25 MAY 3306 - ON BURNOUT
25 May 2020Jason Frimantle
- COMMANDER'S LOG - 25-05-3306 0930 - TRIFID SECTOR IR-W d1-52 - OBSERVATION POST EPSILON -Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.
It can be difficult sometimes to feel like one makes a difference in the galaxy. As Douglas Adams clearly and accurately described, space is pretty damn big. Each of us are pretty tiny within it. Even when we band together, be it to defend people from Thargoids or to vie for power and influence, it doesn't take more than a few jumps outside of the Bubble and spare a moment's thought to the surroundings to realize that one is... well, insignificant.
As impressive as it is that the intrepid explorers out here hollowed out this asteroid to build a small base for explorers to refuel and repair their ships, looking out across the void fills me with this feeling of existential emptiness. It's a feeling I've been wrestling with since it became clear that Aisling and her opponents are at something of a stalemate. We push the Feds out of a system only for her aunt's cronies to undermine Unchained in another one. I've taken more than a few looks at the map and sighed audibly before rubbing the bridge of my nose to stave off a headache and heading back to the landing bay.
I set out on this path of independent Commanderhood with the intent of making a difference. It's hard to feel like I'm doing that when it hits me just how big space is and how little things change in the power dynamics between politicians who couldn't be bothered to give a shit about people like me. I'd still like to believe Aisling is a bit more invested in the rights of the individual that most of the other 'power players' in the Bubble, but that could just be my optimism and perspective.
And to be honest, I could just be overthinking it. Maybe my individual efforts do make a difference, at least to my wingmates. I guess that if I want to do more than stand around this hollowed-out rock staring at the dark and uncaring void, I need to get back in my ship and return to Chona. Who knows — maybe I'll rediscover some of that lost spark along the way.
- END LOG -