Monday, May 18, 2015

Journal Entry No. 15

5/18/YC117

I traced back every single thing I did that day--April 28th, YC117.
All the data had pointed to one thing. That artifact of my ancestor, the one that was displaying the number 0 . 5 7 1 0 4 6. The artifact itself was clearly not the cause: it was quite obvious to someone as knowledgeable as me that it was measuring something.
I'd always asked myself: But what? What is it measuring?
At the time, it seems I'd been too stupid to realize what it truly was.
On that day, I'd researched the Drifters. The Circadian Seekers. The Sleepers. What were they, really?
Takeda mentioned a chrono shift. How would such a thing happen? It's not naturally occurring phenomena, after all. The only ones capable of such a thing are the Jove, second directorate.
Recently these second directorate Jovians---the Drifters---have been very interested in recovering the Antikythera element from Jove Observatories around New Eden. The Imperial Navy has analyzed the Antikythera element, however they refuse to release their findings besides claiming that their focus is not weaponization. I happen to have some of the element myself, though, stolen from the wrecks of some Circadian Seekers. The abbreviation of the element is not final, but I will be calling it "Ak" for now.
Held in the hand, it seems to pulse gently. If cut in half to reach the core which seems to glow, the edges of where it was split no longer glow, and the glowing core retracts into the center. I thought this similar to how a magnet splits into two different North and South poles if you attempt to split it in two. When placed a distance from each other, each Ak half pulses at a separate rhythm and begins to pulse off-beat from each other. When brought together, they synchronize with each other and pulse simultaneously, but no more
I examined the Nixie Tube artifact (hereon referred to as "The Display"). When Ak is brought close to The Display, it also seems to pulse, although I see no glow anywhere in it besides the Nixie Tubes, which are built to glow.
Come to think of it, I recalled. When I first examined this Display, there was something about it that seemed strange, but at the time I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly. It had a prehistoric cable cord for power, but besides that which no longer worked since there was no auxiliary power outlets that matched that shape, it seemed to have a small supercapacitor to power the low-voltage parts and prevent loss of memory. What was strange now was that the Nixie Tubes were on, but the device was not plugged in.
Clearly this meant that The Display has an alternate power source somewhere in it.
Ak seems to thrum with power. The Display seemed to pulse when Antikythera was brought near it.
All the evidence points toward there being Antikythera in The Display. But how? Antikythera hasn't even been discovered by modern scientists, and was only brought to light by reverse engineering the Jovian technology.
Tests conclude that Antikythera is electricity-conductive, almost seeming to amplify power output of a source. However, it doesn't seem able to store much power (relatively) when hooked up similar to a capacitor.
Wait a second... I paused. I screwed up in my initial analysis! I thought that there was a glass-like capacitor inside the display to detect minute differences in the Quantum Foam. The idea is that  using such a design would subsequently remove power from the outside of the capacitor and create "negative" energy as virtual particles in the Quantum Foam would materialize on one side but not inside the capacitor. This, is of course, measurable with fine instruments, so I assumed that it was measuring that. However, there was no such measuring apparatus within The Display, thus my mistake.
In fact this design was, in reality, nothing more than a simple capacitor used for high-voltage applications. It made sense, after all---the Nixie Tubes needed high voltage whereas other parts in The Display needed low-voltage, which the supercapacitor took care of.
I've taken almost a week since I began examining The Display as well as Antikythera, but something else odd has popped up since then. Antikythera has since seemed to pulse faster.
I haven't examined this Ak for an entire month, but I have a prediction. I stole--er, retrieved this from a Circadian Sleeper wreck.
Circadian: Occurring in cycles, most commonly 24-hour cycles.
Some research I read of another fellow capsuleer placed origins on "Antikythera", which was supposedly an extremely complex mechanism used to predict lunar and solar patterns of a single moon on a single planet with a single sun. Primitive, but it still worked provided those three variables were stable.
I'd hazard a guess that this Antikythera cycles similarly.
No measuring apparatus, and yet when I touch exposed parts of the circuit with Ak, the Nixie Tube display varies rapidly. When removed, it defaults back to the original number.
It was measuring something based on Antikythera. The only thing that seems to be measurable is the pulsing rhythm, although I could be wrong.
Hmm... An idea came to mind, but it was moreso a shot in the dark than anything else.
Whatever the case, I needed a particle accelerator to make it work. A particle accelerator with 4-8 evenly spaced Antikythera on one cross-section of the accelerator. I'll need to hijack a mission's particle accelerator; I'll keep the location of where this will be occurring confidential for now. Antikythera is not exactly cheap, and my funds to buy more are running out.
El. Psy. Congroo.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Journal Entry No. 14

5/7/YC117

I'm not insane. The report even said so. The report is meant to be confidential to the client, but I don't particularly mind, so the report is located here if anyone wants to read it. That'll prove my sanity.
I need to talk to Isuzu-wan. She'll know what to do. She's a lot smarter than she let's on, after all. We're talking about a girl who hasn't ever lost a match in her entire career.
I'm not going insane. I can't be. Physical diseases of a capsuleer could be easily fixed by simply getting a new clone. Mental diseases, even, could be fixed if they were caused biologically rather than neurotically.
I entered Woof Woof Paradise and told the attendant. "I need a table for one. I'd like Isuzu-wan as my waitress."
"Alright, the wait is going to be... 30 minutes, and the price for selection of a specific waitress is 30 cash."
Cash...? Oh, as I recall, non-capsuleers used micro-transactions of ISK. I couldn't be bothered to remember the conversion rate, so instead I just handed over 30 ISK.
The attendant's eyes widened. "Sir, this is way too---"
I interrupted her. "Just keep it. It's not that much to me."
"Yes, sir!"
After waiting a good hour longer than the wait time specified, Isuzu-wan finally came to my table.
"Oh no!" She exclaimed. "Is it time for Operation Yrgil already?!"
I grinned. She was the only one who ever understood my fantasies. "Yes. The day of forthcoming has arrived. Have you prepared adequately yourself?"
"I just mastered the Asahkeh Trip-wan!"
I drew back, startled. "No way! You've already mastered that technique?!"
"Yes~!" Isuzu-wan pawed at me. "I went to the far-off reaches of Cat, and trained against the vicious predators there to perfect my combat abilities desu-wan!"
"I see. Then it is only a matter of time before the empires lose their powers."
"You don't mean---?"
"I do."
"But, Takashi, I can't unveil my powers just yet! New Eden isn't ready for me yet; I must remain in hiding!"
"Ah, I see. Well, then, I suppose it can't be helped." I pulled my phone out and put it to my ear. "Yes. It's me. The Organization has made their move. Yes, requesting immediate assistance. Understood, sir. El. Psy. Congroo." I put my phone away and laughed magnificently at the plan of the Organization I just foiled.
"What can I get for you, Master-wan?"
"Just some melon bread and carbonated grape juice, thanks."
"Yes, Master-wan!"
She eventually came back to the table with my food.
"There you are!" She said. "So, where have you gone to recently? Find any good salvage? Claim some bounties?"
I paused a moment. It seems that for whatever reason, in this version of the universe, I still ditched mining and moved on to missioning. As I recall, I switched to missioning because of what Madame Sass said, but for whatever reason I switched to missioning here as well. "U-uh, yeah." I said. "I'm missioning with the Sisters of Eve now."
"Hehhh? You aren't planning on ditching me and becoming a hermit in Thera, are you-wan...?"
I smiled and scratched the back of my head nervously. "N-no, that's not it."
"Then what about them appeals to you?"
I sighed. "Look, Isuzu-wan, as much I'd like to idly chat with you, there's actually stuff I need to ask you about."
Isuzu-wan looked to the ceiling and raised her hand, waving it across as if to draw the attention of a crowd, although it was directed to noone in particular. "Yes, I can see it now... 'Great and magnificent capsuleer admits defeat and surrenders to the Princess of Maids, Isuzu-wan!' across the headlines! What do you think, hm?" Isuzu-wan pawed at me again seductively.
"Look," I said, holding back a grin. "This is serious. I need your help. I don't know what's what anymore, and you're the only one I can confide in."
Isuzu-wan "What's the problem-wan?" Even when she made serious conversations, habit forced her to add "-wan" to the end of sentences.
"Ahh..." I thought to myself. "Where do I start...?"
I paused a moment. "Several months ago, I rescued an Amarrian pilot from forced labor and prostitution. Her name was Kasurin Makise. Does that ring any bells?"
I could tell by her subsequent absent-minded blinking that it did not.
I sighed again. "I thought not."
"So who is this woman desu-wan?"
"Imagine this. You are in a world, living perfectly normal, when---"
"Isuzu-wan lives a life that is anything but normal-wan!" Isuzu-wan used her secret technique, Pawprint Echo. I was so focused on my explanation though that even I was able to ignore it.
"---when you wake up the next day, and all of a sudden you're in a completely different world."
"Isuzu-wan does as such all the time-wan! Isuzu-wan lives and breathes for a life of variety~!"
"No, I don't mean that in a literal sense. On this other world, complete strangers treat you as best buddies, and the friends you do know quite well say that they've never met you before."
Isuzu-wan blinks. "And?"
"What would you do? Pursue the past you know of, or assume it was all a hallucination and move forward to the future?"
Isuzu-wan put her finger to her lip, thinking. "Hmmm... Well, Isuzu-wan would follow her gut feelings and go with what she knows is true!"
"But how do you do that?"
Isuzu-wan looked up to the window with a thoughtful look on her face. "A lot of people have taken to the expression 'Aim for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.' A silly expression if you ask me-wan! I mean, we're already among the stars! ...Does that mean our ancestors missed the mark-wan?" She paused a moment pondering her own question. "Anyways, that's not the point-wan. That follows a brute-force trial-until-success motto. In reality, it is anything but that. Anything can be calculated. Even when there seems to be no way out, there always is. That's why my win record in Trans-net Access Fighters is flawless."
"Yeah, but how does that---"
"My point-wan, is that if you truly trace back each and every step that you took that day that your world supposedly changed, you will find the root cause of the problem. Nothing happens without reason-wan! If something happens, rest assured, something caused it, whether it was dozens of light-years away in NullSec or just meters away in HighSec. You're job-wan..." She poked me. "Is to find out what caused it. Only then, do you have any chance of reversing it."
I thought for a moment. I'd have to look up any data I had left of what happened on that day. The cameras usually delete film after a week or two, so I might have to reconstruct what happened without that. Still, it was a starting point. Much more progress than I'd have made on my own. I grinned and stood up. "Thanks."
"Just doing my job-wan~!! Always happy to help any customer, especially you, Takashiii!" She got up real close to me and jumped up subtly such that her cleavage would shuffle and stand out.
I grinned against my will and left a healthy tip for her.
"Come again, Rin-Rin!" She said as I left the store. Rin-Rin, I thought. That must be her newest nickname for me, I guess. I still don't know how she manages to memorize so many nicknames of so many regular customers without mixing any up.
I boarded my ship. There was work to do, and it wasn't going to complete itself.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Journal Entry No. 13

5/4/YC117

I had a discussion yesterday with Takeda Shido, a person enlisted in the Caldari Navy militia. Despite this she helped me with my troubles.
Specifically, the disappearance of my Assistant, Kasurin Makise. She suggested that Kasurin pulled a runner on me. That is, took the money and ran off with it. I discredited this pretty quickly through the lack of even a pilot's profile on her name. However, she refuted that again quickly.
"She's an excellent hacker, right?" Ms. Shido had asked. "Couldn't she have hacked the databases and deleted her pilot's profile?"
I objected to this by showing her my Captain's Log. If that were the case, then her name should have at least appeared in my Journal entries. She could have hacked my electronic journal easily enough, but I keep a backup of my Log in paper format. And yet, her name did not appear once.
None of my crew remember her, either. I told her that this spotty memory of mine was rather confusing---I'd gotten a remap recently, which decreased my intelligence while increasing my memory capacity. One would think that a person would remember more after remapping to a high standardized stat of memory.
As a result, she suggested I request a Systems Analysis of the remap, to make sure nothing went wrong. I made my way to Slays and did such, though they stated the results would not come back for a few days.
She offers several various theories on how precisely Miss Makise could have conspired against me and ran off with my money. I doubted this personally, and told her the story of how I rescued her and gave her capsuleership. She retorted with the possibility that the corporation she was originally from had set this entire thing up---gain my trust, learn capsuleer technology in the process, run off with my money.
At this point I was beginning to grow annoyed. "Let's think of this another way." I told her. "Why don't we focus on other contradictions within my memory instead of thinking 1001 ways how my supah hacka could have conspired against me. For example, according to my crew, I grew increasingly addicted to narcotics after I failed to rescue Miss Makise. However," I claimed. "I have never taken any narcotics, and don't intend to. It's against my moral code."
She thought for a bit, and replied, "Is it possible you were slipped some narcotics? It's much easier to take them once you are slipped some at first."
"I'm rather obsessive over my food," I told her. "I only eat at a few select station restaurants, and most of my food I prepare myself."
"...I see."
"Look, everything was just fine this last night. Today, however, when I woke up and entered my ship, I felt this sudden surge of vertigo. I grew dizzy all of a sudden, and an instant later I was standing inside the Captain's Cabin, away from the ship."
"Are you sure that---"
"Look, I know what that sounds like. But I assure you, there was no narcotics involved. No time had elapsed between when I was entering my ship and when I suddenly appeared in the Captain's Cabin. It was as if I'd teleported there instantaneously."
"Could it have been that? A sudden spatial jump?"
"I doubt it, that doesn't account for any of the other strange occurrences." Unless... I thought...
It seemed Ms. Shido had the same thought. "Have you considered the possibility of spatio-temporal displacement? Quantum shifts?"
I briefly mentioned the artifact I had of my ancestor, the one that suddenly began displaying the number 0 . 5 7 1 0 4 6.
"An irregularity in Bosons could THEORETICALLY cause an area to shift, although this isn't the only means through which something like this could happen."
I pointed out that none of the empires, or even CONCORD, has access to this kind of technology. If they did they'd keep it secret, but even so, this sort of technology is so far-off that not even the pinnacle of science could possibly know how to achieve it right now.
"Well, obviously." She said. "It's purely theoretical, and no such shifts have been documented."
"Then that means..." I pondered. "The only race capable of such a thing would be..." A startling revelation hit me.
Ms. Shido confirmed what I thought. "The Jovians."
"Specifically, the Jove Empire, Second Directorate. Known more commonly as the Drifters." I specified.
"Perhaps where you come from, your Assistant is alive and well, but she died long ago here."
I immediately thought about the wormholes that the Drifters guard so viciously. What are they hiding? Alternate timelines?
I'll spare the details, but we discussed this a bit further: what if one were to approach the wormhole cloaked, where the Drifters have been loitering around recently, why they are so interested in capsuleer corpses, et cetera.
Since this discussion, I've taken some personal observations on the Seekers and Drifters with regards to the wormhole and a Jove Observatory. This has become a rather long entry, so I'll save that for a later time along with the results of the remap analysis.
El. Psy. Congroo.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Journal Entry No. 12

4/28/YC117

Ah, it's been forever since I've been in my ship. It feels refreshing, even if I'm in one of the cheapest ships in existence. I decided since my skills were almost up to par, I might as well purchase the Myrmidon now, and then later a Dominix and then an Ishtar. I made my way over to Jita and checked my wallet to see what I was working with. Should be plenty enough, but just had to make sure I wasn't on a tight budget---

Shit. I thought. Since my Pilot's License was expiring, I transferred all of my funds to Kasurin's account. She won't like it if I come begging to her for my money back. Oh well, I thought, I need funds for combat.

"Hey, Thomas."
"Y-yes, Captain?" Thomas flinched.
I frowned. Why was he being so formal? "Open a communications channel with Miss Makise. I need to speak to her."
Thomas flinched again. "Captain... Are you on anything right now?"
"On anything? What do you mean?"
"I mean... Miss Makise is dead. We were never able to save her. The courier ship was destroyed, and she was destroyed along with it."
This is wrong. "Wh-what do you mean? There was an escape pod requesting to dock after we destroyed the ship, don't you remember?"
"No, sir, I don't."
"Where did my money go, then, hmm?"
"W-well... Captain, are you sure you're alright?"
I slammed my fist on my desk. "Of course I'm alright! Just tell me where my money went."
"I-it was slowly diminished when you began getting into narcotics, and then you went bankrupt." Thomas said shyly, as if he were afraid of being hit.
This feeling of disconnect. I've never taken any narcotics. "Just connect me to Kasurin, dammit! I've had enough of your jokes!"
"Who is Kasurin?"
My eyes glazed over in despair. "W-who is she? Do you really not know?"
"No sir, I don't."
"The name of the Makise we rescued! Don't you remember at all?!!"
"N-no sir." Thomas cringed again.
I frowned, confused. I flipped through my Journal. I'm sure I wrote about her, or at least mentioned her, in several of my Journal Entries.
Nothing.
There was no mention of a Kasurin Makise in my Journal Entries. Furthermore, even more disturbingly, it seemed as though I had become a ruthless Captain who viewed his crewmates as nothing more than object.
...Has CONCORD already made their move? Have they deactivated my Assistant's account and dragged her down to Zainou Biotech where she was headed originally?
Chills were sent down my spine. That still didn't explain the feeling of disconnect. My memories were different than my crew's memories. Even my written journal didn't match up with my memories!
What the hell is going on here...? I looked over to one of the only relics I had of my ancestor. It was a strange, modified Nixie tube. It worked using Quantum Entanglement in relation to small "pocket dimensions". I should know, I inspected it myself. What it was measuring, however, I could not figure out for the life of me. If only it still worked, then I might be able to find some hint as to---Huh?
I did a double-take on the device during my internal monologue.
It was working.
It was displaying a number: 0 . 5 7 1 0 4 6
---the hell?
Why is it working all of a sudden? It had never worked before. Hell, I didn't even know what it functioned off of---there was no place for a battery or capacitor or anything. It seemed as though it was to generate power from something and keep it stored temporarily using a supercapacitor, but the supercapacitor being used was so old that it is not manufactured anymore, and I couldn't just charge it up since the leads would probably break if I took it out of the perf board.
...
This is not the question at hand. Why does noone remember Kasurin? Why this feeling of disconnect? Even my own memories don't line up with my journal entries. I was never obsessed with power or narcotics such as it claims in my entries. And crew members... they're irreplaceable. Even as I switch between ships, each crew member of each ship I know by name and love. Granted, I talked to some more than others, but I still knew each by name.
The Sisters might know something. I'm sure if there was a Makise in hiding, the Sisters would be the first one they'd go to as the Sisters would be quite convenient in multiple ways---the Sisters are a research organization, like the Makise family, and are in nature part Amarr so the Makise family would have easy access to get within their organization.
...It might be confidential, though. I'll have to get my raise my standing with them quite a bit before they'll be willing to talk. For now, I'll just follow Captain's advice and mission with the Sisters of Eve for a while.