Entry 01: Orientation and Musings
12 Apr 2019Worldbuilder92
Day 2.1st Jump Complete: Synuefe FE-S b46-0
Admittedly, I'm very surprised with this place! As soon as the Locust came in to dock, I received a rather cordial welcome from traffic control and from the deck crew. They have room, board, lab space (nice, but I probably won't use it much), even a mess hall with food prepared by on-ship chefs! I haven't had cooked food like this since I first visited Carthage under the Legion!
There was a small problem initially, as apparently I needed to check in and make a reservation before announcing my intention to remain aboard for the trip, but the Gnosis crew was very kind and willing to work with me. I traded some detailed system scans I'd had in storage in return, and they allowed me to make a reservation on the spot. They even have clothes closets with fitted outfits for residents! (WAY more polite and reasonable than those sharks on Oracle station.) I am sorely tempted to move in permanently!
So after some digging and asking around, I think I understand what this whole Canonn group is about. Essentially, the Canonn Interstellar Research Group is an independent and open collaborative effort between multiple scientists and researchers from across the bubble to learning about our universe. In particular, many of their major contributions include Xenos studies and discoveries; they were one of the first to (re?)discover the existence of the Thargoids. I've learned a few things on my own about the Thargoids, mostly from a Legion seminar and from some guided tours by Cmdr Dalvon and Cmdr Either, but this... I'd never known there was this much information even gathered about them! What's more, there's apparently another group of aliens I'd never heard of before - they call them "Guardians", or something! I don't know much yet, but I suspect I'll see them soon enough!
I'm learning so much here, and I've barely stayed half a week aboard Gnosis! But...at the same time, part of me wonders whether or not I'd make much of a difference here.
Some time ago, I'd heard someone tell me a saying. It goes that there are two types of people in science - those who want to be astronomers, and those who want to be astronauts. (I know, it's a pretty archaic saying by now, but just hear me out.)
The astronomer, in this scenario, wishes to understand the great mystery before them; they will read and study and document everything about a topic, they'll know the source material, they'll be able to appreciate its significance in the larger scheme of things. Yet for all their understanding, the astronomer doesn't get to go into space; they won't have the satisfaction of being able to see, to experience, to behold the awesome and humiliating objects they study.
On the opposite end, there is the astronaut, who actually goes out into space to collect the samples and take the pictures. They may have a rudimentary understanding of the topic, but their experience of the cosmos is more...personal. More intimate. Because they can see it, touch it, experience it firsthand. But despite having this degree of intimacy with the subject, the astronaut may not ever fully understand the true extent of what it means: why are some stars blue and others red? Why does the universe operate in the manner it does? These are questions that will be nigh-perpetually beyond the astronaut's grasp. Like in that old Earth song, "All the science, I don't understand; It's just my job 5 days a week."
The question this saying begs is this: while both astronomers and astronauts get to experience the universe in their own way, which way is..."better", for lack of a better word? Is it more fulfilling to feel and experience something up close and personal, or to understand and analyze it from afar?
At the time I heard this saying first, I wasn't quite sure; those two sides seemed mutually exclusive - one couldn't have both the up-close intimacy alongside the informed understanding.
But now that I'm here, aboard Gnosis... I'm thinking I may be able to find both. I'll have to wait and see, my first exploration flight from Gnosis is scheduled for a couple hours from now. Until then, guess I'll just be burning out my fuse up here.