Further Adventures In No Man’s Sky

FURTHER ADVENTURES IN NO MAN’S SKY

I arrived back at my base. There, I found Operator Entity Idzh, still awaiting connection. With the software program that was its mind still trapped within the datacore I could not know how the Korvax would react once knowledge of the encounter at the transmitter was integrated with the physical form now stood silently before me.

With some nervousness I undertook the procedure to upload the mind back into the physical shell. Once completed, this body which was as lifeless as a mannequin came alive. The impenetrable face rose to look at me, and I did my best to interpret the mental state from the array of light that glowed and changed colour, flickering across the blank visor. “Unknown life form, I passed my test! Eheu!”, the Korvax exclaimed. “I am free to explore, free to pursue my passion for structural analysis. Do you have data to operate on? An observatory would supply some”.

This reaction was not quite what I was expecting. I had feared that the Korvax would react badly at having been disconnected from the hive mind, but Idzh appeared to have overcome any anxiety that might have been present. I did not know if this was due to memory loss of our previous encounters, or if it felt some reconnection with the Convergence. Whatever the ultimate explanation, I had work to do, which involved finding the observatory Operator Entity Idzh referred to.

Planetary scans and information analysed by Operator Entity Idzh suggested that a suitable observatory could be found at a location on the other side of the planet. Too far to walk or travel by rover, obviously, so I took the ship. Its thrusters leaving a trail of plasma behind me, I sped over the icy landscape. Below me, the ice sparkled in daylight and trees cast their shadow over the snow.

It was nightfall by the time I arrived at my destination. In the dark sky above me, the stars were brilliant white and the sun, dipping below the horizon, illuminated the atmosphere of a neighbouring planet, casting a soft halo-like glow around its edges.

I settled the ship down and entered the premises. The room had a sterile, clinical feel to it. All gleaming metal and furniture built for utility rather than comfort. At the centre of this room was an Enkasi Ocular Array, and from what I could tell it and indeed the observatory itself had been calibrated for a singular purpose, and that was to locate the interfaces of a being known to the Korvax as Altas. Doing my best to analyse the data, I learned that the original inhabitant of this facility succeeded in their quest after many years of work, and thereafter disappeared without trace.

I returned to my base, along with the uploaded data. I wondered if Operator Entity Idzh would be able to glean information that my abilities were not honed enough to extract. “No answers, Traveller”, was its reply, “Merely blueprints for a beacon”.

Idzh’s lights changed to cold blue, something I had learned corresponded with growing anxiety. “The convergence is absent, Traveller! We..I..Slipping...Perhaps that beacon may be of some use?”.

I was going to have to venture forth and make use of this mysterious beacon buildable from blueprints obtained from a long-abandoned observatory...

The adventure continued…

Thanks to Hello Games for the images