I ascended to the stars soon after awakening. As I'd expected, the sheer massive beauty if it was breathtaking. There was a planet nearby with what looked to be two sets of rings directly in front of me as I left the atmosphere, invisible from the ground. To the right, a brownish world hid ineffectively behind its much smaller moon. The ship's navigation system flared to life, revealing the name of the star system to me: Adiyshl-Slis.
I wasn't given time to enjoy it, unfortunately. It seemed I was barely in orbit when a light began to strobe on the console.
Reluctantly, I slowed the Pillar to a relative standstill and answered.
I sit in stunned silence for a moment. There's someone else out there? How do I respond?
With a shaking hand, I reach out and flip the radio switch, opening the line of communication between us.
"Hello? Who's there? I'm Ano-"
It's not until now that I see my main display flashing the words Comms Override at me, followed by 16/16/16/16.
The broadcast suddenly cuts off, leaving me once more in silence. All that remains are the numbers on screen.
16... why is that important?
I punch the coordinates into my nav system, and am immediately redirected to another nearby planet, hidden over the horizon from Desboniu Major. Girding myself, I aim the ship toward my new destination and activate launch thrusters.
I'll be arriving shortly.
The planet I arrived on was hugely different from where I first awoke. Gone were the toxic fumes and towering spores, replaced with flourishing reddish grass and marvelous trees. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, and I landed, it seems, just before the sun set on the world. I took a moment to marvel at the wonder around me before heading toward where I'd been directed - a small bit of abandoned debris, long forgotten in an otherwise empty field.
A message was already awaiting me on the screen of the device, somehow activated upon my arrival.
There were those numbers again. 16, and 4925. Only, this one was 4925-C, whereas I had already encountered A and B. I hadn't thought much of it then, but I'm starting to recognize something here. It seemed like I was following a trail of breadcrumbs left behind by some unknown entity of long ago.
Where will it take me, I have to wonder?
I plug into the device and attempt to decode the signal.
Here, at last, was my reward for following the trail. At the end of the transmission were encoded blueprints for a base computer, and something called a terrain manipulator. With any luck, the base computer will have more information for me.
There's a mystery here, and for some reason I feel compelled to solve it.
I'd hardly stepped away from the device when I encountered something both wildly fascinating, and incredibly terrifying!
The creature had four long, spindly legs, each taller than my starship is long, which shook the ground on each step. Its body and head appear to be one piece, a large beetle-like mass hoisted some six meters off of the ground. I hid carefully, scanning it before I risked an encounter.
Luckily, it appears to be not only docile, but nearly blind.
Reassured now, I leave my hiding spot and continue on, back on the breadcrumb trail...
Oh, also, I have discovered a new module in my exosuit! I seem to have a sort of deployable camera. I will use it to supplement my logs from here on. Attached is a test shot using the big beetle I encountered previously.