What is left behind...
25 Nov 2023C. Instinct
***Captain‘s log – AIRV Big Sister
Date: 25.11.3309
Condition: ABMER
Location: Trianguli Sector BA-A d85
Entry 38:
A lot has happened since my last log entry! Even though I am eager to write it all down right now I think it’s best to spread the events of last week over multiple log entries. Right now I will focus only on my most recent and most exciting discovery and that is of course thargoid related!
Anyone who is following the recent development of the ongoing “war” is probably aware that the Taranis Titan has by now lost it’s entire “sphere of influence”. Meaning, as I am writing this log entry, the thargoids have retreated from every single system they had previously controlled around the Taranis titan. I’ll admit I did not expect this but after thinking about it, this development only strengthens my theory, that this is not an actual invasion. I have no doubt the thargoids could have held at least some systems if they wanted to, but this total retreat only confirms my theory, that conquering territory is not their goal here. I will admit though, it is too early to draw any absolute conclusions yet, since the thargoids are known react quite slowly on a strategic level. It may very well be that the Taranis thargoids will make an advance to recapture some systems soon. If that does happen, I will keep a close eye on what specific systems they will attack. For now their retreat has presented me with a unique opportunity: Systems that have been under thargoid control for months are now freely accessible again! A pristine chance to study what effect the thargoids and their doings might have had on the indigenous life of those systems! I jumped right into my bio research courier and headed out. When I started, my only intention was to simply gather bio samples from inside the Taranis former “sphere of influence” but while I was doing that baseline science, I stumbled over something veeery interesting! I picked up a distinct thargoid signal from the surface of a moon in my current system and when I got there I was able to identify a thargoid spire site! By now these kinds of structures are nothing new but here’s the thing: up until now these sites have in fact been the very focus points of the war. I am no active front line combatant, but from what I know these sites were heavily defended and the most active battlefields of the current war effort. Therefor I have not visited to such a site myself yet and I doubt many scientists were able to analyze these spires in any detail so far. But this one appeared abandoned so an ideal chance for me to get in there and poke around a bit!
For my first approach I switched to my xeno-python, since I could not be sure it was truly abandoned yet (better safe than sorry) and did a few flyovers of the entire site. These spires are quite impressive structures, so tall you can clearly identify them even from orbital cruise!
Since my first careful approaches triggered absolutely no response, I soon felt confident enough to get a closer look at the biggest spire and in fact even land my python on one of its “petals”.
Even that did not trigger any response at all so by that point it was clear to me, that this site was truly abandoned and it was time to start the science! I switched back to my bio-research-courier and started exploring the entire site from my ship, with an SRV and on foot. There are several large structures in varying heights that seem to be connected by a network of “roots” which appear to be mostly underground but also partially exposed. The scale of these structures is truly massive and only hard to comprehend until you get up real close.
Even the lowest structures are massive enough to fly my entire ship into them. From first glance the different structures appear to simply be spires in different stages of “growth” but there are distinct differences between the taller “spires” and the lower “domes”.
Where most spires seem inaccessible and mostly featureless on the base, the domes are more like open pavilions and have interesting “unusual” structures on their inner walls.
I have found These pod like wall devices only inside the domes and they resist any attempts to scan or probe them so I have no idea what they might be.
Another interesting feature I have found only on domes so far are luminescent patches of soft tissue. These can be found both on the inside and outside of the walls.
What is most fascinating about them is the fact, that they can be analyzed by my standard genetic sampler!
That’s probably old news to the top xeno-biologists out there but I didn’t know it was possible to get genetic samples from thargoid structures! Using my SRV I was also able get some scans of the “roots” and even collect resign samples but the biggest surprise for me that day was when I finally got back to my carrier to log and analyze my data. When I submitted my genetic samples to vista genomics I received a first discovery bonus for my thargoid spire data!
Looks like I was the very first to sample this spire site! I did not expect that! I am so used to being just a small, unimportant scientist on the sidelines of these big events, I never expected to be the first at anything but here I am, first to analyze at least this particular spire site! I guess most top notch exo-biologists are focusing on the active sites and front lines and not many poke around abandoned systems these days…. However, I believe there is even more to be discovered in these abandoned places, so for the time being I will retreat from my my active Titan research and continue to explore the reclaimed systems around Taranis.
***