I May Have Upset The Thargoids
03 Jan 2018Robert Phillips
I had successfully activated the Thargoid machine, and was left with 3 mysterious audio messages and a new Thargoid device (a Thargoid Link).I still had some Guardian Relics in my ship's hold, and remembered that some people were theorising a possible link between the Guardians and the Thargoids. I decided to see if there was any connection.
I returned to my ship and transferred a Guardian Relic into my SRV hold. I then went back to the Thargoid machine.
I inserted a Thargoid Probe and a Thargoid Link. However, in the 3rd bay, I tried inserting the Guardian Relic instead of the Thargoid Sensor it was expecting. Surprisingly, the machine accepted it, but it glowed orange as I did so. That should have been a warning, but I scanned the machine anyway just as I had done previously.
The machine went mad:
There was a bright orange flash, and instead of the star map I was expecting, I instead saw the machine glow orange and start making an angry whining sound. after a few seconds (and every 10 seconds after that), the machine sent out a pulse of orange light which caused minor damage to my shields. At the same time, the Scavengers began to attack me.
The temperature started rising rapidly as the machine continued to pulse and whine.
I retreated from the central chamber to see if getting some distance would help. It certainly meant I wasn't being affected by the heat any more, but the scavengers continued to attack me. I destroyed them, so I could concentrate on finding a way of shutting the machine off.
I tried getting close to the machine to pull out one of the artefacts, but the temperature became too high as I got closer to the machine.
In the end, I performed another scan of the machine, and this seemed to cause it to shut down. As the temperature returned to normal, I moved back into the central chamber. The Guardian Relic was gone, consumed by the Thargoid machine. The Thargoid Probe and Thargoid Link were both lying around nearby.
I collected them and, satisfied there was nothing more I could learn here, I returned to my ship.
As I exited the structure, I had an encounter with a Thargoid:
It seemed the Thargoid had taken an interest in me. Perhaps the activation of the machine had got it's attention? Or possibly the Guardian Relic?? Either way, I was probed just as I had been previously, while I sat there helplessly with my systems shut down.
Eventually, the Thargoid finished it's scan and moved off. My systems rebooted and I was able to move again.
Had I made the Thargoids angry? If so, why didn't they attack me?
I continued to my ship to perform a closer investigation of the Thargoid Link I had collected.