posted 11-24-98 10:39 PM ET        

I think I managed to read most of the story threads before the board crashed, but does anyone have a quick summary of the important stuff for us newbies? It'd really help...

Also, feel free to suggest situations and so on for this story. I doubt I remember enough of the old stories to use anyone else's character, so if you want me to include them, you'll have to give me some hints

posted 11-24-98 10:44 PM ET            

Gabriel Forrester was still in shock. He had been with the Alpha Centauri mission for some months now, and he still couldn't get over it. He waited with the rest of the security team, waiting for a med-tech to start cryosleep and impatient to get on with it. And still wondering how he managed to get the position�

His family had refused to use any of its considerable political muscle to help him out. He had at least managed to wrangle a promise to not hinder him from his father, and the old man must be sorely regretting it by now. The argument over that still rung in his ears. Luckily, Gabriel's older brother had an interest in, and a flair for, the family business; otherwise his father may have broken his otherwise ironclad promise.

Gabriel was an adventurer; an explorer on a globe that had been mapped square inch by square inch. He had gone on safaris, to both poles, hunted all manner of things, and even sailed across the Atlantic alone. His family tacitly approved of his venturesome streak; it gave them something interesting to talk about at the endless rounds of social functions after all, and they were sure he'd soon "get it out of his system." It wasn't happening.

When he had heard about the Alpha Centauri mission, he had applied immediately. He figured he had some chance; survivalist training and experience under all manner of conditions, weapons training, and a certain skill for improvisation. When his family came out so soundly against his going, he had lost hope, sure that more than enough better qualified candidates would apply. After all, this would be a historic mission, the first people to leave the solar system.

Apparently he was wrong; he was first granted an interview, and then a position on the ship. His father threatened to disinherit him, but since it wasn't likely that anyone on the expedition would return to Earth within the century, and his bank account would do him no good on ship, it wasn't much of a threat.

At one of the early "get-together" parties, he had had a rather strange conversation with one of the other security team. They knew each other from training; the man had been Gabriel's assigned "buddy." He had been talking about - preaching really - some ideology, and not for the first time. Gabriel had decided the man was something of a crank. It made his own hiring easier to understand. He just hoped everyone else wasn't the same; his contact outside the security forces had been rather limited.

Gabriel was assigned to Santiago's team. After meeting the other members, his opinion of the level of sanity offered on this mission declined remarkably. If this was the best humanity had to offer Earth would be a radioactive dust cloud by the time they reached their destination.

He contemplated years in close confines with these sorts of people. Good thing he already had other plans�

The tech was finally near his position. Gabriel looked down at the box at his feet, mentally reviewing its contents, knowing it to be too late to do anything about whatever he managed to forget. An electronic book containing the full text of nearly every DIY manual in existence, along with specs for every non-classified component of the ship; a surprisingly compact - and expensive - set of tools ranging from a monkey wrench to a multimeter; the usual clothes; and - once can always dream - a dismantled compound-bow.

posted 11-26-98 01:25 AM ET            

Gabriel dressed as the med-tech related recent events to him. An asteroid hit wasn't something he - or anyone else, apparently - had planned for. It was somewhat unlike such a bureaucracy as the UN. Usually they liked to list out detailed instructions for every possible eventuality. He guessed that none of the bureaucrats involved had sufficient imagination to have fully applied the normal red tape to space flight.

He was one of the last awakened. Presumably his loyalties were in question; he was part of Santiago's team, so Yang wouldn't want him, but hadn't expressed much enthusiasm for Santiago's cause either. It meant he got the events second- or third-hand, but it also meant he wasn't in any danger of being shot during the abortive mutiny.

His earlier judgement of Santiago and her crew was resoundingly confirmed.

He had in truth only been awakened to help with the preparations to abandon ship. This whole notion of splitting into factions seemed truly idiotic. Unless Earth had already launched a follow-up mission, they weren't going to be receiving any new supplies, and the entire mission had been designed with just one large base. Luckily for everyone involved, Alpha Centauri not only had planets, one of them had near-Earth gravity and atmosphere; plant-life as well, to judge by the oxygen content. Still, humans couldn't breathe the air unassisted for any period of time, and with everything being split up things were going to be very primitive for a while.

It was, in a way, more perfect than he ever expected. If there was plant-life, there was the possibility of animals. With everyone split up, satellite reconnaissance would be limited, and all the confusion would help ensure that his own preparations would go unnoticed.

posted 11-27-98 01:09 AM ET            

What I'm referring to as a respirator is simply a slightly modified breathing apparatus (scavenged from the original EVA suits). Instead of relying totally on bottled air, it mixes a small amount of pure oxygen with outside air it draws in, bringing the mixture up to an Earth normal (if high-altitude) mixture. This doesn't require usage of carbon dioxide scrubbers (something that will be in rather short supply for a while) and is considerably less weight than trying to carry full air tanks, which allows longer expeditions with lighter loads.

posted 11-27-98 01:11 AM ET            

A couple months on Planet, and Gabriel was getting more and more disgusted by his fellow Spartans. They had already found out about the mindworms, so the planet had animal life, but so far there wasn't anything worth hunting. Still, Gabriel's still-secret bow seemed like it could be worthwhile. Although ammo-conservation efforts had been paid lip service, no one out on patrol seemed to bother with it. They did have plenty of weapons - Gabriel had managed to secure a shredder pistol as "permanently assigned" to him - but there was no provision for re-loading. Gabriel figured they'd run out of bullets in a couple more months at this rate, and several of the shredders were already drained. The Spartans were months away from high-carbon steel, much less gunpowder and lasers.

Gabriel's shredder was still at full charge, and if he kept it hidden, perhaps no one would remember he had one to ask about the charge. Of course, he could always lie. Still, they kept the drained ones in hopes of Zakharov's University people getting some rechargers built, so maybe someone had kept an inventory. Santiago was just enough of a control freak to do it, too.

Gabriel was out on patrol with a squad of others he barely knew. When they set up camp, his commander had decided, for some unknown reason, that he wanted a bonfire. A big bonfire. Everyone had tried to talk him out of it, but he had already made up his mind, and now a huge pile of wood stood near the camp. Gabriel knew the guy had been a dedicated smoker before the voyage, but had to quit to get accepted. Once on Planet, breathable air was too precious a commodity to allow anyone to smoke. Apparently he wanted to burn something to compensate. He pulled out a brushed-steel Zippo lighter, brought all the way from Earth, and had a bit of trouble lighting it. Gabriel moved away to hide his barely suppressed laughter. The other two guys were standing sentry; one glanced over at the movement just in time to see the fire catch. It spread surprisingly fast, and within a couple moments all four were looking at a roaring bonfire.

Then it exploded.

Later, they couldn't tell if the initial explosion killed their commander or not; the explosion had damaged his respirator somehow, which briefly turned his oxygen supply into a torch.