An Alpha 17 story

[makkenhoff]

Bowman, a pilot fan, had always dreamed of adventure. After finally deciding that their home planet, a Glitterworld, was just too easy of a life, took action to go to the outer rim. The arrangements made, Bowman left home with a handful of supplies and an adventuress's spirit. Upon arrival, it was determined the landing site, later known as Tri-River Rendevous, was a balmy 80 degrees year round. This seemed like a wonderful place to settle, so Bowman got to work on some simple stone lodgings, having ample stone walls left conveniently nearby. (In hindsight, Bowman realizes this was a warning sign of previous failed settlements)

By this point, she had calculated out she had arrived in the middle of winter, which she had decided to call Decembary, due to the short planetary cycle which alters the seasons. After finishing her basic stone shelter, she began working on a potato garden. Halfway into her planting, she received a distress call from a wanderer, who was being chased by a pirate. Bowman agreed to provide protection, and the wanderer named Phelps, a clerk, arrived shortly before the pirate.

The pirate was surprisingly well armed (a chain shotgun on the first combat!), which shocked Bowman into cowering in a corner, while the surprisingly strong Phelps, grabbed a wooden log and assaulted her assailant. This gave Bowman time to calm down so could give Phelps a hand in disabling the attacker. Upon victory, Phelps was feeling quite happy considering that she was covered head to toe in bruises, but Bowman managed to convince her to go lay down to recover from the injuries.

A few uneventful days passed, while Phelps recovered and Bowman got back to work on the potato garden. After completing the days long experience of working in the garden from sunrise to sunset, Bowman needed some joy, and finally gave herself a day off, and Phelps was impolitely invited to mine some rock, and began the long task of learning to mine from scratch.

The following day.. it was clear something was wrong. The temperature was already 85 F outside.. and it was still dark.. this was new. Phelps and Bowman met in the morning and politely discussed the sudden weather change, much to their dismay the temperature continued to climb into the 100's F by mid-morning. By the afternoon? 120 F. Both Bowman and Phelps discussed what to do, and a plan was hatched to build a power generator and an air conditioner. Unfortunately, they lacked the steel required.

So, Bowman and Phelps went out to where Phelps had been mining the day before, as Phelps had discovered a deposit that looked promising. They set to work, failing miserably to extract any useful steel, multiple times, before realizing they needed to learn more about mining before they could extract it. It was time to sleep, and it was an uncomfortable night, that barely cooled to 95 before the sun rose again.

The temperature was almost unbearable now, Phelps collapsed in a heap, and another traveler who was being chased called on the radio for help, and Bowman, being pressed for help, called in that she could provide assistance. A Barkeep named Alette arrived, and ran for cover. Bowman, managed to get Phelps inside the stone house, before collapsing in a heap as well. Alette thankfully picked up Phelps and got her into bed before realizing she was alone, and being afraid of violence cowered inside the building helplessly.

Alette was unable to leave, and the man who chased her was angry. He determined since he could not bash his way into the building, that he would simply burn the potato garden instead. Successfully, he started a number of fires around himself, cackling to himself before realizing he was nearly surrounded by fire. He managed to somehow avoid the flames, and decided to steal something for all the trouble he went to.

Around this time, Alette had smelled the smoke, and had finally worked up the courage to go outside, she saw to her dismay the potato garden fire, and rushed outside to put it out. The raider saw his chance, and ran towards the house. Alette saw him coming, and ran back inside just in time to shut the door in his face. Angry, he left empty-handed.

Alette waited until she was certain he was gone, and then rushed outside to save what she could of the potato garden. She had just managed to put the fire out, before she realized she wasn't sweating anymore. And then she fainted.

The heatwave lasted a few days, and killed everyone. 80 F degree average to 120 F was too much for this colony to handle.

Moderator's edit (Calahan) - This was originally posted in the A17 unstable build feedback thread. So I split it off and moved it to stories because it is O/T and not feedback.

[NinjaDiscoJew]

Rip, heat is truly a deadly killer.