Leg Three Completed: Expect the Unexpected in the Galaxy of Madness.
24 Jun 2020Saga Pryde
Commander's Log, aboard the Helios RunnerCurrently docked at the DSSA Dryman's Hope
'Why the hell am I out here?'
That's a thought that has gone through my head dozens of times, as I jump, scoop, scan and repeat.
Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat.
Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat.
Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat.
Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat.
Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, repeat. Jump, scoop, scan, re-
... Sorry.
And as I started going nuts, hours and hours in... I spot something odd on the scanner: NOTABLE STELLAR PHENOMENA.
I stared at those words for about ten seconds. And then I locked that sucker in and wheeled my Asp around and punched it. It was about that time I realized that it said 512,000 ls away. And I didn't give a single damn about it.
I had found something. It wasn't a rocky or icy body or some type of gas giant. It was 'notable'. To me, that meant everything.
A few minutes later, I came in for an approach and dropped out and saw... well...
( Gallery Link )
I have no idea what the hell these things are. It said I was in a 'proto lagrange cloud', but these spikey bois were just floating around. They didn't make any sense.
These things were alive. Somehow. Just floating at a Lagrange point. It was confusing. Maddening almost. But also it was just... calm. Peaceful. These things were just here. Just floating. Just... being.
I had felt like a part of the machinery of my ship, by this point. That I was just one more system that was making jumps, slowly wearing down. And this weird field of spikey things in the middle of nowhere were my mental AFMUs. I just watched them.
I spent about an hour, just floating with them. I even turned flight assist off and set the ship on a very slow twisting spin, so I could see more.
It was soothing, to not be a part of a machine. To just turn everything off and just... exist. With this spikey bois and their strange little clouds.
It renewed my enthusiasm. I wanted to find more things. I wanted to see more. I was no longer feeling like a part in a ship. I was an explorer again.
Soon after, I discovered an Earth Like with a moon. It was half the distance of Luna to Earth, so I set a course and cruised out there. I was not disappointed by the view, on the edge of a crater rim.
( Gallery Link )
These two things, one immensely weird and one strangely tranquil, helped me immensely. It calmed that feeling of going crazy in the black. The feeling that I was wasting my time, taking such an asinine route to Sagittarius A.
How could I be wasting my time, when I am the first human to sit here, on the rim of a crater on this moon... and look up at a life bearing world? It was green and blue and, if I squint, it looked enough like Earth for my tastes.
...
You wanna know something funny? Even though I grew up in Alpha Centauri, on Earth's doorstep... and I'm making this log over 20,000 ly away from it... I have never seen Earth with my own eyes.
I should fix that, next time I'm in the Bubble.
End Log.
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