Bay 12 Games Forum

Anyways, lets head for minimus.

Why Minmus and not Mun? Seems like that would be tougher. Just curious.

I'm sad.



And this, after weeks of trying to get the bastard safely out of orbit.

I am no longer tired enough to think that 1101-1018=-17, Bay12 works, and I have free time, so let's get this party started.

927 kilometers apart. 828 kilometers exact. Six hours, a day, passes. 722 klicks. 609. 491. 369. 244. I burn a bit at periapsis to reduce the apoapsis, hopefully letting us get a closer final encounter distance with Jeb. 145 klicks. Nine hours, two days and a night back at KSSC. 46 kilometers, probably as close as we'll get. Next one's a bit over 55, so I'm correct. Manley suggests burning some to decrease the distance, but I'm a bit fuzzy on how all that would work so...let's just rendezvous.

Our relative velocity is about 151 m/s and dropping fast. I reduce our relative velocities to about 23 m/s, turn towards Jeb (a bit over 43 kilometers away), and burn to a velocity of exactly 47 meters per second. I spin around, watching Jeb and hoping things are working out. I have a very eccentric orbit, apoapsis around 126 kilometers and periapsis (thankfully most of the orbit away) at 34 kilometers. Once we rendezvous, even if we run out of fuel (not impossible), we should end up falling back to Kerbin.

I watch the distant dot slowly approach.


_{Pretty picture, ain't it?}

35...34.9...35, time to get better acceleration. I get the distance going back down and wait. At 34.5, it hits another trough. I get another nice, long burn at Jeb, then wait. Another trough at 33.9. Hell. I get another burn.

The sun's rising, Jeb's getting closer, and things are looking up.


<sub>I could get Jeb tonight. I really could.

And I can think of several people who are glad about this.

...Taking a while though, isn't it?

Aw, crap.</sub>

And I fall into atmosphere. Thankfully, with a periapsis under 54 kilometers, it's unlikely that we'll come out of the atmosphere before we decay into a landing. Jeb tries jetting towards us, but that never works.

We fire the rockets retrograde to accelerate our landing (important for reasons that should eventually become clear, since you can only control one "craft" at once). This actually brings us closer to Jeb; our closest approach is right at 10 kilometers.

The parachutes deploy, throwing the craft off-balance.


<sub>Archibald, having run through the Space Tea supply hours ago, realizing that the landing legs are not going to cushion his landing in the slightest.

Why he is concerned. Note the lack of nice, soft water.

...Better.

Um.</sub>

We get some data from the highlands.


_Whoo.

Some strange news comes back...

---

No. No. NO! Not again! It's so close. Just twenty-four fucking kilometers. So close.


_{Maybe I should read up on those transfer orbits...}

I'm not just sitting by, watching my salvation fall away again. I can't.

We're still drifting together, but some nice EVA propellant will just help matters. But then I lose control (the camera view's going wonky and won't let me point Jeb where he needs to go) and have to change tactics...but it works.


_{Dammit KSP, why do you make EVA so tough?}

We drift closer and closer. We dip just below 21 klicks of separation...then we start drifting apart. I can't point myself at the spacecraft anymore...


_{He never even saw his "savior" ship.}

I guess it's time to just wait and...


_Oh.

...or not.
Well then. Death or safety is coming in an eighth of an hour.
Hopefully safety.

The rescue rocket fires its rockets, separates the lander, gets within ten klicks of me. I want to try jetting over but...can't. Well, maybe I'll be able to use the EVAP to slow my fall? Probably not, but still...I'm not going to use my jetpack until then, no matter how much I spin.

I drift downwards to about 39 kilometers before rising again, momentum defeating air resistance for now. The sun sets as I spin around Kerbin, covering vast distances. Will this be my final night? Will I ever again see the light of day?
Well, at this rate I'm probably going to orbit another time first, but hey who knows?
I need to watch the night sky. It may be the last I see of such beauty...


_{Well, not from this picture in specific I guess.}

I reach space again.


_Technically.

A few more minutes spent in the heavens before crashing back to Kerbin.


<sub>A sunrise...my last?

I can see the Space Science Center and its flags...will I ever see it again?

And so I fall.</sub>

I fall back into the atmosphere, watching the world whirl past. I'm over the ocean now; I hope that's where I land. Better chance of me surviving, and if I die at least there'll be legends about me for decades. If I must die, I'd rather be the kerbonaut that mysteriously disappeared than the one who splatted into someone's hut or something.


_{"Where is the Lost Kerbonaut? Learn the truth! Tonight at four."}

Munrise. Perhaps the last rise I'll see. All ahead is falling.


_Poetic.

Thirty thousand kilometers, and two unpleasant facts are becoming increasingly obvious.


_{One: I'm over land, and won't land on water. Two: I'm heating up, and might not land at all.}

What do the people below me see?


<sub>Well, it's probably awesome, whatever it is.

And getting awesomer, it seems.</sub>

I slow, remarkably still alive. I look around, see where I'll land.


_{...Looks...friendly...}

When do I start firing the propellant? Each hundredth of a unit takes, what, a second or two to go through? I had...338*1.5...about five hundred seconds of fuel. I got a hundred or two hundred meters a second, so probably five kilometers. Which I've passed. Shit, I hope it isn't too late.
Recounting...probably two hundredths per second. Which means a hundred sixty seconds with three and a quarter units, or a bit over two kilometers. Oops. Well, not far to fall to correct my "mistake".

Well, the ground's coming up pretty--

Why "waste" the chance? Because each non-smith we recruit will bring their own set of skills, skills we completely lack and yet which are important to making a town.

If we need to think about making money, we should leave Al first. He is going to get resources. Goombess can do research, but to do that she needs resources. So better leave Al down here.

+1

And you want to go further down?
Actually...that might be useful. If we don't get stuck.

"Who are you? Or, who were you?"

...What tube? The tube which is on DL3, or some other tube?