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<blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1318668" data-attributes="member: 6294">&quot;Blast Off!&quot; - Part 21&quot;Nooooooooooooooooo!&quot; S'Ondra falls to her knees, hands raised before her.&nbsp; It's a performance of which Charlton Heston could be proud.&quot;Zere zere, Leibchen.&quot; Gustav pats her on the shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort, &quot;I am sure zat we will be able to solve zis conundrum.&quot;&quot;It seems to be growing very fast.&quot; Fury observes, &quot;We haven't been gone that long.&quot;&quot;Ja.&nbsp; It is ze hot, humid conditions of zis world.&quot; Gustav tears a broad, fibrous leaf from a nearby plant and begins scrawlin on it with a pen, &quot;I estimate zat ze rate of growth is more zan twice what it would have been on ze Earth.&quot;&quot;Nooooooooooooooooo!&quot;&quot;It is extremely unsightly and unhygienic, and must be cleansed.&quot;&quot;That you both for your contributions.&quot; Fury turns to Gustav, &quot;Doctor, do you have any theories on how to destroy this stuff?&nbsp; What if we were to fly through the sun with it?&nbsp; Surely that would destroy anything?&quot;&quot;Oh, I zink zat is true.&quot; Gustav nods agreeably, &quot;Including us, of course.&quot;&quot;Ah.&quot; Fury taps his teeth, &quot;Very true, old man.&nbsp; Though perhaps we could channel all power to the -&quot;&quot;To ze what?&quot; Gustav shakes his head, &quot;To ze shields, so zat ze ship will not disintegrate in ze flames?&nbsp; To ze life support, so zat we are not cooked like ze sausages in ze pan?&nbsp; Or to ze engines, so zat we can escape ze gravitational pull of ze sun.&nbsp; Nein, Captain.&nbsp; I am a physicist, not a magician.&nbsp; Ze ship cannot take such strain.&quot;Fury snorts, &quot;That's what you techie types always say.&nbsp; Not that I suppose it matters much, when we can't even reach the old girl under all that mould.&quot;&quot;There must be some other way to destroy it!&quot; S'Ondra stares up at them from where she still needs in the dirt.&nbsp; Her savage counterpart is staring at her in bewildered fashion, &quot;You can't let my people die.&quot;&quot;We do not have ze resources to destroy ze mould.&quot; Gustav shakes his head, &quot;Or at least, not zat I have yet found.&nbsp; If only I could reach my analysis machines, I could study it in more detail, and determine ze weakness zat it must have.&nbsp; But we cannot run ze scans with ze ship all covered in mould.&nbsp; We cannot even reach ze instruments.&quot;&quot;Could we enclose it somehow?&quot; Fury suggests, &quot;If we could get into the ship, perhaps we could use the gravitic generators to enclose the mould in a force field, and contain it?&quot;&quot;A temporary solution at best, Captain.&quot; Archie declares mournfully, &quot;Maintaining the shield against the mould would exhaust our supply of Xenon after three point two weeks.&nbsp; Less if the substance continues to … replicate itself.&quot;&nbsp; The word 'replicate' has never sounded so dirty.&quot;So what do we do then?&nbsp; It's not like we can just vacuum it all up and make it go away.&quot;There's a moment of silence.&nbsp; And then Gustav and Archie begin to talk simultaneously,&quot;But if we could find ze way to collect it –&quot;&quot;- the sample arm on the Pathfinder may still be accessible.&nbsp; It has an exterior hatch –&quot;&quot;- zen we could store it all in a huge container.&nbsp; Maybe we could teach ze Venusians how to weave a giant basket –&quot;&quot;- based on their clothing, they appear to have already grasped the science of sewing, Doctor.&nbsp; Perhaps a gigantic fur bag? –&quot;&quot;- zen we could blast off with ze mould, and dump it back on ze Earth –&quot;&quot;- but that would be littering! –&quot;&quot;- vich is already covered with ze substance, and will zerefore not be harmed.&quot; Gustav finishes, with a proud and happy smile.&quot;Let me get this straight.&quot; Fury holds up a hand, then begins to tick the plan off of his fingers,&nbsp; &quot;Your solution to this situation is to turn the sampler arm into some kind of giant vacuum cleaner.&quot;&quot;Ja.&quot;&quot;Which we will then use to suck up all the space mould and store it in a huge fur bag, the construction of which we will entrust to a bunch of illiterate savages.&quot;&quot;Ja.&quot;&quot;And then you expect me to somehow fly this contraption out of the atmosphere, into deep space, without spilling a single spore.&quot;&quot;Ja.&quot;&quot;You realise that this will be a huge, completely un-aerodynamic, fur bag.&nbsp; I don't want to think how big it would have to be –&quot;&quot;Approximately two hundred thousand cubic feet.&quot; Archie supplies, helpfully, &quot;Assuming we can have it completed with forty-eight hours.&nbsp; After that, the rate of the mould's reproduction will reach a critical mass, that we cannot overcome.&quot;&quot;Ja.&quot;&quot;Okay, just wanted to make sure I had all the details correct.&quot; Fury claps his hands together, &quot;Sounds like we have a plan, people – let's get working!&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Capellan, post: 1318668, member: 6294"] [b]"Blast Off!" - Part 21[/b] "[I]Nooooooooooooooooo![/I]" S'Ondra falls to her knees, hands raised before her. It's a performance of which Charlton Heston could be proud. "Zere zere, Leibchen." Gustav pats her on the shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort, "I am sure zat we will be able to solve zis conundrum." "It seems to be growing very fast." Fury observes, "We haven't been gone that long." "[I]Ja[/I]. It is ze hot, humid conditions of zis world." Gustav tears a broad, fibrous leaf from a nearby plant and begins scrawlin on it with a pen, "I estimate zat ze rate of growth is more zan twice what it would have been on ze Earth." "[I]Nooooooooooooooooo![/I]" "It is extremely unsightly and unhygienic, and must be cleansed." "That you both for your contributions." Fury turns to Gustav, "Doctor, do you have any theories on how to destroy this stuff? What if we were to fly through the sun with it? Surely that would destroy anything?" "Oh, I zink zat is true." Gustav nods agreeably, "Including [I]us[/I], of course." "Ah." Fury taps his teeth, "Very true, old man. Though perhaps we could channel all power to the -" "To ze what?" Gustav shakes his head, "To ze shields, so zat ze ship will not disintegrate in ze flames? To ze life support, so zat we are not cooked like ze sausages in ze pan? Or to ze engines, so zat we can escape ze gravitational pull of ze sun. [I]Nein[/i], Captain. I am a physicist, not a magician. Ze ship cannot take such strain." Fury snorts, "That's what you techie types always say. Not that I suppose it matters much, when we can't even reach the old girl under all that mould." "There must be some other way to destroy it!" S'Ondra stares up at them from where she still needs in the dirt. Her savage counterpart is staring at her in bewildered fashion, "You can't let my people die." "We do not have ze resources to destroy ze mould." Gustav shakes his head, "Or at least, not zat I have yet found. If only I could reach my analysis machines, I could study it in more detail, and determine ze weakness zat it must have. But we cannot run ze scans with ze ship all covered in mould. We cannot even reach ze instruments." "Could we enclose it somehow?" Fury suggests, "If we could get into the ship, perhaps we could use the gravitic generators to enclose the mould in a force field, and contain it?" "A temporary solution at best, Captain." Archie declares mournfully, "Maintaining the shield against the mould would exhaust our supply of Xenon after three point two weeks. Less if the substance continues to … replicate itself." The word 'replicate' has never sounded so dirty. "So what do we do then? It's not like we can just vacuum it all up and make it go away." There's a moment of silence. And then Gustav and Archie begin to talk simultaneously, "But if we could find ze way to collect it –" "- the sample arm on the [I]Pathfinder[/I] may still be accessible. It has an exterior hatch –" "- zen we could store it all in a huge container. Maybe we could teach ze Venusians how to weave a giant basket –" "- based on their clothing, they appear to have already grasped the science of sewing, Doctor. Perhaps a gigantic fur bag? –" "- [I]zen[/I] we could blast off with ze mould, and dump it back on ze Earth –" "- but that would be littering! –" "- vich is already covered with ze substance, and will zerefore not be harmed." Gustav finishes, with a proud and happy smile. "Let me get this straight." Fury holds up a hand, then begins to tick the plan off of his fingers, "Your solution to this situation is to turn the sampler arm into some kind of giant vacuum cleaner." "[I]Ja[/I]." "Which we will then use to suck up all the space mould and store it in a huge fur bag, the construction of which we will entrust to a bunch of illiterate savages." "[I]Ja[/I]." "And then you expect me to somehow fly this contraption out of the atmosphere, into deep space, without spilling a single spore." "[I]Ja[/I]." "You realise that this will be a huge, completely un-aerodynamic, fur bag. I don't want to think how big it would have to be –" "Approximately two hundred thousand cubic feet." Archie supplies, helpfully, "Assuming we can have it completed with forty-eight hours. After that, the rate of the mould's reproduction will reach a critical mass, that we cannot overcome." "[I]Ja[/I]." "Okay, just wanted to make sure I had all the details correct." Fury claps his hands together, "Sounds like we have a plan, people – let's get working!" [/QUOTE]

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