[M - A08] Ice Planet M.A.N.T.I.S.

[rodiziorobs]

Location: A08 (Crentium)

Tags: Science, Land Vehicle

***This entry takes place after Scorpio was rescued by SpacerSteve from Aeristus***

Back story for this week in the spoiler:

**I took a few notes from CEO Sal’s ongoing saga with Chief Accountant Long for the introduction to this weeks entry. This is pretty lengthy, so tl;dr Scorpio is in the doghouse with M.A.N.T.I.S. I started a build for this week, but didn't have time to do it justice, so it will appear some time in the future, I am sure. ***

As Scorpio stepped off the elevator, he heard a voice from down the hall. “Come in, Mr. Starstriker, do have a seat. Ah, there you are. My name is Supervising Accountant Laszlowe and I am here to help you strike all this red ink from your record. Please, sit.”

Scorpio took a chair, which was unsurprisingly, uncomfortable. “What are you talking about, red ink?”

“Well, your employment record here is far from perfect, surely you must be aware of that,” the man said as he began to thumb through a manila folder.

“Sorry, I don’t. I was told this morning that I have been in a coma for a nearly a month, and before that remember being held prisoner by Octan for several weeks.” Scorpio shuddered, “I still have nightmares of being chased by a giant coffee cup…”

“I am very much aware of your frivolous antics,” Supervising Accountant Laszlowe interrupted, “but I believe that with a little bit of guidance, we can still turn this situation around. I am here to help you work through all that. Surely you don’t expect M.A.N.T.I.S. to foot the bill for your laziness…”

“Laziness!” Scorpio bellowed. “I was captured in the line of duty after being sent on a spying mission!”

“…which, when you missed your rendezvous, began to use up your logged vacation hours. After two weeks we put you on suspension and after two more had to start taking it from your medical allowance! And then when you finally decide to clock back in, you go all comatose on us, and now expect us to not dock you for it!? Let me cut to the chase, Mr. Starstriker, by my calculations, you currently owe M.A.N.T.I.S. nearly 500 man-hours, not to mention the additional expenses we have had to add to your account to cover the costs of the prisoner you picked up…”

Scorpio’s exp<b></b>ression went from awestruck incredulity to confusion. “Prisoner?”

“…uh, yes, let me see here. Octan Prisoner, female, dark brown hair, 5 brick 1, early twenties, probably? Notable features include irritable temperament and large facial scar. Although in these pictures, she is still noticeably pretty, despite the scar. I am guessing that is why you captured her, you found her attractive?”

Suddenly Scorpio remembered the woman. The one who had captured him for Octan in the first place. Evidently she had also survived the crash on Aeristus, and Steve must have grabbed her on the way out.

“Uh, wait. What?”

“No matter,” Supervising Accountant Laszlowe continued. “Her stay here at M.A.N.T.I.S. has increased your own personal debt here significantly. However, we keep it separate as these charges may be appealed or voided if she yields important intelligence.”

“And has she?” Scorpio asked.

“NO! She hasn’t said a blasted thing since she woke up! And before you ask, NO you may not go and speak to her. You are not an interrogator, and besides, if you want to start getting these debits worked off of your record here, you had better get going on your next assignment.”

“Is it another spying mission?”

“Absolutely not. You have been demoted for your reckless and insensitive behavior, and are not going to be doing any spying for awhile. It means that you are at a lower pay grade, and it will take even longer to work off your debt to our corporation, but you would be a fool to refuse it.”

Scorpio took the brief from Supervising Accountant Laszlowe, and thumbed through it. It looked dull, but then he saw something that made him stare. “It says here this mission qualifies for hazard pay?”

“Ah, yes. I forgot. Yes, that will bring your pay scale up considerably. But unless you want to spend the next several months there, I recommend accepting double shifts.”

Scorpio sighed. Well, like Supervising Accountant Laszlowe said, he would be a fool to refuse it. The question was, would he be an even bigger fool for accepting it?

Scorpio’s mission was not going to be fun, although considering he had just awoken from a month-long coma after being held prisoner by Octan, it didn’t really matter. Maybe some positive effect would come from it.

He was being sent to Crentium, a relatively young planet. That was the problem, though; M.A.N.T.I.S. didn’t know how young. The more temperate regions of the planet were fairly stable, but the poles were extraordinarily volatile, being both bitter cold and occasionally volcanic. Scorpio was tired of volcanoes.

But when he got to the south pole of the planet, there was not a volcano to be seen. In fact, there was nothing to be seen except a vast expanse of solid white.

He was sent out to collect ice core samples, to help determine the age of the planet in its current state, and climate. Ah, good old science. Of course, he was also to keep an eye out to see if anything valuable could be found. The cold was so bitter that he was given special protective gear with thermal reactor, but of course his suit had a short in it, so it ranged from inoperative to blazing hot. Luckily the vehicle was more reliable, and chugged along the tundra at a respectable pace.

He came to a place where some of the snow had melted somewhat, indicative of some underground volcanic activity. Here and there sinister looking trees popped out of a semi-solid ice floe. Scorpio had no idea how anything could survive out here, the cold was so intense. But, given the uniqueness of the locale, he should probably take another sample here, too.

He climbed out of the vehicle, ambled over the back and down the ladder to operate the core drill, and soon had managed to extract a few samples. One of them seemed purplish in hue, could there be some trace amounts of awesomnium in the ice?

More photos, including the landscape by itself

This was a lot of fun to build. I really wanted to stray from the typical M.A.N.T.I.S. color scheme, and I think the polar look came out really well. I have been trying to get back to building Scorpio’s story up in order (the past couple weeks have been all jumbled), but finally had the chance today.

Also, both car and trailer have working suspension on the skis. Here is a look at the mechanism inside:

Thanks for looking, C&C always welcome!

[SpiderSpaceman]

On the one hand, love the model!

On the other, I was not in the know about Andromeda's Gates (I guess I saw this from the front page recent posts - but yay, oodles of sci fi models to look at now!), so I felt a very real disappointment when "ice planet" didn't involve blue and clear neon orange

[LittleJohn]

Excellent build! The use of BURPs is fantastic and I love that vehicle

[goatman461]

Great color scheme on the vehicle and base. Both have great designs, but I think the base has too much of an unfinished look. The drill looks great too

[mediumsnowman]

Nice SNOT landscape! The lime green and white go really well together.

Edited September 7, 2015 by mediumsnowman

[TenorPenny]

Indeed. Lovely landscape.

[SpacerSteve]

I really like your vehicle. Lots of great details. I like how you did the ladder on the back. neat use of that part. The color scheme work surprisingly well for MANTIS in my opinion.

[MontyPython]

Great build, color combo's great!

[Andromedas Gates]

The judges awarded you 4 points.

[David FNJ]

That is a fantastic vehicle! The suspension on the skis are great! I like this polar colorscheme as well. I'll definitely have to try that at some point!

[soccerkid6]

That's an epic MANTIS polar vehicle! Love the use of white rather than black for a polar rendition of MANTIS colors Great snowy landscape too

[Graham Gidman]

Landscape feels a bit blocky, but I really like that car and trailer!

[Vedauwoo]

Neat truck and drill rig.....Really love the "ice cores"!