Sarachem's assignment

My prayers were answered: I established a line of communication with brother Sarachem. 

 

He must have looked at the logs of our conversations in local yesterday, I think he is now convinced of my honest interest in the Goner faith and history. Also, I think that to be allowed docking rights in Farthest Shore is something of a badge of honor, or at least a well-trusted credential among capsuleers here.

 

Sarachem is a charismatic man. He speaks with the compassionate wisdom of someone who does not define his own meaning by relying on the judgment of others. We exchanged mails, and he explained that this day, the start of the new year, held a special meaning for the people of his Mother Earth.

 

We prayed together for peace in the cluster, both facing Eve gate. He prays from his deep-space location, and I prayed from the chapel in Farthest Shore. He prays to Mother Earth, I prayed to God, but there is unity and harmony in our supplications.

 

In order to divulge more on the Goner faith and their history and knowledge of ancient artifacts, he gave me an assignment. Seeing that I am inexperienced as a capsuleer, he tasked me to equip a craft that could locate him, and to join him for a while in his journey.

 

I briefly considered asking Lunarisse Aspenstar or Professor Moriarty for help, but I decided against it. Goner Sarachem does not look like a man of shortcuts, and I think he would not approve of such a shortcut.

 

I have installed a jump clone in Farthest Shore, and will now travel back to more populated areas to buy a craft and equipment to fulfill Sarachem’s assignment. The Minmatar trader who gave me the advice about traveling to lawless space also told me the best spot in the universe to buy stuff is a station called Jita 4-4, in Caldari space.

Eve Gate

I flew out in a shuttle to New Eden, my heart racing as I had to make a long trek trough lawless regions of space.

The shuttle was small and fast to achieve warp, so I could hope to avoid pirates at the gates. Yet, it was far from careless travel. I followed the advice given to me not too long ago by a Minmatar trader who scoured the lowsec and nullsec regions for relics and remnants of data sites. He told me never to jump directly from one gate to the other, in systems with only two gates (so called "pipe" systems). Rather, make a detour via a celestial body, so when you next jump to your destination gate, you arrive from an unexpected direction. The man was clearly drunk when he told me this. On top of that, he was Minmatar. When drunk, the Minmatar will make outrageous claims with the greatest of certainty and then punch you in the face if you show even the slightest sign of doubt. Anyway, this time I did see some tactical merit in this idea and I even could leave without a bruised face.

Whether it was just a quiet day or whether the tactic helped, I do not know, but I reached New Eden safely. Ah, one is immediately greeted by the most wondrous sight the galaxy offers: Eve Gate! Its dancing whisps of plasma are mesmerizing like the flames in the hearth. The vastness of the phenomenon humbles the onlooker, and testifies to the presence of God in our universe.

 

Luck was indeed with me, as Goner Sarachem was still in the system. However, he did not grant me an audience, nor reply to my calls in local. He must be medating... I sent him a missive, not wanting to disturb him while he prays, and hope he will answer me.

I met a most remarkable scientist, professor Moriarty. He is investigating the system, but he did not tell much about that, as his "investigation is sensitive". However, as often the case with scientists, their pride in their achievements overcomes their discretion. He showed off some of his very fast craft - he must be an expert in speeding up vessels. His punisher, the "Paragate" reaches 13000 m/s, and he proudly whooshed it past the Farthest Shore station. He has developed another craft, a modified F-1A Pacifier, the "Blink", that can cross a good fraction of a light year in less than a second. Indeed, he warped out of d-scan range almost immediately. 

Lunarisse Aspenstar also happend to be at the Farthest Shore station, for upwell core maintenance. She must have jump cloned there. She confirmed that my eyes were not deceiving me when witnessing Moriarty's record-breaking spacecrafts. And she kindly showed me a location in deep space, a good way along the path that the Goners have followed.

 

Now I must be patient and gain the Goner's trust.

The search for Sarachem

I have tracked down one of the remaining Goners. His name is Goner Sarachem, and he was held in the greatest esteem by the Goners. 

 

He is a prophet to them, as he has authored their scriptures. These writings are certainly not part of our official and canonized scripture, and they are hard to read. They are written in an ancient language, and I have had a hard time translating it. Between all the bombastic declarations it reads like a sort of apocalypse where the Goners are the saved and exalted ones, and the other peoples of New Eden are cast into darkness because of their grievous bloodlust.

He was seen two weeks ago, in the New Eden system. I got this from the insurance records, publicly available at the Amarr Civil Service: he lost a ship in the New Eden system on December 16th. Now, browsing again over the insurance records, I see that he is there again today. 

 

Given his status in the Goner organization, and given the fact that he may go back into hiding at any time, I must make great haste. I cannot wait until I have mastered the art of cloaking, or until I can afford such fancy devices. I will not risk the Indagatrix and in stead fly over in a fast shuttle. 

I will take with me some Amarr wheat as a gift, as Aspenstar told me the Goners hand out water as a gift and I want something to reciprocate. I will propose to fly a while alongside with him towards the gate, perhaps that will entice him to a conversation. Oh, I must remember to take a translator device with me, although I think he must also understand common Amarrian, I'm not sure he has recently used it.

 

Lord, grant me success in my search.