Starshot (Closed)

[SteelEagle]

 

"Good question, Captain," she began with a smile. She brought up a small scroll which listed what was stored in the vessel. "Between the engine storage and power centers located in every powered compartment, there is almost always going to be three times as many cylinders as the mission calls for. Of course these are estimates, and estimates may be wrong. It will be up to the crew to allocate resources as well as they can. In the case of a major shortage or malfunction, there is an emergency protocol. As you have been told, the vessel courses with my own magic. You may drain portions of the ship of this magic and funnel it to the engines for a single mass teleport, hopefully back here, However, doing so will render much of the ship unpowered, unable to sustain itself or any living creature within. So you can transfer magic from every part of the ship save for, say, the bridge. The bridge will be unharmed but after the teleport, the rest of the ship will be no different from a magitek airship...in space," she ended with no less than a note of danger. "So err on the side of caution, because rebuilding this ship would take centuries and that would be...less than ideal."

[Bellosh]

 

Moony was particularly fascinated by the sort of scientific experiments Princess Celestia had planned for the ship's voyage. As a unicorn who had spent most of her adult life thus far studying Aetherology, she imagined most of her duties would involve working in the lab. There was a particular thing mentioned however that really grabbed the mare's interest. "Oh!" She raised a hoof to grab Celestia's attention; "So let's say we meet an alien civilization and, you know, it hasn't achieved space travel yet or something. Would it be alright if we showed them around our ship and let them see all the cool stuff onboard? Just wanted to check because I remember reading an essay in a sci-fi fanzine somewhere about how that could actually be bad. But if you ask me, I think hiding that sort of thing is kinda silly....."

[SteelEagle]

 

 

"An interesting question, Moondancer! As a standard rule, it would be unwise to share technology with species that have not advanced far enough to do it themselves. We should not interfere in how other societies and species develop in the grand scheme of things. In general, contact should only ever be established after rigorous study has allowed us to rule out any hostile intent on their part as well as making it clear that the establishment of contact is in their best interest as a species. Better for us to know as much as possible if we are to establish contact and to ensure that our involvement would not hurt them. It is even preferable for us to not make contact if we do not think they are yet ready, or that they would seek to harm us. We can always inspect them at another time, but a bad first impression or a faux pas that sends shockwaves across their society.

 

Should first contact be more accidental, you are to attempt to terminate it on as friendly a position as possible without divulging too much beyond basics. If further contact is warranted, you are free to show them the ship, but only if there is unanimous agreement amongst the crew. Frankly there are too few of you to be an ambassadorial vessel of significance currently, and I would rather see such events be given their proper weight. Of course this is all a general guideline. Delays in communication will necessitate that you make hard decisions. I may not approve and you will take responsibility for all of the consequences should something go wrong. I trust your judgment in this matter.”

[tacobob]

 

 

 

The black griffon listened as the others questioned the good Princess about the ship while her eyes fell upon every other nook and cranny of the interior. They would be trying to grow plants in space. How odd. But she could see it working. Artificial light. They would produce oxygen, and the ponies in turn would make carbon dioxide, which the plants needed. Mining sounded like something her speed. Imagine discovering new types of metals on other planets. Metals stronger than steel, and maybe even lighter. Or even ones with strange and useful properties. And first contact? Would they find any little green space ponies? In most of the movies she had seen, aliens tend to be more interested in jumping out from behind rocks and yelling BOOGA BOOGA as apposed to being friends. The blacksmith pondered what sort of creatures would they encounter.

 

She continued to follow the others in dead silence, pausing only to clamp her beak shut the moment she realized it was starting to drop once again. There was so much to see. So many machines all beeping and buzzing about. Thankfully, it was now time for questions. Once her turn was up, Zelda spoke up.

 

"Please forgive me if this has been asked...I've just been so utterly overwhelmed by everything I seen so far.", this was the truth! "If we do run into beings from other planets, how will we be able to communicate with them?", She had a pretty strong feeling they neither spoke Equestrian or griffon-tongue. "And also, how long could one survive in the vacuum of space, or in an unpowered room?" She heard space can be really cold. Colder than an cold winter night in Rockwington.

[SteelEagle]

 

 

“The manner of our communication with beings from another world is indeed mysterious. Mathematical methods of communication as well as color-coded and other, non-language based means will be made available. If the possibility of contact is high, then it is likely our top linguistics experts will be on staff, to help facilitate communication. In the end, we can't be completely prepared for every eventuality of communicating with otherworldy beings. That is one of many reasons why rigorous study of them before any attempts are made is so very vital, for both of our sakes. Also, happy to hear about you being overwhelmed- I had been concerned you might simply be..whelmed,” the Princess said with a dry, yet peppy bit of playful sarcasm.
 

[SteelEagle]

 

Celestia waited for any other questions. She understood so much of this was new to all of them- but while some wanted to ask questions, Celestia knew that for others there was little they could do to help themselves until they saw it in action. She understood that method of learning. So many students over the years had ran themselces ragged trying to study and focus on academia when their brains were only ever bubbling with the advancement of learning when they were in the thick of things. And as much as she would have loved to answer more questions, Celestia perfectly understood needing to get into the muck before learning to clean yourself off.

“I think that covers the tour and question part of the session,” she smiled, her tail giving a small but almost visible wave of excitement. Behind her, several guards started pushing a single pallet of supplies into the vessel. “I hope I have done well enough to prepare you- well, along with the various guides and manuals you'll find inside,” she said as she received the nod from one of the guards. She started stepping off the vessel, a smile spread widely on her face. It was rare that you got to see a plan come together after all and even more rare that so many would be able to benefit so widely from it.

Her horn lit up once she was off. One of the cylinders full of her magic slotted into place. The innards of the ship were soon bathed in a light blue and pink light that seemed to move like circuitry might. “I have given the vessel enough power for you to find your stations. You can then read your procedures and prepare yourself. After you have acclimated yourself you may receive orders from your captain and begin the maiden voyage by starting her up once more,” she said louder than before, not yelling but definitely with excited emphasis. In the bridge, Blueblood's communication device sparked to life with the mission briefing. The engine room brightened and the start-up sequence was highlighted. Everypony's ready stations were highlighted with the various arcane machines and technology providing everypony the ability to either start it or simply prepare oneself for the rigors of travel.

Her smile was more mischevious this time.
“You don't have much time, and I'd hate to restart this process again!”

[Blueblood]

Blueblood was slightly shocked when he realized that all the machines were starting up.  Wait, so starting right away meant... right away, right away.  Right.  Away.

 

"Ah, right!  Then..."  The Prince realized that he was being asked to give commands.  This was... actually, this shouldn't be too hard.  He was captain, this was a ship.  He could do this.  He just had to think of space as a big sea, not the empty void ten thousand miles above terra firma.  Geez, and he thought airships made him giddy...  "Better get on that, everypony.  Manual- reading, I mean.  Have some quick brushing up to do myself..."  And with as much dignity as he could muster, he trotted right over to the captain's seat, planted his flanks right into the plush, and pulled out the manual.  Let's see, what did all these little dials mean...

[Pretzelparty]

 

All of this stuff was very much what Zelda said, Overwhelming. With all her intellectual capabilities even Bevel was growing a bit overburdened by all of the ships features, best to learn that at her own pace... Thank Celestia for her manuals! Literally it would seem. "Merci beaucoup, Princess! I think I'll be off to engine room and start familiarizing myself with the systems while I can. If anyone needs me I'll be neck deep in some astounding work!" With that Bevel turned around and quickly galloped off to the depths of this incredible vessel... then ran right back to grab the manual she'd forgotten.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Arcana was still so surprised and in awe at all this that further questions never came up to his mind. This was perhaps a bit overwhelming for him at the moment, as many thing just came to his mind while he processed all this. He was a bit lost in thought until Celestia spoke again and said that question time was over. Well, at least they could go on and do what is next. And it seems what was next is actually starting to work! Finally! Well, at least a drill session for what he understood. Also, reading. Yay! Although since he was going to be documenting all, he kinda wondered what exactly he should read and stuff. Perhaps a bit of everything? He should though, as if he know exactly what is going on in every step, he would be able to know what to write down. 

"Yes, princess. I will proceed to as you said." Arcana said with a small bow before he walked into the ship and started to have a small tour around first, wanting to familiarize and make a mental map of the hallways and rooms. First, the bedrooms, then the area he would be. He wondered where. Before he departed, he took the manual that was his and started reading it as he walked, looking back to the hallways as he walked, looking first for a map of the ship in the manual.