Perfil de BioEgo > Diario

Perfil
Nombre de Comandante:
Nave actual:
starfish [BI-11B]
(Beluga Liner)
 
Miembro desde:
9/12/2020
 
Distancias subidas:
0
 
Sistemas visitados:
3.063
Descubrimiento(s) de sistemas:
1.608
 
Saldo:
984.380.492 Cr
Rings & Clouds

It's been a while since the last time I stopped by a ringed planet just for the pleasure of admiring it. I've found this interesting gas giant where the cloud top has a discontinuity on the equatorial plane, right below the rings, as if they were cutting the clouds.

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Flying as close as possible to the gap in the clouds I could see a lighter patch in the lower dark blue atmosphere, maybe some kind of chemiluminescent or even bioluminescent phenomena, or simply just a thunderstorm with lightnings illuminating the surrounding gases.

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Maybe one day we will have the technology to explore this mysterious bodies to unravel their secret and see what's happening below those thick clouds, but for the moment we must content ourselves to look at them from above.

I decided to stop on the closest moon for a quick break and to collect biological samples, but before starting the exploration I jumped over the STARFISH to inspect the ship and took a last glance to the gas giant looming in the sky above me, the gap in the clouds still very visible. Near the planet I also spotted the Andromeda galaxy: this brought back a lot of memories of my exploration of the western edge of the galaxy where sometimes that far away galaxy was the only thing visible in the sky above me... so different from how I can see it now, drowining in a see of stars.

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Biology on ice

I'm making my way toward the galactic center. As planned I'm moving diagonally going below the galactic plane to keep me out of explored territory and discover new systems. I've also programmed my nav computer to avoid neutron and white dwarf stars: I want to explore as much as possible and not simply "get there fast". Considering that my jump range is merely 22Ly on the best of conditions it'll take a while until I reach my destination, but at the moment I'm enjoying the trip.

The skies are still very full of stars, and while I know that closer to the center the density will increase I still hope that going down enough will still get me in a more sparse area with less light: I'm kinda nostalgic of the dark skies I've travelled when moving along the edge of the disk.

During this travel I'm also going on to further collect and catalogue life forms on the planets I encounter: the last one was a very cold ice moon orbiting a gas giant. The cold was very intense, a mere 116K and the white color of the iced ground along with the frosty appearence of the local variety of Follicula made for a very winter-like atmosphere.

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Somewhere over the rainbow

Before leaving the area for my next trip I decided to give a little contribution to the ongoing Colonia Bridge Project that recently launched Phase III.

I took the opportunity to get a load of Ceramic composites from a nearby system, Chrysus, and on my way in to land at Rock base I got the opportunity to take a few pics of the magnificent rainbow formed by Chrisus 3 rings.

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The view was indeed impressive but it was even more majestic when landed where I got the possibility to capture the rainbow, the galactic disk and a nebula in the background of the base buildings.

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Since I was there I decided to take a short pause from my travels and relax for a while at the station's lounge bar. While sipping a drink at a table by the panoramic windows I coudn't avoid staring at the rainbow outside for a final time....maybe sometime in the future we'll be able to witness real rainbows on fully atmospheric planets, for now however I'll be satisfied with this.

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STARFISH maiden voyage completed

I'm back at Jacques' Station in Colonia. With this final leg I concluded the maiden voyage of the STARFISH: I visited a nebula, discovered a new black-hole for the first time and managed to explore quite a bunch of new systems and planets along with several lifeforms granting me the Exobiology rank of Collector.

All in all not a bad record for my latest ship. There are still a few things I'd like to enhance before I can declare myself totally satisfied but since I need to get back to the Bubble for those I think they'll wait a bit longer.

Now it's time to plan a few more trips in this area of the galaxy, I'm not that homesick for the moment. I think next step will be to pay homage to the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy!

I will not take a direct route, so I'll start by heading further below the galactic disk to find a less explored route and add a few more discoveries to my record, before making my way back up to the core.

Time to restock and pack my stuff...the black is waiting for me!

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Crispy brown-dwarf

Surely one of the most breathtaking views for an explorer is getting out of an hyperjump right in front of a binary pair....and quite often it can really take your breath away...forever!!

Luckily for me this wasn't such a deadly encounter but the reddish brown star and its rapidly rotating NS companion sure gave me quite a shock when I entered Eol Prou BW-M d7-652.

A sharp turn and full brakes however allowed me to get into the proper alignment for supercharging my FSD and get away safely.

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Ancient science fiction

Back in time, towards the end of the second millenium, humanity began dreaming of travelling to the stars. Many authors began writing what was, at the time, science fiction: imaginary stories where the boundaries of technology and physics could be bent allowing the readers to explore fantastic new worlds.

I've always been fascinated by those stories: many technologies and achievements that, at the time of writing, were simple fantasies are now solid realities, even mundane facts. We are used to live among the stars, travelling from system to system, spending time in orbiting stations or even reading about explorers reaching the farthest stars in our galaxy.

Still I like reading and viewing ancient science fictions, and sometimes in my travels I find places and situations that remind me of some scenes out of those books and movies.

It's a nice sensation, it's like the universe is telling us "don't be afraid to dream big, maybe you'll never reach your goal, but someone, somewhere, sometime in the future will....and you'll be never forgotten"

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Looking for life

Even before the dawn of exobiology and the possibility to walk around planets, during my first days as an explorer, I've always been fascinated by alien lifeforms. Life is abundant in the galaxy if you know where to look.

Nowadays I'm taking full advantage of the new tech available to us to make the most out of my passions, discovering new worlds, enjoing breathtaking landscapes and views and advancing our knowledge about life on other planets.

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Roadblocks

Time passes but I'm still the same....making plans and discovering that I cannot follow them :/

As stated in my previous entry the idea was to look around for engineers and materials to improve the STARFISH... unfortunately I discovered that I misseed two critical steps to be able to do that:

  • to access the engineers near Colonia I first need introduction from their colleagues in the Bubble
  • I need a Guardian FSD boosters but all the sites to retrieve the blueprint seem to be in the Bubble

So basically I'm just 22Kly away from everything I need to improve the STARFISH :(

Oh well.... what should an explorer do when he/she meets a roadblock? Easy, take a look around to see something else :)

To test the capabilities of the STARFISH I decided to search for an undiscovered black hole and to get there I thought it'd be nice to pay a visit to the Dryooe Prou nebula. After all with the high density of stars nearby the relatively limited jump range of the STARFISH is not really a limit.

Needless to say I took a few pictures along the journey.

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The test was a success: while definitely not a small ship I'm pretty happy of the manoeuvrability of the STARFISH. Now I'm travelling back to Colonia to fit a couple of missing modules and plan the next move.

Spending spree

After selling all the data I collected in my travels I found myself with more than 1 billion credits on my account... time to spend them :)

I treated myself with a new ship: say "Hi!" to the STARFISH:

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I always liked the Beluga, and while I know it is not properly an exploration ship it is possible to outfit it into a pretty decent one. It'll require quite a lot of money (but, hey, this all started with the idea of spending them so I guess it's fine ;) ), and quite a bit of engineering.

So here is the next target: source the needed materials and pay a visit to a few engineers until I'll have the build I want.

Meanwhile I couldn't resist and I took the STARFISH out for a spin and to pay a visit to the NSP in Colonia, which by the way are the first NSPs I've ever visited

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Back to business - arriving at Colonia

"Captain's on the deck!"

It feels good to be back, this journey took an unexpectedly long time, but I'm finally back on business. The remaining 8KLy that still divided me from my target went away in a breeze... a bit too much for an explorer probably, but I still managed to get quite a few scans on the way.

So here I am: several months after my last contact with civilization on the western edge of the Galaxy and almost a year after I left the Bubble for good, yesterday the WANDERER made its approach to Jacques' Station in Colonia :)

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Selling the exploration data (almost 400M credits) I caught myself remembering some of those systems and the beautiful views I witnessed there.

So now is the time to wrap up this long journey and set the plan in motion for the next ones ;)