NationStates Jolt Archive

Procyon@1156 Post-Fractal

The system is simultaneously empty and busy - on average, it may be about a ship every few AUs or so, and a subcraft perhaps every few tenth of an AU, hovering in between the gravity wells of the system's two stars, consuming and refining asteroids and stellar debris. Civilians, mostly, self-satisfied and lazy parts of the nowadays vaguely, or at least partially, post-capitalistic economy. A few military units hang around, too - they're even lazier, hoarding their energy for a time when it'll actually be needed, teasing the local civilians while being entirely the subject of the binary system's somewhat odd gravitational characteristics, whereas the civilians alternate between ignoring them and teasing back.

Traffic gets a little denser in the orbits of Procyon A/B's lagrangian points, where giants are lurking. Vast spheres, each of them massing several hundred billion tons, mark the centres of the planetless system's economy, the torrents of metal-rich resources their subcraft and ship-residents are constantly acquiring heading for this small worlds, to become the objects of manufacturing processes that'll increase their value by orders of magnitude. Centres of mass and value, just as well as population - the average civilian ship is occupied by at most ten sourceminds, machine, organic, and others, whereas the Manufacturing Units feature thousands, which, given the standards on Angstian ships, turns them into the ship-equivalent of megacities.

Most of the traffic and in-system assets are Angstian, though the occasional stray Territorial, ZMI or Taraskovyan craft can be seen, too, stopping by to exchange gossip, material resources, and information. Stray minds and parts of minds switch vehicles and nationality, others predict and organise - or join - with the fast machine-minds of the fringe, just as well as with the usually slow and organic - but, within this restricting parameters, still refined - minds of the Sisgardian economies.

Judging by out-of-sol standards, it's a 'Busy Place'.

Near the L3 point, behind Procyon A, a somewhat exotic craft is orbiting the local Manufacturing Unit (The Generous Growth). It's neither civilian, nor military, featuring a few small guns and drives that'd be the envy of some Tactical Engagement Units, though a quick analysis of its hull would note its distinct lack of military grade armour.

An exploration-biased ship (Or upgunned diplomat, depending on the exact parameters of any given mission). There's only a few of them, and seeing one in Procyon, a decidedly primary/ secondary sector biased economic system, is vaguely odd.

<IEU Voyeur> So, yeah - just stopping by, before I'm finally on my way. Well, stopping by's over, now - you're an excellent host, though.
<GMU Generous Growth> Thanks. So, where are you going, anyway? Didn't mention it all day...
<IEU Voyeur> Hee. You ask me questions. Anyway, unsure - I'm supposed to follow Orion's arm spinward. I think I'll go by the suggestion, too, gives me the best chance to find something interesting.
<GMU Generous Growth> Well, depends, no? It's relatively well-mapped, unlike the fringes.
<IEU Voyeur> True, but you try and map assorted millions of systems. Though yes, most of them are garbage and hardly worth a second look, but I'll try to find something that'll keep me occupied for a while, anyway.
<GMU Generous Growth> Good luck, then. Hope to get the occasional letter, of course.
<IEU Voyeur> Of course. I've plenty of residents interested in staying in contact, anyway, so they'll remind me, should I be lost on something interesting.
<GMU Generous Growth> I know, I know. The 'Joy' of having residents, yes... Regardless, bon voyage, as they say. I'll keep you informed about our usual gossip as well - I'm given to understand that you and a few of your residents have developed an interest in a few of my own residents.
<IEU Voyeur> Some people just can't keep such things for themselves... But, yeah - it'd be much appreciated.
<GMU Generous Growth> Oh, and just to inform you, Lisa's actually contemplating a male form, now.
<IEU Voyeur> ... Just my luck. And I've never been interested in my own gender... Well, it's not as if I'd be available, anyway.
<GMU Generous Growth> There's nothing quite like a happy good-bye, eh?
<IEU Voyeur> Just stop. Anyway, I'm in the final stages of shift-initialisation - see you, and remember: If you've actual sensorlogs of yesterday evening, I'm going to come back to hurt you.
* GMU Generous Growth chuckles.

The Voyeur powered away from the Generous Growth, leaving behind a brief chaos of wideband radiations and c-fractional stray particles as it spent a few seconds accelerating harder than necessary (The Generous Growth was vaguely amused - Men and their toys), then its shifting-cycle was completed, and in its place was only the local, temporarily weakened fabric of relativistic space, and a quickly expanding, low energy density shell of quantum-vacuum originating radiations and the exotic particles it formed within near-infinitesimal fractions of a second.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e6; Open; Tightbeam
From: Interstellar Exploration Unit Voyeur
To: General Manufacturing Unit Generous Growth
Subject: First Call

Well, lets see if this works. BL1e6... Should be 2.59 seconds lag. Anyway, my first letter, just as you wished. Maybe a bit early, but then, better than late, no?

Sillyness aside, the Between's fairly pleasant today - I got myself a nice current on relativistic Between scale 10042, and am currently going at about sevenhundred-and-twenty c relativistic space equivalent, still accelerating. View's a bit blurred, of course, but I should be passing the fringes of your local comet cloud just about now.

Shift's been pleasant, the advantage of the L3 being wonderfully away from the two stars - it'd have been rather annoying to have to leave the system conventionally, first. So, no repairs to be done, and I'm accelerating away at .1 c/s^2 rse, with Aether and Bernard growing ever more fond of each other - I've shut down monitoring the two, their arguments are painful (If amusing - but not when they're a constant).

Also, a message from Jennifer is attached, I trust you in forwarding it.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e6; Open; Tightbeam
From: Jennifer Hopkins
To: Mareike Beauford
Subject: Well...

Yes, well... My journey's started. I thought I'd be excited, though to be entirely honest, I think it's more indifference, with a bit of anxiety.

Ship's quiet, despite Bernard and Aether continuing to 'Love' each other, but I guess they're at the other end of the Voyeur (Incidentally, can't say I like the name. Every time I shower, I think... Well, nevermind).

I'm sorry I had to leave, of course, but I've worked for a long time to be on board. Again, sorry, and believe me, I'd have loved to stay. Alas, we can't have everything, sadly (Though, you could have come with us).

Yours,

~ Jennifer

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e5; Open; Tightbeam
From: GMU Generous Growth
To: IEU Voyeur
Subject: First Reply

A bit wasteful, aren't we? Quite a bit of energy you're spending for fast comms... But anyway. Happy to see you're having a good journey - the Between can be annoying that way, be careful not to get into anything unpleasant (Yes, I know you know, but I'm sure you also know that we GMUs tend to be somewhat patronising).

Oh, and I suggest you explain Aether in detail why it should be careful with its temper. You're not a drone-kindergarten, and it really should accustom itself to the fact that it isn't god. Granted, it's smart, but that doesn't help when it's also an asshole (By the way, I'm glad it's now residing with you, rather than me).

As far as things go, nothing new here. I'm presently having an abstract of myself indulge in the pleasures of the flesh (No, I wont tell you with whom), and something has blown up on Mars - I might send a few subcraft over, profiting from the situation. Sounds bad, I know, but well, what can you do? Billions die, and the survivors continue as usual, with a somewhat increased consumption of hallucinogenic substances, if our history is anything to go by. Though, just got an archive with a few live cases of death-by-radiation... Damn, that's just nasty.

And yes, I relayed the message from Miss Hopkins. I hope you - or she - didn't mind me peeking a little?

Also, you don't think I'm geriatric, do you?

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e5; Open; Tightbeam
From: Mareike Beauford
To: Jennifer Hopkins
Subject: There you go!

Finally! I'm sure your excitement will come later, when you've arrived at a random deathworld, stranded on the surface, and encircled by insanely dangerous beasts and violent natives. Granted, this might not help your anxiety, but it'd be a start, no?

Been quiet here, too, only the usual chatter, and not much else. Though I'm wondering if I should go for Mark or Stefanie...

Well, perhaps both. But for now, it's single-time (Well, not counting you. Love you, dear, but the lack of physical presence doesn't help the matter). And as far as your shower is concerned, perhaps you should invite the shipmind to join you? You wouldn't believe what a few properly applied fields can do. It's something I very much suggest trying.

Anyway, I'm happy for you - it's your dream, isn't it? Just continue, step by step, and you'll surely get plenty of joy out of it. Meanwhile, I'm stranded on a mildly geriatric GMU (Admittedly with excellent field-management), doing basic lab-work and a bit of programming. Meh. But at least there's a few thousand others on board, makes it less annoying (And it adds an element of choice).

Hope to hear from you again,

~ Mareike

The Voyeur's drive fields touched the many intervened currents of the Between, maneuvering between them, leaving one, entering another, again, and again, and again. Some helped it to move forward, accelerating it with near-impossible force, only the Between's rather odd physical properties protecting the Voyeur and its inhabitants from being squished by said forces. Others did the almost same, but instead of propelling the Voyeur forward, they forced it to take different routes, or slammed right into it, forcing it backwards.

Usually, one avoided such setbacks by way of switching curents, using a slightly 'Higher' or 'Lower' layer to travel between the stars. This was where drive field management came into the equation - in relativistic space, it was more or less irrelevant, as simply switching parts of them on and off or screwing with field polarities was fully sufficient for directional control. In the Between however, if one was indent to actually get anywhere, one had to attach the flimsy fields to the local currents, using them as cushions and sails, and, of course, as ladders to jump between layers, avoiding assorted obstacles, be they diverting or opposing currents, chaotic storms, or a temporary collapse of local currents (A considerable advantage over the sailing ships of old, which would be unable to move at all, once the wind was gone. The spaceship on the other hand could just move to the next usable layer). Still, all in all, the rather ironic analogy between a sailing ship and FTL Between transition fit).

And of course, this was exactly what the Voyeur was doing in this very moment, racing through the Between at a little less than ten kiloc, its fields tangling with the near-incomprehensible pecularities of this realm, avoiding a localised 'Storm' in layer 110123, and forcing itself through the blossoming chaos spreading from layer 109225 into neighboring regions.

Not necessarily a safe procedure, all things considered. Technically, it was perfectly possible to switch from, say, layer 10000 to layer 9000 or layer 11000 - the tricky part was that switching to a lower layer while having a velocity in excess of the lower layer's lightspeed limit was fatal, ending whatever was trying to pull this kind of stunt in a brief burst of (Largely) gamma rays in the Between, and a slightly increased rate of ZPE radiations in local, relativistic space. Similarly, trying to switch into a higher layer whose accelerative capacities were in excess of the lower layer's lightspeed limit would have quite undesirable results, too. Both of which were the reasons for the Voyeur's comparatively low velocity - Going faster would be neat, but the sheer strength of the currents in higher layers, and the time it'd take the ship - any ship - to leave them until it'd be slow enough for Between/ Relativistic Space transition, would result in an incredible amount of time being spent on maneuvering in the Between, occasionally being lightyears off. To the more adventurous ships, this was considerably frustrating - they were perfectly capable of reaching Andromeda within reasonable timeframes, but a five-minute trip to a Knootian coffee shop in Alpha Centauri remained impossible.

Of course, shipminds had since learned not to care too much about the potential threats and inadequacies they were dealing with, and had accepted the annoying fact that their ETAs didn't scale near-linear with distance while considering the Between little more of a threat than an adult would consider an electric powergrid to be a 'threat'. Once one knew what the risks were, one could avoid them with relative ease. Except of course when there was a many-layered megacurrent about to smash into the ship and stopping it cold... Which was one of the things ships generally tended to consider 'Annoying'.

Fifty-four lightyears off Procyon - they'd now left the immediate vicinity of sol - it was about time to start becoming serious. The Voyeur considered it, and then it began deploying its smallish (All in all, it carried eighty-one heavy ones) fleet of subcraft - not military ones of course, but exploration-grade ones, massing no more than about a hundred-and-sixty-thousand tons, speeding ahead and forming the gigantic fullband EMG equivalent of a radiotelescope array, three-hundred-million kilometers in radius.

It watched the subcraft leaving its hatches, enjoying the view they presented, and, having done this for several moments, eventually switched some of its resources back to deal with the everyday-issues of human (And machine) life on board of itself.

A hundred million tons of ship, twenty-five million cubicmetres of utility space, and perhaps a tenth of that meant for human habitation - considering its 'Excessive' population of ten sapients (Itself included), the only problem should be to get the people to be together at all.

However, as things went, the opposite was the case.


BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; Security Level 0; Tightbeam
From: IEU Voyeur
To: GMU Generous Growth
Subject: How's it going?

Quite well over here, in fact. Deployments are done, and I'm presently watching our cute local arm of the galaxy - Orion looks a little small, compared to the rest of the galaxy, but it's still home, I guess.

Life on board's getting better. Aether's snapped after I followed up to your suggestion, and seems to prefer a life in seclusion, but then, I suppose it'll be a little more friendly once we've discovered something that resembles multicellular life. When he's out of his personal 'Habitat', he tends to spend most of his time with Richard (Thompson, if you forgot). Poor man's all alone - Jessica's trying to seduce him, but he feigns something along the lines of 'Work' (Of course, as we've yet to get any bio-probes, there is no such thing as work for our biologist. Not much of it, anyway). I think Jessica knows that she simply lacks something to raise Richard's interest, though. Namely, a penis.

Anyway. All Aether seems to talk about is how it had it better when it was one of your inhabitants. Well, he should've expected it, given that I'm a mere IEU, but eh - whatever.

Heard about the Mars-thing, too - 'Nasty' is all I have to say about it. Glad I don't have to watch in real time.

In any case - please, I (And my inhabitants) would very much prefer it if you didn't peek into mail not addressed to you. Only geriatrics do so. And needless to say, a bunch of messages coming with this one. Boy can they talk... Incidentally, Jennifer's looking at my physical representations rather oddly, every now and then. Any idea why?

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: GMU Generous Growth
To: IEU Voyeur
Subject: How's it going?

Equally well here - producing some surplus consumables and rad-related tools for Mars (Export to major inhabitants, mostly). Wont really be able to compete with the locals when it comes to prices, but I believe that at present, demand's up in the sky, so I'm manufacturing them regardless.

On-board activities are neat, too - with Aether gone (Incidentally, it ranted about its previous place being better when he arrived here, too, so don't take it too seriously), folks have cheered up. So have I, come to think of it... Oh, and please don't suggest that I forget names. I don't. Unless I want to, anyway.

Richard, huh? Mhm... I did think he got along suspiciously well with some of my residents... I should peek more. Anyway, I'd think that Jessica can change gender for him, no? If it's true love? Though I half suspect she likes it better this way. And it's more of a challenge, too.

And meh - point taken, I guess. I shall not peek anymore. Though, perhaps it's worth being considered a geriatric... Information is victory, no?

Last but not least - Nooo idea about Jennifer. Perhaps you should use this things, whatsitcalled... Ah, yes. Clothes? On your representations, that is.
-
Pft. I do use clothes. Or casings, depends. Or holos. With holoed clothes. Or holoed casings. Anyway. Please remember that this isn't a war - in this case information just means that you've an unhealthy amount of curiosity.
-
Yeah, suuuure.
-
Oh, shut it. Anyway, back to work...


BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
To: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: Hee...

Well, I'm glad that you are having fun. And, thanks, but - I'd prefer a rather more peaceful journey. But I'll take your suggestion as compassionate regardless.

Stefanie? Now that wouldn't be right. I should be your only woman, no? Kidding (I think), I'm just odd that way... But don't let me stop you. So long as I keep my special place in your thoughts I shall be satisfied.

I'd probably send an abstract over, but I always considered those to be a little creepy...

And please, please, please don't suggest such things. The Voyeur... No. Just no. And I prefer proper flesh to fields, so until you get me drunk...

But thanks for the encouragement :) You're right, it's what I've worked for. It is getting better, too - statistically, we should arrive at a worthwhile system within a few days or so. Mind, one that'll be interesting enough to have the ship stop by, rather than sending a subcraft over, is more likely to take a few weeks to find it... But anyway, shouldn't take long.

So, well, have fun with the Growth's fields ;)

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
Subject: Hee...

Oh, I am. Believe me, I am. And, are you sure? A little adventure - exactly the right thing when you're bored!

And Stefanie's alright - she's quite cute, in fact :) Admittedly not exactly experienced, and somewhat nervous, but then, so are you :P And once you get the ship in (The Generous Growth is quite capable with its fields, indeed... And not only with them, come to think of it), it's outright incredible. Really, you should send an abstract over - believe me, it's worth it. And I'd get you drunk, I can guarantee you that :D

Anyway, I bet you'll find something fascinating, soon. A sentient cloud of gas, a sapient asteroid, an exploding sun...
-
Yes, I am very sure. I'm not so sure about you and Stefanie, though - She's only, what? Twenty-two? You're forty-one... And no, no abstract, sorry. It'd be horrible if it suddenly decided to want full sapience, and reuniting with it wouldn't be the same thing, regardless.

PS: Oh, exploding suns are available, alright... The ship has something on its high-layer passives, I believe.
-
Now, now. I look like a late twenties baseliner, so don't complain. And it's not like she's thirteen. And believe me, reunification with an 'Experienced' abstract is just (Well, almost) as good :) I could tell you things...
-
Please, don't <.< But anyway, done for now, I guess. Hear you.
-
Same. Ought to call tomorrow.


BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Aether Zeplet (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
To: GPD 12/26 (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: Still not a proper name, huh?

You really should get one. But anyway - Horrible, horrible, horrible life here. Nothing to do, idiots all around me - though our biologist seems to have some brain. Outright surprising, given that he was vomitted out of a belly, rather than built by properly qualified machines - and the ship's biased against me. To think that it came into existance just like me! Traitor.

But I digress.

Well, my job's somewhat vague, and it's not like I have anything to do right now, so I'm spending most of my time bulding diplo-grade weapons and little steam-powered model trains (Who knows, maybe I can suffocate my fellow neighbors with the byproducts of burning coal?). Throw in the occasional visit in the ships' libraries, to figure out what kind of death would be the most enjoyable to inflict on Mr. Bernard L'Ecluse, and that's it.

So, how's life over there? I understand that you were having some fun programming subsapient routines for the ships' internal monitoring.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: GPD 12/26 (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Aether Zeplet (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
Subject: Still not a proper name, huh?

Now, now... You sound angry as usual. Unhealthy, that. Regardless - yes, I prefer an old-fashioned designation. So much more class than semi-random collections of letters to form a 'Name'. But I already told you that... Repeatedly.

You should have thought about it beforehand, anyway - you should know that an IEU's a little more cramped than a GMU. Admittedly, at least you followed through with your claims and threats, and that adds some respect, I guess.

Anyway, yeah - finished that job, actually, much to the ships' satisfaction, I believe. Well, it's preoccupied with its usual production and some of the ladies and gentlemen on board, so it needs some assistance, I guess. Right now, I'm preoccupied with designing myself a proper CHON-body, though - want to experience that, for once.
-
Oh, shut up. And why the hell would you want to switch bodies? That's sick.
-
Common, you mean. You're the exception, remember? Though admittedly, an alphanumerical designation when using such a body is odd... I might indeed choose myself a name. At least temporarily.
-
... Bye. And don't bother calling me again. Ever.


On board of the Generous Growth, a rather feminine body turned rather lazily to face Mareike, who was dozing happily. “Was it really necessary to tell her about the fields? Now she thinks that the Voyeur is a potential perv… And that my sourcemind’s an actual one.”

“So?” Mareike kept her eyes closed, smiling ironically. “It’d be true. Especially with such a name… And your sourcemind is definitely one. ”

“You might have a point there…”

An ocean of reflections, vast, and spanning the horizon. Colours, patterns of every possible kind, melting into each other, forming vast streams of energy states and carrying the gutted remnants of what in Reality Proper would be called 'Relativity'.

In the midth of it all, the occasional blinking. Imperfections, creating little waves of information. They are the echoes of Reality Proper, created by its gravitational and electromagnetic fields and radiations. Only echoes of course, nothing particularly dangerous - it'd be perfectly possibly to fly into the middle of a planet, so long as one stays in the Between. Just shifting out of it when in such a location isn't recommended - but exceedingly useful.

They are what makes navigation possible, creating an image of Reality Proper in the Between, quite like a map.

Well, assuming that the map had been drawn by Picasso and Dali during a LSD party, anyway. With the tangled mess of layers that is the Between, with its utter lack of strict boundaries and clear definitions, with the blooming expansions and multiplications of some layers and the collapse of others, and the fact that 'c' happens to be variable, a clear picture is not something one could possibly get. The varying velocities with which information is transferred result in rather comical (Comical if one doesn't have to navigate inside the Between, anyway) distortions of reality, and intermingled with the occasional mutation of information due to layer-collapse or -bloom (Or layer- 'mitosis', though this one is comparatively rare), it's hardly surprising that figuring out where one is, or what else might be out there in Reality Proper can be anywhere between vaguely annoying and close to impossible.

The subcraft that - just like its fellow pals and its sourceunit, the Voyeur - glided through this surreal world of tangible vagueness wasn't even run by a mindstate-abstract, instead it was being controlled by utterly non-sapient means, if one disregarded the occasional intervention by the Voyeur, partially to make certain its subcraft worked, and partially out of boredom.

Mostly boredom..

The original, gigantic telescope-esque array had since broken up, sated with information, the Voyeur having given its subcraft course schedules to take closer looks at the more interesting information sources the pseudo-telescope they'd formed had found. Now, they were divided by distances measured in lightyears, with this particular subcraft being at the outer edge of the formation, slightly more than sixty-three lightyears away from the Voyeur, its probing fields trying to filter out information about nearby systems while staying in close contact with the Voyeur - of course, over ths distance, even exceedingly energy-intensive tenth-gigalayer communications resulted in about two seconds of lag, so it wasn't exactly the fastest of information exchanges.

The somewhat chaotic swarm the Voyeur and its subcraft formed was now slower than earlier that month, when the ship had merely tried to get further away from Procyon. Now it was moving at barely a kiloc, and was located about one-hundred and eighty-two lightyears off Procyon (About one-hundred and eighty-nine lightyears off Sol). They had now begun their actual 'search' (Not for anything in particular, of course, but merely in the hope of maybe finding something interesting. It was arguably silly, but some people - in particular the sapients on the Voyeur - liked it), which required them to be in lower layers (If they wanted a reasonable view, anyway), which in turn meant that they were noticeably slower than before.

Stars like bright jewels, planets and moons like dull stones, the EM output of smallish colonies created by other nations like white sand on top of these stones, and ships like dust illuminated by sunlight, visible only when engaging their drives at significant fractions of their capacities.

Most of what the subcraft found was, essentially, boring and utterly pointless. A gas giant with four times the mass of Jupiter overshadowing its entourage of moons, a star slowly ending its main sequence, expanding, and swallowing planets over the course of millenia. A short, almost unnoticeable spike - probably a warship going wild, or a group of rogues setting up shop. Looking closer, it happens to be nothing more than an asteroid impact on an iceworld on the outer edge of a local system, brief bursts of energy quickly dissipating in the vacuum.

A good reason for using non-sapient control: If something vaguely sapient happened to be located inside this small (Relatively small, anyway) conglomerations of matter called 'Subcraft', it'd probably end up being bored to death.

The glamorous life of an explorer...

Still, sometimes, something interesting may be found. The mass shadow of what was once a vaguely earth-like world triggers a closer look during a quick low-velocity passing... Bursts of information follow, signal sequences containing gathered information and assumptions (Rather boring ones, though, what with being created by non-sapient algorithms), replied to with a flood of orders and, soon after it, a piece of sapience, an abstract of the Voyeur - this seems to be interesting enough to justify a mild personality-split.

After a while, anyway. First, the subcraft has to decelerate, tangling through the forest of layers, spending half an hour dealing with a current going in the wrong direction and so on, while its peers adjust their positions to fill the gap it leaves behind. Simultaneously, shifting units are charged up.

In the end, timing’s off, and the shift occurs about half a billion kilometres further away than intended, ten and a half billion kilometres off the local star. Still, the view’s fascinating - A hot, giant K-class star, apparently in the process of expanding, having reached the end of its lifetime (Many of those out there, locally. Odd, that).

Around it, a hot inner gas giant (And assorted readings suggests a small mercury-esque planet further in, already swallowed up by the local star), two earth-sized worlds (Only one with an atmosphere, though, and that one has an average temperature in excess of the boiling point of water), another gas giant, orbited by nothing more than debris and small moons that seem to be little more than conglomerations of matter (Judging by their density, that is), and two cold worlds - the one closer to the local star does actually have an atmosphere, but temperatures tend to hover around ninety kelvin, and it snows methane.

In between the mess, the occasional asteroid.

The ship, slowly decelerating from its initial we-brake-for-nobody speed, draws up schedules. The inner planets are no problem - the outer gas giant and the outermost iceworld on the other hand are presently on the other side of the local sun, which complicates matters a little.

Well, 'Complicates'. Things will go slower. That’s it.

The first thing the subcraft - now controlled by a mindstate-abstract of the Voyeur - does is seeding a few nearby asteroids and comets with sensors and a few von Neumann derivate packages for monitoring and expansion purposes. Following this, it deploys its own smallish cloud of small, smaller, and really small drones, firing a few of them off in the general direction of assorted targets - minor moons showing some interesting anomalies, the planets themselves, the sun, and so on.

With the rest, it forms a miniature version of the Voyeur's original EMG-telescope.

And then, several days pass with nothing much happening. Transit takes its time, entertaining the subcraft with little more than the occasional odd emission profile and the view of the slowly expanding star (Bored as it is, it decides to measure the expansion, the star's composition, the kind and the amount of resources it'll pour into the system when shrinking again, the expense of extracting those, the possible profits, the effects of such an extraction on the local neighborhood in a billion years, down to changing densities in the interplanetary and interstellar medium).

There's the occasional ping, short increases of incoming radiations suggesting sensorsweeps, practically proving that the system is indeed worth a look - it doesn't quite fit the specifications the Voyeur and most of its inhabitants are most interested in researching, and as such the ship itself doesn't actually stop by, but it's interesting enough to allow the subcraft to fall back, to spend its time on a thorough analysis.

Of course, the one thing that doesn't happen is an actual response to its occasional contact-burst.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: IEU Voyeur
To: GEU Generous Growth
Subject: Interesting Findings

Well, nothing too special, but here it is, regardless . Can’t say too much, yet - but I suppose that there’s been some engineering going on. Roughly equiv-tech, with bias in favor of strength rather than versatility. Or so I think.

Probably been abandoned for quite a while, most likely when the star started expanding. No clear analysis yet - the subcraft and its drones are still a few billion kilometres off - and it might’ve been damaged. Probably a few extensive flares. Unusual for this kind of star, but, meh.

Oh, and as far as socialisation-on-board goes, nothing new - still annoying as ever.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: GEU [I]Generous Growth
To: IEU Voyeur
Subject: Interesting Findings

Mhm. Looks interesting. Looking for artifacts?
-
Hardly. Just curious.
-
Just as well. Incidentally, I’m about to leave Procyon - time to look somewhere else. Unsure if I should go for the Oort or one of the outer systems, though - probably the latter.
-
Ah? Well, a bit of a change ought to be good for you. Your lot does tend to be a little, well…
-
Yes?
-
Nevermind. Anyway, good luck.
-
Same for you - Hopefully you’ll find something interesting to keep you occupied.


BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
Subject: And?

And? How was the exploding sun? I always imagined it to be rather romantic… Assuming that one is a kilolightyear or so off, anyway. If I remember correctly, this things can be quite annoying when nearby - even in the Between.

Oh, and Stefanie sends her regards - she misses you, too, and wouldn’t mind knowing you a little closer :D

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
To: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: ‘And?’ indeed.

Ummm, okay. How close exactly are we talking?
-
'Very'?
-
… Ok. Anyway - the nova’s been kinda nice to watch, yes. Looks like it’ll smash two nearby systems in a few years' time. Red dwarves, though, so nothing particularly impressive.
-
You’re avoiding something ;)
-
Yes. Yes I am. Please, I’m not you <.<
-
I noticed :P Still, you should find a little distraction, don’t you think so?
-
On here?
-
Yes. Plenty of people on board, no? Lesse… There we have Jennifer. She’s cut- Oh, right, that’s you <.<
-
Very flattering ;) But still, not my thing, sorry.
-
Awww. Anyway. How’s it going? Found something interesting?
-
Well, we’ve mapped a few hundred systems - orbital basics and little else - and apparently, one was interesting enough to justify having the subcraft enter reality proper. Nothing for me, though. I’m more for cultural things, and can’t do a thing until they find something more exciting than ‘Vague possibilities’.
-
Hee, I can imagine. Well, regardless… Jessica, perhaps?
-
Oh, no. I mean, I like her, but I doubt she ticks like that.
-
Awww :( Well then, there are others, not the least the ship :P
-
Would you please stop and become serious?!
-
Well, if you wish… So, I had did incredibly boring study, involving ancient Knootian cave-painting.and the effects of natural hallucinogens on paleolithic cultures in now-Knootian territory-
-
Hee. Okay, go on - later. I need my sleep ;)
-
Oh? Bah. Bye then, and dream of me :P


BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Bernard L’Ecluse (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
To: Marcel Kobiyashi (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: It took me a while, but now I’m available

A bit busy on my side, as you might’ve guessed. Not that it matters - all that matters is that now, I’ve finally gotten rid of that stupid drone. Well, temporarily, anyway. It's now conspiring with Richard - something tells me that it has an unhealthy interest in biology. Might want to poison all of us in supremely interesting and unique ways.

Regardless - not much happening here. We've found an interesting system, though. Sadly, the ship doesn't want to personally stop by. 'Not important enough.' Which is annoying, given that it's exactly why I'm here - signs of former sapient activities, so my interests with regards to history and historical technology are piqued.

MY interests, of course, not those of the ship and the others. Apparently, only I and Leigh were interested, and Theodore went 'What do I care', as usual. Aether on the other hand has the same interest I have, but god forbid that it'd agree with me on anything.

Still, looking through the information we do get through the subcraft we've present. Looks like a military-biased thing to me, though there's relatively little of what we'd call 'War Debris'. Might have involved a genuinely complete - that is, more than just guns - civilisation beforehand, but that one was swallowed up by the violence, I suspect. Or boiled away by the sun. Either or.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Marcel Kobiyashi (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Bernard L’Ecluse (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
Subject: It took me a while, but now I’m available

Congratulations. With a bit of luck (For you, anyway), it'll send its mindstate back and start screwing with us, again. And it's not as if poisoning you would in any way be dangerous - assuming that it doesn't take over the ship.

In any case - I see. Annoying for you, I guess. That you can't be personally present in the system in question, that is. Still, at least you've found something to keep yourself vaguely occupied. Though you could have waited for an exploration trip with a bit more bias in favour of your own interests.

As far as the system is concerned, hrm. I must admit, I'm curious as well, now that I actually know. But I guess the information you already have about it is rather less than impressive?
-
You could say so, yes. Well, if you want to take a look . And [i]please don't say such things. 'Taking over the ship'. The little carbonophobe could try it - its disgust with us might only be half serious, but still.

And remember that there's not exactly many exploratory craft in existence. How many are actually flying around? Thirty or forty or so.
-
Yes, yes, I know. Still, there's a bunch that would befit you rather more than this one. If a few thousand lightyears off, but hey - that's why you can send your mindstate, no?
-
If they'd want me to... Besides, over such distances, information-loss isn't too unlikely. I'd rather not suffer from a sudden four-year memory gap. Anyway, anything to say about the system?
-
Mhm. Rather little information, indeed. Must've been horrible conditions in the Between - missed the intended drop-out by half a billion kilometres? That's something. But, regardless... Hrm. This spectra suggest a rather high occurance of assorted metals in the system at large - but too spread out and too mixed to be construction-leftovers. Flares?
-
I thought so, yes. Artificial most likely, given the Star's nature, though I wont bet on it.
-
They'd be fairly regular flares, considering the widespread effects... And judging by your initial sweeps, they've spanned a... Short timeframe. Very short. Astronomically speaking, that is. A few hundred years at most?
-
Yes. As I said, likely artificial. Still, what created them, no idea. But then, that's why we have the subcraft there.
-
Just hope it wasn't a ZMI flare bomb testing ground.
-
Now, that'd be annoying. 'Oha, interesting civilisation, lets loo- Oh, wait. It's just the merchants.'
-
Quite. Well, have fun - shouldn't be long until you get some more info. And keep me informed.

System@D=190 LY (Sol) & RA=04h 12m 17.6/16.8s & dec=+04° 12' 24/18" & P=+6@1207 PF

The snowflakes dropped on top of the small machine's casing, and sublimed almost instantly, the small machine's temperature too much for the frozen methane to remain just that, frozen.

The machine didn't contain a mind, nothing that'd even suggest sapience, and only a few hints of sentience. It spent a few moments watching the trail of steam coming off its casing as it floated over the icy, bluish-white, and generally desolate surface of the small planet, and a few more watching the surface under and near it, where its heat melted a path through the methane-snow under it, just to turn into ice again, almost as soon as it left any such spot, essentially turning the path it floated along into a giant (If narrow) ice-skating circuit.

Of course, the machine couldn't actually appreciate this, and the fraction of a mind that observed its actions from over a billion kilometres away didn't particularly care.

It cared about different things, and analysed the information its remote scouts sent back to it, excited, yet confused by their findings.

Most of the small planet was dead, perfectly empty. The top- and bottom third were covered by icy methane-deserts, only the equatorial regions were somewhat better off, covered by methane oceans on top of the ice (The subcraft had had to manufacture a few appropriate designs in order to explore them properly). An almost terribly monotone surface - it was very young, and asteroid craters tended to be almost instantaneously hidden by the ice.

Instantaneously by the standards of geologic timeframes, that is.

So far, nothing special. However, the subcraft's orbiters suggested more - heavy, and quite, quite artificial structures close to the surface and submerged in the oceans, only partially covered by the ice underneath the same. Damaged, or so it seemed, but in any case worth investigating.

Who would go to such a place, well, it was a good question, and the fraction-of-a-mind wanted to know more.

On the planet's surface, the machine stopped, having arrived at its destination. A few probing scans, briefly skimming the EM band... And there it was, an uneven shape, enormous concentrations of carbon, iron, titan, aluminium...

It digged by way of ramming its reactor output up to full, and venting the heat out of its underside, rather than turning it into lift and acceleration by way of feeding it to its propulsion mechanisms. The methane melted quickly - its temperature was only a few Kelvin below its melting point, anyway, and the machine had little trouble reaching what it suspected to be the entrance.

About fifteen minutes later, it was done with its second dig - the first 'Entrance' had proven to be something considerably different and, more importantly, utterly impassable - and finally entered the installation.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: IEU Voyeur
To: GEU Generous Growth
Subject: Interesting, but odd

Regarding my most recent finding - pretty boring. Nothing but a few rocks and interplanetary-scale resource-acquisition by a small, relativistic civ. about two lightyears off the system in question, apparently doing half-a-generation trips between the two systems. I'm considering a handshake-burst, but so far I'm just listening while keeping one of my subcraft nearby. Seems to be a pretty agreeable (If small) civ., though. Shouldn't be too shocking for them, either - they're aware of Earth' and its neighbors' expanding EM spheres, and they seem to be curious all by themselves. They just lack FTL.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: GEU Generous Growth
To: IEU Voyeur
Subject: Interesting, but odd

Well, that's nice. Now, as for your second most recent finding...
-
Oh, that. Yes. Well . As you can see... The system has had a fairly violent past, and isn't quite over it, yet. Lost more than three-hundred tons worth of drones to that damn planet #3 - my abstract is bringing the subcraft in, militarising it as it goes. And yes, it's curious.
-
Mhm, I see - a subcraft versus a planet? Your abstracts tend to be a little arrogant...
-
Well, it's been a while since there has been sapient activity in the system. It's the remnants of a war the inhabitants lost, so it should stand a decent chance of getting a glimpse of what is beneath that planet's defences. It has already managed some things, come to think of it - I suspect that it'll manage to corrupt a fair fraction of the defences (Or more specifically, the jamming) within a day or two. The planet has already realised this, and is fighting back, but whoever lived there had issues with producing competent software - my abstract is, apparently, taking over on the soft side. The planet's defences have tried a few other things - interplanetary missiles - but over these distances, they're not hard to get rid of.
-
True, true. Or so one hopes, anyway. Incidentally, that magma-ised planet...
-
Scary, yes. Someone must've flipped out, or something. It's somewhat annoying that we can't access the two remaining planets yet - wonder if they'd provide any more information. Well, we'll see. Incidentally, judging by the return signals - how's Epsilon Indi?
-
'Empty'. Still staying for a little while, though, I like the emptiness. Oh, and I'm having a very nice (Read, arrogant) team of scientists on board, 'Teaching' me how to modify a few drive configurations in order to, errr... Do something. They're stupidly secretive. Mind taking a few of them?
-
Uh, yes, actually. Climate's been better over the past few days, and Aether/ Bernard have yet to attempt to actually kill each other, but still. I've more than enough inhabitants. Besides, taking an interest in their relationships, I rather like concentrating on a few, rather than having to deal with dozens.
-
Well, there goes my hope. Ta!

System@D=190 LY (Sol) & RA=04h 12m 17.6/16.8s & dec=+04° 12' 24/18" & P=+4@1207 PF

The remote craft watched the surface of the world it was orbiting quite impassively, almost bored. It didn't care, nor was it particularly impressed with what it was seeing - it has been assigned a task, and it was fulfilling it. Everything else was irrelevant, distracting, and pointless.

It sent its complement of smallish recon-and-research drones down, spending no longer than perhaps two hours on preparing them for the peculiar conditions of the local environment, and observed them probing this world, watched them taking samples, analysing temperature differences, currents, geologic structures, geologic history, possibilities and probabilities.

All of it in a perfectly dispassionate way, mechanical intelligence requiring nothing of this sort.

The first results came in, were refined into a somewhat more accessible form, and sent off to the subcraft within which the mindstate-abstract of the Voyeur resided. Metallicity, occurrence of a variety of base elements, approximated age of the system versus that of the planet, another approximation of the same, yielding completely different results, comparisons of assorted spectra vs. that of the sun - the Voyeur's abstract went Aha! when it saw this -, the likes.

No, the swarm of remote drones didn't particularly enjoy this job. Nor did they particularly dislike it. They were perfectly indifferent, subsapience at its finest, and didn't care either way.

Their indifference included an utter lack of appreciation when it came to the planet a few thousand kilometres below them, radiating heat into the vacuum. A gigantic ball of magma, with eruptions that spew the same tens, even hundreds of kilometres high into the skies, the entirety of its former mantle and crust now nothing more and nothing less than an ocean of red glowing magma.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Aether Zeplet (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
To: GPD 12/26 (Relayed through GMU [i]Generous Growth)
Subject: Listen

Finally, finally this journey turns out to be capable of producing something vaguely resembling 'Interest'. It is, admittedly, not much, but still [Sensorlogs: Subcraft Attached]. Now isn't that a sexy little ball of magma? And I quite like that methane-ecology, too - the drones haven't had any success finding native life on it (Too cold, I suppose, though the goddamn abstract didn't even try to search for them), but one dug into an abandoned structure below the ice, and another was found in the ocean, and penetrated as well. Quite fascinating stuff! A few more-or-less damaged computer cores, and rather a lot of machinery (Sadly, 99% dysfunctional). Rather primitive stuff, not particularly complex, but quite powerful. Not military in nature, mind - it seems to have been an outpost for recon-and-research purposes.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: GPD 12/26 (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Aether Zeplet (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
Subject: Why should I?

I thought you weren't going to talk to me? Ever again, no less.
-
Actually, I just said that you weren't supposed to call me ever again. There's nothing stopping me from calling you, though.
-
...
-
Now, now. You know you love me. Anyway - the gas giant we've access to is similarly interesting. Definitely a war zone - Same technology base we found on the iceworld, and the traces of biological matter we've found fit the description of the species, as far as we could reconstruct it from the information saved on the (Damaged) computer cores we've found.
-
I see. And do you know who, or what assaulted them?
-
Nope, not yet. Well, it all points to their defences being overrun, and flare(bombs) doing the rest. They were a somewhat (Not exceedingly so, compared to the galactic filth outside sol, but still) militant species, so they might've fired the first shot (As suggested by some of the - sadly rather incomplete - information we've recovered), but regardless - eventually, there was a boom.
-
Okay. Well, sucks for them - though their homeworld has survived, judging by the 'Engagement' at #3?
-
Oh, it isn't their homeworld, we could figure out as much. They colonised it. It had a native, sapient species, or rather the remnants of the one (Nuclear war, it seems), which they imperialised by way of a massive cultural domination program, and that was it. Not sure if there are any inhabitants left. I doubt it, considering the communications-silence and automated-looking responses, but... Well, if there are, they're not very friendly towards us.
-
I see. Well, it's your thing, I suppose.
-
Yes. Yes, it is. Quite exciting. Well, we've yet to get any more information, but I hope that we'll have it soon. See you

System@D=190 LY (Sol) & RA=04h 12m 17.6/16.8s & dec=+04° 12' 24/18" & P=+3@1207 PF

Take the strength of Jupiter's magnetosphere, multiply it by thousand, and you're not even close.

The first of the drones fired off in the direction of the third planet of the system braked hard, emitting flares of radiations that wouldn't have been entirely inappropriate for the subcraft they came from. They then spent a few seconds on looking around and analysing what they could (The planet itself proved to be annoyingly opaque to their senses, though, having just started jamming procedures that'd have been appropriate for an entire warfleet, which in turn resulted in the drones' analysis being somewhat lacking in actual content), were informed of energy-buildups on the planet a few ten-thousand kilometres below them, changed their vectors, were informed of the post-c wakes assorted radiations and brightly flaring missiles left in the Between, changed their vectors again, gave up their formation in favour of 'It's best if a few make it', and got boiled off the skies by what a warship would probably have considered a surprisingly tasteful mixture of ordnance.

Well, either that, or pointless overkill.

A few billion kilometres further away from the sun (And the planet), the mindstate-abstract of the Voyeur cursed inwardly, half because it had lost a sizeable number of drones, which would take it a while to replace, and half because it despised modern warfare - the whole 'Engagement' had taken rather less than ten seconds, and had been decided before it'd actually begun, rather abstract (if simple) mathematics providing probabilities, possibilities, solutions and, with odds like these, the inevitable outcome, which left no space for the bombastic (If somewhat superfluous and occasionally pathetic) tirades the warriors and regime-friendly poets of past centuries and millennia had produced - and directed the (Few) drones which had survived - all of which were rather more than ten lightseconds off the planet - to brake and stay where they were.

Of course the most interesting bit is also the bit I don't get access to. How annoying.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Manuel Wong (Relayed through Habitat Poseidon)
To: Richard Thompson (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
Subject: Hearing nothing

Not from you, anyway. How is it? Apart from being secluded as usual - I mean, we all know you are.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Richard Thompson (Relayed through IEU Voyeur)
To: Manuel Wong (Relayed through Habitat Poseidon)
Subject: So Listen

Mhm? Ah, well - not doing much, here. I'm a bit occupied, right now. Found the remnants of a species, and I'm figuring out what they were.
-
Well... Tell me? I may not be quite as much into it as you are, but still.
-
If you want... So, a vaguely mammalian species (Not actually mammals, as you might guess, but comparable to them), and, judging by transcripts and what little we could recover from their DNA (Useless on its own, but one can compare it to other records), a little taller than we are - about 180cm on average, roughly the same for males and females. The local version was even taller, it seems, less gravity to deal with. Bipedal, four fingers on each of the two hands, three toes, two eyes, two ears, smelled through their mouth/ with their tongue, and had only one orifice for waste-disposal. Bluish-green skin, no hair, but something reasonably close to feathers (Which, contrary to their skin, tended to be white-to-pink) on their heads and upper backs. Apparently with very little genetic alterations (Compared to us), though the basics were certainly known and in use. Cybernetic enhancements seem to have been rare, and mostly internal. As you might guess, I like the style. There should never be more than traces of metal in one's body.

The greatest bane of their existence seems to have been a sexually transmitted disease that, though usually non-lethal (And, at their level of technology, easily curable), tended to discolour their pseudo-feathers. As a result, prostitutes tended to shave themselves.

... Am I boring you?
-
Just a little. I mean, not really. But...
-
Nevermind. Well, anyway. Back to work with me... I wonder where this drone is...
-
Did I miss something, or are you into machine sex now?
-
Oh, please. It's a surprisingly intelligent and useful help, if somewhat carbonophobe.
-
So still zero action, huh?
-
Pft. I could have some. But, as you might remember, I'm not of the hetero persuasion. Not much, anyway, although she's fairly sweet. But I prefer the theory.
-
Hee. Well, bye.
-
Bye.

System@D=190 LY (Sol) & RA=04h 12m 17.6/16.8s & dec=+04° 12' 24/18" & P=+2@1207 PF

It isn't quite the kind of gas giant the Voyeur is used to - the planet is surprisingly small, its density almost deceivingly high.

An extraordinary large amount of methane, combined with comparatively small amounts of helium and hydrogen. Doubtlessly a result of the temperature - roughly seven-hundred Kelvin, and a greenhouse effect that would make Venus jealous are responsible for the gasses (Especially the really light ones) escaping the gravity of the giant.

Equally surprising is the planet's oddly weak magnetosphere - slightly less than ten times as strong as Earth', which, compared to other gas giants, well... isn't impressive.

The Voyeur's abstract interest is piqued, partially because most of its drones at #3 - now split into their base elements (I.e. iron, iridium, carbon) and stripped of their electrons - are now slowly moving out of the system, their individual nuclei propelled by the sunwind, and annoyingly incapable of doing what they were originally supposed to do, this resulting in a distinct lack of information for the Voyeur's abstract to work with, and partially because the gas giant is interesting.

There is annoyingly little to find, though. The gas giant's core does certainly contain an extraordinary large amount of heavier elements, especially metals, but this is most likely the result of the flare-activity the Voyeur and its inhabitants figured to be fairly frequent, transporting fused matter from the sun outward into the system.

The moons, well...

There is only one, which is odd, for a gas giant (And contradicting the original analysis, too, which showed about ten vastly smaller ones. The abstract cursed, and made a note to remember that there's not only electromagnetic radiation - it should work with gravitational radiation, too, that'd avoid such embarrassing mistakes). A largish moon, too, two and a half thousand kilometres in diameter. But not a single one of the usual entourage of smaller moons that orbit a gas giant (And, similarly, not a single ring of ices and microasteroids, though this is easy enough to explain - it's too hot for the ice to stay frozen, not to mention that a lack of shepherd moons results in a lack of rings, too).

A second look. The moon's scorched, certainly. Not quite as badly as the outer Earth-sized world that'd been turned into a ball of magma, but still. A third look, analysing it down to the atomic level.

Okay, molecular level. The Voyeur's abstract is somewhat annoyed by the interferences it gets this close to the sun, but, well - it can't change it, and neither can the remotes it has deployed to the gas giant.

Remains of habitation. Half-melted walls, tunnels and traces of carbon (A graveyard, the abstract thinks, wondering just how long it has taken the fragile, biological bodies to turn into ash). Remnants of machinery, vast, and supposedly complex (Without the subcraft itself present, the abstract can't really tell. Its drones are, sadly, rather limited in their capabilities). Something the subcraft figures to be a spaceport. Electromagnetically sensible equipment, surprisingly active (And this raises the question: How active had it been before it was mostly melted?). Traces of gravitational radiation, or more specifically, an excess of the same, compared to the moon's actual composition. A surprisingly strong infrared signature - apparently, something s still producing energy.

And radiation. Lots, and lots, and lots of radiation. Remnants of neutron-induced radiation, as a brief analysis proves quite quickly, only a small fraction of its original strength of course, but still impressive.

A few of the drones move, entering the gas giant's atmosphere, and landing on the moon, taking probes and trying to enter half-melted installations.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Bernard L’Ecluse (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
To: Marcel Kobiyashi (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: Update!

Fantastic stuff! We managed to enter a few of the system's previous inhabitant's installations, and sucked out the information that remained. One thing is for certain - they were fantastic architects. Forget DA's it's-so-narrow-I'm-going-to-suffocate apartments. This is the real thing . I'm not quite certain []why they made their rooms this tall (Btw: Their halls are even greater), but it looks great regardless.

And no edges, only 'Round' forms, usually extensively ornamented and covered in their art. And remember - this is not a palace, but what amounts to a semi-military/ research outpost. Damn, I'd love to see their palaces.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Marcel Kobiyashi (Relayed through GMU [I]Generous Growth)
To: Bernard L’Ecluse (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
Subject: Update!

Looks wasteful to me ;) But then, you know how adverse am to 'Beauty'.
-
Indeed. Personally, I think you should spend some time in the appropriate museums. But, well, the next thing might be more interesting for you. Once the drones were in and had access to what little had remained of the former inhabitants' informational structures, we got access to assorted pieces of (Sadly incomplete, but still) information. History and all that. Doesn't look like they were space-faring for all that long - a few decades of FTL until they arrived in the system in question. And about three hundred years later, they left again. Which was perhaps ten thousand years ago, mind.

As I said, the information is incomplete, but here's what we have. They were a pseudo-capitalist society, rather convinced of their superiority, and went on, well... Expanding. They seem to have found a dying civilisation inside this system (Seems to have nuked itself, though I'm not utterly convinced that they weren't nuked by the new arrivals), took over, partially by force, and partially by convincing the locals to cooperate (Easy to do, given the differences in numbers and technology, and the ambient levels of radiation the natives had the need, and the new arrivals the means to deal with), and went on for a while, apparently incorporating the natives into their society. Not entirely successful, but satisfyingly so - we've found a few reports of 'Ethnic' tensions, but that seems to have been more of a class struggle, considering that both, featherheads and natives were involved on both sides of these conflicts.

And then there seems to have been an out-of-proportion conflict that destroyed a good part of the system. Not by way of foreign invaders, mind. It seems to have been entirely internal (And, for that matter, suicidal). Why it started, unsure - there are some records regarding 'Extended Research' on the system, and they seem to have attempted large-scale stellar engineering - perhaps some dissatisfied locals with ties to aforementioned struggles decided to take advantage of the opportunity and then suffered consequences in excess of what they had expected.
-
Mhm. Nasty.
-
Indeed. Well - it eventually screwed most of the system, though the gas giant we're in the process of analysing, as well as the planet that shot down our drones, suggest that they were surprisingly well prepared. We do obviously not know much about that one planet (Fucking paranoid defenders), but the gas giant is using rather effective long-range manipulation of radiations to screw with our perception (The subcraft is still seeing ten small moons where there is only one larger one - admittedly, only the EM band. Gravitational perception shows only one moon, regardless of distance), and possesses some very impressive field-generation, considering its ludicrously strong magnetosphere. Still didn't work, and the flares got through, eventually (Natural ones wouldn't have managed that, mind, hence why the stellar engineering part was necessary) but nonetheless - impressive. Especially that it still works, despite all the installations we've found being largely melted. So far, we've no idea how it manages this...
-
Hrm. Frustrating. Also - why the hell would they be prepared for this kind of catastrophic event before it happened?
-
You ask me questions... But well, everything points at about a hundred years and then some of extreme stellar activity. They will have had time to cope. A better question would be just why the hell the activity stopped shortly after they left.
-
If you ask me - the activity resulted in the sun expanding a few million years earlier than expected, and them needing to leave. And the expanding sun eventually screwed over the stellar engineering part.
-
Mrm. This makes sense, yes. Well, regardless - there are still a lot of question waiting for an answer, and I'm determined to find them. See you.
-
Same.

System@D=190 LY (Sol) & RA=04h 12m 17.6/16.8s & dec=+04° 12' 24/18" & P=+1 & 0@1207 PF

Radiation hammers against the fields of the (Large) drone, just to be reflected off, again. What little gets through the imperfections of its esoteric mirror is reflected by its actual casing, guided through the mirror-configured field by way of a web of conductor-configured intersections.

In the end, only a subtle hint of the energies outside, of the hurricane of almost 5000 Kelvin hot plasma, actually manages to enter the drone itself, to increase its temperature, slowly, fractions of a Kelvin at a time.

The drone - utterly non-sapient, a 'dumb' machine - toys around a little, abusing Planck and thermodynamics to reduce the effects of entropy just a little bit (Suncruisers had a tendency of wishing for someone to invent a way to force negative entropy, but so far, no success), sufficient to increase its lifespan by a few tens of seconds, maybe even minutes, while simultaneously fighting the oppressive gravity of the star whose outermost layer it is now traversing, trying to find ways to actually transmit information through this torrent of radiation (There are some, certainly, but the drone can't afford to produce large amounts of energy. Annoyingly, this energy is exactly what it needs to manage a reasonable quality), and, last but not least, trying to figure out where the hell the bloody innermost planet is.

In the meantime, basic sensor sweeps analyse the star itself, but find nothing new - contrary to the evidence found on basically every planet of the system, there's no single piece of evidence, no single bit of information, not even a hint of 'Exoticness' suggesting that this star has (Had) its periods of extended flare-activity.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
To: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
Subject: Hello?

Missing your usual call. What's happening?

BL-FTLCOM@BL1e7&EM1e-5/1e-4; SL 0; Tightbeam
From: Mareike Beauford (Relayed through GMU Generous Growth)
To: Jennifer Hopkins (Relayed through IEU Voyeur
Subject: I'm here!

Oh, nothing - I decided to take a break from my usual, ADD-suffering self, in favour of a little more quietness. Presently sipping some tea and generally enjoying myself in celibate ways. I wonder - mind giving me some lessons in painting? It's one of your hobbies, and I'm curious about it.
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Celibate, you? o.O That's scary. I'm upset - if I were there, I'd be utterly deprived of your warmth!
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And trying to convince me to end it by way of seducing me, I hope? ;)
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That, too.
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Hee. Well, regardless - I think I need some sort of change. Not from you, of course (Still love you!), but, overall. For a while, before I can be my usual self again.
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Ah, I see. I suppose that Stefanie just wasn't enough?
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Oh, no (She's rather frustrated, too, btw), it's something more esoteric, if you know what I mean.
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Well... No, don't.
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Damn! Anyway, different topic. How's it going on board?
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Nothing new for me. Everybody seems to follow his, or her, or its own routine, and there's enough space for us to do so, and that's it. We've found one old (Extinct/ left/ whatever) and one new civilisation, though. The former is quite interesting, and in some ways not too dissimilar to DA, though very much into pompous... Well, everything. From what little we know, think of Renaissance/ Baroque/ Rococo feudals - except encompassing the entire society (To an extend, that is. Obviously not everyone lived on that scale, but you get what I mean).
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Mhm, neat. I'd love to visit it.
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Its more than ten thousand years old, and the only settlement we've found has been deserted for almost the same time ;) Besides, together with their undoubtedly impressive wealth came a fair degree of arrogance.
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Whoops. Or maybe not. Well, maybe I could call these guys from… whatsitsname? Hagbard, and their time-travel services? And the arrogance wouldn't be much of a problem, we're no better :P Anyway, the other one?
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Not much of an idea yet, we've started quiet observation less than a day ago.
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Awww. Well, we'll see. Or you will, anyway :P See you, and give me a kiss.
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Certainly [Infoburst: Kiss Attached].
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... So much for romanticism.
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;) Well, night! Oh, and yes, I'll take care of your panting-needs. Perhaps you need a model?
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Night! And yes, that’d be neat :P Incidentally, I’d DL some of Marquis’ new works – they’re quite fascinating.