Seeking the Truth #20: Goodbye
21 Dec 2021Patrick Bietruch
Looks like this is the end of the line. I have reached the edge of the galaxy, the EONOPR ZV-B D14-O system, over 34000 light years away from Sol. I had to do three FSD injections to get here as the star density is so low. But I made it. And I found the last anomalous signal. The last echo from the past. The final frontier.
Last time I discovered an entry from my father written in a hurry. He and his team (or what's left of them) got attacked by the Federation. Aiden AKA Axe got killed and with nowhere else to go they had to retreat to the Atlas system, where the Magellanic Sphere was being built. That's where this last entry comes from. My father wrote it just before disappearing, this time for good. I'll let you read it yourself:
> Anomalous signal detected
> Bandwidth insufficient
> Adjusting downlink parameters
> Bandwidth secured
> Downlink proceeding
> Loading [Ecnrypted files]...
>>> NO MATCHING SIGNAL DETECTED
> Time Stamp Predates Parameters.
> Approximate time frame: January 21 Year 3294
It's over, now it's just me and Xavier. The Federation attacked Andlit Co. We tried to help them but we couldn't, we ran away to the Atlas system. Before we did that, Aiden.. They got Aiden. We saw him die.
I didn't want it to end like this. I didn't want to lose my friends, my family. Now the only person I have is Volt.
Patricia, I'm sorry. I can't do anything more than simply apologize. I will not correct my mistakes and I will not get a second chance. I didn't want our life to be like this. I'm so sorry. So sorry for destroying everything.
Patrick, I knew you would find these entries, always knew you were the smart one. Know that I am proud of you. I could not have asked for a better son. You made my life meaningful, but I was blind to see how much joy you've given me. Life is short and I did not use my time to spend with you. I'm sorry. If only I could go back in time, I would fix everything..
We have to jump, we have no other choice. The Magellanic Sphere is not yet calibrated, but there is no other way out. In theory, it should take us far away to another galaxy.
We don't know what will happen and we don't know if this machine will even fire up, even Volt doesn't know and he's the best technician I have ever met. The Andlit engineers have already fled the construction site to escape the Federation assault. We must escape too, otherwise we will die. We can not stay here, not in this galaxy. Sooner or later they would hunt us down. We have to use the Sphere and make the over 150.000 light year jump. It is a one way ticket but there's not much else we can do at this point.
I have wanted to make a great discovery for so long, now's the time. We will see if we will be the first people in the Large Magellanic Cloud, or if this whole thing will turn into our grave.
Son, if I manage to survive the jump and the machine doesn't explode, remember that somewhere out there in space I'm looking at you, from another galaxy. You are the brightest point in the sky that can be seen. Be tough. Be smart. Do not give up.. Ever.
Goodbye Patrick.
> Massive Frameshift Surge Detected.
>>> WARNING! Frameshift anomaly detected.
>>> WARNING! Frameshift drive operating beyond safety limits.
> 4.
> 3.
> 2.
> 1.
>>> Engage.
> Signal lost.
> Bandwidth insufficient
> Adjusting downlink parameters
> Bandwidth secured
> Downlink proceeding
> Loading [Ecnrypted files]...
>>> NO MATCHING SIGNAL DETECTED
> Time Stamp Predates Parameters.
> Approximate time frame: January 21 Year 3294
It's over, now it's just me and Xavier. The Federation attacked Andlit Co. We tried to help them but we couldn't, we ran away to the Atlas system. Before we did that, Aiden.. They got Aiden. We saw him die.
I didn't want it to end like this. I didn't want to lose my friends, my family. Now the only person I have is Volt.
Patricia, I'm sorry. I can't do anything more than simply apologize. I will not correct my mistakes and I will not get a second chance. I didn't want our life to be like this. I'm so sorry. So sorry for destroying everything.
Patrick, I knew you would find these entries, always knew you were the smart one. Know that I am proud of you. I could not have asked for a better son. You made my life meaningful, but I was blind to see how much joy you've given me. Life is short and I did not use my time to spend with you. I'm sorry. If only I could go back in time, I would fix everything..
We have to jump, we have no other choice. The Magellanic Sphere is not yet calibrated, but there is no other way out. In theory, it should take us far away to another galaxy.
We don't know what will happen and we don't know if this machine will even fire up, even Volt doesn't know and he's the best technician I have ever met. The Andlit engineers have already fled the construction site to escape the Federation assault. We must escape too, otherwise we will die. We can not stay here, not in this galaxy. Sooner or later they would hunt us down. We have to use the Sphere and make the over 150.000 light year jump. It is a one way ticket but there's not much else we can do at this point.
I have wanted to make a great discovery for so long, now's the time. We will see if we will be the first people in the Large Magellanic Cloud, or if this whole thing will turn into our grave.
Son, if I manage to survive the jump and the machine doesn't explode, remember that somewhere out there in space I'm looking at you, from another galaxy. You are the brightest point in the sky that can be seen. Be tough. Be smart. Do not give up.. Ever.
Goodbye Patrick.
> Massive Frameshift Surge Detected.
>>> WARNING! Frameshift anomaly detected.
>>> WARNING! Frameshift drive operating beyond safety limits.
> 4.
> 3.
> 2.
> 1.
>>> Engage.
> Signal lost.
The entry was written in 3294. I can't believe I was living a regular everyday life while my father was making history. Or so I tell myself that. He and his teammate Xavier used the Magellanic Sphere despite it not being finished. I want to believe that they actually made it all the way to the Large Magellanic Cloud and didn't die in the explosion. At the start of my journey along the first anomalous signal I did find some rubble, a destroyed machinery of some kind. That must have been the remains of the Magellanic Sphere. I just really hope they completed the jump before the whole structure fell apart.
I do not know what these anomalous signals are and how exactly this signal scanner I got from Monarch reads them. They seem to be simple radio signals but from a distant past. Like they are stuck in one place for eternity for someone like me to discover them? I have discovered that the signals make a straight line on the galaxy map, they start in The Bubble and go right across the galaxy in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. That makes me think my father really made it to a whole another galaxy. While he was travelling at immense speed through hyperspace, he created some sort of an anomaly that ripped some of his personal computer entries out of his vessel and scattered them along the way in regular space. This is how it looks like on the map:
 |  |
That's just my theory, a very strange phenomenon nonetheless.
My father's journey was amazing and I wish I could live through something like this myself. I remember seeing him for the last time, asking him to take me on the adventure he was about to experience. I do not know if I can forgive him. I need to think about it for some time, I haven't made up my mind just yet. I am kinda overwhelmed by what I discovered.
I think this is where my own journey ends. I'm not heading back to The Bubble just yet, I like it out here. Maybe I'll stay away from any civilization for another couple of months.. or years..
Thank you commanders for keeping me company on this epic adventure. If it wasn't for you I would not be able to even uncover the very first entry from my father. Thanks to you I have finally found a closure to my father's disappearance and "solved" the mystery.
o7 CMDRs
