Oolite Bulletins

Well, I think in elite/oolite there was some sort of push-back effect, thus stopping Newton fun being there. That is just what I think. I don't Know, But I always considered doing a Short story about how one spacer got reunited with his friend, and getting his engines blasted up by pirates, And fixing the push-back effect without getting Affect by What happens when you go faster than light (lets call it the '39 effect) (or did they extend the speed of light at some point?).

FSOneblin

I voted for the middle option. I think that the canonical material is merely a basis from which to extrapolate the functions of this fictional universe, not a strait-jacket to hamper the creativity that is out there (or in here).

The fact that some of the basic canonical material is self-contradictory means that you really have to expand on it and make a decision to throw some bits away if you want a coherent story...

Selezen wrote:

I voted for the middle option. I think that the canonical material is merely a basis from which to extrapolate the functions of this fictional universe, not a strait-jacket to hamper the creativity that is out there (or in here).

The fact that some of the basic canonical material is self-contradictory means that you really have to expand on it and make a decision to throw some bits away if you want a coherent story...

What the man said!

Cheers,

Drew.

I plumped for option 2. Especially when the (E)Oolite genre is the topic, since much of the background is sketchy or non-existent. Artistic licence is as relevent as current scientific theory. As for the sciencey stuff, that can be as technically-sound as Star Trek or as 'out there' as the limits of your imagination. It is, after all, science fiction and who can say what technological advances would be achieved after contact with advanced extra-terrestrial beings.

Captain Hesperus

So, come on then, where's the story? What's it called? Where's the wiki page?

I wish you better luck than me.... Status quo took 3 months (had some spare time back then!), Schism took 6, and Mutabilis has so far taken me 1.5 years...

Something wrong there...

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

.... Status quo took 3 months (had some spare time back then!), Schism took 6, and Mutabilis has so far taken me 1.5 years...

Something wrong there...

No, there's nothing wrong. Quality can't be rushed.

Captain Hesperus

@Drew - was going to post the first page - appetite wetter - tonight (I haven't written much more than that yet - the rest of it's in bullet idea format and then I'll play join the dots) - but I've realised that my better half is babysitting for friends tonight and has taken my laptop to do some coursework on - and that's where the only copy of the story is! D'oh!

Look forward to it when it arrives!

Cheers,

Drew.

Lazarus

Janus picked himself of the hard metallic floor of the Cobra Mark III and cursed all the Gods he could think of as climbed gingerly into the battered pilot’s seat. He glared down at the two bolts sticking out of the decking where, at some point, the optional co-pilot’s seat had been fitted and then removed. How it had been removed Janus wasn’t sure, but an investigation shortly after purchase revealed some stains that were probably blood and something sticky that may or may not have been organic matter. That was pretty much the end of the investigation and may have explained why the previous owner had sold the ship to him at such a bargain price. Then again, the previous owner may have just got sick of tripping over the aforementioned bolts. Removing them had been at the top of Janus’ list of things to do since he had tripped over them the first time, just ten minutes after he started running his hand over the console and controls of his new purchase. However, since then, something major had failed or broken on pretty much every trip and while the bolts remained an annoyance they weren’t likely to cause his lungs to explode due to a depressurisation or his skin to fall off because of a radiation leak.

He wiggled to get comfortable in the pilot’s seat while he rubbed his knee. He should have noted the rather large girth of the previous owner and perhaps contemplated the effect this might have had on the ergonomic design of the seat. The auto-mould function didn’t work and Janus slopped around like a one-credit piece in an empty spirit glass during heavy manoeuvring. Fixing the pilot’s chair was second on the list of things to do. He rested his hand on the console and then began to flick the switches required to bring the slumbering ship to life. The first thing to burst into life was the Bibean Lethal Brandy dispenser that had been fitted in replacement of, Janus was fairly certain, the secondary oxygen generator. It was the only faultlessly operating piece of equipment in the whole ship.

Janus had learned to listen carefully to the ship as it booted up. It had become clear to Janus early on that the ship had many safety features and all of them to some degree had been bypassed. When this ship’s failsafes failed, it was never on safe. So far he’d been burnt, electrocuted, gassed and crushed as various systems had gone haywire either spontaneously or persuaded to misbehave under even a glancing strike from a pea-shooter pulse laser. So Janus sat patiently, hands on the console, feeling the vibrations emerging from deep within and listening to electronic life as it pushed out to the extremities of the vessel.

Port Thruster up, Starboard Thruster up… no, Starboard Thruster down, no, wait a second, its back up, oh joy. Shield Matrix initialised, or is that the fuel scoop secondary manifold? Ah, there’s the manifold, good, I might actually get to scoop something this trip rather than nudging it around the cosmos, before it blows up inside my shields. Here comes the Astrogation panel…

Janus’ face was lit by the soft reddish glow of the Astrogation console as the scanner fully powered up, his hairs stood on edge, it wasn’t excitement or expectation it was an untraceable electrostatic build-up –

“Ow!”

- which had now found its way to ground.

Every bloody time!

Here come the main engines. Full power. Well, ninety-seven, ninety-eight percent maybe. Not bad. Not bad.

“OK Lazarus,” he said out loud to the ship, “shall we go?”

As by way of response the main cabin lights failed briefly, although there was a perfectly poured Lethal Brandy sat in the dispenser when they came back up.

“Going to be like that is it?”

This time the ship gave no additional clue to its mood and so Janus made a request to the Galcop Port Authority for permission to launch. In a squeal of static from the ship’s Comm system the voice of the GPA could just be heard giving an affirmative. The platform’s lights went out indicating that Janus’ and Lazarus’ presence was no longer required within the Coriolis Station.

Delicately Janus tugged on the controls and the ship lifted off and headed towards the central axis of the station where, under Station control and a good pulse of magnetic flux he and Lazarus would be ejected into space above Diso.

Good start! Wanting more!

Electrostatic shocks from dodgy equipment - why didn't I think of that!

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Good start! Wanting more!

Electrostatic shocks from dodgy equipment - why didn't I think of that!

Cheers,

Drew.

Spend ten minutes on the Dubious Profit and you'll experience much worse. Grav-tube Three, for instance, has a habit of spontaneously hurling a user up and down the ship's levels for three hours before ejecting them onto the level they had previously entered it, one of the sonic showers in the auxiliary crew quarters can actually shatter bones and when rolling to starboard, the blast doors on the entire port side slam open.

Captain Hesperus

...and I still want to know what that 'green sludge' actually is!

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

...and I still want to know what that 'green sludge' actually is!

Cheers,

Drew.

<_<

>_>

.....

Did you drop this 10,000 credit chip?

Captain Hesperus

Ooooo grav drop. Never nice. Still great for making iced milk lassie. A treat that'll tingle your whiskers and put that fine sheen back on your coat like a freshly littered underkin.

Also good for mixing with spirits, mulit-spirits and hypnophoric beverages (and as we all know next to nothing can make them taste good) Just remember to be in a safe system and tri-lock your cabin door before it takes effect.

One mans faulty lift is another felines shaken not stirred. Mrow

Captain Hesperus wrote:

drew wrote:

Good start! Wanting more!

Electrostatic shocks from dodgy equipment - why didn't I think of that!

Cheers,

Drew.

Spend ten minutes on the Dubious Profit and you'll experience much worse. Grav-tube Three, for instance, has a habit of spontaneously hurling a user up and down the ship's levels for three hours before ejecting them onto the level they had previously entered it, one of the sonic showers in the auxiliary crew quarters can actually shatter bones and when rolling to starboard, the blast doors on the entire port side slam open.

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

drew wrote:

...and I still want to know what that 'green sludge' actually is!

Cheers,

Drew.

<_<

>_>

.....

Did you drop this 10,000 credit chip?

Captain Hesperus

I think you'll find you used that technique at the end of Chapter four...

Cheers,

Drew.