Shadows of the Kraken: Remastered & The Lost Chapters

[monophonic]

Man, the Eds and Billy sure got a long way into the 'Not food' locker. I don't see Munbase fusion cuisine catching on though.

Really enjoyed the last few chapters. Just hope it doesn't all turn out to be a bad dream caused by consumption of too much Mush.

It is Layland-Wutani hull sealant... the stuff is likely made of finely ground feed oats or some such mostly edible things anyway.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Chapter 32: Insights

Jerdous was nothing if not thorough, it seemed. The documentation he'd gathered for Edgas was incredible in both scope and breadth. 'A few thumb drives' turned out to be several boxes full of them, each one meticulously labeled, categorized, and ordered. It would have been reams and reams of paper if people still used actual paper. What a silly thing, printing documents on paper. Bureaucracy could be so much more expansive and overbearing when it wasn't limited by physical resources. Bureaucrats, pfft. But if not for the bureaucracy, Edgas wouldn't have this trove of information before him.

Yet, the more he read, the more confused he became. The magnitude of it all was simply staggering. The Company was woven into it all like a thick rug, and it lied like one too. But... Layland-Wutani had violated the import/export, banking, tax, health and safety, manufacturing, and traffic laws of no less than half a dozen countries just to build this ship.

The engine and technology parts had been built in Ussari, along with most of the launch vehicles. The electronics in Gytep (all the best cheap electronics came out of Gytep these days), the structure in Itsuania, the hydrogen tanks in Cocomor, various minor bits in other nations, then all of it shipped though the Straits of Kerfrica right under their noses. Everything traveled halfway around the world, through the Andacanian Canal then somehow into eastern Cerima, to an equatorial launch complex not far from the coast that none of the locals on either side of the border seemed to notice. That much, at least, wasn't a stretch. The hodgepodge of duchies, provinces, theocracies, and plantain republics collectively known as 'Cerima' changed governments and allegiances more often than they changed their underwear, and generally for the same reasons. It was easy enough to get away with shenanigans there, the locals had more pressing matters to worry about than huge rockets launching every few days. But the Andacanians tended to be rather testy about such things. They must have been very well paid to ignore rockets overflying their sovereign territory and dropping toxic spent stages on their sacred fishing grounds.

This was the bit of weirdness vexing Edgas at the moment. Why would the Ussaris go through the trouble of securing a launch facility near the equator in the first place? They already had a formidable space center. It was at such a high latitude it could only launch into high-inclination orbits, but with a ship with such a ridiculous amount of delta-v available, why would that matter? He rubbed his temples.

And then, of course, there was the larger befuddlement. The one that made his brain hurt, and his eyes water. The one he was no closer to understanding despite hours pouring over extensive documentation. The Company was dirty, no doubt about it, but... it wasn't that dirty. Misappropriation of funds, mild embezzlement, good old-fashioned fraud, and gratuitous employment of hired goons. Typical greedy multinational conglomerate type stuff. But there was no grand plot, no vast conspiracy, no evil scheme. At least not that Edgas could see. It was maddening. And then the icing on this dirt cake.

It was all so sloppy. The boxes of virtual documents demonstrated that. Everything was hidden, but it wasn't hidden well. Even a casual audit should have uncovered something, and something should have led to something else, then the whole mess should have come crashing down... Only it never did. Any time a whisp of attention was directed its way, it just... dissipated. Like the proverbial fart in the wind. Edgas shook his head. People would be transferred, or reassigned, or simply disappear altogether. It was all just so damned... convenient. Why no, Mr. Inspector, there's no need to investigate the radiation coming from that freighter there, paperwork's all in order you see, just rubber dookie bound for Bylia, here, have some money.

It was always lurking, just beneath the surface. Hidden, but only just enough. Always just enough. A veneer of legitimacy, a veil of plausible deniability. A house of cards that should collapse at the slightest breeze. It was like... like...

"Like a scapegoat on a leash," Edgas said quietly. He was sure that someone, somewhere, was having a grand old laugh over all this. Edgas wasn't laughing though. Buried in all the documents, all the forms, all the requisitions, all the applications, all the CF-7501's and THX-1138's, was a single news article. It stuck out like a bloodied thumb, and it twisted his innards to read it. 'Young female found murdered,' was the simple headline, probably buried in the back between sports scores and launch manifests.

"Female identified as A. Kerman found dead in alley," the article said. It went on to use words like 'slashed' and 'stabbed' followed by a nauseating number. Edgas had tried to read the details, but couldn't bring himself to. Not with that picture staring back at him. It was Anastasia, Billy's sister.

...I will stab you with this...!

Edgas shook his head. He closed his bulging, red-rimmed eyes, and rubbed the wide, flat spot between them. Somewhere distant, reality creaked. It couldn't be, just a virtual news clipping and a comment taken out of context. Burdous certainly didn't like him, but that didn't make him... make him--

The Hand of the Kraken

Edgas blinked. Where had that come from?

Look at the evidence, the scientist in him said, circumstantial it may be, but there is a trail...

Or maybe he's just a jerk, the practical Kerbal in him said, scared and stressed the same as you...

Edgas leaned back on his thin mattress and stretched, joints popping loudly in protest. Burdous. There were reams on him, too. On... well, everyone, too. He was brilliant, no doubt there. His career as a Kerbonaut was accomplished, if not remarkable, but his prowess was engineering. He'd written several papers on the practical applications of fission fragment and induced fusion engines, all praised but mostly ignored. Six months after the ill-fated Münbase mission, at Edmund's behest, no less, Burdous and Jerdous had been assigned to Ussari as part of the Kerbonaut Exchange program, as liaisons for the Administration and goodwill ambassadors. There, Burdous had found fertile ground for his ideas on advanced nuclear propulsion, and the Company had been happy to fund them.

A potentially ground-breaking interplanetary propulsion system paid for by someone else? The Ussari leadership were only too happy to give their assistance, and keep it a secret until the right time. Keeping secrets was easy in that part of the world. In Ussari, atom splits you!

Jerdous was indeed a well-traveled anthropologist. Seeing his evidence in writing, all with meticulous notes, footnotes, cross-references, and concordances, was all the remaining convincing Edgas had needed about their, well, quest. It seems Jerdous had had an epiphany of sorts out there in the desert. Several years before Chadvey's Mün landing, Jerdous had uncovered the tablet, visited the temple, and begun piecing the story together. He'd spent years traveling the globe between Corps assignments, ostensibly for 'life science and archeological' research. Chadvey's discovery of the seal had been the linchpin, the final piece. Since then they, along with Burdous, had been working in the shadows, trying to discern the Kraken's true nature, and ultimately to hatch this grand plan to secure the other seals. And whatever else they were going to do out there.

Chadvey's story, well, it pretty much checked out. He'd played the part of the intrepid Kerbonaut hero, shaking hands, making useful friends, and opening doors. Then finally, as a deputy flight director, had put the resources of the entire space program at their disposal, if surreptitiously. He'd been quietly pulling strings all along.

Of course it checks out, a voice inside said, Chadvey had Jerdous gather the documents. You're being fed.

Edgas pushed the thought away. Ugh, but this was exhausting. And always the final variable: the unknown adversary. His (her?) prints were all over the paperwork too. Back and forth, cat and mouse, move and countermove. Whatever the three tried to do, this force worked against them. Sometimes they won, sometimes not. For the moment, they did seem to be ahead. But there was still something wrong, Edgas knew he was missing something. No matter how hard he tried, there was some connection his brain just kept missing. Every time he thought he was getting close, it slipped away like a shadow at the edge of vision. It was infuriating.

He sighed, and set his tablet down. That was enough for now, anyway. He'd agreed to go meet with Burdous for a briefing on how to monitor the engine, so he could take his turn standing watch. This would be oh so much fun.

A thought lingered as he opened his door. They weren't ahead, they were being driven.

It was a trap.

Edgas shuddered. Now why did that phrase make him think of the RatSquirrelFish?

Edited November 23, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[TheAdversary238]

Yup, still a boatload of fun to read. Chadvey reminds me of an Alan Quartermaine kind of guy: half fun loving adventurer, half blood stained piratical madman. I'm enjoying it tremendously.

p.s. Named my Minmus karbonite transfer station IKSS Billy Bob.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Chapter 33: Speed

"Oh, it's you," said Burdous, "well at least you're on time. Have a seat."

Edgas stifled a groan and sat at the control console on the command deck next to the very annoyed looking Kerbal.

Burdous threw his hands up dramatically and continued in his irritated monotone, "welcome to the Mikoyan-Gorbachev revision fifteen fission-fragment induced fusion engine. Most control subsystems can be accessed from right here. So see that you don't touch anything."

Edgas figured he'd at least try to get on the other Kerbal's good side and humor him, "what sort of fuel source? Sentarium? Blutonium oxide pellets?"

Burdous blinked, and gave him a considering look, "insightful question from a lay-Kerb, but wrong on both counts. It's a dusty plasma bed of magnetically contained nanoparticles of washingtonium-351."

It took Edgas a moment to translate what he'd just said, "wash... washingtonium?! But it's highly unstable, the critical mass is only a few kilos, how--"

"That's what makes it such an ideal fuel. Criticality is easily induced as the containment field funnels it into the ignition chamber."

Edgas was fascinated. Terrified, but fascinated. "But... there must be tons of it on board..."

"Nine point three eight seven tons, to be exact.

"I... I didn't think that much of it even existed on Kerbin."

"It doesn't. Well, not anymore. What we have here represents nearly the world's entire supply. The Ussaris can be extremely resourceful. They discovered a massive deposit right under their capital city. A leftover, from an ancient asteroid impact. They built a huge tunneling machine to mine it, but it broke down after it hit an old water pipe. But asteroids are rich in it. That's why the Company bothered to privately fund a grand tour. To locate and catalog more sources. At least that's their reason on paper. If they land a Kerbal somewhere, they can claim ownership. They'll claim the entire solar system. And if anyone protests? Well, they won't have any fuel to do anything about it."

"That--" began Edgas.

"Anyway, you're distracting me. You don't need to know the details of the engine's operation, just watch the status lights. Green is good. Yellow is not good. Red is bad. Red is very, very bad." Burdous pointed to a large red button under a clear plastic cover on the console, "you see red, you lift this cover, you hit this button. And you better have a damn good explanation too. That's the emergency SCRAM, it's not easily undone. And don't touch anything else!"

Edgas looked at Burdous. Burdous looked at Edgas.

"You don't like me, do you?" Edgas finally said.

Burdous put a palm to his face, "and for a moment there I thought you might be intelligent," Burdous looked at him, "I think it's very... convenient... you always seeming to show up in just the right place, at just the right time. Yet you act like you have no idea what you're doing, like you're just along for the ride."

"Well, that's pretty much true," Edgas said awkwardly, "two days ago I was in my cubicle, oblivious to the world, now I'm here. I really have no idea how."

"At least you're honest. Or are you? Maybe you're just saying all the right things that have managed to get you this far. Maybe you're the shadow that's been dogging us all these years, come to sabotage our final effort."

Edgas recoiled as if struck, "that's a pretty bold accusation there..."

"Merely an observation," Jerdous said with a heavy-lidded stare, "my brother seems to think there's something noteworthy about you, so for now I'll trust his judgement. But I don't trust you."

Edgas sighed, "y'know, you two sure don't act like twins."

Burdous clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, "what do you expect us to do? Something crazy like finish each other's--"

"Sandwiches!"

They both slowly turned their heads to see Jerdous stepping off the ladder, awkwardly balancing a tray.

"Who wants some?" He said with a broad smile, "it's the last of our fresh food so I thought I'd make the most of it."

"Gah," grunted Burdous, "I'll be in my bunk." He pointed a thick finger at Edgas, "remember, don't touch anything!" Then he stormed off up the ladder.

Jerdous watched him go, "what's wrong with him?"

"Me, apparently," Edgas said, "thinks I'm useless. Or a saboteur."

Jerdous frowned, "he's always been... picky like that. He'll come around eventually, you'll see. In the mean time, sandwich?"

Reality crackled again. But mmmmmmmmmmm, sandwiches!

***

A few days later, Edgas was again sitting at the console watching the engine. It had been days of nothing but more of the same, pouring over documents, eating space food, watching the engine do nothing, and putting up with Burdous. Jerdous at least was cordial. And Chadvey was, well, Chadvey. It all confirmed something Edgas had expected for a long time: interplanetary spaceflight was incredibly boring.

He turned and looked out the window. The stars never changed either. The ship held its course like a mountain. There was no sensation of speed, no stars streaming past the window. He knew there shouldn't be, of course, but some part of him still seemed to expect it. For days now, they had been constantly accelerating, going faster and faster. In about another day, the massive ship would slowly turn and begin decelerating. Within minutes of the engine first firing, the ship had taken the title of the fastest thing ever made by Kerbal hands. They were now traveling at several thousand kilometers every second. Nearly ten times galactic escape velocity. He knew it was just a number, but it still boggled his mind in that sciencey way he found he still loved. And terrified him too.

Jerdous had already briefed him on the lander in the pressurized cargo bay. It was a fairly small thing, designed for landing on tiny worlds like Bop and Pol, they'd had to modify it to fit four. Four EVA suits were also stored in the bay, fully fueled for their low gravity excursion. Edgas had never been to Minmus, of course, but he knew the gravity on Bop would be similar. He had listened intently to the others describe the difficulty of moving about on the surface. They would probably... need..... to..... use..........

Why was that light red?

Edited November 30, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[KSK]

No worries - that'll just be the escaped Red Matter floating loose behind the control board.

[TheAdversary238]

Not sure how many of these folks have kids. But I do, and my daughter lost it at sandwiches.

[CatastrophicFailure]

No worries - that'll just be the escaped Red Matter floating loose behind the control board.

Red matter... red matter... something tells me I should get the reference but I must be having a brain fart at the moment. Where's that from again?

Not sure how many of these folks have kids. But I do, and my daughter lost it at sandwiches.

Sigh, I know, I just.... couldn't.... resist. I'm amazed I've gotten this far without Chadvey mentioning something about not having the power

[KSK]

Heh - depending how much of a purist you are, you may have blanked it from your memory.

Red Matter.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Ah yes. Liked the flick, never did like that bit tho. Might as well have called it "big red plot device."

[CatastrophicFailure]

Chapter 34: We Have a Problem

The shaking started a heartbeat before the alarm klaxons stared blaring. Edgas look around for a moment, confused. All over the board lights went from green to red, and the entire ship sounded like it was about to come apart.

"SCRAM IT!" Burdous screamed from somewhere, "SCRAM IT NOW!"

Edgas lifted the plastic cover, slammed his hand down on the big red button... and suddenly everything was motion and noise and pain. Flashes of light danced before his vision, the world careened and tumbled. Reality shuddered, sounds, visions, sensations flared all around. On some distant level, he was aware he'd hit his head on the ceiling. Drifting away, Edgas forced himself back toward consciousness. A monster was coming.

"EDGAS!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ENGINE?!" shrieked Burdous as he appeared in the ladder well, pulling himself hand over hand like a predator about to pounce, "IF YOU BROKE MY ENGINE I SWEAR TO JOOL AND SUNNY TYLO I WILL STAB YOU WITH A SPOON!!!" He flung himself at Edgas, arms outstretched... then shoved him out of the way and began madly hitting buttons on the console while trying not to float away.

"What in the bloody green blazes is going on?" Chadvey roared as he appeared from the other well.

"I need a damage report!"

"On it," said Chadvey, looking over a console.

"Where in the frigid crack of Dres is Jerdous?!"

"Here," said Jerdous as he came up the ladder. He looked dazed, and his head was trailing a tiny stream of droplets that hung in the air behind him. He floated to his console, "we're venting hydrogen."

"Isolate the feed!"

"Already got it. Ugh," Jerdous pressed a hand to his temple.

"You're bleeding!" Edgas cried.

"Hit my head."

"We've lost attitude, RCS went to auto-purge," said Chadvey.

"Lock it down!" Burdous's hands flew over the controls, "containment held, or we wouldn't be here right now. Chamber temp is dropping, pressure is stable."

"Augh, hydrogen circuit is isolated," groaned Jerdous, "didn't loose much, looks like it was somewhere in the feed lines."

"Can you localize it?"

"Trying now..."

"Ah think Ah've got attitude back, whole ship is flopping around like a wet noodle, still trying to get it stabilized," said Chadvey.

Edgas had found a gauze pack in a nearby medical kit. He pressed it to the gash in Jerdous's head as he winced, "this looks pretty bad..."

"Can't deal with it right now," Jerdous said, "think I found the circuit, 87XKB, relief for the primary feed line."

Burdous uttered a curse, an especially rough one, "that's a critical circuit, we can't run the engine without it."

"Ah've found it, right here on the monitor," they looked, saw a confused bundle of white insulated plumbing outside the ship. There was still a trail of white vapor jetting from one of the lines.

"Crap, thought I cut the circuit," Jerdous pressed a hand to his head while he worked the controls, "ok got it now." Edgas just looked around trying make sense of the situation. Everywhere, debris floated around the cabin.

"This is bad, this is very bad," said Burdous, "someone has to go out there and replace the line, and it's gotta be now before we drift too far off course."

"Ugh, I'll go," Jerdous tried to move. Chadvey came and gently pushed him back into the seat.

"You're in no condition to do anything but sit there and stop bleeding," Chadvey said.

"Don't look at me, I'll need to check the systems out from in here," snapped Burdous.

Chadvey sighed, "and Ah'll have to direct him to the location and talk him through the procedure."

Edgas looked around at the expectant faces, "what, me?! I'm no engineer."

"You're trained and experienced with EVA repairs," said Chadvey, "you maybe a bit rusty but it'll come back."

"But... we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"Good, then ya won't have that beautiful view of Kerbin to distract ya," Chadvey grinned.

"He'll need to use one of the launch suits you arrived in," Burdous grumbled, "the lander suits will need all the resources they have on the surface."

"But they're not EVA-rated," argued Jerdous, "they're for emergencies."

"And what do ya think thus is?" Chadvey countered.

"They only have minimal thruster propellant..."

"Then he'll have to be careful," Burdous said, "he can tether to the tension line that runs to radiation shield, it'll just be a lot of hand work," he glared at Edgas, "and I still want to know what you did to my engine."

Edited November 23, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Ethanadams]

Sigh something tells me that this was on porpose

[VelocityPolaris]

Just finished the story so far, love it. Funny how the story gets from grim to funny the closer they get to the Kraken's lair or something.

[Ethanadams]

I may need MOAR

[teepee2345]

my mind is screaming at me saying that it's not an accident. that its too convenient for the Bad Side too have them be one day away from the deceleration burn then they just happen to have a fuel leak when they are almost halfway there. my brain is just screaming that its not an accident. either way, you are a great story teller. awesome job. keep it up

[CatastrophicFailure]

Just finished the story so far, love it. Funny how the story gets from grim to funny the closer they get to the Kraken's lair or something.

This is an inevitable result of writing as I go along. Y'all's get to see evolution in action. Half the time, I don't even know quite how things will turn out.

I may need MOAR

Next chapter will be up later tonight.

currently listening to 8.98 hertz at 110 decimals please call help if I start screaming

Er.... doesn't that hurt?

my mind is screaming at me saying that it's not an accident. that its too convenient for the Bad Side too have them be one day away from the deceleration burn then they just happen to have a fuel leak when they are almost halfway there. my brain is just screaming that its not an accident. either way, you are a great story teller. awesome job. keep it up

Thank you!

[CatastrophicFailure]

Chapter 35: So Far Away

Edgas slowly swung the hatch inward. The only sounds were the steady hum of the circulation fans and his own unsteady breathing. He had to consciously calm himself. The ship lacked a proper airlock, they had just sealed off one of the docking tunnels and jury-rigged the plumbing. Edgas hesitantly stuck his head out of the hatch, his breath loud in his ears. The stars blazed incredibly in the shadow of the massive ship. Taking a moment to look around, he found Jool, still nothing more than a bright dot amidst less-bright dots. Where were they? Beyond the orbit of Dres now? He wasn't sure. He turned, and searched for Kerbin. It took him some time to find it, just an unremarkable pale blue dot. So far away. Everything he knew, everything he had ever known, all so far away now. He was now going farther and faster than any living thing had ever been.

Edgas took a deep breath, "ok, I'm going out now."

"We read you, video feed looks good," Chadvey replied over the comm link. Burdous had managed to adapt one of the EVA suit helmets to work with the flimsy orange launch suit. It wasn't much, but it had lights, a video camera, and rudimentary instrumentation on a heads-up display.

"Be careful," Jerdous this time, "there's nothing really to tether to until you reach the tension cable, but there's plenty of hand holds."

"Got it," Edgas switched on his helmet lights, and carefully pulled himself out of the hatch. He could see the stanchion for the tension cable just across the hull of the engine room. It was a long way to pull himself untethered. Strapped to his back where he could just barely reach it was a meter-long section of insulated pipe and a valve assembly. Strapped to his chest was a repair kit with tools. Moving was extremely awkward, on top of the difficulty of the pressure suit. Edgas set off, cautiously moving from one rail to the next.

Burdous had talked him through the repair procedure, reality wavering all the time, while Chadvey had put a quick bandage on Jerdous's head. It sounded simple enough, just unbolt the damaged pipe and bolt in the new one, then repeat with the valve. Getting there was going to be the hard part. Half a kilometer hand over hand. Edgas paused for a moment to get his breathing under control. Only a few meters and he was already winded. He looked out at the stars again. Far off, he could easily see the milky white smudge of another galaxy, barely visible on a clear night back on Kerbin. Supposedly that galaxy was due to collide with their own in a few billion years. He absently wondered if the ship was heading that direction and might get there first if he failed. He pushed the thought away, and set back to crawling across the hull.

"Edgas? How are you doing? Your heart-rate's up," Chadvey sounded worried.

"I'm ok," he panted, "almost there." He reached the bottom of the stanchion. It was little more than a braced girder jutting ten meters out from the side of the ship. Three of them were arranged around the junction between the superstructure and first hydrogen tank. The cables stretched to the other end near the engine, creating tension and stiffening the structure. Supposedly. Edgas took a breath, and started pulling himself up.

Suddenly the stars evaporated and the sky went pure black. Edgas instinctively raised a hand against the sun peeking over the radiation shield at the back of the ship, but even that seemed dim and insignificant. He closed his sun shade, and climbed on, away from the small comfort of the hull. Finally he reached the top, but his grip slipped and he kept going, momentum carrying him past the end of the strut, pirouetting him around. He struggled to keep a hand hold, his grip slipped again, then at the last possible second he stretched out his other arm and clipped the tether to the cable just as his other hand slipped off. He let out a sharp cry as he drifted off the structure before the tether snapped taught.

"What just happened? Video feed went all wonkie."

"I'm ok," Edgas grunted, gritting his teeth, "I'm tethered, moving down cable now," he then set to the arduous task of pulling himself down the thin cable. He very quickly realized it was futile. The thin suit tended to balloon and made any movement difficult. Trying to pull himself half a kilometer like this would exhaust him, if he even made it. He paused, panting, and watched a droplet of sweat floating inside his helmet.

"Edgas? What's your status? Your vitals are all over the place." Jerdous again.

"This isn't gonna work. Stand by I'm gonna try something." Edgas swallowed hard. The thought of voluntarily letting go horrified him, but if this didn't work... He switched on his tiny attitude thrusters, took a firm grip of the cable, and pulled. The force launched him down the cable, his tether sliding along it, keeping him from floating away. He gingerly adjusted his attitude with the suit thrusters, trying to stay in control but use as little fuel as he could.

"W--what's going on? I can't see, everything's jumbled."

Edgas ignored the comm for the moment. It took all of his concentration to stay on course... but it was working. He glided along above the cable, nearly motionless, occasionally giving it a tug to recover speed lost as the tether clip dragged.

"Ok, I'm approaching the other end."

"What? Already? How did you..?"

"Standby," Edgas said. He wasn't about to have a repeat of the first stanchion. He switched off his suit thrusters, and slowed himself carefully as he reached the end of the cable. Almost there, he thought to himself. A check of his fuel supply showed it only down 10%. Then he carefully unclipped the tether, and made his way down the stanchion to the maze of pipes and conduits at the base of the enormous circular radiation shield that now towered over him.

"Ok, I'm on site."

"All right lad, well done," said Chadvey on the radio, "now, it's a bit of a mess up there but Ah think Ah can point ya to it."

Edgas looked around, "you won't have to, I can see the leak from here."

"What? That circuit should be voided!" Burdous could just be heard in the background.

"Go ahead then," Chadvey said, but be careful."

"Copy," Edgas began making his way toward the thin plume of vapor emanating from the mass of pipes. As he approached, it trickled off to nothing. He could see the extent of the damage even from some distance. Several square meters of insulation had been blown off, "you guys seeing this?"

"Jool's jewels, that's what I was afraid of!" swore Burdous, "we're gonna loose a ton of efficiency. Can you see the failure?"

Edgas began crawling over the exposed pipes, "think I found it, do you see?" Burdous let go with an impressively awful curse this time. A meter-long section of pipe just past a valve had split down nearly its entire length.

"Burdous is, er, indisposed at the moment," said Chadvey. Burdous could be heard yelling in the background. Something sounded like it shattered. "Best take it one step at a time lad, let's get that pipe replaced."

"Copy," said Edgas. He snapped his tether to a nearby handle, followed by the tool kit, then set to work unbolting the damaged pipe. It was exhausting, hand-cramping work. Getting torque to the bolts without proper foot restraints proved difficult, and he could only reach the bolts in the back by feel. He also had to avoid the obviously sharp edge of gleaming, jutting metal where the pipe had ruptured. After what seemed like forever, he had managed to free the damaged pipe, collecting the nuts and bolts in a tethered bag.

"Got it, it's loose," he gasped, "what do you want me to do with it?"

"I don't have any tools for a proper analysis," Burdous crackled in his ear, "hold it very still in front of you for a moment... ok turn it... now try and get the inside, right there, that looks good. I'll look over the footage later. No sense bringing it back, just give it a good throw away from the ship."

"Understood," Edgas turned, braced his feet against the hull, grabbed his tether and pulled it tight for support, and gave the old pipe a mighty shove. He stopped, for a moment, realizing the gravity of what he'd just done. He, Edgas Kerman, had just launched the what was effectively the first intergalactic space probe, by hand. He watched the pipe as it sailed away. He looked again at the white smudge of a galaxy in the distance, and the hint of a smile cracked his lips.

Then it was back to work. The replacement pipe went in somewhat easier, then the valve remained.

"We copy that it's done, Edgas," said Chadvey, "stand back, Burdous will test the connection."

Edgas moved away from the joint, re-securing  his tether.

"Ok, I'm clear."

Nothing appeared to happen. He knew that was actually a good sign, then noticed vapor around the valve.

"Do you see that?" Chadvey said. Burdous was letting loose another string of curses in the background.

"I see it, I'll try to see where it's coming from."

A pause, and then, "ok, the line's voided." Edgas carefully approached where he'd seen the leak. The foot of the valve was buried in the shadow of the plumbing, and he couldn't get light on it. He was at the very end of his tether.

"Ack, I can't get a good look from this angle. Let me switch places, I have to untether."

"Be careful, the lines should be clear but you already saw residual off-gassing before."

"Copy," Edgas unclipped his tether, and cautiously moved toward the valve. His breathing thundered in his ears. Almost... there. He could see it once he was over the top of the valve and could get some light on it, a hairline crack where the housing met the footing.

"We see it too," Jerdous this time, "that line is clear. Burdous is going to cycle the valve open, then you should be good to remove it."

Fortunately, he'd brought that spare, the bolts didn't look too hard to get to and--

He felt like he'd been gut-punched. The whole world went white.

"Edgas! Edgas, you're off structure! You are off structure!"

Edited November 30, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[monophonic]

So they were completely out of any sort of rope, belt, underwear or anything to fashion into a second tether for Edgas. I wouldn't have gone out that hatch without two tethers so I could have kept one connected at absolutely all times, leapfrogging them ahead as I went.

Anyway, he still has 10% of his monoprop remaining. I should hope it is enough; otherwise the story will have a dull ending.

[teepee2345]

it seems that Burdous doesn't seem to like it when his engine is not running right. good chapter

[Ethanadams]

He is going to be captured by the kraken

i don't mean to be rude when I say this but I kinda saw this coming

Edited April 9, 2015 by Ethanadams

[CatastrophicFailure]

Chapter 36: Alone

"Edgas! Edgas, do you copy?!"

He flailed helplessly, panic rushing over him, nothing but white, white all around. Edgas clawed at his faceplate, and the white was broken by streaks of black. He pushed against the rising panic, brushing more hydrogen frost from his faceplate as it began to sublimate away too. The white gave way to black, and flashes of sunlight.

"Do you copy? You're drifting away, you've got to stabilize!"

Panic fought to take him. He fumbled, groped, finally found the suit jet switches and slapped at them until the auto-stabilize icon appeared on his HUD. The thrusters sounded an discordant staccato against the rhythm of his harried breath.

"Edgas, respond!"

He was only vaguely aware of the chatter as he fought for control.

"He must be hurt, we have to go after him!"

"He had all the EVA fuel from the flight suits."

"The ship can't maneuver like that!"

"What about the lander? We've extra maneuvering fuel for the lander."

"It takes hours to power up!"

Edgas finally stopped tumbling, began searching for the ship.

"I'm here! I'm not hurt, can't see the ship." He kept scanning, slowly rotating, finally... there, he spotted it.

His heart sank. It looked so far away, just a tiny white twig drifting in the darkness. He stared, not quite believing, darkness closing around him. After so much, after everything... to go out like this, just a tiny orange speck drifting between galaxies until his very protons decayed. He knew he wouldn't suffocate, just get cold, and sleepy, and then... nothing.

...wailing, and gnashing of teeth...

He gasped. No, not nothing...

...thanks Ed, you're a good friend...

Something inside him... stirred... and it was angry. No, no he was not going out like this!

You're a Kerbonaut, said something deep in his psyche, act like one. This isn't even orbital mechanics, it's basic geometry. Application of detla-V. You know this.

He looked again at the ship, guessed the angle. Suit fuel still at 70%. He reached back, fumbled, pulled the auxiliary battery, tossed it roughly backwards, did the same with the emergency O2 bottle, the tools, threw out the superfluous. He gingerly corrected his aim, and fired his suit jets. 60%...40...20...10... There, the ship was getting bigger again. He drifted, slowly spinning, ignoring his attitude, just tiny corrections to his course.

"We see you, you're coming in fast, you need to loose speed."

Not enough fuel for that, Edgas thought. The ship loomed. He was coming in fast... but on target... just a little more... A red light on his HUD signaled the end of his fuel. The ship filled his vision... he put his hands out to brace...

He slammed hard into the side of a hydrogen tank. For a moment, he slid along it, spinning, his hands scrabbling for purchase on the featureless surface... then it was gone, and he was flying away again, starting to tumble... yelling over the comm... corner of his eye... he reached, and grabbed hold of the other tension cable with his right hand. The impact wrenched his arm, but somehow he held on. He flailed, struggling against the cable as it oscillated up and down its length, finally grabbed hold with his left hand. He pulled himself close, wrapping a leg around it for good measure, then finally clicked his tether back on.

There were happy cheers and questions on the radio, but for the moment he didn't hear. He checked that the suit was holding pressure, then just held on for a very long time, till his ragged breathing stopped echoing in his ears.

"Well done, lad. When you can, just come back in," Chadvey said reassuringly, "Burdous says he can work around the valve, too much risk to try any more."

Edgas double-checked his tether, then just floated there trying to breathe again. Eventually, he became aware that he was very, very glad that space suits were worn over diapers.

 

***

 

There was a click, and a hiss as Chadvey helped him doff his helmet, "stellar work, lad, that's another for the record books."

Edgas just panted, soaked in sweat, as Jerdous helped with his gloves, "you really had us worried there."

Burdous glowered, his arms folded, leaning against the wall of the docking tunnel as best one could in zero gravity.

"My brother, there, would like to apologize," Jerdous said with an eye roll in that direction, "that line should have been clear. There must be more than one bad valve out there." There was a slowly spreading wet spot on his bandage.

Burdous studied the floor as he spoke, "as long at the pipe holds, I can just bypass that entire section. We'll loose more efficiency, and power. Have to turn around now and start decelerating, extend the approach by a couple of days, and make a very, very close pass of Jool. I can reconfigure the containment fields into a radiation shield, that's part's easy. But we'll only be making a couple of hundred gigacraps, two-fifty at the most."

Edgas crinkled his brow, "what is a gigacrap, anyway?

Burdous looked at the ceiling, "it's a measure of induced secondary fusion in a hydrogen-boosted fission system. Named by Dr. Fermi Kerman after he discovered the phenomenon, accidentally."

"Oh..."

Chadvey clapped Edgas on the back, "Ah've heard spaceflight described as hours of utter boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, or was that aerial combat? Anyways, thanks to you, lad, that's all this was. A moment of terror, not a real setback. We'll be back underway in no time."

Edgas grinned awkwardly, "uh, could you guys give a minute? Bit damp in here."

Jerdous winced and put a hand to his bandaged temple.

"Come on, lad," said Chadvey, taking him by the elbow, "let's get you patched up proper, now." They floated up the ladder toward the medical bay, leaving Burdous alone with Edgas. He just stared for a time, giving Edgas that intense considering look.

"Nicely done," he said flatly, then floated up the ladder.

Edgas sat and thought, still covered in a sheen of sweat. His heart had finally stopped pounding. Exhausted as he was, he didn't notice the small canister of Goo peeking out of the other suit. It was glowing.

Edited February 7, 2018 by CatastrophicFailure

[Ethanadams]

dont think I didn't notice the bible reference In there

great chapter going close to jool eh? Sound risky

[teepee2345]

He is going to be captured by the kraken

i don't mean to be rude when I say this but I kinda saw this coming

let the record show your prediction was wrong.

[Windspren]

The Goo glows again!

[teepee2345]

the goo must the Kracken's presence

[KSK]

Gigacraps are an inspired unit!