Historical Significance
15 Jan 2023Iridium Nova
I've come across a couple of interesting discoveries while out in the black. The first is a wrecked exploration ship from approximately 180 years ago, which is historically interesting in itself, but what's more is that this ship happened to have a Quirium fuel scoop. Now, if you know anything about the history of Quirium, you'll know why that's significant.Famously, when Galcop disbanded, they took all their wonderful technology with them as a massive "fuck you" to the galaxy that took them for granted and then chucked them out like a used air filter. How they did this is still not well understood. Most historians chalk it up to some kind of kill switch that was built in to all their tech, but that explanation can only go so far and doesn't explain how the tech wouldn't have simply been reverse engineered. Quite possibly the most substantial thing they took was the secret of Quirium, a remarkable substance that enabled their technology, not least of which was the Quirium drive, which came with a quantum space skip device that made travel between and within systems quick and easy. After they disbanded, it wasn't possible to create Quirium anymore and in order to forestall the expected collapse of modern society, new, much less sophisticated technologies had to be put into place and rapidly.
But those clever Galcop folks weren't the only ones who knew how to make Quirium. Their fuel scoops did too. All they needed was some fresh stellar material and they'd do it all automatically. So - with all the ships using Quirium fuel scoops at the time, why couldn't they just copy the process the scoops were using? The historical record is suspiciously quiet about this and it's still hotly debated by historians to this day, to the point that it's a popular angle for conspiracy theorists to use to validate their crazier claims. What we do know is that shortly after Galcop's demise, all their tech, including all those fuel scoops, disappeared. Makes we wonder what happened to those poor explorers who happened to be actively fuel scooping at the time.
Of course, the popular theory is that one of the big three came in and recalled all the tech, essentially buying it off everyone who had it in a massive government-enforced "public service" repossession. But there's more holes in this theory than there are in a typical full grown Osseus Pumice. And it's not just Kit Fowler who poked all those holes in it either. The truth is out there, but it's been covered up by so much misinformation, historical revision, and rumormongering, we may never know.
So here I am, sitting next to the wreck of a ship which clearly has a Quirium fuel scoop, still quite intact despite the 180 years it's sat here subjected to the elements (including regular meteor storms). I may be one of the few living people even capable of recognizing what a Quirium fuel scoop even looks like. Lucky me. Now, I could probably cut the thing out with my Maverick cutting tool, and there's enough room in my cargo hold to carry it, but it's a big job, and I'm not sure I could manage it without damaging it. It's not exactly a simple device. If it even still works...
The smart part of me wants to leave it here and come back later when I have my fleet carrier, then I could probably extract the entire wreck to the carrier. I also considered putting the location here in this logbook so it'd be first come first served. But I already know how that'd turn out. The first one of you greedy assholes to get here would Maverick the damn thing off the wreck and then strap it to the top of your SRV and watch it fall apart as you daredevil your way across every hill and rock on the way back to your ship. So I'm just going to mark it for myself and come back later. In the end, I know it's a long shot. Even if I had the best engineers in the bubble right here with me to dissect and study the thing in perfect detail, it's not going to magically unlock the secret of Quirium for all humanity. It's not like this is the only wreck out there from that era, and chances are I'm not the first to find one of these. If it were possible to crack that mystery by reverse engineering one of these, it'd have been done by now. I feel like the truth behind Quirium and what really happened when Galcop left was less to do with magical technology and more to do with human greed and fear. But, at least it'll look nice in my artifact collection.
Now, remember when I said there were a couple of discoveries? Well, this wasn't the only interesting wreck I found. The other one was even older - by a huge degree...
It took some work to figure it out, but this ancient wreck belonged to one of the greatest space explorers of the 22nd century: Abigail Rowsdower, aka "Captain Ontario". Of course, today's history books barely give her a footnote. Hell, even when I was growing up, she wasn't exactly the greatest name in exploration, but she was up there. And one of my childhood inspirations. She was out there exploring before the bubble existed, when it took real skill and nearly superhuman fortitude to brave the unknown dangers of space using second generation nuclear technology. Sure, there were more stories about newer heroes with flashier, sleeker ships. But I was never that impressed with that. It was the stories about the real pioneers, the ones with nothing but keen intellect and nerves of steel who paved the way for future generations that inspired me. And Captain Ontario was one of them. History may have mostly forgotten her, but her legacy lives on. The generations she inspired went on to found some of the earliest and most successful exploration organizations, such as the original Explorer's Guild, the Alliance of Independent Pilots (the original one as well as the 27th century revival), and the Farseer Cooperative. Her story showed me that even if history forgets you, your legacy will live on in the mark you leave on the universe. What you do today could shape the future of humanity and the universe, and that philosophy should guide your actions.
So, there's another bookmark for my map. The wreck of an exploration ship is it's own grave, and most explorers, especially the lone wolf type, don't expect a traditional burial. Most prefer the idea of their bones being bleached by the light of a distant sun rather than being eaten by worms 6 feet under. So I'll probably just leave it as is. The corpse is in decent condition. There wasn't enough air left in the suit to enable much decomposition after expiration, so it makes as fitting a memorial as one could expect this far out. Maybe some day in the far future humanity will drop a tourist beacon here. For now, my footprints in the dust will have to do.
Rest in peace, Captain Ontario. Humanity is better for your accomplishments.
Of course, there's still the question of how in the heck she got all the way out here...