Chapter 107
Send an Unmanned Probe 61%
Twilight watched the little probe’s faint exhaust trail as it shot away from the Equinox, building speed for its descent into the atmosphere of Proximus C. She wasn’t the only one on the bridge—Rainbow was there with her hooves on the weapons. Sunset sat at the coms console, with Rarity on the science station and Node just sort of orbiting around.
Node’s new body demanded to be seen in a way that no synthetic pony could’ve. She’d made almost no compromises for the Equinox, even insisting on her old height for the body. That meant she was constantly having to float along vertically, or else scrape her head along the ceiling of every room.
It was easy to watch her and think that the Signalers really had returned from the dead. Thin body, two legs, four spindly arms, with a pale, hairless flesh that Twilight knew was just formed rubber of some kind. But knowing that and realizing it on an intellectual level was something completely different. From every casual observation, Node looked alive in a way that her plastic ponies never had. Her eyes seemed wet, her face seemed to flush with warmth at anger or embarrassment. Her limbs twisted and adjusted in subtle ways, and her chest lifted to breathing that Twilight knew she didn’t need.
Node glanced over her shoulder, grinning. “What is it, captain? Appreciating this awesome version of your uniform we made? All Rarity’s work. I just put it on.”
Twilight looked away. Some part of her wondered if making bodies was really the best use of their limited resources. But considering one of those was for Spike, who didn’t even seem to want to still be alive… she wouldn’t say anything. The computer would hear her.
“We’re through the dispersion layer,” Spike called, loud enough that everypony in the room went back to focusing on their work. “Signal booster is working. I’m assembling a composite now.”
“We can use the new screen,” Node said, holding up a piece of flat glass in two of her four paws for them to see. It was obviously meant to be a screen, though it wasn’t even as thick as a hoof. No way it could actually…
An image appeared there, filled with static around the edges and with bits and pieces coming in and out of focus. Twilight kicked off, drifting a little closer so she could get a good look.
There was no mistaking it. It wasn’t quite a starship, and it wasn’t quite a station. Canterlot had been turned into a ship, wrapped with metal pilons and several additional layers of armor and city that hadn’t been there before. The original mountain peak that had formed the city was still in there somewhere, though by the look of things it had been completely hollowed out.
The city wasn’t in good shape. Most of the outer sections were exposed to the swirling storms of the upper atmosphere, leaving only the shielded and armored sections in the middle apparently sealed off. She couldn’t see anything through the rigid windows, though the sensors did pick up some heat and energy readings from inside. Something was still working down there.
The probe kept going, past the inverted cone of the support layers of Canterlot Station. (Canterlot Capital Ship?). “Those black lines are energy readings outside the calibrated sensor range,” Spike supplied. “They appear to be tethering the Canterlot to the lower object. They’re providing structural support, though not total shielding. I’m reading significant degradation of Canterlot’s superstructure. Structural stability is… not guaranteed.”
The probe kept going, and the black lines of energy finally connected to something. The image here was further distorted by static and clouds of swirling gas, but Twilight could still see the general outline. This thing made the scale of the Canterlot look like a toy. A vast curtain of energy poured out one end, while hydrogen gas from the atmosphere around flowed in. A simplistic fusion torch, though one of such incredible scale that it boggled the mind. The probe showed a detailed view of a vast structure, with comparatively few internal air pockets. Most of it was infrastructure, with energy flowing out along struts that stretched away in all four cardinal directions from the instillation.
“What is it, Node?” Rarity asked. “The Ancients built this, did they not?”
“Yes,” She didn’t turn the screen around, though her eyes occasionally twitched, examining the empty air. She was connected to the central computer. Even with a body, she was still a little like a terminal. “Obviously. Those are our hyperstable alloys. It’s a…” She shook her head, folding the screen away. “You have no concept of it. There’s no point trying to explain.”
“Come on!” Rainbow glared at her. “Those might be the last ponies in the universe down there. If we’re going to get them free, we have to know what it is. Can’t you try?”
Node rolled her eyes. “It’s the endpoint of a Highway. One of the elementary solutions to the rocket problem.” She up the screen again, and seemed to draw along it with one of her spidery digits. “A proper endpoint would be built around a star. This is a… waystation. I don’t have a map, but I’m guessing it’s angled towards one of the existing routes. Lenses and boosters are built along the way, receiving matter and hydrogen and strengthening the beam. It’s all a battle against the inverse square law.”
But Twilight barely heard all that. It was certainly an interesting technology, reminding her a little of the foil-sail probes that smaller companies sometimes deployed in her home system. It was, rather, the location of the Canterlot. They’re parked right over the beam. If it switched on, the Canterlot would be utterly destroyed.
“Spike, is there any reason we shouldn’t send ponies down to Canterlot?”
“It’s incredibly dangerous,” Spike’s voice said. “But if you’re asking if it’s suicide—no. Parts of the vessel seem structurally sound. A crew with the right gear could penetrate the core.
“Might not be the right call,” Rarity suggested. “That, uh… Highway… is holding them. Maybe that’s where we should send our ponies.”
1. Dock the Equinox with Canterlot Station. We need all hooves to get her released as quickly as possible, no matter the risks. Our species depends on it.
2. Send a boarding crew to Canterlot Station. Saving that ship is important, but it’s just as important that we don’t get ourselves destroyed by accident. Without us, Canterlot is doomed.
3. Send a boarding crew to the Endpoint. We have to release the Canterlot before we can think about anything else.
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I say dock with Canterlot. This is the sum totality of ponykind at this point. If we lose them, then anything else is just going through the motions.
Send crew to the Endpoint. Docking with Canterlot (or sending crew there) has high chance of getting stuck if whatever is holding Canterlot considers the docked ship to be a part of it.
Canterlot needs to be boarded and see if it’s ready to move out of the gravity well. If we cut it loose now, it probably would just plummet to the depths
As much as 'middle way is the best' is a poor argument, in this case it DOES seem the best argument. Get Canterlot away from the giant torch, evacuate people from Canterlot if you can't. And no Rainbow do NOT take it!
Send the crew to Canterlot.
How did Canterlot dock to a Signaler structure like this?
Someone or something must have intentionally docked it, instead of error or equipment failure.
Just caught up with the fic, woah, that was a read.
Send a crew to Canterlot. Get more information about their situation before we try anything, and then save the city at all costs. I didn't agree with the months of waiting, but a few hours to communicate surely wouldn't hurt.
Apology about delay accepted. I just did the same thing. Still not settled yet.
Hmmm... what to do, what to do... None of the options are good. Docking Equinox- dumb. Don't take the ship into unknown conditions. Boarding crew to Canterlot Station- risky, but a good source of information, if the Prospector can pull it off. Going to the Endpoint- dumb. How does it work, where is it safe to go? Is it safe to be around a mega-tesla magnetic field? Sit down with Node for a long time before thinking more of this. Option four- dumb. Dumb squared. so NOT awesome. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Of course, this has been my opinion. Your opinion may vary. Readers, you may now commence quibbling.
I wonder why having Rainbow take the Prospector is a Hunger option. Maybe it knows something about her mental state that we don’t?
Sure, let’s send the pilot in! I voted to shoot her at it last chapter, so this is definitely an upgrade.
Sending a team to the Canterlot station seems the best choice. Also, is this supposed to be a solar sailor beam?
Send a crew to canterlot station. They have extra info. Plus cutting them away from the gravity well before knowing their ship/station can take it will likely doom them as it had to be intentionally docked to the gravity well. Dont send everyone tho because if this fails we want at least a few ponies left alive to go down fighting to give whatever is causing the "hunger" one last big "fuck you" as a parting gift
Awesome.
Dock with Canterlot IMO, we spent all that time fortifying the Spikequinox for this very purpose.
So, this thing is a way of propelling spaceships. It sits here in the gas giant, pulling in what it needs for power, and beams energy at spaceships to push them (Twilight compares it to solar sail vessels she's aware of) on to the next waypoint, where the next one waits to push the ship on further, presumably on into the great migration of spaceships running from the Hunger.
Node says that they're usually built in stars, and this system was apparently waiting for the Equestrians, so this one might actually have been built here specifically to push whatever the Equestrians built, without requiring them to build something capable of entering the outer edge of a star. The main problem then, is probably that the Canterlot station isn't able to withstand the beam, so it hasn't been switched on. The programmers might have assumed that if the Equestrians couldn't use it to leave, they'd be doomed anyway, so it's not designed to just let them go either.
They might also have simply assumed that the Equestrians would have to be capable of surviving it to arrive there with anything that size - Node alludes to the rocket problem, the larger the self-propelled spaceship you make, the more fuel you have to bring to propel it. This is how you avoid that problem, by not having the propulsion actually on the ship, and it would make most sense if Canterlot station was also originally propelled by a beam from their home system, since something that big, launched after they left, should not be beating the Equinox to the system if they used the same method of propulsion.
More than that, using this method requires either a way of slowing yourself down at your destination (expensive in fuel for something as big as Canterlot Station) or you expect to have something on the end of your journey that can do the slowing down for you.
Conclusion: Equestria decoded more of the message after they left, and pushed Canterlot Station directly at the gas giant, where it was decelerated and held in place. Long-term survival for the station might require, rather than simply escape from being held in place, making the station capable of surviving acceleration and then activating the beam.
"pilons" is a typo for "pylons".
What is Rainbows Ḥ̶̞͉̬̈̃ͫͨ͐͑ͭ̋͒̀̚̕͟U̸̶͉̰̯̮̗͚̭̫͙̠͖̺̭͓͇͌ͯͭ̇ͥ̇ͯ̊̓͆̐̓̀̑̀̔ͦ̉̀̚͜ͅͅN̡̨̬͈̝̜̥̥͙͈͚̺͎̟̠̠̟̺̪͈͌̋ͥ̾͌̽̇̓͗̆͆ͣ͆ͩ́͘͝͡ͅG̢̰̩͈̥̙̯̟̥̫̟̩̞̤̗̙͖̽̔͋ͪ̾̐̌ͮͪͬͣ̅̑͟͡E̴̢̛̗͖͓̯̘̱̲̱͉̼̗̙̼͂̂ͯ̉͌̈́͐͠ͅŖ̵̝͓͍͓͚̟̬͔́̎̋ͮ͒͗ͩ̈́̂ͯͧͣ͊̃̓̚ stat at the moment?
Send a boarding crew to Canterlot. The Signallers are dead, so I don't think the beam would be turned on spontaneously. At the same time, I don't see why the Equinox needs to dock just yet. We've got the Prospector for a reason.
Rolling for insanity....
..........1......................
T̨̬̦͚͉̆̐͐̇A̸̰̞̦̳̱̩̟͓ͦͬ̋͊̾̀̌̀K̶̓̐̈́̂̌͏̗̖̲E̊ͧ̂͐̿̿҉͖̼̻̪͓̺̞ ͯͯ̓̂̔͆҉҉̟͔̦͇͈̖̱T̲͇̺̥̮̹̠͙͍̓ͨͫ̿̽ͨͨ͐ͣ͟Ḩ̵̛̱͕̯͙̻̜̬͍̬̔̍͊̃̊̉ͤ̓E͉̖͑̂̾ ͍̩͖͓̘̐̈́ͩ̒̉̍̂̅̇P̶̝̗͚̲͔ͤͮ̕Ŕ̺͈̜͛̅̏̋́̕͠Oͣ̐͛̄ͨ̔͐̽҉͓̱̥̟̟S͇͈̤̥̞̰̰̼͚͑̀̚͡P̶̖̣̲̲̫̯͉͖̄ͨͬͯ̚͡͠E̥̪͈̜ͩ̓̂ͪ͘Ç̛̳̦̜̐ͣ̂̕T̺̮͉͖̣͂̆ͯ̓̄̚O̠̗̤̐ͯ͌́́R̽̋ͩ͘҉̖̘̭̘͔̻͖ ͓̃͗Ą̷̷̼̼̤͙̣͗̓ͣ̅̒ͫ̏̓ͯN̡̑͗̎̾͏͕Ḑ̶̶̖͔̥̦͔͓͎̀ͬ͒̃ ͗͗̃҉̨̹̺͙͈͎̮͔͡G̒̓ͭ̄ͪ̂̀͏̵̻͖O̷̧̳͎͐͗̐̍̈̒͝!̷̴͍̼̭̈̎͑̇̿̿!̞̞̥̯͋ͪ̀̕!͌̔҉̟̳͢
9803740
I'm not sure if this is Rainbow making the decision just because she's involved in it. It could be a strange order from Twilight.
Wait, why is the gate holding them? Failed sequence the got stuck? Have we confirmed that we can't command it?
Why does every option involve physical movement when we haven't tried the non-physical communication routes? It takes less time and resources to talk it out than to rush around at everything...
Well they got more intel. But what path to choose now?
I'm a little iffy about taking the Prospector into those kind of conditions. Is it tough enough to make such a dive?
But taking Spikes body into that makes me think of large trucks trying to stay straight in the hard winds.
There's also the concerns of act to soon with the Endpoint. If they just release it, it could simply fall deeper beyond a point of recovering Canterlot.
We need to do this in stages. The problem is figuring out what we will do and when. I think sending the crew to figure out if Canterlot is safe is a wise decision, if it can move itself when released and if it's safe to move as is. They might have to tell Endpoint to help Equinox get Canterlot out of there. Hope they take a couple of drones, might have Hunger agents in either destination if Rainbowdash choice is a possible indication.
I guess we could try to dock the Equinox. A good starting point for the Prospector if we have to take it down to shut off or manipulate the Endpoint to save Canterlot.
I think docking Spikequinox and Canterlot sounds like the best move here. The endpoint appears stable enough, and doesn't seem to be prepping for an energy discharge. The Canterlot however, appears to have significant damage that could endanger both it and the endpoint.
Untethering Canterlot from the Endpoint first makes the most sense to me. As well as making things safer we might also get it into open space outside of the storms. Then, and this is just an optimistic theory, if we can make sure life support is working Canterlot can be eventually repaired as a home for the survivors instead of abandoning ship and bringing the entire population of survivors onto the Equinox until a new home can be found.
Again, a highly optimistic scenario that assumes a lot of things going right. Like there being survivors at all.
New reader... Holy crap what a ride!
Aw, I wanna see how well Rainbow can fly after all that time in the "Contingency".
Man.... the ponies are fukin dead as fuck. I'm pretty sure we took every option to lengthen The trip, if we rush canterlot we will add a cut scene to a forgone boss battle if we send pros.ct tocanterlot we will be short crew in opening battle. If the ponies are savable the answer is at the dock it's time to stop fucking around
9803774
MOVE ZIG MOVE ZIG.
9807321
There is a thing called Zalgo text. Look that up and one of the first results is a generator for it
We need more info on what's happening on the ground before committing resources to big moves. I'm voting against going to the Endpoint, and for making contact with survivors to ask what's going on.