"Ah, it seems someone isn't fully in the dark on what a bicycle was." Michelle nods with approval at the rapid construction. "My foray outside will wait; I'd like to monitor this expedition from back here. They seem to need you, Isaacsohn. Getting popular, are you?" She leaves him to exit as she sets the sensors to follow the crew.
After hauling on the EVA suit again, Jack maneuvers the disassembled trike out of the airlock, taking several trips to do so. Reassembling it outside while wearing the heavy gloves of the suit proves as difficult as he had expected.
Fortunately Jack had anticipated that problem and deliberately designed the modular fittings with extra large bolts for ease of use while wearing EVA gloves. Stepping back after a few minutes and replacing his tools on the belt at his waist, he nods in satisfaction and turns to Edmund. "Well it's all yours, matey. Just take it easy at first, and if you see any hitch-hikers don't stop to pick them up."
"Right, guess I'll take a few turns 'round the ship, stay in range o' the sensors and whatnot" Once the Electric tricycle-thinger is reassembled Edmund will carefully seat himself and begin pedaling slowly around one side of the escape pod. Once he feels confident that the machine is in working order he'll speed up feeling somewhat relaxed to be using a piece of technology he understands for once.
"Hehe! This is just like them Delta 7 scooters we used fer scoutin' missions in the Halopine mountains back in the Cassian civil unrest period. Very few bullets, lots o' Chlorine gas! This is a rather smooth ride tho, yer quite the craftsman there Jack! Top of yer class I'll betcha?"
After rambling somewhat Edmund will dismount the vehicle and gesture for anyone else who'd want to try it. He would have pedaled the whole time to try and charge up the electric battery/capacitors.
"So, think we can hook some sorta wagon up to this here thing and collect some salvage withit? 'course we'd need to do a bit of mid-range explorin' first!"
"I'll continue to monitor life support and stress levels from the pod, then. Good luck out there, ladies and gentlemen. I will come with you when we start moving towards the cryostasis pods."
Leaving the details of life and death to the doctor, Williams focused like a laser on the environment's impact to the trike and vice versa. Perhaps we can survive long enough for a rescue yet, she dared to hope.
"Since it has Edmund's seal of approval, I'll start fabricating another one, since I doubt anyone wants to go haring off towards the horizon around here alone." Although no-one can see his face behind the face shield of the EVA suit, Jack is smiling to himself, pleased that Edmund is so enthusiastic about the archaic and make-shift piece of transport.
"We should be able to hook up a very small trailer to it too, as Edmund says, however that will drain the battery on the little motor, requiring the rider to pedal more frequently." He turns to head back inside, ready to start making the electro-trike mark two. "And I was thinking we could just call it a jitney. Less of a mouthful than 'electric power-assisted short range mountain tricycle' anyway."
Well done Mr. Royce. This is just the kind of innovation we're gunna need to survive down here.
Think you can knock out a few more of these so we can send out a ranging party? I'm certainly willin' to lend a hand.
@Edmund and Williams: The Space-Trike (until an official name is coined) works perfectly. Gravity on the planet seems thankfully normal, though slightly heavier, but not enough to make a difference. (no penalties stat wise.) As far as the surface goes, it's hard rock but some fine dust leaves a trail.
Jack will head back inside and begin fabricating a second trike, plus a small, very light trailer for each.
Making these will take him the rest of the day and probably all night, if not longer, but unless there's an emergency, Jack will concentrate on finishing construction first.
Dr. Chronis continues to observe the crew's life signs from the pod, provided that their suits are fully operational in that regard.
"Everything looks good from here. There doesn't seem to be any averse effects from gravity change or atmospheric pressure."
The crust composition seems stable, and with tolerable gravity, we could found a structure if need be. Those were more permanent ideas though; right now, Williams kept on eye on the temporary event taking place, monitoring the tricycle as it moved. Let's see what they find.
Gunny shuffles in with the rest of the gun bunnys and returns to a console near Micaiah. I'm going to see about drafting up some base programming for some more VALKyRIEs. Think you can give me a hand designing some hardware at some point? When we've got some more supplies, I'd like to see about handing the ladies out to Mister Royce, Oschia and Hayes. Couldn't hurt us to coordinate a bit more easily, eh?
Couldn't hurt us to coordinate a bit more easily, eh?
"A capital idea, Mister Isaacsohn." They would need to work in sync to maximize their chances for survival. Taking her own advice, she grabbed the sensor instrument she meant to use outside before the idea with the new vehicles took precedence and walked over to Edmund. "I have a favor to ask of you, Mister Oschia, if you don't mind. I've noticed when you ride those tricycles, a trail of ground crust is left in your path. If you wouldn't mind taking a bit of that powder and running it across this strip at the top here, I'd appreciate it; the device will tell us a good deal about this world's substances." She'd already locked the instrument to function only for that task, childproofing it a bit. Though not suspecting him of foul play, Edmund's language regarding technology so far made it seem a safe maneuver.
"Eh, I think I could manage that. Dun seem too trickeh o' a task." Edmund daintily accepts the handheld sensor from Michelle while he refills the oxygen supply for his suit and recharges its electrical components. The instant the EVA suit is ready Edmund will slip it back on with help from someone willing to tighten some straps and pull shut some zips.
"Righ' so just run some o' the powder from the Jitery? What'd he call it? Jatknee? Whatev'r it is, I take some o' the dust from the trail, right?" Edmund sets about his simple task outside while the engineers toil away at constructing more trikes inside the pod, all the while he keeps his senses honed on the seemingly deserted planet around him, constantly pausing to ensure that Michelle and those inside are the only ones watching him.
Having worked all night to complete another trike and fabricate some simple two-wheeled trailers to attach to them, Jack will call in the military members of Watch 27 and present the finished vehicles to them.
"Alright gentlemen, they're all yours. There's only two of them for now, but I think it'd be wise for at least one of you to remain with the pod, just in case we need a skilled soldier present. Up to you of course, but if all three of you want to go haring off, you'll have to wait for me to catch up on some beauty sleep before I'll be able to make a third trike."
Yawning and blearily rubbing his blackened eyes, he says "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a bunk somewhere around here I need to introduce myself to." Jack stumbles up the companionway to get a bite of food and some much needed rest.
We could all use some rest at this point, I think. I think it's worth waiting another day to have a third Jitney. The last word comes out almost as a question. He's still not sure on the name or it's origin, but an inventor should be able to name his invention.
Same watches as last night. Miss Aden, you're with me to kick things off. Everyone else, you've got 8 hours to rest, with a 2 hour watch in there somewhere. Try not to strain yourselves, but don't fall asleep either.
"Quite right, Mr. Oschia. Simple as can be."
Out of immediate danger, Michelle began to become a bit more relaxed. Still alert, her paranoia waned to a more reasonable level (for her, anyway). That Jack is rather handy with his constructions, she noticed. Later during their watch, she told him so.
"You erected those vehicles with remarkable speed. Have you ridden one before? Doubly impressive if you haven't."
Jack is still tired from lack of sleep, and paying more attention to staying awake while on watch than engaging in conversation with Doc Williams. "Hmm? Oh, those things. My mates and I made something similar out of bits of old motorcycles and other scrap scavenged from a garbage dump near the airfield where we got stuck during my squadron's last deployment with the peacekeeping forces. Made it easier to get around the base quickly. The jeeps that were supposed to have come with us were sabotaged and destroyed before reaching us, so we had to cobble together whatever we could out of local resources for base transport. All I really did here was use a pedal-powered dynamo as a booster for the electric motor, rather than a petrol engine."
He yawns hugely and rubs his eyes. "And since Gunny Isaacsohn wants a third jitney, I get to do it all over again as soon as this watch finishes. No rest for the wicked, eh?" Jack pauses again, then blinks to clear his eyes. "Mind you, the three jitneys and the trailers will have used up about a fifth of our available materials for construction by the time I'm done. Guess I'd better think about short-listing and prioritizing materials for our muscle-bound friends to salvage while they're tearing about the surface. Hopefully we can start stockpiling enough bits and bobs to build a rover and some permanent shelters, assuming we can find enough salvage before anything else goes wrong, that is..."
He rubs his face again and sits back up, tapping the screen of the console in front of him to bring it back to life, and starts sorting through the pod's remaining inventory to see what materials were needed, and what might be salvaged from any pieces of wreckage from the Avalon the others might find while exploring.
"Yeh, I didn' ev'n know we had 'nuf materials to make anythin' like these. Once the last bit o' work is done with I'll be ready to make the trip. Meanwhile I'll jus' fiddle through our food stocks. Mayhap I can throw together a tasty meal before we head out inta the vast dusteh unknown!"
Edmund retreats from the planning and discussion once the decision has been made to construct a third and final Jitney before the expedition is launched. Having worked many different odd jobs throughout his life, Edmund once spent a summer working as a garde manger worker at a resort for the obscenely wealthy. He'll spend an hour or two working through the dried food for fruits and vegetables to try and put together some semblance of a quality salad they can all share. It likely won't be gourmet quality but I'm sure he hasn't forgotten everything about cooking!
"Aha! Not bad er... I think. Haven' tasted it yet but, I thought maybe we all could eat together ye know, before the three o' us split to take a look at that mystery beacon! Eat up!"
@Williams: The soil has trace elements similar to earth like rocks, but some materials are unidentifiable.
"If there are enough resources to make a fourth, go ahead. I should like to accompany you all when we go to investigate the cryopod signal. It's possible anyone inside might need immediate medical assistance."
Rolling his eyes upwards at the overhead bulkhead of the pod, but smiling wryly nevertheless at Chronis' statement, Jack lets out a sigh.
"Sure Doc, why not? Perhaps I'll just start an assembly line and go into full production. If we can ship them back to Terra Prime, I think jitneys will be all the rage in Davillien this summer, don't you? After all, it's not as though we have to husband our remaining resources or anything..."
Realizing that his sarcasm is probably lost on the old scientist, Jack crosses off another bin of components from his inventory, and gets to work that day on not one, but two more jitneys...
Still muttering to himself, <I hope we can salvage some of the components in these things once we have recovered enough material to build an actual rover. Of course by then they'll be demanding GEV limos with full wet-bars...>
The Cryopods are some twenty miles away, eh? I think we might need to wait for something a bit heftier than a trike before making that trek. We should probably hold off until we've got a rover of some sort. These hills are going to be hell in a pedal powered vehicle.
As Jack heads back to the workshop, the Gunny follows. I don't know much about soldering circuits or boards, but I can weld and bolt well enough to lend a hand, I think.
"If you think that's best," Dr. Chronis says, stroking his beard. "I am honestly completely out of my element when it comes to nonmedical technology."
Thinking the undefined readings on the scanner were a result of some malfunction, Williams didn't think much of it as she let sleep take her. In the morning, however, she went through the records again. Everything else seemed to be in order with the elements recorded, but the anomolies were still present. How could this be? There were a few substances which would yield such a reading, but none should be able to exist at this temperature and pressure.
Regarding the unknowns, what is the proportion of such material to the defined substances? Can anything about them be determined - such as electronegativity, acidity, or hardness?
@Dr. Williams: Mostly Calcite: CaCO3 but there are definitely unknown elements in there. And it's mainly unknown material.
@Gunny: Structural is usually for buildings, but I'll allow it. The 3rd and 4th Jitney will be done by the end of the day.
The signals are still strong. As the day passes though, the sensors read an increase in temperature and around noon (well, the time when the star in this planet's sky is at its zenith), the temperatures begin rising dramatically, rising every couple of seconds. Thankfully the shelter seems to be able to take the heat, and just around 1 hour past noon, the temperatures have reached over 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyone looking through the sensors sees an unbelievable sight.
A burning blue arc of fire sears across the sky, covering most of it in a fiery cerulean haze. As it passes, the foggy sulfur atmosphere seems to have dissipated and a clear view of the sky, a pale beige, can be seen, the sun shining above.
Minutes later, the temperature drops back down to the normal levels.
With temperatures like these, we'll definitely need to be keeping shelter preserved with priority. They wouldn't stand a chance otherwise.
"Are the rest of you seeing this line of energy?!" Williams astoundingly asks of the rest of the crew present. With the right chemical conditions, that arc could be akin to lightning on this world though - particularly with the temperature drop soon thereafter. Perhaps interference from the star as the atmosphere dispersed? The easiest way to test her hypothesis would be to see if it happened again during similar conditions - which is what she intended to do.
The chemical readout bothered her the most though. Mostly unknown? preposterous, yet here it was. The calcite acted as a calibration check for her systems, so she couldn't discount that. No hydrogen or nitrogen though. Troubling. They would need to salvage what they could from the wreckage to survive then - there would be no synthesizing food or water here.
Dr. Chronis turns towards the monitors as Dr. Williams points out the line of energy. "How... beautiful. Excellent observation, Dr. Williams. Do we have any readings on it? From atmospheric monitors?"
I'm seein' it Ma'am. I'm just ahrd pressed to believe it.
When the "storm" is over, the Gunny moves from the workspace to what has become the main social area again. Arright, I'm about as lost as a ball in tall grass. What the Hell was that?
[ooc] Still here boss.[/b]
"I'm still aggregating the data from the different sensors. Know if that was a powerful enough energy fluctuation though, doctor, the readings we get might not be as reliable as they could be."
Any EM spectrum information from the ship? That should at least be solid data.
As the day passes, the temperature finally returns to normal. By calculations and assessment the phenomena looks to be this planet's equivalent of thunder and lightning.
The four jitneys are constructed and ready in the airlock, as are the trailers.
The signals of the nearby locations beep, calling forth the brave and the bold.
"Bolter's Jitney service is now boarding at airlock one. All aboard who are going aboard!' Jack calls over the intercom to let the rest of the crew know that the trikes are ready for the first jaunt on the surface of the new planet. "Tickets are discounted today to only ten dollars each, EVA suits are complimentary, however due to limited supplies, oh-two tanks are currently restricted to one per customer. Get 'em while they're hot!"
Dr. Chronis reaches back up for the intercom as soon as Botler is off.
"What's on the menu today, Bolter? The ridge or the cryostasis pods?"
"The pods are the priority I'd suggest, Doc. If the wreckage still has a functioning beacon, then we have to go check to see if any of the crew who were in stasis made it through intact. Even if they did, with the wreckage now down on the surface, and no-one to to do repairs like we had to with the escape pod, it's unlikely the stasis pods will keep functioning for all that long."
"Agreed. Very well. Let me get in one of these suits then."
Allen gets ready to depart, checks on his equipment and takes some extra ammo that Gunny had got when leaving the ship. "Alright boys, let's roll out. Let's see what awaits us on this planet."
EN ROUTE TO THE STASIS PODS
As you make your way across the rocky fields, an hour in you spot a promontory in the distance. Its location is higher and would give a good view all around.
You needn't head there right away, but it might give a good look around as well as perhaps make for a good HQ location.
"Interesting. We could build here. Would give us a good view of the area. Anyone have a beacon, or something we can tag the area with?"
Gunny rides along, quiet and contemplative. He reads as much information on these pods as he can find, doubtful that a leg powered vehicle can actually haul one twenty miles over rough terrain.
Hopefully we find something helpful at the pods.
Some dark part of the Gunny's mind is even hoping that one of the pods has failed so they can at least bring some scrap metal with them.
Absently, Gunny checks the rifle he grabbed from his cache on the escape pod. Hopefully there'd be no need to use it.
@Gunny: From what you can read up on, the pods themselves would barely fit in one trailer. However, there's bound to be wreckage in any case, and for the most part the pods should be intact and the people inside should be able to be awakened on site.
Keeping an eye on the atmospheric readings, Dr. Williams makes sure to look for any signs of a repeat "storm" and alert the crew if there is.
Having saddled up and headed out with Chronis & Jack, Edmund breaks his train of silence after about an hour of riding.
"So, shouldn' be much farther now eh? What're our plans once we get there? Sure as hell can't cart all them cryo-folks back to the pod. Do they have EVA suits so we can awaken 'em on the spot or some stuff likit?"
Pedaling or coasting along Edmund will occasionally pause to use his range-finding binoculars in an attempt to guage the remaining distance to the crash site and to survey the surroundings with more acuity.