A Letter from H84
A Letter from H84
Dear Traveler,
You wrote to us seeking answers on our home, and perhaps a bit of deep-space history to sharpen your curiosity against. We wish very much to help you but cannot. At least not from afar. Not before you find us, for ours is a world unlike most others and a place that must be experienced before it is understood.
Not many come as far as you already have. Not many would dare ask what you have asked. Even fewer make it to our dry shores, where life and death dance to the rhythms of shifting sands. And isn’t that what you seek? The great truths and ancient songs lost in this menagerie of desert worlds dancing along the edge of our galaxy?
Instead of pretending to know these truths myself, I leave you with a poem from one of our departed ancestors, dedicated to explorers like yourself. Hopefully it is enough to remind you of the urgency in your search for us and our home.
Untitled, Like Us – Author, Unknown
H-84 was a lonely planet, rocky, and by most accounts, uninhabitable. Past attempts to terraform it had failed, listing “a bad atmosphere” as the rather unofficial conclusion on file. No further explanations were given. What could be the point then, behind its obsessive, incessant exploration?
H-84 was an unfortunate planet. Dealt a bad hand. Fucked, if you will. Its barren surface could not support any plants, and most synthetic organics had been ravaged by a singular local species. Mona pseudohachicus, a relentless parasite, was named in honor of the woman who discovered it, and who like many others still visits the planet to this day. Why does she?
H-84 was a familiar planet. It had been home to dozens of settlements, two cities, and the infamous Launching Station 11. On the precipice of our Milky Way, it was also the birthplace of intergalactic travel. Ancient history. Despite countless attempts to save it, our impact on the planet proved insurmountable. All that remained was a settlement, hopeless and on its way out. Why did the people there decided to stay?
H-84 was a human planet. One of many, which at one time or another had mattered. “It’s not easy to let go of what we know,” the locals would tell you in perfect Old World English. “Not easy at all.” Besides, something had been lost there long ago, a treasure buried by the merciless sandstorms. That’s when the Monas first appeared as well, devouring everything but some lucky settlers. Could there still be hope for them below the sand?
H-84 was a stubborn, relentless planet. “A rock? Yes,” they’d say. “But our rock!” Many of its early inhabitants had been artists, whose depictions of the edge captivated the galaxy’s imagination for generations. Centuries later, one of their colonies became our settlement. As their descendants, we are the last survivors, explorers of a lost world, and guardians of the answers you seek. Could that be why we stayed, to find the truth, or perhaps to protect it?
H-84 was a lovely planet. Once home to billions of memories and three quarters of a million citizens, its ruins are a thing of beauty. It’s a place imagined, built, and to this age inhabited by artists. Tomb of an unimaginable secret. Top destination for treasure hunters. Resting place of one of humanity’s most precious and long-lost secrets. If not through your search, and that of those like you, how else can we expect to once again discover this lost world and travel beyond the confines of our galaxy?
The first step is to ask, which you already have. Now, you must find us on the celestial maps and secure a ship and navigator as crazy as yourself. Tell them where to drop your pod upon reaching the edge, and then wait for us to come get you.
Looking forward to meeting you in darkness,
Liv-O Black
Private Desert Explorer for Hire.