New Kerbin - A fanmade story

[tryharder]

This was based on many other fanmade stories about Kerbals contacting humanity, including this one and this one, and is partially based on Liu Cixin's Death's End and Micro Era, but mostly it is original.

Enjoy! 

Prologue

Spoiler

Year 29, Day 154

Ever since the dawn of Kerbal civilization, kerbals have been fascinated by the wonders of the universe. From the carvings in tombs to ancient riverpole reed scrolls, astronomy has been well documented. As technology advanced, so did the curiosity of kerbals, and so, a space program was founded for the exploration of the universe, heralding the start of the Space Era for Kerbalkind. Within 25 years, each destination in the Kerbol system was visited.

However, the kerbals soon discovered that the universe is not just freedom from cares and infinite knowledge. It also had a dark side, as shown when the link between the Kerbociene Mass Extinction and the Great Crater was shown. The universe was full of danger.

In the 29th year of the Space Era, a mass of high energy photons were detected by various space x-ray and gamma ray observatories. The total energy that was detected was similar to the output of 20 billion nuclear bombs, and scoured the ozone layer of Kerbin clean. Cancer cases skyrocketed as the ionising radiation from Kerbol now had full access to Kerbin’s surface. Many were too scared to even go outside shortly after the incident.

But that was only the fuse of the disaster.

Further analysis showed that the cosmic rays originated from a gamma ray burst. The ionising photonic radiation was only the vanguard of the tidal wave of neutrons, hydrogen and helium nuclei, neutrinos and electrons that were travelling at 90% of the speed of light. Simulations showed that the combined energy from these particles was enough to sterilise all life in the Kerbol system. Nothing can hide from the particle flood. The only choice is to get out of the way.

Joanna Kerman, an aerospace engineer who recently enlisted into the space program, was chosen to be one of those to go on voyage out of the Kerbol system. Here is a detailed recount of her experiences.

Chapter 1: Narrow Escape

Spoiler

Year 31, Day 21

"Quick, throttle up the engines, we don't have much time!" I exclaimed as we strapped ourselves into the seats. According to the online webpage, we only had 2 hours to escape Kerbin before it was too late. Many other kerbals around the world were hastily packing their bags and jumping into the nearest thing that can fly (yes, that includes paper airplanes and kids' helium balloons), and praying that they can get off-world quick enough.

"No problem," Jeb replied, retaining his cool and calm self. He then pushed the thrust settings on the RAPIERs to the highest notch, and began banking up. "This bad boy will bring us to orbit in no time at all."

"Are you sure we have enough time?" Bob asked nervously. "I've heard that a gamma ray burst like this one can sterilise all life in a Kerbol-sized star system."

"Pfft, you worry too much," Jeb dismissed. With a wave of his hand, he accidentally sent the SSTO spaceplane spinning out of control. It immediately started stalling towards the ground.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" we all screamed, and braced ourselves for impact.

"Hahahaha!" Jeb laughed. With a yank of the control lever, he pulled the spaceplane back into an ascent. It was so close that we could see the tops of the trees by the Baikerbanur space centre. "This is what I mean by worrying too much," he said casually.

"Jeb, this is not a joke!" Valentina scolded him. "We are literally going to die if we don't escape quickly enough."

"Eh, I've cheated death enough times," Jeb replied. "Actually, it isn't cheating, I won fair and square."

While the two of them were busy arguing, I looked outside the window, and watched the landscape below me go by. This was my first time leaving Kerbin, and also my last. I blinked back tears. I would miss this place.

The closed cycle RAPIER engines soon brought us to orbit. From up here, it was possible to see a giant portion of Kerbin. Contrary to the chaos on the surface, there were not many rockets and spacecraft in orbit. Possibly because the public won't let a handful of  socially elite kerbals escape while the rest of them die on Kerbin. I thought to myself. We have seen many kerbals' spaceships be disassembled by the public, or shot down by paramilitary forces with missiles. We only made it to orbit thanks to the anonymity of Baikerbanur space centre, as the coastal space centre was bombed to beyond functional capabilities shortly before our launch.

Soon, the silhouette of a massive deep space starship can be seen against the stars. Fangzhou was its name, and the space program had given us one last order, to use it, along with its sister ships Xinghai and Shenlong to carry the seeds for Kerbal civilization throughout the stars, to a new hospitable planet to live on.

Activating the RCS, Jeb guided the SSTO to one of its docking ports. Against it, I felt so small. Our SSTO had a size of Mk3, but even it was rendered flimsy and mundane by the 440 plus metres of steel, titanium, aluminium and various carbon composites. The frontal debris shield alone was wide enough to park our SSTO upon it.

A clicking sound vibrated against our SSTO, and then the hiss of an airlock adjusting its pressure. The hatch slid open, revealing a white airlock leading into the spaceship. I picked up my travel bag and other luggage, and pulled them along with me into Fangzhou’s interior.

I walked along to my private quarters. It was similar to a small hotel room that was situated in the interior of the 1st gravity ring. It was very minimalistic, only 2 square metres in total, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The cosiness of my quarters almost made me forget that we were on a run for our lives, but I soon remembered. I placed all my luggage in a closet, then headed out to meet the rest of the crew in the main cabin.

There was little time to waste. As soon as the last spaceship bringing designated crew members docked with Fangzhou, the specially designed nuclear fusion motors powered up. From a distance, these new ultra-deep space rocket engines look just like larger LV-1 Nervs, however, unlike LV-1 Nervs, these thrusters rely on the fusion of hydrogen to heat their fuel. Magnetic fields spin the fusing plasma so the helium waste gases are thrown to the sides by centrifugal force and collected to be ejected along with the heated propellant. The helium gas also acts as a stabiliser to prevent possible chemical explosions from happening that may damage the parts. These fusion motors have specific impulses 5 times that of LV-1 Nervs, putting them roughly on par with ion engines.

We felt a light force pushing us towards the back of the spacecraft. Bill opened a pack of snacks, and watched as they floated towards the back of the main cabin, with Jeb flying around in his EVA jetpack trying to catch them in his mouth. I picked up an unfinished book I brought along, and continued reading it.

After a long time, the acceleration stopped. The AI piloting system informed us that we are on a trajectory to intersect Jool’s SOI, which will give us enough speed to exit the Kerbol system and set us on the correct course towards our target star system.

After a few months, we crossed Jool’s SOI. As we flew across the dark side of the planet, I realised how small and fragile we were in the universe. From our point of view, Jool was a massive wall that blocked half of the heavens, like it was the edge of the universe. Occasionally, there will be a whirlwind or eddy in that sea of green. Fangzhou seemed mighty to me back in Low Kerbin Orbit, but placed in front of Jool, it was nothing but a tiny cradle for the remnants of Kerbalkind.

One day, as I was inspecting the operational state of the fusion engines and fuel pumps, my eyes suddenly stumbled across where Kerbin would be, millions of miles away. It was too far away to see, but I knew in my heart where it would be. I opened my eyes wide, and saluted at her, not bearing to turn away. My eyes filled with tears, as I thought of all of the millions, all the billions of kerbals, every religion, every ideology, every political and economical doctrine, every hero and coward, every king and vagabond, every mother and father, every creator and destroyer, that all lived on that blue dot, far, far away.

Suddenly, the gamma-ray burst struck the Kerbol system. The energy caused by the particles impacting space dust was so intense that it was visible from aside. It was like Kod took a set square and a neon red pen and drew a gash against the skin of the universe. As the gash was drawn over Kerbol, the sun shone with an eye piercing light. The light stabbed into my eyes like burning hot knives, and it was agonising just to look in the general direction. Dark patches swam in my vision, but I kept my tearful eyes open, and held my salute.

My sight slowly faded, until all that was left was pure darkness in front of my eyes. The spacesuit’s built-in speakers told me that the mass photonic ejection from Kerbol was still raging on, but I could no longer see anything. The agonising light now only felt like a gentle breeze on my teary face.

“さようなら、私の故郷、” I spoke. “私はあなたを覚えているだろう.”

Edited August 2 by tryharder