On the Mend, THE CARRIS LOG, Volume 4

We were doing a favor for Carrie O’Malley, and we encountered some tough pirates. I am now fairly sure that I won’t be joining the Space Marines any time soon! I don’t remember much of what occurred, but I really got banged up in this one. I am still recovering from the thrashing I took. I guess I’m pretty lucky to be alive, but I don’t feel so lucky.  

I’ve been studying my mechanics manuals with the intention of improving my repair skills, but those books are very dry. I found myself needing a little fun, so I met up with my pal, Hannah Devi, and we hit a few clubs. I can’t do “the Worm” yet,

but I managed to bust a few moves. It was great to see Hannah again. She likes my new hair color. She has been doing a lot of modeling and working hard, so she was also glad to be able to get out for the night. It was terrific seeing her again.  

What’s next for the Bucket? Will our captain ever return? Can Sally keep it together for another adventure? Tune in next time for the possible answers!   

The CARRIS LOG Volume 3: The Wine Delivery

Santa Cruz Mountains, WinterCon, February 12, 2012

I managed to practice my “old art” between adventures, and improved my pick pocket skill to 16. I believe it is important to practice skills, especially ones that can be fatally failed. To be any good as a pick pocket, it takes hours of practice.

What’s left of our crew, Felton, Sally O, Skins, Lily, and of course, Cheap Lisa started out waiting around, as we always do, on a planet for an assignment. We began on the planet, Willows, which is the seat of power in this sub-sector of space. The area’s largest university is on Willows, and this is where we met Candice Miramaki, our friend from the Ice Races several months ago. Candice is wealthy and wants to hire us to travel to Saint Joesph to bring back some Auger Sham Wine. She wants to throw a post-finals party!

I liked the sound of that. She planned to surprise her boyfriend, Sharub Smith. We would be under severe time restraints as usual.

As we began planning our venture, we immediately saw a problem. We would be passing through (it takes 2 jumps each way) a place called, Jaconit. This planet has strong religious beliefs about things that mature beneath the surface of the ground: they are TABOO for everyone, including a gang of goofy spacers like us. There is another way, however it will take us to an unknown sector where there’s a two planet system with no star. Furthermore, Candice would like us to collect data on this system. She plans to write a scientific paper on it. Our plan is to travel to Jaconit, then on to Saint Joseph, load cargo (including 4 units for our own enterprise), then jump to the unknown space, refuel, collect data, and return to Willows just in time for the party. What could possibly go wrong?

The trip to Jaconit and Saint Joseph went without a hitch. We loaded 5 pallets plus 4 pallets into the cargo hold, including a pony keg of the wine that was given as a special bonus for our trouble.

The Rusty Bucket has never been in better shape than it has been recently, having spent time and money in dry dock after the ice races. Everything seemed fine as we came out of jump, but I had a suspicion the Gband sensors were on the verge of malfunctioning.

I couldn’t detect anything wrong with my internal Ops scan. The jump site proved to be a system consisting of just two gas giants, one frozen, orbiting one another. It seemed a fine place to refuel, but we found the ground came up faster than what we expected, and we crash landed right into a modern sculpture of some sort in a domed field of artificial soil.

The Gband sensors had failed, and were now in complete failure. At least it’s no longer an intermittent problem. A hard failure is much easier to fix. These planets, or moons were rocky rather than icy. There was a little warning; just before we crashed, the ship became hard to maneuver, and then we were warned,”ABANDON BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY! UNSAFE PRESSURE GRADIENT!”

There was damage to the front of the ship, the view screen was damaged. Also, the cargo door had been compromised, and would not open. We could fix all of this, but there was damage to the power couplers that could only be fixed if we could find parts, or something very similar that we could temporarily make do until we reached a space port. Without the parts, we were faced with the dilemma of no maneuverability, or no ship’s integrity, but not both. A high pressure failure faced us. We could fly once we were in space, but how to last until we got there was the problem. I went to the Cargo area to see what repairs I could make there.

Meanwhile, Lily and Felton went outside, and began to explore the area. They reported a globular flying thing seen darting around up there. They examined the soil, and found it to be like the artificial soil found on many agricultural planets where a grain like Bilke (wheat like) grows. Sally asked me over the engineering com, if I could fix the cargo doors because they needed to get the air raft out for exploration. I began working on the problem right away, and ignored the broken wine bottles down there. While this was happening, Skins (Gregory Gorgeous is his real name, he told me) came to the cargo area, and began gathering, filtering, and reclaiming what wine he could. He was finishing when I got the door unjammed. He was surprised to see the door suddenly open. A little wine, but not much (about 10%) was lost.

Lily reported that they found the sculpture to actually be a space station with plants and buildings inside. There were floating spheres, and supporting pillars. These had magnetic fields about them. Lisa determined this place to be the work the work of a group called “the Ancients’. Their purposes have long been speculated about, but remain largely unknown.

Sally and I looked for spare parts everywhere, but found none.

Lily and Felton (our chosen leader until Mac returns) investigate a crystal plant structure, and report that our ship is lit up like a Christmas tree!

Sally gets sick from being too close apparently to one of the spheres. Tests show that she had been radiated.

The pillars all had controls and symbols (unreadable by us) on them. There was a platform like an old Mayan temple, making four layers. The steps were nine feet apart, and would have been difficult to climb if not for our air raft. Then one of my worst fears was realized when we found control buttons that were numbered. Sally O said a combination came to her; 3-5-8-6…, or maybe just 6, or just 8. She was almost dying to try, but Felton kept telling her, “NO”. Then she accidently pushed “8”. No result occurred. There was a kind of veil over the doors out there. Metallic tentacles, or feelers had tried to suck up our ship, one molecule at a time, but we temporarily stopped them somehow. We take the ship into a 24 hour orbit to suck up all the fuel we can. Assessing the ship’s damages, I found countless cracks and fissures at the front of the ship, as well as the cargo door area. Skins had some free time and volunteered to help with the repairs, so I got him a bucket of sealant and a brush, guiding him by com to make repairs.

Soon all the repairs were completed, except for the Couplers.

Meantime, Lily finds some control panels that light up when touched. There are 12 panels with views of places we couldn’t recognize. We all were puzzled by this strange place. Felton and Sally O looked around the base of the station. They found a bunch of “ropes” of various sizes, and went inside one. Were the number controls a combo to open the portals? Cheap Lisa seemed to think they were. By now, Sally thought she could explain everything, but darned if I could understand anything the poor woman was talking about! “There’s five things going on here…” “Gravity may change, we may change, the whole world may change…” Our leader, Felton, didn’t want us just pushing buttons at random. “Let’s discuss this first.” There was talk of putting everyone but Skins and the pilot, Lisa, in cold storage before pushing buttons and travelling back. When it was mentioned that we didn’t absolutely need Skins awake because the port would have a doctor to revive those in storage, the group decided to let me and Lisa be the waking crew.

In the end, we made it back to Willows with some of the wine, but not enough to make Candice happy. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

The Carris Log Volume 3 ADDENDUM

Oh, I forgot to mention in my desire to report the activities of the good ol’ Rusty Bucket that I have changed my hair color from auburn to blonde! It’s a rather light yellow shade of blonde now, like a daffodil in color. I hope my fans will recognize me when they see me (not that I have so many fans, but I hope there’s at least some loyal readers out there). After this last venture into space, I need to unwind a bit because there were a lot of repairs that Sally and I had to make to the Bucket. I think I’ll get Sally and Lisa to go shopping and have a SPA day with me before we hit whatever dance clubs we can find on this rock.

The CARRIS LOG Volume 2: The Ice Races

The CARRIS LOG    Volume 2: The Ice Races                                             

Santa Cruz Mountains, WinterCon,     March 6, 2010

As I See It

   Another job turned up today, as it always does aboard our ship, The Russell Bucket, and just in time I might add, because our crew gets a little stir crazy when they're sitting idle for any length of time. This is especially true of Sally O'Willy, our chief engineer aboard the Bucket. "Have I ever got a great idea?""OK, what is it now?" "I want to improve our ship" (deep inside, I am cringing at this moment). "I will attach a dozen small welding lasers at strategic spots on the outside of the ship, so that I won't have to don a vacuum suit to make repairs when we are in space! And maybe they will come in handy in other situations." "Yeah, that could prove disastrous ...er I mean, it could be useful in some situations," I replied. Sally was then off to sell her idea to the rest of the crew. Our captain, Jan, was less than thrilled with the prospect of letting Sally loose on the skin of the ship, and expressed trepidation about the old bucket's air seals. This thought scuttled the idea for the moment, at least. Sally persevered, and got to do the installation, but the lasers she had to settle for were not, I believe, the exact ones she had in mind. 

Our job would consist of performing duties as a rescue team for the competitors in the race. The race is to take place on Yeti, a frozen rock in space, called a moon. We were told Yeti is a lifeless moon in the Yeti System, one jump away from several star systems. Each crewman will receive 1200CR. (Is that per diem?) More important than our pay, our ship will receive one paid day in dry-dock  for each day we are engaged on this mission. Being engaged means that everyday we are on the Yeti moon is a billable day. That will include pre-race time spent there, as well as days off between races. Racing sleds may need time for repairs, and weather conditions may favor certain teams, so any entrant in the race may call for time off between races.

   We set off with a new crew member, Gregor. He's a soldier, so he should help a lot if we get into some skirmishes. Also, perhaps I can look forward to some tutoring on the use of my new assault rifle.

   Some crew members got the idea to make this job an opportunity to sell goods. Lisa didn't come up with this one, but was all for it, of course. We bought 80K credits worth of fine foods, and liquor to sell at the races. It never hurts to make a little easy money.

 The trip to the Yeti system was rather uneventful. We were soon in communication with the moon's control command. They said, "Dude" to us on the com! We immediately noticed that and figured that things might just be a little lax at the Abominable Snow Control. We didn't rely on their instructions, and we soon found ourselves where we needed to be. Upon arriving we stopped for some fuel at the gas giant. We surveyed the area. We found a good parking spot, not too far from the action. After adjusting for the toxic atmosphere of the moon, we ventured out to find things and talk to folks. Some chose to venture outside in Environmental suits, or Vac suits, but most of us became "dashers", wearing warm clothes and breathers for quick runs between building, vehicles, and tents. Dashing is the coolest way to go!

   At this point, the crew went their separate ways. Felton began the task of finding the buyers for our wares. Some stayed on the ship, but I really didn't keep track of what everyone was up to. I went with Jan and some others, to the Sir Yeti Command HQ. I went to check out the place, looking for ways to have some fun.

Life has been pretty serious lately, and this looked like a good chance to let my hair down a bit. 

 I met a cute guy named Ted. We talked a bit and danced together. He took me out for dinner, and later we made love. We talked afterwards, and decided we weren't right for each other, so that was that. Only that wasn't quite that, because I heard that Ted was telling everyone that he "dumped" me!  If anything, I dumped him, OK? Who has the time for this nonsense? I immediately returned to the scene at the Sir Yeti Command center bar, and met a nice guy named,  Cuiatli (pronounced "Soo-atly". I think). He works on the Xtreme Crew as a video guy. He's a bit geeky, but cute, and nice. We had a great time together, dancing and flirting. We had days before the first race, so we had lots of free time to spend.

   Well, what about the race, you ask? The course is over seven hours long, and there are seven racing sleds. The teams are: Loki, Duke White al Jordan, Severus, Ave', Teo Patli', Vargr, and IO Beck's College of Industrial Design. Our team carefully scouted the course, looking for possible trouble spots before the race. There are huge gas geysers on the moon in this area. Most of them are near the starting line.

   The first race begins with the college team side-swiping Duke White's sled after only eight minutes into the race. The university team stops, while Duke's continues. Next, there's a big crash with Loki. We scramble air raft#2, which is the one I am piloting along with Felton, to the rescue effort. Out of control, Duke's sled then vanishes beneath the surface of the moon. On the main rescue ship, we quickly decide to follow after them. This takes some tricky piloting, but Lisa is up for it. I wasn't there, of course, because I was busy on a rescue run myself. Those aboard the Bucket told me later that they next encountered a giant white worm, and fired at it. Near a methane lake, the crew of al Jordan  is rescued, but Duke's ship is ruined and quite possibly out of the entire race. There are some very serious injuries; two of their crew members have severe head trauma and will need brain surgery. Duke White is absolutely livid about what happened. He rants and raves about amateurs, referring to the members of the university team. The Vargr team ends up winning the first race.

   That night, I wanted to take Lisa with me, and go out for some fun. She was against the idea initially, but I managed to convince her to go with me. "I don't like parties", she said. "That's because you haven't been partying with me! C'mon, lets grab some Vargr Ale (I'll buy), and go to their party. It will be fun." Off we went, along with Lily (a Chargr by any other name...), Sally, and Felton. Wow, those Vargr can really drink! I asked the DJ if he had any 3 Dog Night. We must have heard, "Who Let the Dogs Out", about thirty times.

   The next day (no race today) we went back to where the worm was found to investigate. We found a 5 foot clear worm with many little pink worms inside. May I just say, "Eeouuuuu"?  Skins eventually got a scientific paper published on the worms. The Rusty Bucket will have 13 paid days in dry dock to affect repairs, and make improvements. For our initial investment of 5kCR each, we got back 14kCR. We still have some unsold goods left. We will be snacking on some gourmet treats, and drinking Vargr ale for some time to come. I can't wait to go clubbing again, when I will show off a new dance I invented. It's called, "The Worm".

The Carris Log for Adventure 1

THE CARRIS LOG: THE WAY I SEE IT
WINTER 09

Life aboard the Rust Bucket is seldom boring. Our crew had been listless just hanging around the Margessi planet, waiting for a chance to make a cargo run for someone. Our communications went something like this: “We can’t make any profits without moving somebody’s goods, so let’s get busy!” “That’s right, Lisa, but until we get some offers, I don’t see what else we can do”, I replied. “Also, if we don’t get into space soon, Sally will have torn half the ship apart, making ‘improvements’, then we may not be ready to make a run for days”, I cautioned. “We’ve put out the word, now we just have to wait for a response.”

Sure enough, an offer was made, and it seemed like an easy run, but Jan was careful to make sure we were not being duped into transporting some illegal goods, as well as securing our payment for services. The best we could do was to get half our fee before we left and the rest when the delivery was to be made. We voted (we’re a democratic bunch) to take the deal. We tried to take every precaution we could think of, but in the end we got screwed anyway! Our first mistake was to not break the seals and personally inspect the goods for ourselves, but we did about everything short of that. Later we discovered that our cargo, which was some manufacturing equipment that was a higher tech level than that currently in use on Hrrunting, and just recently allowed by new laws, was entirely legal. Mixed with this legal equipment were some nuclear triggers, which are highly illegal! In hindsight, we should have got a better rundown on the fellow who set up the deal, but there wasn’t much Intel to be found on him. And of course, Archibald “Archie” Anamon turned out to be a crook! He set us up, but at least we got into space, and didn’t have to spend more time waiting around on Margessi.

Margessi is a member of The Imperium, a loose federation of planets that has a large, diverse group of members. I have no actual reason to trust or distrust them. Our customer wanted the shipment delivered to a nearby planet that is part of The Sword World group, Hrrunting. We wanted to avoid involvement in any possible conflict between these two forces, but were sucked in anyway. Our group wishes to remain neutral in terms of their conflict. This fact did not stop both sides from trying to use us against the other side.

Some of these “disputes” may be valid from someone’s point of view, but personally, I think most of us are better off staying out of the conflict.

Lisa seems obsessed with making deals and getting rich, but I doubt she’ll be able to do that while serving on this rust bucket, but who knows? I am more concerned with life and justice for everyone (except maybe Cassia Sherwood, but even Cassia deserves a fair shake … maybe). War brings a threat to both of these goals. I hope to avoid it entirely. I’d be content to make a fair living, and someday have a family of my own, living in peace.

In my younger days, I didn’t always follow the lawful path, but I always tried to do what was right, and just. It wasn’t always the easiest way to go, but in the end, it proved to be personally rewarding.

The pirates we met as we approached the Sword World group of planets, turned out to be Imperial Intelligence, hoping to provoke an incident that would benefit them politically. We asked for help from the patrol in the area, and they rushed to our aid. They were Sword World military guys I think. They offered to replace the missiles we used in our battle with the pirates. We accepted their offer, but were suspicious of their motives and their missiles, both of which turned out to be OK. When we landed, and were set to transfer our cargo, we were surrounded by the local military forces. They tried to arrest us, but taking our lead from Louise, who bit the guy in front of her, we resisted. I got into a struggle with a soldier who had a rifle aimed at me. I took his weapon away from him, then he took it back, then I managed to wrestle the rifle back from him. By this time a battle was underway, and just when the situation looked rather hopeless, we were aided by some friendly fire from the edge of the forest. Soon, the soldiers were on the run, and we got control of an APC. We met up with the bucket and got away clean, or almost. We ended up in an Imperial intelligence holding facility. We spent a month in confinement while the authorities sorted everything out. In the end, they couldn’t pin anything on us, and we were released. The Zodani were involved, manipulating the Sword Worlders.

Now I find myself on a capable crew with diverse outlooks on life. We all share a loyalty to one another, and a fondness (mostly) for our old spaceship. Engineers have been known to emit blue clouds of curse words while in the midst of difficult repairs under severe time constraints, but we really enjoy what we do, most of the time. Although our methods differ widely, Sally and I share a sense of duty to maintaining the old ship. I sometimes worry about her overuse of stimulants, but there’s really nothing I can do about it. Jan is a fully capable captain, and a good leader (but I also remember someone wise once said, “Don’t follow leaders and watch yer parking meters.”) This is good advice, which simply means everyone should think for themselves, and isn’t a knock on the captain. Our gunners, Felton and Skins are good shots, as we saw when the “pirates” attacked. That was scary! It was a tricky situation, but we handled it very well, I thought. Louise is a very interesting crew member with some odd abilities that may help us as we go further into space.

Currently, I am studying Cargo Movement during jumps. (I was impressed with the jargon those cargo guys use!) This skill is one that we need and don’t have aboard the bucket. I’ve been able to gain some skill in first aid as well. I plan to offer Skins aid when he may need it. I need to learn more about healing people, and diagnosing their ailments, so any spare time I can be of use in sick bay will be satisfying to me. Even though we didn’t get the other 50% of the credits we were owed, our crew came out of this adventure a little richer, and we managed to afford the parts needed to repair the bucket once again. Also, we spent some time in confinement while the authorities sorted out what happened, but it wasn’t the first time that’s happened. I now own an assault rifle, but I hope I won’t have to use on anyone.