Stage 0 Camp, The Range (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 0 Camp, Nighttime Breaker Trip (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 0 Camp; Can’t sleep (VSmgAB; Machinas Con Passione)
Stage 1 Drive (VSmgAB)
Stage 1 Drive (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Drive/Camp (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 3 Camp (VSmgAB + Hillbilly Rollers + Aeromad + Ambassadors) Part 1, Part 2
OOC-Elizipeazie:
am behind schedule. catching up by not bothering with extensive writing flavour. Instead, have the abridged version.
Stage 4 Drive
- nothing remarkable
- delay was due to Val shoving in a three-hour nap cycle for safety reasons
Stage 4 Camp
- Val and the Gang are met by a slew of officials having travelled there from Holsia. Representstives of rail operators in Nehmenweld are also present.
- They are stalled (with help from Norse) sothat val can fulfill his duties in powering camp
- Guests: astonishment.wav
- once finished, Val returns to take care of the locals
- they each explain as best they can in how their contracts are set up, thus revealing the terms to the respective other parties.
- this escalates in a heated bidding-war over who can throw the most money at Val in an attempt to secure the deal.
- Val breaks up the war, with the Holsians currently leading by a fair margin. He needs to figure out the logistics of it, since Valentin is, in fact, NOT a local to Aetherii.
- They are instructed to re-evaluate their offers (converted to Nehmenweld currency in case of the visitors from overseas) and re-issue them tomorrow at the National Park.
- Valentin hands them a slip of paper denoting the nearest railway station and an expected time of arrival.
- The original contract binders are also handed back.
- They respectfully part ways, leavkng the evening to be relatively generic.
Stage 5 Drive
- the first 250 miles or so were uneventful
- cue a minor diversion through a different platform at a station
- speed_limit_10_sign.jpg
- slow down as required
- suddenly car is not following the rails anymore
- whatthefuck.gif
- be stopped by excess drag of undertray and compinentry scraping
- cue a walk to the signalbox, reporting the incident
- breakdown train is in bum-fuck nowhere
- half the station is blocked now lolz
- might as well “recharge”
- discover that the nanites can be exploited as sedatives/ sleep aids
- cue Norse be confused by Val’s sudden ability to sleep outside of his rigid schedule
- about 7 hours pass
- train is re-railed fairly easily, given lack of weight thereof
- said lack of weight is determined to be the cause of it all
- train is towed (with some bodge-job engineering for a buffer on the breakdown train) to a place steamworks
- inspect Robert II for any damages
- thisisfine.png
- meet the officials from yesterday there
- they each hand Val a new binder, containing corrected contracts
- “will notify at [end of race location]”
- part ways again
- rest of way is driven via road
Stage 5 Camp
As the scratched-up-but-otherwise-fine group of cars rolled into camp, Valentin immediately went to work with the electrical generator part of his journey in Nehmenweld.
As always, it was rather unremarkable work, which already had him question if he is going to keep the service in place for future meetups of this kind.
At last, power was running for now and Valentin re-read the contracts, which turned out to be the originals from a few days prior, but with substantially higher salaries scribbled into them.
The offer from outside Nehmenweld at least went as far as to include a (hand-written) note about how the change came on short notice and that a legally binding, fully printed copy would be provided upon conformation.
[dialogue entirely in Swedish 
]
“They really want me to build trains, don’t they?”, Valentin mumbled.
" They want what?", Norse inquired, having heard Valentin and his thoughts.
“There are like three companies here that want to hire me as the lead engineer for their respective railways.”
“Any particular reason? Seems random to me…”
Norse was confused. After all, it was his first and Valentin’s second time ever on this planet. Being hired into an intergalactic employment contract blew his imagination wide open.
“Remember the other Dione i have sitting around collecting rust and dirt? That thing is, as far as i know, at least, the current rail speed record holder. Not sure if anyone has beaten it since… I would assume so, since tomorrows schedule is basically impossible to achieve at line speed…” Valentin explained.
The confusion was very visible in Norse’s face: “Uhm… congratulations?”
“Thanks, i guess… i will have to talk to the station master or signalman to figure that out. Hopefully, that is just a fuckup on their part. Or they want to see Robert II at speed…”
Valentin dug around for the map supplied at the start of the race, correlating it with those supplied by the local railway staff.
“The next signalbox is like 10 miles from here. Might as well get some miles in…” Valentin grumbled as he got out of the gen-set car and towards the back.
“Mind if i join?” Norse inquired.
“Sure”
Some extensive preparations and 10 miles of cycling later, they end up at a small siding, which also had the aforementioned signalbox located there and coincidentally looked like the place where the team would join the railways tomorrow morning.
“Hold on, i will get that cleared up.” Valentin said, disappearing into the signalbox soon thereafter.
About 30 minutes later, mostly due to ongoing railway operations dragging out the conversation, Valentin returned with… news:
“We are ‘sending it’…”
“Uhm…”
“They say that the scheduling ‘mistake’ was deliberate. Aparrently, the line we will be running on is a purpose-built testing track of sorts. Trains are sent along that stretch to determine some factors of performance.”
“How fast do you think we will be going?”
“I have no idea. The motor gearing goes to about 240kph. But we have like 800 horsepower and the aerodynamics of a single 80s wagon. And if the thing is unstable, we simply are late. German Federal Railways style.”
“Fair enough… i guess.”
The conversation was more or less left at that as they rode back to camp, where a couple additional teams were awaiting their electricity.
Soon after, the wait for shift Happens began…
[Dialogue reverts to English 
/ 
from here onwards]
A few Earth hours later, two trucks and their trailers showed up. Kasiya was one of the first to get out, grabbing their plugs and getting the Carry All and the two towed trailers connected to power so the refrigerated units could run silently. Then Takaraya, with still-slightly-oil-stained gray fur, climbed out of his cab, hooked up the cable for the Home Unit, and stepped inside the living area to take another shower.
Kaylie and Jayde climbed out of the Carry All’s rear seat, while Malavera and Kivenaal did much the same from the Home Unit, leaving Rukari free to climb into the Carry All’s rear bench to sleep, and Kayden to do a very similar thing over in the Home Unit.
Kasiya carried the service end of their cables over to Robert II and handed them to Valentin, then headed back to the Home Unit to make a cup of tea.
Norse was the first to notice the recognizable pair of hilariously oversized trucks.
“Look who has arrived…” He said to himself, loud enough for Valentin to hear.
Before either one of them could really do or say anything, Kasiya was already there and holding up the three cables belonging to their team.
As soon as they changed hands, Kasiya was gone again.
“Someone seems to be in need of some quiet…” Valentin mumbled and he connected the cables to their respective plugs.
Afterwards, he collected the contract binders and headed over to the HD-GV’s himself, in search for Malavera.
Malavera was in the middle of some light stretches when Valentin arrived at the HD-GVs, the sound of the shower running in the background showing that at least someone was in the Home Unit trying to get cleaned up.
Kasiya poured a fair bit of water into the kettle and hit the switch, really in need for a calming cup of tea after the repair at the side of the road. What he got instead was an unpleasant reminder of just how much power their climate control used, as the power went out. Frustrated, he grabbed the kettle, unplugged it from the Home Unit, stormed out of the RV, and plugged it in to the 230 volt cable normally meant for the Carry All.
Malavera looked over, then said, “Kasiya and Takaraya had a bit of a rough day. The Home Unit blew an oil cooler line, Takaraya had to fix it. He’s in the shower trying to wash oil out of his fur. Kasiya’s just… He’s wound up tighter than a cheap watch right now because no one gives anyone space on the side of the highway, so every time Takaraya had to get out of the engine bay, or out from under the truck, Kasiya’s there in his armor acting as the living brick wall to chase people away from the broken down trucks. Really wish people would quit staring at breakdowns myself. Either ignore it and drive safe, or stop to help. Don’t stare at it and drift closer to it, threatening to crash into it.”
Kaylie sighed when she saw Kasiya was using the Carry All’s cable to brew tea, then said, “Let me guess, the power’s out in the Home Unit? See, this is why I said that you needed a more efficient, or lower powered climate control unit. Because you’re pulling three-and-a-half kilowatts on a four kilowatt line. Your kettle pulls 1.5, the microwave pulls 1, the only thing in there that you can use is the hot plate - on low. I have no idea how the hell the hot water heater in there works, but I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t blow the breaker.”
“The hot water heater isn’t electrical. It’s an insulated water tank with a heat exchanger running through the middle of it. Hot coolant goes in, warm coolant goes out, water gets heated as a result. Only good for about 50 gallons, but… It’s normally enough for all of us to shower,” Kasiya said. “But three of us get to “enjoy” cold ones tonight because someone’s used two showers worth of hot water earlier, and another just now. I’m one of the “lucky” fucks who got the short straw. The other two are Rukari and Kivenaal, who find “room temperature” water to be pleasant. Hell, Rukari mentioned swimming through a partially frozen lake once. The two of them, of course, don’t care that the water won’t be warm, they can’t freeze in this shit.”
Malavera looked to Valentin, then said, “Yeah, he’s having a bad day. We’re all kinda hoping a hefty mug of tea helps, but… I’m figuring we’re going to have a moody Khalan on board for a while. Anyway, what can I help you with?”
“The locals have figured out currency conversion. I have three new contracts now. They all read Silver Syrkals now. And they seem very eager in throwing copious amounts of money around… But first, i shall go and re-set your breaker,” Valentin explained, turning around and dragging the three binders back to Robert II, where they were placed onto the roof.
The Home-Unit cable was then unplugged, after which he crawled into the second row to re-enable the breaker for that plug.
With the HD-GV now being powered again, Valentin returns to it, binders in hand.
“So. One, they now have quoted currencies at least you lot are familiar with. Two, i would like to settle the logistical part of this hypothetical employment,” Valentin said.
Malavera nodded, then got Kivenaal, Jayde, and Kaylie to settle at a table with him and waved Valentin over to it. “Well, we can certainly try to work out the details,” Malavera said.
Kivenaal sighed, looking over at the Home Unit as Takaraya stepped outside, his fur still damp from the long shower. “At least he managed to get clean,” Kivenaal grumbled.
Valentin also took seat and went about looking for the salary details in each of the three contracts.
The respective page was opened up and then slid over to the others.
“I remember from last year that one Syrkal was somewhere around 30 US Dollars. But i have no idea how stiff inflation is here, nor do i know if we are still in the same general timeframe…” Valentin noted.
Jayde smiled. “Nehmenweld was always a bit ahead of Crugandr when it comes to technology. Better roads, similar skill with trains. A lot larger place, though, so personal motor carriages are more common. Also a lot more…” he paused as Kaylie kicked his shin, then course corrected with, “More people have embraced technology here, instead of tradition. Hence, motor cars and not animal-drawn carriages.”
Kivenaal shrugged lightly. “Timeframe, about two or three years after last year. I tried to open the Rift as close to the previous time as I could, but… There are things you don’t take chances on. I’d rather be a couple years too late versus a month too early, and for good reason.”
Kaylie smiled, then added, “From what I know regarding what Jayde has done from time to time, you generally make out a bit better cash-wise on Earth than you get here on Aetherii.”
“Silver here isn’t expensive,” Malavera said. “At least, comparatively speaking. When it’s brought to Earth and sold on, we get the market value on Earth.”
“From my experience, about $5,000 worth of Syrkals comes back to Earth as $5,100 worth of silver,” Jayde admitted. “On average, of course. Malavera’s mentioned that he’s looking into ways to offer a better value, though.”
“I’ve been considering a gold mine as well. It’s less stable, and more risky - too much too fast could destabilize the market - but from what Kivenaal has said,” Malavera mentioned with a smile.
Kiva finished Malavera’s opened statement with, “Small-scale tests found that $500 worth of gold here is close to $750 on Earth. It’s a thought, though I’ll mention, carrying gold sucks. It’s fucking heavy compared to silver.”
“Effectively, what we’re saying,” Jayde said, is that any one of these three companies would be paying quite well. We’re looking at…"
Kaylie spoke up with, “Holsian State Railways is offering about 200,000 United States Dollars per Earth year, plus 2% for every completed engine. Northern Mountain and Transportation offers the same wage, 200,000 USD per Earth year, but is offering 500,000 USD per approved patent. Queensdale Southern and Coastal Railroad is offering a flat 220,000 USD per Earth year, with no apparent bonuses.”
Malavera tapped a couple of times on his wristwatch, and Hunter materialized on the display. “Yes?” Hunter asked.
“How much value, in USD, would a completed locomotive have? And from that, what’s 2% of it?” Malavera inquired.
Hunter thought for a second, then replied, “While I can’t give perfectly accurate records as my prime unit is currently unreachable, the average locomotive comes out to being worth about 1 million to 1.5 million USD in material value. Two percent of that comes out to $20,000 to $30,000. Having listened in on this conversation up until this point, the Holsian State Railway contract has the highest value provided more than 17 locomotive units are completed.”
“What’s the average production run of locomotives look like, numbers-wise?” Malavera inquired.
“Typically between 20 and 250 units,” Hunter replied. Then, anticipating the next available question, Hunter answered, “On the low side, 20 units worth 1 million USD, that calculates out to 400,000 USD additional. On the high side, 250 units worth 1.5 million USD, that calculates out to 7.5 million USD. Low middle, 20 units worth 1.5 million USD, that calculates out to 600,000 USD. High middle, 250 units worth 1 million USD, that calculates out to 5 million USD. Assuming a true middle-ground, 115 units worth 1.25 million USD, that calculates out to 2.875 million USD.”
Kaylie smiled. “Effectively, your best option is the Holsian State Railways.”
Valentin intently listened to what to what Shift Happens had to say regarding currency conversion, pondering about the choices available.
“If i remember correctly, we did already talk about hypotheticals around getting the salary to work on earth. And i don’t really know as to how working conditions would pan out at either of those. Though the local ones here obviously seem to have issues regarding operational safety…” Valentin mentioned, in reference to the earlier derailment, “like… non-interlocking signalboxes? The hell!?”
A deep breath followed to get back on track (pun not intended):
“Anyway, Holsia it seems to be. No idea where they even are or what it looks like, but government jobs are the most secure career you can get.”
Jayde nodded, then said, “None of us have ever been there, but, I do have my world map with me.”
Kaylie gave a warning look to Jayde, moments before Jayde pulled a framed map out of his bag and placed it on the table. “Now, we’re here, give-or-take a bit,” Jayde said, motioning to the middle of Nehmenweld. “Holsia is here,” he added, pointing out a smaller country north of the equator. He placed his fingers each side of the small country, then pulled in opposite directions, causing it to grow larger, moments before the names of several cities came into view. “Unfortunately, this is the most we really know about it.”
Malavera sighed. “I think what Val is getting at is he’s trying to figure out how to get there.”
“Oh,” Jayde replied. “I mean, in theory, I could… Ow!” Jayde glared across the table at Kaylie, before returning the hefty shin kick with his left leg.
“Ow! Fuck me, that hurt!” Kaylie snapped.
“Yours do, too,” Jayde qupped back. “As I was about to say, in theory, I could set up a traveling mirror between your office there, and your house. It’s, compared to the Rift, rather instant.”
“Ummm… so it quite literally is a portal from wherever in Holsia to wherever in Sweden? As in, walk in one end and pop out the other?” Valentin inquired.
“Something like that, yes,” Kivenaal said. “Momentum’s preserved on the way through, so if you take a running leap through a mirror, you arrive with that momentum on the “far side.” So, my advice - don’t trip over the mirror frame on your way through. It hurts.”
“I mean general relativity does compute here… Just the frame of reference changes,” Valentin remarked, “so a Portal, or mirror, or whatever between what would be my new flat and Holsia. The salary goes to you via silver of some form, the profit from which forms my actual salary. I take it that you are not doing this for free, nor do i expect you to.”
“We can figure out what the costs will be,” Kivenaal said.
“If you’re designing locomotives, I’m assuming you’ll need more time on SC1, then,” Malavera said. “Then there’s the matter of Jayde’s initial payment for setting up the traveling mirror.”
“Making a new mirror isn’t that difficult. I’ll mostly just need some place to rest afterward. It’s… More energy intensive than opening the Rift, but not something I can’t handle,” Jayde mentioned.
“Not sure on the server thing. If anything, i need it for simulating the finished thing. Latency makes actual design work practically impossible. To wherever that thing is parked, round-trip ping is deep into 4 digits somehow…” Valentin explained, “regarding the mirror, i can guarantee that my flat will not have sufficient space for you to prop up a bedroll in. Though i am more than willing to book you a hotel room of sorts to rest in.”
“Yeah, you try and get better ping from behind the moon,” Malavera quipped. “If we had a third ship in orbit, I’d use the ship’s communications system to speed things up, but… We’ve got two up there, plus my own behind the moon. My personal shuttle doesn’t have strong enough comms to pull off a significant reduction of latency.”
Jayde, on the other hand, gave a light nod. “Anything is reasonable. A new mirror is a bit harder to get started than a doorway through the Rift, but… It’s faster.”
Kivenaal thought for a moment, then fished a small mirror out of his pocket for an experiment. “I’m opening a temporary mirror to the Twin Suns garage. Technically, to the rear-view mirror of one of the trucks, it’s about the same size as this one. If it works how I’m thinking it works, we might be able to cut the lag between Mal’s servers and you.” Kivenaal opened the mirror and then pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking to see if he had any connection to the network.
After a few seconds, he shook his head. “Nope. Apparently, radio waves don’t go through mirrors. That said,” Kivenaal mentioned, “we could run a wire through a couple of mirrors. Sure, if the mirror ever fails for whatever reason, the cable is sure to be destroyed, but… When in doubt, you really can’t get any faster than a wired connection.”
Jayde, being a bit puzzled about the networking talks, reached into a bag and pulled out a small, fiery-orange piece of quartz crystal on a string, then casually swung it around above the table. After a moment, something seemed to click for him, and he spoke up, “Wait… I think I somewhat understand this. So,” Jayde paused for a moment to get the crystal moving in a lazy circle again, “this crystal represents data being sent between two computers. I have to move my hand in a very specific way to make it go in a circle, and the time it takes the crystal to respond is like latency. The string length is like the distance between systems. The longer the distance, the more delay there is in the crystal moving, the longer you have to wait for things to be in the right place. So more speed isn’t helpful, you have to shorten the distance.”
“If that ‘supercomputer’ can do ethernet, i can rig something up in my soon-to-be office for good data bandwidth to,” Valentin mentioned, before confusion filled his face as Jayde swung a crystal about.
After having listened to Jayde’s take on it, Valentin had to correct a bit:
“The crystal is one PC, your hand the other. The process of spinning it is the data and the time it takes for it to start spinning is latency. Or in wholly different terms. Remember how it took a while for Robert II to get going if you pressed the gas pedal? THAT is latency. The time it took for Robert to respond to my input is latency.”
“Oh,” Jayde said, contemplating what Valentin had said for a moment. “So I was on the right track, just not quite there yet?” Jayde asked.
Kaylie smiled, then mentioned, “He really is trying to learn, just… Sometimes it’s hard to find ways to describe technology to him when he asks how it works because we’re all on different levels of understanding. Then again, he surprises us with some of the things he does know. He had to teach all of us the right way to pitch tents, he knows how to make the perfect campfire and make lighting it look easy, and some of the basic cooking he does is odd, yet satisfying. In return, he doesn’t really get technology, he insists on video calls instead of texting or basic phone calls because he’s so used to talking to people face-to-face with mirrors, and, well, you had to teach him how to drive stick. So, you’ve also seen how fast he learns.”
“The real scary thing,” Malavera said, “is that sometimes Jayde’s ability to learn outpaces our ability to tell him how to use it appropriately. There is nothing scarier than getting someone up to speed on how to use a computer, figuring he’d stick to funny videos on YouTube, only to realize that he’s watching tutorials instead.”
“Lost my computer usage rights for a week. Apparently you’re not supposed to access other people’s networks and look through their files,” Jayde admitted, looking a bit embarrassed.
“In Jayde’s defense,” Kivenaal said, “the network he “broke into” had the password set as “password.” At that point, it may as well be an open network.”
Malavera chuckled, then said, “Yeah, and Jayde learned rather quickly that the contents of other people’s computers aren’t always, well, safe for work.” After a few moments, he then said, “I’m sure that SC1 can do ethernet. Or some form of fiber-channel. Either way, shouldn’t be too difficult to drop you a line once you’ve gotten stuff set up.”
“Ideally, we get straight Ethernet because of what is easily available commercially back home, but i am sure we can make something work,” Valentin said rather enthusiastically. The prospect of working to engineer last century technology with a highly comfortable salary was very promising to him.
“So, to recap, salaries are in the region of 200 000 US-Dollars per year, plus 2% of each completed engine’s value. That funding is transferred to earth via silver. A portal, or ‘mirror’, rather… is set up between my would-be office and whatever i get in Holsia. The same applies to networking regarding your behind-the-moon server stack. A cut of that salary is split off as the transfer and computing usage fee. Did i miss something? If not, i would try and get in touch with those folks from Holsia early,” Valentin reiterated, visibly in a good mood.
He also collected the three contract binders again, stacking them in a ‘neat’ (read: very lopsided) pile in front if him.
“Sounds like you got everything covered,” Malavera said. “And don’t worry, once we get back, I’ll figure out how to drop you an Ethernet cable. I’m sure there’s a reasonable place to put a mirror in that won’t be in the way, yet will still give you a short cable run.”
“I’ll create the traveling mirror once you get your new office set up,” Jayde admitted. “By that time, Kivenaal should have two matching mirrors set up for the cable run. I can work with any mirror, so don’t worry about that side of things. You don’t need some very-fancy early 18th century thing made with silver, modern will do. In fact, I’d much prefer it versus setting up a proper silvered glass mirror.”
“In that case… thank you very much for helping me out with this. I would try to get in touch with the Holsia people and do some financing maths. I would get back to you sometime during this trip regarding salary split to cover your efforts as well,” Valentin politely stated as he got up with the binders in hand.
“You’re welcome,” Malavera said. “We’ll try to keep in touch.”
“Hopefully we’ll have some better luck. Losing an oil cooler line was a hell of a setback,” Kivenaal said.
Kaylie gave a light smile and got up to head to her tent, with Jayde only a few moments behind, giving Val a polite wave before ducking into the tent.
Malavera and Kivenaal ended up heading back to the Home Unit, grabbing a quick bit of food before crawling into Kivenaal’s tent for some rest.
Valentin, likewise, returned to the orange half of his train, where the remaining evening was spent doing the salary maths.
Another ride to the signalbox also was part of this in hopes that the Holsian representatives happened to be there, to no avail.
Eventually, bedtime rolls around as VSmgAB snuggles up in their respective compartments.
TEAM FRIENDSHIP! :D 
Oh, we’re from out of town.”
from 
another planet! 
whole continent! 
Bus! 
” cheered Riley, who seemed to notice nothing weird about this at all. “And actually, we were planning to decorate 
it as we went along, with something from each town we stopped at!”
or art traditions in Silvercreek, that we could use as a decoration?”
Oooh, Silver!” perked Freddie. “I can work with that! 
”
”
, officer! What’s wrong.”
Two 
” The car responded, complete with matching ‘body language.’
”
, sir!” said the car. “You’re welcome to use the ramp on the other side.”
” The yellow one offered.
” The driving one concluded.
”
