KSP Fanfic - Birth of a Space Program

[Tex]

Please note that this is a work in progress! I shall update as I write more of the story, and maybe put something more interesting here. We'll see.

Enjoy!

Kerbal Space Program

Chapter 1 – Breakthrough

There is a star, hidden in the clouds of interstellar dust that made up the galaxy NGC 4594, that is nearly too small to be seen from the outside looking in. This star, known to its planetary inhabitants as Kerbol, is, by almost all measurements, too small to exist. Its size, coupled with its extremely small density, render it a tiny little glowing ember compared to the vast galactic fire that surrounds it.

And yet it exists. The little star, the impossible star, still burns brightly. Its light shines in the face of adversity, disputing the unlikelihood of its own existence. This star gives light to its companions, the tiny bundles of rock and gas that are its planets, its children. Moho, Eve, Duna, Jool, and, perhaps the most important out of the bunch, Kerbin- a tiny planet orbiting in a perfect circle around its mother star. By all accounts, Kerbin was impossibly small as well, but Kerbin had one special something that comes along in perhaps one planet out of a galaxy.

Kerbin was in the right place at the right time when, millions of years prior to this story, a colossal asteroid impact rocked the planet to its core, leaving a crater still visible on the equator. It was this asteroid that seeded Kerbin with life. The microbes that traveled on this stone spaceship soon spread, covering far and wide, bringing the gift of wonderful green grasses and trees to all of Kerbin’s continents. The tiny world was alive.

But more magnificently still was the path that these microbes took on- Scientists today speculate that memories can be carried through genetic material, the DNA that provides the blueprints for life’s twists and turns. The DNA carried on the brave spacefaring bacterium retained the memory of their long, cold journey through the void. It was this memory, the darkness and the vacuum of space, which shaped the pathways of Kerbin’s new denizens. DNA does not forget.

And so, over the eons, the continents shifted, the climates changed, swinging wildly from freezing colds to baking heats, and life spread across the planet’s surface. And then, at some point- the exact occurrence has been lost to time- A variety of grass took its genetic memories and decided to do something about it. Evolution split, and a new kind of life was born- the Kerbal.

Kerbals took many, many hundreds of thousands of years before they became of anything. Limbs formed, then crude phalanges. Their legs grew stout and short, and eventually they developed bipedal motion to support heads that made up half of their total height. More revolutionary, however, was their evolved intelligence. Or rather, they developed just enough intelligence.

Kerbals developed their sentience over time, and learned the tools of a cooperative society. They had no natural predators, and so were fortunate enough to be able to spread their influence far and wide, growing in knowledge and custom. By the time our story begins, the great Kerbal civilization covered the very face of Kerbin, pole to pole. Their electric lights brought the stars down to them as they gazed up in wonder at the night sky, their genetic memories inspiring them to reach out for the stars.

However, trouble began when experience and reason began to take hold. ‘If we Kerbals were meant to roam the stars, then why can’t we get up there?’ Kerbals could not leave the bounds of their tiny homeworld. Kerbals were inventive, however. They used their collaborative effort to study how things were able to fly, and they developed wings to allow their machines to take them up into the sky. It turned out that Kerbals loved to fly- They flew every chance they got. There were no shortage of flying clubs and associations, and scientific laboratories were always sure to have a hangar on hand to send up research aircraft. But not matter how much they tried, how powerful they made their primitive fossil-fueled engines, they could not escape Kerbin’s atmosphere. Every attempt resulted in stalls and the planes tumbling out of the sky. The technology to get up there simply didn’t exist; space became an inherently unreachable thing. It seemed that Kerbals were doomed to life on the ground, forced to be content with looking through their telescopes when the night was clear and the sky full of stars.

Until Wernher von Kerman came along.

Von Kerman was an astronomer, like a large number of genetically reminiscent Kerbals before him. While others eventually outgrew their fascination with the heavens, von Kerman’s fascination only grew. Of course, his field of study was to look into the night sky, classifying and studying the twinkling lights, but it was simply never enough. Von Kerman was determined; he was obsessed with finding a way to fulfill his deep, inset yearning for space travel. He believed that it was possible that Kerbals would find their place in the stars, and so he went to work in his spare time.

Von Kerman had perhaps the greatest intellect on the planet. He was respected in his field for his discoveries, but he always reigned himself in, never allowing too much of his genius to show at one time. However, when it came to this obsession, he unleashed himself, studying textbooks and ancient cave art, scanning his collections of notes and charts and sky maps, he attended conferences and endless book signings, all in search for a breakthrough. It finally came when he, growing desperate, decided to start over. He gathered his notes and old equipment and made for the junkyard.

He arrived at the junkyard, a crate of his old materials in his arms, and passed underneath the rusted sign. Jebediah Kerman’s Junkyard, the sign read. In reality, the owner’s name was Geoffry Kerman, and nobody really knew why the sign said what it said. Wondering idly about it as he walked along the dirt path, he soon came to a fenced area, and another Kerbal was waddling out to meet him. His hair was iron-gray, his face wrinkled and dirty, nearly the opposite to Wernher’s neat, thin mustache and black slicked-back hair. Von Kerman was a Kerbal who had an image to uphold.

“Got some junk?†The older Kerbal called out, his voice harsh and loud from years of shouting across his junkyard.

“Yees,†von Kerman replied, heavily accented. Von Kerman came from an area of the planet where the Kerbals developed hard, unique vocal patterns. “I haff some junk to deespose of.â€Â

“Alrighty then, lemme see watcha got,†Geoffry replied, peering through the chain-link fence. “Ah, office supplies? You wanna take ‘em right over that wa-“ He began to point, but just then, he was interrupted by a particularly loud explosion from behind a large wall of metal scraps. Both he and Wernher both started.

“Oh, don’t mind that, that’s just my son, Jebediah,†Geoffry said, waving the explosion off with a hand and a scowl. “Boy can’t resist lighting old fuel on fire when it comes in. Scares the geep outta everybody that comes through here.†Von Kerman nodded, finally understanding the name on the sign. Jebediah did sound a bit more appealing a name to put on a sign than Geoffry.

“Eesn’t eet a problem? Explosions are dangerous,†von Kerman said, turning a skeptical face towards Geoffry.

“That’s why I make ‘im do it behind those walls a’ scrap- If there’s a big ‘un, then it won’t hurt nothin’.†Von Kerman nodded, looking back towards the wall.

“Do you mind eef I haff a vord veeth him? I am trying to vork on a problem and am trying to find any solutions I can. Maybe he can help.â€Â

“I s’pose that’s fine- the way around the scrap is just over that way,†Geoffry said, pointing the path. “The office supply pile is around there too, you can drop yer stuff off there.â€Â

“Sanks,’ von Kerman replied, beginning to walk in that direction. Halfway there, he set the crate down beside a large pile of similar discarded office supplies as he looked over the piles of junk. He could hear some scuffling from behind the nearby scrap metal pile, and assumed it must be Jebediah. He started off, but just then Jebediah himself came scrambling over the pile of rusted metal, then promptly slipped on the way down, tumbling down the pile until he landed in a heap on the dirt ground. Before von Kerman could do more than blink and surprise, extending a hand to help him up, Jebediah jumped up himself and stepped back, turning to face where he just came from, looking past the junk and into the sky expectantly.

“Shh, I’m fine, just look, wait-“ He said excitedly, his eyes fixed at a low angle above the scrap pile. Von Kerman was quite taken aback as he stepped back with Jebediah, and looked towards the same area, unsure of what he’d find.

With an enormous BANG, an entire garbage can rocketed towards the sky, rising up nearly twenty meters before falling back to the ground, the metal can clattering as it smashed, out of sight, back behind the pile of scrap. Jebediah was ecstatic.

“Aw, YES! Did you see that?!†He said, turning to von Kerman and jostling his arm.

“Yees, yees, I saw it!†He replied, still quite rattled by the sight he’d just witnessed. “Vot ver you trying to do?â€Â

“I wanted to see how high I could make that can go,†He said simply, beginning to walk back towards the junk pile. Wernher walked after him, intrigued.

“Just… Zat’s eet? Just to see?†He replied, following Jebediah as he began to scale the mound of junk. Von Kerman eyed the scrap heap with wary eyes, not wanting to get his smock dirty. Finally deciding to press on, he also began climbing. Jebediah was already at the top.

“Yeah! Blowing stuff up is fun! Light a fuse, wait a bit- then BOOM! It’s such a rush!†He said, nearly jumping in the air as he explained himself. Wernher nodded as he reached the top, dusting himself off. Then he cast an eye over the hole in the middle of the scrap pile.

It was plain to see Jebediah had been working on the site for quite some time. It was simply a hole pushed out of the large scrap metal pile, revealing the ground underneath. The hole was littered with black char from Jebediah’s past experiments, and there were several containers that either used to hold or still held recovered fuel from scrapped vehicles. There were bits of metal that came off of old barrels and other scrap metal chunks that had been blown apart by Jebediah’s explosive tests, and indeed the trash can he’d just sent flying was still on fire. Several meters away was apparently the launching platform, several cinderblocks with a large flowery char mark from where the explosion occurred.

“So… you just come here and blow stuff up?†von Kerman inquired.

“Yep! Pa says I’m not bright enough to help much with running the place, so he just kinda lets me do whatever. I still do some work, but most of the time I get to just play around here in my li’l chunk of paradise here.†Jebediah was working his way down the scrap carefully to examine the burning hunk of metal, formerly a trash can. Von Kerman was close behind, taking it all in.

“So vot vas thees experiment? To leeft the trash can into the air?â€Â

“Yeah. I put a bunch of the fuel underneath the can, turned it over, and lit a trail here,†Jebediah explained, indicating a black line running from the explosion site to a safe area by the edge of the scrap pile. “Then KABOOM! The whole thing goes up!â€Â

Wernher von Kerman’s eyes lit up. These words, they- They made sense. They made sense! That was the answer he’d been looking for.

“Boy… Do you even realize vot it is you’ve deescovered here?!†He exclaimed, his hands slicking back his hair excitedly. Jebediah wasn’t following.

“Call me Jeb… And what d’you mean?†he replied, looking at von Kerman curiously, but sensing the enormous energy radiating off of the scientist.

“Thees trash can- your fuel- Thees ees the answer I’ve been searching for for so long! It makes seense! KABOOM! The whole theeng goes up! That’s eet!â€Â

“Ah…â€Â

“Boy… Jeb,†von Kerman corrected. “I am a scien-teest from the Observatory! I haff been vorking on a huge project that I could not find thee answer to unteel now!â€Â

“What kind of project?†Jeb asked, now intrigued.

“Spaceflight, my boy! Nothing ve haff now ees powerful enough to send a Kerr-ball eento space, but you’ve just given me the answer! KABOOM! I must get to vork on thees! How vould you like to come vith me to the Observatory and help?†von Kerman asked, actually offering a hand to Jeb. Jeb, now considering the option, began to smile. He shook von Kerman’s hand.

“Anything to get me out of this dump,†he said, chuckling at the irony.

[KSK]

Hurrah for trashcans full of boom! Or the prototype version, trashcan-covering-a-pile-of-boom anyway. Bonus points for use of the word 'geep' too.

Bring on Chapter 2!

[Wabbit]

This is... Awesome. Just pure awesome. Keep it up!

Now I see where we get the "Trashcan full of boom" SRB!