#neutron fields

[cubeo-rising-blog]

Pilot’s log: 21 September 3301

I was distracted and got too close to a neutron star today. Frameshift drive emergency shut down, I heard cracking as Urania warned me “Canopy compromised.” There’s no visible damage, so I should be fine for now, but I need to be more careful.

After scanning a bit over 150 neutron stars (by my estimate), I’ve decided to turn back toward the core. I was planning on surveying more neutron stars than that, but I feel drawn back to Sagittarius A*. It’s difficult to judge depth with the sky sometimes. It always seems to feel like all the stars are the same distance from us, on some great celestial sphere. But here in the core, seeing stars in front of the Milky Way, they seem like motes of dust suspended in a sunbeam - three-dimensional, fluid. I can almost see them moving as though they were tiny particles following Brownian motion.

[cubeo-rising-blog]

Pilot’s log: 20 September 3301

While scanning neutron stars, I found one with an M-type star orbiting it some 35 kLs away. This star had two Earth-like worlds, two terraformable water worlds, and three terraformable high metal content planets. These are the first Earth-like worlds I’ve found so far.

I wonder if there was some creature down there, looking up at my ship streaking across the sky as I circled its planet.

Universal Cartographics reference:  Stuemeae WY-Y D1-2836

[cubeo-rising-blog]

Where the neutrons grow

Pilot’s log: 19 September 3301

I left Sagittarius A* a few days ago. Before I left, I transmitted my ship’s logs to CMDR Samwell Drakhyr, who has taken over the Buckyball Racing Club. The BRC has organized numerous unsanctioned (and sometimes illegal) races over the years. They currently have a standing challenge for fastest time to Sagittarius A* from Sol or Wolf 359 by ship type. CMDR Drakhyr sent me the blurb when he posted the results for the last week:

In the midst of the pack, the times for best Cobra mkIII continue to tumble. After Cmdr Max Sterling set the ball rolling three weeks ago, finally taking Cmdr Michey's long held position on the "Top Time by Ship Type" board, others have risen to the challenge. Veteran A* runner Cmdr Mangel was next up to the plate, Back to Basics becoming his third ship to make the run, and the first Cobra to make the run in under a day, with a time of a little over 19 hours. Unfortunately, Mangel was only able to hold on to the spot for just over four days. While he was still enjoying the sights in the galactic core, a new entrant in the form of Cmdr Orion Starbard in the good ship Urania was setting off from Lomas Orbiter. This celestial wandering singer made very good time in his first run, establishing a new record for the Cobra mkIII of 18 hours 45 minutes. Well done commander!

I’m quite proud of this result, and proud of my ship. She exceeded expectations in every way.

When I left Sadge, I headed above the galactic plane and to the East, but still within the Stuemeae sector. Explorers call these areas “neutron fields” for the vast quantities of neutron stars that can be found there. They lie in the galactic halo, about 1000 light years above and below the core, and offset from the core along the bar by about the same distance. About 1000 light years wide, they extend a long way away from the core. Considering how much Universal Cartographics pay for data on stellar remnants, you can imagine they’re a popular target for profit-minded explorers.

That said, there’s plenty of data to go around in this area. Every system I’ve come across so far has been marked “undiscovered” in my nav computer. I can only speculate on why UniCart pays so much for neutron stars, but it’s certainly not their rarity. If I had to, I’d guess they’re studying the data to help improve terraforming technology. I’ve seen several gas giants with life that shouldn’t exist with all the background radiation in this area.

Oh, and I found out along the way that my detailed surface scanner had been disabled almost this entire trip. I’m kicking myself for that one. I’ll have to swing back by Sadge again to get a better scan before I go home.