Running in Circles

by Arwen Estalia.

Here there be monsters

Maybe the old man was right after all. Damn! I did not believe him at first, no one did.

I was doing my regular run through New Eden's web of wormhole systems. It was a day like most others. Empty systems, with little evidence of activity. This was until I entered the system with designation J161138.

Ancient relics, temples, databanks. A whole system full of riches, all mine for the taking. Over a dozen, and no protector in sight. My probes were running hot as I uncovered them all. "Here I am", I thought: "From being a petty thief in the dark streets of Caldari's decadent corporate overlords, to Arwen Estalia, finder of fortune". I entered the first site, blitzing through it. The weeklong training surely paid of. Then another one.

But for a system this rich it was too quiet. Space felt like an all enclosing giant lake, with an unknown horror lurking deep down beneath its surface. Shit, I'm starting to talk like the stupid old man. Maybe that's what all his metaphors are about. The ever dawning planet hiding the view on the star beyond - the promised paradiso. And if this system is my paradise, then for me the planet would be the great horror in the lake of space.

"Shit, I'm idleing. I hacked this can two minutes ago. I have to move on", I thought to myself. I fired up my scanner. And as if my daydream was foreshadowing, there were eight combat probes, all within 1 AU of my ship. There it was... my monster. The thing that lurked. Showing me its eight ugly, razor-sharp teeth as it emerges from the water, readying to crush my hull.

I froze for a moment. As if my mind already accepted the loss. But then I thought about the cold nights again, and the riches in my corgohold. "No, fuck the old man. He knows nothing about me. Let his weird theories go to hell. I choose to live the good life. I earned it". And that is what I did. I ran away like the petty thief I used to be, with my pockets filled with a meager amount of valuables. I warped to the wormhole I came through, turned around one last time and felt the monster vanishing in the waters again.

I escaped, but for some reason I wasn't as happy as I should be. Maybe it was because of all the sites I had to leave behind, but maybe it was about my decision after all.