A Stellar Graveyard
09 May 2021Spark Chaser
Personal Log -- 9 May 3307I suppose I should thank a certain Commander at the pub on Porges Ring. He bought me a drink, which really wasn't that good; but the stories he had were. He spun a yarn about an entire system that was nothing but stars and black holes. All the while hamming it up about his "legendary piloting skills" and how he saved himself from certain death several times. It was all very amusing watching this, arguably, narcisstic young man try to woo me. Of course he couldn't remember the name of the system, except "hit was HIP something or other". Maddeningly unhelpful. Luckily he loved to talk about himself so I encouraged him to tell me more about his "heroism" in the hopes that I might learn where he went. I'll save myself and my computer memory the details about how I deduced the system he was referring to and the shameless fliting I did to keep him interested enough to answer my queries. Suffice to say I found what he was on about.
HIP 63835
That is where stars go to die, apparently. It didn't surprise me that he wasn't entirely truthful in his stories, after all they were supposed to inspire me into his bed, not to visit this wonderous place. I dropped into this big bright O-type star that I scooped several tons of Hydrogen from. I checked my systems and scanners and discovered 3 black holes and more main sequence and dwarf stars than I knew what to do with. I marveled at the sheer number and variety of the stars in this system before setting off to my destination. I set a course for the closest black hole, despite a rather insistent warning from my COVAS. I wish I could say he's learned not to question me, but he still did. I was grateful for the extra warning, though. Everyone knows you don't mess with black holes. Nobody knows just what its like at the Singularity, and unsurprisingly nobody really wants to find out. I didn't want to be the first to give evidence to a bunch of mathematical conjecture and theory either. I don't think I ever got closer than a few Mm from the Event Horizon. Just enough to warp the light from the stars and twist physics into something strange and ugly.
In all that ugliness there was beauty, at least for me. It was quite striking to see so many stars laid out in one place. From orange ones, blue ones, purple ones, red ones. A multi-coloured kaleidoscope of colour and chemistry. I found a rocky body that my scanners said was loaded with raw elements and I set down at the edge of a geologically active field. On a rocky body with no atmosphere, very little gravity and very hot temperatures and set out in my little rover to drive about. Well, I tried to drive but I was too busy looking up to really make any progress and I was too worried I'd drive off a cliff or smash into a big boulder. I may like it out here, but I'd rather not be here permanently. I spent maybe an hour shooting little rocks with my laser turrets, each one strangely more satisfying than the last. Then I just decided to rig up my hammock and sleep for the night in this place where stars die.
This is the reason I'm out here, it's the reason I shuttle cargo, passengers and data around from system to system in my day job, just to buy the fuel to keep my real passion alive. Finding that point of light among the darkness that looks particularly inviting and setting a course for it. Even if others have been there before, I haven't. It doesn't matter if hundreds or thousands of Commanders like myself have tread that same path, it's new to me. Along the way I've helped to provide valuable charting data for less intrepid Commanders. Out here in the Stellar Graveyard, as I have come to call it, this is where I belong. I really should quit shamelessly flirting with every man who gives me tips on neat stuff to see though. A girl could get a reputation out here for all the wrong reasons. Maybe 400 Ly is far enough away from my last "suitor", to ensure he doesn't accidentally bump into me. Oh damn, maybe I'll have to go to Colonia to get away from him! How wonderful would that be?! I'll sign off now and leave that for another time, before the prospect of what's beyond sets my wandering toes off again.