The rest of the modules, along with Arl and Liss, were caught by the moon of this system. I call it a moon only because it is significantly smaller than the world it orbits. I was able to get the ranging system working. Using that, knowing the size of the other three modules and the distance to them; along with a measurement of distance to the moon, I was able to estimate the size of the moon.... It is Huge. In our home universe, our home reality bubble, that moon is the size of a red dwarf star. Yet here, it is a world, and the gravity, the way it pulls on us, suggests that the surface gravity won't be overly uncomfortable.
If we were home, I would suggest that these worlds were artificial, their mass too low. Without the full suite of sensors working, I can have no confidence in anything. Even my size estimates have really big error bars.
Using the estimate of the moon, measuring against the planet and the change in apparent size over time, I made an estimate of the size of the planet. There are stars in our reality bubble that are smaller. Heck, the star which my original home world orbited is a fraction of the size I estimate for this planet. That is also why we are still crashing, if not yet crashed.
Where the other modules got nabbed by the gravity of the moon. and are in a slowly decaying orbit. We got bumped by that same gravity, and due to the distance, have been dropped into a rapidly decaying orbit around the planet. Two, maybe three orbits, and the atmospheric drag will be like hitting a wall. After that, it's all over but the crashing. Unless I can get drives working. I don't hold out a lot of hope for that.
With the luck of this decaying orbit, I went outside and confirmed that the flight surfaces will deploy, and they respond. So that is good. What is not so good is that the actual drives are clogged with scar crystals. They are beautiful, even surreal looking, but the crystals have grown around and fully encased the drive outputs. Which explains why the drives won't work. They're literally clogged.
On the first orbit, at closest approach to the moon, we got a good look at the drive module on magnification. Same problem I found on the Lounge drive ports. All the drive ports are completely encased. I don't know how to break the scar crystal. It is harder than anything I have ever encountered. I have a sub-routine scanning through the data files in hopes of finding a reference. I'm not hopeful, as I have most of the processing power of the modules computers focused on figuring out what the subtle differences are in this reality bubble. Once we have that information, we will be able to get the AIs, all the rest of the sensors, the new additional power systems, and everything else, back online. But... we have to figure out what that difference is first, so we can compensate for it. Not sure why some of the original Viteză Furie systems work, if degraded, but they do, and I am not going to complain.
As it sits. I will be able to glide this module, as will Arl and Liss be able to glide the other modules, down to the surface. That holds out hope that, though it is going to be a very hard landing, it won't be a complete death sentence for any of us. As for the atmospheric drives. I don't know. I was able to get the ports open, and they appear clear, but until we get into the atmosphere, there is no telling if they are going to work or not.
Add to that the crystal growth changes the mass distribution of the modules. We've re-arranged some storage here in the lounge, as have Arl and Liss, to try and compensate. The rest we are just going to have to play by feel once we are trying to fly these things.
I am wishing we would have trained on flying the modules. I've given Arl and Liss as much instruction as I can. Then again, I've never tried it either, and the emulation isn't working due to the systems issues we are having, so none of us can practice.
The orbit for the Lounge takes about four ship days, so we have about eight to ten ship days before we're in the atmosphere and trying to fly, or at least glide. The rest of the modules are orbiting the moon at about two days per orbit, but their orbit is not decaying as quickly. They have at least six to eight weeks before they are going to need to actually try and land. Maybe we'll have the differences figured out and they can instead fly to this world and join us, or at least land with the AIs help. I am asking so much more of Arl and Liss, Edix and Jenn, then they were ever designed for. They take it in stride and make me proud.
I have been lost in the unknown for years now. I've modified myself into a cyborg, and sit at now 68% cybernetics, with another 15% augmentation. Yet, in all that time, with everything I have seen and been through; the not knowing what is going on, I have always had the Viteză Furie as my emotional anchor. The ship is in pieces now, and crashing on two separate worlds. I'm a victim again of things on a scale that boggles the mind. I am adrift and terrified, because I can do nothing. Nothing but wait, and try to put on a brave face for my companions.
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