"I...thank you Captain. I am Phelar Morilla." Phelar would listen to what he says, nodding now and then.

"That is a good mystery, yes. There are other mysteries tied to it as well. Such as...who is Triune? Where am I from? And how did I know what to do to show the details on the Star Map? Amongst others..." She said with a simple nod. It's obvious she had a lot of questions.

She considered more of his words for a moment, taking in what he said with some thought. "Maybe, as we arrive at each point in your quest my memories will return bit by bit. Perhaps then, maybe we can answer some of those questions." Then she nodded when he said she was with them for the duration. "Considering the circumstances, I would rather join you anyway."

"I can help him. If you wish." She offered.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:18, Sun 28 Apr 2019.

Socket stared at Phelar with his mouth hanging open.  "Are you for real?  You just find out your parents, friends, family, spouse, CHILDREN, if you had any, anyone you ever loved are long gone dead and your response is 'that's a mystery'.  I've programmed drones with more feeling than that."

He looked at Sonaeu.  "That's just weird.  That sounds like a double agent or some alien clone or something.  Why don't you aim your gun at her?"  He commented still a little sore about how he had been treated at their first meeting.

"Although if she was brainwashed and left for dead simply to be a pointer to the missing planet, she might be of help plotting the course."  He shrugged at the dilemna.

Culhayn was about to correct Socket on the real possibilities that nonchalant acceptance of one's fate could be either a symptom of coping with great trauma, a sign of an specific cultural upbringing that deals differently than Ysoki or Humans on the matters of finitude, or even a strong reserve of faith in something, but the way the small mechanic kept talking - and moreover, what exactly he decided to talk about - seemed to make the "Doc" to change his course of action. His lips turn into an amused grin, and he just comments: "Word to the wise, Socket; never precede an act of pointing a gun to an agent or spy by announcing it. Clinical data says this tends to really lowers one's life expectancy."

Socket wondered who was the additional wise person Culhayn was speaking to.  Hopefully they took note as it didn't really apply to him.  He just shrugged to Dr. Crazy, "I'll take your word for it.  I've never tried it."

Phelar looked at Socket with a solumn look in her eyes. "...your Captain said I 'could have been' there for hundreds of years, not that I was. Still...with that in mind...I have no memories of any family. If I were to feel sadness, and shed tears, who would I shed them for?" She asked him, then asked them all. "...myself. That's the only answer. I would not be crying because I have not lost all of my friends and family do to time, but because I cannot remember all of the memories I had with them. Ever." She explained, quietly, solemnly, as a single tear ran down her cheek. "...so before you think ill of me for showing no emotion, understand, I have no one in my mind right now to even show emotion for except myself. I would not wish this on anyone...  If I did this on purpose, with knowledge of this, like your Captain also said could be one of many possibilities...  I'd of had to of had a damn good reason. A good reason to give up everything, to be in that spot. So I choose....for now....to drive my emotion towards that idea, and to finding out what that reason was. My guess, is it's tied to your missing world. Somehow." Wisdom, and Intelligence. Scary.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Wed 01 May 2019.

"Selective memory on that scale is beyond our knowledge, magic and technology at the moment," Sol suggests, "but then so is moving a planet."

"On the other hand, traumatic amnesia often affects the more personal aspects of memory but leaves cognitive memory intact. It's why you can remember how to dance, for instance, but can't remember your name."

"We still don't know why that happens. So, if some agency did alter your memories, they simply may have learned the secret of selective memory."

"I'm not convinced she's been in there for centuries, though. Unfortunately, the alternative is far more disturbing."

Now that you are back up in space on the ship, Revonoss, with Phelar's help, is able to use the ship's computer to map the star pattern and identify the area of space that matches the image on the ceiling of the temple.

There is no star in that sector that matches the bright star, but the fourth planet from the sun would fit the bill.

Stellar drift doesn't come into play because of the scale of the distances involved; a few hundred years just doesn't register that much.

On the other hand, planetary drift is significant. This close in, the change in the planet's orbital speed and distance would be affected by the other nearby planets. While not significant for planetary distances, as a marker for heading out into the deep of space, as much as an inch variance in the planet could send the ship a hundred parsecs off course, even more the farther out you go.

As near as Revonoss can determine, the image on the ceiling... specifically, the position of the planet, represents a time about 670 years ago. There's a margin of error, though.

It still gives a heading for the ship.

The real issue is distance. Turns out there is no known Drift beacon out in that direction--you'll be shifting into the Drift blind.

Revonoss checks the data and then runs it again a few times till the margin of error is minimal working closely with their new 'recruit' Once they got a heading he isn't surprised they find a path without beacons there was a reason they where taking some with them after all. He looks at his companion.

"Well lets work out two routes. One with short jumps and another with longer jumps and then take both routes to the captain. Your blocked mind has any fresh info we might use to make the trip easier?"

Socket looked at Phelar and her 'emotional' response.  Not bad.  Solemn look, even a tear.  He had to give her props.  Still something just didn't feel right with that theory.  "Pfftt.  Nice, but B.O.R.I.N.G.  I'm going alien construct.  Looks human.  Leads seekers into a trap so the aliens can eat your brains.  I bet that machine back there has even created a new body of her by now for the next batch of suc.... err... intrepid adventurers."

He looked at the map and location.  No drift beacon.  Makes sense why no one has found the planet yet.  Hide it outside of where people travel.

"Good luck with those calculations.  I'll just go prepare in case I'm right.  Permission to leave the bridge El Capi tan?"

Socket is dismissed and Revonoss presents his calculations to the captain.

"Excellent work, Revonoss," Captain Zenith responds.

"I was considering both those options myself. While the short route would be the safest one, I don't think that Golarion would be that close. It would have been detected long before now if it was."

"So, we'll try your long course."

"We're going to cruise outward a bit before we enter The Drift... just to double check our readings."

"So, you've all got about 10 hours before anything happens."

"...what do I know?" Phelar said softly, considering his question a moment before she lost herself for a moment. "...distance is 111 parsecs...Bolida...Thread the needle...Vesk are coming..." Then she would look back towards the others once more as her eyes focus returned to normal. "I...um...sorry..."

Revonoss hmmp's and looks at Phelar as she unfoccuses and as she spews forth the name Bolida he queries the known planets and stars index to see if there is a hit on their projected route. And just to be sure also looks for star formations that might resemble a needle. As the query runs he looks at the rest of the team.

"What do you make of that? Could be a point of origin as the distance is far enough."

Saia remains quiet through most of the discussion, until the next stage of prophetic information arrives.

”Sounds like we have our answer, set our first Drift target for 111 parsecs and prepare for a Vesk assault that will catch up to us if we don't act quickly.”

"This is a pretty interesting, if unnerving, gift that you are displaying, Phelar."

Culhayin observes the others working on the computers and making their calculations. 10 hours before they go into the Drift...

"Would you object for a more throughout bio and gene examination, Phelar? We have a fully equipped medbay here in the ship, and maybe there is more to learn about you if we could analyze your biochemistry makeup and the sequencing of your genetic code."

Revonoss easily pulls up Bolida on his computer. They are a centipede-like race of natural miners. While they primarily live underground, they can dwell on the surface but have a propensity for digging tunnels, even down deep enough to be close to a planet's molten core.

There is no known world along your projected path that is a Bolida home or colony, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Part of the reason for that may be that there's no known Drift beacon out that way.


If the Needle is a constellation, it's not obvious from here, not even projecting the star pattern out to 111 parsecs. On the other hand, any alignment of stars could be called that. As a constellation, it would be designated as such by the locals.

"Good suggestion, Culhayn," Sonaeu responded. "Not sure it will make a difference, but it might answer a few questions or at least eliminate a few things."

"While it might be some sort of post-hypnotic suggestion... or even some sort of genetic memory... it's beginning to sound like each step is triggering more memories."

"That doesn't quite explain the Vesk reference. Unless she was from the future, no 'memory' could predict them showing up."

Phelar looked at the others with that one blue and one green eye as they spoke, about her of all things. "...um." She said, softly, as if to let them know she was still there before she spoke.

"...seems I....have a lot of gifts." She continued, softly. "...I don't really understand what happened... He asked me if I knew anything, then as I tried to remember...I started to see things...the things I said..." She continued.

Then at Culhayn's suggestion of a more thorough examination she considered for a moment. "If you...and your Captain...feel it would help me out in any way, I'll do it." Then she looked towards Sonaeu. "Like you said...if it does not give answers, it might at least rule out some things."

"We'd better tell the captain about the distance," Sol suggests after hearing Phelar's 'memories'.

"He'll need to adjust his calculations. Also, if she's accurate and the Vesk are coming, maybe we shouldn't wait that 10 hours."

Finally!  All that talk was making his head hurt.  Socket was now free to explore the ship.  He poked his nose into any unoccupied room.  Boring... and Interesting… were some of the thoughts that crossed his mind as he wandered.

If anyone spotted him, he slunk away.  If he heard someone coming, he hid.  Ooooo!  An Arcus Ultra 150PCU! and Mk2 Duonode produced satisfactory nods of approval.

Finally he ended up in a corner of the Tech Workshop with some loose supplies that had just been laying around.  He grabbed some tools and started tinkering to keep him busy and out of trouble.

After the captain is informed about the distance and the approaching(?) Vesk, he recalculates a course heading and asks Revonoss to confirm it.

Once that's done, he shuts down the engines for the necessary time (1 minute) before activating the Drift engine that will shunt the ship into The Drift.

Just as the ship shifts into The Drift, the sensors pick up another ship exiting The Drift. It appears to be a Vesk ship, but the sensor readings are so brief that it can't be confirmed. The size puts it in the Norikama Dropship category, but it's probably a scout-raider version rather than a troop transport.

Once in The Drift, the ship sits there for one minute while the Drift engine is deactivated. It doesn't really take a full minute and as far as anybody knows, it doesn't matter, but it's become habit to wait a full minute before activating the main engines again.

It's not like the ship is in a panic at this point, since the Vesk ship (if that's what it was) has to do the same thing as well as plot a location and then calculate a new course. And that's assuming it can figure out where the Starhawk is going. It certainly seems as if it has the ability to do that.

Because you are heading into the vastly unexplored Vast, travel time is uncertain and unknown, no matter how good your Pilot is. So, all you know is that it will take between 5 and 30 days... probably somewhere around 16 days would be the average.


Once the ship's normal drive engines are activated, the heading is confirmed, and there are no obstacles detected, the Starhawk begins its journey through the Vast.


After about an hour, with no signs of pursuit or trouble, Phelar is asked to report to the medical bay on the ship for her examination. It's mostly going to be routine: blood analysis, genetic testing and brain scans.

She does not hesitate. Standing up she nods once to Revonoss. "I'll, um, be back shortly I guess." Then she offered him another small nod and left, heading for Medical as requested.

She will make her way down the corridor to the Medical Bay. Looking around for a moment before announcing herself. "Um...Phelar Morilla reporting for my examination...?"

Running the calculations confirming them and having Phelar see his trajectory he then passes it off to the captain. We was more then a little startled that the Vesk ship appeared when it did and figured threading the needle was actually them leaving on time. He nods goodbye as PHelar is called to the medical bay.

"I can show you where it is not that its hard to find. I think i like a drink myself. That ship showing up when we left was a little to close for comfort."

If Phelar takes his offer to escort her or not after that he goes to get himself a drink in the ships mess/bar

"Alright. Thank you." She said with a nod, accepting his help. "...me, knowing it was coming was...weird too..." She said, looking at the floor as they walk.

"When I am done, I might join you." She said with a simple nod.

Culhayn had, for the most part, felt a little bit idle during the journey, which was a sense he hadn't really had a chance to get used to while in Castrovel. He could keep his studies, but he lacked materials. He was particularly interested in what the tests on Phelar would reveal - specially, her genetic signature -, yet he would need to wait for the examination to be done.

He decided his time would best be spent in knowing his new colleagues and relaxing a bit, and he had seem the mechanic heading to the mess hall. He followed suit.

The first two days pass eventfully, although no one has quite fallen into what you might call a 'routine'.

Early on Day 3, however, the ship's sensors pick up a planet dead ahead!

It takes a few more hours before the sensors are able to resolve the readings into a coherent visual image.

Once that happens, it becomes rather obvious what probably happened.

The 'planet' is a giant slab of earth and stone, most likely shifted from the elemental plane of earth. It's around 6,000 miles long, 1,000 miles wide, and 700 miles thick. It is roughly oval but the edges are all rough and jagged. The 'top' seems to be fairly smooth and level, but the underside has jagged protruding rocks that are really low mountains.

It isn't until the ship is about an hour away that it picks up a faint distress signal.

It's coming from a ship--oddly, it's in the computer: the Dawnwind, a 100-year old Gnomish explorer/miner. It's sitting somewhat in the middle of the flat side of the rock. It does not appear to have crashed.