Getting Sparse Out Here
03 Nov 2019Dante Cortez
I've been thinking about trying to make my way along the Perseus Arm, maybe head from the Elysian Shore into the Sanguineous Rim. I've found what looks like a neutron highway to get closer, but I fear I am too far above the plane to get all the way there. I may have to head back downstairs.But riding the neutron highway is cool. There is something exciting about plotting a jump that's 3-4 times as far as your ship can normally go. I've been plotting them one at a time, so I can check out my best route choices. I've become pretty good at getting into the jet cone. (We'll see how good I am tomorrow. It's easy when you jump out right into position, but tonight, I've landed on a planet orbiting this system's neutron star, so when I take off, I'm going to have to fly in and position myself. Hope I'm good enough to avoid getting fried to a crisp!)
So this planet. I have seen planets in other neutron star systems, but usually around a distant B star. This one is Planet 1, about 1500 light-seconds from the neutron star. Looking out on the plain, barely lit by the distant primary, it almost looks like there's a fog at the horizon. I don't know what that is. Do neutron stars make their own little nebulae? Another fun thing about this planet: I went out for a drive and stumbled on a handful of lost canisters. Silver, beryllium, palladium, skimmer parts, and domestic appliances. How the hell they got out here and got left behind is beyond me. There was no ship wreckage. Looks like somebody just dumped them, possibly from a height, since there was also a broken canister in the same place. Weird. But salvage is free, so that's good for me.
A few systems back I came across a truly weird planet. A large, metal-rich planet orbiting an A-class star, with a very narrow ring that was so brightly lit by the primary that it was glowing. I couldn't land, but I did get a few choice images.
Look at that glow! And here's why it's so bright:
Wow.