Mission Blog: Chapter 2 - Systematic

I was only my second star system in – now named Coaster, of course – but already it felt like I was in a whole new place. The Gek space station was a silhouette against a vivid burnt orange backdrop, and a couple of freighter ships warped imposingly close, blocking my view of the nearest planet. There were very few planets to speak of, so I knew I wouldn't be sticking around for too long. Well, unless one of the planets was laced with gold or emeril. As I was, I didn't have much worth selling, and I certainly wasn't equipped to pick a fight with the freighters, so I made my way down to the nearby world.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been quite so excited to be on a radioactive planet, but I'd yet to see one – even during my review playthrough. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of large fungi, including some red and white-spotted ones that wouldn't look out of place in a certain plumber's back garden. Huge rock formations joined them to create the most alien landscape I'd yet seen, and with another planet close by hovering at the horizon, it also sported some gorgeous views. Particularly, as I discovered, at night, when the sky turned a bright purple.

However, I wasn't there to sight see. I needed urgently to find a blueprint for suspension fluid, as I didn't want to have to buy it every time I needed to craft a warp cell. I hopped back in my ship and headed for a nearby outpost.

Damn, just another drop pod. At least my suit was getting an extra slot. The Golden Rule of space travel, folks, is to have as many pockets as possible. I turned around.

Holy Christmas pudding, what the chuff is that?!

Far and away the strangest creature I'd come across was stood unsettlingly close behind me. Fortunately, it wasn't aggressive, but this praying mantis/crab/tarantula hybrid scared the living daylights out of me. Animal life on this planet was scarce, and this Frankenstein's monster was the first one I saw. What a start. I hastily jet packed across to my ship, and bid the creature good day.

An observation centre sat a couple of minutes away in a shallow valley. After solving the riddle, it gave me the coordinates to another crashed ship. I've only had Lil Red a small while, but at this point, with my inventories filling up every five minutes, I needed the best ship I could find. It was at least worth a look.

I landed at the crash site to find a fairly large red and white trader ship, with an extra inventory slot to boot. It wasn't very glamorous, but I decided that function was better than form, so I went for it. Obviously, it meant I'd be on this planet a little longer than I expected (and I was still no closer to finding a suspension fluid blueprint), but the elements needed to fix the ship weren't hard to find. I had a working ship again, and we were soon back in space, heading for the second planet.

As soon as I touched down on this cold, unremarkable planet, I was pursued by a tiny creature that looked like a brain on legs. It was the first aggressive alien I'd found, and it was a chirruping little thing that scuttled about erratically. I had to break my thus far peaceful record and take out the poor thing, which immediately attracted the attention of some sentinels. I hadn't run into any trouble with them either, but they opened fire, forcing me to fight back. Luckily it was just the two of them, and the threat disappeared once they were dealt with. In my attempts to run from the vicious brain on legs, I'd travelled fairly close to a Gek facility, so I finished the trip and went inside.

Finally! A suspension fluid blueprint was awarded to me for solving the number puzzle, and I could at last make some antimatter and warp cells. This was all I wanted from this system, and it was a relief to be able to fuel up my hyperdrive for the road (?) ahead. After finding yet another crashed ship (which, again, I chose to adopt), I left the planet swiftly, and I didn't hang around in the system for much longer due to my renewed sense of freedom.

And so I entered the third system with my new, miniscule, metallic yellow starship, and as my eyes wandered to my coffee table, the Tissue Box system's fate was sealed. Tissue Box, unlike Coaster and Biscuit Tin, had many planets orbiting its star, of many sizes and colours. It was an exciting sight to behold as I drifted through the ether, blasting asteroids as I went. It was like a box of chocolates, each new globe offering a unique flavour, and all enticing. After much deliberation, I beelined for a sickly yellowish planet a good distance away.

It was rubbish.

The atmosphere was toxic, no animal life existed, and elements were basic. Bar some excellent views of the other planets and some bizarre plants, this planet offered almost nothing, and was most definitely the least inspiring place I'd set foot on. I named it Zilchoid, and quickly scarpered in search of a planet worth landing on.

Though I didn't land on a few of the planets, the next couple I did touch down on were thankfully a little more interesting than Zilchoid. One had a harmless atmosphere generally, but was prone to heat storms that absolutely battered my hazard protection. The next was another cold planet, but this one had huge crystals of titanium all over. I spent some time harvesting the oxide material to sell at the space station, but didn't hang around for very long. I did see some interesting wildlife on this planet, however, such as a very odd six-legged creature with a huge beak for a face.

All in all, Tissue Box was a bit of a letdown, and I was glad I spent the time to fill my hyperdrive up with warp cells. I did stick around for a little while, but beyond some titanium trading, there wasn't much more to engage with. Perhaps I should have given the other planets a try. Maybe one of them was a utopia full to bursting with life, rare resources, and beautiful vistas, but I'll never know.

I warped to my fourth system, hoping for grander adventures ahead.