I'm making up that lane name. It used to be known as Lane 920, but since nobody's been in this place for 30 years and the actual Lane 920 now officially curves around the empire to go to the Galaxy-gates, I've taken it upon myself to creatively label the various lanes within this space. I have more creative names for them, but I'd like to one day have them made official, so I'm going to have to go with my more conservative creations. It's a pity, as I rather liked "Lane Narrows" and "Lane Ends".
One month has passed, and I'm only somewhat closer to the border. The Empire was huge, and the vast nothingness where the empire was is likewise enormous. The supplies from the station helped, but I'd rather erroneously assumed I'd come across derelict ships to pilfer from and, instead of loading up on additional things to keep me alive, had rather decided to bring back priceless cultural artifacts that would not make me any money whatsoever if I starved to death.
There should be plenty of derelict ships - when the Ulix vanished, all their stuff stayed behind. The goods they were selling, their stations, everything remained while they themselves ceased to exist. I thought their ships would be around, too. I'd been scanning broadly and loudly - not only would I probably find something but if anything was out there chances are good it would find me as well. I figured I had a decent amount of firepower if something went wrong, and company (and supplies!) would be well-received. Instead, only vacuum.
The truly disturbing part of the situation was that I consulted the computer to find out what Ulix ships look like. All other species having taken their ships with them upon their departure, it was likely that was all I was going to find. The computer, however, had no idea. It wasn't just that it didn't have the details such as average shield strength, different types of ship, or even how much one would cost to purchase, it was that it had nothing about the ship at all. The search returned no results. This meant that not only did the computer not know of an Ulix ship, it had never heard of anyone or anything that did. After a long time of searching, the only thing I could find were details of the stations, but even they didn't have records or even mention of ships other than the ones from other species which would visit. That, combined with my sensor sweeps, was growing into the eerie paranoia within me that the Ulix somehow never possessed ships. It was ridiculous, of course, as they'd need ships to build the stations in the first place and then ferry traffic and workers from them to their various planets and back. Every species had its own sort of spaceship, while some eventually adopted another's there was always a point in their history where they had their own, and even adopted designs tended to resemble the original.
My supplies are low, my destination is still far away, and I'm getting a creeping case of agoraphobia. I think it's time to let the nav computer have its way and put myself into the deep-sleep.
Here's to pleasant dreams!