Further Adventures In No Man's Sky

FURTHER ADVENTURES IN NO MAN'S SKY

Leaving the dead world behind, I headed out once more into interplanetary space. I set my course for a planet that looked likely to be habitable, and after traversing space it loomed majestically in my viewport. Vast banks of cloud drifted over the land, and everywhere I could see the bright glint of sunlight reflecting off of bodies of water.

I piloted my spaceship through the atmosphere, and as the cloud cover thinned I saw expanding below me the most beautiful vista. This was a world teeming with life. Vegetation covered the surface, its green blades blown in the breeze, causing waves to ripple over the land. Tree-like plants with red leaves stood sentinel, and in the distance there rose gigantic rocky structures, perhaps the result of some ancient geological process.

I opened the canopy, and what joy I felt, after that lifeless planet, to hear the calls of life in abundance carried on the wind. It did not take very long for me to spot an inhabitant of this world. Making its way through the grass was a dog-size quadruped. Its body was blue, with green stripes. Probably they afforded it some camouflage. From its back there protruded spiny structures. Maybe they provided some extra defence, poisonous spines, perhaps. Its most surprising feature was its face. It had the appearance of a bug-eyed monster.

Leaving the creature to go about its business, I began my exploration of this landscape. Before me there stretched lush grasslands. The trees had a somewhat tropical appearance to them, their trunks topped with red, Palm-like fronds. I noticed that the trunks had markings similar to the creature I had just encountered and wondered if that might be down to some coevolutionary adaptation.

The sound of movement directed my attention to a creature, evidently in a hurry as its long limbs carried it at quite considerable speed. Just like the previous animal, this one also had a striped body. Its head...its head appeared to me to be made of stone! Had this animal evolved to come equipped with its own protective helmet? That naturally lead to the question: Protection from what?

A light rain began to fall, something I had been expecting, what with all the cloud cover I had seen from orbit, and the richness of vegetation which obviously required a great deal of water. After the dust and heat of the lifeless world it felt joyful to have a light shower rain down, those vast rocky structures now looking even more mysterious shrouded in the mist.

After a while the drizzle stopped, and the sun once more shone over the land. A shadow streaking past and a piercing cry above me urged me to look upward, and there, against the backdrop of the dead planet, I beheld my first flying animal. Immediately I could see a strong convergence with flying animals back home. The same streamlined body, the same wings. It did not appear to have feathers, nor could I discern any legs. From this I deduced that the creature spent all of its time in the air. But, if so, how did it raise offspring? I did not know.

My journey had taken me closer to the rocky outcrops. Now that I was closer I could see what looked like channels carved into the rocks. Apparently, something had eroded the surfaces, probably water. Had this land once been a sea?

There was no sea in my vicinity now, but at the base of the rocky outcrops I did notice a lake. The water was chilly, what with it being forever in the shadow of the rocks, but I braved the cold to see what lay beneath its surface. There I beheld what I can only call a fish. The convergence of this animal with the familiar marine creatures from home was even stronger than in the case of the flying animal. It had the same fins, familiar scales covering its body, and a torpedo-like body adapted to help it cut effortlessly through the water. Not at all concerned by my presence, it busied itself darting among the red aquatic plants to pick off little creatures that dwelled there.

I left the lake and continued on. The sun was strong by now and it soon dried my environmental protection suit. My trek across the landscape was filled with encounters of alien life too numerous to mention. But as the sun began to set I encountered something I had to record for prosperity. More unmistakable signs of technologically-advanced beings! Before me I beheld an elaborate stone structure, dominated by steps that lead up to a huge ball with a deep indentation from which there emanated a deep blue light. I ascended the steps and placed my hand upon the rim of the mysterious ball. Was it my imagination or could I feel a faint vibration?

The vibration became stronger, accompanied now by a roaring sound. Only...only it was not coming from the ball. Something was above me, creating a tremendous noise. I looked above and that was when I had a close encounter of the first kind! Streaking past me were two alien ships. They had a dart-like appearance, which meant they were obviously designed for planetary flight as well as traversing the vacuum of space. Were these aliens related to whoever had built the structure I now stood at? Whatever answers I could have got from the two pilots were soon carried away, the powerful engines pushing the craft at high speed over the horizon. My journey continued...

Thanks to Hello Games for the images.