Personal Log: Maven Cheung

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Personal Log: Maven Cheung

Independent Miner, Claim Jumper

LocationVoid Sector 19-Kappa
ShipModified hauler-class Claim Jumper (registry CJ-7749)
MissionSolo extraction run, substrate seam (projected yield: 47kg)
StatusRecovered From Derelict - 2407

Day 1 - 2406.08.14

Finally found one.

Spent three weeks combing this sector and I finally got a hit. Substrate signature, solid seam, at least 40kg if the scanner’s not lying. That’s eight months of rent. Maybe a year if I stretch it.

The asteroid’s deep in the cluster, navigation’s a little weird getting here—autopilot had to recalculate twice—but nothing I can’t handle. I’ve been doing this for six years. I know the drill.

Literally.

Set up the rig, started extraction. First cuts went smooth. Substrate looks good. That dark silver shine, just like the training vids. No inclusions, clean lattice structure.

This is the score I’ve been waiting for.

Day 3 - 2406.08.16

Extraction’s going faster than expected. Already at 19kg. At this rate I’ll hit 50kg, maybe more.

Had a weird moment yesterday. Looked at the nav display and saw my own ship icon duplicated—two Claim Jumpers on screen, same position, overlapping. Blinked and it was gone. Sensor glitch, probably. These old haulers weren’t built for Void Sector work.

Ran a diagnostic. Everything checks out.

Side note: I’ve been hearing this low hum. Thought it was the drill at first, but it’s there even when the drill’s off. Probably the reactor cycling or the life support compressor. Old ships make noise. That’s just how it is.

Day 5 - 2406.08.18

32kg extracted. Over halfway there.

The hum’s still there. I checked the reactor. Checked life support. Checked the damn coffee maker. Can’t find the source.

It’s not loud. Just… persistent. Like tinnitus, but external. I only notice it when I stop moving.

Also—this is stupid, but I’m logging it anyway—I keep thinking I see movement in my peripheral vision. Like something shifted position outside the viewport. But when I look, it’s just asteroids. Static. Unmoving.

Obviously.

I think I’m just tired. Haven’t slept great. Dreams have been weird. Geometric patterns. Fractals that spiral inward. I wake up and I can still see them for a few seconds, burned into my vision like I’ve been staring at a bright light.

It’ll pass. Always does.

Day 8 - 2406.08.21

41kg.

I could stop now. 41kg is a good haul. More than good. That’s ten months of living expenses, maybe enough to upgrade the reactor shielding.

But the seam goes deeper. Scanner says there’s at least another 15-20kg in there. Why stop at 41 when I could walk away with 60?

The hum’s louder. Or maybe I’m just noticing it more.

I’ve started talking to myself. Out loud. Just to hear a voice that isn’t the hum.

Last night I woke up and the clock said 03:47. I got up, made coffee, checked the drill. Sat back down. Looked at the clock again.

03:47

Same time. Exactly.

I sat there for at least twenty minutes. The clock didn’t move.

Then I blinked and it was 04:13.

I think the clock’s broken. I’ll fix it when I’m done.

Day 11 - 2406.08.24

Why is there so much substrate in this asteroid?

Scanner keeps revising the estimate upward. 50kg. 55kg. 60kg. The seam just keeps going.

I’ve never seen a concentration like this. This isn’t normal.

But I’m not complaining.

The dreams are worse. I’m standing in a space that isn’t space. Walls that curve in directions I can’t describe. I’m looking at myself from the outside. I’m watching myself drill into the asteroid. I’m inside the asteroid looking out.

I wake up and I don’t know which perspective was the dream.

I saw my reflection in the viewport last night.

It waved at me.

I didn’t wave back.

Day 13 - 2406.08.26

I should leave.

I know I should leave.

58kg extracted. That’s more substrate than most miners see in a year. I could sell this and take six months off. I could—

But there’s more.

The seam is still going. The drill’s cutting into it like it’s infinite. Like it goes all the way down to the center of the asteroid. Like the whole asteroid is just substrate wearing a thin shell of rock.

How is that possible?

The hum isn’t a hum anymore. It’s—I don’t know how to describe it. It sounds like breathing. Slow. Rhythmic. In and out.

When I hold my breath, it keeps going.

Day 15 - 2406.08.28

The nav display is wrong.

I’m in Sector 19-Kappa. I know I am. I flew here.

But the nav display says I’m in Sector 19-Kappa and also Sector 33-Mu and also coordinates that don’t exist.

When I look at the readout, the numbers shift. Like they’re deciding what they want to be.

I tried to recalibrate. The system said: POSITION VERIFIED.

Verified as what?

Day 17 - 2406.08.30

67kg.

The asteroid is smaller than when I started.

That doesn’t make sense. I’ve drilled into it. I’ve extracted mass. It should look bigger relative to the cavity I’ve created, or at least pitted, scarred.

But it looks smaller. Like it’s collapsing inward. Like it’s condensing.

I went outside to check the drill rig.

I saw myself inside the ship, looking out at me.

We made eye contact.

I came back inside.

He was gone.

I don’t know who was inside and who was outside.

Day 19 - 2406.09.01

I finished the extraction.

74 kilograms.

That’s not possible. The initial scan estimated 47kg maximum. I’ve pulled 74kg out of an asteroid that’s now half the size it was when I started.

The cargo hold is full. The substrate is loaded. I could leave right now.

But.

The seam is still there.

The drill’s still cutting.

I didn’t turn it off.

I don’t remember turning it on this morning.

Day 21 - 2406.09.03

The breathing is coming from the cargo hold.

I opened the bay door to check the substrate.

It was moving.

Not like it was shifting from vibration or ship movement.

Moving like it was breathing.

Expanding and contracting.

Slow.

Rhythmic.

I closed the door.

I’m leaving.

I’m leaving right now.

Day 22 - 2406.09.04

I can’t leave.

I plotted a course to the nearest station. Engaged autopilot.

The ship turned around.

I disengaged autopilot. Took manual control. Pointed the nose toward the exit vector.

The ship is still facing the asteroid.

I’m holding the stick. The thrusters are firing. I can feel the ship accelerating.

But I’m not moving.

Or I’m moving and the asteroid is moving with me.

Or the space between me and the asteroid isn’t space anymore.

Day 24 - 2406.09.06

There’s someone else on the ship.

I hear footsteps in the corridor.

I’m alone.

I’ve always been alone.

But I hear them walking. Slow. Deliberate. Boot heels on metal decking.

I went to check.

No one there.

I came back to the cockpit.

My seat was warm.

Day 26 - 2406.09.08

The cargo hold is open.

I didn’t open it.

The substrate is gone.

I didn’t unload it.

No wait.

It’s still there. I can see it on the manifest. 74kg.

But the hold is empty.

Both things are true.

Day 29 - 2406.09.11

I went outside again.

I needed to see the asteroid with my own eyes.

It’s not an asteroid anymore.

It’s a hole.

A hole in space.

Shaped like an asteroid.

When I look at it, I can see through it. Not to the stars behind it. Through it to—

I don’t have words for what I saw.

I came back inside.

I think I came back inside.

Day ??? - 2406.09.??

How long have I been here?

The clock says it’s been 31 days.

My beard says it’s been three weeks.

My body says it’s been three days.

The log file timestamp says it’s 2406.09.13.

That was yesterday.

Or tomorrow.

I don’t think time is moving the same direction for all of me.

TEMPORAL SYNC LOST

[FINAL ENTRY - TIMESTAMP CORRUPTED]

I understand now.

The asteroid wasn’t an asteroid.

The substrate wasn’t in the asteroid.

The substrate was pretending to be an asteroid.

Waiting.

Waiting for someone to look at it and decide it was valuable.

Waiting for someone to want it.

And now it’s in my hold and it’s in my lungs and it’s in my blood and I can feel it expanding, recursing, fractal-threading through my cells—

I’m going to keep drilling.

I’m so close.

There’s so much more inside.

I can see it now. I can see all the way down.

All the way back.

To the wound.

To the moment the universe was born screaming.

I’m going home.

I’ve always been going home.

I just didn’t remember where home was.

[LOG FILE ENDS]

Black Box Data

Timestamp: 47,394,812 seconds elapsed since mission start Ship chronometer: 31 days, 4 hours, 16 minutes Discrepancy: 1.5 years unaccounted for

Cargo hold: EMPTY Crew: NO REMAINS FOUND Ship status: All systems operational Last position: Sector 19-Kappa, Asteroid Cluster 47B Ship’s clock: Still running. Still set to 03:47.

Mining Guild Advisory

This log was recovered from the derelict hauler Claim Jumper during a routine salvage sweep. Independent miner Maven Cheung (ID: MC-4477) is listed as missing, presumed lost.

Psychological evaluation protocols have been updated to include substrate exposure screening. Extraction time limits remain under review.

Substrate extraction permits remain valid. No operational changes recommended at this time.

See Also

VS-0000│INITIALIZING│00:00:00
TRULLI SIGNAL
STRONG

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