I recently began a personal research project focused on the newly revealed Jove Observatories, with my primary interest being what exactly they were observing. The closest Observatory to Intaki was in the nearby system of Moclinamaud, so that was where I concentrated my research efforts. My initial survey efforts went unhindered, allowing me to observe several large rents in the enormous structure's hull.
As can be seen from the above images, vasts amounts of electricity continue to arc across gaps inside the structure. This indicates that even in their apparent state of disuse, there is still a great deal of energy contained in the Observatories. Several fonts of gas can also be seen leaving the structure, forming the large cloud that now surrounds it.
Now, capsuleers have been thus far unable to interact with the Observatories in any way, as the advanced shielding and alloys used by the Jove have prevented any damage to them, as well as blocking any form of scanning or hacking attempts. But a new module introduced by the Carthum Conglomerate, the Entosis Link, has proven able to interface at some level with the Observatories. Developed using technologies gleaned from the enigmatic Circadian Seekers that have been seen to be dismantling the Observatories, the Entosis Link allows a capsuleer to project their consciousness into complex electronics. This allows a more efficient mind-machine interface, and for me, a way into the Moclinamaud Observatory's systems.
The next part of my project required I acquire some of this technology in order to build the Entosis Link itself, in particular I needed an Antikythera Element. This piece of actual Jovian machinery is being torn from the Observatories by the Circadian Seekers. The Circadian Seekers are themselves automata of seemingly Sleeper origin that have been seen throughout the New Eden Cluster. They were initially harmless, scanning ships and structures without showing any gestures of an overtly hostile nature. As time has gone on however the Seekers behavior has become increasing more aggresive. At first they wouldn't return fire even when fired upon, but that changed as it happened more and more. Seekers were soon found to be looting the corpses of capsuleers after battles and thereafter would even engage pilots found to have such corpses within their cargo holds. The Seekers seem to be increasing the armaments as well, where once a frigate would have been able to destroy one given sufficient time, now even cruiser class vessels are finding the firepower the Seekers can bring to bear unsustainable. The apparent uncloaking of the Jove Observatories seems to have spurred the Seekers into action as they can now frequently be found around the structures, and will fire on anything that comes near them.
The more recent arrival of the unknown battleships now known as the Drifters has made observations of the Jove structures that much more dangerous. These Drifter Battleships have proven more than capable of decimating entire fleets of capsuleer ships, with the equivalent of a Titan-Class Doomsday device able to destroy some of the most well defended ships in the cluster. The Seekers, as well as the Drifter Battleships that seem to now be controlling them, are the only ones currently capable of liberating this vital Element from the structure itself. I would need some help obtaining the Element from the Seekers, so I enlisted the help of fellow ILF pilot Richard Masseri to aid in their destruction.
We were able to fight our way through two waves of the Seekers without the intervention of a Drifter, and procured a few samples of the Antikythera Element for my production needs. We returned the next day, my ship now fitted with a newly made Entosis Link, ready to see what secrets the Observatory held within. Richard and I had to fight another few waves of Circadian Seekers before we were able to close the distance needed for me to activate my Link.
Once activated the Link threw my mind out of my ship, which remained behind protected by the watchful Richard. The sensation is not one I can readily describe, as I really don't have any way reference the experience. Murmurs of sound, flashes of light, unfamiliar smells, it was just a visceral assault on my senses as my mind tried to acclimatize itself to a surrounding as alien to it's functioning as my pod once was. I was able to glean only a little information from the influx of data bombarding my sensorium, sending it to my ship through the Link as it consumed the rare Strontium Calthrates stored in my hold. After a few cycles of Entosis I pulled my mind back into my Ishtar, allowing the ship to return to normal function. That is the main drawback to the Entosis Link, without my presence to monitor it, my ship is essentially helpless, unable to move or activate any of the onboard modules. I was however able to deploy my drones into an aggressive holding pattern before the Link went online, so at least they will be able to defend me in some capacity.
Richard and I made our way home after I was back in control of my ship, and I pulled up the recordings I had made while my consciousness dwelled within the Observatory. Oddly enough each string I was able to put together was a dated entry from some of the tower's observations of local communications and phenomena. It seems the towers had a sort of guiding function, whether it was some form of advanced artificial intelligence or consciousness I can't be sure. Whatever it was, it seems the Observatories have been watching humanity in New Eden for decades according to the time stamps on some of the entries, perhaps even longer. The transcripts of my Gleaned Information is as follows:
23121-09-11 - Updated Gallente status provides a model for social cohesion. Suggest further observations are shared with Modifier enclaves.
23146-05-20 - Azbel-Wuthrich experiment has been a success. Planetary communications reveal the message as “:-)”
23154-12-12 - Randomized sweeps of recently seceded Caldari communications indicate that alternative source for model of social cohesion will be increasingly defined by opposition to Gallente model. Schism becoming pronounced. Threshold for constructive comparison of existing conditions approaching.
23194-02-01 - Gallente have created an agency known as The Scope for the dissemination of information across Empires. Suggest that this network be monitored. Potential to extrapolate prototype for impartial communication between disparate enclaves.
23216-06-06 - In position at Diemnon Planetesimal. Collating system scans. Source of burst unidentified. Team dispatched. Alert still in effect. YC105-12-22 - Give them tools and they may evolve.
YC106-03-11 - Give them symbols and they may stagnate.
YC107-07-05 - ...recommend discarding current primary node for that model.
YC108-05-16 - They only notice small tragedies.
YC109-01-12 - They let names define their perceptions.
YC110-12-25 - Give them what they want and it may destroy them.
YC111-03-10 - Self-interest continues to outweigh self-sacrifice.
YC11-03-11 - Life sign detected aboard the ship. Contrary to intelligence gather by Villore observatory, vessel not destroyed. Remaining in Ouperia to monitor.
YC112-03-04 - Does this duplicate portions of the Skarkon model?
I'm beginning work on an analysis of the possible events that can be interpreted from the dates and what little narrative is available, but that will be for another post. I do know that Richard has gone back to make his own observations of the Jove structure with an Entosis Link, and we will likely be collaborating as we gather more data. For now though, I'll leave with a few questions. Why were the Jove observing us for so long? Where they perhaps using us (as in capsuleers) as an experiment in the hopes that somehow our own development would help them find a cure for the Jovian Sickness that for all intents and purposes has destroyed their once great society? This does seem to be the most prevalent opinion among those of us studying these ancient and mysterious structures. Or, perhaps there is some as of yet unknown purpose to this incredibly resource intensive observation of numerous societies that were, technologically, several thousand years their inferiors. It will take time and a lot more research before we can begin to answer these questions, and I recommend that all who are interested keep a close eye on developing information as it is relayed on the Intergalactic Summit.
Suprab nahi tayam!
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