Epikouria Chronicles VIII

Another handwritten missive was waiting for me, from Brother Hugo, reporting on the wormhole colony started by Publius.

Brother Hugo's plans to visit the Original's capital have taken an interesting turn. As it happens, an intercultural fair is going to take place at the Free Trade Friendship Zone - the designated area on Renaissance (planet VI) where Starborn and Originals can freely mix. 

Both groups are very cautious with strangers. It is said of wormhole dwellers in general that they are somewhat paranoid, and it seems that at least the Starborn are no exception to this. The first step to trust each other is to get to know each other better, and that is the goal of this two-week long event, organized jointly by the Starborn and the Origin Colonial Authority (I think it is the Original's equivalent of the Empress' Privy Council).

There will be different pavilions devoted to the various cultures, beliefs, and habits present among the Starborn and the Originals. Brother Hugo and his companions made it their task to construct a pavilion showcasing the Amarrian faith. 

Their plan is to build a pop-up church. 

They do not have the means to build a pavilion like that, but they have held a charity drive and went around the Ardishapur quarter in Ouranos station with a collection box. Their congregation gave generously, and contributed not only in terms of money, but also objects to display. Brother Hugo is very proud of a large oil-on-canvas painting depicting Empress Catiz. 

Also people not of the faith contributed items, as the brothers are well liked on most of the station. They got an old statue of Heideran VII, which had been used somewhat blasphemously as a mannequin in a high-end boutique for official ceremonial attire. Brother Hugo plans to repaint it with gold paint and put in on display along with copies of the Pax Amarria.

It may have been one of the first letters that gave me a sense that Brother Hugo is in a good mood and positively energized!

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
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

VII. A suspicion of heresy

Second wreck

A message reached me from Baron Redwolfe, who is currently in Seclusion. Besides the shuttle from Interbus that we salvaged here at the Monastery, it appears that there's now a second salvaged spacecraft that is brought to my attention! Baron's Odysseus explorer found a Talocan wreck. 

image courtesy of Baron Redwolfe

He writes:

I have come across a perculiar item that you may wish to investigate more. I am unsure if you have obtained one or not. I have encountered in a sleeper data chace, a one Talocan Derelict Frigate. I had the teams in Seclusion II tow it back to be investigated. We have not opened it in case there is anything of danger inside. We await information from you if we should proceed with opening it or not.

I told him to be careful about nanites, and I am eager to go see this for myself. From the image it does look Talocan in nature, but closer inspection is needed to see if it is not some sort of replica.

Troubling salvage

We have searched through the remnants of the crashed Interbus shuttle, and found only a few items of interest. One is an Interbus public communications display of some safety instructions featuring a demon of sorts, and the other is a mining permit:

This document caused quite a stir among my brothers, and even the Abbot who struck me as an even-tempered man is in panic. They fear that someone wants to start mining on the very asteroid where the monastery is located. Needless to say this would be a huge disruption of the peace and quiet that is needed for transcribing scripture, prayers and meditation.

The paper is a weird thing. It seems that someone just states that from now on they own the land and can mine it, and the locals have nothing to say about it. I am not even sure to which land it refers to. Who could have issued such a permit? 

They do not think that the Ducia Foundry would do such a thing - Ducia is the main mining corporation in the constellation. But even if this is not issued by Ducia, then still it might be from some other organisation, perhaps a start-up, that seeks to drill into the asteroid. This is not even an asteroid that is valuable for its minerals - it is all basic regolith and silicate!

I promised the Abbot I would go and find out more about this, my first stop will be the Ducia corporation.

Salvage operation

It has been a while since I made a spacewalk outside of the pod.  

With the ice storms subsiding now that the season is over, we ventured out on the asteroid's surface. The Monastery itself has artificial gravity inside, but once you leave though the airlock, this quickly dissipates. Moving away from the installation, the gravity reduces until you barely feel it is there. 

The jagged horizon encloses you, and its curvature is clearly visible since the rock is not that big - the perspectives seem all wrong. The surface is frozen, but it is not like usual ice or snow, it is much more dilute, powdery and fluffy, and walking is awkward. We took out a large salvage vehicle, which looks more like a big cage on spikey wheels - traction control is difficult even on the usual regolith of the asteroid. There is no real sense of speed, as you have with planetary vehicles, or perhaps there is some feeling but it betrays you. 

Everything is very very quiet - the rock does not have any atmosphere.

We moved to the sunny side and crossing the from the darker to the lighter region is a brutal attack on the senses. Even the combination of the helmet's adaptive visor and vision implants has a difficult task to find a setting that does not blind you with light, nor with darkness. The white cover is thicker here - the ice particles are carried by the solar wind so the side that is more exposed to the star is more thickly covered.

We made it to the crashes shuttle without any problems, and started with checking that there are indeed no life signs. There would not be ones, since an entire side of the shuttle is missing. We did not find a corpse, whatever happened to the pilot of the shuttle - or perhaps it was on autopilot - is a mystery until we read out the navigation computer, or what is left of it.

We removed whatever pieces and parts we could - lifting even big masses does not require much effort in this weak gravity. But the work is slow, and clumsy, as you are most of the time moving yourself in stead of the mass when you try to push or pull, there is little grip. In the end most pieces were removed, and the crash site is left relatively clean. 

Now the task of sifting through the salvage to find out more about it begins.

Snow storm disruptions

I have had pleasant discussions with the new abbot, who presented me with a gift, a hand-written copy of the Book of Reclaiming. We talked about how being a capsuleer brings additional duties and obligations. 

The discussion turned to the current metaliminal ice storms, and how the monastery had been hit hard by the winds carrying ice particulates that sweep the system. Nearby shipping lanes are also disrupted, and many Interbus travelers have been stranded over the end-of-year holidays. 

It is not just here, but going over the maps, I saw that the Araz constellation seems to be a focal point for the storms this year:

In particular, the Araz "pentagram" systems are hit by strong storms. Could some link between the Drifter system asteroid and the Aphi labyrinth asteroid be attracting these phenomena?

Anyway, that was not the point that the abbot really wanted to make. He got to the question that he wanted to ask only after a while - apparently an interbus shuttle has crashed on the far side of the asteroid. There seem to be no life signs on board, just material damage. Since the monks do not have much experience with spacewalks, or walks on the exterior of an asteroid, the abbot asked me to lead a small expedition to walk over to that side and check out the wreckage, and clear up the site.

Storms are predicted to quiet down tomorrow, so that is when we will go.

Copy demons

It is strange to see my old monastery covered in what appears to be snow. Given that it is an asteroid monastery, and not on a comet.

However, the system has had a metaliminal storm bringing ice particles, that collected on the odd potato-shaped rock on which the monastery is located; most of the monastery is underground but there are some structures outside, including a shuttle port, facing the cold vacuum of space. These structure now sport a nice wintery scene, looking as if the monks can come bursting out on its surface to roll a snow puppet or start a snowball fight any time.

We devote ourselves to copying scriptures by hand here, following in the steps of Saint Aloysius, our patron saint. This is goes on day and night without interruption. The scriptorium lies deeply in the asteroid, and is protected by relics and ringed by side-altars where always one of the monks is praying. This protection is needed to avert the copy demons, believed to besiege the monastery. 

Nowadays, it is easy to copy a text flawlessly electronically. But back in ancient times, it was believed that demons try to secretly corrupt faith by altering words, whispering errors of translation, or distracting monks who would skip a word. A single error, faithfully recopied over centuries, can bend doctrine and hollow out faith from within. Hence the protective prayers, and the presence of a hierarchy of scriptors, lectors and correctors.

I shared a simple meal with my brothers after my arrival, and they asked me hundreds of questions about my travels and about capsuleers and their organizations. I felt exhausted. They have kindly offered me to sleep in my old cell! 

A visit home

I have been asked by the new Abbot of my former monastic order if I could pay them a visit. 

It has been a little over four years now that my guide and friend, the former Abbot Bavo passed away. That was the last time I went to the asteroid monastery where I spent a good sixty years of my life. So, a visit is long overdue, and it will feel good to see my old brothers again! 

Also, I am curious about the new Abbot. Even though he is not my direct superior as I am no longer part of a monastic order and have become a friar rather than a monk, the order and the asteroid monastery is still very dear to my heart.

Tradition of gift-giving

Coordinated by Maerrin and "Happy", our fervent organisers of social events, we have held our secret gifts celebration. 

I have already attended those before, and it is a nice yearly tradition taking shape in LUMEN. Each participant gets a designated receiver of gifts, and we have to come up with a suitable gift for that person. To guide us, the person can only submit a riddle beforehand. Similarly, also you can compose a riddle about what you like or like to do in the cluster, in order to guide your secret giver.

We then get together in celebration, amid seasonal drinks and a nicely decorate pine tree, and one by one give and receive. Some gifts turn out to be poems composed specially for the occasion, or even performance art on the evening itself (we had an act both scary and heart-warming), and very often special items or ships fitted in unique way. 

It takes a bit of time and effort to organize, so I am very grateful to organizers. It boosts an already high morale, and creates new bonds between people!

Summary YC127 part 3

Hypothesis 3 - Alien abduction. With the Jove as the prime suspects. They are known to roam the stars searching for powerful artefacts, that they might consider remnants of races even more ancient than they, and that they certainly consider dangerous in the hands of fledgling young civilizations. They would confiscate such artefacts. So, the hypothesis is that the Ametat and Avetat, certainly powerful enough to be on their radar, would have been confiscated.

This hypothesis - in a slightly altered version - is favored by the Goner sect, as explained to me by the reclusive brother Sarachem who is flying sub-warp to eve gate in a corvette. The goners told me that the Ametat and Avetat are hidden along with the relic that they seek, the Anticipator device that opens Eve gate, and kept in an unspecified asteroid belt in Jovian space. 

There is enough additional evidence that at least under the Jovian Directorate of the third empire, there were specific Jovian agencies in charge of searching for and retrieving powerful artefacts. Over the years, I have tried to gain access to Jovian space, and even talked to some capsuleers who managed to get there. However, they seem to have returned with a certain madness - perhaps an exponent of the Jovian disease. 

Linked to this are the various Jovian offshoot that have not disappeared from the cluster. It is widely assumed that the Sleepers in wormhole space also represent part of Jovian culture. So, with no access to Jovian regions, perhaps a way can be found via Anoikis to reach it, or at least to gain more information about the Jovians. 

Again, as with the Takmahl, there is a tantalising link to the ancient Talocan as well - it is this ancient race which engineered the wormhole network of Anoikis (somewhat broken after the Seyllin incident). These Talocan (and their stalactites) seem to be a common denominator, so it is with a resolve to learn more about them that I plan to continue my search in the coming year, and that I conclude the current status update on my quest.

Summary YC127 part 2

Hypothesis 2: According to this theory, the Ametat and Avetat were absconded by the Sani Sabik at the start of our era of space exploration. The Sani Sabik cultists had infiltrated our institutions but were forced to flee during the purges of emperor Queron I, the Iron-Fisted. They took to space in cryoships and started the Takmahl Empire in the Araz constellation. Ilash Toth tried to get the relics back, but failed. The Takmahl Empire grew powerful, but collapsed suddenly after a few centuries, taking the relics with it to its grave.

I have reported before on the mounting evidence pointing to this hypothesis, which was also investigated by prof. Bathana, Luna's archaeologist father. More evidence was found during my explorations of Gamis, but I cannot report on those due to an agreement with the Ministry of Internal Order. 

The main question to answer is what happened to the relics after the collapse of the Takmahl empire. I have found strong indications -contrary to common belief- that the Takmahl could reach further out that their own constellation of Araz. Two years ago, I started looking into the "Blood highway" connecting the Takmahl heartlands to Delve, through Aridia. Some current-day Blood Raiders consider themselves heir to the Takmahl, and it is clear that Takmahl artefacts are highly prized among them. Indeed, I found a functioning biodrone in an abandoned Blood Raider station in Aridia two years ago. 

Again, it appears that prof. Bathana near the end of his life was also tracking the Blood highway, as he went to Anath, a system at the edge of the Empire. That is where I will need to pick up the trail next year. 

This year I have also been investigating the link between the Takmahl and the Talocan - this far more powerful and far more ancient race that also influenced the Jove. Most recently, I have been intrigued by the realization that the holy rock at the center of the Takmahl labyrinth may be linked to the Talocan rock formations in other parts of the cluster and in wormhole space. I am thinking that these rocks held some religious significance for them, that was passed on to the Takmahl and perhaps even the Drifters. There is more to these stalactite rocks than meets the eye - could they house internal structures or hiding places? That is the second lead I need to follow up.

Summary YC127 part 1

Hypothesis 1 : the Ametat and Avetat stayed with us much longer than we nowadays assume. They were held for safekeeping by the Council of Apostles and the Speakers of Truth. These institutions, at first meant to advise the Emperor, transformed into forces that would keep the Emperors and the Holders in check. Finally, the Council would try to usurp the God-given power of the Emperor. When Heideran V attempted to restore Imperial power, civil war known as the Moral Reforms ensued. As the Council of Apostles faced defeat, the Order of Saint Tetrimon was charged with keeping the relics - symbolizing the Imperial power - out of the hands of the Emperor, and hid them.

This hypothesis is corroborated by historical records showing beyond doubt that Grand Master Tetrimon IV smuggled out all sorts of relics for safekeeping at the end of the civil war. Little is known about these relics from the time before the Moral Reforms, as scripture has been reworked heavily by Heideran V and the Theology Council that he created after the civil war. However, the Tetrimon are supposed to still have copies of the original versions of scripture, those versions that were tainted by the heresy of the Council of Apostles but that also contained historical clues. 

Over the years, I tried in vain to access these records at their ancient headquarters, the fortress of Teakh Tak-Teakh on Ibani VI, planet of the singing ice, and also at their new space monastery in Thebeka. However, they keep their records very private - afraid of being found heretical, I think. Many of their writings seem to advocate shifting power to commoners and leaving the Emperor with less than absolute power, in contradiction of scripture, Book I 1:14 or Book of Reclaiming 3:21. So, it is not surprising they restrict access. I was stuck.

This year however, I made headway! God's providence brought Baron Redwolfe's legacy to the Societas. Trough his ancestry, he is linked to the Tetrimon - today he leads a related order called the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. He has uncovered on his holdings an ancient monastery of Khanid paladin knights, where there is a library that holds copies of texts and scrolls by the Order of Saint Tetrimon. I found the Vita Magistrorum Magnorum of Tetrimon IV, which led me to find one of the hiding places of ancient relics, deep inside the forbidden city of Mezagorm. Unfortunately, these were not the relics of Ametat and Avetat, but still we recovered important lost relics of the legion of Ves-Udor. 

While these were not what I was looking for, it does give me confidence that I am on the right track. There is still a lot more to uncover in the Vita, and I will pursue this further in the next year.

Reflecting on the past year

The days of the Yoiul celebrations and the turning of the year inspire people to look back and reflect upon the year that passed.

As the veterans of the Societas know well, I have received long ago a quest to fulfil. It was given to me by Saint Tal-Romon, who visited me in a vision when I was still a monk cloistered in an asteroid monastery. The mission I have been given is seemingly impossible, and has been attempted by countless people before me: to find and return the most holy relics of the Empire, the lost Ametat and Avetat, the sceptre and crown given by the Sefrim to the first emperor, Amash-Akura. 

It is no coincidence that God led me to join the Imperial Society of the Sceptre and Crown, our Societas whose full name is indeed "Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque".

Over the years I have been able to formulate several hypotheses of what happened to these relics, and I am following up leads on each of those, along a winding path. Over the coming days, I will review each of those leads in turn and log my progress report for them.

-to be continued-

Epikouria Chronicles VII

Brother Hugo's latest letter reveals that business is going about as usual in the Epikouria colony. Industry seems to have expanded, as do anti-piracy efforts against the ever-present roaming bands of wormhole miscreants. Mostly, folks have settled in and gotten into a comfortable routine in Publius' colony. 

Mining and resource extraction are booming after trade and sovereignty agreements were finalized with the Originals. In exchange for unfettered access to the bountiful deposits on the planets of Epikouria, system-wide space security as well as regular connections and transport to trade hubs are provided by the Starborn. Diplomatic missions and embassies have been established on most planets, and the Originals have a diplomatic mission on Ouranos, the main station and space-home of the Starborn. 

Stories about the Originals trickle down to the Ardishapur quarter in the lower decks. Although the Originals keep their own personnel inside their diplomatic zone, folks working in the station do see these foreigners going about, and stare. Although many of the Originals appear human, some are heavily augmented, and there are even cyborgs and biodroids. There is talk about sentient AI's walking among them. All in all, they seem to be a extremely heterogeneous group, exploring the limits of what they can do with their bodies and infomorphs.

Brother Hugo is collecting evidence of all sorts of heresies among the Originals. There are signs that some of them are Sani Sabik cultists. Of course, sentient AIs are also forbidden - by all four empires. And he has also found some proof, he writes, that the Originals flaunt the cloning laws, and allow the use of multiple clones simultaneously by a single person. He writes, "The more we get to know them, the more horrors and heresies we uncover". 

To find out more, Brother Hugo plans to go with some of his companions to planet VI. That is the home world of the Originals, which they call "Renaissance". It hosts their capital, "Foundation City" and has the largest population of all the planets in the system. Publius' colonists, such as the good brother, cannot just go about anywhere freely on the Original's home world, but there is a 220 square kilometer area designated for meeting, trading and cultural exchange. It is called the "Free Trade Friendship Zone", and has a spaceport where shuttles from the colonists can land. Brother Hugo has filed for a permit to visit.

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
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

Writing awards night

This weekend the awards ceremony took place, in which books and works of capsuleers are honored. It is always interesting to see what we should get for the library - although one has to be extra careful to screen for heretical writings.

To my delight some fellow researchers were present. Dr. Fritte Cornelius, with whom I recently collaborated on a project in Sanctified Vidette, and Ninavask of the Syenose Accord, who sold me a Talocan life support unit during the rare items fair. 

We got into an interesting discussion on extracting energy from celestials for spacetime engineering, and I do hope we get to collaborate on that topic as well. Science knows no borders, but sometimes I fear we work in a bubble in each of our four core empires. Events such as the award ceremony bring us together,  and are wonderful occasions to forge new plans for joint projects.

Also, Fritte got an award for some of his earlier scientific work, well deserved! 

The first prize in the academic category went to a book about ground crews, by Kirin Freir. It is a very useful manuscript that mixes business advice and human resource wisdom, putting it all together in a pedagogical primer. I have been reading through it and it has got me thinking. I have a crew on board of  the Indigatrix, of course, but not really a ground crew in our Mehatoor home. I just use the services that the station provides. However, mr. Freir's book convinced me of the usefulness to hire dedicated personnel for that purpose. I will put up an advert on Mehatoor's hangar message boards.

The first prize in proze and poetry was actually poetry, by someone with the pen name Dark Magni. Although very evocative and dynamic, the poem is indeed somewhat dark. It leaves space open for one's own interpretation. Could the character who flew "on his path grim" be an emissary from above, pushing us to fight on and do our duty? Or is it a commander running away from the fray, or perhaps someone scolding us for having failed? I will have to re-read it to savour the different layers of the poem.

The Conflux Stalactite

It is not that obvious to find the Drifter homes that are not monitored by the Empire. Conflux Eyrie is controlled by the State, and since our alliance cooled down they are not that forthcoming with information. 

I did not receive a direct answer to my request about the location of an entrance wormhole. Mr. Firth took some notes and looked annoyed, even though he says this is to be expected. Nevertheless, on our own we did find an entrance, and proceeded to scan down the system and investigate.

What I found there is deeply disturbing.

Contrary to what I saw in Sanctified Vidette, there are plenty of bands of roaming Drifters in Conflux Eyrie. We located the stalactite asteroid, and when I went over to scan it down for detailed telemetry, I found a host of Drifter ships at the small station at its foot.

They appeared to be interacting with the disabled sentry guns around the abandoned station (or colony, or prison, who knows what it used to be). Luckily, the Indagatrix was cloaked and I could observe undetected. Several battleships and many cruisers were present:

And then it happened. The entire stalactite asteroid seemed to phase, or rather, to be enveloped by some sort of Drifter overshield shimmer,

They must be drawing energy from this rock, interacting with it, using it in some way that the sensors on the Indagatrix could not make out. I have not seen this before in the other stalactite asteroids. Does it contain some hitherto unknown ore, providing a kind of radiation they can use? Are these rocks more than just ancient relics of a bygone Talocan religion? Is this really a rock, or could it be some camouflaged mothership or station?

After the "powering-up", some sort of entrance tunnel lit up, in the middle of the rock:

At this point, I am not allowed to share anything else since mr. Firth wants our full report with telemetry to stay under wraps as it gets sent to the Ministry. But let there be no doubt - the Drifters are far from vanquished in the systems that we have conquered. The Empire may have a firmer grip on Sanctified Vidette than the State on their hole, but the Drifters are up to something.

This has strengthened my conviction that I need to revisit the Takmahl Stalactite asteroid. I also want to keep a closer look on the Conflux Eyrie artefact, and perhaps try to enter the asteroid via that tunnel. I could not approach it too closely with the Drifter fleet patrolling it - any accidental uncloaking of the Indagatrix would mean its immediate demise at the hands of the nearby Apollo Tyrannos. Finally, I also need to figure out what sites the other Drifter homeworlds still hold, perhaps there are more of those asteroids or related objects.

Stalactite asteroids

Something at the edge of my memory kept nagging me, and kept me from sleep. Something I had seen in a Drifter home system. Unable to catch sleep, I started looking through the image database of the Indagatrix. Drowsy browsing goes slowly but in the end I found the corresponding log, and the monstruous rock formation I saw during the Drifter war.

Compare the Drifter rock (left) to the Takmahl holy rock (right): 

There is to me a striking resemblance. The asteroid singled out by the Drifters for special treatment (with a station in the small round rock just before), and the rock at the center of the Takmahl are both "stalactite asteroids". They have spikey protrusions pointing to melting and resolidification in a strong uniaxial field. This strengthens my conviction that these particular types of stalactite asteroids held a particular significance for the Talocan, as this ancient race is the only common link between Drifters and Takmahl!

I have to find this rock back - it was not in Vidette, but in Conflux Eyrie according to the logs. And I also have to head back to the Takmahl, for better scans and probing of their asteroid. 

But first I have to catch up on sleep.

Talocan rocks and labyrinths

The Jove are thought to have found the ancient Talocan wormhole control network and gained access to the wormhole cluster Anoikis via it. The Jovian wormhole settlers are believed to be the forefathers of the Sleeper civilization. And many experts (including authorities in the field such as Uriel Anteovnuecci) theorize that the Drifters are, in turn, offshoots from the Sleepers. This is a reasonable assumption, given that they live in Anoikis. In addition, technology such as the thermo-electric convertors that the Drifters use to power their structures clearly bear the hallmark of the Sleepers.

The start of the chain of knowledge transfer for advanced spacetime engineering seems to be the Talocan, and this begs the question of whether the Drifter's Nexus superstructure is also based on Talocan spacetime engineering. And since the Nexus appears to influence spacetime also in our own cluster (via the appearance of phased fields), I would conjecture that it could influence other structures in our cluster as well, namely structures built with the very same Talocan spacetime technology.

The main "suspect" for me is the Takmahl labyrinth. There is a link from the Talocan not only to the Drifters but in parallel also to the Takmahl. The Drifters chose wormholes which have certain rock formations that are of particular ritual importance to the Talocan. Those are very much different from the asteroids found in belts in common Anoikis systems. Also the Takmahl incorporated most unusual rock formations in their cult.

The Talocan must have liked labyrinths too, and both Drifter and Takmahl cultures indebted to them have inherited this peculiar penchant for mazes. Although they are very different in nature, spacetime engineered labyrinths have been found in both Drifter and Takmahl home systems.

This makes me wonder whether the current changes in our spacetime allegedly due to Nexus tinkering may have induced changes in the Takmahl labyrinth too. I am planning to revisit it, but will need to enlist the help of SFRIM pilots to keep the Blood Raiders that infest that labyrinth at bay...

Pinning the blame

As I predicted, foreign news commentaries are trying to pin the blame on the Empire again - however this time we are not the only scapegoats. The phase anomalies appearing in spacetime have a similar energy signature as the Drifter Nexus superstructures, and so their appearance seems connected with the experiments that the five powers occupying Drifter wormholes are performing on those structures.

From my own observations, the Empire is dealing with the Nexus with great precaution and care. We have no doubt learned from the Turnur sabotage disaster. 

Dr. Cornelius thought that EDENCOM was not so careful, and went out to set up watch there expecting something bad to happen, but I have not heard from him since. It does seem suspicious that ORE - who is in an industrial partnership with EDENCOM - all of a sudden possesses the technology to anchor down these phase anomalies and exploit them for mining.

Personally, I think the Triglavians are behind this. They do not seem to mind much about our spacetime - that is the least you can say after the creation of Pochven. They must have the same disregard for the integrity of our spacetime when it comes to prying around into the Nexus superstructure. 

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.