Then there's the latest media scare, "portal burns". These individuals honestly seem to believe everything they say. That's because as far as they're aware, it happened. Truth is, closer examination of DNA reveals that they're individuals who have been missing for months, possibly even years. Another similarity is that every one of them has been recorded leaving Tyrell Corporation facilities. Apparently each of those individuals "requested" memory modification and extensive physical modifications at the hands of Tyrell Corporation, a procedure paid for by Pentex. The vast majority are also RDA employees. Or, believe they are. RDA believes they are too, even if they apparently have only ever paid them in a single lump sum that's enough to keep them surviving for a few months.

To put it simply, *fuck*, there's a lot of shit going on behind the scenes here.

How do you react to all of this? From what you're reading, this is apparently a joint effort of three, four megacorporations working against your portal technology.

Open warfare.

It would be incredibly easy to destroy our enemies with the power of portals.

Present the evidence to the media

>>9930541
Do we have man-portable Portal technology? Can it be activated remotely, autonomously, and importantly, destructively?
We're going to have to find a way to counteract all of this negative PR, try to salvage and rebuild trust in our Portal technology. But we're going to have let these other megacorps know, if they call down the thunder, then they WILL reap the whirlwind. We should let our bosses at STFU know that they're being played for fools by the other megacorps, and that Sleipnir will handle the situation.

Plasma, this is a fucking good quest and you should be proud of it. Portal burns made me rage my balls off.

The same Plasma who did the most excellent Corp Quest and the superb Slug Quest?

Truly, the quest gods have blessed /tg/ once more. And in the same night as Doppleganger Damacy, to boot!

>>9930587
Anonymously. Better yet, get like ten or fifteen 'anonymous' sources to 'come forward' to the media, meanwhile we're dutifully investigating any and all possible causes for these injuries.

The heads of these other corporations... they have shower curtains, yes?

Show them the power of Aperture.

Wow, shit just got real. Is there any way to tell if the other corps were acting in concert, or if they were all simply being dicks at the same time?

We need to find out more about Pentex's Umbral Technology, what it is, how it works, and how we can make it disastrously stop working.

The other corps? I don't give a fuck, that was more of passive dickery to Pentex's active dickery. No need to mess with them even if they truly did anything.

We also need to develop portal technology for use in childbirth. Is this an awesome idea?

THIS THREAD MUST CONTINUE.

I PROPOSE THE BOARD OF FATGUYS FUND THIS VENTURE IMMEDIATELY.

>>9930707
We need to get our PR out of the dumps before we start any new Portal projects.

>>9930662
It should be interesting when all of these supposed 'Portal Burn' victims simply disappear. Or when, in the course of our attempts to find them, we find that they were all listed as missing. Interesting, isn't it, that the Tyrell Corporation failed to notify law enforcement that so many people who had disappeared in the past were now suddenly showing, as Tyrell employees, no less.

>>9930707
>portal technology
>childbirth

Why bother? Let's just research artificial wombs. After we've fucked the competition enough to make sure no one's going to make them explode.

>>9930583
Kind of suicidal when you think about it. The media hates you. Attacking these megacorporation will ony cause all-out war against you.
>>9930587
If others agree, it shall be done - although it will make the other megacorporations permanent enemies.
>>9930631
Yes, it's available, although barely ever used due to not really being considered useful, even in standard warfare.
>>9930632
Thanks. Bit too crunchy and slow, but might speed up in time. Also, your art is awesome and you should feel awesome, man.
>>9930637
Thanks again.
>>9930662
What does everyone think of this?
>>9930682
Fiendish.
>>9930707
The Umbra is apparently an alternate dimension where space and time works differently. Humans can move in and out of it at jumps. Soon, larger objects will be able to make larger jumps, until it's plausible for interstellar travel, according to Pentex.

Oh, archived last thread http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9922001/

I say we don't go public with this information, it will just seem petty and most citizens won't be able to follow it all.

No obvious, explosive retaliation. But certain parts should be brought to light, mostly the bit about the burn victims. Everything else is too complex.

>>9930707
From the sound of it, all of those named megacorps were acting in concert. I think they saw the potential that our Portal technology had, and they didn't want the new kid on the block having any nice things.

>>9930747
These extensively altered individuals work for RDA, not Tyrell. Tyrell merely did the alterations (including surface genetic alteration to prevent immediate recognition). The individuals were supplied by Pentex, apparently.
Pentex also handled the destruction of the orbital facility. That was all them.
It was Zorg Corporation, however, that prevented defenses normally used to prevent such a thing from activating. It was perfectly organized.

>>9930769
Alright, open warfare is not a good plan. We need to wrap this up carefully and gain back what we've lost.

So we play it. We tell the other megacorps we can prove their involvement in each of these things, acting like we have a lot more than we really do. Maybe there is an overarching plot, beyond even this, involving missing persons, clones, artificial beings, whatever. We have to play this up and get them scared.

Actually, while we're (Board of Directors of Sleipnir) are aware of the dickery that the other megacorps have shoved in our face, any reaction from our overlords over at STFU? I know that we're the ones who will ultimately bite some bullets if Sleipnir fails, but I can't imagine that the STFU Board is going to take having their pet space program get messed with, especially as our earnings reports were showing massive growth potential.

>>9930769
Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

>>9930769
are the umbra jumps instantaneous?
Essentially I'm thinking some sort of nightcrawler situation, where no one has ever really "seen" umbra, and maybe we can get some footage that will scare the piss out of everyone

Well, artificial wombs are nice, but wouldn't it be cheaper and more awesome to put a portal inside the uterus, and then the exit portal near the womans arms?

So, wait, this Umbral Tech is basically like travelling through the warp? Well, I think we need to help create an incident Watchmen-comic-style. Genetically engineer monsters to come out of the next dimensional hole, or create a portal with the same properties that simply spews monsters into Pentex's HQ or R and D labs.

Thats if we want revenge, and thats as far as we should take it. Make sure it gets publicized. Is Pentex dealing with the Na'vi? What kind of interstellar things are they doing at the moment that we could potentially dick with?

All other plans made in previous thread are go, right?

>>9930790
All we have to do is somehow feed the media the information without it linking back to us.

If things continue as they were, this will not be the only incident. Not only do we have to deal with the immediate fallout, we have to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Counter-espionage. Layered defenses. This is a dirty world, and if you want to stay clean, you've got to pay for it.

>>9930846
Is it wrong of me to imagine you all as well-groomed vikings in suits?
Anyway, STFU is sitting back and watching at the moment. Might bring the thunder soon, might never bring it at all.
>>9930845
This?
>>9930777
This?
>>9930888
Not really. Travellers get put in an enclosed vehicle that takes them into the Umbra and out the other side. It's not instantaneous, though. But it definitely works.

>>9930845
On the PR side, I think we should work to show that these so-called 'Portal Burns' were simply the aggravation of a pre-existing condition that these travelers had. After all, is it an airline's fault if a passenger becomes airsick due to them having eaten salmonella-contaminated food?
As for the orbital facility crashing, we will have to take responsibility for the overload, but we will have to push back that none of the orbital defense systems owned by any nation were activated, something that we had nothing to do with. Hey, it's our tax dollars going into those defense systems, too!

I think it was assumed that we invested the money to never let this disaster happen again.

However, I think we should continue doing business with Pentex. Just stay on guard.

>>9930893
Artificial wombs would have much more utility. Anyway, there's no way to know what kind of side effects would arise from TELEPORTING A NEWBORN OUT OF HIS MOTHER'S UTERUS.

Not to mention that the umbilical would be severed, and the placenta would still have to be... removed.

Can we get a description of the side effects of portal tech.
Is it instantaneous?
can it be traced?
If a nuclear bombardment happened at ground 0 of the portal creation, would their be a trace of portal left?
Can nuke's be transported via portal tech?

>>9930893
Pentex has launched four probes and one starship. Destinations - unknown.

>>9930945
>eaten salmonella-contaminated food before boarding the plane.

Tell STFU everything we know about these events. Give them proof of everything (assuming they don't already have it). Ask for an opinion, nothing more, nothing less, on how we should proceed.

>>9930966
Instant.
Portal traces last a few hours. Residual energy.
Yes.
Yes.

>>9930957
Sure, there might be side-effects, but thats the point of the research! I think having an instant pregancy-portal-kit would be a huge boon, as women wouldn't have to go through labor anymore. Artifical fetuses don't cover accidental or unplanned pregnancies. A baby-delivery-cannon would have wide-spread use throughout the world as we know it.

Besides, I think the umbilical would still be attached, it would all come through the portal unscathed and hopefully unburnt. Besides, baby-delivery-cannon is cooler than artificial fetus.

>>9930994
You're given $150 billion and a ten-year extension on the 50% return. You now need to return at least $250 billion by 2160 instead of 2150.

Anyway, when asking for opinions or what to do next, the response is something along the lines of "don't worry about it, we'll handle this. you repair the damage that has been done, we'll handle the megacorps".

>>9931017
Yes, it's true, you wouldn't have to go through labor anymore. But what if you never had to carry the baby AT ALL? Besides, in the case of an unplanned pregnancy, the fetus could be removed and implanted in the artificial womb. Portal tech would be useful for this, I admit.

So maybe we should do both.

No, wait, hang on. Why just for childbirth? How 'bout we research PORTAL SURGERY?

>>9931051
Perfect. All we need to focus on now is damage control.

Ideas, people?

>>9930941
Of course we're well-groomed vikings in suits (though not too much suit, it dilutes the viking).

>>9930941
Point is though, no one has ever seen Umbra.

If we could somehow get images from it, and it turns out to be some sort of hellish nightmare, theres no way anyone would ever want to use it, even if it did work.

would the trace left by the portal be eradicated by the explosion of the nuke?

Can a portal pull air from something, and into hard vacuum? Can energy be transmitted through a portal? How long does a portal last?

I would recommend making a statement, inquiring as to the reasoning behind the worlds choice to not fire on the incoming station.

Another recommendation: remove all portal facilities from earth, and out of possible orbit with the earth, making it so that there is little to no possibility of earth politics affecting the corporation.

Classified memo to all personel (Not marketing, or something like that. I'm thinking R&D, engineers, etc.). Offer a bonus on par with any bribe they are offered, and (obviously,) a bump in seniority. (Loyal employees are good.)

Naturally, design it so they can't cheat us.

Corporate warfare:
I like >>9930945
We should arrange 'accidents' for Pentex's interstellar probes. Let's see if we can do some bribing of our own, maybe get a case of remote-explosives added onto each in the place of something minor.

Show projected profits (prior to this accident) to the BoD. Demand our due.

What major orbital assets does Pentex have? (Bonus points if they are research stations for their Umbra tech.)

>>9931075
Genius. Is everyone else agreed on the application of portal technology to medical fields as a sub-field of research?

>>9931111
>remove all portal facilities from earth

Only if we move our headquarters off-world as well.

>>9931090
clearly, we search through ye olde database and find the files on these gentlemen, clone an army of them, and "purge the heretics"

but then again, what do I know, I'm only fucking awesome

>>9931111
Yes, no, no, an untended portal dissipates after fifteen minutes.

>>9931111
How far could a portal be shot? could we for example, shoot one to mars and use it as a base?

So, as I see it, we have a multi-layered approach on how to handle the situation we're in.
1. The Public - we work to discredit these claims of 'Portal Burns', much like the vaccination-autism claims of the late 20th century, or the Nintendo MindGamr-psychosis scare of the 2150's.
2. We anonymously leak the information we've uncovered via several channels, making it nigh-impossile to trace back to us.
3. We tell the megacorps involved we know they did, we know how they did it, but in the interest of not dragging everyone down, we'll keep quiet as long as they stop with the overt shenanigans; no, you weren't that subtle Pentex, yes we're looking at you.

>>9931095
I'm a viking in a lab coat.

But yeah, you got us right.

>>9931111
But removing portal facilities from Earth and Earth orbit pretty much negates a vast majority of our income from Portal technology (well, potential income, with our PR now).

>>9931169
2 and 3 are not compatible.
You can't leak the info and then tell them you won't leak the info.

>>9931169
I'm on board with #1, but the others will be handled by our parent company. There's no need to involve ourselves further.

We have to replace that orbital facility and convince everyone that portal tech is safe.

>>9931168
Interplanetary portal research has been complete so yes, that is a possible use. Using a portal gun, a portal could be shot from a portal facility to another planet, allowing instant travel to that point.

However, that is viewed as a rather inefficient and well, pointless use. Generally, it's easier to just have two permanent stations where portals can be generated and disabled, rather than having to rely on a gun firing every fifteen minutes to keep a portal stable.

Estimated cost to fix portal facility?

Beyond that, we are ready for time lapse, aren't we gentlemen?

>>9931212
Yes we can, it would be called lying. Not that it's necessarily a good idea...

Actually we might not be lying at that point if we do 2 first, because we're essentially promising that we won't leak any information from that point forward.

We are vikings after all, it's not normal for us to let our enemies go without consequences.

then I suggest this. Move headquarters, and all important personal off planet and onto a station citing terrorist threats against us and other corporations. Make them seem like religious fanatics. Once all useful personnel are off planet, or not within range of being killed, bring in people whom would not be missed from around the world to headquarters. Simultaneously open portals into all earthbound holdings of all 4 major corporations, and all space bound operations of all rivals. Send nukes through, and detonate immediately. From what you said, we would not have to worry about anything coming out of the portal, thus we can leave a lead in-cased message. Have message say: People of Earth. Cease any form of spaceflight and research, or you will be destroyed by the holy order of the mind.

>>9931220
Maybe every single Board member uses portals in their daily lives?
But I guess that does open up the potential for Pentex to sabotage one of the portals and kill a member of the Board in a spectacular fashion...

>>9931225
A portal-cannon in orbit would allow a way to put Gates on or around other worlds. Just think, deliver a transit gate direct to Phobos, (Escape velocity of, what, 1m/s?), and our best-prospect neighbor is literally a few steps away.

Mobilize PR, and mop this up as much as possible.

Fuck, this sucks.

>>9931232
Estimated cost of creating ship-sized portal-gate space stations to speed up travel? Kinda like what Mass Effect did?

>>9931193
I dunno, I have a tan. I look Mongol... which is really just a different flavor of Viking, I suppose.

But I do like >>9931169 's point four: sending a message. Let's do that, and if we have to attach that message to a mangled corpse, I would like that. If we can show them the lengths were willing to go to- that we're //not// currently going to- it may drive home a point.

That is, if we can be truly nastier than our competitors.

That's a big if.

>>9931225
Would it be possible to shoot the portal and then move the equipment for a more permanent portal through the fire portal? And if not, how hard would it be to make it possible?

>>9931225
Couldn't we use a portal gun to generate a temporary portal, then send the permanent facility through?

>>9931259
I think this was our Portable Portal Project, that we may have had to put on hold due to this whole fiasco.

Dammit you guys, STFU will handle the megacorps. We're in over our heads. All we need to handle is the PR.

>>9931250
Plasma already said we couldn't destroy the world in the previous thread.

>>9931299
Yeah, you're probably right. But we're vikings, we have these thoughts from time to time. It's only natural.

Wrong timezone to keep up. Fight on, my Norsemen brothers! Make them kneel before our unyielding technological superiority!

Also, trust the parent company, they'll handle the big boys. We should feel free to forward ideas to them, though. And, could we, for instance, shoot a portal at the dispatched Pentex probes? Bring them back, portal them to the sun, just portal-destroy them?

Im not suggesting the world, merely our competition.
or open portals into each of our competitors board rooms, during their meetings, hand each of them a card, and leave.

>>9931232
Putting a new one in orbit will be $10 billion.

So, let's get this straight:
- Discredit "portal burns" with anonymous statements.
- Blame the events that took place on the facility on a terrorist attack, tell them that security will be increased (and it actually will be) and no longer place your satellites in orbit over such important positions.
- Construct new orbital facility.
- Construct an additional cryo-freighter and construct a heavy freighter (800 tons cargo)

One last thing before time skip (also confirm everything above is correct)

RDA wishes to get the lease off of the two latest freighters you've produced.

$75b each initial purchase, $2b each per return journey, lease lasts fifty years and starts immediately. Same as your previous deal.

Yes or no?

>>9931330
Impossible.

I think all the probes are well out of portal range at this point.

Plasma, can you bring up the list of shit we're going to do before time lapse? I think we're ready to go.

>>9931299
Well that we can do and are doing. Can you blame us for wanting payback for our lost dividends?

After all, how much can we really play the public without being dirtier than our rivals? We can outright bribe news stations and put our own experts in the media, or we can plant incontrovertible evidence in the hands of media sources worldwide, and hope they follow through.

I say the cleaner cut is the better one, the most direct route is our best.

On a related note, how is R&D doing with medical portal applications? Has it even begun?

>>9931333
My god.. . The Style points we would get...

>>9931365
No, time hasn't advanced yet. They're currently working on Portable Portal Facilities. Which should be done by 2138.

Current year is 2130.

>>9931342
>>9931365
Scratch that, let's time lapse.

>>9931360
just multi portal using a gun for that. Shoot it out, move through. Produce another at maximum distance.
etc.
How small are the portal guns? How many times can they be fired? Can a single man in a space suit with some kind of explosive move through them with ease?

>>9931406
Simply put, using portals the way you stated is quite impossible.
>>9931342
Add the following to this list:
- Construct space station ($25b), launch into orbit, make new headquarters.

Time lapse INITIATE.

>>9931342
Yes to the lease. Build two more regular freighters, in addition to the other ships.

>>9931342
'Portal Burns' should not only be discredited by anonymous sources, but also by us providing proof that they don't occur under normal circumstances. We can't help it if you're allergic to portals.

>>9931406
I just had an image.

A computer-aimed portal gun on the exterior of one of our spacestations. Aims at other megacorp's station. Any schmuck with a spacesuit is waiting outside with a sack of explosives. Portal forms on target station, portal forms on our station, schmuck reaches through, plants bomb, pulls arm out, portal closes.

Is this awesome? (y/n)

>>9931448
We should bug the Hell out of those freighters though, and anything that goes in them.

>>9931342
>>9931448
Wait, is one of those leased freighters going to be our super-freighter?

>>9931484
Stealthily, too. Have zero bugs on the freighters (you know they'll be looking for them.)

Put a microphone on the engines, exterior of the hull. (Between engines?)
As long as it's stuck to the hull, it will pick up all sounds made anywhere on the ship.

When it comes back, feed it to a computer, and the computer can dis-intigrate the different sounds into something coherent.

then let me rephrase.

Produce a Magnetic accelerator cannon linked with a portal gun. magnetic accelerator must accelerate rounds that come through portal. use portal gun in simultaneous firing with MAC to produce extreme speeds. Manufacture another portal to fire the now super fast projectile at the probes.

>>9931476
N.
I don't think our portal guns have the range to shoot a portal that far, even if the two ends of the portal can handle the distance.

>>9931532
can also be used not just as a weapon against probes, but for pinpoint destruction of ground based targets.

>>9931551
that means military funding as well for such research.

And from what I understand, the man dropping explosive would be fine as we have interplanetary tech level now.

>>9931532
Actually, I can see this potentially have some useful military applications. The MAC doesn't have to aim, only the outgoing portal does. Therefore you could build the cannon inside an asteroid, in a mountain, or where ever you want. The portal on the other side can be attached to a small ship that's nothing but engines (and requisite control systems) and a targeting computer.

I think we need to think with portals more.
Military application with potential civilian uses:
Man-portable Portal generator tied to a central portal facility.
Say an army unit is under fire: their portal specialist can open up a portal so that the unit can escape safely back to base, or so that reinforcements can come in to help them.
Civilian use (disaster management):
An ambulance with a portal generator goes to a disaster site. They can triage, and portal to an appropriately equipped hospital anyone who needs more intensive care.

>>9931663
with the successful engineering of portal tech, people on the field of battle become outdated. When you can just portal in some bombs or a steel telephone pole going at supersonic speeds into a pinpoint location, what use is a man with a gun?

>>9931589
Think about a civilian use for this. A constant mass driver.

You could accelerate a probe or other spacecraft to near-lightspeed, and then release it. No fuel burned. At its destination, it either decelerates using have the fuel it would have needed, or passes into another portal and is decelerated magnetically.

If you build a nice, tall vacuum chamber with portals at either end, you can get a nice acceleration from gravity alone, with no power expended. Of course, you always accelerate at 1G using this method, so eh.

>>9931694
War is not waged by weapons alone. There would still be a place for men (or drones) on the ground, it would just be a lot more limited. After all, some things you want to capture, not incinerate.

>>9931330
if a rock appears dead ahead of a speeding spaceship it might have cause negative things to said spacecraft.

Researchers can be bought.
It may cost more than threats and blackmail but a happy researcher is less likely to go back to his/ her parent company.
They can either keep working at their old jobs and leak information maintaining the info-war arms race or start "slipping" and be let go by their parent corps. - only to be rehired as Techno-vikings. Non-disclosure agreements may muzzle in some fields - so get them to work in another.

Why does the "umbra" remind me of "the Gloom" from Nightwatch or something from Event Horizon?

by the way, do we have an ultimate goal for this?

I.E. World domination? Galactic domination?
Becoming rich SOB's?

Year 2131:
Weyland-Yutani vessel has arrived at Barnard's Star. No report made.
"Portal burns" have been shown to been an elaborate hoax and has become ignored.
The U.S.A. and all allied nations have ceased purchasing products and services of the Zorg Corporation. Evidence revealed that the megacorp has been financing Brazilian terrorist organizations for the past eight years and they were responsible for orchestrating the 2130 Texas Impact.
Portal technology is slowly on the rise again, although it is matched in use by the RDA maglev and Pentex Umbral technology.
A new portal facility has been put into orbit.
Income is $18b.

Year 2132:
You have recieved a message from the Tyrell Corporation. They offer $5 billion for full access to your crawler when it arrives at Tau Ceti.
You move your HQ into a large space station that has recently been launched. It's quite cozy.
Income is $21b.

Continued.

>>9931782
2133:
Construction of the Alpha Centauri heavy freighter is finished.
Construction of the Alpha Centauri cryo freighter is finished.
Construction of the Epsilon Eridani cryo freighter is finished.
All three are stationed in orbit.
RDA has arrived at Pandora and has promised a wonderful series of live images from the magnificent moon as they explore it and examine its beauty and nature. Unfortunately, there's nothing but static. The true nature of their stay, Unobtainium-Pandora, has also been uncovered by an anonymous individual. This is a massive source of controversy and use of RDA maglev drops significantly, with individuals instead turning to Umbral transport and portals.
ISV Dellingr and ISV Tanngnjóstr have both arrived at Pandora. They are currently being loaded with samples of alien life forms, Na'vi artifacts and Unobtainium-Pandora. They also report a Pentex starship in orbit around Pandora, as well as the RDA starship. Once full, the RDA starship and the two freighters begin their journey back to Earth. They will arrive in 2138.
ISV Skidbladnir, your cryo-ship containing several science teams and a task force to work for them, arrives at Hermes in Alpha Centauri B. What would you like them to do?
Income is $32b.

Current Year: 2133
Account: $317b.
Currently constructing: Nothing.
Currently researching: Portable Portal Facilities (2138)

What do?

>>9931772
I think the end-goal is to have a monopoly of, or be recognized as the leader in, interstellar travel, colonization, mining, and commerce.

>>9931772
Ultimate Goal: Preserve the human race and its dominance, and make a profit.

Important question; are we making sure all our facilities are sufficiently Viking/Norse themed?

suggested research of portal guns. Accelerate an object via gravity or magnetic acceleration in a vacuum chamber, and portal it to its target.

Suggested research: Portal pods. Cryo pods which use portal technology to move from one point to another.
Alternative: Drop pods: Armed, single man pseudo-buildings used for moving military personnel into combat zones. 14 minute prep-time before pod returns to base for re-arming and re-deploying.

>>9931794
Request: Refer to Unobtanium-Pandora as Pandorium until we can come up with a better name.

If what Tyrell want is data from the crawler, accept. If they want control of it, deny.

Find and mine Hermesium.

Who remembers what those three freighters we built are earmarked for?

>>9931837
Yes. It's not too apparent, but it's there (the logo is effectively the company name in Norse runes). There are also several paintings and tapestries here and there to spruce things up a bit, depicting things like the ancient gods, Valhalla, mythical creatures and so on. Hell, the conference room even has an authentic bear rug.

>>9931890
The Eridani Cryo was to go to Eridani immediately after the Tyrell Corporation first observes the first planet.
The heavy freighter was to ship construction yard parts to Alpha Centauri, I think.
The Alpha Centauri cryo was for commercial use and renting.

>>9931895
Oh thank god.

Also, what exactly is near Alpha Centauri B? Did we have any plans for the scientists heading there originally and then something changed?

>>9931794
Offer up seats on our Alpha Centuari cryo-freighter to interested universities, governments, and corps that don't have their own space programs. Make it clear that this is a Sleipnir venture, however they will be allowed full operational control of their own experiments and research as long as such does not endanger the expedition as a whole.
Load up our super-freighter with supplies needed to assemble a permanent space station in the Alpha Centuari system; RDA may have been the first to a new star system, but we'll be the first ones to have a permanent presence.
Step up security at all facilities; we've been rocking the boat, and the other megacorps will probably retaliate again in some way.

>>9931935
How long until Tyrell observes the Eridani planet?

The heavy freighter's supposed to carry parts for an Alpha C space station. I suggest we send it on its way.

Let's rent out the seats on the cryo, as suggested.

Expand portal service to all solar system colonies and installations that can support it. We do have the tech, don't we?

>>9931861
Hermesium is mined and observed.

After recent studying, its traits are identified:
1) It is a volatile material that reacts violently with oxygen, much like magnesium, phospherous and other such things. It reaches temperatures of up to 3900 degrees centigrade as it oxidizes.
2) "Hermesium oxide", for lack of a better name for it at this moment, is a highly unstable compound and almost immediately seperates energetically.
3) Theoretically, in an oxygen-rich environment, this new element has the potential to burn forever. It oxidizes, it seperates only to oxidize again and seperate again. The cycle repeats itself eternally until the element is starved of oxygen.
4) As Hermes is a barren, dead world that lacks oxygen, there is no reaction, therefore it is safe to mine. However, it will have to be vacuum-stored in ISV Skidbladnir if you don't want it to burn through the hull.

So, now you know the properties of Hermesium, what do you wish to do with it?

deploy it in military services or as anti-spacecraft portal weapons?

Let's begin to expand our intra-planetary portal network. It should give us some much-needed income. But we'll probably have to piss away 50%-60% of those profits to security. The last thing we want is another Texas Impact.
Other than that, I'd like to hold off starship construction until we're 2 years from our projected completion of Portable Portal technology. We'll build another super-freighter, and load it up with that tech. Then we can turn our Alpha C space station into the portal hub for the AC Portal Network.

>>9931939
Hermes. It had an unobtainium, which has been dubbed "Hermesium" for simplicity. Details are above. Scientists were sent there to study and gather it.
>>9931950
>>9931971
It shall be done.
Tyrell's probe shall arrive in 2137.
>>9931985
It's possible, yes. Two seperate options, however:
1) You can a limited number of facilities in your own territory and reap all of the profits but have to pay construction costs.
2) You can build them in the territory of other nations, have them pay construction costs and build more - but only reap a percentage.

PORTAL TO THE SUN, PORTAL AT PENTEX HEADQUARTERS.

>>9932005
A Hermesium burner fed with adequate oxygen can never be depleted. Thus, an H-burner provides an inexhaustible source of heat in proper conditions.

If deployed with no safeguards in an oxygen-rich environment, Hermesium will instantly reach very high temperatures, potentially causing tremendous damage.

Therefore, we will market Hermesium-using devices for both civilian and military purposes.

>>9932005
I'd like to let this knowledge be first released to our own R&D department. Let them work on applications in their free time; useful ones will net the inventor a bonus, their name on the product, and a small percentage of the profits.
The only thing I can see right now is as a heat/energy generator using oxygen instead of hydrogen. Maybe some military applications as a super-napalm.

>>9932063
We're not going to let a whole starship sit in orbit for four years. Prep to send that one to Alpha C as well, and build another.

We can do both 1 and 2, as the situation warrants.

>>9932109
Note: If you send this one off and build another, the earliest sending time can be two years after the probe arrives. Which means you might lose the race to Eridani.

Still do this? Or would you rather prep a ship for Tau Ceti, or something else?
>>9932080
>>9932101
Understood.

Here's the thing: With portals, we have FTL travel, but we have to place installations at both the embark point and the destination before a link can be established. Also, we don't yet have the technology to make a stable link over light-years.

Umbra could provide functional FTL without the need for pre-existing installations. I propose that we find out as much about Umbra as possible and, if we can, combine it with portal tech or enhance it and use it as well. We can always claim (and prove) that we found a way to use Umbra's dimension space on our own.

>>9932005
Uh.

Okay, fortunately there's no actual *loss* of oxygen, so in a worst-case scenario (containment breach on the Earth's surface), the Hermesium reaction wouldn't do anything but produce fuckloads of heat.

Unfortunately, producing fuckloads of heat is still pretty damn bad, especially when we're talking "melt through bedrock, possibly liberating oxygen from it" temperatures.

I guess if you had a dead world whose core you wanted to restart it would come in handy, but otherwise this stuff is basically Staythehellawayium.

Fortunately we have Portals. We could set up a Hermesium-based powerplant out in deep interstellar space; if containment fails, oh well, the energy transfer portal* goes 'blip' and we write off the station.

* (I don't care if you have to ship pallets of fuel cells through the portal; this is quite possible. Maybe not easy, but that's what having a fuckawesome R&D's for.)

>>9932080
I think we should keep Hermesium away from Earth. If it somehow got out of containment, it would extremely difficult to contain.
Actually, could we use our portal technology for hazardous waste disposal? Shoot a portal underneath what we want to get rid of, and the other side of the portal be in deep space or pointed towards the Sun? Modify the portal so that it only stays open for a few seconds or maybe a minute, and make sure that the destination isn't actually open to space when we portal; no reason to create a gaping maw into the void on Earth if we don't have to.

>>9932205
Could we use it as an intra-system transport until it's time for it to depart to Eridani? I'd hate for it to go to waste.

>>9932247
I'm on board with your second point. We can make a killing with portal-using waste disposal units.

Let's get on this.

>>9932251
That's certainly a use for it, sure. Shouldn't net you much, seeing as there are much more efficient ships around for intrastellar transport, but it's plausible.

So, what do you wish to construct? A new transport to Eridani, a new tranport to Tau Ceti, what?

>>9932319
A new ship to Tau Ceti. Get the other conyards moving on freighters to Alpha C. After we're firmly established on Hermes, we'll edge in on Pandora. Or maybe we'll do both at the same time.

Have a vote, then.

What do you wish to do with the bizarre chemical you've found on Hermes?
Abandon it?
Give it to the R&D department?
Make a choice, /tg/.

>>9932319
I say a new cryo-freighter for Tau Ceti. Keep the Eridani cryo-freighter ready to go as soon as we have confirmation of a useful planet there.
Also begin construction of a new freighter for the Sol-Eridani route, but have it designed for the Sol-Tau Ceti route. Tau Ceti is farther, and it gives us more flexibility to have a ship that can go the extra light-year just in case.

>>9932371
Give it to R&D.

>>9932371
Let R&D play around with it, maybe they'll find a use for it

>>9932371
Give to R&D. Construct orbital storage and testing facilities for it; institute quarantine protocol. Keep mining it, but focus more on getting a station built in Alpha Centauri and establishing a base on Pandora.

Right.

Time skip, then?

Yes

>>9932461
Yeah, timeskip.
Our current ships have their orders.
We have our R&D playing with Hermesium.
We requested work begin on several new ships.
We are looking to expand our portal network and new portal business opportunities.
Increased security budget; we don't want another Texas Impact.

>>9932411
You haven't sent anything to establish a base on Pandora.

You've leased RDA four freighters, two are half way to Pandora, two are coming back and a fifth, heavier one is about to take a disassembled space station to Alpah Centauri B. One cryo ship is currently in orbit around Hermes, one cryo ship is about to ship off with passengers to Pandora for exploration purposes and one is about to ferry people around the solar system as it waits for data.

>>9932461
Yes.

Fingers crossed for espionage and portal burns.

>>9932528
The next few ships we build will be used for that purpose.

>>9932528
>as it waits for data

This is kind of an unnecessary question, but, what's the Star Trek franchise like in the 2100s?

hold on... am I understanding this incorrectly or does hermesium violate the laws of thermodynamics?

>>9932679
Apparently.
Maybe it has some weird interactions at the sub-atomic level that allows it to do what it does?

Year 2134:
Cash has been splashed on security.
Portal facilities are filling the entire solar system and you're making a killing off of it. The portal burns scandal has been left behind.
You have made $48b off of the tourist trip to Pandora. It will arrive in 2139 and return in 2145.
The space station in Alpha Centauri B will be complete by 2148. Due to the lack of manpower and resources, it will take a while to construct.
WY has launched a probe to Lacaille 9352: 2155
WY has launched a probe to Ross 128: 2155
WY has launched a probe to EZ Aquarii: 2156
WY has launched a probe to Procyon: 2156
WY has launched a probe to 61 Cygni: 2156
Income: $51b

Year 2135:
R&D has finished portable portal facility research early! They want new research. Also, Hermesium is only really good for military application,. An inexhaustible burner is a good idea in theory, but you'd need a material that wouldn't melt at such temperatures to contain it.
Morgan Industries vessel has malfunctioned near Chiron. No communication.
Income: $67b

Year: 2135
Account: $224b
Currently constructing: Tau Ceti Cryo, Tau Ceti Freighter, Alpha Centauri Freighter. One free construction facility.
Currently researching: None.

>>9932679
Element oxidizes, immediately separates, giving off energy. It then oxidizes again, repeat ad infinitum. It's breaking some law, I just don't know which one.

>>9932679
Violates the Laws of Thermodynamics as far as we understand them, yes. It's a theoretical material that should be physically impossible, much like Pandorium/Avatar's Unobtainium.

>>9932822
No, it's much worse then unobtanium. A high temperature superconductor that floats in magnetic fields is weird, but doesn't violate any law of physics as we understand them. Magic material that oxidized in a exothermic reaction forever is creating energy from nothing and is totally imposable.

>>9932783
I think we should research interplanetary portals next, gather information about Umbra, and sell Hermesium to allied governments. If demand is high, we'll keep mining it. If not, we'll shift focus, and- I don't know. Use it for self-destruct devices and traps?

>>9932783
wouldn't ceramics be able to contain it?
also, for comparison: Thermite burns at 2500C
hermesium has wicked military applications
need to kill something? fire a glob of hermesium at it!

>>9932783
What vessels do we have available near Chiron?

There has to be some way we can use this for power generation. We could solve the energy crisis and be heroes!

>>9932911
The nearest vessel that you isn't currently leased is four years away from it, and it's full of scientists and hedonists looking to explore and delight in Pandora.

>>9932783
Is the Alpha Centauri freighter a regular freighter, or one of our super-freighters? If not a super-freighter, I suggest upgrading it to such, and installing Portable Portal technology on it.
We may need to use the remaining construction yard to build another cryo-ship to send more workers to help build our space station.
As for R&D, they should be able to hammer out the Portal Waste Disposal system pretty quickly. After that, have them take a look at Umbra technology, see if it can be made to work with our own Portal technology.
>>9932892
It was mentioned previously that interplanetary Portals would require trillions of dollars of investment.

How are we doing on our earnings projections? Are we on schedule to meet our mandated Return on Investment?

>>9932892
Interplanetary has already been researched and interstellar - well, something on that scale would take some time to research.

>>9933035
>Interstellar, not interplanetary

>>9932989
Well then, I suppose we can't help. If W/Y's probe is still active and in-system, we could use the link to see if we can locate the ship, but that's my only idea.

>>9933036
How much would it cost to begin setting up portal bases around the system?

>>9933036
Then we'll research Umbra.

>>9933065
This has already been done in the solar system.
>>9933035
Upgrading to heavy freighter, adding on deployable surface portal facility and deployable orbital portal facility modules. Will be ready by 2138.
Also constructing another cryship will also be ready by 2138 and will arrive with around 300 mooks by 2144. This will lead to completion of space station by 2145 instead of 2149.

>>9933068
Attempting to research the Umbra then. Should take at least ten years. No specific date.

Anything else, or time lapse?

>>9933149
Has our research team in the AC system found anything of value on the other moons? Rare earths, heavy metals, interesting uses for the lifeforms?

>>9933167
Go ahead with the skip.

>>9933188
>interesting uses for the lifeforms

This being 4chan, my mind went to... interesting places.

>>9933188
They're currently stationed on Hermes. Haven't move from there.

Would you like them to move?

>>9933167
>>9933196
Yeah, I think we're ready for another timeskip.

>>9933216
Just preliminary mineral analysis of the other moons. And see what happened over at Chiron, but don't land. We don't want whatever happened to Morgan to happen to us.

Tiemskip tiem

>>9933216
See about initiating contact with the species on Ares?

>>9933366
I think we should wait for a more fully equipped science team for that.

we need to plan for a long-range, self-sufficient science vessel, with 2 short range science vessels docked.
The Odin, carrying the Huginn and the Muninn

>Humanity makes contact with intelligent, sapient aliens
>Nobody cares

Year 2136:
MNU probe has arrived in Epsilon Eridani. Results are not publicized.
MNU has launched six starships.
No minerals that do not already exist in abundance in the solar system exist in Alpha Centauri outside of Hermes and Pandora.
It would appear that most of Morgan Industries' passnegers have landed safely in ejected cryosleep pods, from which they have awoken and are beginning to try and thrive in the strange new world and construct methods to get off of it and take advantage of it.
Income: $71b

Year 2137:
Tyrell Corporation probe has arrived in Epsilon Eridani. Results show that both asteroid belts and the second terrestrial body possess an unknown material, perhaps another Unobtainium. However, it seems that the first planet, which the crawler lands on, is just a barren wasteland.
Tyrell Corporation has launched two starships.
Income: $73b

Year: 2137
Account: $250b
Currently constructing: Four things previously stated.
Currently researching: Umbra

All you really need to decide is what to do with your Epsilon Eridani vessel.

>>9933430
Load it with scientists and mining equipment, then pull the same trick as before.

Since we have excess cash, maybe we should build more conyards. Anyone concur?

>>9933430
set it up as a research vessel and send it out to eridani
load up with 30/66/3 mooks/scientists/security

>>9933501
>>9933494
And off it goes.

Ugh. I was going to try and hold out until 2140, but I'm fucking tired.

Let's stop here, folks. Might resume this next Wednesday.

>>9933494
Yes, one more construction yard.
We can use it to build a probe/crawler to be sent to one of the farther star systems with a terrestrial body that others haven't shown interest in yet. Maybe Gliese 876? Or go really far with Gamma Leporis?

>>9933549
Thanks for sticking around. See you next Wednesday, I guess.

>>9933549
Thanks for the great quest, Portalbro. Look forward to the continuation.

Damn I missed such an interesting quest.

Would we be at any risk for being caught if we decided to experiment on the lifeforms we found?

What level of tech were they at?

Guys, why are we charging a steady fee per trip for our freighters, instead of netting a percentage of the profit from whatever they carry?

If Pandorium is as profitable as the movie unobtanium, we're looking at more than 18 billion dollars of value in one short ton of cargo.

If everything is metric, then we're looking at 20 BILLION dollars per ton of cargo. I remember a mention of one of our ships having 1500 tons of cargo space.

If we filled that space up with 1500 metric tons of pandorium, with a market price of 20 million dollars a kilogram, the value of the cargo would be 30 TRILLION dollars.

If we take a 5% transport fee, we make 1.5 trillion dollars a shipment.

Our current contract is fucking us out of incredibly vast amounts of money. Three or four shipments would give us enough for interstellar portals, and then we could steal RDA's market right out from under them, becoming the wealthiest, most powerful corporate entity in Human history. We could BUY our parent company.

Renegotiate ASAP.

If RDA fucks up and gets booted off world by the natives, get in there asap with killsats and an armed ship or two to protect our new source of funds.

One shipment at 5% would keep us from being shut down, and would exceed the 200% return STFU set for us.

>>9933941
And what if we can't renegotiate? We've already decided to start mining Pandora as well, so I guess it wouldn't be that bad.

I don't think we'll be able to make anywhere near that much profit, though, because that could easily break the game in the short-term.

>>9934004

Our competitors are also going to be making that much profit (minus operating expenses). We'd be scaling in rough parity.

If we take a small fee until we can start aggressively mining ourselves, we stay competitive. Otherwise, we get buried by infinitely wealthier and more powerful enemies. They've already proven they're willing to murder well over a million people, and mind-rape and consign many thousands of others to slow deaths just to keep us out of their turf.

Imagine what they could do with the profits from Pandora.

>>9934128

With that much money, it would be pretty easy for RDA to buy a warrant as the only megacorp authorized to develop and exploit the resources of Pandora. They might even swing sole resource rights to Alpha Centauri.

That shit needs to be nipped in the bud.

>>9933941
>>9934128
>>9934375

Same guy here, by the way. Not really samefagging, just posting as stuff comes to me.

Heeeey, it's Plasma! Again!

>>Previous thread
TO THE ARCHIVES...

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TOMORROW.