Short story-
I'm flying through familiar space, with the sound effects off, but the voice on. I'm cruising for a hotspot, looking for some action. I spot a ring system, and behold..! High Intensity Resource Extraction!
I swing towards the planet, taking in the view of the system's bright white star, watching it light up the gas giant. As I drop lower, I start my approach towards the waypoint. I'm spinning my ship around, letting the thrusters get a workout as I freeroam the camera. But then...something happened as I got closer and closer in towards the rings... Complete darkness! To my shock, the path ahead was being soaked in shadow, as the rings were being occluded by the planet. I completely forgot the angle of my approach, what was up, what was down?! I could still see the distance being counted out as I hurled blindly ahead, but I didn't actually see the rings.
I was completely transfixed, and I felt the eeriest sensation crawl its way up my neck. The hairs stood on end, and I was looking through my cockpit desperately trying to find a trace for the rings. Light, shadow, anything! They were completely gone to me, and all I could see was what appeared to be empty space ahead. I was thinking to myself, 'What if I hit one? What if I drop out of warp, but can't escape mass lock because I can't see where to go? I'd be trapped with nothing but a flashlight on the nose of my ship!'
Then it hit me; that I was playing a video game.
I glide in towards my warp in point, nary a scratch. So of course l safely made it, my ship was miles from the nearest rock! As I boosted my way forward, the light once again lit up parts of the rocks, to which I offer for your viewing pleasure.
A little note about the title-I accidentally froze over my canopy by hitting my hotkey for heatsink as I took pictures. The eerie thing was, it already felt cold, and as I returned to my ship's internal view, it's all frozen over!
I'm flying through familiar space, with the sound effects off, but the voice on. I'm cruising for a hotspot, looking for some action. I spot a ring system, and behold..! High Intensity Resource Extraction!
I swing towards the planet, taking in the view of the system's bright white star, watching it light up the gas giant. As I drop lower, I start my approach towards the waypoint. I'm spinning my ship around, letting the thrusters get a workout as I freeroam the camera. But then...something happened as I got closer and closer in towards the rings... Complete darkness! To my shock, the path ahead was being soaked in shadow, as the rings were being occluded by the planet. I completely forgot the angle of my approach, what was up, what was down?! I could still see the distance being counted out as I hurled blindly ahead, but I didn't actually see the rings.
I was completely transfixed, and I felt the eeriest sensation crawl its way up my neck. The hairs stood on end, and I was looking through my cockpit desperately trying to find a trace for the rings. Light, shadow, anything! They were completely gone to me, and all I could see was what appeared to be empty space ahead. I was thinking to myself, 'What if I hit one? What if I drop out of warp, but can't escape mass lock because I can't see where to go? I'd be trapped with nothing but a flashlight on the nose of my ship!'
Then it hit me; that I was playing a video game.
I glide in towards my warp in point, nary a scratch. So of course l safely made it, my ship was miles from the nearest rock! As I boosted my way forward, the light once again lit up parts of the rocks, to which I offer for your viewing pleasure.
A little note about the title-I accidentally froze over my canopy by hitting my hotkey for heatsink as I took pictures. The eerie thing was, it already felt cold, and as I returned to my ship's internal view, it's all frozen over!
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