fan lore While they are watching the Janus Gate ... what is watching us?

[Dracostan]

Journal Entry: 0AA-14-7-19:34 (E.yr12478)

Location: Helios system, Aloith ::pos{0,2,31.5092,109.2929,256.4138}

Professor Draco F. Stan, Dragons Forge Research Institute

 

It’s returned…

 

I say returned, but it is more the truth to say ‘It’s real’ – damn, two years of cryo-simulation it seems can have an effect on even the most aware of minds.

 

But how could it have appeared in our cryo-sim? We were over a year out from landfall on Alioth and nothing in Aphelia’s records points to anything more anomalous than the ‘alien’ cores that pull high-grade resources out of the vacuum energy of the Helios system – even those were only discovered and added to the cryo-sim as the Novark made its final approach.

Not that getting access to Aphelia’s records is easy – and who’s to say we get complete access to all the data it’s holding.

 

Everything we can remember about the ‘first’ implies it’s the same (damn Aphelia for erasing our data stores, even if simulated) – it looks the same, certainly the same dimensions and form, though some have said it’s a slightly darker shade than before, more freshly smelted chromium than the aluminium we determined as the gauge of the previous one. But that could just be the time of year and the different location changing the ambient lighting conditions.

 

As best to our recollections, it certainly presents to our instruments the same as the previous … I don’t know what to call it, occurrence, encounter … encroachment? – It’s completely reflective to our conventional equipment, no absorption even at the electron-volt level. And as for our quantum-based instruments, we might as well as left them at the Institute. The same shadow, or hole as we saw before. Nothing registering, literal nothing.

 

And again, the strange emission pervading the immediate vicinity - a localised anti-gravity field, that also seems to affect any quantum gravity manipulators, with no apparent source; a completely even field then an abrupt edge just passed 250metres from the … ‘it’. All our ships warp engines are running above 100% efficiency, all warp cells slowly gaining extra charge (not that we can use them this far into a gravity well – if only this … device … would have had the courtesy of appearing in space!). Tests developed in the cryo-sim showed the same impact on warp cell production, a minute but undeniable increase in efficiency. No doubt we’ll take what small advantage it gives us - got to fund this infuriating, exhilarating venture somehow!

 

I need to decide – ‘occurrence’ feels to fit best. Generalised enough that it can describe a singular, but indicative that this may not be the only.

 

The direct and seemingly complete alignment of the occurrence in the cryo-sim and here in the ‘real’ is frankly disturbing. How can they be so alike, but there be no record in what data we can access from Aphelia – and why would it hide what it showed us whilst we slumbered?

 

Speculation has started anew as well, due to the appearance of this occurrence so close to the emergence of the unknown alien ships through the Janus Gate – so closely mirroring the previous appearance, following the discovery and incorporation of the ‘alien’ cores to the cryo-sim over a year ago. Are they connected? Or merely a cosmic coincidence … with so little data we can’t even speculate. In my mind a small niggle speaks to something else outside of these events … watching.

 

The local organisation holding the adjacent tiles has been amenable to us setting up a permanent facility, even transferred title of the immediate tile to the Institute – of extreme curiousness, it is the same org that the previous occurrence appeared next to. I have no answer to this.

 

Work has started on the containment structure, an updated design supposedly, but with no way of actually knowing if it will perform that function. While the old facility seemed to be adequate, we can never be sure – Aphelia assures us the cryo-sim was physically accurate to the real world, even to the quantum level, but even in there, we barely had any time to design those tests, let alone conduct them, before we woke up, and had to start afresh…..

 

Journal entry ends ….

[Dracostan]

Journal Entry: 0AA-03-8-11:14 (E.yr12478)

Location: Helios system, Aloith ::pos{0,2,31.5092,109.2929,256.4138}

Professor Draco F. Stan, Dragons Forge Research Institute

 

The containment facility is going through final fitting out … and damn does it look creepy. I know we had to use the nano-tech material for the main structure, but it is so dark it’s like its sucking in the light from the surrounding area. And the overall form feels just as alien as the occurrence it’s meant to hold. I swear I’ve seen it in some holo.

 

The techs are already worrying; during the primary shielding installation they say something happened - that the occurrence reacted. No-one knows for sure; no-one was allowed near the facility during the shield material deposition and all the sensor feeds blanked out just at the crucial moment. All we do know for sure is the surface of the primary shield has buckled, or been compressed after the deposition finished. The deformation is plainly visible on all eight quadrants.

For now, it seems stable, as all embedded sensors show no further stress being imparted on the shield material. But given how little we actually know of this thing, I also have a sense of the same trepidation.

 

The build schedule is being pushed by the Institute backers, eager to take advantage of the extra efficiency of manufacturing the quantum gravity manipulators used in warp cells. I know we need to fund this investigation, but utilising the strange emanation from the occurrence without knowing anything more about it sticks in my craw. I’m just glad we have access to automated industries, so there won’t be anyone in the facility so close behind the primary shield. So, the fitting out happening now is on that factory line – just a test line for now, but certain to be expanded if the expected efficiencies hold up to the real world.

 

The facility secondary structures are complete, ahead of time is the surprise! The immediate landing pads have been placed, held with gravity anchors to counter the occurrences anti-gravity field. We also have some local storage; a side benefit of the industry being installed.

 

The big shame is a beautiful piece of architecture had to be removed from the nearby shoreline, a local shipwrights build platform by accounts – but it was too close for comfort of both any civilian presence, and also for ships departing the facility. I hope it gets redeployed somewhere else. I may even ask for a blueprint for myself.

 

We’ll see how this plays out. Tomorrow the primary shielding gets energised; For now, all is as we expect; I keep saying it, but knowing so little against that expectation feels ….

 

Journal entry ends.