(Is that everybody on the shuttle?)
Yep.
Head home.
You fly back to the base, you cargo of idiots in tow. Once there, you help them off and drag Auron, still unconscious, to the med bay.
Fetch Simus' stuff and hand it back. Then take a sample from the back of the specimen, about 10 cm deep. Perform basic tests to see what its basic components are, then move on to identifying more complex molecules.
((You want me to give specific tests, or would you like it more to simply tell me what one could find out with the available tools?))
(How you go about testing would be helpful, since I'm not exactly sure how you would test the chemical composition of the shell. Probably various chemical reactions)
You take a sample from the creature's shell, drilling in roughly 10 cm. You don't hit anything "fleshy", you just get a solid chuck of shell.
"The thing seems to be like, 90% shell...Insulation, I suppose. You mutter to yourself, turning the sample over in your hands."
It's incredibly heavy even in these small amounts; heavier then solid lead by the feel of it.
((@RC:I've got some weirdvision info on the rocklice in the alien autopsies section of my notes if you want some ideas.
@Mesk: I think all of green team is aboard.))
Send a drone over the domes (look if there's something special in the center of the sector) and a drone over the salt.
Your dual drone mapping provides a few insights. First, the domes are quite different in their arrangement then the normal zones encountered so far. The bridge multiple areas and are extremely thin and long rather then condensed like the others. What this means, you don't really know.
The salt expanse is more normal, however the drone picks up something rather odd in its flight. A clearly man made object, though it's hard to tell what it is. It appears to be a wreck of some sort, judging from the trail it gouged into the ground on the way to it's final resting place. The drone marks the location with a red star.
But if you can find a chemical test or something, that might work.
((I tried that, you never responded properly. There was a very good reason I listed all of those different chemicals when I did my initial testing.))
Hey Miyamoto, I'm done with Gilgamesh for now, I'll park him in the garage, then I would like to get my phase suit back.
Park Gilgamesh in the garage, then assist Miyamoto's shell testing (on separate pieces of shell) with the same physical and chemical tests that were performed last time. (Test a bit of each sample in the following manner: Examine under microscope, weigh on scale/measure volume (and calculate density derived from those two measurements), submit to hardness testing, test radiation/heat emission, test for electric charge, submit to flame (be sure to record flame colour), then, after the sample has cooled, reexamine under microscope to see if the structure may have changed during heating, reweigh on scale/measure volume (and calculate density derived from those two measurements), resubmit to hardness testing, retest radiation/heat emission, retest for electric charge. Record all test results on a datapad, then put physical tested samples in different containers, with their names appended with (Physical Properties Tested), subject each to the following in the fumehood: Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid, Nitric Acid, Aqua Regia (Mix 1:3 nitric/hydrochloric acid), Ammonia, Sodium Hypochlorite solution, Potassium Rhodizonate imbued paper, (Molten) Sodium Hydroxide (be sure to use a metal container), (Molten) Potassium Chlorate, and Acetone. Observe any and all effects.)
(Well, you've gotta tell me what each of those chemicals are testing for. Because frankly, I don't know what the hell you're looking for with all of them or even how they would react. Like, if you say "I want to test for carbon compounds, here's X test that uses Y chemical and if it's positive the resulting fluid will be green or what ever. Because I mean, If I said "Here's a sample of Indalloy 117, what happens when you mix it with these 15 chemicals?" would you know the results to all of them? Actually, if you studied chemistry maybe you would...Well, I don't. Thats the important part.)
Microscope reveals a very dense crystalline formation, the sort of thing you'd expect more in a pure metal sample then something organic and is cubic.
The density is very high, about 19 grams per cm squared, though samples from different depths in the shell yield slightly different densities, with the outer shell being the most dense.
It is extremely hard, around an 8 on the Mohs scale, though the outer shell is again harder then samples from deeper in.
It emits neither heat nor radiation, nor does it have an electrical charge.
The flame you have on hand is incapable of burning the sample and none of the subsequent measurements seem to have changed from their originals.
Wait for shuttle to return to base then go find Miyamoto and tell him what happend.
You run to the lab and recount the tale of blind recklessness and debilitating results using a wide variety of hand gestures and lots of hopping.
((Which one of us had wierd vision again? as that could be useful in finding out what mineral samples we gather contain or just a bit more about them.))
"Ok then"
see if it is possible to rig up a rough flame test to check for any traces of phosphorus,copper,rubidium ect. See if it is possible to use a similar technique as is used on stars to ascertain chemical components due to absorption of different visible light wavelengths (from memory spectral absorbtion or something similar)
I dunno if those will work...but the Iron sample contains both Silicon and carbon as it's impurities.
((I listed at least one indicator, which would be Potassium Rhodizonate, which'll show any lead in whatever kind of alloy it is. Hydrochloric acid reacts violently with zinc, sulfuric acid produces green smoke in contact with copper, and the other chemicals serve similar purposes, as well as testing corrosion properties (Aqua Regia is almost specifically for that purpose). But yeah, if PW wants me to explain what something in the tests is for, I have no issue telling him so that he can give a better picture. And if he wants me to slow down my experimental batteries, I'm good with that too.
And Corsair, the flame colour test is a part of my physical test regime, but PW never answered it for my original samples.))
It's powerful, that's for sure. I didn't mess with it too much, it's yours, not mine, and it's mostly built for combat anyways. I might get synthflesh first, but a battlesuit might be worth looking into, especially if I customize it in Tinker before ordering it. Might even try to find a way to incorporate the Phase Armor into one.
Yeah, the explaining it part would be good. My level of scientific education is basically "Self taught and knowing just enough to be dangerous/to make a fool of himself"
Get treated. Beseech help from any gods that listen.
"Help me mesk, please, I'm bleeding bro, I'm bleeding."
Mesk reads a virtual newspaper on his datapad.
"Why mesk, why?"
You drag yourself to the med bay regardless and curl up on one of the beds.
((Ouch, it seems like Mesk is still a bit sore over the whole 'I'll-gouge-your-lungs-out-with-a-fork-you-bastard' thing. Who knew, huh?))
Chill out and wait for the drones to return. Chuck a few rocks out onto the salt flat and try to hit one of the larger crystals to see if anything happens. If nothing bad happens, go ahead and scrape up a sample into a container, being careful not to touch it at all with anything but the sample container.
Rocks react to the salt crystals about as well as you'd expect them to: they hit them and then fall down. You scrape a bit of the crystals off the surface and then it back down to wait for the drones.
Continue around the iron lake, staying alert.
You follow it around into the 13th sector and find what looks like the entrance to a cave. The iron sea dribbles a thin stream of blinding yellow-white metal into the mouth of the cavern, a burning line that traces it's way down the rocky decline, illuminating the cave with a steady, though dull, yellowish glow.
map
http://i.imgur.com/wroghh8.jpg
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3939924 times)