The Tar Pits of Maia A7
The Tar Pits of Maia A7
or "How a Planet ate my UA"
So I've spent most of today investigating my theory that the answer we're looking for will be found in either Merope or Maia. I wanted to get some survey data for some planets in Merope, so I did quick surveys of the only two non tidal-locked moons in that system, then went back to Maia for some more random searching. I saw Maia A7 on the system map and thought "Hmm, a planet roughly 50% larger than earth with more than 3 times the mass? Might be worth a look, assuming my thrusters don't just give up in that kind of gravity". Now I don't want you to think that I just assumed it'd have high gravity because of the size and mass. Fact is, I don't have a detailed surface scanner since I traded that out for an AMS (in order to care for my UA baby). So I don't actually know what the gravity was like there, but usually large high-mass planets have alot of gravity, so I knew what I was in for. No pancaking as long as I was careful.
But that wasn't even the beginning of what I should have prepared for.
Upon arrival into orbital cruise, I noticed something odd in the crater-strewn surface ahead - something that looked like a trail of huge black pools. "Weird, probably a graphical issue, but I should check it out just in case." So I headed in that direction...
As I got closer, I began to realize that this looked like it could have been created as a debris trail from a massive ship (capital ship sized or station), though I saw no debris, only inky black splotches. Now I HAD to check it out. I entered glide around that area and proceeded to descend to normal flight altitude. Once this process was complete, I was about 7km above the weird splotches and noticed them glitching out. Okay, probably a graphical issue then, nothing to worry about. How wrong was I.
I went about setting up my usual survey run - I turned my Cobra upside down and flew over the planet at about 4km altitude. Normally I try for 3, but I didn't want to take any risks with the gravity threatening to tear my ship apart. Also, managing my UA was distracting me. And sure enough, as I tried to repair the cargo hatch (it was taking a massive beating over the last few minutes - I guess UA's really don't like heavy gravity), I got the HEAT LEVEL CRITICAL warning. My ship was about to go nuclear. I quickly turned back over and set my throttle to zero, hoping the engines would be able to regulate the situation without the strain of trying to fly in one direction. After a moment, everything cooled off and I was back to normal. "I hate heavy gravity worlds", I thought to myself. Almost in response, the message "Toxic Cargo Corrosion - Cargo Hatch" popped up on my screen. "Thanks, buddy. I know.", I said, as if the UA could even hear me back there in the cargo hold, let alone understand me.
Well, here is where I decided to touch down. No, there wasn't a POI detection on my scanner. Really, I had no good reason to do it other than the fact that I just happened to be directly over one of the big black pools I saw from orbit. Yeah, it's a display bug, but what the hell, why not check it out right? So I spent the next 5 minutes very carefully setting down. Managed it without a scratch. I went through my usual procedure of dumping the UA, fixing up any critical systems, and then deployed my SRV.
Before me lie a great, dark grey wasteland. And there was my UA buddy, sitting with part of its body thoroughly inside the ground. I picked him up real quick to stop his whining and then dropped him back down. He was quieter now, and not in as much pain. The UA's are funny like that. I decided to drive around, see if I can pick up anything on my wave scanner. Sure enough, there were mineral hits everywhere, and a few distant hits that sounded like debris or cargo dumps. So I headed off in that direction. I should have brought the UA with me. As I travelled, I noticed the terrain was strangely difficult to negotiate. It wasn't as if there were steep cliffs or spiky hills or anything like that. In fact, for the most part the terrain was reasonable, maybe a little bumpy in places, but certainly nothing I hadn't dealt with before. Why was my SRV handling like a bull with its legs tied together? I was kicking up loads of black dust and rocky debris as I trudged along through the ground, and even went under the surface a few times. I had to stop a few times, and occasionally when I did, I noticed my wheels jittering like crazy, trying to grab ahold of the incomprehensibly difficult terrain. After some odd, wave-like bounces and rolls, I made it to one of the cargo dumps I had picked up on the scanner. It was protected by some measly drones which I dispatched. I proceeded to scoop up the cargo I found sinking into the muck.
I had figured out by this point that there was definitely something not right about this place. It wasn't just the weird terrain, the treacherous gravity, or the odd SRV behavior. Something just didn't feel right. Not to mention, trying to do any serious surveying of this planet would be a nightmare and very slow (or deadly). "You want a good place to hide something? Try this cesspool.", I thought to myself on my way back to my ship. It wasn't that far, really, but no less than 3 times I felt almost as if my SRV was going to get sucked under the surface. And then I realized - before I got within 300m of my ship, I hadn't heard my UA buddy's distinct dinosaur-like call in quite a while. I'd left him alone with my ship before, for much longer than this, and I'd even gotten pretty far away from him before. He never stopped roaring. It was kinda nice, he was so loud I could hear him from 4+km away. But now he was silent.
I got back to my ship, but he wasn't there. I looked around frantically for him, but he was gone. Did he roll away? I searched the area thoroughly, but he was just gone. I never found him again. As if to add insult to injury, my initial attempt to lift off stalled - I had to struggle with several attempts before the planet finally let me free of its grip and into the skies once again. Was it really tar? Or is the planet alive - and hungry?
Maia A7 ate my UA.
If any of you feel like going to the tar pits (you can see them from low orbit, in case you do), be warned. Not everything that goes there comes back.
RIP UA #667 AKA "Little Buddy"
If there is interest, I have some video of my adventures on this hell-planet, I can upload them after I finish compressing them.