ALMOST TRAPPED
11 May 2021Titus A. Cromwell
The Henry got on my nerves today.First, I despise driving on ice bodies. No traction at all. Second, I dislike canyons on ice bodies. But when your much needed Polonium is at the bottom of the canyon what choice do you have? So down I went. MISTAKE.
Well, I was so darn trapped at the bottom of that canyon I thought I would never get out. I got the Polonium sure enough. But every time I thought I found a level flat area and recalled The Henry it decided to land ON TOP on the canyon. Sure he only 1.5 KMs away. But it was 2 KM's above me whilst I was on the bottom of the canyon floor with near vertical walls.
I'm a really good climber with an SRV. Scaled a few tall peaks in my day with it. But with ice there's zero traction. Nadda, zip, nikto, keiner, none. Get the picture. I was so stuck in the bottom of that there darn canyon. No matter how many routes I tried no luck. Wasn't getting out any time soon. And with the Henry REFUSING to land inside that canyon I was starting to run out of options.
I was starting to feel despair. That self destructing in the SRV would be my only option. I've had to self destruct my SRV only once before. But that was whilst in the bubble. That time I was stuck upside down, in the pitch dark, wedged in some crevasse so tight that nothing was getting me out. The panels wouldn't even come up for me to menu my way to the self destruct command. I had to recall the self destruct key stroke sequence from memory and issue the self destruct sequence that way. That's the most stuck I have ever been. After a few failed attempts, as soon as I did get the key stroke sequence correct and I was able to self destruct my SRV I found myself back on my ship safely strapped in my seat. I'm guessing Frontier assumes you'll walk back to your ship. However, I could not remember now if I was auto issued another SRV on my ship or not without going back to a station. I can't survive out here without an SRV. The nearest station is about 11,000 light years away and I would have to across The Poseidal Wall. NOT doing THAT again except on my way back home.
So with being stuck in the ice canyon and the Henry refusing to land in the canyon I was starting to get annoyed. I would drive a few kilometers down the canyon, recall the Henry, have it land above the canyon, try to climb the canyon, fail and slide back to the bottom. Then I would drive further down the canyon so far the Henry would decide to leave on its own. Drive a few more kilometers, recall the Henry, have it land above the canyon, repeat process. This cycle happened about six times.
Then, the vein of the canyon that I was stuck in came to an end. Vertical ice walls on three sides. To turn around to go back the other way may have been hundreds of kilometers the other direction to try another escape. NO WAY OUT. To add to my growing sense of desperation and despair I fell in a really, really deep hole. Failed attempt after failed attempt to get out of this hole. There was no level ground. Disoriented to the max. I thought this was it. I'm done for sure. Expedition to an end. Using external view I took a few minutes and planned one last escape attempt. I just barely got myself out of that darn hole by the hairs of my chinny chin chin.
There I sat collecting myself. On this little level ledge I took stock of my dire situation. Stuck. Deep in this shit hole ice canyon, out of options. I was just about to sign off to contemplate what I was going to loose when I eventually had to come back and self destruct.
I figured, "What the hell."
I recalled the Henry one last time out of desperation. On this postage stamp sized ledge I was on the fucking thing almost landed on top me. Well thank you very freaking much you jackass of a ship! If you had done that two hours ago you would have saved us all a lot of time, aggravation and freak'n typing.
Very humbly, very contrite, with my literal tail between my legs, I thankfully got below the Henry and asked him to board me and my SRV. We're not talking at the moment. I'm going to just sit here a while and have tea with brunch.
Titus Cromwell
11,863.86 LY's Away from Cubio