It has been three months here on this world, working on and the Viteză Furie. I have mapped it, and put satellites in orbit to monitor it and the rest of this system. I like this world. It is comfortable, so I am setting up a small base of operations to give me a quick fall-back, should I have any issues at the signal source. Even this close. Only a few million light years actually, the signal is still there and going strong. So I know that the signal has been going for a truly absurd length of time, and was still going strong only a few million years ago.
I mean. I cannot fully quantify what the actual distance is from where I first detected the signal, all the way back at Trost, to here. The distances are so absurd as to be meaningless really. I mean, I did some calculations, based on estimated speed in ARC space, given my known measurements, and assuming that the mass calculations with the crew compartment match CTs equations. I am currently 10 x 10^2500 - Giga-Yotta-Mega-Light Years from Trost. I had to combine multiple prefixes, and that is still just a wild guesstimate. It is probably much more than that.
Kotth and Lurr have not been around much, choosing to explore. I gave them both a harness with food and an emergency communicator, as well as some cameras that follow them so I can see the world through their eyes. They have hunted some of the local wildlife, finding a few worth eating, most not. Thankfully it hasn't made them sick. At least as far as I can tell. Though it does show that the life on this world has evolved farther than I initially thought. Still, these are young worlds, and I don't even know what the life cycle of these creatures are. The hazard of being in my position is that I am just one person. I could spend an entire lifetime studying just one world.
Speaking of which. I see myself returning to Trost once this is all over. Kotth and Lurr are from there, and of all the places I have been. I feel a connection to Trost, and of course Home, which is only a short jump from Trost, in the grand scale of what I have been through so far.
Finished the repairs, maintenance, etc... about three days ago. Have just been enjoying a few days rest. I have summoned Kotth and Lurr. They are much farther away than I expected, but are heading back. I look forward to seeing my friends again, and heading back out on the next part of our journey.
I keep speculating on what we are going to find at the source. The signal is so clear, and yet, how could you create such a thing? I have thought on that and come up with many things. I have proposed a gravity pulse generator, similar to what the Viteză Furie uses to compensate for jumps performed in a gravity well. Not that I have tested that mind you, but I know it is capable of doing generating gravity wave pulses, so a massive device of similar purpose could maybe to it. Then there is the idea of a collection of black holes set in a carefully crated orbit of each other. It would take hundreds in order to generate the signal, and be a stable system. Even then. Such a system of black holes would not be stable over the extreme long term, and definitely not even a fraction of how long this signal has been going.
I allow myself such speculation as something to keep me going. I suspect it will be something well beyond what I expect. Well... I am due in the ADoc for a checkup and tuning of some of my cyber systems. I want to be in top shape when we get to the source. I have also decided not to upgrade Kotth and Lurr. It wouldn't be fair to do that to them. I have tried to explain it. Though I don't know how well I was able to get the information across. They are very intelligent, but that is about the same as a younger child. I'm not sure if the complexities of what I am trying to explain is able to get through to them. Anyway. Check-up time.