The Anomaly
01 Sep 2022Ember Lacson
CMDR Darth Vader put out an announcement on the AXI network that several CMDRs had been hyperdicted while traveling through the permit-locked regions beyond Barnard's Loop. These CMDRs noticed an...anomaly for lack of any better term seemingly within the system. The announcement included an audio recording of the anomaly from the FSS. I instantly felt a compulsion to visit despite the more than 1kLy distance between Meene and Oochorrs UF-J c11-0. We're still not cleared to jump the Morningstar, so I decided to make it into an exploration trip. I told Nicole I needed to go check out an anomaly out past Barnard's Loop and I'd be gone for a few days. She told me to fly safely and promised she would keep an eye on things for me. I jumped onboard Ennaveth, my exploration DBX, and failed to plot a course three times before I gave up and aimed for Shenve instead.
Before I left Meene I honked my discovery scanner and opened the FSS to see if I could hear anything. Other CMDRs have said they could hear it from systems in the Bubble, but I didn't really believe them until I aimed at the outer ring of Barnard's Loop. What I heard was one of the most ominous, alien sounds I could possibly conceive of, a low pitched drone with muted, percussive chirping over it, the same sound on the AXI's audio recording. We know that the Thargoids threw out the laws of physics with their ability to swim around witch space like it's nothing, so it doesn't surprise me that we can detect signals a thousand light years away in real time.
This info would prove invaluable, because several CMDRs have attempted to measure the anomaly's apparent motion. Canonn, the AXI, and numerous independent CMDRs were already in situ, but the information was all very preliminary. One CMDR I saw said that it was traveling toward the Bubble at 48Ly/hr. That would mean that it was 52 hours from the Bubble. But further information indicates it's traveling at a much lower speed and will arrive at the main star of Oochorrs UF-J c11-0 in a few hours from the writing of this post.
This wasn't the furthest I'd been toward Barnard's Loop, because I have a few crystal shard sites bookmarked in my galaxy map. But this was the first time I had been in Witch Head space and the first time I actually went through the Loop. I think I met Chloe Sedesi once when Palin was still in Maia, but I've never visited her at her own workshop, and I didn't have the sensor fragments she wanted from me for onboarding. I'll have to drop by at some point and take a proper sightseeing trip. But this time I plotted my route to Oochorrs UF-J c11-0, successfully, and continued onward through the Loop, checking my direction periodically with my FSS.
I first witnessed the anomaly one or two systems away, confirming that it was still in the vicinity of the same system. CMDRs have tried to get to it but to no avail, making me think there is some sort of spacetime weirdness going on. The ominous sound is as loud as ever within the system, and the anomaly is quite strange to look at. Because of the hyperdictions and its shape, virtually everybody believes this is evidence of a hive ship or a Titan of some kind. They don't know exactly where it's going, but I think we'll find out before long.
I haven't seen much of a change, but I'm planning on staying as it approaches the main star.
Edit: Oh my God, it's heading to GR1. Synuefe XR-H d11-102. That's the current consensus, at least, but if it's true.... I don't know what it means if it's true. I'm heading back to Meene here in a few hours. Nicole and I might have to expedite our trip, lest our nightmares come true.
Edit 2: I compared current photos to yesterday's photos, and it was at least an order of magnitude brighter and larger in appearance. It slipped my attention because I've been staring at it for hours. Also, I've attached one of my own photos.
Photo credit CMDR Fulton via Canonn:
