(couldn't figure out how to make an expandable box, someone point it out how pls)
I had written this because it is more enjoyable with a directive and setting and this was fun. Should there be the next chapter of krastorio?
It has been long five years on this distant world. The completion of the planet cracker drill has come online without incident and marks the end of my contract. The great drill will slowly suck the core dry of all its energy and resources for the glory of my home planet. Or in my world, another day in the life of an engineer, making the rich richer. Like many others, my orders were to return to the remote station for reassignment. This station served as housing and entertainment aside its general gas station feel for the galactic travellers. Most folks would simply relax in their ships that would orbit the planet they were working at. The port and the intergalactic hyperlane network will be busy this time with all the workers returning for reassignments. The higher-ups always have new plans for expansion and thus the need for energy and resources never stops, only grows.
As I entered the hyperlane and slowly reached speeds beyond the light, red began to flash across the screen. Newfound turbulence shook the rustbucket to the point of the disintegration of several stabilizers. A high reading of exotic energy flashed on the screen, the numbers, they grew. This old rust bucket was not gonna make it, I knew this as the numbers glitching out. I stumbled for the escape pod, for what little it may do to help while flying inside a hyperlane. They are slightly disjointed for the normal space allowing to easily traverse our galaxy. Electric conduits arced across every exposed inner hull, it was memorizing loud. I passed out inside the pod unable to do anything inside of it for one fo the electrical arcs hit me and knocked me out.
Between the shaking and the occasional arc of energy caressing me, I have awaken. Awake but to numb to do anything. Whatever it was I encountered has passed and has done its damage. There was no control of my rustbucket and thankfully I was ejected out of the hyperlane. The subsystems of the life pod module began to restart and I was finally seeing the extent of the damage to my little ship, home and the only means to get to where ever I need to be. The life pod module has the necessary components to survive but lacks the advanced systems to fly through the hyperlanes due to necessary power consumption. Reading show the reactor has ceased to function and I was adrift in space. Moments passed that seemed like hours and I was able to move. The brunt of the damage went to my exo skelton, the powersoarce was blown and the electronics were fried. Goodnight all my beautiful bots that helped me in my endeavour, there will be a glorious funeral if I survive. (dont question the love between the engineer and his creations). The old back up suit will have to do. For now, I will not power it on just yet, must conserve what fuel I have left if any until after I make a plan. Exploring the heavily damaged ship revealed both good news and bad news. The main antimatter reactor that powered the main engine looks like a melted hunk of gorgon shit but, one of the two small fission reactors has successfully restarted itself and just nearly sustaining what little subsystems left running. Another good news is that the assemblers are in working order, surprisingly. Those babies are older than me, old but not absolute. However, the matter printer is completely shot, yeah I am screwed.
An ominous notification rang from my escape pod. Can it be? Am I so lucky as to be randomly ejected from a hyperlane near a star with a habitable celestial body? Out of trillions of places I could have ended up, this is just luck... hopefully just luck. There are a great many places where ending up could be the worst-case scenario where death would have been a better option. Oh no the old stories that ma used to tell me of floating fleshy monsters with strange powers that highjack your mind and make you part of them praying on the lost at the edge of our galaxy are coming back. And there is yet another dent in the already broken hull, had to apply my head enough force to snap out of the scary stories. Yes, think of the academy, thin of all the good time I had at the Linver and Krastor Academy of Globalized Engineering and Technology. Enough reminiscing for now, I have two things to do now. First I must figure out where I am, soon as the navigation subsystems finally initialize. For some reason, they are taking to long. Two, I will land on this planet and wait for rescue. More like crash actually, if anything the life pod will survive the drop even without counter gravity stabilizers.
After an hour of scratching my head, I forced the startup of the navigation subsystem and made sure the array was functional. The results were inconclusive. Based on the data, there is no communications relay within reach. Probing the onboard array with test signals, they seem to register down to the exact plank time. There is no problem with my escape pod, for unlike the whole rustbucket, those were designed to be indestructible and fully equipped with subsystems separate from the ship. One could live in one floating in space for years. I rushed to the one last window that has not been out sealed and whipped out the star map. The horror ensued, nothing matched, not a single star. None of the well-known quasars used as galactic markers matched, the galactic core seemed off colour and a different shape than what I was used to. I was not in the neighbourhood anymore, this was very far from home. After the shock subsided enough to stop shaking, I broadened the communications array to all frequencies. The power drain was noticeable as the screens started to occasionally flicker while scanning. Eyes darting between the screen and the window, waiting for any sort of communication frequencies to intercept , but nothing. Complete silence, except a minuscule odd disturbance that flares in and out from the nearby planet. The observed frequency is strange and does not match anything in the databank. It seemed almost alive.
I set my efforts to analysing the only hope of survival, the planet before me. The star is stable and the planet seems to already have an extremely good biosphere and rich in all known forms of minerals even. In fact, there are sizable creatures already propagating no the planet. In essence, this planet is a Gaia world, a rare gem in the sea of volatile space. If I could only contact my home planet, and tell them of this world, they will spend no expanse to come here and rescue me. Perhaps even give me a higher administrative status. Altho, knowing the higher-ups, I doubt it would be too high up the leader. Building a communications array capable of contacting home planet from a different galaxy is no small task, the technology was created but only in theory. Every one is drilled in about every working part of everything at the academy. This allowed them to produce engineers capable of changing the light bulbs to building the next planet core collector and the reactor to power it. Knowing how it all works was always one side of the coin. The other is the great databanks provided to each graduating engineer that would update with every new invention or change. We are the driving force of our ever-expanding culture, literally. Without the great academy, we would still be on our little dust ball playing with exploding sticks and barely keeping up with propagating versus going extinct. Now we are a galactic civilization or a type III civilization based on some nut named Kardashev, all thanks to us engineers. Agreed it is mostly thanks to the establishment of the Linver and Krastor Academy. Another dent in the hull, this time to snap out fo reminiscing and focus on the new revamped plan. Thanks to the abundance of all the minerals one could possibly want on this planet, I will land and exploit. Two, examine the natives. Three, research on how to go about building and sustaining the intergalactic communications transceiver. Since it exists only in working theory, this will take some time.
The rustbucket braced the atmosphere it immediately caught fire. Things were getting hot and now we know the shielding was completely destroyed from hyperlane incident. The escape pod was the only safe haven and that is where I was. The eject didn't work, of course. I went down with the ship and activated the emergency landing impact goop, it flooded the pod and I was as safe as one could be in my situation. After a violent jerk, things were still and quiet. The loudest thing was the beeping noise of the console screen. I have landed. The ballistic goop drained and I was free to leave, get out and smell the roses. Except there were no roses and possibly this planet is covered in microscopic plant-like life that will land on me the moment I get out and grow like a fungus out of me till I die. Or it could be nice if I am to trust my scans. The door opened with screeches of steel falling out fo the way. My years adjusted to calm breeze rustling the many trees around me. No birds or any small grounded animals to be heard. Luckily the controlled crash navigation got me very close to where I wanted to crash. Would be a shame if I crashed int the middle of the indigenous species here. My goals were clear and I had a lot to do and figure out.