Black 'oles
23 Apr 2019Arbilac
That there 'ole is a.. well, maybe a Poin' of interest is the term, but there it is. Big, black and an 'ole.
Dangerous, aluring, pretty of sorts depending on the background as it don' do much itself but suck in light and material. A silent siren in the black, asking to be poked.
At least, that'd be the usual of it.
It'd been a few since I last caught a wake of that ship. Bored, or no longer worried about me, they'd continued on in the same direction, least I can tell, as I was. Or is. Or was. To this, the Ovomly black 'ole. Now, I ain't sayin' there aren't more of em, but this is the one I knew about and this whole sector used to play havok with ship's systems and so was given a wide bearth. Not so now; modern navigation bein' what it is, we can filter out the noise and keep on jumpin' through.
My mission, least to me, was the Z. I done that, so I was gonna go home, but the fella appeared and I had some systems issues that kept me from returning. Truth be told, I didn't wanna fly back through that sector. Probably shoulda since I reckon someone else was pullin' the ol' strings and gave me the willies out here.
Now that disc is offline, or at least, no longer of interest, I'm.... free, I guess. I still miss the fella though; real or not, I'd gotten used to 'im. Company of one's own ain't all that great long term, and I' been out here a few months now.
Still, the girl is just truckin' along, nice like.
Anyways, off topic I gone. Again.
I jumped in; and, well straight away I saw much of nothin. Then the galactic plane started to warp and distort; there she was, the black 'ole. Now, in normal space, I'd be turnin' tale and hitting the thrusters, but in 'cruise you're somewhat detached and the girl can easily outrun, or ride, the gravity well those things create. Still, I wasn't gonna drop and take pics all day.
I had arrived.
Now what?
And there it was. Sat in the distortion field, behind the hole. That bloody ship.
Was it tracking me? I dunno; I gotta say it felt more like a coincidence than anything. I guess we sat there lookin' at each other for a few, before he or she peeled off and jumped out toward the core.
I didn't.
In fact; I'm close by in a safer system; least to rest up. I've set up my ship here with full RF; a beacon of sorts. If they wanna come knocking, I'm here. I don't think they will though. Whatever experiments they running, they're done. Least on me for now. I think though, for a brief second, I saw the fella. Either the proximity of the ship, or the 'ole had him flicker in. I reckon, well, as much as my mind is my own, he's real. One and one don't need to make two, but it 'elps.
This region is big. Hundreds of light years in all directions; lightly surveyed. I am, I think, gonna look around before heading to Colonia or home since are both... kinda that way. I ain't seen Anchorage either; she was still an idea when I passed through the core last.
An to be honest; if my ship has some data onboard that I shouldn't have, going home ain't gonna help matters. The longer the black has me, the better I think. I certainly can't get to, or affect, that other ship, whoever it is.
What do you think, fella? Stay or go? Heh, yeah, you're right. Wha?, the lights just went out. <whack> That' better. Maybe spoke too soon on the girl's systems! Best go run a diagnostic. You comin? No? Heh, thought not.
<whistles softly>