Gravity
04 Sep 2023Taneth
Day 115 | 43,658LY from Sol | Dryman's Point | Dryia Chraea Sector |Made it to the edge again. I guess you'd call this the "eastern" edge if you were looking at a galaxy map with Sol near the bottom. It marks a milestone in my having traversed the full width of the galaxy. I've turned the Ecco antespinward now, setting my sights on the DSSA GILLES VILLENEUVE for a final pit stop before I begin the last leg of my originally planned expedition. I find myself considering what the plan is once I get there... once I complete this exploration rite-of-passage that I never bothered with before. I suppose a small amount of Lavian Brandy will still be left, and I only opened one case of the Hutton Mugs I'm carrying since they are reusable. That FSD-salvaged metal is pretty tough stuff.
Dryman's Point seems unique in that it appears to border a region of space home to thousands, maybe millions, of peduncle tree colonies just floating freely in space. Where did these things come from? How do they exist in the vacuum of space? Why haven't they spread beyond this region? I've been out on this journey for months and never seen a single NSP signal, but in the last weeks I've seen at least fifty of them. The novelty eventually wears off and you forget the rarity. Only the questions. Always questions. I guess I'll leave that to the eggheads back home. I'm just a finder.
I can't sleep on the ship lately. When I first left the home systems, I would spend hours just floating about the Ecco's cabins. Sometimes I would drift off and experience that slight panic upon waking, worried I had somehow drifted outside the ship. Ludicrous. For the last week or so, however, I find myself having to land somewhere before I can get any decent sleep. I need the gravity. I need to feel the the grounding force applied to me, no matter how slight it may be. I need to feel the weight of things.
It sounds crazy, I know. I'm a spacer. A pilot. I live out in the blackness. Why do I feel drawn to gravity like this? I've always felt a draw to land the ship when I'm taking a long rest, but now I can't fall asleep in space at all. I feel somehow uncomfortable when I'm on the drift.
Maybe it's those feeds from Aegis. Think of it. MILLIONS of people being collected. To what end? Nothing good, I'll wager. The 'goids are engaging in their own little genocide, and we're quickly becoming the galactic refugees. Is that why I can't sleep out here? I'm afraid I'm going to wake up in the clutches of one of those... thimpets? Isn't that what they are calling them back home?
Maybe it's good I'm out here, although lately I'm wondering if I should head back. What difference can one man make? One pilot? I don't know, but it's starting to weigh on my conscience. Weigh. There's that gravity again.
For now... onward to the GILLES. Stick to the plan. See it through. Jump. Scan. Jump.