RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
02-24-2018, 07:36 AM
TURN 11
Colony Mood:
Unsettled
Construction Drone: IDLE
Compact Scouting Drone: DAMAGED
Compact Scouting Drone: IDLE
Projects:
Rescue the Biologist: ??? Turns
Drop Pod: 4 Turns
![[Image: map_11_cropped.gif]](https://www.deepwatercreations.com/SixtyFourPixelColonists/A/11/map_11_cropped.gif)
Thankfully, the colony experiences no power fluctuations this turn - but the jury-rigged solar array is reaching the limits of what can reasonably be expected from it. It could break down for good at any moment.
Mio pulls the tarp from the strange edifice and studies it closely. They note that the pillar's structure, though full of irregular holes, nevertheless shows a great deal of sturdiness. The web of curved struts has material in all the right places to maximize its strength with a minimal use of plasticarbon. Furthermore, the base is well-anchored to the rock with a surprisingly pedestrian set of anchor bolts that could have come right out of the colony's basic design pattern catalogue. Of course, Mio reasons, there are only so many ways to make a functional rock anchor. Even alien intelligences have to grapple with the same basic laws of physics.
Mio also notes that although the pillar and the mold seem at a glance to be similar, up close, they aren't very alike at all. The pillar is built of curved pieces, is asymmetric, and recalls the form of a plant stalk. In fact, some of the arrangements of the woven strands that form it look almost like the branching veins of leaves - close enough so that if they didn't know better, Mio might think the resemblance was deliberate. The mold, on the other hand, is striking because of how organic in form it isn't: Its bristles cut sharp angles between their subdivisions and comb around and between each other into a sort of multilayered grid. The only part of a plant they remind Mio of is the "teeth" on a Venus Flytrap.
Having given the thing a thorough examination, Mio proceeds to dismantle it just as thoroughly. Some of the other colonists would object - but Mio is a practical person. They know that the pursuit of science and discovery is only the colony's second priority. Its first is survival. As far as that goes, although the thing hasn't presented any clear danger yet, the psychological effects alone are worth removing it over: For crying out loud, one of the colonists has been getting nightmares over the last few days. Enough, thinks Mio, is enough. And after all, they still have the blueprint. Since the plasticarbon is set and can't be reused, Mio takes the pieces to the edge of the asteroid and chucks them off.
The colonists consider cutting a patch out of Algae Tank A, but decide the simplest thing to do is just to isolate the entire tank. They can leave it by itself for a little while to observe how the mold behaves over time. In fact, they go ahead and fill the tank back up with nutrient solution. They consider powering it on as well, but they aren't sure they can spare the power.
New Project - Observe Mold Growth (??? Turns)
The colonists seem to have been channeling their nervous energy into making plans and designs. They toss around ideas for bulldozers, for regolith extractors, and for upgrading the landing pod to be mobile. In the short run, they need a lab, so they agree to retrofit one of the uninhabited prefab shelters. That can be done easily enough.
New Project - Convert Shelter to Crude Lab (1 Turn)
It won't have much in the way of equipment, but at least they'll have space to work. They also agree that building a storage crate is a top priority right now, before they run out of room for all the plasticarbon they're producing.
New Project - Build Small Storage Crate (1 Turn)
-5 Plasticarbon
Finally, after some discussion, they agree that a bulldozer might best to be manufactured as a kind of drone, and that a regolith extractor would probably need some kind of bulldozer-like component, so the first order of business is to design a drone factory.
New Project - Design Simple Drone Factory (2 Turns)
One of the colonists also produces a blueprint of a sophisticated multi-level structure that they claim would be an excellent way to conserve space. Mio is very impressed! "We'll have to flesh out the design a bit more and create a pattern for the construction drone to work with," they point out, "and we don't have the resources to build something like this in any case. But maybe we will by the time the design work is finished."
New Project - Design Dual Modular Spaces Tower (5 Turns)
-----
Meanwhile...
"We have to turn back," says the medic. "I'm sorry, but we do. We'll run out of supplies otherwise."
"No," says Shiva.
"There's no choice. We'll all die."
"No."
The medic stops walking. Shiva doesn't, and passes the medic wordlessly. After a moment, the medic jogs after them. "Listen," they say, "it won't do Izvor any good if we find them, just so we can all die together. And that's assuming they're still alive. Which is absurd."
"No," says Shiva. "It isn't."
"Shiva! Would you listen? You're being irrational."
Shiva doesn't stop walking.
"Fine! We'll go home without you!" shouts the medic. They turn their back on Shiva and start retracing their steps.
Five meters back, Tom and the geologist see the medic approaching and meet them halfway.
"Where's Shiva going?" asks Tom.
"To their death, I suppose," says the medic. "We agreed yesterday that we'd start for the colony this morning. And here we are, still going ahead. And Shiva won't listen to a word I say. Just keeps saying 'No' over and over."
"So what do we do?"
"Abandon them." The medic shrugs. "Leave them to their stubbornness. See if I care anymore."
"No," says Tom.
"Well, no," agrees the medic, "of course not. We couldn't. But the only other option is to march them back by force. Or something along those lines. Are you willing to do that?"
"If it's necessary," says Tom. "For the record, I think you're right. We have to go back. But maybe we can reason with them? I don't really want to fight Shiva."
"Maybe you can reason with them. I give up."
The geologist stands beside the others, but says nothing. They stare blankly at the black horizon, their whole body tense.
"We have to go back for this one's sake, too," says the medic, pointing at them. "I don't suppose they've said anything to you since we found the sleeve?"
"No. Not a word."
"Yeah. Me neither."
Tom sighs. "I'll go talk to Shiva," they say. "Just wait here."
When Tom crests the next dune, Shiva's waiting there.
"I can hear everything you guys say, you know," says Shiva. "Like I'm not going to tune into your radio channel when you're all huddled back there without me."
"We can't go on, and you know it," says Tom. "We can't. The medic is right."
"You can't force me to turn back, either."
"Probably not."
Shiva starts walking forward again. Tom follows after a moment.
"The thing is," says Shiva, "I don't want to die either. I don't want you to die. I don't want anyone to die. And I'm not stupid. I know how much food we have. But if you lot would think, or at least listen-"
"Us? Listen?" Tom is suddenly angry. "What about you? Why don't you ever talk? You always have to just go and do your own thing, no matter what-"
"Woah, woah, woah! What's this about?"
"What do you think it's about? Give it a wild guess."
"I haven't done anything!"
"Exactly, you haven't done anything: You didn't communicate! You didn't ask permission, or indicate your intentions, or-"
"I thought we were in agreement that we should keep trying! Other than the medic's inability to lose their anal baton-"
"Not that. It's not even about that."
"The tanks? Are we still on the tanks?" Shiva stops and turns around. "For serious?"
"Yes, for serious! No! I don't know! I just..."
"What?"
"I don't know," says Tom. Everything they want to say is a maelstrom in their head, whirling formlessly. It refuses to condense into a coherent phrase of the sort that they could force out past their lips. "I just... don't..." They fall silent.
"Tom, please. Talk to me. What's up?"
"Nothing," says Tom.
"Clearly not nothing. What is it?"
"It's nothing. I'm sorry. What were you saying before I went off? Something about knowing how much food we have and not wanting to die?"
"I was saying that we can keep going if we use a scouting drone to carry extra supplies out to us from the colony. At least for one more turn. Or maybe we can, and we owe it to Izvor to try. But forget what I was saying - I want to know what you were saying."
Tom turns away. "That's a good plan," they say. "I'll go and tell it to the others."
"Tom!"
Tom starts walking away.
"Tom, it's not a good plan, it's a vague notion. I don't know for sure it'll even work." Shiva hurries after Tom. "You're the only other person in this group with half an ounce of sense. Don't just walk away, talk it through! Argue with me!"
"It's good," says Tom.
"But how close to the colony are we? How much air and food can a drone carry, and how long will it take to track down whoever's still out here? Do we have enough supplies to last until the drone arrives?"
Tom says nothing.
"Tom, I don't like this. There's something you need to get off your chest, and you're not getting it off your chest. Spit it out, would you? Or are you going to wallow in whatever sort of adolescent drama this apparently is? Are you really that mad about a dumb bit of plasticarbon?"
"You're right, that's not it," says Tom.
"Then what?"
"...nothing," says Tom.
"Well, clearly not nothing!" says Shiva, infuriated. "Please, Tom, don't do this to me. Did I insult your heritage? Do you have a crush on me? Have I been snoring in the tent? What is it?"
But Tom doesn't say anything else.
"We'll do it," says the medic.
"Like I was going to let you stop me," says Shiva.
"We'll do it, but on one condition."
"Yeah?"
"You go back," says the medic. "Take the geologist with you. I'll keep going with Tom."
"What? Hey, what? This was my idea!"
"I don't trust you not to get yourself killed," says the medic. "Tom's the sensible one. You're too stubborn to know when to quit."
"But-"
"No buts. Tom and I will keep searching. You go back. Those are my terms. The other option is that we gang up on you and take you with us by force."
"But how do I know you won't just-"
"No buts."
Shiva seethes, but assents to the terms.
In the morning, Shiva and the geologist set off for the colony. Tom and the medic continue sweeping the terrain to the east.
Author's Note:
THE NUMBERS:
Colony Mood:
Unsettled
Construction Drone: IDLE
Compact Scouting Drone: DAMAGED
Compact Scouting Drone: IDLE
Projects:
Rescue the Biologist: ??? Turns
Drop Pod: 4 Turns
Thankfully, the colony experiences no power fluctuations this turn - but the jury-rigged solar array is reaching the limits of what can reasonably be expected from it. It could break down for good at any moment.
Mio pulls the tarp from the strange edifice and studies it closely. They note that the pillar's structure, though full of irregular holes, nevertheless shows a great deal of sturdiness. The web of curved struts has material in all the right places to maximize its strength with a minimal use of plasticarbon. Furthermore, the base is well-anchored to the rock with a surprisingly pedestrian set of anchor bolts that could have come right out of the colony's basic design pattern catalogue. Of course, Mio reasons, there are only so many ways to make a functional rock anchor. Even alien intelligences have to grapple with the same basic laws of physics.
Mio also notes that although the pillar and the mold seem at a glance to be similar, up close, they aren't very alike at all. The pillar is built of curved pieces, is asymmetric, and recalls the form of a plant stalk. In fact, some of the arrangements of the woven strands that form it look almost like the branching veins of leaves - close enough so that if they didn't know better, Mio might think the resemblance was deliberate. The mold, on the other hand, is striking because of how organic in form it isn't: Its bristles cut sharp angles between their subdivisions and comb around and between each other into a sort of multilayered grid. The only part of a plant they remind Mio of is the "teeth" on a Venus Flytrap.
Having given the thing a thorough examination, Mio proceeds to dismantle it just as thoroughly. Some of the other colonists would object - but Mio is a practical person. They know that the pursuit of science and discovery is only the colony's second priority. Its first is survival. As far as that goes, although the thing hasn't presented any clear danger yet, the psychological effects alone are worth removing it over: For crying out loud, one of the colonists has been getting nightmares over the last few days. Enough, thinks Mio, is enough. And after all, they still have the blueprint. Since the plasticarbon is set and can't be reused, Mio takes the pieces to the edge of the asteroid and chucks them off.
The colonists consider cutting a patch out of Algae Tank A, but decide the simplest thing to do is just to isolate the entire tank. They can leave it by itself for a little while to observe how the mold behaves over time. In fact, they go ahead and fill the tank back up with nutrient solution. They consider powering it on as well, but they aren't sure they can spare the power.
New Project - Observe Mold Growth (??? Turns)
The colonists seem to have been channeling their nervous energy into making plans and designs. They toss around ideas for bulldozers, for regolith extractors, and for upgrading the landing pod to be mobile. In the short run, they need a lab, so they agree to retrofit one of the uninhabited prefab shelters. That can be done easily enough.
New Project - Convert Shelter to Crude Lab (1 Turn)
It won't have much in the way of equipment, but at least they'll have space to work. They also agree that building a storage crate is a top priority right now, before they run out of room for all the plasticarbon they're producing.
New Project - Build Small Storage Crate (1 Turn)
-5 Plasticarbon
Finally, after some discussion, they agree that a bulldozer might best to be manufactured as a kind of drone, and that a regolith extractor would probably need some kind of bulldozer-like component, so the first order of business is to design a drone factory.
New Project - Design Simple Drone Factory (2 Turns)
One of the colonists also produces a blueprint of a sophisticated multi-level structure that they claim would be an excellent way to conserve space. Mio is very impressed! "We'll have to flesh out the design a bit more and create a pattern for the construction drone to work with," they point out, "and we don't have the resources to build something like this in any case. But maybe we will by the time the design work is finished."
New Project - Design Dual Modular Spaces Tower (5 Turns)
-----
Meanwhile...
"We have to turn back," says the medic. "I'm sorry, but we do. We'll run out of supplies otherwise."
"No," says Shiva.
"There's no choice. We'll all die."
"No."
The medic stops walking. Shiva doesn't, and passes the medic wordlessly. After a moment, the medic jogs after them. "Listen," they say, "it won't do Izvor any good if we find them, just so we can all die together. And that's assuming they're still alive. Which is absurd."
"No," says Shiva. "It isn't."
"Shiva! Would you listen? You're being irrational."
Shiva doesn't stop walking.
"Fine! We'll go home without you!" shouts the medic. They turn their back on Shiva and start retracing their steps.
Five meters back, Tom and the geologist see the medic approaching and meet them halfway.
"Where's Shiva going?" asks Tom.
"To their death, I suppose," says the medic. "We agreed yesterday that we'd start for the colony this morning. And here we are, still going ahead. And Shiva won't listen to a word I say. Just keeps saying 'No' over and over."
"So what do we do?"
"Abandon them." The medic shrugs. "Leave them to their stubbornness. See if I care anymore."
"No," says Tom.
"Well, no," agrees the medic, "of course not. We couldn't. But the only other option is to march them back by force. Or something along those lines. Are you willing to do that?"
"If it's necessary," says Tom. "For the record, I think you're right. We have to go back. But maybe we can reason with them? I don't really want to fight Shiva."
"Maybe you can reason with them. I give up."
The geologist stands beside the others, but says nothing. They stare blankly at the black horizon, their whole body tense.
"We have to go back for this one's sake, too," says the medic, pointing at them. "I don't suppose they've said anything to you since we found the sleeve?"
"No. Not a word."
"Yeah. Me neither."
Tom sighs. "I'll go talk to Shiva," they say. "Just wait here."
When Tom crests the next dune, Shiva's waiting there.
"I can hear everything you guys say, you know," says Shiva. "Like I'm not going to tune into your radio channel when you're all huddled back there without me."
"We can't go on, and you know it," says Tom. "We can't. The medic is right."
"You can't force me to turn back, either."
"Probably not."
Shiva starts walking forward again. Tom follows after a moment.
"The thing is," says Shiva, "I don't want to die either. I don't want you to die. I don't want anyone to die. And I'm not stupid. I know how much food we have. But if you lot would think, or at least listen-"
"Us? Listen?" Tom is suddenly angry. "What about you? Why don't you ever talk? You always have to just go and do your own thing, no matter what-"
"Woah, woah, woah! What's this about?"
"What do you think it's about? Give it a wild guess."
"I haven't done anything!"
"Exactly, you haven't done anything: You didn't communicate! You didn't ask permission, or indicate your intentions, or-"
"I thought we were in agreement that we should keep trying! Other than the medic's inability to lose their anal baton-"
"Not that. It's not even about that."
"The tanks? Are we still on the tanks?" Shiva stops and turns around. "For serious?"
"Yes, for serious! No! I don't know! I just..."
"What?"
"I don't know," says Tom. Everything they want to say is a maelstrom in their head, whirling formlessly. It refuses to condense into a coherent phrase of the sort that they could force out past their lips. "I just... don't..." They fall silent.
"Tom, please. Talk to me. What's up?"
"Nothing," says Tom.
"Clearly not nothing. What is it?"
"It's nothing. I'm sorry. What were you saying before I went off? Something about knowing how much food we have and not wanting to die?"
"I was saying that we can keep going if we use a scouting drone to carry extra supplies out to us from the colony. At least for one more turn. Or maybe we can, and we owe it to Izvor to try. But forget what I was saying - I want to know what you were saying."
Tom turns away. "That's a good plan," they say. "I'll go and tell it to the others."
"Tom!"
Tom starts walking away.
"Tom, it's not a good plan, it's a vague notion. I don't know for sure it'll even work." Shiva hurries after Tom. "You're the only other person in this group with half an ounce of sense. Don't just walk away, talk it through! Argue with me!"
"It's good," says Tom.
"But how close to the colony are we? How much air and food can a drone carry, and how long will it take to track down whoever's still out here? Do we have enough supplies to last until the drone arrives?"
Tom says nothing.
"Tom, I don't like this. There's something you need to get off your chest, and you're not getting it off your chest. Spit it out, would you? Or are you going to wallow in whatever sort of adolescent drama this apparently is? Are you really that mad about a dumb bit of plasticarbon?"
"You're right, that's not it," says Tom.
"Then what?"
"...nothing," says Tom.
"Well, clearly not nothing!" says Shiva, infuriated. "Please, Tom, don't do this to me. Did I insult your heritage? Do you have a crush on me? Have I been snoring in the tent? What is it?"
But Tom doesn't say anything else.
"We'll do it," says the medic.
"Like I was going to let you stop me," says Shiva.
"We'll do it, but on one condition."
"Yeah?"
"You go back," says the medic. "Take the geologist with you. I'll keep going with Tom."
"What? Hey, what? This was my idea!"
"I don't trust you not to get yourself killed," says the medic. "Tom's the sensible one. You're too stubborn to know when to quit."
"But-"
"No buts. Tom and I will keep searching. You go back. Those are my terms. The other option is that we gang up on you and take you with us by force."
"But how do I know you won't just-"
"No buts."
Shiva seethes, but assents to the terms.
In the morning, Shiva and the geologist set off for the colony. Tom and the medic continue sweeping the terrain to the east.
Author's Note:
Spoiler
THE NUMBERS:
Spoiler