Library services

It is nice to see that the library's databases are well used. We have a state-of-the-art search engine for the Book of Records, with three-dimensional visualization of the genealogical links between the faithful subjects of the Empire going back millennia. We are also linked to the databases of the Amarr Trade Registry and the Amarr Civil Service bureau of information, and can do cross-linked searches.

A question that seems to come up regularly among capsuleers is to find some long-lost relative. Recently, I was asked to find the whereabouts of the parents of a former slave, an acquaintance of one of our pilots. All that the pilot had to go by is a name, and an approximate date of the raid when the former slave was separated from her parents. She was not an elite slave, and so we did not find any mention of her among incident reports of that time in the Amarr Civil Service database.

But we found a way! Noting that her family name was rare, we looked for transactions of slaves by that name (not all slaves have family names even!). We could identify one trade that fits the timeline (and name) for a parent of the slave. The transaction allowed us to find the Holder who now owns that parent, and that gave us finally something to go on in the Book of Records! Indeed, any Holder not stricken from the Book is listed with links and holdings, and we could find where the holding is and presumably where the parents are!

That is yet another example of a -quite satisfying- positive result and of what we can achieve by doing research using the library rather than flying about in space firing beam lasers and battling pirates.

Marriage at the Lamp's Chapel

It is nice to be on the other side for once! We had a marriage in the Chapel, and this time I could relax as part of the congregation. I did not have to worry about everything going perfectly, since I was not the one officiating. 

That duty was for the Directix Emerita, founder of the Societas, Nicoletta Mithra. I was in awe to finally meet her. She had always remained but a familiar name I encounter, an author of theological treatises. My favorite one is an essay on sin and redemption that she wrote, expanding and commenting Lord Gaven Lok'ri's earlier work on the "Rejection of the Recent Concept of Forgivable Generational Inherited Sin".

But I digress into academic considerations, so let me get back to the marriage of Neferure Giergali and Thulla Icin. It was a magnificent ceremony, imbued with symbolism. First, Neferure and Thulla approached the altar and each other carrying a torch. The fire of their hearts and hearths was conjoined in a central brazier, and it shone more brightly than the separate fires. From there candles were lit throughout the congregation bearing witness. 

There was also a touch of Mishi - as the Ni-Kunni focus on life-giving water in most of their ceremonies. Neferure and Thulla washed each others hands, symbolizing the purification of the soul and washing away any obstacles left from the past.

Finally, after signing and sealing the marital contract, they pronounced their vows, hands bound together with a ribbon, representing the unbreakable bond that now ties them together, just as their unbreakable faith binds them to God.

In our vast Empire, we have many different variations of the marriage rite. Speaking somewhat disrespectfully one could say that there is a big portfolio of Theology Council approved customs from which a priest can choose. In today's ceremony there was such a nice balance between the three parts! One that puts the light and the warmth of the hearth central, one that revolves around the water cleansing the past and preparing them for the future, and one that "ties the knot" and expresses their bond. It is a wedding I will remember very fondly. 

And I do hope it has given incentive to the Directrix Emerita to grace us with her presence more often.

Epikouria Chronicles VI

A month ago, in Gottin's Lamp we have had a state visit from queen Synthia of Kaztropolis, but now it appears that also the wormhole colony of Epikouria got a state visit, from Prince Seraghis.

Brother Hugo writes about this visit in his latest letter - as before, this letter took time to reach me so it is relaying events that are several weeks old... Anyway, brother Hugo did not get to see the famous Lord himself, but he knows about this from the janitors and lower deck workers who had to work triple shifts to make sure the station was in perfect order for this high-profile visitor.

Prince Sergahis has had an illustrious career as military commander. He was a high-ranking officer (tribunus colonel if I remember it right) in the Amarr-Minmatar warzone. He unified Amarr capsuleer ranks and led Task Force 641, an elite group of pilots. After a long and arduous siege, known as "Operation Winter Sapphire", he managed to wrest Huola from Minmatar control, and purge their seditious influence from this rebel stronghold. This cemented his fame as the Hero of Huola.

I personally met Prince later, after he retired from the warzone and handed over command there to Cyrelle Aurilen from the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris. He went back to his native Aridia, and formed the Zaraehvar corporation to bring order back the Mahoynen constellation and boost trade and industry in the region of Mishi. During that time, I was exploring in Aridia, following the historical Sani Sabik routes that connect the old Takmahl constellation of Araz to the Delve region. My goal was to learn more about the reach of this ancient civilization, and to prove they were able to venture outside Araz. Prince offered me hospitality and protection, and even joined me and several LUMEN members in the exploration of an abandoned Blood Raider station. I was happy to help out in turn, doing logistics during his policing operations against the pirates of Aridia.

After that, I sort of lost track of Prince Seraghis - I do remember that his plans to pacify the entire Aridia region got frustrated by the so-called LowSechnaya pirates. He went back home, to his ancestral Holdings in Soliara, and there founded the "Knights of Soliara". I think he has been mostly tending to his Holdings and businesses, and his relations to the Holders of other systems in the Helan constellation.

After Prince left, the Zaraehvar group command passed to Cardinal Umbian, who chose to start a colony in the wormholes. They call themselves "Ghosts of Aridia" and named their wormhole system "New Huola" in honor of Prince's most well known military victory. They are the very same Ghosts that got evicted from New Huola and were taken on as refugees by Publius and his colonists.

So, given their joint past, it is not surprising that Prince Seraghis would visit his old brothers in arms here in Epikouria. Brother Hugo does not discuss the purpose of the meeting, probably this is not known publicly. In between the lines I can read that the Knights of Soliara came out to help the Ghosts during the battle that took place in Epikouria as described in Brother Hugo's previous letter. I surmise that probably trade discussions were also on the table, as wormholers are always looking for a market to sell their rich harvests.

PS. Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege

Scan probe mathematics

It appears I am in a mood for mathematics and spacetime geometry lately. This time, I try to answer my own curiosity as regards scanning down anomalies. Doing that in Sanctified Vidette has taught me a lot about the connection between scan probe strength, scan deviation and how fast one can scan down an anomaly. It is a long log entry, but it will serve me well to write down in detail what I learned.

1/ Astrometric pinpointing 

I believe an example works best to explain this. Let us stay that you start out as usual with your scan probes at 8AU, centered on the current guess for the anomaly's position. The scan will refine the position of the anomaly. The base number goes one notch down: so the maximum deviation between the indicated position after the scan and the real position goes down to at least 4AU.

The Anathema is one of the ships boosted for scan deviation, giving you a reduction factor of 0.75 , which brings the maximum deviation after scanning down to 4 ✕ 0.75 = 3AU. 

If you've installed a pinpointing array I, you get another factor 0.9 (it is 0.8 for the T2 version, but let us stick to T1). Combined with the Anathema, you now have 3AU ✕ 0.9 = 2.7AU maximum deviation.

You have trained astrometrics perhaps to level IV, it gives you another factor (1-0.05✕level) = 0.8, so now we're at 2.7AU ✕ 0.8 = 2.16AU 

Finally, say you have trained astrometric pinpointing to level III. This corresponds to yet another factor (1-0.05✕level) = 0.85, bringing the maximum deviation down to 2.16 ✕ 0.85 = 1.84AU. 

Hurray! You can skip right down to 2AU for your next scan, since the number dropped below 2. 

In all of the above, I assumed that the signal strength (the percentage shown each time you scan the signature) is still at 0%. If you get it to say, 55%, this gives you an additional factor (1-0.55)=0.45, and you get down to 1.84 ✕ 0.55 = 0.83 , which is great news because now you can skip three notches and go straight to 1AU for your next scan.

2/ Scan probe sensor strength

You need to bring the signal strength up to 100% before the anomaly becomes warpable. This is where your probe strength comes in - that is the number you see when you hover over the scan probe loaded in the probe launcher. It can be boosted by the astrometric rangefinding skill, a scan rangefinding array, a gravity capacitor rig, ship bonuses, some boosters and implants, and better core scanner probes. Note that for combat probes, the number is halved but for the table below, you should double it, as if it is a core scanner probe.

The table below gives you, for anomalies of class I to V, as a function of the probe strength, the deviation you need to get down to in order to get to 100% signal strength on your next scan and thus lock down the anomaly.

probe strength	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV	Level V
40	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744	0.05872	0.02936
50	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468	0.0734	0.0367
60	0.70464	0.35232	0.17616	0.08808	0.04404
70	0.82208	0.41104	0.20552	0.10276	0.05138
80	0.93952	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744	0.05872
90	1.05696	0.52848	0.26424	0.13212	0.06606
100	1.1744	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468	0.0734
110	1.29184	0.64592	0.32296	0.16148	0.08074
120	1.40928	0.70464	0.35232	0.17616	0.08808
130	1.52672	0.76336	0.38168	0.19084	0.09542
140	1.64416	0.82208	0.41104	0.20552	0.10276
150	1.7616	0.8808	0.4404	0.2202	0.1101
160	1.87904	0.93952	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744
170	1.99648	0.99824	0.49912	0.24956	0.12478
180	2.11392	1.05696	0.52848	0.26424	0.13212
190	2.23136	1.11568	0.55784	0.27892	0.13946
200	2.3488	1.1744	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468

So, what this means is that if you have a level I anomaly, and your scanner probes' strength is at 70, you need to bring down the probes to the 0.5AU notch to get to 100% signal strength with certainty - the 1AU notch will not be good enough. However, if you have 90 strength, you only need to be at 1AU resolution to get the anomaly with certainty. If you are all the way up to 180, you do not even need to get closer than 2AU before locking it down. Combining good pinpointing (as explained above) with probe strength of at least 170-180 is the "secret" to scanning down level I anomalies in just two rounds of scanning, first 8AU and then 2AU.

Now note that some numbers here are even smaller than your smallest 0.25AU resolution. You can get those by either getting lucky on your positioning, or by tightening the probe formation closer (control-scroll down in the solar system map).

Phased fields

I am happy to see that dr. Cornelius published the results of our joint research on a publicly accessible forum. All too often scientific findings remain hidden behind paywalls, as unscrupulous publishers profit from the work of scientists forced to seek a high-impact journal to please their funding agencies.

It turns out that the Signal Cartel's information about some new spacetime anomalies appearing was right. They were wrong in assuming that the epicenter of this would be the Sentinel Military Zone. Rather, these new anomalies pop up a bit everywhere, and it is not clear what causes them. What we do know about them, is that they can lead to phase defects in our universe - and that may warrant a bit of an explanation. 

Apart from the three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension that we can experience, the universe still has a lot of hidden dimensions, usually inaccessible. You can think of phase as one of these hidden dimensions. It differs in two important aspects from our usual spatial dimension (say, left or right on the x-axis). Firstly, it is a so-called "compact" dimension. It is not extended like our usual spatial dimensions, but it is curled up into a circle. So, if we would try to draw a map of one spatial dimension and the phase dimension, it would look like a cylinder, as in the figure below. Moving our usual left-right is moving parallel to the axis of the cylinder, whereas the angle around the cylinder represents the phase. 

The second difference with usual spatial dimensions is that we can move freely in the spatial direction, but not in the phase direction. You can choose where you stand along the line, but in each spot, you cannot choose your phase, it is fixed for you. You have to stay on the red line! The property of having a well defined phase value is also known as phase coherence, and it is very strong due to the large vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field and dark matter. 

There is another important property called "phase rigidity", meaning that the phase remains the same as you move along the line. You can imagine this as tension along the line on the cylinder. Think of it as a rubber band: it will tend to straighten out, and any fluctuations such as in (a) will quickly be brought back to situation (b). That is, we have over our usual space not only a well defined phase in each point, but also the same value of the phase as in all neighboring points.

Some very energetic natural processes (or human messing around with the phase rigidity by weakening the Higgs vacuum expectation value) allow to pull the string around the cylinder, as in figure (c) below.  Imagine pressing your finger down on the rubber band and moving it around the cylinder. It is very had if the rubber band has high tension! You need to keep your finger pressed down on the rubber band if you do not want it to snap back - and that is what the new technology of a phase anchor more or less does. 

By twisting the phase in this way, it is possible to intersect our universe line with a line of another universe, and access matter present in another universe, separated from us in phase space, and thus normally inaccessible to us. 

But playing around with that is dangerous! If you pull too strongly and bring it all around, such as in figure (d), you create two full phase windings around the cylinder: one clockwise and one anticlockwise around the cylinder. These could get separated, and then you would be left with a single winding, as in figure (e). Now there is no way that the tension in the rubber band will flatten this out any more! Pulling on the band no longer results in a straight line. We have created a "topologically protected" phase twist in our own universe. The only way to remove a clockwise winding, is by annihilating it with an an anticlockwise winding, which releases an enormous amount of energy stored in the phase field.

Hence the stark warnings of space-environmental organisations. It may start all good and well for mining, but before you know it we will have topologically protected phase windings roaming all over the universe causing havoc. And... it may also start a new arms race trying to create military applications such as phase recombination bombs. All this may end up seriously damaging spacetime, or rather, further damaging it, after the Seyllin incident already punched wormholes into it.

Materialistic temptations

I received a folder with advertisements for ships. 

This happens regularly, I am sure every pilot has their mailbox flooded with these. Usually I just throw these away.

But this one caught my eye - and expedition command ship? It is a new model, for sure, I have never seen anything like it. And I have to say, I was immediately charmed! This is the first time I have seen a battlecruiser-class hull geared for long-term scientific expeditions that involve camping out in space. And it has a way to boost the decoding powers and data hacking capacity of fleet members. Even d-scan range can be boosted. Ah, and the spatious hangars it has for collecting all sorts of archaeological finds! 

However, it is scandalously expensive. I must not give in to temptation and remember my vow of poverty, by which I also pledge to only keep ships that will aid me in my quest, in stead of collecting endless fleets of ships like most fellow pilots. 

Still, it is tempting.

I guess I will start by studying the skillbooks on the techniques that need to be mastered for these boosts, and we will see from there.

A trove of wormhole data

After a week of observations, during which dr. Fritte Cornelius and I worked in shifts to ensure  continuous monitoring of Sanctified Vidette, we have obtained a catalogue of over five hundred surveyed wormholes. Add to this list earlier efforts and other efforts from the Signal Cartel, and the total available for statistical analysis is well over two thousand five hundred wormholes! 

Dr. Cornelius concluded that we had enough data for decent statistics, and I agreed (much to the relief of mr. Damus, my overworked cloak technician). My new friend and Signal cartel scientist is working now on a full report for their scientific division - I hope that this publication will be shared with all in the cluster. 

I think I can already reveal that our earlier hypothesis stands confirmed, now on a much firmer ground. There is no statistically significant deviation corresponding to a preference for a link to one or other Jove observatory system or region. The wormholes in Sanctified Vidette - and the other Drifter systems - spawn exactly as if they are drawn from a uniform distribution within the set of all known-space systems with a Jove observatory. 

I have returned back to our familiar skies of Domain, and docked up the Indagatrix for maintenance and small repairs. After such a long stay camping out in space, it would be imprudent not to get her checked up. 

I will not stay docked up for long, though. Dr. Cornelius invited me to another expedition, somewhat urgently. He seems convinced that something is about to happen in another Drifter wormhole, the Sentinel Military Zone established by EDENCOM. He does not appear at liberty to tell me what he knows, but he mentioned a growing number of spacetime anomalies of a different kind - not wormholes. This may be the source of the rumors that have been in the news. 

Of course, if something does happens in the EDENCOM wormhole because of spacetime experiments with Drifter technology, I would like to document it before the entire universe blames Amarr again as they always do when things go wrong.

Through the looking glass

Have you noticed that when you look into a wormhole, you see an image of that part of the universe where you will end up if you enter the wormhole? Looking at this wormhole, one might recognize several nebula typical of the sky of perhaps the Insmother region. 

To understand how the image visible in the wormhole is formed, let us begin with depicting the curved space near a traversable wormhole connecting two "flat" spacetimes. We will stick to two spatial dimensions, and pretend that we are ants that can only move on the sheet. That allows to embed the sheet in a third dimension just to make visualization possible - but keep in mind that for the ant this third dimension does not exist. The wormhole then looks like this:

It is a curved surface, with a neck connecting two sheets. The upper sheet could be flat spacetime somewhere in Domain, the lower sheet could be flat spacetime somewhere in Seclusion. The wormhole connects both through a narrow neck. The ants (and Amarr exploration frigates) can travel from one sheet to the other via a continuous path.

Now let's imagine you are at a certain distance from the wormhole and you shine a powerful laser beam, such as the ones commonly found on our ships. Start by pointing the laser in a different direction than the wormhole. The laser will highlight a straight line away from you. Now, as you point it closer to the edge of the wormhole, the line will bend, and your pointer will be deflected.

The left image shows the curved spacetime with a wormhole. Note how the rays, emitted by someone in the "lower" universe, remain in the lower part. From the point of view of the observer, the rays look as in the right image, where the circle represents the wormhole opening. You can clearly see the deflection when pointing near the wormhole's edge. It is in fact much stronger than the deflection from a star or any other commonly found massive object, with the exception of a black hole. Very close to the edge, the rays can even loop around. That is why you see an mirror image of space around you very close to the wormhole's edge. This is gravitational lensing in action.

Next, point the laser into the wormhole. Now the laser beams follow paths like these:

They cross from the lower universe (for example somewhere in Seclusion) to the upper universe (for example Domain). In the laser pointer's own universe, the rays are seen to enter the wormhole, as shown by dashed lines in the right figure. They emerge in the universe on the other side (full lines flaring out). When pointing closer to the edge, you can see that the rays swirl around while they are in the neck of the wormhole, and are strongly bent. 

Tracing the light backwards, this means that you will get the full 360 degree view of the universe on the other side, visible as an image in the wormhole. Closer to the edge of the wormhole, the image gets more compressed and scrambled and harder to distinguish. The view is less distorted in the center, but note also that the rays (black and red) towards the center of the hole bend back - so you see a mirrored image of the target universe.

((ooc note: I made the figures in Wolfram Mathematica; they show the geodesics of the classic textbook metric for traversable wormholes first proposed by Morris and Thorne in Am. J. Phys. 56, 395-412 back in 1988 and used in science fiction ever since))

Visit to the Nexus

In the quieter moments between gathering data on the wormholes of Sanctified Vidette, I went over to the Amarr station to visit the captured Drifter Nexus. The Amarr station, as you can see below, is still a place for peaceful research, and in contrast to the Republic wormhole, ours is not a military naval base full of warships:

The Nexus still looks as mysterious as it was at first, with all the once scattered beams nicely lined up into a long needle-like structure. At first I thought some antennae at the top were new, but comparing with the older footage it seems they were already there. The scale of the structure continues to amaze me!

Below is an image looking down from the top, through the central tunnel of the needle. The beams are arranged in a concentric layered structure, and you can see down all the way to the far end - the perspective belies its immense length.

The damage from the war against the drifters is still visible on the outside, much as it was at the end of the war. It is of course more important to understand the intricate mechanisms inside the beams than it is to patch up some scratched plating on the outside.

Our scientists are still hard at work. I briefly spoke to some of them on-line (capsuleers can not dock up at the research station) and they were very enthusiast about the new technologies that they find and the things they learn about space-time and the way extra dimensions can be folded up into intricate quantum manifolds and unfolded again. Who knows, perhaps one day we will be able to create our own private pockets of spacetime much like the abyssal space bubbles but then stable!

Cartel kicked out again

While out in Sanctified Vidette on my science mission with dr. Cornelius, I received news from Mehatoor. The Angel Cartel tried once again to corrupt that system, which is home to not only LUMEN's headquarters but also the headquarters of the 24th Imperial Crusade fighting the Minmatar rebels in the warzone. 

It looks to me like the Cartel and the Republic are in cahoots. I do not think it is far fetched to hypothesize that the Republic pays the Cartel to bring its nastiness to Mehatoor when the war is not going well for them. Privateers attacking the busy shipping lines passing through Mehatoor, and attracting regular pirates in their wake.

Angel Cartel corruption happened once in the past, and the local Holders got chided by the Empress. However, the next time this happened, our pilots put a stop to it, enlisting with the 24th to defeat the Cartel. Then, we got praise from the Empress! 

So when the Cartel tried their hand again less than a week ago, LUMEN and its allies knew the drill.  Fleets formed quickly and decisively to halt the push of the Cartel, and the insurgency was suppressed efficiently. I thank God that our pilots have secured such a swift victory, without which I probably would have had to interrupt my investigations here.

Wormhole spectra

Wormhole physics - it bridges not only gaps in spacetime, but also gaps between people!

I met up with dr. Fritte Cornelius in Sanctified Vidette. What a pleasure! He greeted me not with distrust, but with the enthusiasm of a fellow scientist meeting someone who is interested in the same somewhat esoteric topics! He was eager to share knowledge, in the fullest trust that we are working towards the common goal of a better understanding of the world around us, not as adversaries but as fellow explorers. The true scientific spirit!

The wormhole experts from the Signal Cartel gather much more data that I, as an amateur, did. I would just record the basic characteristics of the wormhole, and hop from one to the other, and be done. Dr. Cornelius does a much more thorough spectral analysis of the wormhole! He patiently explained techniques and the state-of-the-art methods, and shared some of their software tools and databases. I really felt like a student who for the first time sees how the actual surveying is done, and I learned a lot. 

Despite using Chemal Tech Exploration boosters I am still much slower than he is at doing a full spatiotemporal spectral analysis, but I did manage to upload some valuable data in the joint dataset that we are compiling. That will be fed into the modeling software to extract any changes in the quantum-gravitational spacetime metric across the Drifter wormhole. Meanwhile, I feel like I am getting expert training! 

I have been able before to identify what class of wormhole system a particular connection leads to when it goes to Anoikis. However, for wormholes leading to our own cluster the identification of known space regions has eluded me - apart from the obvious Amarr nebula I am not too familiar with foreign skies. That is starting to change, as I am learning to recognize more and more features of the properties and destination of a wormhole connection at first glance.

We have completed first day of full mapping of Sanctified Vidette, arduous work. I am looking forward to tomorrow!

Epikouria Chronicles V

While out in Sanctified Vidette, I do get access to my mail, as it is relayed via the friendly Amarr Navy research station in system. It was harder to get news while in the depths of Mezagorm than here in Anoikis! 

I was happy to see that there was a new letter from Brother Hugo about the Epikouria colony. But my happy feelings did not last long: he wrote me that they are under attack! Not by the native Sleepers, nor by the first colonists living on the planets (the 'originals'), but by a fleet of outsiders, capsuleer pilots. First, it looked as if they were pirates, as they started by raiding the shipping lanes ferrying raw resources, commodities and products between mines and factories on planets and the new station.

Then, they started attacking several outposts and orbital structures that belong to our colonists, depleting the shields and bringing the structures to reinforcement. Perhaps these were not merely raiders, but rival colonists wanting to push out Publius and his people! An eviction attempt, sure to demoralize also the Ghosts who have just gone through a similar ordeal and sought relief with Publius and his colonists.

Oh, how frustrating it is to realize that Brother Hugo's letter started its journey several weeks ago! Whatever the outcome of this confrontation, it is too late to do anything about it, too late to send help. What took place already took place. 

With great trepidation I continued to read.

Brother Hugo and his companions held prayer vigils throughout the long sleepless night of the reinforcement timer, imploring God to spare the colonists and to help the capsuleer pilots fighting for them. These vigils were well attended by the lower decks' workers and their families - folks that are not even sure if they will be evacuated at all should the worst happen. 

The prayers were answered! Publius and his fellows were able to form a large fleet for the reinforcement timer, in numbers such that the assailants chose to leave, after broadcasting their goodbyes in local. To be sure, the system is still in full alert, and will be patrolled for a while to come, until they are sure it is not a ruse by the enemy. But the outlook seems good.

This was the first real crisis for Publius' colony and a true test of his defenses. The colonists came out victorious, which no doubt did not go unnoticed by the Originals on the planets, who now can have confidence that the Starborn can indeed protect them from raiding parties.

PS. Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station

Back in Sanctified Vidette

Good news! Mr. Fritte Cornelius answered and agreed to collaborate on the science project to map wormholes in Vidette. Science transcends borders and alliances.

I had the (cleaned up and double-checked) Indagatrix fitted with additional scanner arrays, and removed the data module to make room. A mobile depot - always handy to refit out in space - should take care of the eventually that I would need that module. I bought a bunch of Chemal Tech exploration boosters - they are cheap at the moment, and again boost the scanning ability.

That should speed up scanning down the wormholes, especially since I am not taking my crew along. These kind of expeditions in dangerous wormhole space, where in additional the ships stays out in space for several days, are not very popular with the crew. The exception is mr. Damus, my cloak technician. He has recovered well with his new cybernetic leg and insisted to come along. I am happy that he is coming, so I can focus on scanning while being confident that the cloak is holding well. 

It took a bit of time to find an entrance - there was one in Arbaz. At first sight, there are no big differences from before. So, I have set up camp at a safe in Sanctified Vidette. After a night's rest we will get started early tomorrow.

Scientific collaboration

I have been preparing the Indagatrix for a short expedition to Sanctified Vidette, clearing out the gear that we used for the Mezagorm explorations. We took care to secure the dangerous biological agent that we took from there, but still a full decontamination procedure seemed warranted. 

It takes a couple of days to fully fumigate the ship, or whatever they do nowadays to get rid of any biohazards. I'm also having the scanner array recalibrated, and the scanner probes are sent to maintenance. 

The wait gave me a bit of time to go through with my intention of messaging Mr. Fritte Cornelius of the Signal Cartel to see if he wants to team up for the wormhole study. He has done similar research as I did - and came to similar conclusions. So, it seems to me that a collaboration will give synergy to advance our research. 

The Signal Cartel does very useful work, they map out wormhole connections and help out pilots who get lost and stranded in Anoikis. It is a corporation devoted to the highest ideals of peaceful exploration and assistance, ideals that are also very dear to me, and I believe LUMEN in general. 

Forbidden books section

The "New Eden News" ran a piece about theologians collating Sanicanonical scriptures, and offered links to snippets of those most unholy texts. It has been taken off-line in the Empire, but the damage is done, these texts circulated. And ever since that news item, all the wannabe blood drinkers quote it on GalNet at every opportunity. It happens on the Summit channel as well.

There are many in the Federation who romanticize the Sani Sabik, such as pop star Midna Lyre. Her songs texts are on the Index. That is short for the index librorum prohibitorum, a list of forbidden books, texts, songs and holoreels. The Theology Council - with input from the Ministry of Internal Order - keeps the index up to date. It is part of the hard work of a librarian to regularly purge newly added items from the library.

In Gottin's Lamp's library, the works are not destroyed, but moved to a restricted access section of the library. They can still be consulted by scholars, capsuleers, and others who get permission to do so, but must always be consulted in the presence of a librarian or a member of the clergy. And very strict records must be kept about who reads what.

Until now, the forbidden books section never caused any trouble. It is behind a closed door with a large red cross, and "no access" in the most common languages of the Empire printed on the door. There are cameras monitoring it for unauthorized entry. Frankly, in the years that I have been around, it has not been visited by scholars more than a handful of times. It is mostly collecting dust, and new books moved onto the Index. 

However, the news along with the presence of a visitor from Delve may have sparked a new interest by some of our capsuleers. In turn, this may draw unwanted attention from non-capsuleers. So, I have been thinking about beefing up security in the forbidden works section. Nowadays you can get modern book shelves with a force field, that can be programmed so only the librarians can take the books. Perhaps we should buy those. 

It will be a costly business. And a time-consuming work to replace the old shelves: the forbidden works section is vast, taking up many floors beneath the public part of the library...

Vidette revisit

There are concerns that the research performed in the conquered Drifter systems is having repercussions on the wormhole connections network. I am sure that as far as the Empire is concerned, these concerns are unfounded. I have personally visited Sanctified Vidette after its conquest and seen that the research was done very professionally and completely peacefully.

Reports from the other Drifter systems showed fleets of war ships, especially in the Republic's wormhole. So, if there are fluctuations in the telemetry, they could be due to the other factions not taking enough care. 

I will lend a hand in mapping and scanning for these fluctuations. Some time ago, I have performed a study of the wormholes in Sanctified Vidette. I read in a recent publication that the conclusions of that research were confirmed by another capsuleer, Fritte Cornelius, a member of Signal Cartel specializing in wormhole exploration. 

So, my previous study and experience will be helpful to find out if anything is indeed amiss with the wormholes in Sanctified Vidette. I will reach out to mr. Cornelius to see if we can team up or pool our data.

Explanations

While the Ministry of Internal Order seemed pleased with their sample of electronics-disabling amoeba, and the Theology Council was very pleased with the retrieved relics of the legion of Ves-Udor, one government institution was not pleased at all.

The Directorate-General of Cultural-Historic Patrimonium.

They are in charge of providing licenses for archaeological expeditions to historical sites that fall under the supervision of the Empire. 

Mezagorm is one of those sites, although officially it does not exist, since the Mad Emperor and all his actions have been removed from the Book of Records. So you can imagine that licenses to explore Mezagorm are very rare indeed: logic dictates that licenses for non-existing places also do not exist. One needs help from the Ministry, because they hold authority over things that do not exist or do not happen.

After each expedition, the Directorate-General of Cultural-Historic Patrimonium wants a full report. The office that deals with Mezagorm is located in the Amarr Civil Service information center orbiting Riavayed XI, not too far from Shastal. I went there a couple of days ago. 

I explained the mishap that we had, contaminating the biosphere with a pack of fast-breeding gun-furriers that will probably forever alter its fragile ecological equilibrium. I tried to have them see the gravity of the situation - they have to warn other explorers, and even casual visitors. The clerk's face was already turning red before that. 

Long story short - my exploration license for Mezagorm has been permanently revoked. 

State visit

There has been a very unusual high-level visit to Gottin's Lamp. It must have needed approval from the highest authorities, including our local branch of the Ministry of Internal Order.

Normally, a Sani Sabik queen and her daughter would be shot on sight. But yesterday, queen Synthia, the ruler of the system of Kaztropolis in Delve, and her daughter were under diplomatic immunity while visiting LUMEN's headquarters in Mehatoor. 

Kaztropolis follows Sabik customs, but they are far less blood-thirsty than the usual blood raider pirates that you would encounter in your average asteroid belt. I believe Aria once characterized them by stating that "as Sabik go they’re pretty benign". Their economy has a strong focus on the dairy industry, rather than blood. They are also famous for their non-toxic safety sports mud (an unusual export item indeed). 

And they also value academia! In fact, Kaztropolis University is well known internationally. Professor Valate works and teaches Takmahl history there. I met her a while ago, during the initial stages of my own studies of that lost civilization. It has been very difficult to organize any scientific collaboration, given the animosity between the Empire and Kaztropolis. Now that there are some diplomatic openings -for reasons that are beyond me- I am becoming hopeful that we may obtain better access to the vast amount of knowledge that they have gathered about the Takmahl. 

The reason for the visit to Gottin's Lamp specifically was a bit different though. Queen Synthia escorted her daughter Zara to us as an exchange student, or at least that is how I understood it. Young Zara appears less of a "synthetic human being" than Queen Synthia, and much more like a regular teenager. She is here to learn more about the Empire and its inhabitants. 

The choice is quite understandable from their side: no matter how good Kaztropolis University is, it is still located in some provincial backwater far away from the galactic hub of knowledge that is the Empire proper. Amarr and Hedion's vibrant scientific communities and their potential to stimulate the mind have no equal in the outer worlds. From our side, this presents a unique opportunity to introduce this young lady to orthodox scripture and to the true faith. Perhaps we can expose some of the Sani Sabik lies that cloud her young mind? We will see. 

Epikouria Chronicles IV

During my absence, another letter from brother Hugo arrived. It is a few weeks old by now. Anyway, in it he seems to be in a bad mood again, this time because he and his companions had to move to new quarters.

With the influx of refugees from New Huola the old station orbiting Epikouria IX had become too cramped. In truth, it had never been meant as more than temporary quarters. A beachhead to secure initial control over space after the deep-space colony transports arrived. From brother Hugo's description it appears to have been not much more than a bunch of colony ships welded together in what sounds like a very Thukker-like approach. 

A proper station, a more permanent home, had been in the making above planet IX almost from the get-go. It was inaugurated a week before brother Hugo wrote his latest letter. He describes how an impressive capsuleer fleet stood guard during its final anchoring. 

It is of course a hassle to have to pack up everything, and move. Especially when everyone else is doing it at the same time. So I understand his grumpiness.

The new station is laid out in the same way as the temporary habitat was. Orthodox Amarrians including missionaries such as brother Hugo and his companions are to be housed in a new Ardishapur quarter, still lower-deck. 

They do get more space, and it is supposed to be more luxurious and have all modern amenities a commoner can want. However, at this point it is still suffering from teething problems. In brother Hugo's apartment, the climate controls have not been working properly making the rooms too hot. Cold water comes out of the hot water taps and vice versa. And one light fixture dropped and nearly fell on brother Hugo. The Starborn on the higher decks assure everyone that these problems will soon be resolved and some difficulties of this kind are always to be expected when deploying new structures.

PPS. Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis

Leaving Mezagorm

Getting back to our "base camp" at square E1 of the biosphere took somewhat longer than the outward journey. We were carrying boxes with the twenty-two legionnaires. We chose the ones with least additional bones, just the skull. Still, attention was needed and the terrain is far from easy. 

We did not encounter further trouble from the gun-furriers, and only heard occasional shots fired at a greater distance. Unfortunately, the traps with the lure have not worked - only one of the many escaped gun-furriers was caught. The rest of them is still out their, shooting and multiplying.

This worries me deeply, especially since I know that from time to time a luxury cruiser from Galactic Tours dock in Mezagorm. Lady Agatha and her pet furrier mr. Maulus may be on that cruise again. I shudder at the thought of mr. Maulus meeting one of the gun-furriers. What if they mate? I am not even sure if mr. Maulus is biologically a mister or a miss. What if mr. Maulus gets pregnant, and the baby furriers carry the gun gene? Lady Agatha's tea parties may never be the same again.

So I insisted we board up the entrance to the biosphere, and put up a large bio-hazard sign, along with a printed request in all main Empire languages explaining the nature of the hazard and asking to keep the biosphere sealed. I am convinced the Theology Council will be coming for the rest of the relics, and hope they will re-seal the place after they finish their business here. I pray that the seals will also hold against any gun-furrier onslaught from within...

Everything is packed. We have samples that hopefully contain the electronics-disabling amoeba, and we have the holy relics of the legion of Ves-Udor. God seems to be smiling on our expedition now, since there is at this moment also a (no doubt temporary) lull in the war declarations by brigands against LUMEN, so common in this season. 

That means we can travel (relatively) safely through Empire space. First, to Mehatoor. Probably we will need some checkup and decontamination procedure from the Medlab. We can deliver the amoeba samples directly to the Ministry of Internal Order there, on in their station in Mehatoor. Then I will travel onward to the Theology Council Tribunal station orbiting Zorast in Amarr, to deliver our precious relic finds and have them authenticated.

The legion of Ves-Udor

Long ago, before space flight, the Udorians lived on Athra along with the Amarr. They were a proud and mostly nonreligious people inhabiting two continents south of Amarr island. They were traders and masters of the sea. They were eventually reclaimed, although that took time.

During that time, the faithful were persecuted all over the Udorian realms. Still, despite the danger, faith took root and some of their people converted in secret. One of them was Saint Maras. He was the commander of one of the legions of Ves-Udor. After receiving a vision of a Sefrim guiding him to victory during a battle against other heathens, he pledged his heart and soul to the one true God. He rallied his troops and won the battle. As he was a very popular and revered leader, known for his wisdom and justice, soon all six thousand soldiers under his command also converted to our faith. 

Things went well for them until one day when they were ordered to attack a village of fellow faithful. The legion refused. They knew very well what this meant: they had openly exposed themselves as practicing the Amarr religion! Because of that, they were ordered to death. They had no hope of escape: the route to the coast, to get to Amarr island, was cut off. They fought bravely, and all died a martyr's death. 

The stuff of epic movies, and there have been many about them!

They were buried where they made their last stand. Much later, after all of Athra was reclaimed, their remains were dug up, and became popular and revered relics. At first they were kept in a large monastery on the fields where they were slain, but soon the relics were being lent out, and then bought, or even stolen. 

Important Houses started to collect skulls of soldiers from the saintly legion of Ves-Udor, like children collect playing cards. They made special display cabinets, tried to group them by squad. Feuds were fought to obtain prized centurions or officers. The revered skulls were adorned with specially designed relic cloths, each one unique and linked to an individual legionnaire. Their shape imitates the typical crested helmets of the Udorians at the time: 

Today, only two hundred eighty-three out of more than six thousand skulls are accounted for in churches and cathedrals, although many more are believed to be in private chapels all over the Empire.

In the safes at the Tetrimon vault, we found no less than one hundred fifty-three additional legionnaires! A collection worthy of a Royal House. We cannot take all of them with us, they are too bulky and must be handled with the necessary caution and reverence. Abandoning all unnecessary equipment, we managed to safely pack twenty-two legionnaires (five officers among them), and will begin our walk back through the biosphere. 

May the holy legion protect us!

[[ooc comment: this is based on a true story - during the Roman persecution of the christians, the 'Theban legion' led by saint Maurice refused to attack fellow christians and for that disobedience the whole legion was executed. Their skulls with typical adornment became collector's items in the Middle Ages. The picture shows one of these skulls, and was taken at a temporary exhibition of relics in the archaeology museum of the Basque country, Spain]]

Tetrimon records

The book on the table starts by describing (and tabulating) how the garrison received many relics to keep in hiding. This happened soon after the decades-long civil war ended between on the one hand the Council of Apostles and on the other hand forces loyal to Emperor Heideran V and the lords of the Privy Council. The Tetrimon had chosen the losing side, the side of the Apostles, but not openly. Their grand-master, Tetrimon IV, secured the relics that were held by the Council of Apostles, and hid them in places such as the vault here in Mezagorm. This book is important proof of that crime.

Enter the Theology Council. The Theology Council was installed by Emperor Heideran V to replace the Council of Apostles. Its first task was to remove from scripture all the heresies of the Apostles. But its inquisitors were also hunting for lost relics. 

The book writes that in the summer of 21948, a Theology Council fleet was on its way to Shastal, bound for Mezagorm. 

Now we know that the Theology Council inquistors had no idea about a Tetrimon cache here. They came to Mezagorm to look for old scripture. After the death of Zaragram, the Council of Apostles became very powerful and changed scripture to cement their power. To undo this and show that the Apostles usurped scripture would further justify and glorify the efforts of Emperor Heideran V.

However, the garrison did not know that, and they thought that the inquisitors had found out about the hiding place. They panicked that it was no longer safe. In a hurry, they moved most items, including unfortunately the Ink of Truth (denoted by its code AVSAP in the tables of outgoing relics). It has new codes for other hiding spaces, but that will require more intensive study, and a comparison to the book I found in Baron Redwolfe's library.

However, they did not take everything in their hurried flight - they had to leave behind a particular relic, the legion of Ves-Udor. That is no doubt what lies in the closed lockers.

In the vault

Superstitious people will claim that ending my last log by saying that "nothing can go wrong" is a certain prelude for disaster. Yet this time, things went well!

The gun-furriers out in the wild have not shot at us, and indeed they seem to be very quiet. Perhaps they need a rest after the excitement from bingeing power pellet food. We followed the route that we used before, but avoided the swampy area close to the inner lake. Even with a lot of equipment to carry around in sealed containers, we made good time and arrived at the sewers.

We were able to cut through the plates that sealed the vault, and entered it.  

What this room used to be before is not clear, the Tetrimon clearly repurposed it. It is a large oval room, with lockers and safes all around, and a wide steel table in the middle. The safes seem organized by size and purpose, some are clearly designated for small items or scrolls, while others may even have had climate control to preserve sensitive items. Most of these safes are open, and empty, or just containing an empty tray, but there is a whole side full of equally sized lockers that are still closed.

There is a book on the table. I have had to temper the eagerness of my team - they wanted to immediately pry open the closed lockers. I insisted that we need to consult that book first, perhaps it contains warnings or instructions to open the lockers without damaging any of the relics. 

Emergency meeting

We held an emergency meeting in the Indagatrix to discuss what to do next.

We brainstormed on how to contain the uncontrolled spread of the gun-furriers. A promising idea is to lure them back to their cages with food they find tasty, but if even a few remain in the wild that will not work. We will try anyway.

We also decided to make a last dash attempt to get back to the Tetrimon relic vault. It is quite certain that when we return to Mehatoor the exploration permit for Mezagorm obtained by Mr. Firth will be revoked, given the permanent damage to the historical biosphere that our mistake resulted in. So this may be my last chance in a while to explore this particular site.

Mr. Firth is of the opinion that we better not get back empty-handed. We might already have one prize: the discovery of an electronics-disabling amoeba (if that really is the cause of the electronics failures). But with a second positive outcome the case could be made that the end was worth the means. After all, as far as we know, the Empire does not have any plans with Mezagorm except letting it decay in space anyway.

We now know the way, and know what equipment we need to open the vault. The bone-shard bullets shot by the gun-furriers can be stopped by armor - they are meant to be used as stealth weapons rather than full-on assault weapons - so we can defend ourselves. 

Finally, we know what we get in to and have a plan where nothing can go wrong any more.

Furrier in the rye

As we tried to approach our base camp in E1, we came under attack a couple of other times. It always felt as an ambush, and we proceeded with the same stratagem as before, one group shooting back to keep the attacker or attackers occupied while others tried to make an encircling motion to approach the enemy from behind. 

Soon, it became clear that our attackers had two prevalent traits: firstly, they are invisible, only revealing themselves by the rustling of the rye or cracking of branches, and the occasional gunshot. Second, they have an incredibly bad aim. None of us ever got shot, even though we were almost always caught at unawares by a shot ringing out.

Crouching and crawling and disguised as bushels of rye, we did make it back to our starting place at the edge of the biosphere. 

There, the nature of our attackers was finally revealed.

We have made a most horrible mistake: the pens holding the gun-furriers had electric programmable locks. They failed, as all electric equipment does sooner rather than later in this biosphere. The gun-furriers escaped their cages, and quickly found their food supply.

To save on space, their supply consists of bags of power-food pellets, containing high doses of nutrients and energy. Only a small amount is needed per furrier per day. However, they managed to peck open the bags and gorged themselves on the power-food. We found some that died of it, a heart attack from the overdose, but most of them just got hyper-excited, pumped up, and started running and hopping off crazed in any direction. Some spontaneously started shooting from the sugar rush, others fired off occasional shots while mating. 

There never were Blood Raiders with invisibility cloaks, there were gun-furriers going berserk in the rye.

This is an ecological disaster. 

Gun-furriers, to aid Amarr's industrial-military complex in quickly building up weapon supplies, breed like rabbits. Here, in the biosphere, they do not seem to have any natural predator, so they are bound to spread out and multiply quickly. There is enough food in the form of grains and berries and insects to sustain them after they calm back down after their powerpellet rush. It is going to be impossible in this vast expanse of nature to hunt them down, let alone to find them and get them back into cages.

For a thousand years, this biosphere endured in a delicate equilibrium between the various organisms, persisting unchanged in a deserted station, only relying on passive systems to close the ecological and water cycles, a testimony to the brilliance of Amarr bio-engineering. Now all that is about to change.

Under attack

As we headed back through the biosphere to our own entrance square E1, we came under hostile fire in E3. Have we been followed by Blood Raiders, or Sansha? Or perhaps others, whose ships are not so clearly visible on the Mezagorm space grid?

Mr. Firth has some military training, and he took command of the team. He split us in two groups, and put the main group under delegated command of mr. Fulk, my cargo bay loader, as he has shown the greatest skill at handling gun furriers. We were ordered to keep engaging the enemy, firing in their general direction from behind some fallen trees. 

I, being unarmed, was asked to hurl rocks in that direction, and tried to comply, but might have thrown some pine-cones in stead in the general confusion.

Meanwhile, mr. Firth and ms. Ellur would make a circling movement, crouching along a ditch, to attack the enemy from the side or perhaps the rear, quietly, using knives to slit their throat, perhaps picking them off one by one.

I panicked a little as I realized that is was not clear how exactly we would know when to stop shooting or throwing the locally grown ordnance at the enemy. Would we not end up shooting our friends? Mr. Fulk reassured me he would know and he would give the order to stop firing and I was to stop overthinking everything.

While occasional shots rang out from the enemy position, we fired back (or threw things like a branch since I ran out of stones). After a while the shooting stopped altogether. Soon after, Mr. Firth appeared. The enemy has vanished into thin air. Fearing that they too are making some sort of circling motion, we moved out in an unexpected direction, going towards D3 rather than continuing onwards to E2.

Treasure chamber

The "sewers" consist of a mess of water-filled tunnels connecting various cisterns. At first, I feared that we might need a boat or a flotation device to explore these canals. However, there are plenty of walkways over the water, most of which lead us to what I suspect was a control room in the center of the facility.

The room is sealed off, steel panels have been welded in front of the door, some warning scribbled on it. That is a good sign, and it even got better when we found a computer terminal that confirmed our hope: this place has also been used by the Order of Saint Tetrimon. The equipment clearly postdates the era of Mezagorm's building, and shows the hallmark logo of the Tetrimon. 

This must be the place where they hid the relics, perhaps even the Holy Ink of Saint Aloysius! But, try as we might, though, we could not open the door with the tools that we brought along. The crowbar broke. Also, the console did not work any more. Whether this is of old age or due to the biosphere's ability to render electronics useless is not clear. 

We will have to come back with some welding equipment of our own and drills, safely packaged in order to traverse the biosphere undamaged. But now that we have figured out a path through it and found our destination, we should be able to come back faster next time. So, we decided to head back to the Indigatrix, the necessary tools are certainly on board.

Artificial rain

It was raining when the team woke up, an unexpected feature on a space station. I think the engineers working on Mezagorm were given a blank check when designing this biosphere, if the water cycle is still working. 

Warm air, carrying more moisture than cold air, will rise to the top of the dome, and natural ventilation brings it along cold fingers where the water can condense. There must be a mechanism whereby, when enough water has been collected this way, it drips out back to the floor, like water pours of out a tipped water clock. Back down, it can be reabsorbed and evaporated again by the vegetation and the lake.

After the rain, the team noticed that there was a bad smell. Following the source of the stench led us to some sort of collection basin and a structure next to it, perhaps a water purification or reprocessing station? It is not clear what this structure is for or how exactly it is part of the water cycle or mineral cycle in the biosphere. 

However, I am quite certain that this is the last piece of the riddle that points us to "the stench of sin". We have been able to force the entrance door to what, for lack of a better understanding of its purpose, we are calling "the sewers". 

Crossing the biosphere

The trek was not as easy as we thought. The conifer forest gets more dark and dense with branches as we get near the center of the biosphere. We did not spot any animals, although there are insects: forest ants and aphids. But we did not see any rodents or larger animals. Perhaps there are some in the patches of rye, but to keep ms. Ellur satisfied, we avoided those. 

We encountered a few small creeks. But near the center, near grid E4, these creeks merge into a small lake, too deep to wade through. Mr. Firth and some others tried, but their guns started panicking and squeaking as the cold water level rose. Afraid that they may shoot their bullets from stress, the team returned to the shore. 

Rounding the lake took a long time, and we passed through a beech forest on swamp land. The mud slowed us down considerably, and we had the unpleasant impression that the trees were closing in on us. But things went better as we reached good solid ground again, and came upon a field of blueberries. Most people ate a good few handfuls of them, and I was very sorry that my vulnerability would not allow me to  take of my suit and partake. 

We reached F8 much later than foreseen, and the team decided to make camp for the night; the roof of the dome dims the light simulating night, while it continues to harvest solar energy for other purposes. 

It will be a very uncomfortable night for me, as I have to remain in my suit. Also, I avoid eating, but I cannot avoid hydrating. The suit's capacity to store liquids is limited to what is deemed useful for one night of partying. Perhaps I will have to expose myself for a short while to the pathogen at some point, but for the moment I am still keeping the seals intact.

Gun practice

We had a slight delay entering back into Mezagorm, given that there was again a small contingent of Blood Raiders lurking around.

After they  left, we were able to deploy back to our base of operations, the biochemical lab turned Tetrimon garrison at the edge of the biosphere. 

It feels strange that our armory looks like a pet zoo, with furriers in cages and bags of furrier food (with extra calcium so they can produce bone-shard bullets). 

The crew is training with the gun furriers, and has been doing some practice shooting at bulls-eyes painted on tree trunks. Ms. Ellur refuses to stick her finger in a gun-furrier, and will rely on her knife in stead. Also I did not join this training: I will be wearing a hazmat suit (so that I am not suffering from breakdowns in my implants) and handling the furrier might compromise the suit's integrity. 

My suit will do more than keep amoeba out: it is even nanite-proof. It was originally designed during a pandemic on Archavoinet, to allow people to continue partying safely during the lockdown. It has a text "Party is not a crime" on it. I suppose that if you can dance in it, you can hike in it.

With everything ready for the trek through the biosphere, we will leave tomorrow after early breakfast.

Epikouria Chronicles III

While heading back to Mezagorm, I took a bit of time to go through my mails, and read the latest letter from Brother Hugo, keeping me informed about the Epikouria colony.

Although brother Hugo and his companions are restricted to the Ardishapur sector of the station orbiting Epikouria IX, they seem well aware of what is going on elsewhere. Their congregation consists almost entirely of lower-deck baseliners, doing basic maintenance or janitorial jobs - the underappreciated quiet workers who go unnoticed every day but whose hard work keeps the station running smoothly. They do not seek the spotlight, and yet they go everywhere and see and hear all that is going on. And this they share with their pastors.

In this week's letter, brother Hugo writes about an influx of refugees to the station, mostly baseliners but also some capsuleers. 

They call themselves "Ghosts of Aridia" and have been evicted from their wormhole system of New Huola, after a brutal war. The war started out with a surprise invasion of New Huola, that they struggled to repel. Out of the blue, a new ally in shining armor appeared. With the help of both these newcomers and a LUMEN relief force the siege was broken, and the war turned in the Ghosts' favor. An invader fleet of Loki-class cruisers worth tens of billions of ISK and several operating bases of the invaders were destroyed. 

But then, with the invaders retreating and victory seemingly within the Ghosts' grasp, the new "ally" betrayed them and turned against them. Having gained the trust of the Ghosts and having infiltrated their military channels and their stations, the ally-turned-enemy staged a coup and ousted the Ghosts from power. The Ghosts left New Huola, with many returning to the Empire, but some of them seeking refuge in Epikouria. They bring along many baseliner refugees from the various New Huola stations. Although in the lower decks the commoners grumble that the new immigrants will be taking their jobs, brother Hugo is happy with the influx of more orthodox Amarrians, mainly Aridians of Ni-Kunni descent. 

The refugee crisis delayed the ongoing diplomatic talks between the Starborn and the Originals. Nevertheless some progress was already made regarding the division of powers in the system. Current proposals have the Originals retain full authority on the planets (except for mining concessions) while the Starborn have authority in space. Brother Hugo writes "The more I learn about the Originals, the more I am dismayed about their perversions of the flesh!" He does not go into details, but promises to write more about them in a next letter.

PS. I am renaming the recurring logs on the colony from "Missionary Missive" to "Epikouria Chronicles"

PPS. Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 

Gun-furriers

Coronation day passed without incidents or further provocations from the sedevancantists. Now that this delicate time is over, and given that the fallout over Libby's reappearance in Mehatoor seems mostly contained, Mr. Firth is again free to join us in his capacity of political officer on the Indagatrix. We reported what happened over the last couple of weeks to him, to bring him up to speed.

Mr. Firth is in that stage of youth where one thinks that one already knows all there is to know about a subject after one or two experiences. With a look that impersonates a seasoned veteran, he scolded our amateurism in exploring the Mezagorm biosphere, and proudly revealed an MIO weapon suitable for the task.

Modern guns, even projectile weapons, always have some electronics in them. The hobbyist expects their gun to send them an e-mail when it is time for maintenance or ammunition is low. It might even automatically buy new ammunition, and give feedback on pulse and blood pressure when handled. For those that keep a gun under their pillow - not uncommon in more rural areas of the outer worlds - it even tracks the quality of sleep and has a programmable alarm clock imitating a gunshot. Guarantees you to be awake. Of course, because of its electronic components it is unusable in Mezagorm's biosphere.

The handguns that mr. Firth checked out from the Ministry depot do not have electronics. Also, no metal. The MIO checkout catalog did not have guns merely without electronics available, so he had to go full option. The guns he chose are fully biological, and alive. These things are meant as stealth weapons, to be smuggled into venues without raising alarm. 

Bio-mechanics is not to be underestimated. For example, adetomyrma venatrix, also known as the Dracula ant because it sucks blood from its larvae (a behavior known as 'nondestructive cannibalism') is able to snap its jaw accelerating it from 0 too 300km/h in merely 10 microseconds. So, it should be no surprise that fully bio-based guns have been developed, shooting tiny ultrahard bone fragments like a regular projectile gun.

This works best if the bio-mechanical device is still alive. In order to conceal its deadly nature, the MIO developed bio-mechanical guns that look exactly like furriers. Personally, I find their use to be somewhat disturbing. You prime them by petting, and then one has to stick a finger in an orifice in the back to find and pull the trigger bone. The startled animal shoots in the direction that its beak is pointing. 

Nobody expects an old ladies' furrier to be a lethal weapon (unless they have met mr. Maulus, lady Agatha's pet furrier).

With this special gear, Mr. Firth is confident that we will be able to explore the biosphere, safe from both raiders and dangerous fauna. After we arrive in Mezagorm, the entire crew will receive elementary training in gun-furrier use and petting safety.

Stuck in a tree

For our hike through the biosphere, we had hermetically sealed all electronics in a box. 

But we forgot that capsuleers are also full of circuitry.

I do not remember much of this, and I am relaying what the crew told me. I do remember the headache, which became quite unbearable after about an hour walk. Apparently, I started saying things that did not make sense. At first, they thought I was simply making little mistakes from time to time, or showing signs of old age. But then I also started to act strange. Little bouts of running. Anxiously looking into the forest.

When this became more severe - I started relentlessly attacking ferns with a stick I had found, the crew finally realized this was not the eccentricity of an aging capsuleer, but that whatever was afflicting electronics, was doing its work on me too. They tried to convince me to abort the walk, and to go back to the Indagatrix's medbay. It almost worked.

Then Ms. Ellur tried sprinking holy water from Mishi on me (she always carries a small vial of it with her). It actually made things worse, as it startled me and I ran away, yelling "overheat afterburner!". The crew chased me. I climbed in one of the tall conifers. The strongest of the crew, my cargo bay loader, was sent up after me to try and get me to come down. 

Every time he got closer, I climbed higher. In the end, both me and my cargo bay loader were near the top of the tree, swaying dangerously from the weight now destabilizing its upper branches. He managed to attach a rope to me, and secured the rope on the tree, using the trunk and the sturdiest branch as a makeshift pully. Very makeshift - I fell in spurts of three to four meters before the rope caught me back each time. It took a lot of time and a lot of struggling, but in the end, I was brought back to ground, and was too exhausted and bruised to put up any resistance any more. 

They brought me back, and convinced me to put the Indagatrix on autopilot back to Mehatoor - I was unable to fly the ship myself. Back in Mehatoor, decontamination again did not reveal anything, no nanites, no radiation damage, no parasites. The pit corrosion was also present in my malfunctioning clone's circuitry. The lab's working hypothesis is that the damage is caused by some biological entity that does not survive outside the biosphere. From the size of the pit corrosion they think it is most likely a type of amoeba. 

Basically I was told that now I am old and mouldy.

They advised us to bring back a sample of the biosphere in a sealed sample collection box, making sure to include soil and plants and some electronic device in the box, and seal it enclosing some of the biosphere's own air.