Commander's Log: 29th May 3302
18 Aug 2016T J Stable
****** There appears to be a glitch in the Log entry journal ******[sys]: Your data has been recovered but errors may still exist.
[sys]: Some entries may be lost.
[sys]: Retry manual log upload.
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29 May 3302.
I was curious to know more about this Rift, so I headed over to see Alfredo.
Alfredo is one of those characters you meet in all walks of life. If it's information you want, Alfredo is the man to come and see.
What he doesn't know isn't worth knowing. Sure you'll pay for his knowledge, but quite often it's easier. Alfredo walks on the edge of the law. He's not a trader
any more; from what I understand he made his money flying shipping routes and decided to hang up his mag-boots. He now exists in one of about three stations.
Oh sure, he still does trading from time to time. if you've got something unusal or illegal, Alfredo will often be interested, but not run of the mill things like
weapons or slaves.
Anyway, Alfredo was a vital one-stop shop to gather information on the Rift. I finally tracked him down at Khan City in the Nona system. I offered to buy him a drink in the place of his chosing. He chose and we met. After some small talk about how our lives were going in general, I steered the subject around to the Rift. His face fell as i asked him.
"You no wanna be knowing about such things" he warned me. I pressed him for more. "For a start, you no go using that F word. No. They scan for it. They don't want people to know. You no?"
I knew which F word he meant, and I'd certainly used it I these logs in the past few weeks; but could 'they' - whoever 'they' are - scan personal log entries?
"Who is 'They'?" I asked him.
"Federation. Empire. Galnet. They all in it together. They no want people going out there. But people do. They go. Sometimes, never return." He waggled a finger at me.
"Sometimes those who come back, they not what left."
I frowned. "You mean, they're different?"
"That what 'not what they was' means!" he laughed. "I mean, they the same physical person. But they not the same" he tapped his head "here. You get me?"
I think I did. I leaned in closer, over our drinks.
"Alfredo, I've heard there is.. Something out there."
"Something? I know what it is!"
I felt my heart give a small leap. "Really?"
"Madness" he whispered.
I sighed slightly and leaned back in my chair, taking another sip of my drink.
"But you no wanna be going there, my friend" he said to me.
"I know" I mused. "But.. I feel there is something out there. Something calling to me." I looked him in the eye. "I'm going to go. I'll find whatever is out there."
"But how will you find it if you no know what you look for?"
I smiled as I finished my drink "That's the secret of exploring."