Logbook entry

U͚͈̥̺̿͗͊͆na̫̚u̖̞̖̇̊͡t͚̂h̰̱͙̍̈͐͢͡ǫ̖̼͍̀̕͘͘ṟ̛͚̖͍͌͞͝ḯ̭̥͚̚̚z̖͔̜͛͋͐ę̣̉̊ḋ͍̦̪̂̕ S̈͌͢͢ȩ̝̦͌̅͘r͔͖̭̲̃̓̿̃͊͟v̙͈̋̄e̛͕r̠̆ Ạ̯̿̒c͚͎̻̈́̌̾c̩͍̞͒̏̾ĕ̮̱̰͒͡s͉̈́ŝ̼:̧͔̼́̐͐ Event 110-j0iq-ne21

Begin private log.
Date: ]̵̮̑̂̇̽͑́̋̽͘͜͠/̸̧̺͉̰̘͓̻̭͂͆͊̀̓̒̋̈̍̾̊͒͐̕͝ͅ1̵͔͒͗͊͋̈́̐͐͝͝͝0̵̧̘̭̞͆̂̀̓̈́̒̕͠͠ͅ/̴̧̘̰̣͉͖̟̊͜ͅ,̴̯͓̤̱̯̻͙͈͓̺̤̥̮͇̝́̈́͒͘͝͝;̷̨̢̛͈͚̩͈͓̪̫͚̻̲̱̈̿̓̔̈́ͅͅ_̸̨̱͍̉͋̋̓̉͛̌̉̃̎͂͆̑͂̚6̸̢̼̑͋̈̊̓̅̉́̑͆͘͝
Author: _{PERMISSIONS INVALID.}

Ugh, what an awful past few days. I’m definitely feeling the space madness, even took the weekend to shower up as best I could – even with recycled water, there’s always a limit – and really focus on some self-care, exercise on a bit over 1G worlds (I avoided that on the two I’ve seen that were over 2G), and take my mind off the infinite void for a bit. This is always a long journey, despite being my first and only time going in this direction – it will be the second time once I travel back – and I’m already missing the Tandem’s coffee machine. That said, the Omega’s systems do a good job of it, with enough sugar and powdered cream.

I still can’t believe these distances… Last time, when I made the trek away from home, I recall being so out of it – such a different person, despite it being only a few years ago – that I suppose I hadn’t really let myself take it all in. That decision… to leave home, was certainly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And after everything that had happened…

Well, here I am heading back for the very thing I was told I may need help with.

I’ll have to face that when the time comes… Regardless, there is another matter I’m a bit more concerned about right now.

There was an event on a planet, again when I was in the SRV, that seriously spooked the ever-loving life out of me. I’ve begun to worry… no, I’m hoping it’s just an error, or that now-distal problem causing these disturbances for me. Still, I’ve been beginning to see faint movement or hear things that shouldn’t be disconcerting, yet they are… I’ll really need to get my cybernetics looked at back home.
That said, it’s also been a very interesting journey in several ways. I’m not up to submitting my logs to the general GalNet feed for the time being, so these private entries will have to do for a while.

Let’s see…
After the first leg of this journey, I found a nice, warm HMC and spent the night. There was a valley, and I’d taken the SRV out before tucking in early. Waking up in the middle of the night on this world was an experience, given the huge differences between night and day:





That last one is another HMC in-system, not as hot, but a beautiful view.

I had some fun on a very cliff-y world, and ended up stuck more times than I’ll ever admit.




Yeah… still no clue how that wheel got buried. Took me three hours to free the damn thing. I was so close to just hopping out, but I know our suits aren’t rated for that… Which is incredibly stupid and irritating.

I visited my first black hole! Seeing the spectrum of visible light actually start to get sucked out of the world is a terrifying experience. Drawing close to a singularity, even more so. Everything in me was screaming to get the f*ck out no matter how slow I took it, and no matter how much I tried to keep the same light-seconds between me and the thing. Watching spacetime curve and twist as the hole gorged itself… that too was amazing, incredible and awesome – in the sense that it strikes fear and curiosity into you at the same time.



I’ve noticed that around neutron stars, that same sickly-green against the galactic rim can be seen. Now, I understand gamma radiation has a LOT to do with that for neutrons, but… the thought of it in relation to a singularity. Frightening.

And speaking of frightening!
So that scary experience I had, out in the SRV on some distant world… It was before I reached b̴̨̳̣͕̗̜̜̞̞͎͉͗̓̍̀͝ä̶̱̘͙̩̘̥͚͈́̈́̂ͅd̵̨̧̡̬̠͇̜̫̬̺̖̱̼̯͂͐͗͑̉̈́́.̸̨̥͓̯̘̝͇̥̫̝̭̹̞̇́̊̔̚͝͠d̸̢͓͍̙͙̼͚̬͗̎͜ȃ̷̡̟̥͉̞̱̬͑̓̾͋̀̾̇̌͋̈́͐͘t̴̢̛̟̰̀̇̿͆̽̄͒̓̑̕͠͝͠͠ȧ̸̺̩̘̠̻͇͔̲͋̽͛͐͛̽͑̑͜, ; and it wasn’t dark out at all when this occurred. That said, there were some good hills leading down to a very gently sloped canyon, where I was off to investigate geological signals. It was just getting to sunset (star-set?), so there were some shadows, specifically in the hillside region where these particular signals were coming from, as well as in the valley itself.

Well, this is where I started getting those strange experiences… seeing things flit off in the distance in the corners of my eyes, hearing odd noises that really shouldn’t have been a concern (cracking ice, dirt falling around from the SRV’s movements, etc.). That and, I couldn’t shake this terrible feeling, like I was being watched… like there was something wrong on this world, something that didn’t belong there – or anywhere, and that I had made a mistake in intruding upon it.

Yeah… Total. Complete. Space madness.

Even so, I did manage to nab a shot through my bionic contacts, and I just know there’s something I’m missing about this here. I’d stopped and turned in that direction suddenly, had the darkest, coldest fear I’d experienced in a looong time, and just felt like something was out there – watching, warning me.



Of course, I’m also not going to be surprised if I look at this in a few weeks from now and laugh it off while deleting the file. Gods, I hope that will be the case anyway.

Oh, and also I didn’t go and check out those geological signals.

As I said, they were in a shadowed hillside, above the valley proper. But when I came to the edge of the slope, I checked out the area briefly with the SRV’s camera drones, looking for the best way down, and I noticed something.




The shadows in the valley… off to the left-hand side, fucking moved.

I even went so far as to highlight slopes in each of the two frames, and to highlight the shadow’s edges.
This... is undeniable to me, but at the same time, it’s not something I really intend to share at any point in the future. I’d… much rather just get myself checked up and forget the whole thing. Let these files get lost deep in the Omega, until – if ever – I need or want to look at them again.




I got a nice view of the star’s angle as well before rushing my ass back to the Omega, and I’ll include that here just in case – so if there’s ever a question from someone that may, in the future, be able to help solve this, regarding the angle of light hitting that area.



The planet had some interesting signs of run-off, I don’t know if it’s seasonal or what’s going on here.




And as I said… I got the hells out of there.


Well, just kidding. That’s another world’s water-silicate geysers.



Enjoyable, 10/10 would do it again.

I’d later found a very distant asteroid base being used as a secured prison, even found signs the prisoners were looking for mercenaries to help ‘get rid of’ the guards. Of course, it was very clear that this was not a place for me to stay for long. I repaired the Omega, left her paint chipping (as is customary for all long-distance treks), restocked the AFMU, and got off and on my way again.





It wasn’t too much later that I ran into the ‘Neutron Wall’:




…And found out what 10k LY will do to the Omega’s paint job.


I also was a little bit mean to her…



That was the only time during this entire journey that I’ve had to use any heatsinks. And I ejected two within a thirty seconds of each other, as those nearly-colliding stars pulled from one end of the Omega to another. I could practically hear her screaming at me as the metal whined and grumbled under those intense g-forces… It was only a few seconds, but certainly all the poor girl was going to be made to bear. Still, what a crazy place… I don’t ever want to get within a few hundred LY of that system in the foreseeable future. Who knows when it’s suddenly going to go supernova? Hells, is there anyone that’s looked into that!? Maybe I should inquire after Canonn just to be safe… I’d be very curious to know if there are any dangerous systems around for the foreseeable future. Er, well at least, I mean within my lifetime.





The last outpost I visited had some very nice views. Full showers, good food, drink, and great beds. I slept for too long that night!




It was also very easy to get around. I was impressed and surprised by the facilities they had, it was very clearly a solid mixed industrial-and-research outpost. Made me appreciate how far we’ve all come, and what more humanity is capable of.




Well, so here I am, at more than 14k LY away from home. Well, my new home that is… ugh, that’s a journal for another time. I’ll leave with a couple scenes from recent travels.

Now, it’s time for another shower, hopefully decent food (this outpost isn’t quite as well established, but you can’t blame them), and a good bed.




Alright, that’ll do… Carina, end log.