Going Walkabout: Beyond Beagle Point
30 Oct 2020Seth Bradwell
I travelled the final 13 Kly swiftly, not wanting to make any mistakes which would result in a rebuy and unceremoniously rematerialising in the Bubble. En route I discovered this extremely peculiar system, which had one star orbiting the other at a distance of a mere 8 light seconds, and what's more I was the first to discover it:
From there I passed by the Seldowitch Nebula, one of the few relatively few nebulae on this side of the galaxy:
From there I went to the planetary nebula called "Distant View in Blue":
Finally, after several days of jumping, scooping and a few sightseeing detours, plus the anguish of having to start all over again after destroying my ship on my way back the the Bubble the first time round, I reach Oevasy SG-Y d0 - aka Semotus Beacon. I head for body B 9 F - Salomé's Reach, known for being the absolute furthest body from Sol:
I then take off and supercruise far away from the system, till I was a million Ls from the main star. Then I just powered down everything bar life support, let the canopy ice over, and reflect on putting the entire galaxy behind me:
I then look back at Sol, and record for posterity the distance between me and the cradle of humanity - proof of membership of the 65,000 Ly from Sol Club.
From the same vantage point, a view of the entire galaxy:
I had done it - achieved one of the most remarkable feats an explorer is capable of - head out to the very edge of our galaxy. Now all I needed to do is get back in one piece. But whilst I wanted to get there relatively sharpish so I could hand in my data to Universal Cartographics and not chance another accident, I was happy to take the occasional scenic route, indeed, a lapse in concentration due to endless jumping and scooping could be just as deadly as dawdling around and exposing yourself to ever greater risk. With that in mind, I slowly start to make my way back to the Bubble...