Applejack’s Breakthrough
Twilight hardly even saw her friend over the next few weeks. Applejack was a ghost amid the conduits, occasionally emerging in the mess hall to grab a few dry hay-cakes and hurry off again.
The work was obviously taking its toll on her—Applejack’s coat wasn’t growing back nearly as healthy as Twilight’s was, and her limbs still shook a little while she walked. At the rate she was going, they might run out of drugs before she ran out of need for them.
Twilight cut her own dose in half, hoping that would be enough to keep her healing. And it seemed to be—she didn’t need crutches anymore, and she stopped seeing her own hair in the shower.
Twilight spent most of her free time with Spike, who as it turned out had been hurt worse than they’d thought. A chunk of metal hadn’t just cracked a scale, but pierced right through it, meaning without their doctor awake it was all Twilight could do to teleport the chunk out and hope for the best. He didn’t get out of bed, and rarely even seemed to wake up.
The lander had many functions they could’ve used, if only their transmitter-receiver array was still working. No doubt a saboteur would’ve disabled the systems that could let them shut it down or control it, but at least she could’ve seen where they were going, and asked them to be reasonable.
Whoever had been on that ship, they’d been willing to kill to keep themselves secret. Yet she couldn’t understand their motives—if they were willing to murder, why not murder Spike, then never wake the others? They’d have the whole ship to themselves.
Maybe they didn’t think they could fight a dragon.
Without Applejack willing to accept her help, Twilight took the time to confirm Spike’s story. He hadn’t accessed the cargo bay at any point during the time she’d been awake. Records went back as normal to the moment of the explosion—then there was nothing. The files were gone, and the backup reels with them.
But Twilight didn’t need that for confirmation, and apparently neither did Applejack. It was during a rare afternoon with her in the mess hall that she interrupted Twilight’s reading with a tap on the shoulder. “I thought I should let you know, captain… I’ve had private words with Spike.”
Her eyes narrowed immediately. “Spike is in no condition to hear you—”
“No,” Applejack interrupted. “To apologize. I don’t think it could’ve been him after all. Standing in front of the explosion like that… well, he’d have known it was there, wouldn’t he? I watched the recording—he looked straight down the hallway without blinking. Never argued with you… he didn’t know. I told him I was sorry. And you too… I was the one who failed, not him.”
“Applejack—”
She stood up. “No, don’t say it. I should’ve found that bomb. Whoever set the lander to go off like that is a better engineer than I am. But I won’t let it stay that way.” She smiled weakly. “I’ve got the array back online. Ain’t gonna be catching any video from Equestria at this distance… you ought to know that. Actually, didn’t look at the damn thing past makin’ sure the signal was clean. But it’s there. I’m working on the eye right now. Give me another two weeks, and I’ll have it too. Pray to Celestia there ain’t any little rocks headed our way.”
“Y-yeah,” Twilight repeated, ignoring the religious suggestion at the end. She lost all interest in her soup, rising too. “You’re amazing, Chief Engineer! Two weeks… I expected you’d take twice that much time.”
Applejack beamed. “Don’t call me amazin’ until I get that Prospector right back where she belongs. Don’t think I won’t, either. But for now… Equinox has got to walk before she can run.”
Twilight darted straight for the bridge, something she could actually do now. She practically jumped into the coms chair, basking in the even red glow as its three screens came online. She could use the coms from almost anywhere on the Equinox, but nowhere with such fine control as coms.
There was a single pending signal, and she reached to confirm it and start downloading the dump of missed Equestrian data. Yet her eyes caught the frequency, and the origin triangulation. It wasn’t coming from Equestria at all. There was no Equestrian signal. And this one was coming from in-system, towards Proximus.
It was the Signal, the repeating series of mathematical proofs that built from a few basic primes to higher-dimensional systems that had remained unsolved in Equestria when the Equinox was launched.
“I don’t understand…” Twilight said, the next time she had a chance to visit Spike. “The antenna is working—Applejack went out and verified it herself with a probe. We’re not getting anything from Equestria anymore, not even the home ping.”
Spike shuddered. He could barely even sit up, and he was sipping broth through a straw. Half his body had at least some kind of bandages. “Must be something on our end,” he said. “I remember getting that signal, right up until… the explosion, I guess. When we got into the system.”
Could something be shielding us? Twilight thought. Then she thought about how advanced someone would have to be to do that without their detecting it, and she shivered.
But if it was something on their end, Twilight couldn’t find it. Then Applejack kept her word, and two weeks later the eye came back online. Twilight immediately trained it on the origin of the Signal, which was aimed not towards Equestria but towards the Equinox directly.
There in the void of space, she saw a glint of metal. A spacecraft, traveling directly towards them on a trajectory that led back to Proximus B.
What should Twilight do?
1. Alter course towards the ship. This is why we’re here, isn’t it? The Prospector won’t matter if we’ve really found an alien civilization! They can help us get this mission back on track.
2. Alter course towards the Prospector. It’s closer, and Applejack thinks we might be able to get it back. The Equinox is faster than a Lander.
3. Ignore both and stay the course. If the ones who sent the Signal really want to talk to us, they’ve already waited forty years, they can wait a little longer. The prospector isn’t irreplaceable, we just need more materials. Let the saboteur enjoy their lifetime banishment, they won’t be getting back to Equestria in a Prospector.
4. Applejack suggests an emergency course-correction towards the asteroid belt could allow the Equinox to hide from the approaching ship using some clever prospecting tactics. It will add months and cost fuel, but prevent the Equinox from being discovered by known Equestrian means.
(Certainty 150 required)
tuff call, real tuff. I vote stay the course. But I really don't know.
Things really got interesting here.
Well, even more than before.
I voted to follow the Prospector.
If the other ship wants to meet us they could alter their course, too. Additionally they must see we are following our own shuttle. They would probably understand.
Also, "prevent the Equinox from being discovered by known Equestrian means". They already send us mathematical proof we didn't manage to resolve yet. So they have probably means we don't know of.
Get that prospector back, somepony has some serious questions to answer and the last thing you need is them managing to mess up relations with the natives.
Each choice has its upsides and downsides.
This is a toughie. I don’t want to leave the lander out there as a potential threat, lest it come back later to finish them off. They have demonstrated their depravity twice now. They are a danger not just to the mission but to the aliens they are there to contact.
Hiding does no good in the long run and the aliens can just come to them.
It comes down to is it higher priority to reach Proximus C to repair/replenish, or deal with the Lander threat once and for all.
I think they need a showdown or the rest of the mission is in jeopardy.
Ah forgot to add this to my reading list, caught up now and really glad I did.
I voted for Prospector, not only do they need to end this threat, but they need the gear on it.
Can't wait for the next chapter
The prospector is immediate concern, the ship who which was detected can be expected to adjust themselves as needed if they wish to talk. Problem of this apparently unwarranted hostility must be resolved.
Tough call with a lot of unknowns. But I went with meeting the approaching ship. They could use help. I don't know that they could take a fight right now, with Spike injured. Tho there's no guarantee that the approaching ship isn't hostile either. But whatever is on the prospector certainly seems hostile. Or it could just be some frightened thing that accidentally crashed into them and was trying to protect itself. So many ways this could go.
Hmmm.. going with get the Prospector. Right now, whoever is in it is a clear threat that you don't want to lose track of. The alien ship is on it's way to us, and likely in better condition, so they can catch up easily enough for the slight course correction being made. Hiding.... would be a waste of resources for no gain. They know the ponies are here, and we have no idea what tech they might have that AJ's 'tricks' won't do anything to solve.
Stay the course. Meeting up with the approaching ship would be useful, but it ought to be able to meet them at the gas giant just as well as out in space, and it clearly knows where the Equinox is given its current course. The only downside I see is that it might meet up with the Prospector and whoever is on it instead, but I'm just going to hope that doesn't happen.
Towards the ship. Why would they send the signal if they were hostile? And they could help Spike. We can't risk the prospector, whoever is on board is obviously willing to kill.
Stay the course. You need fuel to do anything!
Well, now that they can send signals, proximity isn't as much of a concern. That said, getting the Prospector back would do a lot of good in terms of resource conservation; it's not like they have enough to make a spare, and gas giants aren't known for their plentiful metals. The fuel situation... probably isn't too dire for a little intrasystem maneuvering. But hiding from both definitely isn't the answer.
Hard choice indeed. I think ill hold off on voting for a bit and keep an eye on the comments to see if anything comes up that would convince me.
Because atm i'd just be picking at random from the first 3
Stay on course. explanations later.
Prospector, @$#% em up!
Finally caught up! Now hopefully I can do the same for Sunset Campaign and Friendship Abroad....
And just when I was thinking this had become a fight to survive and make it back without even making it to first contact....
Prospector...need it
Benefits of staying the course: If they've detected that the Equinox is a spacecraft, this adds to the "derelict spacecraft vibe." If the Equinox's identity is still unknown to them, this makes them look like a space rock or something. Of course, if it's coming towards them, that may be temporary...
Benefits of turning away: This is the equivalent of firing off flares to trick missiles. Maybe they'll follow the Equinox and maybe they'll follow the lander. But what message would this send politically?
Benefits of turning towards them: They'll know that intelligent life is aboard. Beam their own signal back at them and boom. Diplomatic contact established. They know with zero doubt their signal has been heard and answered.
Benefits of hiding: Chance to avoid detection. But why? Why would a civilization beaming messages to the stars be hostile? Why set a trap for someone you don't know is there and may not be able to fight? Also, this looks really bad politically. "Let's just sit in the asteroids and spy on them."
Think I'm gonna go with "go towards the ship." First contact came a little earlier than I would have liked, but we should at least make contact right and proper.
Get the prospector. Avoid contact with those xenos at all costs until they are proven non-hostile.
The only reason to hide would be in case of hostile squatters, since as others pointed out hiding from the true authors of the signal is probably futile. That's not impossible but seems unlikely, so I won't pick that even though it's the colored option.
On the other hand, if they are friendly and want to visit then let them make the approach. And it's possible the other ship is doing something unrelated. So I think the real choice is between following the Prospector, and not following the Prospector.
And I'm just going to go with a blatant gut feeling that says I don't want the trail to go cold.
There’s no biosphere and large metallic “deposits” on Proxima B, which seems to indicate to me that the origin of the signal is either a distress signal from an alien expedition that stranded themselves here coincidentally, or, more likely, the inhabitants of Proxima B are a race of synthetics who don’t need a biosphere and what we think are deposits are actually their dwellings or substrate or whatever. I’m not sure that whoever’s approaching them can be trusted, but at the same time, I would think it foolish to leave the lander and/or the saboteur at large. I’m gonna go with 2. They need that Prospector back.
I wonder if its a good sign that your chapters so far have and related choices cause me to go "Hmmm".
On any other day I say a yes to meeting aliens, if done so cautiously, but we don't have our communications specialist or our weapons specialist, the ship is mostly damaged, and we have no weapons should the aliens be aggressive. Hiding until we know for sure what we are expecting is a sound choice, but I don't like that we would be adding months to the trip and using our limited fuel to use Applejack's trick.
Leaving the lander is a blow, and even with the saboteur trying to kill them I don't really like the idea of letting someone drift forever in space; they are trying to survive like we are and need us whether they like it or not. But if I had to make a choice it would be the safety of my crew over a saboteur.
If we get fuel we might be able to catch up and capture the lander and occupant later.
I am going with Applejack's advise. i just hope we don't have any complications in the asteroids added onto everything else.