Of Wolves and Weasels - Day 588 - Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 2, Part 1
Hey all, GoodShibe here!
So yesterday I completed part 2 of Chapter 1 of Terror on Moonbase Alpha. If you're just joining us now, please feel free to get caught up here for part 1 and here for part 2.
Without further ado, here's Part 1 of Chapter 2.
Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 2 - Part 1
Kara sat, cross-legged, about a good foot or so away from the closest edge of the goop. It was odd sitting so close to it, being mere inches away from certain death, and yet her jaw was set, her face determined.
Around her, a semi-circle of gathered items, some collected for their possible cleaning properties, some collected because, hell, she just wanted to see what this stuff would do to it.
(Science!)
In her lap, she set her phone to record -- because it's not Science unless you record the utter craziness that you are about to attempt -- and decided to start with something that would at least let passersby know what the heck had happened, you know, if, somehow, the worst were to occur.
"Uh, hi there. You may be noticing a new, oddly-colored smear on the ground. If this experiment goes poorly, that is probably me. If so, my name was Kara Marks and I was a, uh, I guess you could say I was a groundskeeper here. I noticed this greyish-yellow pile of goop earlier today and noticed - er, observed - that it is incredibly caustic. Basically it seems to dissolve everything that it touches, including the mop that I tried to clean it up with. Please, please observe the tape and cones -- though, on second thought, if you're listening to this, you've probably already ignored that. So, yeah, uh, don't touch anything - well, anything other than this recording. Or, well, you get the idea."
A second of quiet, gathering her nerve. It's only a moment but she can feel her heart racing in her chest as she reaches for the first item.
"I've collected a wide array of cleaning products and am attempting to see what interactions they have, just in case I can help to clean it up."
Clean-O was the closest thing to a 'store-bought' cleaner you could get up here. It was weak, smelled strongly of pine needles and was, most importantly, cheap. Which meant that it was pretty much the standard cleaning fare here on the base.
"I'm pouring 10 milliliters of Clean-O onto a small patch of the goop. I expect that nothing will happen, but hey, science, right?"
The liquid roiled onto the small patch of the goop, bubbled and evaporated without incident.
"No effect. The Clean-O bubbled and evaporated."
And so it went as she worked her way through pretty much every cleaner that should think of. It laughed off the Clean-Rite, the Grease-Killer and the Oxi-Brite. Which left her sitting with one small jar of Miracle-Kleen.
Miracle-Kleen was an industrial-strength cleaner that she had purchased with her own money, a small jar of the crystals had set her back nearly a day's pay. It proudly proclaimed on the side: "Money Back Guarantee: If we can't clean it, it doesn't exist."
She'd bought it mostly for the giggles, though she secretly hoped it would work.
"Adding 10 milliliters of Miracle-Kleen solution..."
If there was any consolation, it seemed to last a full second longer, sitting on top of the goop before sizzling away.
With a sigh, Kara left the cleaners behind and decided to have some fun.
Paper? It crinkled on top, leaving almost an ash.
Chocolate? It left a slight brown smudge for a moment before bubbling away.
Plastics of any sort went up incredibly fast, almost as if it was being greedily eaten by the goop.
The last thing, and the one thing she needed to know most, sat there before her on a plate.
The single piece of rubbery cafeteria Chicken was long-cold by now. The key thing was that it was meat. Not necessarily Human meat, but meat enough - she hoped - to get a solid sense of what waited for her if she should touch it.
Using a thin plastic fork, she stabbed the chicken and held it above the goop.
Kara licked her lips, concentrating, holding her hand steady as she could.
And, slowly, she lowered it.
As soon as the goop touched the meat it shot upward, tearing through the chicken, peeling through the plastic fork. It moved so fast that she barely had a chance to yelp in fear.
Dropping the fork a mere centimeter from the tips of her fingers.
She scrambled backward, eyes wide, heart pounding.
"Sunnovabitch!"
Reaching for the pack of matches, the last thing, the most primal thing.
"If nothing else works, kill it with fire" - she'd read that somewhere a while back... and, somehow it just seemed right.
Lighting a match she flicked it onto the goop yelling "DIE!"
... and to her surprise, it shrieked.
And that wraps up part 1 of Chapter 2 of this story, hopefully you're enjoying it. By all means, feel free to offer your comments, critiques and ideas below!
It's 8:45AM EST and I'm sending positive vibes your way. Have a great day, my friends! Our Global Hashrate is down from ~1370 to ~1350 Gigahashes per Second and our Difficulty is up from ~14348 to ~15943.
As always, I appreciate your support!
GoodShibe
Posted Aug 19, 2015, 12:46 PM UTC · edited