Mining Madness
14 Apr 2016Raumfahrer Spiff
In my travels from star-port to star-port, I've heard rumors of some strange happenings in witchspace. Funny sounds, systems malfunctioning, strange flight behavior... The news of the Unidentified Artifacts hasn't done anything to stifle these cantina rumors, for sure. Thargoids? Raxxla? Who knows.I was finished mining, hauling a decent 22t Gold, 23t Silver, 8t Palladium, 12t Platinum, 4t Painite, and a smattering of other miscellaneous rocks--all together a productive and uneventful run. After a standard systems check I retracted my cargo scoop and hard-points, set my destination to the neighboring system, then boosted away from the ring to engage the frame-shift drive. After warping away from the planet, I almost barely noticed a slight change in the normal ambient sound of witchspace travel--there was a kind of echo in the usual whirring of warped space and a muted sort of chattering. Though faint, it was enough to chill me right through the comfortable climate control of my ship. In I don't know how many light-years of space travel, I've never heard anything quite like it. After I arrived at the system in supercruise, the echo didn't go away, and the chattering was still there. It almost felt like something had noticed me, and followed me out of witchspace. There was nothing strange on my radar, and systems seemed to be functioning normally, but my nerves were rattled and all I could do was quickly make my way to the star-port. After I dropped from supercruise everything was silent except for the usual comforting, throaty hum of my engines. Contrary to my piqued anxiety, everything seemed completely normal, so I docked, settled up a fine, and sold my wares for a decent chunk of credits.
I'll probably never know what that strange sound was or what it might mean. All the time news is coming in over Galnet of strange discoveries as the Alliance reaches further out into the void. Space is vast and lonely, but sometimes things happen that make us wonder.. just how lonely?
Of course, there may have been no strange phenomena, for all I know these rumors are just rumors. That was the last run of a few hours of hypnotizing mining work. The endless spinning rocks and dancing shadows, mixed with the lulling sounds of dancing limpets and mining lasers can certainly feel like a hit of onionhead to any tired miner. I'm staring to feel it might be time for a sabbatical--maybe I could go over to Morrina and assist the Alliance with their pirate problem, at any rate I should take some time off from the isolation of mining. Perhaps I was suffering just a touch of dreaded space-madness. Perhaps.