New fen in space

[Rakhasa]

Timote wrote:

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A few questions and comments:
1) Is the pooch vampiric as well?  If so, he could have a 'hellhound' look when short on blood instead of Oscar's corpse-like effect.

I had no though about it, except for the part of "a huge dog in space"... but this is fenspace, there is probably some law about not taking a joke to the very end, so yes, the pooch is vampiric, coal black and with glowing red eyes. It also was not quite one year old yet when the party left earth, and Oscar  remembers it when it was a fluffy ball than sat on his lap. He tends to act as if the monster still was a puppy, which sometimes creeps other people.
Yep, everyone is a vampire, laptop and excavator included. The rug was soaked in the original accident, too, but it only seemed to look prettier and change colors. He sold it to some guy in his first stop (Stellvia, to get supplies), so if it developed further quirks that's whathisname problem...

2) I can see one of Oscar's botany experiments creating a giant, talking flytrap that goes by the name Audrey. 8P

Maybe. After the first batch of Piranha Kelp he has not quite dared to make further experiments with big plants... it simply was meant to be part of an hidroponics life support system, you know. Well, actually, it _is_ a full 5% more eficient at oxygen production than The Jason's kelp. But The Jason's have... lets say, less exotic nutitional needs. And they do not stare at you. (yes, it has no eyes. Trust me, it is staring)

3) I'm not sure I'm correctly picturing what Oscar's excavator looks like, maybe you could post a link to a picture.
4) that first trip to the moon was likely uncomfortable for Oscar, the top speed for most fencraft tends to be lower the more the craft masses, an escavator would have a fairly high mass to crewspace ratio.  Likewise, unless that escavator has some really wild quirks, it won't be capable of making a habitable structure on the moon by itself.  Just something to consider.
5) speaking of which, keep in mind, to make a vehical fully spaceworth, you need to completely coat it with Wavium,   Maybe Oscar gave the Escavator a powerwash on a saturday night, then took off onthe sunday?  That would help get around the chance of something wierd happening durring a workshift. 8)

The original excavator was the biggest there was to be found in the mine, a Hitachi ex5500:

 
The original trip was VERY unconfortable: look at the size of the cabin, vamp and pooch could barely move. Specially since the dog had no space suit (an oversight). Once in Luna, he added panels all aroud the greater structure, where the handrails are, so it upgrated to "you can use it for long trips" (the doors on the first "deck" go to the motors and such)
But, speed? What is that "speed" thing? The machine is a monster, 500 tons. If the specs are right, it rides at a staggering 2,2 km/hr. Once 'waved, if flies, but it probably is the slowest of its size, aroud 0.03-0.04c top speed like a full space ship or even a vessel..
For the waving, you guessed right. Oscar spent a couple of days mixing handwave, water and a cup or two of blood, in an old barrel, and then he went on a saturday and spent the evening spraying the liquid with the help of an herbicide sprayer. After some discuriosn, he ane Bernie decided to conect the laptop with the AI to the controls and leave it all day; he took off in the night of the next day. Since it was a weekend, no one was working on the mine. And the night watch was a third cousin (advantages of small villages in mining regions)
It can make an habitable structure, but not "by itself", and if needed further work in Luna to do it.
-The pre-waved computer was filled with most of the city builder and similar games, which to this day are my favorites: Sim City, Caesar, Pharaoh, Stronghold, , etc. That probaby is the reason Bernie is the "architect" of the company, and it seems it affected the waving of the excavator, wich set itself as a conrturction droid. (also, Starcraft and Alfa Centauri. Oscar watches Bernie very carefully when he wanders inside the genetic labs, in case of sudden mindowm or zerg swarms)
-Placing an already waved computer with an AI changed the way to work the machine. You can fly it, and move the arm with some very basic actions (namely, grappling another ship to tow), but anything else needs a specially designed computer controller -the original laptop with Bernie, or the following advanced versions.
-The arm of the excavator changed into a full arm with metallic fingers, able to not only excavate, but to pick and manipulate things. The "hull" was also covered by empty sockets, wich after some examination on both machine and computer once safe in the moon, turned out to be the places to put modular gadgets like cutting lasers, solders, drills, smaller manipulator hands, and coffee makers. After upgrading the living space, creating those gadgets was the second proyect, which turned the machine (wich I have to find a name for, dammit) from an oversized excavator and crane into a full contruction droid. The machine will be slower unless al leats half of the sockets are filled.
-It runs on the original 'wave mixture: 500 liters water, one kilo solid or grey 'wavium, and two cups of human blood (all human biomods included, from vampire to klingon, but no blood oranges). Further experiments have discovered than adding a cup of machine oil and another of coffee will increass the effificiency a 10%. European expresso coffee, that is. It will decrease 10% if you use American coffee, and a further 5% if it is Starbucks coffee.

Edit: And now I NEED to have a bucket wheel excavator. That will be the second droid of the company.