Good, let us see the results of this mess.

>>25647339

We shall continue with the hearings. This is important.

You quietly return to the chambers and sit down in the audience pews to listen to the rest of the hearings.

Varous politicians ask smith a battery of questions, but not all of them are as loaded as they had been before, and smith always seems to have the right answer. A few of the harsher ones from clay himself even get shot down by Fletcher for being irrelevant.

>>25647699

Glad to see things going well for now.can't wait for the general to try to have us disappear or plant evidence of treason on us.

>>25647699
Good, good. All is proceeding according to the scenario.

Though Father is probably still disappointed that this farce even got this far.

>>25647740
Fortunately for you, it's hard for a member of the gentry to accuse a member of royalty of treason.

The hearings continue for only an hour or two before a vote is called to end the hearings early so everyone can go celibate the solstice. Clay and Black and quickly seem to be the only ones who vote against it at this point.

>>25647967
Will this mean a victory for us, then?

>>25648105
Yes.

What shall you do once you are finished congratulating smith?
>Head to the castle's telegraph room to get things back under control
>Go celibate the solstice
>Check out the stone-field radio-teliscope.

>>25648144
>Head to the castle's telegraph room to get things back under control
Our work is never over. We must get the project under control, we must prepare the facilities for the approaching typhoon season.

Will we have any budget left this turn?

>>25648180
Once you get to the telegraph room, Smith is able to send a few satellite messages to get things back on track. You have 44 RnD points to spend this turn.

Smith also points out that one of your communications satellites stopped working and will have to be replaced. He also reminds you that the Society is wondering why funding for the stonefield radio-teliscope hasn't come in, and that the staff deserve some points to be allocated for a solstice party.

>>25648144
... *Celebrate*. We will probably also be celibate, we're too busy launching rockets to think about boys, but that's not quite the point.

>Head to the castle's telegraph room to get things back under control
Now that things are sorted out, we have our full budget back, yes? Let's sort out what we wish to spend it on. We have a radio-telescope to work on, a lunar probe to prepare, and typhoon defenses to construct.

>>25648255
Turn 12 Budget:
4RP - Solstice Party for the staff
15RP - Replacement Communication Satellite Launch
25RP - Large Radio Array (Stonefield)

>>25648386

I'm ok with that.

>>25648386
We could spend some funds on an underground bunker to hold rocket parts safe from the typhoons, at 2RP per point of space. However, we're not currently keeping any rocket parts in storage as far as I know. God Mother, how much space will the launch pad facilities themselves take up if we take them down before the typhoon season and put them back up again afterwards?

((Also, since we haven't seen any of the quest's old named personages in a while, I took it upon myself to adopt a pseudonym. If you think that's too arrogant I'll happily stop.))

>>25648537
We could, but we need that comm-sat back up, and funding to go to the Astrologers to get them off our back about lack of funding.

>>25648574
My original plan was 15RP towards the telescope and 10RP towards constructing a reinforced bunker, but I realised we didn't know how much space we'd actually need. We currently have two reinforced basements capable of holding 10 mass worth of parts each, one of which is half-filled by the radio-reactive test pile.

>>25648386
How will the Stonefield points be allocated? (It's a mass 5 part with boom and fail ratings at 1/5)

>>25648690
4/7

>>25648728
This sounds reasonable. If we do the same next turn that puts it at 7/9, and then over the storm season we can just dump a whole turn's budget into improving it. If we launch a lunar probe before leaving for the typhoon season, it'll take several turns to actually reach the moon, by which point the telescope should be all ready to receive signals.

Confirming budget
>4RP - Solstice Party for the staff
>15RP - Replacement Communication Satellite Launch
>25RP - Large Radio Array 4/7 (Stonefield)

You send word that the Tanhauser island crew can take the turn off after launching the rocket, and then divert the rest of the budget to the radio telescope.

Do you have any personal plans for the solstice?

>>25649000
We shall attend any celebrations that our Mother throws, as is appropriate.
We shall also send solstice greetings to Ms. Kenaway.

>>25649000
I believe everyone we might ordinarily celebrate with is still on Tannhauser Island, yes? Amelia didn't come home with us for our birthday? We should attend the festival with our father and mother if possible - we don't spend enough time with them these days, being halfway across the world and all.

>>25649132
Amelia did come with you, as did Lord Perro, Mister Luxon, and Cottonball.

Colonel smith was going to stay back at Tannhauser island, but Clay dragged him here for the hearing. He weill be heading back as soon as he can.

Eh, I'd rather work on something while others party. We party to much and don't work hard enough.

>>25649313
Perfect! Colonel Smith is unlikely to arrive back at Tannhauser Island in time for their solstice party, so we're inviting him to ours. No, he doesn't get to say no. Princess privileges.

>>25649361
We party twice a year, on the solstices, the same as everyone at the RRC. We're throwing them a party, why shouldn't we attend one ourselves?

>>25649471
You also throw parties on the equinoxes and your birthday.

Sometimes your mother tells you that other children who are born too close to the solstice only get one set of presents!

>>25649564
Yes, yes.
We need to appear at any royal social functions that our mother throws, and we need to meet with nobles and such since the RRC is also partially privately funded by donations.

And any party we attend, we must acquire allies because Clay will inevitably try again.

>>25649564
Those poor dears. lets see if we can find more supporters, innovators and inventors at this party.

Incidently, the queen's solstice party is to be held at stonefield. With the revelers careful working around the ongoing construction.

The juxtaposition of tractors against a backdrop of sarsen menhirs is quite striking, especially as the sun begins to set between the solstice stones.

What are you wearing?
>Frilly dress
>Military uniform
>Business suit
>Fancy dress
>Trendy dress

>>25650274
>Frilly dress-accept no substitutes

>>25650274
>Frilly dress
It covers all the bases.

Fancy dress. It was our present for wintersolstace and we still haven't worn it.

>>25650508
No it doesn't it makes us look like a child who can't make dissensions for herself.

>>25650532
no, its neutral and offends nobody.

>>25650274
Honestly, we really *ought* to wear the fancy dress that our parents got us as a special present, at a large party thrown *by* our parents, where we're unlikely to meet any members of the military (except General Clay, who already hates us).

Yes, fancy dress shall be good this time.

Wearing your solstice dress for the first time, you enter the field escorted by the Colonel. The longest day of the year is nearly over and the sun is hanging low above the solstice stones.

The festival is a much less formal affair than your birthday. No need to be introduced to the court. Who shall you speak with first?

>The Nobility
>The press
>Members of parliament
>Mother
>Somebody else

>>25650828
>Mother
It is her party, after all. Then after that we should see if we can't find any more neglected inventors and budding rocket scientists to recruit.

>>25650828
>Mother
We are wearing the gift she sent us, after all.

You make your way to where the queen is standing with your younger brother. "Good evening Lydia, I hope those politicians didn't give you too much trouble." She chuckles behind her fan.

>>25651331
Curtsy.
"Not too much, Mother. Michel helped by demonstrating the new global radio network that we built.
"Thank you for that, dear brother."

>>25651401
Wrong brother.

>>25651331
"Good evening, Mother. We prevailed in the end, fortunately. Thank you for your advice, it was most helpful."

>>25651509
>Wrong brother.
Oh right. Apologies.

"See what you can do when your feet are held to the flame dear. You even managed to get the Geosynchronous satellite into orbit." She flicks the fan closed. "Now what about the telescope? She waves the fan towards the skeletal frame of the gigantic radio array behind you. "If you do not get that finished in time, I daresay the society will be the ones holding a hearing next." she jokes.

>>25652083
"The typhoon season is coming up soon, Mother. We'll not be able to launch anything from the island, so the telescope will receive all of our attention for a month or so. That should be enough to get it into good shape."

>>25652083
"The radio-telescope shall be finished, Mother. Without it, our lunar probe will be a waste. And as the typhoon season is coming up, we will be unable to launch, and most of our efforts will be concentrated on the radio-telescope."

Can we also develop the Test Radio-Reactive Pile and the MultiVAC during the Typhoon Season?
We need the computers to interpret the satellite signals, and we need the test pile for tech transfer for the turbine.

Which reminds me, if we can negotiate with the Eastern Isles for space on their Queen's island for a better positioned rocket development facility that can survive the storms.

>>25652220
We'd have to ship them back to the mainland with us. That might work for MultiVAC, but I'd really rather not try shipping a nuclear pile back home, let alone the risk of Clay catching wind of what we're doing.

>>25652220
You could test these things if you do it in another site. Whether or not the most sacred astrological site in all of midland is a good place to hold a potentially dangerous radio alchemical experiment is up to you. Then again, you aren't totally sure why they INSISTED that this radio telescope be built here. The Historical society is throwing a fit over it, but they don't own the land.

As for the eastern islands, you would have to ask Orion whom you did not invite to come with you. I'm sure he's having fun back on Tanhauser though.

(40RP x 3 turns (storm season)) / 5 Mass Large Radio = 24 development points.
As it's 4/7 now, we will get to 16/19 by Turn 18 assuming that we put 40RP of our 44RP into the Radio Telescope for those 3 turns. By Turn 19 we could get it to 19/20.

>>25652795
We can't put all of that into the telescope, we'll need to save a small amount for unavoidable storm damage. And besides, I believe we still have a 10/15 limit on the telescope until it's in active use?

>>25652826
>we'll need to save a small amount for unavoidable storm damage
We can't save RP.
And putting the telescope into active use is to simply activate it and attempt to receive regular signals and Foe Star transmissions.

>>25652869
Yes, because the telescope does not go anywhere, those rules do not apply. You test it by turning it on.

A fail result means you don't see anything. A boom result means you see something that is not there. I will make the rolls in secret.

>>25652919
Ah, excellent. I thought we had to have our lunar probe up and running before we could move beyond 10/15, my mistake. Although we should still take the time to launch that before the typhoons come. That way it can get through its duration phases while we work on the telescope.

>>25652919
Are we going to have any more story posts?
What's mother's reply? It's been an hour and a half.

>>25653352
God Mother may be wondering if we're going to get more than two or three people. (I really don't know what happened to Space Core and a couple of other regulars we used to have. Shame.)

>>25653352
Ack, sorry I've been out of it and suddenly it's late. I didn't see if you asked the queen any more questions.

>>25653401
Spacecore stopped namefagging, although he also has a job which sometimes causes him to miss days. I have no idea about the others.


I think this is time for me to go to bed, We will continue on Thursday at the regular time. I'll try to be more here then. My routine has been all scewed by the end of the school quarter.

>>25653445
Ah, I see. Thanks for running, anyway. We'll see you on Thursday.

>>25653445
Alright, see you Thursday.