Data log found in an abandoned spacecraft pt3 - Unravelling the mystery
11 Sep 2020Orion Blacksun
<audio log begins>So there you have it. It wasn't until later that I reviewed the data and went back to look for the craft. I never found it again. I did some research on Michael Montgomery and it turns out that he was a well respected professor at Georgetown University on Earth. He went missing a year ago along with Justin Cribbins who was a researcher in his department. This is the official story but I managed to get a bit more with some contacts I have.
Apparently Montgomery came into possession of an old book that had been found in a stasis vault on an archaeological dig. This book was described as 'sort of like a tome of magic or something' by a student who saw it. I could not find the details of who he got it from. He then became obsessed by this book, was able to translate it and then started studying the works of one H.P. Lovecraft, an author of fiction from the 19th century. This author wrote horror stories and inspired later authors to copy his style. Space, stars and aliens were a common theme in these stories. I read a few. Not my cup of tea. Montgomery compiled a list of locations mentioned in the stories and managed to get funding to go on a tour of these systems. He was fairly well liked it seems, and close to retirement so it looks like the university approved the trip as a retirement present to him. No one belived that there was any merit in the expedition.
I tried to find the book, or even a copy but there was no trace of it, and no notes at all in Montgomery's effects. What I did find was his route plan and some notes on what he was hoping to find in each system.
You're probably wondering by now what the hell I was doing. Why I'm even now sitting in a station in Epsilon H about to head out into unoccupied space. I found an empty ship with a creepy message in the log. Big deal, right? But there was one detail that made me realise why Montgomery met his end. One detail that finally drove him over the edge when the creatures started to enter his ship.
The Eldar sign. A protective symbol that Montgomery had seen described in the tome. A symbol that features time and again in the works of Lovecraft. A symbol that would protect him from the denizens of the outer realms. A symbol of great potency that he had inscribed on his ship.
A symbol that he had drawn incorrectly.
How do I know? Because I've seen it before. I've seen it complete and fully formed.
Inscribed on the ancient obelisk I found in the Guardian ruins. The obelisk that the Guardians found in some unknown distant world. The obilisk adorned with strange carvings and pictograms, inscribed before humanity even existed. And upon that obelisk the Eldar sign. And more besides, too close to the descriptions in Lovecraft to be just coincidence. The obelisk that some of the Guardians actually worshipped at.
Where did this monolith come from? What did Montgomery find? Is there some eldrich cosmic intelligence out there watching from the void? Or perhaps a mindless being of terrifing power dancing and flopping to the tune of daemonic pipers?
I can find the anwsers. I can succeed where Montgomery failed. My ship now has the Eldar sign correctly inscribed upon it. I will follow his route and see what's lurking in Lovecraft's systems.
This is Commander Orion Blacksun signing off.
<audio log ends>