3 Apr 3308
03 Apr 2022Radia Daku
4:31:53 UTCThe Galaxy can be a strikingly beautiful place sometimes. I've often forgotten that when in the Bubble.
I've decided to start keeping a journal to document the oddities that I find while out in the black on this expedition. A few hours ago, I sent the Wayfarer, my carrier, to its first waypoint on this long journey to the Trojan's Belt. Along the way, I've found an Earthlike, a few water worlds, and an ammonia world. None of them were as beautiful as this odd little metal-rich planet in the Blo Eurl KV-H B51-7 system. Planet A 4.. The atmosphere is majority nitrogen and sulfur dioxide compound with trace amounts of oxygen and other gases. Not suitable for human life by a long shot, but it makes for an amazing view on its mountainous surface. There are large patches of green that dot its tan landscape. At first I thought it might be some kind of grass, but it seems to be an early form of moss, at least from what the sampler has told me. It’s not enough data to sell to Vista Genomics, but it still makes for a beautiful sight. Leah, my wife and co-pilot, wanted to stay there for a day or two, but I wanted to get back to the carrier to sell the data I already have. I’ll come back to it to map out the rest of the system, and we can enjoy a nice swim in the Hope. God I love Imperial Cutters.
Our next stop is a Neutron Star. I’m a little nervous, to be honest. It’s been a while since I charged my FSD in the cone of a Neutron Star.
5:21:31 UTC
Managed to get to the Wayfarer in one piece. I had Tara, my operations' manager, put her in the orbit of a moon near a gas giant with a Tritium Hotspot. I’ll be using it to restock and refuel her reserves when I’m not exploring. Made almost eleven million off the data Leah and I collected. Made a nice little profit.
I’m thinking about selling whatever tritium I have left when I get back to the Bubble. I hear it gets a decent price nowadays.
The crew is ecstatic about being so far from the bubble. Explorers, all of them. I’m proud—and a little nervous. Some of them are a little disappointed that I didn’t let them bring exploration ships here—but I think I might let them borrow the Pathfinder and the Wayfinder.
8:35:00 UTC
I let Tara come out with Leah and I on a little trip through the local systems. We didn’t go far, only a hundred and thirty lightyears or so, but we found a few neutron stars, a big system with around fifty bodies in it. I was hoping to find some planet to land on to show her the low-g pool I had installed on the Hope, but I couldn’t find anything pretty enough. You might ask “why bother? You can’t see the outside anyways!” Well, that’s where you’re wrong. When I sold my Beluga, Leah wanted to keep the heated pool we had installed on the main observation deck, and wanted to put it in a place where we could watch the stars if we wanted. Well, a cutter doesn’t have an observation deck as big as a Beluga, so I hired a few good engineers to design a room with these screens with lossless quality to essentially surround us with whatever view is on the outside of the ship. It’s really beautiful when you’re in a nebula. The only downside to that pool? It can only run when there’s gravity. Oh well—maybe I can get it set up with one of those centrifugal rooms so we can just drift through space in our giant hot tub. Heh…that’d be pretty cool.
Anyways, Tara loved it. Hell, this whole trip is like an extended vacation for the crew. I talked to Leah about letting them aboard the Hope, and getting a buddy of mine to pilot the Pathfinder on trips through the black for anyone who wants to go. She likes the idea. So far, this trip’s going pretty good.
I think what I’m gonna do is find a good hotspot with some high-value stuff in it and just chip away at it over time. Might save it up and just liquidate it all over time, never have to worry about money again.
On the other hand, I might just head to Colonia and sell it off there. I dunno. The Bubble is getting a little out of hand lately. I heard Salvation is trying to get a bunch of Guardian artefacts over on their megaship. If you ask me, whatever their planning, it’s gonna throw things into chaos with the Thargoids. They’ve been relatively quiet as of late, no station attacks or massive invasions of systems or anything. I feel like that’s about to change though. I hope I’m wrong.
Anyways, I need to get to bed. Leah’s calling me, and I got a long week of mining ahead of me if I want to refill those reserves.