Aborovi Causeway 1: The lone explorer syndrom
03 Jun 2023Claude Lecardunoie
The staff of Farseer Inc., they actually warned me when I took off of from Deciat for this exploration journey, more than 2 months ago:- "You'll see Claude", told back then the professor Khan, "after a month, with the effect of reduced gravity, the frequent hyperjumps and also the drugs you'll need to take to cope with the multi-g acceleration, you'll get physically and mentally weaker and weaker. Not to mention the loneliness which will affect your condition as well, no matter how motivated and commited you are."
Yes, he was right. It took more than 2 months to get affected, longer than I thought, probably because I was lucky enough to find human installations along the way to get some rest, in spite of the cold reception I had on the Garry Hogan, an imperial fleet carrier (Read Aborovi Causeway 1 Exploration: stop ou encore?) and the rocambolesque encounter with the black market dealers of GM Cephei (Read: Aborovi Causeway 1: black market)
I had started the journey back to the Bubble, and yes, I felt mentally exhausted. I was getting lazier and lazier on my exploration tasks: I gave up on scanning each and every stellar bodies and barely did any surface expedition for geological surveys. Loneliness? Yes, that too: I was actually developping weird feelings for my COVAS voice, up to a point where I would fly close enough from stars just hear the "Warning! Taking heat damage" alarm message!!!
Kinda bored in my SRV during a surface expedition
Fortunately, this travel had some surprises left. I was still about 25 jumps from the Bubble when I received an unknown signal after a full system scan: astrological anomaly. That was a first for me!! I headed for its source and got out of supercruise in a Lagrange Cloud. I used various scanners and I also tried my pulse lasers one of the cristals. I successfully had the cristal composition: Praseodymium. But I couldn't extract any chunk of it.
Flying inside a Lagrange Cloud
I am now 12 jumps away from the Core Systems: since yesterday, I was now receiving human signals during system scans. I actually scavenged a wreck floating near a moon I just mapped. I also escaped a pirate attack. And in spite of the danger, these are good signs that I am getting closer to civilization. If everything's goes right, I'll land in Sullivan Dock, LFT 133, tomorrow, I hope in time for a shower before hitting the bars, clubs and probably the few brothels of the station.