Mapping Mezagorm

The remote scanners are pointing us towards one of the side-structures of Mezagorm. The whole station is designed as a fractal of ever smaller outer circles surrounding inner circles. In order to close in on the exact location of the old Order of Tetrimon camp, we need to move one of the scanners more towards the outside.

This is difficult since there are no maps of Mezagorm - at least not publicly available, even for scholarly research. So, we do not know how to navigate this cursed city.

I did bring 3D tunnel-mapping drones to help us with that. These are really neat, tiny flying devices with advanced gyroscopes that continuously map their surroundings and keep track of their position and orientation. You let them loose and they will map out large areas of tunnels. 

They are often used in speleology but work fine on abandoned stations too. They can create detailed maps of even the most intricate three-dimensional labyrinths. It just takes them a lot of time, since they have to visit every tunnel.

One of these mapper drones entered a surprisingly large space - the outer walls were too far off for its rangefinder. It did start going around the edge of that space, when suddenly its signal got cut off. 

As this is also roughly in the direction where we would like to reposition the scanner, I am taking a team out to go see this space and get our drone back.

Setting up the expedition

Today the Sansha squad was not present in Shastal, at least not in the neighborhood of Mezagorm. 

The Indagatrix descended into the immense and abandoned Grand Hall of the megalopolis-station. It is always a sight to behold, especially without the light-enhancement of a neocom. First one's eyes have to get used to the darkness, as Shastal star's light only illuminates the top part near the entrance to the vast enclosure. As the shades start to take form in the gloomy darkness, the sense of cursedness of this place grows.

There was no luxury yacht at the landing pad of Galactic Tours. I do not know their schedule this summer  and perhaps there is still one cruise on the way. So I chose a different site to land, one closer to the part where my previous investigations seemed to point to. 

With the crew I spent most of the day setting up a base camp, using some of the power generators that we brought along. We rebooted life support in one of the smaller buildings at the edge of the Grand Hall, a place that seems to be on an intersection of roads inside the station. Tomorrow, we will start up the remote radio-isotope fingerprinting scanners and start triangulation.

During our work, Mr. Firth was suddenly called back to Mehatoor by his superiors for some sort of Sedevacantist emergency. I had to interrupt work to drop him off at the 24th Imperial Crusade station in neighboring Dihra. It is quite uncharacteristic of my political officer to leave me and the crew to do exploration alone. He seemed more than a little cross when he left and did not speak to me during our trip. It is understandable, as he will miss all the archaeological surveying fun!

Sanshas at Mezagorm

We went to Shastal in a bit of a hurry, only to find Mezagorm camped by some Sansha frigates, just hanging there and not moving. 

At first, I though these ships were abandoned. Perhaps they could be boarded and then captured? But the option to board them was not there, so they must have been powered up and with crew. Mr. Firth, my political officer, did not offer any suggestions, I think he is still worrying about the tabloid thing. In stead, he called in the Sansha asking for Navy support.

The Indagatrix is not fitted for offense, so we are waiting in a privately owned station in the system. 

It seems as if the Mad Emperor's cursed station is always attracting pirates and other evil creatures. Perhaps they too look for ancient technology still hidden in its darkened halls?

Unwanted attention

There was one good piece of news today. My Permit for Archeological Investigation (PAI) for the exploration of Mezagorm came in while I was in Seclusion. So, I have contacted the hangar with the request of loading the station scanning equipment back into the Indagatrix.

There is unfortunately also a bit of bad news. Libby came to see me all upset. She found me just when mr. Firth was bringing me the PAI. 

Apparently, some blurry picture of her appeared in a gutter-press tabloid. 

The cause of this is my excuse for her presence on the Indagatrix, spoken in misplaced jest, saying that she was an apparition. This seems to have been taken up by some clickbait hungry paparazzo. There exists a type of information vulture that likes to loiter in docking bays where capsuleers berth their ships, looking for any morsel or scandal that they can exploit. 

It is best to simply come clean, and confess to the port authorities my mistake of bringing Libby out to Seclusion without having submitted the proper paperwork. 

However, mr. Firth spoke out against that obvious solution, as he fears it will reflect poorly on him. He had a very strong opinion on the matter, and did not shy away from using profanities. He suggests that we depart as soon as possible for the exploration of Mezagorm, and said - I quote - "Get out of here, shut up, and stay there like a hermit for a couple of weeks, and pray that this sh*tstorm blows over."

Youth nowadays has no respect for clergy any more.

Miraculous apparition

Initially, there was a bit of consternation from the clearance officer at Mehatoor docking. According to their records Libby never left the 24th Imperial Crusade station, so how can she disembark from my ship? 

I had forgotten about that.

I tried to handwave it, by saying that miraculous apparitions have been reported pretty much throughout scripture, and are nothing to worry about. The clearance officer was not convinced.

Mr. Firth, who has a natural inclination to reduce the amount of problems, especially if they are potential problems for himself, helped. He correctly pointed out that there are two irregularities that actually cancel out.

Libby is currently in the 24th Imperial Crusade station. If it is not necessary to explain how she could appear on a docking vessel, then it is also not necessary to find out whether errors were made in letting a slave leave the station without her Holder's permission. 

Mr. Firth's argument sounded much more convincing to the clearance officer, and I am sure saved us a lot of unnecessary paperwork and other unpleasantries.

Time and tide and wormholes wait for no man

In the age of sail and oar, ships on a long voyage often had to wait at port for favorable winds and an ebbing tide. The retreating tide offers the benefit of riding the retreating waters. The rising tide, on the other hand, pushes the ships back to port. Similarly, the direction of the winds could make a voyage impossible or perilous. So there was often only a short window of time when ships could set sail - and once it had sailed, there was another wait before other vessels could leave.

For those navigating the depths of Anoikis, there are similar laws. One has to wait for a suitable wormhole connection to appear, one that leads not to far away from the intended destination. The connections seem to be random, which has fed the heresy of worshipping an idol of randomness, called "Bob". 

Some mariners of Anoikis have taken to the practice of "rolling" the wormhole, collapsing a hole by driving a critical amount of mass through it. This is done in the hope that a new wormhole will respawn with a better connection. However, this generally takes a dedicated fleet with battleships and cruiser using Higgs anchors, complemented with scanners and guards. 

The lone traveler has to use what is at hand, or wait. An when a propitious connection appears, there is only short window of time to use it. That is why, in the absence of a rolling fleet for Seclusion, I had to ask Libby to keep her luggage ready so we could leave at a moment's notice. 

We did get a good wormhole connection, and little time to use it before it would collapse. With no idea how long before it would roll to Amarr again, I made haste, and with success: We were able to make use of it, and made our way back to Mehatoor without difficulties.

The temptation of freedom

The fleet's departure was a sight to be behold, viewing it from Pilgrim's Rest. It took three hours before all the ships had left for their voyage. Many people watched it, until the moment the ships were out of viewing range. 

I did not get to see Publius, and to be honest I think it was better that I did not take up any of his precious time with my trifles. 

After the colony fleet left, the activity of the station slowed down again, as if it had to rest after great physical effort. Cleaning up and bringing everything in order seems to have been left for tomorrow, mostly. People went home, or went to a bar to relax. I went to see ms. Yubari's slave, who now calls herself Libby. 

To my surprise, I found her in the midst of unpacking, even though she had not been traveling.

She was reluctant to explain, but I pressed her, and she confessed that she had been tempted to join the colonists and go with them to the fabled Epikouria system, with planets where gold can be dug up with bare hands from the ground. She did not want to join for the promise of wealth. She wanted to go because of the lure of false freedom and a so-called "new life". She had been on the verge of leaving, bags packed and ready, when she decided against it.

She told me that the Voidlanders, the main group of colonists, embrace a pluralist culture without slavery. Even though they tolerate the Amarr customs and abide by our laws, they do not condone slavery, and look down on Holders and the institution. In the part of the station that they used to inhabit, emancipation was the rule, and the law was stretched to a point that any slave coming there would be kept safe and not sent back. Slave-owning Holders were given the cold shoulder.

For someone in Libby's position, facing the dangers of Nauplius, the temptation to run away is understandable, especially with such an easy route. However, it speaks of her strength of character that she did not give in, and after careful deliberation decided to stay. God guided her decision, and gave her strength to withstand the Molok's whispers. 

I told her about ms. Yubari, and her need to have someone to look after her at this stage of her recovery. I also explained that she would not leave Gottin's Lamp, and be safe from Nauplius. To be honest, I am not completely sure about that, since the arch-heretic has been allowed to visit ms. Yubari on occasion, but there is no need to sow doubt now. 

Libby seems to care about ms. Yubari, even if she does not know her all that well. She told me that she owes ms. Yubari a debt of gratitude, and she agrees to return to the Lamp. She worried a bit about her work at St. Vasrayi's chapel, but I could reassure her: now that the colony fleet has left, it will no doubt be less busy and require less personnel.

Departure

Apparently I arrived in Seclusion on one of the busiest days: the main colony fleet is about to leave! 

The hangars today are hubs of frenzied activity. Cargo droids and passenger shuttles move past under a rain of sparks from welders up in scaffolds making last minute hull adjustments and installing cargohold optimization rigs. Berthing hauler ships collide with those tiny BOB drones that buzz around docked ships nowadays in stations. On the ground, hurried people push each other and bump into each other. There are so many people running along in the hangar, that it is almost impossible to get through. 

Out in space, the activity is no less, as various industrial structures are being unanchored, dismantled and  packaged for the journey to the new colony. I had to wait ten minutes before the Indagatrix was allowed to dock! 

Under these conditions there is little chance I will be able to meet Publius. I have delivered his books to his personal hangars in Seclusion, and hope he will find them when he has the time to think about other things than ship manifests and coordinating his wormhole colony's corporation, the Comitia Centuriata.

It is only going to get even more hectic out there in a few hours. LUMEN has called for an armed escort fleet to guard the deep space transports until they make it out to well beyond our port's scan range. Out in Anoikis, there are always security concerns since danger can uncloak at any time. It makes the denizens of the wormhole inclined towards paranoia [1]. 

Meanwhile I went to St. Vasrayi's chapel and to Pilgrim's Rest, a large park in Seclusion's fortizar. It has a dome made out of transparent alloy, allowing for a spectacular view of the fleet that is assembling. I am not the only one here: a small crowd of people, mostly family members either of colonists or hangar workers, is in the park gazing at the spectacle unfolding.

[1] I have been asked by one of the station's officers here to delay any communication of the move until its main part is finished, for operational security, so I will upload this log only late today after the fleet left.

Request from the Medbay

To reach Seclusion, or indeed any destination in Anoikis, one has to consult incomplete and ever-changing starmaps, charting the ephemeral passages between wormhole systems.

Going there is always a somewhat dangerous adventure, so I had the station scanning equipment that was loaded into the Indagatrix's cargo bay for my expedition to Mezagorm unloaded again. 

While I was consulting maps to find today's route to Seclusion, I was contacted by our Medbay. One of the head nurses spoke to me, saying that Ms. Yubari's memory is starting to come back to her and that she would like to see her slave again. She had entrusted the care of that slave to me, and I have brought her to Seclusion for safety after Nauplius made attempts to find the slave. 

It is indeed a safe hiding place (be it that travel to and forth are not that safe). Without secure contacts in LUMEN that grant access to the starmaps showing the way to Seclusion, it is impossible for Nauplius to find her. Now, Ms. Yubari's request to see her slave Libby again comes exactly at the right time, as I am planning to head over there anyway. I do not know how Libby will react to this, but we will see. 

Colonization fleet

I have received interesting news from St. Vasrayi's chapel in Seclusion, LUMEN's foothold in Anoikis. 

The system has seen a strong surge in activity over the last year, under the industrious guidance of Publius Cornelius Felix. This must have been an action that, without knowing, picked up the spirit of the times! Indeed, over the past year also our beloved Empress has expanded the Empire into Anoikis, after the recent merciless Drifter attacks.

Seeing his own efforts mirrored by the Empire has fired up Publius even more, and he forged ahead with his own plans to explore and expand into new wormhole systems. I am afraid his enthusiasm is too big to be contained in Seclusion. 

The acolytes at the chapel tell me that he will set sail to new wormhole horizons with a bunch of colonists. The ship loaders and hangar crews speak of a massive colony fleet of deep space transports and Armageddon battleships preparing for departure. Local youth are whispering of a promised system full of planets resplendent with gold and other precious metals. 

I shall miss Publius, the young explorer with his boundless enthusiasm and his inclination to challenge and change the old ways. I will try to meet him before he leaves: I feel I must warn him against the dangers of Bobism, out there in the Anoikis wildlands. Also, he needs to take some decent books, guides and scripture excerpts with him to stay on the right path.