"Hrmmm. I wonder if the drones are waterproof."
Poke the film with the handle of my shovel, gradually increasing pressure until it breaks.
This proves pretty damn hard. The handle of your shovel is rounded at the end so it just keeps sliding when you apply lots of force to it. Eventually though, you manage to get it wedged in place and put all your weight on it. The handle penetrates and you fall forward as the shovel sinks into the goo all the way up to the shovel head. Nothing comes spraying out, but you can see purplish, greenish, bluish fluid oozing out around the edges of the hole.
Red Team
"Let's move out a bit, but be careful."
Map around the arc chasm, keeping an eye out for any other anomalies.
You walk a little ways around, back toward the west since the eastern side is blocked by the ironfalls. It becomes immediately apparent even just walking around the edge, that this place is probably not somewhere you want to go without some sort of electrical insulation. Even outside the chasms, the ground crackles with live current; formations of what look like stalagmites shot through with veins of metal throw arcs of electricity a dozen feet long and steams of current leap about between them. The ground itself is black and volcanic looking, rent with massive chasms where the electrical discharge is even worse.
"Time to head to the volcanic zone"
Head to the volcanic zone using the extra resistant containers to sample the liquid from both the surface and bottom (or as far down as I can get) if it is under one of or both of these categories;
-There are lifeforms heading towards it or dont appear to have recently "grazed"
-A lifeform is leaving the pool or is currently passing through it
You walk to the edge of the iron sea and take a sample from the shallows. However, you're not entirely sure you want to stick your arm in there to get a sample from the deeper parts. Insulated or not, you're not sure how resistant the suit is.
Blue Team
"How the hell can we not see this from base? It's not that far, is it?" Bishop said, continuing to plod along patiently.
Keep mapping cautiously.
(It's over 20 miles from base.)
You continue mapping around the edge of the zone.
Your feet are getting pretty sore from all this walking.
green team
jam my hard rod into it's quivering, moist mass.
also jam it with a sampling container... for scientific purposes i swear...
((whats the bet im about to get eaten by space goo?))
You too manage to jam your rod into the goo, and just as the pirate before you, fall face first as the rod penetrates. You pull the rod out and sort of scrape some of the goo off it. It's quite viscous and gooey, but not sticky.
"Welp."
Shoot it with the gauss rifle, at about a 60 degree downward angle. See if I can get a sample now.
"Wonder what effect lasers have on it."
Assist in testing goo with lars.
Well, lars fires his load and Jack catches the goo.
Flint Westwood - Blue squad - Sector 18
((Looks like bringing that monorazor along was a good idea. Most things around here seem too durable to be sampled otherwise.))
((whats the bet im about to get eaten by space goo?))
((Getting eaten isn't the problem. Your suit will probably protect you, unless it's some horrible, suit eating goo. The problems I can see are:
1.You get trapped and you can't get out.
1.a.One of your trigger happy friends shoots you in an attempt to free you.
1.a.i.You survive the shot. Now your suit is slowly filling up with gel. Enjoy your slow, painful, jelly death.
2.The goo sea is actually surrounded by some sort of plastic bag and is under pressure (like a balloon), so the moment you pierce the surface, it explodes on your face with unfortunate results.
3.There are sharks inside that sea. You know how dangerous alien sharks can be from the last mission.))
"Mmmmm... Fried desert beetle was a delicacy back home. I wonder if this tastes as good..."
Keep following the leader. If I see one of those beetle shells lying around, break one small piece off of it (preferably one that still has "meat" on it) and smell it, then lick it (I'm assuming that since we can eat in them, our suits has some kind of induction port). If it doesn't feel weird in my tongue or smell bad, eat a tiny part of it. Keep the rest in a sample container for later.
((What? It's an acceptable scientific experiment. What could possibly go wrong?))
You're gonna grab something from the surface of an alien planet and jam it in your mouth? Just like that?
Just making sure.
Refuel the shuttle and look over it for any signs of damage.
Shuttle fueled, damage non-existent, capt. We be flying free.
Base team
See if it would be possible to build a containment box/chamber inside the lab which could be heated up to the temperature where the slug lives. Also, check if there is enough materials to make multiple boxes.
Then update map and distribute it around.
Hmm, possible, though it might be hard. You'd have to jury rig up some sort of heating system. And give it a large supply of power. Plus whatever food that thing eats, and whatever it breathes. Does it breathe? Hmm.
You redistribute the updated map.
((Oh right. Forgot action again.))
"Darn, these things just go on forever. This is officially too big for me to handle by myself. I'm going to run out of fuel before I find a clearing. One last experiment before I leave then."
Hack the spare mapping drone I brought for manual flight control, link its camera and sensor feeds to my visor. Send the drone north, flying in low, keeping track of the rangefinder to avoid accidentally running into something. Try to observe the creatures on the ground for a bit, then continue through the creature-filled area towards anything like the anomaly center - anything I can spot that stands out. If the drone starts losing signal, try to set it down on the ground away from nearby creatures, leaving it broadcasting an intermittent radio signal, to act as a beacon for later.
[aux:5]
You scout around with the drone a bit, staying low. There doesn't seem to be any sort of central area, it's simply more of these crystalline creatures and things. None of the creatures or plants-thats the best analogy you can make for these things-seem dangerous. They're just very slowly sliding or crawling around. Or doing nothing at all. Though it's hard to make detailed examinations from the drone as it bobs and weaves and zooms all over the damn place. The only thing you find of note are what look like enormous ant hills or termite mounds. They're rare, scattered about across the flatlands and made of a strange sort of dully luminous wax looking substance. They tower several stories tall, almost up into the lights above.
Map
http://i.imgur.com/USTKXIA.png
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3971915 times)