You're a 1st Marsian Settler

clark · 2004-05-28 17:38:44

journal entry,

I have managed to survive off the remanants of discarded supplies left by the UN team. almost all of them are dead now, and I'll probably be blamed for it. Note to self, wearing the suit of the UN makes me look bad. Wearing a UN suit while someone, or several someones are killing them is a bad thing. Must find old suit.

The radiation is increasing, as well as the dust in the air. It is getting mighty cold. Cobra has defintely found and used the reactor rods. Most of the habs are deserted now, and most rendered unuseable. Some unseen railgun waits to kill me- luckily I've taken to using the carcasses of dead rabbits as a lure to ferret out saftey zones.

I think I was safer when i was the only one outside.

Cobra Commander · 2004-05-28 18:04:19

Been subsisting on cheese and wine from Yu Knight camp. Had some other stuff too, lots of weird sauces, not as good as rabbit. Attempt to melt rod didn't work out, might try again later. Need microwave array, or maybe plasma torch.
Jebus has revealed to me in a vision that the planet must be cleansed of the infidel invaders before the fires of salvation can come. Off to get the last of those blue helmets.

Trebuchet · 2004-05-28 19:18:39

Journal - Date Irrelevant

Everything continues to go to hell in a handbasket. I have buried the tunnel to the greenhouse and my hab in more dirt. The radioactivity increases, but I am protected now. Hopefully I won't get cancer from my trip outside.

The sniper has not moved, save to fire at CC and Clark. They could not have possibly survived out there in all that radiation. They must be zombies. Or vampires. I'm not sure which. I wish that some of the base cameras survived so that I could see if they were eating brains or drinking blood so I could plan accordingly. Then I realized, what if they are vampire zombies? Death to all the undead! I will burn them at the stake, if I can find any wood. Perhaps I will be forced to use plastic painted brown...

Palomar · 2004-05-28 19:21:12

We pull up to the Old Outpost. First -- and temporary -- human habitat from decades ago. It's run down, sand blasted. :-\ But it'll do.

Leave the rover, check out O.O. on foot.

Wait...what's this? It looks like (no kidding) a gumball machine behind the O.O. ? A glass bubble -- zillions of scratches on it from the sandstorms -- perched on a tarnished stand. Something inside it, looks like a pea. Husband waits as I peer more closely at the miniscule writing on the label.

"Instant Martian Colony/Just Add Water"

Beneath that, "Insert Coin"

Beneath that, "Acme Co., Division of L. Tunes"

:-\

Husband finds a quarter in his spacesuit utility belt. He was keeping it for good luck. Put coin in slot, push tab...pea does nothing. Stuck. :-\

I grab the bubble, give it a few brisk shakes. Pea finally rolls out.

Put a drop of water on it. It begins foaming, fizzing, rolls crazily away a few hundred meters then -- {{!POP!}}

Instant colony! Wow...

Living quarters for 100 at least...huge terranium, 5 specially shielded garden domes, etc.

We move in.

Intercept message from Ian; he's looking for us. Return message, c'mon over -- we've got plenty of room and food.

Wind chimes tinkle in the breeze outside as I stir up a batch of veggie stew and rinse strawberries. Bunnies hopping around my feet, wiggling their soft little noses (Cobra's welcome at the new colony, so long as he doesn't make target practice out of my rabbits)...Sol just set.

Wait for stragglers from the previous colony...life is good on Mars.

--Cindy

clark · 2004-05-28 21:06:08

journal entry,

money on mars has uses, I am kicking myself for not having believed in the utility of coins and pockets for space suits.

Rxke · 2004-05-29 12:08:42

Journal entry: day of the silencing of the voices in my head...

Living at night has helped me a lot, lately... I must've eaten some real weird GM stuff, for I have changed a lot, physically, and psychologically. The latter, thank God, was only a bout of temporary madness...

Been watching Cindy... Looks like she's trying hard to get things together again, I think I'll try to make contact with her.

(One day later)

This night i left a message at the new hab, saying i want to come over, but i might look very weird, and they should at least isolate me for awhile before letting me in 'for real'. The changes i went through might be contagious, and while they were, overall, benevolent (what with the regeneration of my fingers... And eardrums!) I'm concerned about my greenish complexion...

Now all i gotta do is sit back and wait, eating sand... (another trick i learned the GM stuff did to me, I'm literaly able to live off the land!)

Palomar · 2004-05-29 12:52:36

Day Two in new colony.

Received message from Rik, indicating he's on his way. He sounds worn out, exhausted. I told him not to worry about the greenish cast to his skin; a few good meals should take care of that. Quit eating sand!!

He tells me he swears he'd seen Cobra (aka "Lord Vlork") -- on the day I left the previous colony -- run at my rover and affix some object to its side. :-\ How could I have -not- seen him do that?

Go outdoors. Examine rover carefully. Oh my god...there IS something affixed, which wasn't there before.

Could it be...Cobra (aka "Lord Vlork") is -- ? No, I'd better not jump the gun, better not make assumptions.

Rik tells me Clark is feeling despondent about lucky coins and spacesuit pockets (we don't have more important things to worry about?).

Back to the Cobra Commander issue. If and when he arrives at our new colony, will he arrive wearing black leather, a big black helmet, and breathing harshly through an artificial respirator? Lord Vlork...Lord V---r?!

--Cindy

Cobra Commander · 2004-05-29 15:07:47

New respirator working out well, Extended stays outside no longer a problem. Unfortunately, breathing hab air is, may be stuck in this getup for awhile. Cape seems unecessary and mildly inconvenient, but too suave to discard.
Have intercepted transmission from Cindy, she seems to be hallucinating badly. Something about a new colony growing out of the sand. Others are following. Suspect false-prophet issues, proceeding to coordinates to nip this heresy in the bud.
The rabbits no longer vex me. Jebus has been silent for days, suspect that high levels of CO2 and methane in old hab may have contributed to "visions." Still, they were dead on about the coming of the Yu Knights. Keeping manuscript of the "Book of Cobra" just in case.
Following trail of a strange, green Mars beast which seems to be approaching the site of the alleged "colony." May attempt to capture it. Yu Knight rifles have proven unreliable, relying heavily on crude sword. An elegant weapon from a more civilized age, but damn anachronistic.

Rxke · 2004-05-29 15:26:27

Oh nooo... Cobra's following me!
Luckily he's still limping badly, so i can easily outrun him, but this doesn't look good for the New Colony... Him being dressed as Darth Vader, wielding a gun... I hope i have time to convince the people in the colony Cobra's dangerous in his present state, before he arrives.

Palomar · 2004-05-29 16:04:02

Oh god oh god oh god

Rik just contacted me. He's on his way; says he's got just enough water. Thank god. But I'm very worried about him -- and now the rover went caput. I'd gladly drive out to rendezvous with him but now the damned rover won't start! Husband is working frantically on it, to get it started again.

Lord V is scanning my messages. All our messages. But how? ???

He's immune to rabbits. Even Jake and Honey, my attack rabbits! Now he's got that darned black helmet on...shooting love beads at him with the pea shooter would be utterly ineffective.

How can -- ? What -- ?

Maybe *camoflauge*? But how? And how would Rik see --

*Gasp* I wonder if Cobra/Lord V has sent inimical and hostile thought-rays to the rover, and that's why it no longer works. Who KNOWS what kind of sinister powers he possesses?

Enough of this! I must come up with a plan -- hurry!

DonPanic · 2004-05-31 02:59:03

Hi Cindy, real bad reception, 2 out of 5, nevertheless, can you translate ?

Trebuchet · 2004-05-31 04:03:37

Journal. Stardate 90210

The French are still here and babbling stuff I don't understand. Sometimes they attempt to enter my hab. I have given them booze and they seem happy with it, though they keep asking for "Vin". I tell them there's no Vin living in our colony and wave them away. That gets them to go away and keep CC away from me. He's still nuts. The rabbit slaughter seems to have abated, though.

The others are moving to a new hab... like hell, I just put everything here. I now have carrots coming in. This would be good if there were any rabbits still alive.

There is still a sniper perched at the edge of my crater. Uncertain what he's doing. You would think he would have potted whoever he's after by now, or maybe he just died. I'm not checking. Bastard's still armed.

Rxke · 2004-05-31 05:55:27

Muahaahaahaa! All hail the Lizard King!
*slams head real hard against padded wall*

Huh? Where am I? Oh... yeah... Solitary confinement, the new base...

*Tries to ignore craving feelings for flies*

So I made it! Good... Glad I could convince Cindy to lock me up untill i'm at least a bit more used to the rich atmosphere, boy that was a blast! Never would've thought i was actually capable of running up to the ceiling...

Muaahaaa-*SLAM*

Ughh... Gonna take a while before the medication gets me back to normal, though...

Cobra Commander · 2004-05-31 08:49:38

Outside new colony, can't quite believe it. Suspect low oxygen mix. New respirator can only filter so fast, running the whole way here seems to have overwhelmed it.
More Yu Knight chatter, they same to be panicking. Something about a planet of shit. Should probably finish the mopping up operation, but tired. That sniper hasn't taken any action for several days, perhaps he's been taken out as well. Know it wasn't Yu Knights, suspect clark. He's gotten violent, saw what he did to that robot. Wore its skin for Jebus sake, twisted stuff.
Highly suspicious of new colony, seems too good to be true. Will continue scouting perimeter, then attempt to enter at weakest point. As near as I can ascertain Rxke was imprisoned immediately upon entering colony. Despite obvious mutations, they should have recognized him up close. Believe they have sinister motives. Also, miss the rabbits. And the precious.

Rxke · 2004-05-31 09:40:10

Rehab going reasonably well...

Cindy's given me some books to keep my mind occupied, great stuff... Only wished she'd not chosen 'Lord of the Flies,' I catch myself licking my lips incessantly...

She told me the U.N. guys don't want anything to do with us, for the moment, because of what we did.

I wonder: what did we do to upset them? :hm:

Palomar · 2004-05-31 10:33:30

Check on Rik. He arrived dazed, disoriented, very thirsty. Thank goodness I convinced him to put on a hardhat before locking him (at his insistence) into the room. I see he's eaten the stew and the flat bread, now is curled up sleeping peacefully.

Received message and artwork from DonPanic. I doubt Lord Vlork knows French, so I returned a message to DonPanic in French: "Message reçu de DonPanic. Il est dérangé parce que Mars a tellement l'ennui aujourd'hui ? Il dit le "merde" ; deux fois. Il me dit que nous avons grands ennuis." But I think there are two words I didn't use correctly. :-\ DonPanic does not signal his intentions...I wonder if he might be a double-agent? Didn't I once see him laughing heartily over escargot and fancy wine with Cobra Commander -- and very recently? :hm: They seemed awfully chummy. But it could be the double-agent thing; maybe he's really working against CC/Lord Vlork. Will try and decipher the French message more thoroughly; I suspect a hidden message in it. And I heard DonPanic's ancestor was a top-ranking member of Louis VX's "Black Cabinet" -- an 18th century secret service agency... Very interesting, if true.

As for Lord Vlork...rumor from a confidant and double-agent at the original colony tells me he's checking out the perimeter of the new colony. But he was so quiet for a few days; apparently no one heard anything from him until today. Could it be he's delayed attacking this colony because he's AFRAID of me?

Someone has started a rumor that I could be a Fem-Bot. :-\

--Cindy

Mad Grad Student · 2004-05-31 16:11:48

Journal entry, Monday, 7 Cancer 2034:

Earlier today our colony ship, the Bounty arrived at Meridiani Base. I kept asking myself what in the Sol System am I getting myself into. Sure, engineering jobs pay $300,000+ here, but I'm not going outside in shirtsleeves for a long time. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it now, besides, I'll be one of the first generation Mars colonists! That alone easily outweighs everything else.

Atmospheric entry was spectacular, and fortuntely touchdown was pretty smooth. I was completely unprepared for the utter beauty of this place, it's just... indescribable. I'm very glad I took all of those French lessons now, the only two colonists I've had contact with so far, DonPanic and Cndy weren't speaking any English. Apparently a second base was constructed while we were in transit, and us newbies are going to head over to the new base, about 100 kilometers from here. The base is an absolute sty, I can see that I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I knew that going in.

I can see that I'm going to miss a lot of things from Earth. There are no aircraft here as of now, something I definately plan on changing. Who knows, I could become both Wilbur Wright and Burt Rutan of Martian aviation! Something that surprised me during the trip was that I didn't miss the sights and smells of Earth, those were easily replicated. Instead, I miss swimming. Water is still far to important of a commodity here on Mars to warrant splashing and playing around in it, something that's very unfortunate. I have to say, though, all my worries and homesickness was far outweighed by my sense of adventure. Imgagine, Mars is this bright, new world, ripe for colonization, I just happened to be lucky enough to be born when I could take advantage of that!

Power is greatly restricted here, so I don't have much time to finish left. I set my alarm clock for 5:00 tomorrow morning, Earth should be shining brightly overhead in the east about that time. That must be a beautiful sight, I can't wait to see it.
-END LOG ENTRY-

Ian Flint · 2004-05-31 17:22:19

I finally found my rover. After camouflaging it, I started taking fire from a sniper. I was outside so I ducked away from my vehicle and hid behind some boulders until nightfall. I got lost among the boulders and wandered around for days. It's a good thing the UN sent us here with Long Duration EVA suits. It sucks drinking goopy meals out of a straw, though. And, I gotta do something about that chafing around my crotch. Anyway, found the rover. I guess I did a pretty good job with the camo. I walked past it at least 20 times before I realized what it was.

My computer has been recording the various messages from the colonists. The messages are a bit jumbled, but it seems Cindy has lost it too. She claims to have found some magic gumballs that turn into cities when you add water. Crazy!!!

Looks like I'll try to find Trebuchet. From the messages I've intercepted, he seems to still be sane enough. I think the solitary life is getting to him too, though. It seems we are under the same sniper fire, so he must be close (maybe on the other side of that plateau with the big crater).

Note to self: Travel at night. And keep your new "Boulder" rover among the boulders to blend in. And, try not to get paranoid. This seems to be the thing that causes this Martian Insanity.

Ian Flint · 2004-05-31 17:34:53

Change of plans.

I just saw a fireball entering the atmosphere. It must be another colony ship from Earth. I estimate it landed about 250 kilometers from here. I'll go see who the new arrivals are before visiting Trebuchet.

Strange, I could swear I saw a ghostly demon thingy following the fireball across the sky as the new ship arrived...

It must be the isolation getting to me. Demons aren't real...Demons aren't real...Demons aren't real...

Cobra Commander · 2004-05-31 19:36:56

More have flocked to the false colony. Still others arrive from off-world, chased by demons and fire from the blue star which hangs in the morning sky. Too many heathen infidels, too many invaders spreading across the face of Mars, destroying the beautiful desolation. Fleeing deep into the wilderness to escape the coming damnation.

Mad Grad Student · 2004-05-31 22:25:08

Colonist's Log, Teusday, 8 Cancer 2034:

Something very, very weird is going on here. This morning the new colonists and I moved into the base to find it... empty. There wasn't a single person there, and the only thing to show for humans once being there was a few empty spacesuits, an UN Peace Force badge and patch, a few logs, and a few rabbits stored in a sample isolation box. From the log of someone named Rik, apparently the colony's leader, most of the colonists left for some tiny base northeast of here that was once an ESA mission landing area.

About an hour ago a man named Ian Flint appeared at the base, raving about a sniper, demons, and some guy named Cobra. When I couldn't get him to calm down another of the newbies gave him an injection of tranquilizer just to make him shut up. Obviously something weird is going on here, but ghosts, sand people? C'mon.

Unfotunately, all of the rovers at the base have been taken, so we have no way to get to the new base right now. Fortunately, however, I brought the plans for several airplanes I designed back on Earth (After all, that's what I'm paid to do), and we started construction on one of them immediately. It resembles http://www.scaled.com/projects/proteus/ … tm]Proteus, the Scaled Composites airplane designed for insanely long loitering times, and I'd guess that once it's done it will take ten colonists, including myself, to the new base at a time.

I managed to get a stereolithoghraphy machine up and running, and started printing out some of the main components. With the help of a few other inhabitants, I've found two spare rover engines that I'll be able to use as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to reach the new base within a week. In the meantime we're working on getting the radio online, once that's done I'll contact this "Cindy," and perhaps sort out this mess.

Trebuchet · 2004-05-31 23:27:14

Journal entry - Date uncertain, +3.

Have absolutely no clue what is going on now. Cobra has left the area. The sniper is still in place. Now fairly convinced that he must have been cooked by radiation. Most of the crazies have gone away.

I lucked out today. Found some equipment nearby. Seems to be an agricultural dome setup that was abandoned, someone tore apart one of the rovers and took some supplies. Brought it back to the hab, welded some sheet metal to it, and buried Cobra's radioactive fuel rods under dirt from teleoperation. I also found some extra seeds. Good thing. I would go insane eating potatos and carrots much longer.

I seem to be some sort of Hermit King now. The new colonists are avoiding me or don't know where I am. The old colonists seem to have migrated out of the area. And Ian was captured by the new colonists. They seem to think he's crazy. Ian's not crazy, Mars is crazy.

I suppose I'll have to bust him out of stir. Crap. I'll contact the new colonists and see if they'll trade Ian for some booze before I try the Cobra Method.

Cobra Commander · 2004-06-01 07:19:01

Raided old colony, took a rover and cleaned it out. Picked up some gear from my old hab, then proceeded into deep desert. Moving toward far side of planet, possibly venturing into Southern hemisphere. Activity seems focused in the North, devising plan to flood them out. Need materials, time and robots. Salvaged Hermit's droids to that end. Must now build enormous mirror and launch it into orbit, or perhaps giant friggin' laser. Also looking into overriding control program of aptly named MADMEN. May need to seize assets from Yu Knights or new colonials as present launch capability is... nonexistent.
Found a camouflaged rover, so I moved it fifty meters. Didn't like the seats, vinyl, so left it. Made sure to camouflage it again just to be difficult. Perhaps if they are harassed enough they'll just leave. To that end, have introduced computer virus into colony systems and released mutant rabbits with a taste for live wiring. Awaiting mayhem. Out.

Ian Flint · 2004-06-01 08:30:26

I don't know what day it is. It seems the new colonists tranquilized me. Friggin' idiots!

I escaped from the room they were holding me in. I crawled into the ventilation system. Right now I'm looking for my clothes and EVA suit. They dressed me in one of those hospital gowns with the open back. Very drafty, but somehow...liberating.

I've been observing the new colonists from a ceiling vent in a large hangar. They seem to be building an airplane. Trebuchet came by a while ago with a big barrel of alcohol. I couldn't hear what they all were talking about, but they must have thought he was crazy, too. They tranquilized him and dragged him off by the feet, his head bumping along on the ground, bastards. Must rescue Trebuchet!

clark · 2004-06-01 10:11:28

Journal entry,

Have taken abandoned rover. Other than vinyl seats, not bad. Mars is getting crowded, it's now only a matter of time before either the hermits sniper rifle gets me, or Cobra does. At least with Cobra, the rabbits distract.

I have decided to venture out into the deep red, get a few clicks between me and the rest, and search. If they knew what I was looking for, they might try and stop me. Need to find it before them, it's my only chance.

Time to see if the old man was lying, or a prophet

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