get why everyone opposes the gay stuff. I personally think it is a great twist. Also, I believe @Mikenike's comment was a joke.

It was a little. But in reality, I'm not opposed to that at all, but I would have preferred it be with a less central and important character.

[Mikenike]

16 hours ago, KSK said:

Exactly. No particular reason why the default for a fictional relationship needs to be straight.  Also , have a quick re-read of chapter 7 - it seems that folks are more relaxed about such things on @jimmymcgoochie’s version of Kerbin. Which is cool.

I just never saw the Kerbals being as voiced of that type of stuff. I just never saw them being gay. 

[KSK]

3 hours ago, Mikenike said:

I just never saw the Kerbals being as voiced of that type of stuff. I just never saw them being gay. 

That's reasonable. Everyone has their version of the Kerbals, from differently coloured humans to weird plant things that release spores when they die.   To my mind, part of the fun of Kerbal fan-fic is seeing all the different takes on the kerbals from different writers.

3 hours ago, Mikenike said:

It was a little. But in reality, I'm not opposed to that at all, but I would have preferred it be with a less central and important character.

Okay, I'm not so comfortable with that. I'm maybe reading too much into your words here but that sounds like 'I'm okay with gay characters but don't make them important ones, okay?' 

Anyhow, probably better to take this to PMs rather than cluttering up this thread and possibly drawing the Gaze of the Moderators.

[Selective Genius]

Straight, gay, pretzel... I am more concerned about the MC losing her eye.

14 hours ago, Mikenike said:

I just never saw them being gay. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Mikenike]

9 hours ago, Selective Genius said:

I am more concerned about the MC losing her eye.

23 hours ago, Mikenike said:

Had to reread the story, I didn't catch that the first time. Nah I think she'll be fine, judging by the fact that it is memoirs of a Kerbonaut and not of a wanna-be-Kerbonaut.

[Mikenike]

On 10/31/2020 at 6:58 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

she pointed to her belly and Gene immediately understood

We still don't know how it happened exactly, but it did. Why is everyone pointing out that Tina's eye i out of its socket and start questioning other things, as we can infer by the title, she'll be fine. She survives, because she couldn't have written the memoirs as a dead person, and she couldn't have been a kerbonaut without truly going to space. 

[KerballingSmasher]

On 11/2/2020 at 6:29 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

I'm genuinely considering calling the next chapter "And if you thought that was a plot twist..."

DONT YOU DARE. I COME BACK AFTER THREE WEEKS AND THIS IS WHAT I GOT?!?

[jimmymcgoochie]

On 11/4/2020 at 2:38 PM, Mikenike said:

She survives, because she couldn't have written the memoirs as a dead person, and she couldn't have been a kerbonaut without truly going to space. 

Do you think I'm writing cliffhanger endings to these chapters just for you to spoil it all? 

Spoiler

Also, yes- Tina does in fact become a Kerbonaut and goes to space the proper way. Not really a spoiler any more than saying that things go badly in the films Titanic, Apollo 13 and Deepwater Horizon as the clue is in the title.

Spoiler

How and when that happens, and what happens between now and then, however...

Spoiler

And yes, I am slightly restricted to keeping Tina alive by the title

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by jimmymcgoochie

[GuessingEveryDay]

10 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Do you think I'm writing cliffhanger endings to these chapters just for you to spoil it all? 

  Hide contents

Also, yes- Tina does in fact become a Kerbonaut and goes to space the proper way. Not really a spoiler any more than saying that things go badly in the films Titanic, Apollo 13 and Deepwater Horizon as the clue is in the title.

  Hide contents

How and when that happens, and what happens between now and then, however...

  Hide contents

And yes, I am slightly restricted to keeping Tina alive by the title

 

[Misguided Kerbal]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

And yes, I am slightly restricted to keeping Tina alive by the title

Vegetative state is still alive...