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[Aigre Excalibur]

Anyone on else on mission 24 feel like dropping our supplied nuke into an airtight room and setting it off?

I feel like attempting to convert an entire rooms atmosphere into plasma is something we should be attempting for the sake of attempting.

I think we're supposed to be doing the opposite on the thermophage - like freezing it, not heating it.

I'm actually all for nukes and seeing what it'll do to the planet while a thermophage is on it, but let's be off the planet if we do set something like that off.

[Dutrius]

I'm pretty sure the Thermophage was destroyed when all the Automanips overloaded.

[Nunzillor]

Yup, dissipated harmlessly when the manips were remotely shut off.

[NJW2000]

That's... Hilariously accurate. It doesn't have to be a rabbit; any small animal that is not Tang will work. The stiff handle will make it easy to shove them inside.

PROPOSED MEASURES FOR TESTING SAFENESS OF UNIVERSES:

1. Open portal (duh)

2. Shove small animal through portal. Pull back after 1 minute.

3. If animal is alive and wholly intact, have brave soldier hop through quickly and report findings.

4. If soldier survives brief encounter sanely, send him back in with a small box that takes physics recordings.

Send innocent monkey in first, then soldier, then "physical qualities measuring instrument."

Order of Disposability:
Small primate or rodent< human soldier< thermometer

Pretty ARM.

[syvarris]

@Thermophage dissipation

Eh?  When was it stated that the thermophage's gone?  In IRC?  To my knowledge, we've just lost all sensors and contact with the area, so we have no idea what's happening.  Also, we couldn't remotely shut off the automanips, which is why M24 is so screwed.

@Test subjects
Why send in soldiers?  They can kill people, which is useful.  We have women and children to send instead, and they're easier to subdue if they go crazy.  Sods are an even better option, because they're disposable and will probably succumb quickly to any mental effects.

[Nunzillor]

I just assumed that the thermophage was no longer present due to this:

Wow it has been 5 days since I posted here. More probably.

Hmm. I'll tell you guys whats going on. I'm frankly considering just giving you a new mission since this one is basically fucking done thanks to those amps going off. And I'd hate mission 24 to be three turns long.

Hmm.

But it's true he never explicitly says that the thermophage is gone, just that the mission is done. Huh, I guess it could still be present...  But if it was still present, why would the mission to contain or remove it be "done?" Because it is no longer possible?

[syvarris]

Ah.  Yeah, I had interpreted that as "We can't possibly keep things safe enough for anything aside from death to happen, so we'll just nuke the site."

Either option seems valid though.

[Ozarck]

That's... Hilariously accurate. It doesn't have to be a rabbit; any small animal that is not Tang will work. The stiff handle will make it easy to shove them inside.

PROPOSED MEASURES FOR TESTING SAFENESS OF UNIVERSES:

1. Open portal (duh)

2. Shove small animal through portal. Pull back after 1 minute.

3. If animal is alive and wholly intact, have brave soldier hop through quickly and report findings.

4. If soldier survives brief encounter sanely, send him back in with a small box that takes physics recordings.

Send innocent monkey in first, then soldier, then "physical qualities measuring instrument."

Order of Disposability:
Small primate or rodent< human soldier< thermometer

Pretty ARM.

I have a better plan. It's posted in-thread now.

[Nikitian]

@Test subjects
Why send in soldiers?  They can kill people, which is useful.  We have women and children to send instead, and they're easier to subdue if they go crazy.  Sods are an even better option, because they're disposable and will probably succumb quickly to any mental effects.

It is my understanding that we actually need women and children more than soldiers, because we'll need those to colonise the new home of humanity; it is unlikely that we'd have use for soldiers anytime soon, and at least their physical prowess may ensure that they'd live long enough to tell the tale of completely inhospitable places (think M22 liquidiser and some people enduring it). That said, sending in the old and infertile would probably be preferable to both, as those are not needed for the repopulation program - though some might still be needed for other reasons, and should be preserved (chief example: the Doctor; I am pretty sure he's quite a bit old and is beyond the regular human reproduction ). The whole matter is kind of complicated, but I hope you see what I mean.

[Twinwolf]

Actually, aren't Sods made for this kind of thing?

[NJW2000]

And RE: the amps: did they go so weird the thermophage was killed after the lurker incident?

Cuz if not, the question we should be asking is: wtf kind of amps does Hephaestus have that could destroy a deadly world-eating monster by turning off?

[Parisbre56]

@Ozrack: I believe you should add a phase 0. Put the portal on the moon or on another planet. Operate it from Hephaestus or a far-away vessel. Open the portal for a few milliseconds. Then a second. Then a minute. If you end up opening a portal to a sun or a mindfuck dimension or a dimension of nanobots that take over machines or the gates of hell or whatever, then that way you'll probably only lose the teleporter and the surrounding infrastructure (which you can try to put a good distance away from the portal to lessen the chances of it being damaged or infected). Unless of course there's a way to probe the area or make the portals one way. Because if the portals are two way, there's no telling what might come through from the other side when you open it.

Also, were you on the ghost-ship mission? I thought that one was classified, not even Steve knew exactly what happened there. Or at least he only knows because he had the AM read people's minds or something like that.

Actually, aren't Sods made for this kind of thing?

I believe Scout Eyes are even more disposable than sods.

EDIT:

And RE: the amps: did they go so weird the thermophage was killed after the lurker incident?

Cuz if not, the question we should be asking is: wtf kind of amps does Hephaestus have that could destroy a deadly world-eating monster by turning off?

My theory is that they didn't turn off. The problem is that they worked too well. They were keeping the Thermophage as close to absolute zero as they could. And the Lurker made their strength fluctuate, going from unreasonably strong to very weak. So when they were unreasonably strong, they got so strong that they removed enough energy from the Thermophage to physically destroy it or at least severely damage it, since they couldn't lower its temperature further without violating some laws of quantum mechanics.

[Beirus]

Actually, aren't Sods made for this kind of thing?

I believe Scout Eyes are even more disposable than sods.

Don't forget ARM Troopers tend to be more disposable than Scout Eyes. Send a newbie in. If PW scales the difficulty and danger, it could be Happy Rainbow Unicorn Funland. OF DEATH!

[Ozarck]

@Ozrack: I believe you should add a phase 0. Put the portal on the moon or on another planet. Operate it from Hephaestus or a far-away vessel. Open the portal for a few milliseconds. Then a second. Then a minute. If you end up opening a portal to a sun or a mindfuck dimension or a dimension of nanobots that take over machines or the gates of hell or whatever, then that way you'll probably only lose the teleporter and the surrounding infrastructure (which you can try to put a good distance away from the portal to lessen the chances of it being damaged or infected). Unless of course there's a way to probe the area or make the portals one way. Because if the portals are two way, there's no telling what might come through from the other side when you open it.

Also, were you on the ghost-ship mission? I thought that one was classified, not even Steve knew exactly what happened there. Or at least he only knows because he had the AM read people's minds or something like that.

I think you are right about the portal. And I might need to edit my conversation with the Doctor. I assumed a download of that mission from the team's perspective was accessible to the inmates. I'll think about that. I wish I knew better what I know and what I don't I assume Dester studied every mission I edited, so that's where that came in, plus rumors and information leaks from team members.

[syvarris]

I'm asking PW if we can run the portal machine in the apocalypse lab (Which is either on an asteroid, or in a lagrange point--I forget), because stuff like this is exactly what it was built for.  If PW vetos that, we probably aren't allowed to have it somewhere else.  Also, while turning it on just to make sure it's safe makes sense, I highly doubt it would be useful--if merely turning it on would destroy everything nearby, there wouldn't be much of a mission.

Still, Saint isn't going anywhere near that thing until somebody else has gone in and come back safely.