Ludum Dare 47 Compo - Stuck in a Loop

Sagittarius Flight 240

The Martian date is in the month of Vrishika and the year 239. You are aboard the spaceship Sagittarius - a starliner and freighter mashed into one. The ship is on its way to earth for the Earth to Mars transit.

The first ring contains the crew quarters and numerous utilties and amenities for for providing for passengers. If the ship were travelling to Mars from earth, rings two through four would be jam-packed with passengers. However, only a few passengers are on this flight, and most of them choose to spend their time in the crew ring.

Rings five through seven are designated for cargo, and those bays are always full in both directions between Earth and Mars. The eighth ring contains most of the machinery that the crew needs to access without ever needing any sort of spacewalk. That's a relief, because EVAs have not gotten as easy as you have hoped over the years.

Those first four rings typically rotate in a right hand motion at about eight seconds per revolution. The spin provides a comfortable three point seven meters per second per second of artificial gravity - perfect for your Martian legs.

The rear four rings typically rotate counter to the front four to provide stabilty to the core and engines. It is a great system when things are working as they should, but things can't always be perfect.

About two weeks ago the Sagittarius was blasted with an unbelieavable amount of radiation from a solar flare. The warning systems did their job and everyone had plenty of time to get into the water lined shelters. There were so few of you that everyone hunkered down in the crew shelter in the first ring. Sensors are finally indicating that is safe to exit the cramped space and get things back into shape.

Remember when it was stated that the ship "typically" has the first four and last four sets of rings locked together and rotating in harmoneous opposition? Maybe it wasn't stated that eloquently, but the point is that they are spinning in anything but harmony now.

Automated systems managed to keep ring one rotating at the typical eight seconds per revolution, but the rest of the rings released their locks and are spinning freely. It isn't critical to get these synced back together, but something was badly damaged during the flare, and that means they all need to be locked together so you can get to the last ring and fix it (yes, it's way back there). There really is no hurrt, but Pat has become rather stir crazy after the time in the shelter, and one ring just doesn't feel like enough space right now. Fix the rings, it will feel better if you do.

Before we start, please heed some warnings. Mainly one: DO NOT OVERSPEED THE RINGS. The ship typically operates at Mars-like artificial gravity levels, but it can handle the strong and lumbering 9.8 of earth. If you get much higher than that, thing may start blowing apart, and then whiny Pat is going to be the least of your worries. Again, keep the speeds reasonable. Speaking of reasonable speeds, the second warning is that you want to have the speeds as closely matched as possible when you get to locking rings together. You probably won't break anything, but you are likely to knock previous rings back off of their locks. Do it once and do it right.

Start with the first ring and lock in a comfortable velocity to maintain the artificial gravity. The first ring is dead simple because the automated systems already set that rotation for you. A red light will indicate things are set and you can move on to the next ring.

The second ring has to match the speed and position of the first ring before you can lock it in place. That light you see on each ring is right above the bulkheads that you will need to line up. If it can lock on, the light will turn green. Mash that lock button and if the speeds are close, you will have a nice and comforting red light to confirm you are one step closer to finishing your task. Get a red lock on all 8 rings and you can call it. When it is all done, you can tell Pat to go run laps in ring four while you hope the releases pop again.