Lost in Space: An Unusual Discovery
11 Oct 2023Silvia Sharpe
In a flash we are ripped out of Beagle Point and sent into witchspace. The FSD malfunction had inadvertently sent us on an unknown and unplotted jump into hyperspace. All we could do was wait to see where we came out at. Where we ended up, was nowhere mapped. Somewhere between systems in the blackest expanse of space, nearly 50ly from any star. Our navigations panel was seemingly just as confused as we were, seeing as it had no star data, just one singular UNKNOWN.Everything was black. No contacts, no nearby systems, just black screens. The galaxy map was no use and showed us still at beagle point which made little to no sense at all. I turn to look at Venus who was just sitting there scratching her head.
'June.. Where are we?'
"Hmmm sensors detect deep space somewhere. No logical inputs received from.... well anything. It appears we are well and truly lost. But hey good news is we have a half full fuel cell."
'Ya thanks June.'
In the distance an large black object blocks out a section of stars. The only sign that it isn't a black hole is the absence of gravitational lensing. I had heard of rogue planets before but had never in all of my years of scientific exploration, seen one personally. Due to the rare nature of such an occurrence I was not going to pass up on the opportunity.
'June can we predictably engage supercruise? We need to be able enter it in order to utilize the FSS to see what we are working with.'
"Hmmm.... In theory, we could disable hyperspace jumping by bypassing the primary circuit entirely. That way we can guarantee only supercruise engagement. I would hate to lose out on this once in a lifetime opportunity to study a rogue planet."
'Venus you think you can do that? Bypass the hyperspace circuits on the FSD?'
'Ya probably, but I would need help. I don't think the FSD manual has that information, seeing as it isn't common practice.....'
"If I might interject Venus. I have extensive FSD knowledge and have queried the global database for the FSD manufacturer. I can direct you on what to do in order to complete the procedure with a 99.9% success rate."
'Alright then lets get started on it.'
Venus heads out of the cockpit and down to the engineering bay. The breaches in the hull having been repaired, thanks to the Hull Seals ship, made things much safer. Venus works her way over to the FSD and activates her helmet cam and personal communicator.
'Right Junebug, I'm here. Helmet cam is active so you can patch into it to see if I am doing the right things.'
"Ok patching into helmet cam now."
For the first time ever a living person outside of Jules is able to see the appearance June had picked for herself. A slender athletic female presumably in her early 20s appears in Venus' HUD.
'Oh well hello there June. Nice to finally put a face to the name. Right so walk me through this.'
"First thing you will need to do is power down the FSD completely. Once that is done locate the Fuel transfer line and disconnect it from the variable rate fusion chamber."
'Ok..... done.'
"Next you'll want to take the central power core and reroute it to the secondary fusion circuit..... Not that one the other one. Green and Blue one. Yes that one. Take that and place it on the fitting that says for testing use only."
****
As June and Venus are working on rewiring the FSD for supercruise only flight, I am preparing some expedition equipment for our impromptu rogue planet adventure. I pull out a backpack from the closet and head to the store room. I grab various scanners and test tubes and check them over carefully before placing them into their respective pouches. I grab an atmospheric data sampler and and bio scanner from the rack and perform a quick test to ensure proper calibration and functionality. Melli hops up onto the chair next to me and sniffs the various items laid out on the desk. She lets out some smaller chittering as she investigates the items.
'What is Silvia doing? Where are we going?'
'We have found a once in a lifetime object called a Rogue Planet Melli. We are going to explore it and gather some critical scientific data to try and better understand them.'
'Rogue Planet? What this means?'
'A Rogue planet Melli is a planet that is no longer a part of its parent star system. Whether that is because of the death of its star or some other large cosmic object passed through its system, tearing it away from its orbit.'
'Strange that a planet can have no star.'
'Indeed my little furry friend. This is why I am gathering all this stuff. Some people will never get this kind of opportunity. We have been graced with this discovery. Maybe it'll be capable of supporting life.'
'Mmm maybe Melli get to hunt little critters.'
I chuckle as Melli hops off the chair satisfied with the information she had received. She slinks out of the room seemingly stalking an invisible critter. I finish loading up the pack and start on a second one for Venus. Once both packs are filled with all the required items and a few not so required ones, I head to the armory and prepare our weapons and personal equipment. I check over every inch of the suits with excruciating detail ensuring there are no rips or tears in any of the fabrics.
****
'Ok... that should do it. June go ahead and run a simulation to ensure it is done correctly.'
"Already done. Simulated success rate is 99.8%"
'.1 off from original estimate is not bad at all. Ok I guess the only thing left to do now is to try it out.'
"Agreed. I am excited to explore this rare phenomenon."
Venus exits the engineering bay and heads back up to the cockpit. As she rounds a corner Melli jumps out from the shadows and play bites her ankle. Venus nearly leaps out of her skin as the little ball of fluff appears out of nowhere.
'Good gods Melli! You damn near gave me a heart attack. Thought you were a gremlin or something.'
Satisfied with her play attack Melli releases Venus and disappears down another corridor heading in the direction of the cockpit. The three of us manage to make it to the cockpit at the same time ready to check out this strange discovery and see what secrets it might hold.
'Right June is everything is order?'
"Yes. All systems ready for supercruise only FSD activation."
'Here goes something.' I say as I press the FSD button on the control panel.
"FSD Charging. Supercruise Engaging."
The prompt displays on the cockpit HUD. Due to the fragile state of the FSD and the testing only bypass the FSD takes longer to engage. Unsure of what is about to happen Venus and I strap into our seats. Melli climbs inside her crate closing the door behind her and curls into a ball. Then we wait.
"5...4...3...2...1... Engage!"
Memento Mori lurches forwards as the supercruise drives activate successfully. After performing a brief systems check to verify the integrity of modules I pull up the FSS. I tune the scanner to the appropriate frequency and find that the dark planet is an Earth-Like world. The finding is both monumental and puzzling at the same time. How did a planet such as this come to be out here on its own? Where did it come from? Was life still viable on it? Questions flood my mind as I bring the ship closer to the planet to begin a detail surface scan.
****
I close the DSS after launching a few probes and look over the data I had just collected.
Planetary Information
Locations: Geological, Biological
Earth Masses: 1.5
Radius: 6868.68km
Gravity: 2.01G
Surface Temp: 297K
Surface Pressure: 1.01 Atmospheres
Volcanism: Silicate Magma
Atmosphere Type: Suitable for Water-Based Life
Atmosphere:
- 72% Nitrogen
- 22% Oxygen
- 3% Hydrogen
- 2% Argon
- 1% Carbon Dioxide
- 68% rock
- 32% Metal
Semi Major Axis: N/A
Orbital Eccentricity: N/A
Orbital Inclination: N/A
Arg of Periapsis: N/A
Rotational Period: 2.5 D
Axial Tilt: 41.82°
'How Extraordinary.' I exclaimed as I reviewed the Detailed scan data.
The planetary data suggested that this planet had potential to harbor life even clear out in the blackest expanse of space. What that life was or even if life did exist we would have to find out upon landing on the surface. I select one of the geological points on the planetary surface near what I presume to be a body of liquid water. Upon entering the atmosphere Celeste calls over alerting us to a strange phenomenon.
"Fuel Scooping"
'Wait what? A planetary body capable of being fuel scooped. The heat generated from the entry must be burning off the majority of other gases allowing the hydrogen to remain behind and be scooped up by the fuel scoop.'
'The real question though is how is something like that even possible with such a low concentration of hydrogen?'
'Hydrogen is hydrogen. The fuel scoop is designed to only draw in hydrogen atoms so at 3% concentration it is likely it is at the lower limit for scooping. It's a good thing for us as this means in theory we will have a full reserve of fuel at all times.'
'Science makes my head hurt.'
'That my dear, is why you handle the heavy lifting and I do the calculations.'
I smirk a bit at the comment. As we are nearing the end of our approach glide June issues a warning.
"FSD temps at critical levels. It appears our bypass has created a cooling issue."
"FSD offline. WARNING! Taking heat damage."
There is a small explosion as the FSD ruptures causing yet another catastrophic failure. Though this time we are in a much better position to have lost it. The materials we would need to synthesize parts for repair could be found relatively easily. The hard part would be the actual repair process. Parts could be generated easily with the AFMU onboard. We had enough rations to last us at least several months and if the planet had biological life then we would be able to hunt or even forage for our food. The ship created the perfect living space for us and would serve us well as a base camp. Maybe we stay out here if things are viable enough for life to be supported.