[dreams are of course the strangest fiction. I wrote this down as soon as I woke up]
I was dreaming that I was playing Elite: Dangerous, and that I was trying out the new (not yet implemented) warp route exploration mechanics. After some careful adjustments and zeroing in as best I could on the target star, I entered a weird sort of jump secuence "blind warp jump" warnings were flashing as the countdown began, and I was off!
The warping tunnel went on for a while, and I thought "great, it crashed again"... then I thought "wait! maybe I am supposed to drop out manually!!", and grew alarmed that so much time had passed.
I hit the button, and sure enough, It dropped me... among floating white globules labeled "Queeble" when I targeted one. It was like I was in a sea filled with white drifting jellyfish out in interstellar space. I tried to scoop one up, but found it wasn't scoopable. I bumped my ships window against one while tring to scoop, and it rebounded and quivered realistically. they all started quivering in response to the bump, and they began interconnecting with faint blue lines of energy, some form of web? network? The web grew in the depth of field until it became a solid glow.. a glow that I recognized.. was that a warp cloud forming?
Then poof! I was back in the hyperspace tunnel, as the warp then resumed. And ended on its own after a bit as it reached its "destination" (my original one? one the Queebles diverted me to??).
I emerged near a star, and in the midst of thousands of large black ships!! They were massive, and shaped like some sort of mushroom with thorns and horns down its side. They literally filled the view with their multitudes. I was alarmed and awed. and a little surprised. "Did I just find the Thargoids?!?" I said to myself (apparently outloud)
"not exactly" my comms said. I jumped out of my chair a bit at that.. was the game listening to me?!? I checked, and my voice comm was indeed connected with "unknown" [odd because my mic is inop in-game]
"we mean you no harm. And are happy to again meet one of your Kind [said as a proper noun]" It was a strange modulated cut and splice string of the Ships complaining Bettie voice, apparently cobbled together for my benefit [or maybe it was just a GL@DOS voice]
My holographic HUD shimmered in a station interface sort of change, and a new kind of interface greeted me. galaxy maps, parts lists, data files, alien catalogs were all listed in various windows. It was like a starbase menu homepage, but with all different kinds of stuff.
"What would you like to discuss?"
The first thing I did was click the galaxy map. and WOAH! these alien ships were everywhere!! It seems that they occupied most of the galaxy. The galaxy looked different, somehow, And I couldn't make out the spiral arms of it or anything really recognizable. On a whim, I searched for Sol, and it appeared!. I zoomed in on it, to find it too was occupied by dozens of these ship icons as well. Wow... these guys were truly everywhere!! I tried to spin or tilt the view to make it a star system I recognized, but nothing seemed to work. It got frustrating.
"Things are different on this side of the Shear [I took it to mean 'split' or 'division']" it told me. "but there are correlations, as you can see"
I did not see. I simply couldn't understand any of it. All I could tell for sure was that these ships were all over the place, and that this was Sol, and that THAT was Earth. Was the "Shear" a.. gap.. or a line between this and some shadow/other universe? I had no idea.
The alien ships started moving, urgently and alarmingly- like a flock of startled birds taking flight. My framerate took a hit with all the activity, and I wondered if I was under attack. My growing alarm eased as they started warping away in little pops and the cacophony of pops grew deafening in my headphones.
"You must go now. THEY are coming! You will never want THEM to learn of your existence. We would not want that, either. Farewell for now"
And I was kicked sideways into hyperspace.. sort of a reverse emergency drop/wipeout from supercruise, tumbling sickeningly in that tunnel as I warped to.. heck.. I had no idea! I was basically along for the ride at this point.
It was all so amazing. I was grinning ear to ear (dream realizing this was a game afterall.. or was it?). I emerged in Eranin. "OK, whew! I know where THIS is". I was wondering how I would ever find that particular jump path again for a return, as I didn't track my location nor path at all in some corner of unmanned space...
--- then I woke up. I shook my head and said "OK, I've been playing Elite a bit too much", and rolled over and took some quick notes.
but now I wonder. was it a premonition of things to come in the final game or updates/easter egg [if so, uh.. SPOILERS!]? an inspiration to share with the developers? Mad ravings of a fitful sleep? Whatever. It was cool. I wish I was good enough of an artist to render its visuals
I was dreaming that I was playing Elite: Dangerous, and that I was trying out the new (not yet implemented) warp route exploration mechanics. After some careful adjustments and zeroing in as best I could on the target star, I entered a weird sort of jump secuence "blind warp jump" warnings were flashing as the countdown began, and I was off!
The warping tunnel went on for a while, and I thought "great, it crashed again"... then I thought "wait! maybe I am supposed to drop out manually!!", and grew alarmed that so much time had passed.
I hit the button, and sure enough, It dropped me... among floating white globules labeled "Queeble" when I targeted one. It was like I was in a sea filled with white drifting jellyfish out in interstellar space. I tried to scoop one up, but found it wasn't scoopable. I bumped my ships window against one while tring to scoop, and it rebounded and quivered realistically. they all started quivering in response to the bump, and they began interconnecting with faint blue lines of energy, some form of web? network? The web grew in the depth of field until it became a solid glow.. a glow that I recognized.. was that a warp cloud forming?
Then poof! I was back in the hyperspace tunnel, as the warp then resumed. And ended on its own after a bit as it reached its "destination" (my original one? one the Queebles diverted me to??).
I emerged near a star, and in the midst of thousands of large black ships!! They were massive, and shaped like some sort of mushroom with thorns and horns down its side. They literally filled the view with their multitudes. I was alarmed and awed. and a little surprised. "Did I just find the Thargoids?!?" I said to myself (apparently outloud)
"not exactly" my comms said. I jumped out of my chair a bit at that.. was the game listening to me?!? I checked, and my voice comm was indeed connected with "unknown" [odd because my mic is inop in-game]
"we mean you no harm. And are happy to again meet one of your Kind [said as a proper noun]" It was a strange modulated cut and splice string of the Ships complaining Bettie voice, apparently cobbled together for my benefit [or maybe it was just a GL@DOS voice]
My holographic HUD shimmered in a station interface sort of change, and a new kind of interface greeted me. galaxy maps, parts lists, data files, alien catalogs were all listed in various windows. It was like a starbase menu homepage, but with all different kinds of stuff.
"What would you like to discuss?"
The first thing I did was click the galaxy map. and WOAH! these alien ships were everywhere!! It seems that they occupied most of the galaxy. The galaxy looked different, somehow, And I couldn't make out the spiral arms of it or anything really recognizable. On a whim, I searched for Sol, and it appeared!. I zoomed in on it, to find it too was occupied by dozens of these ship icons as well. Wow... these guys were truly everywhere!! I tried to spin or tilt the view to make it a star system I recognized, but nothing seemed to work. It got frustrating.
"Things are different on this side of the Shear [I took it to mean 'split' or 'division']" it told me. "but there are correlations, as you can see"
I did not see. I simply couldn't understand any of it. All I could tell for sure was that these ships were all over the place, and that this was Sol, and that THAT was Earth. Was the "Shear" a.. gap.. or a line between this and some shadow/other universe? I had no idea.
The alien ships started moving, urgently and alarmingly- like a flock of startled birds taking flight. My framerate took a hit with all the activity, and I wondered if I was under attack. My growing alarm eased as they started warping away in little pops and the cacophony of pops grew deafening in my headphones.
"You must go now. THEY are coming! You will never want THEM to learn of your existence. We would not want that, either. Farewell for now"
And I was kicked sideways into hyperspace.. sort of a reverse emergency drop/wipeout from supercruise, tumbling sickeningly in that tunnel as I warped to.. heck.. I had no idea! I was basically along for the ride at this point.
It was all so amazing. I was grinning ear to ear (dream realizing this was a game afterall.. or was it?). I emerged in Eranin. "OK, whew! I know where THIS is". I was wondering how I would ever find that particular jump path again for a return, as I didn't track my location nor path at all in some corner of unmanned space...
--- then I woke up. I shook my head and said "OK, I've been playing Elite a bit too much", and rolled over and took some quick notes.
but now I wonder. was it a premonition of things to come in the final game or updates/easter egg [if so, uh.. SPOILERS!]? an inspiration to share with the developers? Mad ravings of a fitful sleep? Whatever. It was cool. I wish I was good enough of an artist to render its visuals
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