2020-05-31
Where the heck am I?! This is not my farm. Woke up in a cell. Met Gussie, Dub, Yong, and an Alien who we aren’t really able to communicate with. We broke out, and have been exploring. Lot of Dead giant starfish. Control room that’s way too hot, and what might be a blue sun. Met Emory, and then a not-actually-dead starfish hurt him enough with something like a taser that we ended up freezing him. We smothered a fire, and got up a level, but we still haven’t figured out how to read the language here, or how to get wherever we are away from the hot sun. There are also ominous noises from above.
Desk contains:
Leather pouch, ~12” long, opens on short end -with rolls of cotton-ish material -Candle -Nippers -Sand -Ball point pen -Fountain pen -Quill pen -Tweezers -Needle nose pliers -Hemostat
1 12” spring from chaise (there are three more) Leg from disassembled chair
2020-06-07
Robot? Pneumatic control systems? 3 containers of water
Kekahuna - crablike being (her) -Historian; history of Bheln royalty and religion
Small furry being - name is a gesture.
Space Station - Freeport:
34 - hotel
Dorothy, young receptionist at hotel James, brother of Dorothy, works at docking authority Arlene, mother of Dorothy & James
Molub, race that believes in order? -strong believers in first rights -Carnivores
Precis: We found a robot (pneumatic powered?); it eventually managed to learn English and Bheln, and we found out Kekahuna’s name. Salvaged food and water, and left via escape pod. With the robot’s assistance we got enough info on the pod to realize we couldn’t get very far, but that we could dock with the space station the ship we escaped from was docked to. There are humans here! They sound like they’re from Australia. Apparently the station’s light-engines are not functioning correctly, although the sub-lights are. One of the local stars has had a spectrum change recently. I was hoping to help fix the engines, but I’m going to have to learn some more first; they’re using DC for everything! Earth is 800 light-years away. We’re going to be here for a while. I hope someone took care of my sheep.
2020-06-14
Going to check out the Waste reclamation floors (52-3 E); Marvin, an older adventurer, is guiding us.
Strange races: -Shup (Jellyfish, speak Aussie English): iridescent. -Ottocon (Ever-lasting gobstoppers, pipe cleaners) iridescent -Crov (Rolls of Barbed wire with saw blades and lights, from crov IV). Met them in the waste reclamation floor. Inorganic, animate. Tinny speaker voice. About 1 meter tall. -Dezri (Starfish people) -Bheln (Crab-biped) -Gellefrug: jumpers, skinny, smell like citrus (kind of like blue lemon). Run a restaurant on 40 E. Frog-like, moist, blue. -Zeld: -Sinan: unfriendly? Don’t think like humans. -Durgoo: ? -Lusil, look like 18” tall humans. They walk very heavy for something that size.
Marvin took us to a restaurant on 40E run by Gellefrug.
We continued up toward our escape pod, and were attacked by three Dezri and a durgoo. Marvin lent us some coins for the elevator, and then took the durgoo somewhere.
Other survivors: Bettina (German, 2016), Celena (Swedish, 2016)
I am having to learn all the new ingredients here; I’m trying to help in the hotel kitchen, earn our keep a bit.
Station negotiations start: Dezri (some are less horrible), Dell,Crov, Gellefrug, Ottocon, Shup, Shvoni, Humans. Two Lusil show up a couple days into the negotiations. They handed off some heavy metal salts to be added to their food ONLY.
Precis: We decided to check out the Waste Reclamation floors to see what sorts of materials there might be available here. We met an older guy, Marvin, who was willing to play tour guide for us. We went through the local market place before heading to 52-53E. We met the Crov who work in Waste Reclamation; they are a little scary, very sharp looking. After that Marvin took us to a Gellefrug restaurant on 40E. We decided to retrieve our food stores from the escape pod, but were attacked by some Dezri and a Durgoo on the way. Gussie and Dub were hurt badly, but we were able to subdue them. Martin said he’d take care of things, and lent us the currency to use the elevator to get back to the Hotel. While Gussie and Dub recover, I’m learning how ingredients are different here, and working in the hotel kitchen to earn our keep a bit. At least the techniques I know transfer ok, even if I have to remember a whole new set of “how should this be cooked.” There’s some diplomatic thing going on, and the Lusil gave me some heavy metal seasoning to put in their food (it’s toxic to everyone else). We did meet a couple other survivors from the ship; Celena is Swedish, and Bettina is German. Maybe Bettina would like to help me practice the language?
2020-06-21
Hotel, approx 0.56g. West wing of station is a hydrogen-based atmosphere (H2).
Celena (5’1”) is teaching me the beginnings of krav maga. She was a model, and seems fairly unfazed by things out here.
James has a small ship (slightly larger than our escape pod) in dry dock. Was originally for a species shorter than humans, James is removing every other deck. We are helping with the overhaul. I made a van de graf generator as part of overhauling the environmental system. Ship holds about 5 crew when done.
The big ship/spacestation that houses the hotel is over 4km long. There are many other ships attached to the outside. I went back to help out with the engines. One of the 2 Lus that I met is here to help diagnose the engine problems. Amar (De/Dis, Doer). Lus are a scattered species, their world was killed by a gamma ray burst. Most of them are sterile. Kukuri created the ship/spacestation. The spacestation now needs a bigger jump-gate because of all the smaller ships accreted to the outside. It is powered by a radioactive organic reaction.
Day 10: mystery ship comes into system and orbits Rigel A.
Council meeting the night before intended jump. Planned destination is Molub 2, 150 Lightyears away. Jump takes days, we are at 0G for the transit. I am having fun getting comfortable maneuvering in 0G.
Plove, look like 6 legged hippos. Hang out with the livestock.
Gussie organized a play of our abduction and escape. We all got involved, so did a bunch of other people including a couple Dezri who are… not awful. We earned about 100 units of money each.
I have very full days. Early morning shift at the hotel, a full day learning from Amar and helping oversee the engines, and evening shift at the hotel, and then play rehearsal.
12 race live on the ship/station: -Crov -Lus (only 2) -Humans -Gellefrug -Draylen: look like the plants in Mario Bros game. Occasionally breathe flame. They live in the West wing. Sometimes come down to the Hotel area, some use encounter suits, some do not. Do not seem to communicate verbally? -Neuphthwn: west wing, prefer H2 atmosphere. Very flammable. Plant-like. Blimp-like. No sense of personal space. -Plove: 6-legged hippo-ish, surly, speak a little Chinese. -Ottocon: very good mimics (unnervingly good), can produce light. -Bheln: crab-like biped -Shup: - Molub are terrifying. Resemble gorillas with a giant mouth between their shoulders, big teeth, stocky. Not quite an upright as humans, bilaterally symmetrical. They really like their naps.
We are welcome to join the Gellefrug on the ex-Dezri ship when it is ready.
We visit Molub 2, since we’re here. Evening activities are: eating, sleeping (post-dinner nap), and dancing. Meal is meat heavy, but still omnivorous.
Lus bring the news that the Mystery ship from Rigel A followed us. Also that Rigel A will go Supernova very soon.
Dub instigated a trip to “whatever the Molub are most proud of” on their world. They took us to something like the grand canyon, but is a ruined city. They keep it to remind themselves why they don’t live this way anymore. Most of their world is now forested. Molub are very territorial, they have a lot of rules for themselves to channel those tendencies into, because for them conflict is usually lethal. Molub categorize beings as “Us, Enemies, or Prey.” -The second destination is a university. There are multiple races here. Lil offers to be an instructor there.
Illiayn (mind-control species) homeworld is only a couple weeks travel away.
$40 of gears, molub rocks, wire, sheet metal, and book on Molub art. $10 of electronics parts. Shared mechanic tool kit 3 personal radios, will not reach through bulkheads.
Precis, 2020-06-21: Celena is teaching me a little Krav Maga, We helped James overhaul his small ship, and the Gellefrug with the Dezri ship they’ve taken over (we’ve been offered a place there if we want). I went back to help with the station-ship’s engines, and Amar (one of the Lus) has been teaching me some of the things I didn’t understand about engineering here. The Station-ship jumped to Molub 2; we were in 0G for the days it took to transit. That took some getting used to, but had some fun aspects. Gussie organized a play telling of our abduction and escape; working on that made my days even longer, but the station residents enjoyed it, and we earned some spending money. We played tourist on Molub 2, and spent some money at their hardware/craft store equivalents. I also got some clothes that are better for me.
2020-06-28
Station-ship needs repairs before it can safely go anywhere else.
Hitching a ride on a Molub fast-courier which is checking out the mystery ship. -Molub crew: Horous, Stoyer, Gulsivig, -Mystery ship: standard config Desri ship. It shot drones that look like wasps at us. The drone we captured has a skirrit pilot. This means the ship was certainly actually iliayan. Some of the Otocon from Freeport think they can break the Iliyan control of the Skirrit.
Another human ship has arrived at Freeport. Full of escapees (from a different cruise ship), and there are still more humans that have not escaped from the Dezri. Most of this group are from India and China from 2014; only a some speak English. -There is another large space station (different design form Freeport), currently near Deneb (2 months travel away), which has a small pocket of Humans (50ish). Those humans gave these refugees the coordinates for Molub 2.
Dub and I will make a combined $2600/week working on the station upgrades. Which means we can start paying off our hotel tab, and station fee, and Molub transport fees. Just me for two weeks is ~1700/week. -four weeks: $8600 -Week 5-7: 5100 Living expenses are ~$600/month/person.
Me: 8 weeks = 13,600 ; -1200 for living expenses = 12,400 - 5000 (farm share) = 7,400
Critters: -Dangon: little molub-like fiber beasts, edible but only just. Raised for Dangon fiber. Herd, can start with a few. $300 each. -Dakoob: look like Planaria, 6’x2’, worm-like. 90% meat, scavengers, crawl and cling. Zero-gee-able, but you have to keep them contained. smelly. Herd of 20. ($600 each)
Set up farm-ish with ~25 other beings. Dangon get on with the goats, and are ok in 0G. 5000k of my personal money for a share in the farm.
Plov are naturally belligerent, I’m getting to know the two who are part of the farm collective.
week 9: taking a break from the farm (other than social visits) to help Dub find a suitable place to grow coffee. week 10:
Precis: We went out with the Molub to check out the mystery ship. It was Desri, and we recovered a Skirrit from a drone they shot out. A (nearly gutted) Desri ship crewed by Humans (Chinese and Indian from 2014) arrived at Freeport. I have been working on Station upgrades, and am starting a Dangon and Dakoob farm with some of the new humans, and a couple Plove, as part of the goat farm run by the Gellefrug. We have hired a Crov to guard the Dakoob against escapes. I’m looking forward to see what can be done with Dangon fiber. I’m also looking into growing coffee for Dub. It looks like we’ll have to go hydroponic for it; turns out Molub 2 has some metals that we can’t tolerate long term without taking a chelating agent.
2020-07-12
Week 18: Hydroponics is on level 5. I’m spending time there for the coffee project. First go round results in 10 plants.
Celena called a meeting. -▪-Updating us on the Desri situation on the station (10% sympathetic to Humans, 10% probable agents, 80% meh). -▪-What is/are Athacos? (People, species, profession?)
The Dangons have proliferated. Probably need to cull soon. export meat back to Mollub, tan hides?
Gussie has organized an exploration expedition of the Station. -61: human living quarters, a few Ottocon. Little Freemarket. -70: is the water floor (storage). Sealed and flooded. -71: grey water storage. -72: small village; Carol is considering this floor for the slaughterhouse. Plov go here when not with livestock. -73: Livestock areas: Goats, Dangons -74: Livestock area: Dakoob -75: Door is blocked and cold. (There may be a problem with this floor. no one want to force the door) -76: dumping ground? -77: Instant headache when second door (of three) opens. Bad sound outside perception range? -78-80: ~0.7G here. Door is busted, half open. Smells organic? Like a marsh/garbage dump; salt water marsh, with plants and animal smell. In the jungle smells like …. There’s a bunch of critters, chipmunk-sized somethings, chicken-like birds (aggressive). The pseudo-chickens attacked us… from all sides. Four wings, 2 vicious claws, beaked, the size of a medium chicken, odd feathers. We have a sample of two (1 stunned and trussed, 1 dead). Gellefrug call it a Yuvilee. “You’ve got three chickens in the air” Also a bat-like critter.
Gellefrug will experiment with the dead Yuvilee to see if it’s edible. We gave the stunned Yuvilee to the Crov to hunt. Arlene know about floor 78, thinks it might have been from a previous human colony. James had a similar headache experience with floor 77.
Week 19:
Between Engineering (which pays well), and the Farm (which can always use more work) I am very busy.
New ship visiting. Belongs to the Harn, who do not like gravity.
I have toured a Molub tannery to learn techniques to potentially adapt for use with the Dangon. Need to find a substitute, possibly used tea leaves?
Murder chickens are from Deneb IV, colony of humans there. 0.4G there. Floor was inhabited by French speakers. Found their cache of Cadbury Choc bars, euro-spec pre-EU.
Am building a small terrarium to trial the kudzu-ish vine from the Yuvilee habitat. Am hoping that either the Dangon can eat it, or that it isn’t massively invasive and I can use it as a substrate to grow grass and other grain.
Week 20:
Station holds a vote about whether to move on.
Mollub have made the decision to look into moving to a new planet since a nearby star will be going supernova relatively soon.
$20k to stock up for the farm. Feed for the Dangon, seeds for their accustomed food.
Ship prepares for jump. 1/3 Gellefrug, and about 20 of the new humans, stay behind in the Desri ship they are overhauling.
two retro-thrusters failed to stop the ship from spinning, I spend two days doing EVAs to try to fix it.
Murder chickens are perfectly edible. Hard to domesticate. pseudo-chipmunks are edible, but not worth it. Bat-like things are poisonous.
Precis: I’ve started trying to grow Dub’s hydroponic coffee; about 40% success rate, ten plants so far. Between farming, and doing engineering work on the station, I am quite busy. Celena ran across a word none of us know, Athacos; seems to refer to people, but not sure if it’s a noun or an adjective, we should keep our ears open. Gussie organized us to explore the station a bit more. Floor 77 gave me a splitting headache. Floors 78-80 have a swampy habitat with Yuvilee (aka murder chickens); they have claws, four-wings, and are aggressive. Turns out they are also good to eat. We went back another day and found evidence of French-speakers having lived there at one point (probably from the Deneb IV colony, since that’s what this habitat is emulating). The Dangon and the Dakoob have proliferated enough for us to cull some. The Gellefrug are going to try cooking the Dangon, and I’m going to try to do something with their hides. The Mollub let me tour a tannery, and I may be able to adapt their methods. The farm has stocked up on feed for our animals, and seed to grow more. I’m experimenting with the Deneb Kudzu to see if it can be used for a substrate; alternately, can our Mollub livestock eat the Denebian flora? Ship is travelling in the general direction of Deneb IV. Some of the Gellefrug and twenty of the new humans stayed in orbit around Mollub II in the ex-Desri ship they are overhauling.
2020-07-19
Received dispatch: They’ve escaped, meet me at 74. Dub and Gussie went with me. Two clutches of Dakoob escaped. We managed to box up most of the clutch that stayed in the walls on 74; minor injuries. The other clutch made it to up 73. The Gellefrug and Plov were not happy, but had already started wrangling them by the time we arrived. Got them mostly boxed also. The damages 4K, 8K upgrades
Binary system: white main sequence, and a dimmer star. gas giant little rock balls
Gussie and Dub went out with the prospectors. I am upgrading the Dakoob habitat to be less escapable. Dralin would be interested in hunting/eating any future escapees.
Gussie organized us for another exploration.
81: Molub live here now (7 of them); probably had human quarters once. We set up a base camp here. 82: midden heap for 81. Rocks, old books (in French, some have diagrams and technical stuff - come back and rummage later) 83: Door is wedged 9/10 closed. I hear scuttling things on this floor. 84: Locked. After we broke in, smells of lemon antiseptic, warm cloth, and ozone. Beds, machines, all human scale. Hasn’t been touched in some years. Beds don’t look comfy, hard vinyl (one has sheets). Arc-vapor lights, blue-ish, quite bright. Wired for 60 cycle AC, probably a generator. Generator under linens in the corner, source of the ozone; 3 phase, more than 220V, power source not obvious. Found a circuit breaker panel, label in possibly-Vietnamese. 85-92: Bheln 93: Desri 94: ? 95-6: Desri
Gussie and Dub did a lot of work and made quarters on 81.
Carefully tested a sample population of Dangon on eating the kudzu.
Gussie kluged us some helmet-mounted flashlights, and we’re going to try level 83 again. -Crates here, and knocked over shelving units. -Hexapedal metallic looking critters. They excrete wires. Possibly eat crates. -The Crov got very excited (triple red lights). -After they have been vanquished (we hope), the Crov called them Restorers. Later the Lus explain this further. -Crates are random crap; includes wine, air compressor, -There are now Crov keeping watch in case we didn’t get all the Restorers.
Scouts returned from ice giant, an 80ft blimp came up from the depths and flashed lights at them.
Long-eared grain from Molub (to feed the Dangon) has started to root for me.
Dr. Lyra has puzzled out the labels in the fridge on 84. Should be ok if it’s unpowered for a couple hours. Dub and I powered everything down, swapped in a new part, and powered it all back up. Lyra is making a list of Vietnamese labels, with Mandarin translations. About 50% of labels can’t be translated. Generator is running at 300-400 V, we think.
Now three blimps coming up from the ice giant.
Skeerit is recovering-ish.
Precis: Turns out baby Dakoob are tiny, and two clutches escaped. Lots of work to round them up, and cull the ones we couldn’t catch. They ate some of the Dangon. I *think* we’ve got it fixed up so that can’t happen again. Gussie instigated more exploring. we found some useful things (like books, and a medical floor), and less useful things, like a nest of Restorers. The Crov were able to destroy them eventually. We will keep watch in case an escaped. There are blimps ascending from the lower level of the ice giant. They’re flashing lights at the scouts, but no meaningful communication yet. To Do: Assuming that the Dangon have not shown any problems with ingesting the kudzu, start using it (along with amended soil from ore processing) to grow other crops. How is the coffee doing? Experiment with Dangon fiber and hides.
2020-07-26
[Wowra system; Neptunian system]
Have moved down to 81 with Dub and Gussie. It’s closer to the murder chickens and, more importantly the Kudzu.
We woke up to popping noises, followed by hissing and more popping. Air is getting thin. We woke the Molub, and Ottocon, and got out. Air is thin on the ramps too. The ramp up to 79 has been blocked. We proceed down, and walk into an ambush by Desri on 82. One of the Molub died. We managed to get through to the Infirmary on 84. Started to rig some air, and James showed up in a vac suit (with one spare).
This was a mass attempt by the Desri to take over. They blew charges on the outside of a lot of the airlocks simultaneously.
No one has seen Celena; she borrowed a vac suit and vanished. She reappears with a bunch of Dralen sweeping through the Desri from above, as James, Dub, the Molub & Crov sweep up toward the Gellefrug. They meet near the hotel.
Some of the Shup died, including the merchant who sold sharp things.
The Bheln craft reports back that there’s stuff (shapes) floating in the lower atmosphere of the ice giant. They think the blinking blimps maybe be space ships with beings inside; blimps have not left the atmosphere.
We get to patching up the airlocks. The animals are stressed from all the kerfuffle.
One of the teardrop Blimps comes to visit Freeport. Some of the Odocon are trying to interpret the blinking; some of the lights are not in the visible spectrum.
72: science lab manned by Theodoria (Plove).
I constructed a pair of mobiles/dioramas for Gussie; she’s working with the Odocon to communicate with the Blimps. Which turn out to contain Space Slugs (also kind of like baleen feeders).
Deneb is about 3 more jumps away. -Deneb has exhausted its H, will become a Red giant someday. Binary system, a Red dwarf star orbiting @200AU (about 4x as bright as Deneb-Prime. -Humans have settled on a planet orbiting the secondary star. It’s a bit on the warm side, but habitable. -Denebian Humans arrived in an air-craft carrier ship (holds 3000 comfortably, 10K super cramped). They left Earth in 2050, one of six ships to leave after an alien invasion (the 4th largest, from the EU). They are restocking their ship in preparation to leave when the planet gets too close to Deneb-Prime. There are about 2000 Denebian Humans; they think it’s 2080. -They have a command structure; and are into their 3rd generation. -They have the 2030 Wikipedia. -Their first jump they ended up not where they thought they would. No sign of the five other ships. They spent some time looking, and met the Molub, who pointed them at Deneb. -Their skip-space engines work rather differently than Freeport’s. They need more speed (relative to the destination) to jump, but expend less fuel in skip-space, and reach the destination sooner. - One of the ships from Earth was mixed crew from S. Korea, Vietnam, and Philippines. One giant world ship. Another ship from the EU, Norway etc.
Cross-pollination of technology.
EXP: √ freefall? more smithing (welding) √ Acquire and learn to use a bladed weapon (Bheln school): Spear, Kama (Shortsword)
Precis: 2020-07-26:
Have moved down to 81 with Dub and Gussie. It’s closer to the murder chickens and, more importantly the Kudzu. We woke up to popping noises, followed by hissing and more popping. Air is getting thin. We woke the Molub, and Odocon, and got out. Air is thin on the ramps too. The ramp up to 79 has been blocked. We went down, straight into an ambush by Desri on 82. One of the Molub died. We managed to get through to the Infirmary on 84. Started to rig some air, and James showed up in a vac suit (with one spare). This was a mass attempt by the Desri to take over the station. They blew charges on the outside of a lot of the airlocks simultaneously. No one has seen Celena; she borrowed a vac suit and vanished.
Celena reappeared with a bunch of Dralen sweeping through the Desri from above, as James, Dub, the Molub & Crov swept up toward the Gellefrug. The groups met near the hotel. Some of the Shup died, including the merchant who sold sharp things. The animals are stressed from all the kerfuffle. I helped patch up the airlocks.
One of the teardrop Blimps came to visit Freeport. Some of the Odocon are trying to interpret the blinking; not all of the lights are in the visible spectrum. I constructed a pair of mobiles/dioramas for Gussie; she’s working with the Odocon to communicate with the Blimps. Which turn out to contain Space Slugs (also kind of like baleen feeders).
We arrived at Deneb. It’s a binary system, a Red dwarf star orbiting a brighter primary. Humans have settled on a planet orbiting the secondary star; it’s a bit on the warm side, but habitable. The Denebian Humans left Earth in 2050, about 2000 of them from the EU. They are restocking their ship in preparation to leave when the planet gets too close to Deneb-Prime. They have a command structure; and are into their 3rd generation (for them it’s 2080).
2020-08-02
Deneb: Humans settled closer to the polar regions.
Gussie, Dub, Celena and I are doing an EVA to see what E75 (the cold locked floor) looks like from the outside. There was a brief hiccup when Gussie’s suit hadn’t had the scrubbers turned on; Celena caught it. -There are hairline cracks in the structure. Airlock is functional. It’s foggy inside. Suits indicate 0.2 atmosphere, and ~150 Kelvin (-120C). Large ice formations here. 4 inch burrows in the ice. Gussie shot some video.
The Denebian engineers are dubious when I tried to ask them to teach me a little about their systems. Dub introduced me to some of the Denebian cook/supply people who wanted to talk about hydroponic coffee. I did not miss sexism; some of them are ok though. -Got a tour, lower decks are just vast industrial food production (25 crops, pollinators, very little fauna). Apparently they don’t have the murder chickens; are they from elsewhere on the planet?
Try to have lunch with Denebians daily, and dinner with Gellefrug at least once a week.
The Denebian Engineers finally start to give me useful reading material. Their systems are _very_ different from Freeport’s.
The Commisar offers Dub some crop mutations. Some of the older chefs start cooking some of our Yuvilee (murder chickens), Dangon and Dakoob.
Human settlement is in a canyon in the North.
Gussie has rented a Denebian shuttle for the day; we’re going to explore Deneb a bit. Lemuel (Molub), and Gerald McClimmins (Denebian) is coming with us. Higher latitudes have oases, the equatorial region is baked. -Gussie finds a canyon that looks a bit like savannah, and Gerald takes over for the landing. It’s a rough landing, effectively nose-planted in the end. Gerald is knocked out. Strong vegetation smells, fairly nice - like temperate forest. We fashion walking sticks from fallen branches that Gussie found. -Clump of trees full of pseudo-squirrels. A swarm comes at us, and encircle us about 20 ft out. One of the “trees” follows them. It’s in a giant dish, being moved by unknown things. It starts to get dark. When we head back to the shuttle the “squirrels” follow us for a bit, then stop. I start hearing something like Yuvilee, and we hustle back to the ship.
Have traded with and bought supplies from Deneb. Need more space for hydroponic crops. During transit - No luck with coffee mutants, corn is finicky. Wheat loves the hydroponics. I’m making custom wind for the plants.
= Station is heading toward Ardra Prime (home of the Bavorans) in the Ardra system.
Trading center, binary system. Orange main sequence star orbiting a red giant (.7+.4 sol). Bavor has rings, about 50% water, and slightly over 1G. Lots of vegetation, diverse ecosytem. Atmosphere is toxic to humans; too much O2. Bavorans can tolerate human atmosphere. The Molub helped them set up a permanent spaceport.
The Bavorans speak kindra. Appearance: 3ft tall beanbags, grey skin with green undertones. They have translators for talking with other life forms. Can cling to surfaces.
Have given a tour of Engineering, and other parts of the station, to some of the Bavorans. They climb on things a lot; turns out they can feel the current in electrical things.
Bavoran art: some of it looks like weaving, but has a mild electrical current. They also have movement-related art.
Three Bavorans are joining us on Freeport.
Precis: Explored E75 a little by going in the external airlock; my first EVA. Spent some time on Deneb; Gussie arranged for us to explore by shuttle. Got some crop mutations from the Denebians, the wheat is thriving the corn less so. I’m rigging custom winds for my hydroponics plants. Freeport moved on to Bavor. The atmosphere is toxic to humans. The Bavorans are kind of like giant amoeba; they can feel electric currents. I enjoyed learning about the art, which can incorporate mild electrical current. Gave some of the Bavorans a tour of Freeport’s engineering section, and a bit of the rest of the station. Three of them may be staying on Freeport for a while.
GCS Bug: Basic Set Equipment, Surgical Instruments “Basic equipment für Surgery skill.”
2020-08-23
Ardra system is a binary; odd, in that the primary only has 2 planets: -•-Ardra -⁃-orbital ring of remains of a space station -⁃-also has some impacts points along the equator from said ring. -•-a rocky planet 2AU out with moons.
Two moderate-size Desri warships have arrived in system. Weapons are not powered up.
Bavorans have Kesdef, a pea-like plant that produces a fruit that can be used to make a caffeinated coffee-esque beverage.
Gussie instigated a trip to the touristy museum set up around some of the ring ruins on planet. Surface of the planet is cloudy most of the time. Feels like a high-UV overcast day when we visit. There are many grass-type plants.
Metal doors near pit-mine. Have some kind of markings on them (like dendrograms). Where we actually stop there are tubes (~1ft across), and central chambers (60ft tall). Bavorans found evidence that there were once beings that lived here. Main area has improved soil, but not plants. Back room has a diorama set up. Reconstructions of critters, like Lil, but smaller. There weren’t as many remains as the Bavorans expected. Tantor beans are a local treat. Boiled so the outside is gooey, but the inside is still crunchy. - probably dessert for humans. -Spice mix: Something like Szechuan pepper, something like capsaicin, piney,
Spent the night on Ardra Prime; hotel had customizable atmosphere rooms, and asked us to let them leave some plants in our room as an experiment.
Exploring City. There’s a military-esque academy (merchant marines?). Some Bavorans there are wearing a tool-holder, some have a weapon (bulb with snout, shoots needles).
Farmers Market: purchased plants: (tasty, hydroponics, zero-g) -Grain Crop -Melon-y thing -Hardy thing that the Bavorans use as ground cover, but might be food for us (purslane-ish) Bought a small supply of the roasted Kesdef for the scientists to test before I try to source the plants.
Desri ship is here to repatriate the Desri we’ve had in lockdown.
Dub and I are going to work up a minimum supply requirements for species on Freeport, and run a census of station residents. This to ensure that when the station trades, we’re getting enough food and medical supplies for everyone.
There is a Desri farmer (beekeeper?) that has asked to move closer to the farming floors.
Bheln are setting up a dojo.
Sam the Bavoran engineer (He/Him) would like tours of the jump-drive.
Freeport is getting ready to move on again. Bavoran would like to double-back to Glugny (sing. Glugnus) space.
Heading to Qui Xiu; double white dwarf system. Shepherd brown dwarf? -We jump in about Pluto-distance. -This is the home of the Harn. -Harn: loose accumulations of space debris that are sentient. -Protactinium, gold, etc. - Sam and I are building a steam engine to power the med floor. Gussie is helping with the machining.
Setting up high-O2 environment on E78 for both some of my crops from Ardra Prime, and a living space for the Bavorans. Need to construct a fence-tunnel (or something like it), to prevent accidental Yuvilee spreading.
I also have some of the Ardra crops in the regular hydroponics area for comparison.
Station moves on to Nocti. -Dimmer star, terrestrial planet. -Resource system: asteroid belt, Jovian (10x earth), Ice moons,
Station jumps to Crittica system -Brighter star -Home of the Bheln -Toxic Atmosphere (SO2) -Higher G than Earth -Ruins of an ancient civilization deep in the ocean -Dimmel also live on Bheln, Large mollusks, large carapace 3ft across (females), males are about the size of a dinner plate. Intelligent, but not curious. Males will occasionally travel. -Hot springs, welling of salty water from crust, plume in ocean.
-Art: visual art, religious art, written art (plays, musicals, books), weapons, applied art (glued to shell), worn art (bracelet, necklaces, etc), engraving (used to be a warrior thing), rebellious teens get shell piercings. -Coloring book of the coats of arms, history, pop-up -Will purchase some shiny stones, etc to play with for jewelry purposes.
Precis 2020-08-23: We visited a Bavoran museum centered on some of the tech-ring ruins, and tried some of the local food. Tantor beans are gooey and crunchy at the same time. They have a spice mix that's a bit like piney Szechuan pepper. Kesdef makes a caffeinated beverage. I bought some plants at the farmer's market, and a supply of roasted Kesdef for testing (I'm not making the long-term toxicity mistake again).
I'm setting up a High-O2 environment on E78 for my crops from Ardra Prime, and for the Bavorans to have a living space that's comfortable for them.
The Desri sent a ship to repatriate the Desri we had in lock-down. We're all glad to have the troublemakers gone. A few neutral Desri have stayed on; one of them is beekeeper, and we may get them set up on the farming floors.
The Bheln are setting up a dojo. I've been giving Sam (Bavoran engineer) tours of the jump-drive, and we're building a steam engine to power the Medical floor.
Freeport moved to Qui Xiu (Harn space), and then on to Nocti, and finally to Crittica (Bheln space).
Bheln are mostly aquatic, and I'm working on figuring out how to make underwater mobiles.
Dub and I are working on a station census, and a way to make sure that Freeport trades for enough supplies for the various races.
2020-09-06
Gussie gets a video call from a mated pair of Dimmel (Kushin); the president, or something like it. Inviting us to visit. Dimmel live in shoals, and tidal areas; are amphibious. The Dimmel have amphitheaters on the beach. They move on cilia on land, and can control their buoyancy in water. They sit on flat surfaces. The Dimmel are absolutely silent while watching the movie. Apparently some of them think it’s a dark comedy?
We return to the station to rest. We will visit the college tomorrow. Theodoria (“Dorie”, Plove scientist) is joining us.
College visit: Dimmel body art is applied (paints, glued on things. There’s a large wall mosaic, with bold sweeping shapes and showing a pair of female Dimmel (one has a few males) on a precipice. Male Dimmel have a pair of arms. The play is amusing.
Exploring the island: Travel up and find bedrock. Cross a divide; air is cooler, more grass. Ankle to knee high vegetation, and the occasional tree. Natural cove, the water is bluer (less green). There’s lots of life-noise on the windward side of the island (insects, birds, something scurrying in the undergrowth). Respirator light turns green (was amber). I have taken plant samples, and made sketches. Growling/grinding noise from the undergrowth. They appear to be like grey spinal cords, mouth parts like a centipede. One of them bit Gussie, but we drove them off. Finally got to the beach. It has very fine sand, almost silty. Fish, and something like sand dollars.
James met us when we got back. Sam has disassembled couplings for the jump drive. He said something about correcting an imbalance. The coils of extra cable have been causing induction current. Dub and I have put the drive back together. All three of us have talked about how to improve the system; Gussie and Celena are working on convincing the station population that the initial cost of those upgrades will be worth it for the reduced cost of traveling in skip-space.
Dub, Celena, Gussie and I are laying the groundwork for a station government. I talked the engineers around. We in general got agreement in principal from the population to the idea of a government.
Dorie has run tests on her samples, and mine. She is cautiously optimistic. The next step would be shipping some of our livestock down to see if it can survive. We’d probably have to send some humans down to tend them.
A couple Bheln, a couple Gellefrug, about 20 humans: are taking some food crops and Dangon to test on Crittica. We set them up with a cleared area, a fenced in area, and a fresh water evaporator. Shelters, tools, etc.
Freeport has agreed to go backwards to get the drive upgraded, and contact the Denebians about a possible place to move to. Brief stop at Nocti, then on to Qui Xiu, and finally back to Ardra.
Precis: We visited the Dimmel so that Gussie could screen her movie for them. We went back to the station to sleep, and the next day we visited the Dimmel college. Another sleep on the station, and gathering supplies, and we went to explore the far side of the island the college is on. Dorie (the Plov scientist), and a couple of Dimmel went too. We went up and over, and found different kinds of vegetation, and a variety of wildlife. These grey spinal-cord/centipede things attacked us, but we drove them off. One did bite Gussie, and appears to have had a mild venom. The air on the far side of the island seems to be better (at least the respirators thought so), but we didn’t try it for long. I took some plant samples, and Dorie took a lot of samples (soil, water, etc). The far beach was very fine sand, and we saw fish and something like sand dollars.
We got back to the Station after our adventure, and James was there to meet us. He let us know that Sam had taken apart part of the skip-drive. Dub and I headed up to find out why, and put it back together. Sam did manage to explain, and we have now have plans for upgrades that will fix the problems he diagnosed.
Dub, Celena, Gussie and I are laying the groundwork for a station government. I talked the engineers around. We got agreement in principal from the most of population to the idea of a government. Actual implementation is another kettle of fish.
We set up a cleared area with shelters and supplies for a couple Bheln, Gellefrug, and about 20 Humans to test out some of our crops and livestock on an inland area of Crittica. The Dimmel are fine with the idea of a colony, and the Bheln are open to negotiation. Both are fine with a testing period.
The station population did agree to reverse the travel loop for a bit so we can get the parts to upgrade the skip-space engines. We’re also going to let the Denebians know about the possible colony on Crittica.
We’ve arrived at Ardra. Need to get some of the engine parts here. If we haven’t inventoried the crates on E83 I’d like that to happen soon. How are my Ardra plants doing? Have we had enough tests on the Kesdef to determine if it’s ok for long-term consumption? If yes, would like to acquire. Government needs setting up.
(skills to take?: Politics?)
2020-09-20
Ardra system: There’s a Denebian scout ship here; it has been retrofitted with a Bavoran jump-drive. Picked up some Bavoran parts for upgrading the jump-drive. Actual upgrade time will be about a month. (Adding in some Molub tech would be a further improvement.)
The melons I bought last time take a lot of water and nutrients - look like casavas. They can also be fermented.
Found a Gastronomic group to go to fancy meals with (they’re doing the various cuisines in alphabetical order). Menus are mildly charged bumpy tubes.
Visited another set of ruins; this one is being actively studied. Has the giant doors again. Was originally flooded, they drained it and filled the area with N gas. One of the large chambers has what I think is the keel and ribs of a sailing ship (it’s made of wood). big openings between chambers. Second Chamber: There’s a 20ft across steel? tub with casters on the bottom. Third Chamber: -There are some of the small creature skeletons here, scattered around the chamber. -Some larger skeletons (probably a vertical pelvis), have been uncovered. Each in a plastic-y box, lined up in a row. There’s some gender dimorphism. They seems a little skinny for humans? -The scientists package up a finger bone from a larger skeleton for our scientists to test.
Rounded up some people to start inventory the crates on E83.
Skeletons: halfway between a human and gellefrug. Finger bonespurs present, but smaller than gellefrug; ditto for femur feature that gellefrug have. Bavoran estimate that the ship site is 10K years old. It’s definitely Bavoran pre-history (they have history for 4K years).
Lil arrives on Ardra. The smaller skeletons are Sfoni ancestors (million year scale of genetic drift). Probably had some social intelligence, a longer tail.
Big Denebian ship is named the Rosablanca.
Deneb: 200-250 Denebians want to stay on Deneb. They took one of the exploration ship to a deeper crevice, and vanished. A second exploration ship followed, and found no trace of the first ship.
Freeport will stay at Deneb for 1.5 months while the Denebians reconvert their generation ship for spacefaring again. I will be working on the jump-drive upgrade along with all our engineers. Gussie has eye surgery.
I’m doing a little sculpting in my downtime, but not getting results I like.
Gussie and Dub have decided to investigate the mobile trees. I’m going along just in case. One of the Gellefrug (Mackesy) is also joining us, and a Denebian named Norbert (who pilots). We land in a cravasse, spring-like conditions. generally wet, vigorous stream. Leaves are blue-ish, and mostly spear shaped. There’s a lot of insects. Dub stepped on something sharp, rolls, and gets more punctures on his back. Vines trap Gussie; we cut her free and retreat to the shuttle. I tell Norbert to get us in the air. We start treating Dub; the autodoc diagnoses a minor paralytic. The forest is moving, and circling where the shuttle had been.
Dub seems to be recovering, so we’re exploring the crevasse where the other ship disappeared. We find a metal surface, 30 ft wide, taller than Gussie can reach (actually about 60 ft), and decorated (embossed, plant designs). Mostly overgrown. Gussie decides to climb it to see how tall it is. This feels vaguely familiar, and creepy. When Gussie is still 40ft up the wall starts to slide open. Chipmunks are trying to swarm/herd us. Gussie falls and breaks a leg. The “chipmunks” vaguely resemble Lil. Norbert legged it for the shuttle.
Dub and I used our spears to keep a space free of the “chipmunks.” Macksey helped support Gussie. The doors finished opening, and there was a tunnel. We’re not going that way dammit! One of those big trees in a pot was coming down the tunnel toward us. Dub chose a direction for us to move in laterally, and I kept rear-guard. There’s a vibration (subsonic?) that’s unpleasant.
2020-10-04
Reported our “adventure” to the relevant Denebian chain of command. Turned over our bagged dead “chipmunk.”
Looked over the video footage. UV footage, the cave is more strongly lit. Three trees in the cave, the one closest to the door was the smallest. The other two were at least 80 ft tall. Swarming with squirrels. Big open space with holes in the walls.
Ruins on Ardra are maybe a 1000 years old. The Denebian chipmunk is genetically a couple 100,000 years removed from the Ardra skeletons. Lil has us as co-authors on a scholarly paper on the subject.
The Denebians finally get through the doors, but the Trees and chipmunks have vanished. No indication how they got out.
Trade vessels from Molub arrive.
Freeport, Molub and Denebian vessels form a small Fleet, and head to Ardra. Many Bavorans talk themselves onto various fleet ships.
On to Qixu. Denebians drop off metals to the Harn, results will be nano assemblers to be sent on when ready.
Six of the remaining Desri (who are chefs) have teamed up with the Gellefrug to open another restaurant.
Jump to Nocti: there are other ships in system. Denebians choose to jump again immediately. We worked and got Freeport ready to jump as fast as possible; I had to restrain Sam from taking apart the drive again. Dub gave him the entirety of ST: TNG to absorb, and I asked him to write up what improvements he wanted to preform when we have the time. Freeport jumped out just as the other ships got in sensor range; it was a fleet of Desri ships.
Crittica: The Denebians are scouting for a good site to settle. The proto-colony has handled the Dangon and Dakoob alright; the goats were not as happy, so they’ve been brought back to Freeport. They also have started fishing. Some of the Denebians would like to trade for goat milk and cheese.
Forests are full of critters. There’s a lot of testing for toxicity and edibility. There are some vulture-like flyers with needle-beaks; they eat the spine-snakes and mollusks.
Dimmel set up a little satellite college, the Denebian Scientist Guild are being stuffy about them.
Found a multi-bot, runs on fusion power. Reactor is the size of a recliner. It’s meant for ditch digging. I think I can get it set up to use as farming equipment (including a tractor).
Chitra Red dwarf, no planets, just a skip-space stop.
Corvi Red Dwarf. 8 planets, inner rock, outer ice. (All within Mars-orbit) Corvi 3 has a power reactor of unknown design. Being investigated by Bheln scientists. Corvi 4 has glacier and volcanos.
Dahle White giant, yellow main sequence. Gas Giant Dahle 5 has large moons, home of Dralen and Nphthiwen (Sycote also like centipede swarms with hive intelligence) Dahle 5-B: Atmosphere is largely Methane, Hydrogen, etc. Rainforest. Nphthiwen can spit a substance that bursts into flames.
Dahle 1: Nphthiwen are investigating another mysterious generator.
Staying at Dahle 5 a week or so for trade. Some of the Sycote want to on the station, the Dralen are objecting.
Xari
Xari 2: mostly water world. Molub outpost. Atmosphere is toxic (SO2). Chilly (if water weren’t salty would be frozen). Very large ice caps, some land. Fairly mineral rich.
Molub
Dub and Gussie get summonsed for lawsuit. I’m spending some time making Molub inspired art for the local market.
Precis:
Turned our dead “chipmunk” over to the Denebian scientists for study, on the condition that we get copies of the data. Spent some time reviewing various footage from our adventures on Deneb. Sent data and footage on to the archaeologists on Ardra. Lil is putting us as co-authors on a paper. An armed search party broke through the metal doors we encountered, but there was nothing there by the time they got through. It is a mystery. A couple Molub ships arrived, the Denebians finished packing up (the missing people haven’t turned up), and we all headed to Ardra. There’s some Bavorans who talk their way into coming along on the various ships.
Brief stop at Qixu. Jumped into Nocti and jumped out again as soon as we could (the Denebians jumped right away); there was a fleet of Desri ships. Sam had to be distracted while we got the engines ready to jump sooner than normal. Got to Crittica and stayed a while helping get the colony set up. Took the goats back; they weren’t doing well there.
Continuing the loop: Chitra, just a stop, nothing there. Corvi, Dahle, and Xari are interesting, but not inviting for humans.
Returned to Molub. Dub and Gussie are getting some business sorted. I’m working on some art that might appeal to the locals. Checked in with the Gellefrug et al on the former cruise ship.
2020-10-18
Some Molub are interested in joining Freeport for a while. Dub does a good job of explaining to the Molub what they’d need to bring to support themselves. Some of the humans on station are reluctant to have the Molub on board, because they specifically opted out of being protected by them.
Trying to sell some
Working with Sam to make a list of upgrades he’d like to make to Freeport, and why. And the practicalities thereof. Everett (Lus, thinker) got in on the discussion. (Everett stays on Freeport for a while)
The Gellefrug cruise ship is spaceworthy again, and is going to travel with Freeport. They’ve converted it to a floating restaurant.
Jump to Torandri. Earth-like sun, 3 Jovians in close orbit. Torandri 2: Ringed, 20 moons. Moon 20: Where the Crov ended up after their conflict with the Dralen. Metal rich. They’ve been strip mining it.
Crov may have been battle-bots in the past.
Madu: dwarf str, small rocky orbiting objects.
Mensae: Refueling stop Blue spectrum main-sequence star. Rocky planet Molub have a H capture device here.
Gussie was exploring the West floors. Found a Kukuri exosuit. Went with her to retrieve the contents of the suit. There were some precious stones and some lozenge shaped metal pieces. The lozenges turned out to be data devices. They project text that we can’t read, and pictures. We set Robbie to learning to read it. It seems to be like a spy camera. Has a lot of info about Kukuri.
Hasta: Red dwarf. Fuel stop.
Gussie and Dub do some more exploring of the West floors.
I’m in engineering; station is in skip-space. There’s a power loss alarm; emergency shut down on one of the power conduits. I elbow Sam awake and drop us out of skip-space so we don’t just leave part of the station behind.
Just after we drop out the left side of the station loses power. I start calling in all the engineers. We think the break is 1/3-1/2 way down the West wing. We contact the Draylen in the west wing to ask their engineers to try to track down the problem. I ask Celina to handle informing the rest of the populace of the situation, so they don’t panic. The Draylen are able to get to the break, and figure out how to contain the damage. We need to replace about 4 ft of cable, and the insulation (which is fluorocarbon).