Wow – things have moved at blistering pace since my last report, haven’t they!

There were raucous celebrations throughout Varati and on the hundreds of mining vessels in the surrounding areas last night as stocks of Palladium surpassed what was required to get construction of Dr Arcanonn’s new Research Station under way.

In amongst the throngs and scenes of reckless abandon not usually associated with teams of scientists, I caught up with our favourite construction site manager once again, who said:

This is just insane!

I mean, I know we’re offering a great price for this palladium, but to get fifty thousand tonnes delivered in something like 30 hours, this far out from the main bubble, is – well… I just don’t get it.

We really want to get enough to make the Commodities Market or Black Market but I’m not sure how much we need for these as that’s down to the planners – so keep it coming because the Doc’s going to need as many facilities as he can get!

But as I said the last time I spoke to you, Verity, I knew a lot of people felt like me and wanted Dr Arc to come back and get stuck into this UA research again, but I honestly never thought it’d be this good.

We’re taking deliveries from groups from all over the bubble, many of whom wouldn’t ordinarily be seen alive in the same sector as each other, let alone in the same system hunting pirates or mining rings together.  Even most of the Canonn’s local rival factions are pitching in!

I reckon this’ll be the biggest group construction effort since Obsidian Orbital – and that was enormous.

The final rewards for commanders who participate, in particular, are looking very generous indeed.

Then he started to get bit agitated:

But don’t get me started on Obsidian – just reminds me of that clown Palin again.  Whenever I hear his name I just feel like punching something or smacking my head against a wall!

At least I’ve got this fantastic project to keep me occupied.

I’m making some real friends here, too – in fact I had a chat with my wife about moving out here permanently because I love it so much.

Her exact words were ‘I want a divorce you nut-job.’

So I said ‘no problem!’

That’s dedication for you, folks!

Indeed, I’ve just been looking at the figures and we’ve now had 85000 tonnes of Palladium delivered from over 1550 pilots in two days – that’s an average of 54t each.

And that’s not all!  The combat pilots have also been working double-shifts to keep organised piracy at bay: Over 4 Billion in bounty vouchers have now been handed in at Thompson Dock by just over 2160 bounty hunters.  That’s an astonishing 1.8m average per contributor.

Varati has never seen anything like it! Keep it up!

…AND DR ARCANONN SENDS MESSAGE OF THANKS

I also had a message from Dr Arcanonn earlier, who’s keeping track of progress from his hideout, which said:

I am truly humbled.

To see all these fine pilots, solo and from other groups, working so hard to give me the new lab I’ve wanted for so long… Words can’t express what it feels to know that so many people support us and what we’re trying to achieve with our science.

So let me say this to my opponents and those who preach the religion of ignorance:

This fortifies my resolve to ignore those who would stop us, and to truly learn about the unknown artefacts and barnacles.  I will not allow our collective ignorance mean we repeat the mistakes of the past.  To be prepared means to gain knowledge and understanding, not to be the one standing there with the biggest gun.

In addition to our ongoing experiments, the next mystery occupying me and my colleagues is exactly where these things have come from – for they must have come from somewhere.  We’re working on some ideas, and I will share more when we’ve finalised the details.

In the meantime, once again: thank you all.

That’s it for now, but keep checking back for more as it happens!

I’m Verity Gavroche, saying: ’till next time’ 🙂

Verity Gavroche