October 14: A Day of Mach 1s

Daring the daring, defying everyone, and destroying maneuverability, a demon was said to live near 750mph, or Mach 1, and everyone who had tried to tame it, perished. What was this monster? Find out here (note, pause the blog's iPod app while watching; WARNING: there's some nasty language further in after the missing man flyover and later, but otherwise it's good):

That was from The Right Stuff, which starts out telling the story of the test pilots and their deadly mission. No one could tame the demon, no one…that is, until, on October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager (now he’s a Brigadier General) took his turn to defy death in a newly redesigned X-1 and punched through the wall to find clear sailing and a world of technological opportunities on the other side. From that point forward, the demon became nothing more than a past memory as records began to be broken in speed and technological advancement on an unprecedented scale, at least for the U.S. anyway—the success was kept top secret for as long as possible until the other nations figured out how to break the sound barrier themselves. After the sound barrier was first broken, it became possible to consider rocket science, which Russia took the first step in. The Space Race that followed could never have been accomplished without the great Chuck Yeager who rode and conquered the demon.
As the new age of space exploration, there always loomed a question: “If something were to go wrong while in space and an astronaut had to bail out, could the astronaut do it? Although safety precautions, measures, and preparations were taken, that was on of the dangers of space travel. Once in space, it was hard to return to earth without the capsule. there didn’t seem like there was really a way to bail out. On August 16, 1960, Captain Joe Kittenger took the first step—or leap—toward researching such a possibility by being the first man to free fall from space. More recently, another man has been combining free fall, the sound barrier, and testing into one record setting leap. On October 14, Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound without any mechanical aid by free falling from 128,000+ feet in altitude, the highest free fall jump ever attempted, testing a new type of space suit to boot. As a result of his jump, better safety procedures may be made, a more versatile space suit may be had, and it is now known what happens when man accelerates to and surpasses the speed of sound without what in modern times is the shielding protection of a metal aircraft. (I say “modern” because the jet afforded no protection to the early test pilots.) We have certainly come quite a ways from trying to find the secret to supersonic flight and I love the fact that the two biggest breakthroughs concerning the sound barrier happened the same day (though obviously not the same year) I was born! There’s actually quite a lot of things that have happened on the October 14ths through history. Do you know what major event(s) happened on your birthday? October 14 is filled with Mach 1s; maybe your birthday is too!


Thanks for the birthday wishes!  Now that my PSAT is out of the way, the next post: Tips and Tricks for Poptropolis Games!

From the Hideout,
Cpt. Busy Seagull!

The Return of the Jedi

...CONTINUING FROM: "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK"

Turning around, Speedy Wing set out running to find the captain.
"What's the rush?" the official called out.
"Excuse me, I've got to go see someone," she told the official.
Setting down the cage, the official replied unconcernedly, "Oh, um, okay."
As she began to set off again, she over heard the official remark cluelessly, "I wonder why it was carrying a packet of arsenic?"  Speedy checked her step, but then continued.  She knew that she had to tell Cpt. Seagull, yet she didn't know if it would do any good.  What if he wasn't well enough to go?  What if he would never be well enough to go?  What if whatever was afflicting him was fatal?
Fortunately, when she arrived at the doctor's tent, she found her "what-ifs" to be unfounded, for the doctor allowed her in and she found Busy Seagull sitting upright on the edge of a cot, drinking some water.  Explaining, the doctor told her that Busy had suffered from a case of food poisoning, but ipecac had eventually restored his health.  In turn, Speedy Wing informed Seagull about the captured robot.  He mulled the information over through his head.
"You said you thought you saw the thing fly past you from the direction of my bench?" Busy asked.
"Yes."
"Hmmm."
"Why 'hmmm?'"
"Well, I was thinking.  The robot probably put poisoning in my food before lunch, and that's why I began to feel poorly when I walked out to the field.  Then it probably put poisoning into my bottle before I went over to drink from it and then hid itself to wait for a better opportunity to make its escape.  E. Vile probably sent it to track me down, poison me, and do him a dual favor: get rid of his enemy and escaped prisoner, and get rid of a major obstacle to his domination of Poptropica.  Where's my sword?"
"Its in your locker, where you left it," Speedy Wing answered.
"Okay, thanks.  Hey,  watch what you eat and drink.  You don't know if there are more of those messenger robots around.  Keep a sharp lookout for any."
"I will."
"Hey!  Where do you think you're going?" cried the doctor.
"I'm going to fight.  I'll be okay; I've recovered sufficiently."  Ducking outside the tent, Captain Seagull disappeared.
.....................................................................
"Is my spaceship finished?"
"Yes, it is," answered the officer.  "Where are you going?"
"I have...unfinished business to take care of."
"Don't take too long.  Remember, you have to be back at PASE in thirty-eight hours, when we will have lift-off."
"I know."

.....................................................................

Reaching the place where the crystalline wall had been, Captain Seagull encountered a fierce robot that threw boulders around.  Ducking often, he finally managed to hack it in two with his sword.  A messenger robot simultaneously exited it---it must have been controlling the larger robot from an internal cockpit.  As it flew away, a new sword appeared out of nowhere.  Taking it cautiously, Seagull turned it over in his hands.  It practically shivered with energy.  Sheathing his cutlass, he next cut the air several times with the mysterious sword and then tried to slice off a somewhat-large branch that grew nearby.  It was a clean cut.  "This ought to do the trick!" the sea captain exclaimed to himself.  "Forward, to victory!"  Forward he did indeed go, and victory was indeed his, even when the messenger robot warned a laser-eyed fiend.  At last he came to the end of the vast arena in which the robot army lived and stumbled across a gargantuan robot which for some reason was not powered on.  Then the messenger robot which had left the boulder-throwing pile of metal and warned the laser-eyed monster entered the gargantuan mass and turned it on.  As might be expected from such a titan, the force with which the thing attacked was literally quite stunning, yet the wily sea captain leapt out of the way.  Consequently, the ensuing battle was long and drawn-out with each side having difficulty getting at the other.  Finally, a glancing blow from Seagull's new sword struck the power box on the robot's belt, destroying the robot's power system.  Looking up, Busy Seagull watched a space ship similar to a flying saucer descend from the sky.  It opened up and showed a hologram of E. Vile.
"Well, well!  It looks like Poptropica has a new protector."
"Yeah...new."
"You're starting to become a real thorn in my side.  Give up while you still can!"

"Never!  Give up?  You've got to be kidding.  Not now!  Not after you've made me prisoner, not after you've tried to invade Poptropica, my homeland, not after I've come this far!  Now come and face me yourself!" Busy Seagull retaliated.
"You may have delayed my plans, but the invasion of Poptropica will still come to pass!"
"Not if I can help it!  Turn about fair play is all I have to say to you. You hate me because I ruined your plans.  Well, I'll tell you this: I'll ruin them again if that's what it takes to save Poptropica from your clutches!  When I find you, I'll stop you and your entire robot army!"
"Is that a threat?" the hologram quietly queried.
"No.  That is a promise."
"Brave words, hero, but you'll live to regret them.  You haven't heard the last of me!" E. Vile responded, lingering tauntingly on the word "hero."
"I'm sure I haven't," Seagull muttered as the hologram took off.  "I'll find you E. Vile."
.....................................................................
Back on Poptropolis Island, with 23 hours left before lift-off:

Crowding around the blimp that had brought Busy Seagull back to Poptropolis after he had landed his private spacecraft, the crowds who had come to watch the games now wanted Seagull to relate his story about defeating E. Vile's army, for word had leaked out to the public.  Forced to speak, the victorious captain merely replied to their questions, "E. Vile wanted to invade Poptropica with an army of robots.  Now that threat is eliminated.  My friends made it possible, not I.  Let us now continue with the games in celebration of victory!"  After six more hours of practice, the events officially started off, and two hours later, not one, but two clear winners had emerged.  For the first time ever in the history of Poptropica, two contestants had tied for first place after competing in nine separate--and grueling--events!  The victors: Cpt. Busy Seagull of the Pathfinders and Speedy Wing of the Seraphim.  The entire island was buzzing with the news.

For the first time ever in the history of Poptropica, two contestants had tied for first place after competing in nine separate, grueling events.




"Cpt. Busy Seagull, how did you and Speedy Wing manage to tie, not only overall, but also in each event?" the reporter from Skullduggery Island, Petpet, asked.
"Well, I think it was because we've known each other for some time now, and when we practiced, we practiced together.  No one else I know did that.  That's all I can explain."
"Speedy Wing, what about you?  Why do you think you two tied?"
"I honestly don't know. We've always been fierce competitors and we knew that this competition would be close. Either way, I'm glad that we both tied."
After Speedy Wing finished, Busy Seagull addressed the reporter, "Excuse me, although I would love to stay and chat, I have an appointment with PASE, and I must take my leave."
"Oh, okay, Busy Seagull.  Thanks for your time."
.....................................................................
Back at PASE, after preparing for launch:

"...43...42...41...," boomed on the loudspeakers as the rocket prepared for lift-off. 
Meanwhile, inside the control center, the technicians finished their checklist:
"...GO FOR AUTO SEQUENCE"
"CHECK."
"ARM CUT OFF.  INITIATE RSL5.  ORB VENT DOOR SE9 START."
"CHECK."
"...13...12...11...10..."
"10 SECONDS."
"FREE HYDROGEN BURN OFF SYSTEM IGNITION.  GO FOR MAIN ENGINE START."
"CHECK."
"9...8...7..."
"MAIN ENGINE 3 START COMMAND.
MAIN ENGINE 2 START COMMAND.
MAIN ENGINE 1 START COMMAND."
Increasingly, the fiery booster rockets expelled more and more power.  At five seconds the rocket shivered with energy.
"...4...3...2...1..."
"IGNITION"
"And we have lift-off!!!"

 The arms that held the rocket upright peeled back one by one as the rocket slowly pushed itself off from the earth's surface.  Quickly now it gained speed, and in a few minutes it was out of view.  Free as a bird, the rocket rushed upward, upward, ever upward as it ascended into space.  Although Captain Seagull and other private space venturers would certainly continue their more simple explorations and private missions, this was PASE's last mission.  While, there was much to learn before success could be realized, the clean lift-off seemed like a good omen for ultimate success.

The Empire Strikes Back

...CONTINUING FROM: "A NEW HOPE"

"You're late."

"You're late," the coordinator announced as Seagull disembarked the blimp.
"I came as soon as I could.  I almost didn't even get to come this early."
"Hmph.  Well, let's hurry up and get started.  You'll probably want to spend a lot of time practicing anyway, so let's not waste any more time," the coordinator replied stonily.  Turning to the masses, the coordinator began to announce the start of the Poptropolis Games.
"Don't mind him," a small voice behind Busy Seagull spoke up.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the representative of the Nanobot tribe, my name is Little Clam.  Don't mind the coordinator, he'll forget all about it soon."
"Okay, thanks.  My name is-"
Little Clam cut him off with a smile, "Your name is Busy Seagull, you captain a ship on the high seas, and you are one of the great heroes of Poptropica.  I know.  Here."
"What's this?"
"It's a program with the names, occupations, and tribe designations of all the contestants."
"Oh...so that's how you know about me."
Grinning, Little Clam replied, "Uh huh.  I've got to go practice now, see ya 'round, okay?"
"Okay." As Seagull glanced down at the program, one name suddenly jumped out at him: Speedy Wing.  He couldn't believe his eyes! Apparently, she was the representative for Seraphim.
"Looking for someone?"
Busy Seagull, engrossed in his thoughts, was startled and swiftly swiveled around on his heel to see who had surprised him. "Wha-? Oh, hi, Speedy Wing."
"Jeesh, don't do that!  Hi, Busy Seagull."
"Sorry.  What brings you here?"
"Same thing that brings you here, silly," Speedy replied.  "Com'on, we've better start practicing.  Which event are you going to start with?"
"Um, I guess I'll start with the hurdles."
.....................................................................
Four hours later, twelve minutes after lunch break:

Determinedly, Busy Seagull prepared for the jump.  This was his first long jump after having lunch, so he was rested and he thought that he would do rather well.  Four hours of practice had helped immensely to bring back the old skills that his father had taught him when Busy was a young boy.  (Every Poptropican was required to train in the art of Poptropolissian athletics for some amount of time.)  As he walked up to the beginning of the track, however, he felt rather strange.  Feeling lightheaded, he assumed the heat of the island was getting to him, so he walked back to his bench to take a swig of water from his sports bottle.  Taking his place again, he started down the track on a strong sprint, yet before he neared the foul line, Busy Seagull felt his legs give way as he unexpectedly fell headlong on the track.  As she was next to practice, Speedy Wing noticed what happened and grabbed an official.
"Are you alright?" Speedy Wing asked as the two ran up.
"I don't feel good.  I feel strangely lightheaded, and my legs won't support me."
"We'll take care of this," the official replied.  Calling over another official, the two officials helped Seagull up and took him over to the doctor's tent.
"Well, what caused that?" Speedy Wing wondered.  Unfortunately, there was little she could do, so she made ready for her own jump.  As she got ready to start, Speedy noticed something out of the corner of her eye that looked like a silver bird, but when she looked, it was gone.  "How odd.  Something fishy is going on around here."
.....................................................................
Meanwhile, Little Clam was trying to polish his skills at javelin.  A tiny flying robot flew past him and hid itself under the shield of a nearby statue.

A tiny flying robot flew past him and hid itself under the shield of a nearby statue.

Curious, Little Clam went over to look at it.  As soon as he tried to get a glimpse, however, the little piece of metal flew off.  It moved quickly but Little Clam was a fast runner.  Chasing it down, Little Clam captured it in his hands and examined it. "I should probably show this to an official," he reasoned.
"What do you have there?"  One of the officials in fact had been watching and wanted to know what was going on.
"Oh, I was just about to get you.  It looks like some sort of robot...  Ouch!  It's feisty too!"
.....................................................................
Spreading like wildfire, the news that a flying robot had been captured caused quite a hubbub.  No one knew what to make of it.  Certainly, they found this news more interesting than that about the athlete who had fallen ill during training.  By now, Speedy Wing had gotten wind of it, and things were starting to come together for her.  Still, she had to see the thing before making a final conclusion.
Walking up to the crowd, she asked, "Where is it?  May I see it?"
"Why, of course," the official in charge replied.
Although it had been put in a cage and was trying desperately to escape, there was no mistaking it for one of the messenger drones of E. Vile's invasion force.  Years ago, Speedy Wing, Captain Busy Seagull, and several other Poptropicans had chanced upon a planet that showed signs of violent activity.  Checking it out, they found wild animals fleeing for their lives and an army of robots training for an invasion of Poptropica.  Drawing their swords, the adventurers had wrecked havoc among the robot army and obliterated them...until they ran across a mysterious transparent "wall" of sorts which kept them from pressing farther.  Fortunately, it also prevented the robot army behind it from attacking Poptropica.  Since then, they had found out that the army of robots belonged to one "E. Vile," who, after learning about the destruction of a great deal of his army, made every effort to destroy the mysterious crystalline wall and free the rest of his army.  No one knew how the wall had gotten there.  However, the appearance of the messenger robot could only mean one thing: the wall was down and Poptropica was once more in danger.  Someone had to go and fight the invasion army before it left its planet.  Only one of those original adventurers still carried a sword, and that was Captain Busy Seagull.  Sure, Speedy Wing still had her sword, but she hadn't needed it, and so through lack of practice had lost some of her skill.  On the other hand, Busy Seagull always carried his sword, because his life on Skullduggery Island depended on it.  Thus, the sea captain had to be the one to fight such a dangerous mission.  Yet he was ill, and there was no telling what might happen to him.

 TO BE CONTINUED...

A New Hope

"Descent from Luxceler 25 to Mach 16 in T-minus 48 seconds."  The computerized voice crackled over the command speaker as Cpt. Busy Seagull pushed a button to check his stats.  Several days ago E. Vile's drones had captured his spaceship as Seagull was trying to establish communications between Poptropica and a lost Galactic Fighter.  Now Seagull was being escorted to E. Vile's home planet.  For safety, the drones had removed his navigation system in order to deter him from escaping.  On the way to E. Vile's headquarters, Cpt. Seagull kept a vigilant eye out for a method of escape, but without his navigating system, he could not think of one.  "Descent in T-minus 15 seconds."  Grabbing his controller, he prepared to engage the Hyper Molecular Decelerator, which would slow him down from Luxceler 25 (or twenty-five times the speed of light) to Mach 16 (or sixteen times the speed of sound in dry air--the Mach unit had recently been standardized for inter-galactic use). Suddenly, a terrible explosion rocked the craft, causing an emergency warning light to begin flashing wildly!  O-Tank 2 (an oxygen tank) had been ripped apart, puncturing O-Tank 1 and destroying his rear rocket ignition system in the process!  Meanwhile, the blast caused the craft swerve from its course and head away from his destination.  Leaving his slow-witted drone guards wondering what happened, memories of stories he had heard about Apollo 13 ran through his head--miraculously, Apollo 13 had survived when one of their oxygen tanks exploded thanks to the work of the scientists at PASE, the unwavering minds of the crew, and the guiding hand of Providence--however, he only had three minutes of oxygen left, had no idea where he was headed, and was hurtling sideways through space at 25x the speed of light to who-knows-where.  At least he had achieved his wish of escaping the guards, but for what?  "Abort descent to Mach 16," Seagull told the computer.  Slowly turning the ship around from its sideways position, he slowed his breath, trying to conserve oxygen, and prayed. 

Upon opening his eyes, he noticed several specks in the distance rapidly growing larger.  Looking through his on-board telescope, he spotted several spinning planets, among which was Poptropica!  He still had a chance!  If he could just reach Poptropica before running out of oxygen, he could make it.  Using his telescope, he set his sights on his home planet as he prepared to descend from light speed.  Carefully, he made adjustments with the tiny side rockets that hadn't failed him...yet.  Hovering his finger over the button that auto-set the descent time by computing the distance to the destination, he heard a voice in his head saying, "Trust your instincts.  You only have one chance to hit it right before being sucked into the giant sun just lightminutes from your destination.  If the computer misses, it will take less than 10 seconds for you to reach that flaming fireball given your speed, and you can't change your direction.  Control the Hyper Molecular Decelerator yourself." 

"If the computer misses, it will take less than 10 seconds for you to reach that flaming fireball given your speed"

Swallowing hard, Seagull shifted the craft into manual mode and held his finger over the HMD button.  A familiar, tiny, icy blue planet whizzed passed his window.  Two more, much larger planets flew past.  A light, dusty yellow planet with tilted rings quickly grew in his window and then disappeared behind him.  Formidable looking, an immense red striped planet with a giant swirling spot towered over Busy Seagull before following the ringed planet.  Because of his super-light speed, he did not even noticed the asteroid belt.  Fortunately the asteroids had cooperated for once.  Then a small, dusty red planet approached, but it did not linger either.  Finally, his view of his destination was unobstructed.  During the last twenty-eight seconds, Cpt. Seagull had been making tiny adjustments to his direction.  In approximately T-minus five seconds, he would decelerate the voyager to sub-light speed and log his final few hundred thousand miles to safety.

As the beautiful blue marble-looking planet rapidly grew larger and larger, Seagull looked down at his oxygen tank reading.

As the beautiful blue marble-looking planet rapidly grew larger and larger, Seagull looked down at his oxygen tank reading.  It only had a little under a minute and a half's supply of oxygen left, and it was still leaking.  The timing had to be just right... 

"Hold...hold...now!" Busy Seagull thought to himself.  The decelerator engaged immediately as he pushed the button, and suddenly the spacecraft slowed down to a careful crawl at Mach 32.  Quickly, Cpt. Seagull engaged the turbo heat shield for quick entry.  Flipping a switch, Seagull sealed off the damaged section from the cabin after pumping the remaining air into the cabin; that way when the damaged section was destroyed during reentry the rest of the ship would remain intact.  The globular mass was not growing so quickly now.  Silently, the ship sped towards the planet's atmosphere.  1.2 seconds later, the craft entered the atmosphere, travelling at Mach 32 with 58 seconds of oxygen left.

.....................................................................

Landing on the airfield, Busy Seagull took a deep breath of fresh air as he opened the vent ports.  The two fighter jets that had escorted him to that particular airport also landed, and an officer with an armed company of soldiers stood ready to recieve him.

"Welcome back, Captain!  We've been wondering what happened to you.  We will fix up your craft as fast as possible, but in the meantime..."
.....................................................................

"PASE" read the sign.

"PASE" read the sign.  Finally it had happened.  Poptropica Academy of Space Exploration had been slowly decaying over the years, because no one was really interested.  Lately they weren't even able to train their astronauts sufficiently, and the one currently in the cockpit waiting for lift-off had a bad case of butterflies.  He would need to be replaced...quickly...and the captain who sailed the seas, and occasionally the stars, was the only person they could find who could step in.
"But I've never flown such a sophisticated spacecraft before!" Seagull had protested.
"Join the crowd," was the unreassuring response. Well, it was against regulations--then again, ever since the government had stopped funding PASE, regulations had been ditched--but a somewhat-unprepared pilot was going to be launched on the PASE's final mission.  Suddenly, a voice on the loudspeakers announced that the mission was cancelled for one week, because there was a dangerous fuel leak that had to be fixed.  Regulations may have been tossed out, but the PASE scientists weren't about to let their last mission blow up.
"Cpt. Seagull, we are sorry for the inconvenience, but to make up for it, you may have 52 hours leave of absence.  You are dismissed, but be sure to return on time."
"Yes, sir!" Busy Seagull replied.  Wanting to return home to Skullduggery Island, the sailor knew he wouldn't have time, because he had heard upon his arrival about the discovery of a new island, Poptropolis Island, on which athletic events were being held.  He had received word that since he was descended from the ancient Poptropican tribe of Pathfinders, he was to represent them.  Without delay, Seagull left the property of PASE to catch a passenger blimp to Poptropolis since his ship, the Leviathan, was still docked at Fort Ridley, Skullduggery Archipelago.

TO BE CONTINUED...