Space Camp Session 9

Princess Guard - The New Era 2017/11/18 	 Titan Wolf Lien Tali Harlequin Unix Artemis Nohrbor 53

Playing Tourist
After Harlequin's warning the mining team stops digging and hastily erect a temporary air-lock in the tunnel they were excavating. On that front the crisis is over. The Space Camp group get an invitation to be thanked by the Selene City Administrator after they return from the tourist trip on the Selena.

Tali is a little weary for the tour, given she helped the mining team with the air-lock.

The Sea of Thirst, (located within the Sinus Roris mega-crater) is filled with an extremely fine dust, a fine powder far drier than the contents of a terrestrial desert and which almost flows like water, instead of the common regolith which covers most of the lunar surface. A specially designed "boat" named the Selena skims over the surface of the dust in the same manner as a jetski. It's a tourist must and seats are booked up months in advance.

The Selena looks like an oversized coach with large reinforced viewports. There's ten rows of seats, two on each side of a central divide for a total of 40 seats.

Tali says, "Sounds like we should take lots of drinks. I mean, the moon is pretty dry already even in areas without 'Thirst' in the name!"

Selena is powered by superconducting batteries. Motive power is ontained by scooping up some of the dust and shooting it out of jets. The entire vessel floats on a pair of what on earth would be hydroplanes.

The Selena is pressurised so there's no requirement to wear spacesuits.

Titan is happy to let someone else get a window seat. He looks around curiously at the surrounding terrain.

The Stranger, still posed as the QA Director props himself near the back of the passenger area. He too is happy to give a 'good' seat to one of the kids or anyone else really for that matter. Being a being of almost pure psionic energy he gets much more satisfaction experiencing the experience second hand. It comes with so much more background and wonder that way.

Every seat is filled. Jackson May makes an effort to sit next to Tali if she allows, letting Tali have the window seat. Sue Watkins, your guide for the moon stay, is on board. The Selena is piloted by Patrick Harris, a young and affable person.

Althea is seated on the boat near the back, dreaming of great beasts rising from the sand-sea for her to do battle with. But she was informed, regretfully, that there was no such fauna on the moon. How dull, she had thought. The moons of Terak Phan were more treacherous than their mother planet. Rather than stare out at the Sea of Thirst, she gazes longingly at the stars above, away from the Earth.

Tali is happy for Jackson to sit with her. And to have the window seat, or she wouldn't see much at her height!

Jackson sits up abruptly as the last few passengers embark aboard the Selena. He nudges Tali's arm and points surreptitiously at a fairly elderly man with white-gray hair making his way down the central passage, "Do you know who that is..?" he whispers to Tali in an excited tone.

Tali tries to make out who the older man is, peeking round Jackson.

Tali shakes her head. "Uh-uh - should I?" She whispers. "I can be pretty forgetful. You know, most things were a long time ago for me."

"Welcome aboard the Selena." comes the voice of the pilot. "As we leave the docking bay those on the portside will be able to see the Ag Dome Number #2. If you're seated starboard, don't worry, you'll get a good view when we return." It seems the pilot is also the tour guide. Jackson leans close to whisper, "He's Jorge Hansteed. I'm sure of it." Jackson sounds almost awed.

Tali says "Oh!!" Trying to remember who the heck that is. She thinks maybe she reas about him in a newpaper, but when? The past, presumably.

Wolf hops up on his back paws and *smushed* his nose against the inside glass of his faceplate, and sets the faceplate, in turn, against the glass of the window. Wolf adjusts the angle to cut down on the refractory distortion, tilting his head a bit sideways to get as good a look at the Agricultural dome as he can. . . amazing, to think that plants can grow here. And -are- being grown here! And yet: Wherever there is Sun and Water,. . . there is Life. Wolf closes his eyes and out,. . . wondering how Luna feels about this touch of greenery for the first time in her experience. So much New. The Selena sets forth. The ride is utterly smooth, the scenery spectacular. But lets be honest, after a while one view of rock blurs into the next. One of the highlights is when the Selena enters a high sided mini-crater and comes to a halt. With the sun's light blocked the view of a 3/4 Earth in the starry sky is magnificant.

Tali quickly notes down his name so she can look him up and pretend she knew all along when she gets the chance. Assuming Jackson hasn't already figured out she doesn't. She doesn't really want Jackson to know how little she knows about his interests.

Tali gets out her drawing pad. A moment later it's full.

Quiet sits, in her suit despite the lack of immediate need for separate life support. It's those unscheduled arrivals of vacuum that tends to ruin the flow of one's day. The scenery is scanned, but more for potential issues than sightseeing. There are a number of things she'd rather be doing, but this seems to be the only avenue open at the moment. After the stop in the mini-crater the Selena sets out onto the main area of the Sea of Thirst. Soon it seems, and with the closeness of the horzison on the moon it's true, all that can be seen is the flat level sea of dust in all directions. Several of the Selena's passengers notice disturbances out in the dust. Sudden fountains of dust rising up, and then without air, falling back down almost as fast. One such spot actually seems to have ripples spreading out in circles from the point where the fountain of dust appeared, although any such ripples quickly vanish.

It's one of the non-camp tourists who's first to point out of her window and ask, "What's that?"

Tali is leaning in toward Jackson and showing her drawings to him just now, so she doesn't immediately notice.

Titan raises a brow, unsure of what he's looking at. "Huh."

Nearly every face is pressed to or leaning over toward, a window. "I saw something." another tourist says. "So did I." comes from a different voice.

Unix says, "Hmmm...." as she sees the event, at one of the seats and happened to see the event. Seeing the tourists getting all excited she didn't want to cause a riot or anything. It could have been nothing...

Artemis glances aside towards the rising dust, not yet suspecting danger or anything unusual. "Is that not just trapped gas pressure on this moon?" she asks, not realizing that's not normal for this place.

Tali says "What's everyone looking at?", looking round Jackson again.

The Stranger is equally confused. Afterall- they've spent time on many moons rife with danger and this doesn't seem like that kind of place. The Selena accelerates, skimming over the dust much faster than has been the case so far, angling in a fairly sharp turn almost eighty degrees from its previous course.

Tali climbs over the Jackson to go and have a look at the pilot and see if he seems to be steering like that to avoid the weirdness or if it's for some other reason.

Quiet peers out at the dust plumes, her concern not visible nor voiced. That may be moot, anyhow, as the sudden course and speed change may make it clear that this is abnormal. To those asking about the planetoid, she shakes her head and draws a hand across her throat to offer her astronomical evaluation.

Distances are deceptive on this level featureless sea of dust. So how far away? Hard to judge. A flash.. huge plume of dust rising high above the surface of the sea and ripples spreading out some distance before fading away.

Titan mutters to himself, "We have worm sign."

Unix looks at Titan and raises an eyebrow. "Like Dune?"

Titan nods. "That's what I was thinking of, yeah."

"Worm sign?" Artemis asks as she looks at Titan. "What is that?"

Titan chuckles. "A movie reference. That's all."

Unix says, "In a fiction book that was written before 2000, a particular planet or moon had worms. these worms were huge, hundreds or thousands of feet long, and swam under the sand. The book had a connection between the worms and the 'spice' but that probably isn't relevant here..."

Titan shrugs, "Enh. I'm more familiar with the movie. But I knew it was based on some kind of old book."

Unix says, "Although to correlate, there was heat that i saw when the plume of dust went up..."

Tali drops to normal time near the heroes, and says in a low voice, "It's a meteorite shower - just too fast to see that!"

Artemis looks up thoughtfully. "Is this vessel strong enough to withstand a strike?"

Tali says, "Not to judge by the look on the pilot's face!"

Sue Watkins says quietly, "A small impact, yes."

Titan looks up, "Huh. I'd offer to head outside to block for the ship, but I'm not sure I'd see them coming quickly enough."

Tali says, "And I can see them coming but I don't see what I can do to stop them...."

Unix says, "Hmmm...." drums her fingers on her armrest a few moments. "I could try and block them, if told in advance where and get in place in time... Beyond that i probably can't do much."

Moonquake
Then a brilliant flash as a much larger rock slams into the sea of dust ahead of the Selena. The plume of dust rises hundreds of feet above the ground. But it seems a lucky escape. Until an area of the dust sinks in the dusty version of a whirlpool. Traveling at speed the Selena cannot turn away in time and slides down into the swirling vortex. Then it comes rapidly to a halt as the bow plunges into the dust on the other side of the whirlpool. And very quickly after that the dust flows back covering the vessel.

The Stranger remains quiet, remaining at the rear of the ship. He is oddly calm dispite the overwhelming danger. For a moment the interior of the Selena is in total darkness. Then the interior lights come on. And reveal dust covering every window.

Tali pops to check the everyone is ok.

Quiet taps a few fingers across the right forearm of her suit to project a brief 2D holographic text display. THE BEST WAY TO HANDLE A METEOR SHOWER WITHOUT A REINFORCED HULL OR SHIELDING IS TO AVOID IT.

Then her message is the only light source for a moment. A few taps to add. NOW WE FIND THE SECOND-BEST WAY.

Unix says, "Hmmm... i don't suppose this thing needs it's sensors wiped off now..." Apart from a couple of bruises nobody has been hurt. So far.

Tali appears in front of the pilot. "Ok - can this thing take the pressure from the dirt? And, how many spacesuits are there? And, is there anything like a shovel on board?"

Titan says to the pilot, "You need the nose out of the ground, right?" He heads toward the airlock. "I'm heading outside to either block until it's over, or try to get the vessel free."

Artemis braces herself as the ship tips, treating it like an amusement ride as they halt and start getting buried. "Well, that was quite entertaining," she chuckles.

Tali says, "Hang on, I think we're best underground until the shower is over anyway? How long is that likely to be?"

The pilot looks tense but controlled. "Well, Miss, the hull hasn't imploded yet. So I'd guess we're safe on that score. But how we get out of this situation I don't know." he tells Tali.

Tali says, "Like I said - got a shovel?"

Unix says, "Were we covered by a sprinkling of dust? Or a ton of it?" Quite important. "In theory if sensors or windows need uncovered easy enough. Digging? Hmmm... i could also lift up a large portion of this vehicle but i worry the stress might damage it... if it's under a lot of dust too."

Pat Harris shakes his head. "I don't think anyone ever thought a shovel would be usful." he says.

Quiet kills the holo and stands up. Getting the transport free before it loses integrity would be the quickest way to get everyone back. Assuming that they can. She heads for the airlock as well.

The Stranger also enjoys the ride, having found the tour quite boring. He lets out a cry of enjoyment he learned in the strange & mysterious land called Texas, "YEEEHAW!!" The Selena is completely covered. Guessing from the size of the whirlpool and assume the dust leveled out after the event you're possibly ten feet under the surface.

Tali says, "That's ok, I'll make one somehow, maybe out of some seats....."

Titan realizes they're likely ten feet down. "Hmmm. I'm not sure my going outside is going to help without something to dig with."

Unix says, "I... can do some digging... at least to get us outside. But it's not exactly the most precise method, so i wouldn't want to use it too close to the ship."

Tali nods to titan. "Can you bend stuff here into a shovel? And maybe some kind of tube thing to stop the sand coming in too quickly after I dig?

Sue points out, "The airlock is one use. Once the outer door is opened it won't be possible to seal it again. The airlock will be filled with dust."

Unix says, "So if i get out i'm walking?" She asks Sue. "Fun...." Gets up from her seat and goes to the airlock, ready to head outside if need be."

Wolf scans the passengers for anyone who's been injured. Thankfully seeing that everyone is pretty much OK, at least physically, he'll try to be a calm and reassuring presence for any who might be tending towards panic.

The Selena carries four emergency suits. Most of the other tourists are not wearing suits.

Tali says, "Ok. One use of airlock. And 4 suits. Who can survive out there without a suit? Who has powers that can help?"

Titan nods to Tali, "Sure, whatever you think we'll need." He helps create a makeshift shovel for Tali out of a seat. "I should be able to survive outside without a suit." . o O (Enh...I'm pretty sure. Good enough.)

Unix raises her hand. "I don't need to breathe, and can survive in a vacuum."

The Phillips twins look at Johnathan meaningfully.

Tali says, "I need a suit and I can dig *really* fast. And I might be able to stop the dust from falling back in, but I don't think I can do that and dig at the same time, or even if it will work, so it's best if there's some way to keep the hole I dig open."

Titan heads over to the twins to speak to them quietly, "Do you know if you're okay in a vacuum? I need you to be sure."

Quiet stops short of the airlock at that news. Not good news. She sighs and goes for plan C. Ensuring she's as clear of others as she can in the confines of the vessel, she activates her suit's gravitics to warp her 20m up from her current position, as best as she can estimate.

Ann-Marie nods, "Yes. We've been in space before." she says. Marie-Ann adds, "But don't tell the school that. We weren't supposed to go that high."

Tali gets into one of the emergency suits. She's pretty sure she's going to be one of the people most useful outside.

Titan nods to the twins, "Alright. Desperate times require desperate measures. You're with me."

Titan heads back toward the airlock, lokoing for something large and flat to use to try to hinder the dust backwashing into the airlock.

Harlequin, no longer bothering with the Stefan this trip it seems, murmurs, "I can put up, hmm, walls, once an area is cleared. It may prevent the dust from settling back."

The Phillips' twins stand and go to the airlock to wait. Causing whispers among the older kids.

As Harlequin speaks, he twists one hand in an odd way and a golden glow surrounds his body. "And I do not need a suit." He chuckles. "Never thought I use this particular spell."

Tali says, "Arid, Harlequin!"

Tali gets ready by the airlock with her shovel.

Sasha follows everyone else into the airlock.

Tali enters the airlock with the others, and waits for the outer door to open.

Titan heads into the airlock, with a piece of interior panelling. "Might not work perfectly, but I think it'll help. I hope so."

Unix getting outside it was always interesting being in new air-less environments. Regardless. she waited until something was set up for a shelter or to keep the dust away before starting, working on the right side of the ship making multiple passes, intending to get within a foot or half a foot of the ship with her digging ability, not sure how precise she can get while working so fast not wanting to damage the ship or it's precious cargo of humans. While her digging was intended to cut into heavily armored walls (like bank vaults) but it was still faster than shoveling by hand...

Quiet's stressed grav shield was designed to keep things from hitting other things (like her), not as an earthmover. Though, with the low-density and high-volume dust, it works reasonably well as an impromptu scoop to help with the unmiring of the craft.

The two Phillips twins work willingly but child sized hands don't make for fast digging. They do try though.

Wolf pads cautiously to the airlock, standing next to Tali and ready to help her dig. He doesn't need a shovel, for his own digging style. Wolf's tail swishes back and forth, as best it can in the cramped confines, as he waits. Soon the *hsssssssss* of depressurization announces the onset of the digging shift, after which the near-total silence of vacuum takes over. Wolf *digdigdigg's* with energy and enthusiasm, doing his part, the dirt and dust flying out from underneath his paws in a long, high, lazy arc in the moon's partial gravity. The end effect is kind of like one of those giant snowblowers used to clear airport runways. Not that Wolf would be familiar with such things. So Wolf does his part, staying clear of Unix' whirling blades and figuring that Tali will quite easily be fast enough to "work around" the rest of the digging crew.

Tali, as soon as the outer airlock door open, starts shovelling into the airlock. There's no where else to put the dust, but then, she shovels faster than it falls. She digs her way up to the surface, then starts digging her way back down again, now being able to deposit the dust on the lunar surface. Within a second she's reached the bottom and is digging up again....

Harlequin, surrounded by nothing more than a skin tight golden glow, adds transparent royal blue 'walls' composed of perfectcly interlocking octagons as the other heroes clear areas. At times, he stands on the side of vessel, his feet firmly planted on the side of the ship and his cloak falling towards the ship rather than the ground. It's not long before the efforts of the heroes have cleared away most of the dust atop of the Selena. With Harlequin's barriers holding the dust back it's time to lift. Finally the Phillip's twins can contribute fully.

Titan does his best to help lift while holding his breath. He can't survive in space indefinitely, but long enough.

The Selena rises in the hands of the stronger heroes and can be lowered onto the surface of the sea of dust away from the dug area.

Tali says, "So what I've learned today is that aquaplanes don't work so well when nose-down! Oh - I'd better get back on board! All that digging really used up the oxugen....."

Tali heads inside quickly.

Wolf finishes his part of the digging and then hops back out of the way so that the people in charge of the heavy lifting. . . can. . . do the heavy lifting. Wolf watches, wagging happily, as the moon skiff clears the entombing dusty sand and rises once more to the surface. Well, that's that then! Mission accomplished, Wolf takes a few moments to turn around in a small circle, watching all the stars. Taking in the viewpoint from Luna's perspective, from the soaring gibbous earth to the far - flung beauty of the stars. Almost as an afterthought, Wolf gazes to the portion of the sky from which the meteors had originated. "What's out there?" he wonders, quietly.

Titan herds the kids back inside the airlock before going back himself.

The Phillips twins re-enter the Selena beaming cheerfully. To the same standing applause that greets to remaining heroes when they also re-enter.

Tali gets out of the spacesuit and collapses next to Jackson, exhaustedly.

Harlequin heads inside as well, moving a bit slowly. Once back inside, he moves over to where his set of fraternal twins, not the Phillips twins, are standing. He asks in a quiet voice, "This has been a rather adventuresome trip. Do you wish to go home? I can take you back."

Tomas and Karla look at each other then as one say in 'Burg accented English, "Are you loco, Harl? This is arid! Why'd we leave?"

Each hero gets a standing ovation as they return to the vessel.

"Great job guys. That was infinitely heroic - you are a credit to your whole species." The QA Director says from the back proudly. Perhaps he knew this was the outcome all along? Maybe that is why the strange man was so calm through out this whole affair?

Unix reenters the vehicle, glad she didn't have to do it all herself. Tried to get as much of the dust off her as she could, she'd need a shower later...

Tali was pleased, if exhausted, by the applause, but then realises just how smelly she must be. Maybe she shouldn't have gone back to Jackson like this!

Jackson doesn't seem to mind. He hugs Tali unless she shows any hint of rejecting his embrace, "That was amazing." he tells her.

Tali doesn't seem to mind at all. :) She nestles against Jackson as the exertion catches up to her.

Robert 'Sparks' O'Reilly turns to Peter, "You're all metas... aren't you?" he asks. "That's why you're at Space Camp."

Jackson helps Tali back into her chair, and gets an energy drink out of his carry-on pack to offer it to Tali.

As the heroes return one by one to the ship, Wolf is the last to move, standing alone and still and silent on the Moon's surface while everyone takes their own turn to cycle the airlock. Just standing, and watching, and breathing.

Tali sips the drink gratefully, snuggling up to Jackson.

Pat Harris has joined in the standing ovation. Heading back to the pilot station he checks the diagnostics and when everyone is back aboard he makes for Selene City.

Wolf moves, finally, turning back toward the ship, finding Sasha and Titan and Tali and Unix through the windows, to each of them in turn:

I think I'd like to -walk- on back, unless you'd find that odd? The dust floats up like flakes of snow from where my boots have trod. ..

The ancient stars gleam overhead, so pure and stark and clear. The gibbous earth looms overhead: So far and yet -feels- near. ..

Sasha 'murmurs' back over the link to Wolf. "I am not certain you should be alone walking back, Wolf. It is not safe as evidenced by the recent strikes."

Titan nods in agreement with Sasha. He says quietly to the other man, "Definitely not safe enough."

Wolf nods, slowly. Turning with palpable slowness and ponderous regrets, he makes his way back to, and through, the airlock, tidily *shake-shake-shaking* off his paws one by one before clambering back inside the skiff.

Tali hopes that's it for the meteorites anyway. She's had enough exercise for today! And is quite happy where she is.

Arrival at the docking bay in Selene City. It seems mas if half the population of the city is clustered in the pressurized section of the docking bay to greet the heroes. Complete with a speech from the Administrator and presentation to the heroes of the Freedom of the City. Nice scrolls to commemorate that given over.

The Doj'on hidden amongst the mortals is surprisingly pleased with how his walkabout has turned out. He's only made happier by the fact that both he and his sister managed to get off that dreary little world and see this Moon up close. The chatter of excitement from everyone onboard illicits a number of pleasurable experiences for the GodFlora to indulge on. He stays in his seat, sitting contentedly.

Tali dashes to have a quick shower before the presentation.

Wolf gazes out of the window, as the awards are handed out. We looks back along the ways they'd come on their voyage back to base. Captivating, the way the dust still drifts on high in the partial gravity: slowly, delicately, with sombre grace and laconic, elegant precision. Wolf watches: Eddies, swirls, and mini-twisters, partly frozen in time, wandering over the face of the moon. Captivating.

Titan pulls the Phillips kids aside. "I have to apologize to you. Thank you for helping. But...I suspect the press attention is going to be an issue. You can tell your parents that I take full responsibility, and that without your help, we might not have made it back."

The twins grin. They seem to view press attention as a plus. "We're going to be heroes when we grow up. Everyone will know about us then anyway." Ann-Marie tells Titan, with her sister nodding.

Titan chuckles. "I'm sure they will. But we were supposed to keep things quiet. And I suspect your parents are not going to be happy."

The Phillips twins giggle, "Never mind my parents. You ought to worry about Col Steel. She's going to be mad." Ann-Marie says.

After a sleep period the moon activities resume with tours of the Ag Dome, an oasis of plant life on a otherwise sterile moon. The planned trip to observe rock mining in East-20 tunnel has been cancelled and replaced by a moon surface walk. Which might seem a little tame for those who were active in the Selena rescue but is enjoyed by most. Then it's time to start the journey to Mars. Two days flight time in the shuttle.