Don't Drink and Fly

I look up at my Cobra.

It's not even the Cobra IV that I was operating as a trading vessel – the one with the comfortable pilot's couch. It's my dad's old mark III he gave me when he retired. I've only used it as a courier and to build up a little "pirate discouragement" rating. Trying to fly trade routes at "Harmless" combat ranking is known to attract shizno-licking pirates, like a lexmoth to a glowpanel. I'd spent time in the combat simulators of course, but real space-fighting was different. Scary. Exhilarating.

So, my Mk3... I must have felt guilty about it. It's had some work done on it: I left it in a dry dock, cannibalised for parts. Now it looks almost militarised and the hull has been reinforced. I guess I spent some credits on the old girl. There's a message in my comm logs from a friend. Ooh, it seems I owed him a favour and he called it in while I was off my face on onionhead and couldn't say "no".

There's a civil war going on in 89 Leonis. He had a contract there to track down a Federal deserter who'd stolen some property when they'd gone AWOL. And that stolen property had turned out to be a Python.

I find a stored vid-log of him, in a Viper, pulling a dive-bombing run on the target while I try to manoeuvre behind it. And then I watch a pair of Eagles join the fight, shred my wingman's shields and force him to jump away. Left in a 1 v 3 it looks like I decided that a tactical retreat was an excellent idea and did the same.

I think my memory loss isn't (just) from the onionhead after all. I think we decided to abandon the mission and commiserate over a bottle of Lavian Brandy. Or maybe three. Four?

A Solid Base

So it looks like I might need to own a heavier combat vessel. If I'm going to get called in to assist with that sort of thing I'd like to be better prepared. And I suppose that means getting my life in order and earning a few credits.

Location: Leesti

I dock up at George Lucas and browse through the registry of ships and modules I own. I've got things scattered across a half dozen systems. I put out transport contracts to bring everything I can't just buy here to Leesti. It costs me credits but not enough that I care. Better to have everything I own somewhere central. Leesti has a better equipped shipyard than Lave so I decide to make it my home base.

Once everything is delivered I put my Mk3 back into storage and go find my Mk4. Time to get back on the trade run.

Time: Later – Location: Lave

I spent a couple of days shuttling goods. It was not that interesting. I only ran into problems twice. Once when I got bored and distracted and forgot to get clearance on approach to Erdos Station: I got chewed out by the traffic controllers but it wasn't words I was worried about. Orbis defence systems are not to be messed with. I've seen what they can do to an Anaconda.

The second time was when I picked up a shipment of weapons to take to Low Enterprise in Gliese 9423 and didn't look at the manifest properly. I thought they were just low-grade sidearms. They turned out to be military grade, and somewhat illegal to possess. And there was a clause in my shipping contract that would fine me heavily if I just dumped them. Fortunately for me, Low Enterprise is only an outpost with a light security presence. When I arrived I shut down the heat vanes and made a hasty but stealthy landing under the nose of the one patrolling sidewinder. The job paid pretty well but I'm not convinced that smuggling is a good career choice.

I looped around and ended up back in Lave, eight million credits richer.

The thing is, if I really wanted to make money trading I'd need to haul more than the 80T my Cobra can carry. Which would mean investing in a Type-6. Or, given my current finances, a Type-7. I could do it. I'm tempted. But you know what's more tempting?

39 Crucis.

To Jump From

Location: Leesti

I settle back into the Haje Memashite. Before the drives are even warmed up I feel at home. And I want to be moving. I set 39 Crucis as my target and let the jump plotter work. 32 jumps. But when I'm aligning the first jump I take a look at the star I'm headed towards and realise that there's actually something very important that I've forgotten to do...

Location: Sol

Let's do this properly.

I need pictures. I should be taking a lot more pictures.

Four jumps later.

Location: Wregoe GS-U B57-8

I'm taking a more direct route this time around, so I get to visit different systems. I haven't gotten to scan anything interesting by this point, but every icy rock I spectroscope on the way is worth a few thousand credits. I'm also lining up with 39 Crucis each time before I jump to see how the view looks as I move forwards. I'll collect all the photos in some sort of appendix later.

I was so busy paying attention to this task that I didn't realise that I was outside the Bubble and half-way to the Coalsack already.

Location: Musca Dark Region BM-U B3-11

I quickly check the attributions and some of the ice-moons here are unmapped. I haven't been keeping a close eye on that sort of thing. I'm not really expecting to find any unscanned planets on my way but I'll start actively watching when I get 10 jumps out.

21 to go.

Location: HIP 62154

This hot, white star has three water worlds in orbit. I do a loop of the system and drop probes on them all. Not that I think the map of a water world sounds very interesting or useful: "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'W'".

Location: Musca Dark Region KI-R B5-5

And now the Coalsack is behind me.

Location: Coalsack Sector KH-V C2-16

I figure that 39 Crucis ought to be getting pretty bright and obvious now, so I have a go lining up on it for my photo collection without first plotting a hypothetical one-jump vector to it. I miss. I aimed at something brighter. Then I wonder what I lined up on instead and bring up the galmap. Eventually I lock in on it: HR 4576. A quaternary of B class stars. No wonder it's so bright. I think I'll pay it a visit on the way back!

Location: Coalsack Sector ON-T C3-32

15 jumps to go.

My long range scans flag the first two worlds here as "potentially terraformable", which might be worth something extra. They've never been mapped so I send them probes. Then I have another go lining up on 39 Crucis manually and this time I get it right.

Location: Praea EUQ OT-K B8-4

7 jumps to go.

Location: Praea EUQ TZ-I B9-1

Finally, it happens. I jump into a system which nobody has ever visited before. An M/L binary with some rocky worlds in orbit of the primary. I'm going to map it thoroughly.

Done. Where's that brandy?

The Brandy is All Gone

Shazbot. Well that's probably for the best anyway.

I contemplate what to name my planets. Something respectful. Something classical.

Nothing comes to mind. In the end I look at their orbits, count them again and decide that – stupid as it is – I'm going to name them after some animated holoshow characters from when I was a child. It seems to fit the system layout too well to pass up the opportunity.

Anyway lots of planets have stupid names already, this is no different. I mean, "Earth"? Honestly. So stupid. That's like calling a star "Fire".

One More Jump To Go

The view back towards Sol. I try to identify some of the stars but I don't have much luck. The star centre-field is Becrux. Sol is almost directly behind it.

It's been a long journey. Lining up all the photos – and mapping a bunch of worlds – really added to the time it took me to get here. When I arrive, I'm going to do something "risky". I'm going to fly a couple of thousand light seconds out and then power down whatever I can to mask my signature. I could land on a moon, but I think I'll be harder to find in deep space. And then I'm going to get some sleep.

Enpoint: 39 Crucis

The Engineer's Task

Elvira Martuuk says she's just an engineer and an explorer, but I'm not convinced that's true. She moves like a merc, stacked with bio-enhancements. When talking to her I get the odd feeling she's watching my hands really carefully, like maybe I'm going to pull a gun. I'm not armed and I say so. She shrugs like she doesn't care one way or the other but also doesn't stop watching me. Judging me? I'm pretty sure that sort of paranoia doesn't come from a career exploring. Or engineering. I know better than to ask any questions.

When I say that I'm an explorer too I don't think she really believes me.

Lady, I came here because you messaged me about exploration.

She quickly checks her pad and slowly nods.

It's so hard to read her intentions; she speaks in this weird monotone. I think maybe she's trying to be sarcastic? But, some of her sentences turn into almost… innuendo? I wonder if she's trying to be off-putting or if she's… I don't know what. Anyway, it's not unusual for career pilots to get slightly strange so I try to ignore it.

She says that I got flagged by her system because I travelled a few hundred lightyears from where I got my Pilots Fed registration. Yikes, that's information I kinda wish she didn't have.

The direct approach seems best: I ask what she wants. She says she's looking to acquire some Xenological artefacts. Specifically, "Soontill Relics". The only real source for them is in a system called Ngurii, which is way back over the way I came from – out past Leesti, on the edge of The Bubble. I ask why she didn't say what she wanted over the Net while I was a little closer to the objects of her desire and she gives me a strange look and says,

"Some explorer. What, you don't like to… go places?"

I say that I like space travel just fine. She gives me a flat stare, rolls her eyes and calls me a child – asks if I'm still scared of witch-space ghosts.

I'd bite my thumb at her but I suspect she might break it. Or my hand. Maybe my arms.

I ask what I get in exchange for fetching her some dead alien trinkets. She glares at me for a bit, then sighs and sends me a short datafile.

So she's not the most endearing of individuals, hah – understatement, but what she's offering might make her attitude worthwhile. Ship module upgrades. Like what? Like FSD range improvements. That would certainly be useful to me.

I ask if I'm on a schedule. No, she's "in no hurry" for her relics. Well, she's running this entire base and I'm sure I'm not the only pilot she's supplying her services to, if she can do half what this file says.

I say I'll pick some up on the way back from 39 Crucis. If I thought that saying I was making a two thousand light year round trip would somehow impress her I was sorely mistaken. No response at all. I don't mention the biological signs I found on 3. I probably shouldn't even have said where I was going.

She does say that she looks forward to receiving (she pauses) any scan data I collect.

"I'm always happier with more…"

I, uh, think I get the hint. I ignore the possible subtext. Sounds like she'd be willing to make more extensive modifications to my ship if I can prove that I'm actually doing some exploring. Not sure why she cares, but okay. I suppose I should stockpile some maps and scans to show her when I get back. Before I sell them to UC. Getting paid once is good, but getting paid twice is better.

Fighting Breaks Out

Okay, so I'm going back across the Bubble. I want to be taking some unusual cargo; flying empty is not the way to make money. So I bring up a list of oddities and settle on Esuseku Caviar. Haidne Black Brew sounds interesting but I'm not travelling 500kLs to reach Searfoss Enterprise. No, thanks, I've done a trip like that recently. Anyway, I'm about 70LY from Esuseku and while there's nothing to buy here in Khun I should be able to pick something up along the way.

I hook into the commodity market network systems. I don't know the local trade routes at all so I have to start from scratch. Esuseku is agricultural. Okay, so, they'll always take biowaste, but I'm not in a bulk hauler, I can do better. I feed my start and end points into the auto-trade tools aaaaand... Nothing useful. Being on the outside of The Bubble really hurts them; all the good deals involve heading inwards and doubling back.

I fight with the trade calculators and market lookup tools for over an hour. Eventually I settle on making a single stop at Ngaislan to collect some Marine Equipment.

Location: Ngaislan

Okay, well, there's literally a war going on right outside of Swigert Terminal. I hope they're all too busy to notice me doing some trading under their noses.

Location: Esuseku

There's not much caviar in my goods allocation so I browse for more local novelties. Xelabara is pretty close by, if I get a reasonable size onionhead purchase allotment from them too that should be a good amount to take long distance. I get scanned multiple times on the way outbound.

Guys, you're not even being subtle.

Location: Mu Nora

Whichever quinmantha pirate was fastest with the wake scanner sends me a "polite request" but I skipped scooping and my FSD is already charging by the time I receive it.

Location: Xelabara

I get hassled again on the way inbound to Navigator Market but I don't even know why they bothered, they were so bad at interdiction. I buy a bunch of top quality onionhead and tobacco. I have a thought while deciding where I should go to sell my wares and check my storage bay rental records. I plot a course to my old SRV. Yenates.

Target: Yenates

I've been able to map a few more terrestrial planets locally so I'm carrying quite a lot of data for UC now. The Alliance are about as happy with me as they can get so I consider looking for a Federation station along the way to sell some to. Martuuk might not like me trying to sell maps of her own backyard to her after all. It's pretty much Alliance territory all the way to Yenates though. I think about stopping in Sango but I remember that I've got a cargo hold of onionhead and the Feds kinda don't like the stuff. Actually, since I'm here I might as well get some myself for "medicinal use".

Location: Yenates

Oh, now I remember why I didn't come back for my SRV sooner. Ashton port is 10kLS out. I do eventually arrive though, only to find the state my scarab is in. It looks like this.

Great.

I do manage to find a buyer for my caviar. I'm not sure what they're planning to do with it all. Not even 30 thousand people live here. 15 tonnes split between 30 thousand people is a half kilo each. That's actually an awful lot of caviar. I guess they plan to sell it on?

No surprise that they buy the onionhead though. I decide to unwind and partake of a little myself.

For Medicinal Use Only

Uh… My head. What happened? Why am I in Wolf 397? Just how strong was that onionhead?

Maybe Not Even For Medicinal Use

Do not trust your doctor if they prescribe you this.

Location: Wolf 397?

Circa Polaris Australis

So, I'm currently in the delightful Laming Depot. It's just what I'd expect from an Imperial outpost: I take one look at the mechanics and lock my hatches. I should have found a secluded crater on a moon to land in to sleep.

Anyway, I want to get out of Empire territory as soon as practical. I'm not the biggest fan of the Feds but at least they're not slavekeepers.

I boot up my long-range search tools and look for a nearby system to grab an SRV. Muduwa looks reasonable, but when I go to plot a course it gets flagged as being under Empire control. There's a war on in Khakya. HIP 104206 looks promising; two jumps away. I plot a course.

Location: HIP 104206

By Jameson, coming in for a nightside de-orbit to land at Griffiths Survey was terrifying. Flying into darkness, relying on the "distance to target" displays while simultaneously ignoring a whole bunch of "impact warning" lights. The night vision sensors didn't kick in until I was really low, and I wound up coming in at such a shallow angle that I overshot severely and had to loop around. Normally the loop of shame is punishment for travelling too fast, not too slowly. I'm on the ground now though. Time to go see if they have some SRV bays.

Well, they do, but only the heavier "H" version. And I can afford the power budget (just about) for the less massive "G" option. I could stay in-system and get one from Hansen Dock, but it's probably going to be faster to jump elsewhere. 19,000Ls is a long trip. I'd love to be able to safely microjump to other nearby stellar objects. I grab a package job to Mariterni and head out.

Location: Mariterni

I get interdicted as I'm on final approach to Whipple Landing. Rather than risk careening into Mariterni 2 trying to shake off my pursuit I cut power to the drive. They must have been expecting me to fight for longer; as soon as I'm out of cruise I turn hard, dump power into an engine boost and fire up the shift drive. I'm already leaping back into supercruise when I'm receive a "polite" message telling me to drop my cargo.

Pirates can go suck on a neutron star.

Deliver and Collect

Something I haven't done yet is sell most of my cartographic data to UC. Well, I handed over the data for Brandy. I couldn't find the "name your system" option – just an oversight I'm sure. What's important is that I got my attribution credit. Unfortunately it wasn't worth any real credits. Anyway, I've been sitting on the rest of it because I don't want to do the Empire any favours. So my plan is to head back to Alliance territory before I sell it; the whole lot together adds up to a nice, tidy sum. I haven't done much on-the-books work for the Alliance yet. In fact I have more favour with the Feds. Turning this in should help with that though. So, now I need to decide where to go.

New, better plan: Why fly empty when you can fly loaded? I scan my trade interfaces looking for local rare goods. I'm one jump out from Wheemete, and they have something on offer I've never heard of. So that's my first port of call. There's a courier job going there too, so that's nice.

Jump: Wheemete

Five. Hundred. Thousand. Light. Seconds.

No wonder this courier job is paying well. Apparently I'm being chased too. Well, great. I hope they get bored. I know I will.

450kLs to go.

300kLs.

250kLs.

Just broke 930c. Can I get to 1000?

150kLs.

No. Decelerating. I wish I had one of those old "stardreamer" setups right about now. Taking weeks in realtime might have been bad for trade but I just want this flight over and done.

50kLs.

I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with "S"...

25kLs.

No, it wasn't "Space".

10kLs.

Yes, it was "Stars". Well done.

1kLs.

Finally!

Shirazi Dock doesn't get many visitors, what a surprise! I hand over my data package. Bah! Turns out it was an Imperial contract. I really shouldn't have taken it. Screw those jerks. Time to login to the local market. Whatever they sell here ought to earn me something good back in the Independents. I'll bet it hardly ever makes it out of system.

Oh you have to be kidding me. The luxury goods they make here in Wheemete? Not at this station though! Apparently I want the Coriolis, 1Ls away. Fff.

I spend four thousand credits buying what appears to be packing material, though the locals assure me it's actually food. Whatever. I'm done with this system.

So, where is the closest Alliance starport?

Target: Aasgaa

There's still a couple of crates of this local wheatstuff for offer. If only I had another couple of tonnes of... My SRV! I won't need it on the way home, Aasgaa is a big industrial system with pretty much everything available, I can just sell this one and buy another when I get there. Mind you, these wheatcakes better sell like hotcakes.

Location: COL 285 Sector BQ-F C11-28

Oh for... Pirates. Can't live with them. Don't want to live with them. My wheatcakes aren't even worth anything to you yet – mate, do you want to haul them a hundred light years before they have any value? No? Idiot. Quinmantha. Dairy farmer.

Location: COL 285 Sector ZK-L B22-8

And you suck at interdicting too.

Location: Aasgaa

Civilisation! Yay!

I make a nice profit from those wheatcakes. 300k. In fact, I have a thought about the Haje's loadout. I'm running a class 5C fuel scoop and it fills the tank in no time. Even less time since I traded out my secondary/backup tank (that I didn't seem to be reaching into ever) for space for the SRV bay. So, what if I find a class 4A scoop for the secondary module bay? It will use a little more power, it will scoop a little bit slower, but then I can reinstall class 5 cargo racks in the primary. That's 32T of potential cargo capacity, up from 16. I don't even think I'll lose that much unladen jump range. A 4A scoop is a little pricey, but heh, guess what?

35 million credits.

All that mapping has netted me more than I earned trading (for the short time I was getting paid directly instead of being salaried by the family). I'm still not rich but this excursion is paying for itself very nicely. If I want to come home and do some trading I've got enough to buy a Type-7. The Alliance are happy with me too. Win, win.

I have some brandy. I get the FSD looked over; it's holding up well. Time to head back out to 39 Crucis.

Wait, What Did That Lady Want Again?

I've still got that beacon from Ms. Martuuk blinking on my gal-map. I don't think I'll be getting much closer to it for a while. I might as well fly over and see what she thinks she can help me with before I leave the Bubble again. Now, how far away is...

300LY? Really?

No, look, 300LY isn't so bad. It's nothing compared to the 1600 you've just been on, and the 1600 you're planning to do again. Just go see what she wants.

Target: Khun

I might as well put my new cargo bay to use though! I have my new SRV bay removed again and put into local storage to fit a couple more cargo racks, then I buy up some superconductors.

First jump: Tionsla

I get followed, but I make my second jump before they can catch up.

Second jump: Leesti

Leesti is one of the best patrolled systems I know. Only an insane person would chase me here to pirate me.

George Lucas is always happy to have my business. I, personally, don't see the appeal in Azure Milk but I know it's well liked. I have enough cargo space to buy up my full allotment of both Milk and "Evil Juice". I prefer to stick with the brandy for my drinks. Since I seem to be having pirate troubles at the moment I change my route settings to ignore low-sec systems and plot for Khun.

Location: LHS 378

Jameson, I was not expecting that! LHS 378 is a white dwarf! I make a hard turn to put some distance between it and me, then turn to admire the view. Kinda kills my plans to scoop fuel here. My tanks are half-empty, which is about as low as I like to be: for situations just like this! I check my next jump target and it's a G5V class; an easy scoop target. I catalogue all the moons of the various gas giants then fire the hyperdrive back up.

Location: Wolf 573

I fill my tanks right up. It takes a little longer than before, when I had the class 5 scoop, but not long enough for heat to build to uncomfortable levels. Temperature might be a problem if I try to scoop much from a class O supergiant but I think that was always going to be the case.

Ooh, the only local planet is a habitable. Time to make some maps.

Location: Ross 860

I map two more habitables and a moon. If UC keep paying me the same rates they have been for maps of Earth-likes – ones they must know about – I'm going to milk them really well from this short trip.

Hah, what was I saying earlier? And now 300LY is short? Wow, my perspective has been shifting somewhat.

I find a security installation in orbit of A6 and I'm feeling curious. There's a scan target somewhere close to the centre of the station that I try to get close to. When I get within about 800m I get flagged as being a trespasser so I make a hasty retreat. Nice of them to let me know about that early.

As I'm lining up to make my outbound jump I get interdicted. It's probably just the Feds, wanting to know what I've been doing near unmarked security installations, and I know I'm supposed to submit and let them scan me but I just don't feel like putting up with their attitude today. It's not hard to break the interdiction and I make the next jump.

Location: Guangul

Oh, they did not like that! I get an interdiction warning just as I finish my scoop. Luckily I'm already lined up for my next jump so I leave in a hurry.

Location: NLTT 49528

I make two more jumps in quick succession, not bothering to scoop or pause to run scans. Then I get a little distance from the primary before dropping out of cruise. I turn 90 degrees, boost, toggle the auto-flight stabilisers off and then go silent for a bit. It's risky to drop my shields – the Haje Memashite isn't exactly painted the darkest of colours – but they clearly had a wake scanner and could follow me through hyperspace. So I hide out in realspace for a bit.

I mean, they could probably still track me down. But I doubt I'm in their local jurisdiction anymore. Hopefully they'll decide I'm not worth the effort to chase, just to hassle me about violating authority procedure. It's not like I'm actually smuggling. "Evil Juice", despite the name, is legal in… oh, let's say ninety percent of systems.

Location: HIP 108110

61 Bodies. A new record for how much time I spent peering into the FSS screen. As I approach 2 to take some maps I get a message asking me to land somewhere and disable a settlement's power grid – for money. Because that's a reasonable thing to ask a random pilot, yes? Delete.

Location: Khun

I have to wait for pad space to free up at the outpost but when I get in I manage to sell off my Leestian goods for 400k for profit. I check in with UC and they're willing to pay me a lot for the maps I've made on the way here. Far more than makes sense, but I'm not going to tell them if you won't. I decide to save my data to hand in nearer home though. It earns a lots of points with the local UC branch and having a good reputation with an important corporation makes more sense than it does with being liked in a little backwater like this.

End point: Cemona Prospect – Khun

To the Reach

I hunt through the settings on my course plotter and set it to auto-log everything. I don't want to be reading out 19 jumps worth of alphanumeric star ids. It's probably not important, but I toggle off non-scoopable stars from the plotter too. No reason not to stay topped off. Most of my jumps will be to red dwarfs anyways I'm sure, so avoiding the occasional L class shouldn't cost me more than a jump or two.

If I find anything interesting, I'll let you know.

Location: Coalsack Sector QI-T C3-19

Barnard's Loop pops back into view. It's nice to have it back.

I get an unusual signal as I sweep my sensors through the bands. There's a terrestrial planet here! It's been mapped already, but that didn't seem to matter for Gacrux 5. I drop some probes on it and its co-orbital, then finish mapping the high metal bodies around its host star.

Location: Coalsack Sector IR-W D1-150

This is a nice stellar neighbourhood. I get to map a water world, with rings.

Location: Praea EUQ WV-P B5-0

Apparently I'm reaching the edges of explored territory. Some ice worlds in this system weren't even logged. I journey to the nearest and make maps. It's not my first entire system, but I think it's my first world. I take just a sip of brandy to commemorate.

Location: Praea EUQ XF-H B10-2

So, this seems to be it. The primary here is logged with UC, but there are a trio of L class dwarfs and a bunch of icy rocks which don't have names attached to them. Seems like somebody used this as a jump point once but didn't hang about to scan anything. I can't say I blame them, there's not really anything interesting here. But still. Unseen worlds. Another shot of brandy.

Location: Praea EUQ OY-B B13-8

I add an ammonia world to my collection of new mappings. 39 Crucis is shines brightly ahead. One jump to go!

Location: 39 Crucis

So, I'm not the first person to visit. But nine metallic bodies orbit this blue beast of a star, and none of them have been properly mapped.

Yet.

That's weird. I'm getting a whole bunch of strange signals from the surface of 3. Some of them appear to be biological? I could drop out of space to get a closer look, but I don't have an SRV with me. I guess, if I'm interested, I'll have to buy one and come back. I hadn't planned on landing anywhere when I began this. The mass of an SRV bay didn't seem worth it. But I do have the pod space to install one. The journey so far hasn't been bad though. Yeah. I'll go visit Theta-2, and then head back to collect a bay.

The Plan

I need an SRV, and I'm 800LY from the closest one. So, the plan is to make a 1600LY round trip, followed by the 800 back home, plus the 800 that got me here... Well over 3000LY.

I'm going to have to get my frameshift drive thoroughly inspected after all that. I'm not worried about this Asp. Lakon know how to build tough ships. The spaceframe is in really good shape; considering how old it was when I bought it, I don't think I'll ever have to worry about the hull.

Target: Theta-2 Crucis

Only 6 jumps to Theta-2. Last star in the list.

Location: Theta-2 Crucis

Lots of ringed brown dwarfs, with an almost ridiculous number of unmapped moons. Upwards of 30. I'm going to make sure it gets done, I'm just thinking about if I want to do it now, or when I come back to 39 CRU.

I decide to map the innermost planet today then come back. And I'm glad I did; the rings of bodies in the system shine a brilliant blue, a consequence of how bright Theta-2 is and how close they are.

So. Time to go home.

Back From the Reach

As I'm plotting my way back, I have a thought. I meant to start from the Nadir of Earth's viewpoint. Well, how far away was I?

HIP 104382. Polaris Australis. 618.68LY

It's obviously not directly on the way back to Sol, but I'm so far out that it doesn't seem like a huge detour. And I'll get to explore new systems on the way. Yeah, I might as well make the best of the situation, eh? I'm also going to try to maximize the odds of finding habitable worlds by excluding stars that aren't class F, G or K from my pathfinder. It won't be the shortest route, but it might be more interesting.

Target: Polaris Australis

27 jumps to go.

Location: SWOILZ UK-A C3-38 A

I've been making a habit of checking the system discovery attributions. And finally, this system gave me what I wanted.

Emptiness.

I mean, admittedly it's "just" a trinary star system. With no planets. But guess who else knows that? Nobody. Well, whoever reads this, I suppose. But I'll have claimed my credits and signed my CMDR id onto it by then by then.

Mine.

Brandy.

Location: SWOILZ HC-B D1-19

And that's what I'm going to call it too. The Brandy system.

Strangely, HC-B D1-19, which is right next door, has been not only scanned, but partially mapped. Just down to luck I suppose.

Location: HIP 80382

I finally return to the systems using the older category numbers instead of modern region names. One jump to Polaris Australis.

I've found a couple of water worlds on the way but I'm not convinced I've done much better than before, in terms of planet finding, by avoiding the hottest and coldest stars.

Location: Polaris Australis

So. This is where I meant to start. I point towards Sol. I squint, but it's too dim to see from here.

I flick through the discovery attributions and it looks like nobody has mapped the farthest planet out. So I do that. It's a pretty little yellow thing with nice rings. Unfortunately it's at just the size where I'm not good placing my probes (yet) so I whiff my efficiency bonus. But it's better to be mapped poorly than not at all!

A Place to Rest my Head

I toggle the galmap into economic view and find the nearest inhabited system. HIP 78866 is only one jump away. Good: I need to dock up and resupply. I want to have a quick look at the shield generator too – I think it's making a whining noise. I know it's not getting much use out here but I feel safer having some shields than none. Particularly now that I'm in back in the fringe systems.

I've heard stories about quinmanthas that watch out specifically for ships with no shields. Because an Asp with no shields is probably out exploring and therefore is most likely unarmed. There's a word for people who interdict unarmed ships and fire missiles at them for fun. I think I've already used it though. Even though my shields can only absorb a token amount of damage I think it's better to not appear to be the easy target that I am.

Jump: HIP 78866

Looks to be a busy mining system. I start scanning and just as I'm finishing one of those tubestains tries to drag me out of supercruise. I give them the slip and fly a hasty and messy path to Laming Depot.

I spend one day out of The Bubble and as soon as I get back I'm instantly targeted by a pirate. Yeah, that's the best "welcome back" gift I could get. I'm going to finish my brandy.

End point: Laming Depot – HIP 78866

Credit Where it's Due

I checked my trade exchange systems, loaded up on some basic meds and jumped Solwards to HIP 56501. I pick up landing permission from Yolen Relay. I find there's a nice, unexpected bonus of flying an Asp instead of a Cobra: when coming in to dock at these little outposts they have to assign me to the bigger pad – it's easier to find without looping around the station. I wish they'd put some better orientation marks on these things.

The outpost people buy my goods but I don't make the profit I was hoping to. The emergency they had been experiencing which had pushed up the price of medicine was over; my data had been over a month out of date. Oh well, that wasn't really why I came.

I check my moon maps in with UC and there's a pause after I do. Then it rings me up some bonus credits. The reason the system couldn't find somebody to attribute the 59455 moon maps to really was because nobody had run detailed scans of them before.

Not even halfway out and I've discovered something new. Or, well, spent the time to map it. The bonus isn't huge, they're only moons, but it feels like I've achieved something. What a nice way to start the day!

The Core of Crux

Target: Mu-1 Crucis / HIP 63003

I'm going back to 59455. I only mapped the moons of the inner planet, as an experiment. Now I'm going to finish the job.

First jump: Col 285 Sector JX-P B20-3

One of the gas giants here supports ammonia based life, so I decide to get some practice probing larger bodies. The ring system is pretty, but it does slow down the mapping process because I can't fire probes through it.

Second jump: HIP 59455

I probe the remaining moons of the gas giants. Time to work out how I'm going to get to Acrux!

Target: Acrux

I settle on a slightly snakey route, toggling off orange and red stars in the jumpfinder. This means I'll be visiting hotter stars, maybe ones that would have been more visible from Earth. They've got older star catalogue numbers, so I think I've got the right idea.

First jump: HIP 61123

One icy rock, with maps already registered.

Second jump: HIP 59786

Some gas giants. I note that some of the moons haven't been mapped so I pause to drop some probes. There's also a high metal body with rings, so I visit that too. They're pretty.

1 e/f turns out to be a binary. I'm no planetologist, but it doesn't look like a stable orbital system to me.

Third jump: HIP 60447

A lonely star.

Fourth jump: HIP 61067

One of the worlds here shows up an argon rich water-world – with rings. It's been mapped, but I do like rings. And if they gave me money for mapping Gacrux 5, this has to be worth something.

Much like e/f from two jumps ago, 2 c/d doesn't look like it's going to be two separate moons for long. Wow.

Firth jump: HIP 61444

Three bright stars. Nearly to Acrux.

Sixth jump: Wregoe YQ-W B56-4

I'm looking at the unmapped bodies, and considering it, when I get a notification message from Elvira Martuuk.

I have no idea who that is. They leave me a system location to contact them directly, and an offer to help with my exploring. Curious. So I guess I'll check out what they have to say – after I get back from Mu-1.

I decide to skip mapping the unmapped rocks in favour of jumping to Acrux.

Seventh jump: Acrux

Blue light washes my cockpit and my sensor display is filled with stars. They're all dull brown dwarfs, with one red dwarf casting a little light. There are a few metallic rocks but they're all fully mapped so after enjoying the view for a bit, I bring my galmap back up.

Bravo

I decide to visit Becrux, then Delta, then Zeta, before moving outwards to Lambda.

First jump: HIP 62391

I fall out of hyperspace on top of A 1. At this orbital distance from a star it's travelling at some speed, I'm pretty sure I can directly see it moving, and getting blasted by radiation in the process. My probes manage to survive long enough to generate some mapping data, though I'm not the first do obtain some.

Hah, y'know, A 3 looks kinda like a chocolate pudding.

The gas giants of B haven't been mapped but they're 400 kls away so I don't feel like spending time to reach them.

Second jump: Becrux

This is a very metal rich system. I can imagine a mining colony in high orbit of 8 a quite easily. I suppose the jump distance back to the Bubble makes it too risky to start one though. Too many places to be intercepted by pirates.

It's weird, not seeing even outpost stations. Nobody out here but me. It's a strange feeling. I mean, space is empty. It's always been empty. But it's never been this empty.

It makes me wonder. Just how lonely can it get?

I mess with the course plotting settings, double check my fuel tanks are full, and do something I've never intentionally done before. I jump to a nearby dwarf star that can't be scooped.

Jump: Wregoe CC-V B57-0

It's very, very red.

I quickly plot a course back to Becrux, it's pretty obvious in the black though. A brilliant blue light – maybe the brightest. I turn around, and there's Delta Crucis. Another bright blue pinprick.

Then I look down at my system scanner. I might as well see if there's anything here. It turns out this is a trinary; two other, even fainter, stars share this gravity well. As do a few icy rocks. I have a quick look at them, and it looks like a mapping crew has already visited. By they didn't bother with everything.

I decide to finish the job.

Through the Letters

Jump: Delta Crucis

Delta is all alone. I top up my tanks in its blue light, then plot a course to Zeta

First jump: Wregoe AR-W B56-5

I decide not to map the little iceballs here. It's a huge galaxy. If I stop at every system I visit to mark each ball of rock I'll grow old and die before I get halfway through the list of stars I need to visit.

Second jump: Zeta Crucis

Not just one, but three blue stars await me. No planets though. I aim at Lambda.

First jump: Wregoe MPO-Z D13-123

Second jump: Wregoe MO-Z D12-160

Third jump: Lambda Crucis

Lambda is surrounded by a group of brown dwarfs with a scattering of icy moons. Some of which have not been mapped.

This is why I'm here.

The Smallest Detour

HR4848 sort of isn't part of Crux but it's a bright star in the same patch of sky. I don't know why the old Earthers didn't include it with the other named stars. Anyway, it's right here.

Jump: HR 4848

Nothing to see though.

Back on Course

First jump: Praea EUQ NP-A B8

After scanning some rocks I skirt a little close to the star on the jump back out. It gets quite toasty and my heat alarms start ringing but it only lasts for a few seconds. I hope nothing was damaged; all my indicators read green.

Second jump: Mu-1 Crucis

I look back at Sol. From out here, I don't think I can even see it, surrounded as it is by a cross of bright blue stars.

Looking outwards only two bright stars from Crux remain. 39 and Theta-2. They're a long way out. Past the Coalsack. Far from occupied territories. In fact, it's farther from here to either than it is to go back to Sol.

I hesitate. I could call Crux done by many measures. Checking back through my data, Theta-2 was an optical binary with Theta-1 (they just lined up when viewed from Earth) and the records seem to be confused about HIP 61966; giving it a different name (CH) and cautioning me not to confuse it with 39. The data I have obviously is outdated and imperfect. While considering whether to turn back or press on I break open some rations and start looking at the next constellation in my list.

Mistaken Orientation

So, I wanted to start in the "South", and work "North". So I began at Crux, aka, the Southern Cross. Is it the constellation closest to Earth's "South"? No. No it is not. I curse myself for not checking more closely, but what I've accidentally done is picked the constellation effectively at random. Well, I suppose it was a good a place to start as any.

Hmm, if I'm going to make a mistake, I may as well make a big one.

I'm going to 39 Crucis.

Aiming at 39 Crucis I look at the Coalsack Nebula, an even darker patch of black than most of space. It occupies much more of my fov than I'm used to. I must be quite close to it. Checking distances I see it's actually closer than home. It seems a shame to fly past without even taking a look. I use the galmap to find a protostar on the edge of it and plot a course.

Target: Musca Dark Region FR-V C2-12

First jump: Coalsack Sector DB-X C1-14

I probe a couple of metal-rich worlds on the way through.

Second jump: Coalsack Sector LI-S B4-7

Third jump: Coalsack Sector DL-Y D82

I look at the Coalsack. I look at Barnard's Loop. By my estimation, after the next jump the former should occlude the latter.

Fourth jump: Musca Dark Region FR-V C2-12

I find not one but two protostars. I can see why pilot training cautioned me about trying to scoop one of these, I would have called it a class K just judging by the colour.

Barnard's loop is gone.

I open the galmap, go through the UC Database and pick a random star in the running man sector to aim at. A black cloud blots my view. That's very, very strange. The loop is so far away that it's been a constant reference point for me. It and the Coalsack. And obviously the band of light that is the galactic core. It's a little disconcerting to have its light be swallowed up in whatever stellar dust soup the Coalsack is made of.

I take a couple of pictures but they just come out as near-black. Not very interesting. I guess you have to be here for the effect to mean much.

There is, of course, nothing here to map. I spot a nearby HIP numbered star, so I go there to refuel.

Jump: HIP 63678

Maybe it's just because I'm getting adjusted to The Black but this seems like a very bright star.

I'm enjoying all the new sights I'm seeing but did set myself a target. I aim back outwards, towards 39 Cru. The jump computer plots me a 19 jump course.

End point: Deep Space – HIP 63678

Crux

Target: Iota Crucis / HIP 62268

Since I spent most of yesterday learning how to drive, I get to start today by mapping Eta Crucis. I'm expecting this to take some time so while I'd like to reach Theta-1, I'm not expecting to get past Iota.

Wow, literally every planet around AB here has a ring system.

Oh, uhm, guess who wasn't paying attention and just launched a planetary probe into a brown dwarf star? I saw the rings and assumed it was a gas giant. The faint purple glow is apparently what gives it away. Well. What an interesting place to have started my journey. It will save me some time mapping at least: these ringed bodies are all dwarf stars.

Scanning update: Bored

So many moons. Just, dry and dead rocks. Actually, if they're orbiting dwarf stars, are they planets themselves? Bodies? Worlds.

They're still dry and dead though.

And they've been mapped previously. I mean, this is a pretty active mining system, well within known space. Not even 70 ly from home. I'm getting planetary mapping confirmation notices, but I'm not exploring yet. I'm just verifying.

I'm going to quit dropping probes on mapped worlds. Boring ones, anyway.

It's not laziness. It's efficiency.

First jump: Gacrux

I don't remember jumping to a red giant before. Gacrux filled my field of view. Very impressive. I flew over to 5 to drop a couple of probes because it was marked as "potentially habitable", while pointedly ignoring the fully operational Coriolis in low orbit. If UC will buy this data for more than a credit, they're pretty gullible.

Just as I was about to hyperspace out I picked up a bunch of comms traffic right on my location. I dropped out of supercruise to investigate, to find Gacrux stellar villas. There's a tourist station here. Yay. Go me, for visiting Gacrux and pushing the boundaries of human knowledge. The Feds dropped out of cruise to see what I was up to. Told them I was just sight-seeing and quickly plotted a course. Onwards.

Second jump: Crucis Sector NN-T B3-1

I checked my starmaps. So far I've actually been getting closer to home. This system marks the point where I start travelling not only away from Sol, but away from Lave. I had to break out the system scanner but there's just a dozen balls of ice here, nothing interesting, nothing new.

Third jump: Iota Crucis

My second giant star of the journey – orange this time. None of its companions look terribly interesting though.

Backtracking

I start plotting a route out to Epsilon Crucis; it seems to be just outside controlled space. This is it. This is where I venture into the unknown.

Something's not right though. I can't just start jumping straight away. It doesn't feel right somehow...

It looks like the Bubble-Edge system I'd leave from would be Kitani. A small industrial operation of only a few million people.

I wonder if they've ever tried Lavian Brandy?

Target: Lave

First jump: Tiveronisa

I'm well acquainted with Tiveronisa. I've bought a lot of polymers from Watts Orbital. I'm tempted to stop by but I shouldn't get distracted.

Second jump: Lave

I am so used to having 16 ly of jump range. Normally the trip home from Tiveronisa would take me 3 jumps. Today, I did it in one. I'm taking a liking to the Haje Memashite – my slightly-used Asp Scout.

I know that ~30 ly of jump range isn't really that impressive compared to some of the ships I've heard about. Anacondas – stripped to their bones – pushing 40 ly. Modified Diamondbacks doing 55. The crazies who fly near neutron stars for an extra boost…

The pilots jumping off to Beagle Point, just to say they've been, well I'm sure they're giggling at my little Asp, with its cargo racks still intact. And, that's fine… I, am going to buy some brandy.

On the way out, I check in with Universal Cartographics. They'll give me almost 900 kCr for the surface maps I made of Gacrux 5. I decide not to query the amount but I leave it in escrow for the moment. When making a trade, and the offer seems too good, sometimes its best not to ask too many questions: But do have an escape plan!

So that was well worth stopping for. I'll get paid for all the moons I scanned in Eta too, but not given even half as many credits for spending way more time and effort. Mapping habitable planets is where the money is at – perhaps no real surprise.

Target: Kitani

First jump: Crucis Sector DL-Y D163

Nothing. Not even rocks.

Second jump: Col 285 Sector BW-R B19-7

Woo, rocks.

Third jump: Col 285 Sector IX-P B20-2

Yay, more rocks.

Fourth jump: Kitani

I make my way to the closest settlement, Malcom Oasis, only to find that it doesn't have docking facilities. Savages. So I plot a course out to Barreiros Landing. Partway there some quinmantha tries to interdict me. He's sloppy though, and I roll and twist out of his grasp. He tries a second time as I'm nearing my destination, but he fares no better.

I suppose I'm still not really that far from home; the market buys my brandy, but they don't give me an especially good price for it. Still, credits are credits.

Outbound

Targets: Epsilon Crucis & Theta-1 Crucis

First jump: HIP 59455

I override the course plotting computer so I can jump via stars assigned older style catalogue numbers. I'm not sure why, it just seems more appropriate. While taking scans of the bodies in 59455 I notice there's been no credit claimed for mapping the moons in the system. I swing by the first gas giant and launch probes at its moons. Nothing special seems to happen, perhaps there's just a glitch in the attribution system. UC don't seem that competent if they'll give me nearly a million credits to map a body which has a thriving tourist operation in residence. I'll find out when I return and hand my data in.

Second jump: HIP 59913

Several gas giants with moons. The mapping attribution register still seems to be bugged out.

Third jump: HIP 60288

I drop out almost directly on top of a small metal-rich planet, so I deliver a couple of probes to the surface while I'm nearby.

Fourth jump: Epsilon Crucis

No secondaries.

Fifth jump: Theta-1 Crucis

No secondaries either.

Return to Base

At this point I'm really wondering about the missing moon map attributions, so I plot a more direct course back to Kitani. Three quick jumps; I just want to satisfy my curiosity…

First jump: Col 285 Sector OD-0 B21-3

Empty.

Second jump: Col 285 Sector JX-P B20-2

I jump through three systems with no planets, and then 38 come along at once. Typical!

A nearby gas giant registers signs of ammonia based life. Maybe that's valuable? I pay it a visit and drop some probes.

Third jump: Kitani

Sensors pick up an unregistered comms beacon on my path to Barreiros Landing so I drop out of cruise to investigate. It's marking out a couple of asteroids with some local miners working at them. We leave each other alone.

I sit for a couple of minutes wondering why it's here. It doesn't respond to any data request I can send it. Eventually I lose interest in the probe and go dock at Barreiros. Annoyingly, 59455 is too close by for them to accept any mapping data from. I suppose I'll have to make a jump homeward tomorrow before setting out Crux-wards. But, for now, I've accomplished the goals I laid out. I'm going to see if I can get a discount on buying back some of the Lavian Brandy I brought here.

End point: Barreiros Landing – Kitani

Crux

Target: Eta Crucis / HIP 59072

I wave goodbye to Earth; I'm eager to be underway. I'm going to cover 64LY in just 3 jumps. Somewhat better than the 5 or 6 I would've needed in my Cobra. Of course, I've got no cargo with me. And hardly any shields. But I should be relatively safe. It's not like I haven't run from pirates before. I know what I'm doing.

First jump: LHS 2447

Aaaand, Anarchy? Well, I mean, I guess there's nothing here to police. Just a class K star with two brown dwarfs in orbit.

Second jump: Sesuang

A red dwarf with a sub-red companion, with a couple billion people running farms and industries. I don't feel like an explorer yet. I still miss my chair. I am enjoying the uprated fuel scoops I splashed out for though. It takes almost no time to top up the tanks.

Third jump: Eta Crucis

Well. I'm here. And I have some work to do, according to my scan pulse. 53 system bodies to chart. Nothing that hasn't been seen before, of course, but the information in my computer is scant at best.

Doing a full system scan took a while, but less than it took me when I was learning how to use the scanner suite in the Hajanheimr system. One big difference: now I'm carrying some planetary mapping probes. So I have rather more to do.

Eta Crucis AB 1 is pretty. I have a soft spot for ring systems I guess.

The Unexpected

In the middle of launching probes at the moons of AB1, I get a direct message asking me to help undertake a local salvage operation.

"But," I hear you say, "you're exploring, surely you don't have any cargo space!"

Aha. Heh. Hehe, well. I couldn't resist installing just a few cargo racks. It's not like I could find any useful equipment to mount in the secondary module bay. I didn't want the additional permanent mass of class 4 shields, and I'm not sure I could spare the power budget even if I wanted to; I'm running on a tiny little 2A powerplant. So, yeah, empty cargo racks.

Guess who's happy they have them now?

Fourth jump – Sideways: Arro Naga

Nothing to discover or map here. I stopped by the local NAV beacon to find my salvage target and found myself needing to cover nearly 10 light-hours in supercruise to get there. I spent the time messing with the seat adjustment controls. I think I've got it how I like it now. I also finished hooking in my remote market lookup gear. Now I can check on commodity prices at a station without having to be docked. The information isn't perfectly up to date, but it's an awful lot better than no information!

Well… Seems like the salvage I'm supposed to collect isn't in orbit of Naga B2. It's on the surface.

And I didn't pack an SRV. I mean, I've been given a very long time limit for this mission: 4 Days. I don't really want to jump out to buy one and have to fly back. There is an Ocellus, Gillekens Gateway, here though. Just in case I get lucky I check the local system outfit registry and they do stock vehicle hangars. I can swap out my AFMU for an SRV bay just to handle this salvage job. Looking at the payout from this mission however, it doesn't seem like I'm spending my time well. I'm not about to quit mid job, but I don't think I'll let myself get so side-tracked again. Not for a mere 120k.

I spend a few thousand credits buying a bay and a Scarab. I think I get ripped off, but it's not like I want to jump back to Lave to pick up my own.

Wow, I just realised. I have had, uhm, exactly no practice at planetary operations. At all. When I said "my SRV", what I meant was "an SRV I was given as part-exchange for a cargo haul". Landing is strange without a pad but I manage. I'm going to have to read the manuals for how to drive a Scarab though…

While reading the manuals I get a message asking me to courier some low-value data for almost no pay. I hit the delete key without really reading. Y'know, nobody bothers me like this in Leesti.

I'm an idiot. I'm so used to docking pads; I spent half an hour wondering why the SRV bay wouldn't release – while I was hovering 40 cm in the air the whole time. A distance I hope makes no difference to a rugged ATV like my Scarab. Perhaps the thruster wash would have been an issue? It's probably something to do with "Safety Protocols". Safety protocols, am I right? I love 'em. They're great – at protecting insurance corporations from paying out what they owe.

Fifth jump: Eta Crucis

Well that took too long. I thought I'd be doing a good deed at least – salvaging a flight recorder after a crash or something. Nope, they just wanted some cargo retrieving. There were a couple of extra containers, more than they were asking for, so I loaded those up too. When I dropped them off I noted just how much less than 4 days I'd taken to retrieve their pottery, or whatever it was, and I must have been convincing because they paid me a 50% bonus. Then I sold the extra containers for a little extra-extra bonus. Even so, I've netted far bigger payouts for much less work. I don't think I'll be bothering to take any more side-quests like this from now on.

In fact, all that driving-about nonsense was murder on my spine. B2 has more surface gravity than I'm used to operating in. I wasn't sorry to trade that SRV back in; I don't think the control couch was up to spec. I do think I've had enough activity for the day. My bunk is looking at me longingly.

End point: Polyakov Survey – Eta Crucis

One small step…

I've studied my old texts and begun mapping out which stars belonged to which constellations; cross-referencing star names/numbers and feeding this into my ship computer is turning out to be a little time consuming. Luckily it seems to accept the old catalogue numbers directly – even for systems with modern names.

The view out of the cockpit of this Asp is great. I do miss my Cobra's chair though. Flight couches are supposed to be more-or-less standardised but I don't quite feel at home yet. I'm sure it will be fine once I get a few ly under my belt.

My poor Cobra; I had to get the shipyard engineers to rip out her frame shift drive to install it in this Asp. I couldn't afford to buy a new long-range drive. It was expensive enough for the first one. And it's not like I can fly two ships at once!

Anyway, I have decided – for no particular reason – to start my work by facing Sol relative "down" and working my way in a spiral "upwards". From nadir to zenith, heh. Thus, my mission begins at "Crux".

Crux

I was born on Lave. This is the view from Lave. I knew that the stars were named by people from Earth, but I don't think I really understood that until now. I make a few hyperspace jumps, getting the feel for my new ship. Let me show you the view from Sol instead.

Oh. Cross. Duh. Well, and an extra star. Two, actually. The Acrux system is – apparently – a binary. I've yet to visit, but I have these old records, if they can be trusted. The standard issue mostly-blank Universal Cartographics witchspace nav-charts have hardly any system information, they're just gravitational jump-charts. I never realised how lacking there were until I started looking outside my local trade range though.

As a nice bonus, it turns out you can actually get paid by Universal Cartographics to bring back accurate stellar system information! So I won't even be entirely left out of pocket by ignoring my trade runs for… however long this takes.

Let me just feed a few more stars in. I can't visit everything, that would take forever. So I plan to go to just the brighter, more notable, stars. I choose a cutoff of apparent magnitude 5. That seems to produce a reasonable number of candidates. The above pictures are marked with stars of magnitude 4 or brighter. I add everything between 4 and 5.

Okay, well, now it looks more like some sort of backwards "f".

Anyway, 950 ly. That's some trip. At least, for me. The farthest I've been from home is, well, it's probably not much farther away than here in Sol!

Side note: Even with a system permit, the Feds won't let me land on Earth's moon. I got a stern telling off from my ship's COVAS system when I tried a low-altitude flyby.

Look up at night. What do you see?

In ancient times the people of Earth saw the stars – and they saw pictures in those stars. Constellations. And now I have this... urge...

They were a superstitious bunch; I guess some things haven't changed.

I found some old datacubes, don't ask where, that contain ancient Earth star lists. They're supposed to make pictures...

There were, according to my studies, traditionally 88 of these pictures. Only the brightest stars, viewed from Earth, were in a constellation. It depends how you measure, but the number of visible stars per constellation has to be finite. Not simply finite, but "relatively" small. The number of bright stars is even lower. By my estimations, perhaps 10 bright (and another 25 dim) per constellation. And most of these stars are, of course, located close to Sol. Close enough for me to visit.

I've always wanted to fly to Sol. You're supposed to need to earn a permit, but I know somebody, who knows somebody...

Plus, I have recently come into a little money and with it I bought a second-hand Asp Scout.

And so, where the ancients gazed, I shall tread.