No Man's Sky | Diary of an Inter-Galactic Traveller - 002 - Getting off the Planet!

🌌 Dear Diary,

      Much has happened since my first entry! ...

   The storm finally stopped, and I set to work. The launch thrusters were pretty badly damaged but with the help of my ship's auto-repair instructions, fixing it was not difficult. The hardest part was getting the materials needed to construct the ferrite dust refinery. Once I had that though, it was smooth sailing and I knew I'd be able to soon take to the air like the many ships I'd seen flying overhead all day.

     As I lifted off the ground, I felt a bit dizzy, mostly from the excitement. I couldn't wait to get out there! But I decided to practice some healthy gratification delay and only fly around locally for a bit. I was going to need to get used to the controls and the movements because I started feeling worse and decided to land again soon after.

     Obviously I must have been out of it for longer than I thought. So I got out of my ship and took some time to just look at the horizon and do some thinking.

   I then realised I had almost taken off without any spare supply of resources...

     My ship's thruster fuel was now empty, and I had hardly any oxygen or sodium left. Thankfully the spot I had chosen to land at was close to many more of the nutrient-rich plants I had found earlier, so I ran around, carefully watching my hazard protection bar, and collected as much of everything as I could find.

    To make thruster fuel, you need di-hydrohen, which is found in stumpy blue crystals all over the place. I also lasered some rocks for a good supply of ferrite dust.

     And as I was running around, I encountered a pudgy little local, who I promtly scanned. And would you believe it?: I received galactic credits for simply scanning it.

    Also, as the sun was setting, providing me with a beautiful spectacle, I discovered the strangest, floating, bulbous plant-like thing. More credits for scanning it, but I regret not lasering it now to see what it would give.

     Finally, as it got dark, and the icy air got even icier, I scrambled into the safe warmth of my ship's cockpit and set off towards the open sky. And what did I see as I pointed my nose upwards? A space station of some kind, seemingly inviting me to come check it out!

   So of course, I headed straight for it! ... But before I reached it, I decided to look back at the planet, and wow... What a sight!

Entering the space station was exhilerating... I wasn't sure what to expect, so I had my guns ready... But as I entered the gate, nothing came to meet me and I landed in an empty space docking bay (they were all empty). I actually first thought the station was abandoned, until I got out and climbed the stairs to find the oddest species of creatures sitting around.

Although 'creature' might not be the right word. They seem extremely intelligent, but are rather robot-like in appearance... Very hard to read their expressions, and their speech is completely unintelligible to me still. I tried trading with a few that were obvious traders, but as I don't have much in the way of credits, I didn't put much effort into it. One did give me a Gek relic for 1000 credits though!

~~

     So being poor, I realised there wasn't much I could do in the station... And the aliens there (well, I'm the alien here, really) weren't very social, so I set back out with the intention of going to see if I could land on the other planet I had seen in the system and do a bit of exploring...

     So imagine my surprise when I'm scanned and hailed by two hostile ships! With their scan, they discovered my precious Gek Relic and wanted it for themselves! I'm sure I might have been able to negotiate with them, but I fumbled the communication controls and they decided that I was taking too long to respond, and attacked!

     I surprised myself by destroying them, and even hijacking some of their debris to repair my ship's shields. Now imagine my adrenaline rush and surprise when, after that, I get another mysterious communication coming through!

     This time, though, it was a friendly message, coming from the planet I meant to explore. Just a set of coordinates. Imagine that. A mission of some sort, already! I was very happy to go straight to it and check it out.

     The planet ended up being a radioactive one, so of course, I needed to be careful to watch my hazard protection resources again. But there's a certain beauty about a radioactive planet that you just can't find anywhere else...

~~

     But of course, I didn't stand around looking at the scenery for too long. I had landed at the coordinates provided and found some remains of a ships... Only the communication module, on which someone had recorded a message. It seems it is someone in a similar situation to me, who was less lucky with their crash landing. They said something about needing to go underground, so they might still be here on this planet as I write this!

     But then a strange, floating little robot guy appeared and started scanning me, making me nervous, so I've climbed back into my ship for the time being and this is why I'm writing here now. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this but it is keeping me sane in a very strange, lonely universe. Thanks for being there.