Community Research (week 6)

The subject of this article is from the NEXT update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 28 October, 2018.

Community Research (week 6)
Mission type	Secondary
Mission series	Community Research
Preceded by:	Community Research (week 5)
Followed by:	Community Research (week 7)
Requires:	N/A
Implemented	NEXT 1.65
Description	Help Specialist Polo - Week 6 of 8

Community Research (week 6) is a mission.

Summary

Community Research (week 6) is the sixth mission introduced as Community Research and its purpose is to learn the fate of Specialist Polo's missing friend.

This is a time-limited mission and it was available for 7 days, starting from NEXT 1.65 until 26 October 2018. The first part of the mission takes place on a planet called Rikasu XIII in the Lusalkai system.

WARNING: It makes use of portal travel. Please do not forget to go back through the portal when you finished, or you will encounter Portal Interference messages.

Walkthrough

Make contact with the Space Anomaly

With this mission set as the active mission, fly into space and Polo will contact the player through the communicator.

Specialist Polo

-{{ Friend! It is good to see you again! Or is it again? I have lost track a little of when I am. }}-
-{{ The data you fetched has turned up a remarkable pattern. At last, we can visualise the loops and swoops that bind us together in time! Our missing friend was in our reality, but not in our reality as we see it now! }}-
-{{ This knowledge I now give to you, in portable form. A tracer of signals from other loops, a communicator into the past! With such a thing, we might yet find our missing friend! }}-

• Accept

-{{ Coordinates are not simple for a signal like this, friend. But we hope the portal will guide us to the right reality! Go, take my creation and see what you might see! Or have already seen? }}-

Visit the marked planet

A portal will be marked in the system where the player currently located. Due to it is a mission-related travel, the Portal Terminal will not require any recharge.

The portal yawns before me.
Did Polo's lost friend stand before a portal like this? How many others have there been like me, chasing ghosts across time and space? Perhaps another is following me right now, at the behest of some other iteration of my Gek companion...

• Input Polo's Glyphs
• Leave

Piece together the story

After arriving to the other side of the portal, the mission objective will be updated and using any scanner is required to reveal the icon for a Transmission Tower location.

The player needs to access the terminal located inside the building.

Oksar Repeater

-{{ - kzzzktk - mayday, mayday -kzzkkkttt - anyone receiving? }}-
I access the transmitter's data banks. As expected, a distress signal awaits me.

• Apply Polo's Device

1. As I apply Polo's device, I hear another shout, a cry of recognition.
   They know I am listening. To my astonishment, this broadcast appears to be live.
   • Reply (Note: This conversation option does not have any effect on the final outcome and the conversation will continue as if the Listen option was selected in the first place)
     1. I begin to speak, but the sender cuts me off before I can utter a word.
   • Listen
     1. -{{ Bulkheads failed, exploded - ktzztk - half the crew dead or missing - kztzzktk - in a freefall - kzzkzztk - Korvax onboard, gave us this frequency, said to ask for a specialist... }}-
        -{{ Are your landing coordinates safe? Could attempt emergency landing - kztzzktk - or emergency thrust towards black hole - kzzt - slingshot might buy us time... }}-
        • Give current coordinates
          1. -{{ Coordinates logged - kzzktk - atmospheric stabiliers partially responding - kzzktk - maybe we'll see you there... }}-
             A terrible sound drowns out any trace of the sender, and then collapses to static and silence.
             I must find some way to trace the signal further.
             • Leave (Note: This leads to Path G)
        • Suggest piloting towards black hole
          1. -{{ ... ... ... }}-
             -{{ We've - kztzzktk - too much thrust - kztk - can't control it - kzzktk - singularity... }}-
             A terrible sound drowns out any trace of the sender, and then collapses to static and silence.
             I must find some way to trace the signal further.
             • Leave (Note: This leads to Path S)

• Leave

Path G

This will lead the player to eight distinct endings and completely different from Path S, but only one can be experienced through the mission.

See: Community Research (week 6)/Path G

Path S

This will lead the player to eight distinct endings and completely different from Path G, but only one can be experienced through the mission.

See: Community Research (week 6)/Path S

Make contact with the Space Anomaly

The player will be contacted again through the communicator, after using the starship's scanner.

Specialist Polo

-{{ What did you see, friend? Did the loops take you forwards or back? When is our lost companion hiding? }}-

• Retell the story

Polo listens as I tell the sorry tale. They try to keep their emotions in check, but they had invested so much hope in this possible contact that it is hard for them to bear.
The Gek blinks rapidly as they compose themself. They shake off the disappointment and suggest a new line of investigation.

-{{ It is hard to lose contact, friend. But these echoes are merely one loop from the infinite. Life, success, tragedy - Nada and Polo and the Traveller-friend will see all these outcomes. }}-
-{{ Perhaps we might turn to a different form of analysis. Images from key sites may contain positional data, timecodes to aid our search. You would be so kind to us if you helped collect such images! }}-

• End transmission

Visit Polo's robotic companion

The Space Anomaly will warp into the player's current system, allowing it to be boarded it.

The door behind the Control Panel is accessible, where Quicksilver Synthesis Companion resides.

After speaking with the merchant NPC the mission objective will be updated.

(Optional) Take photographs for Polo to analyse

The broadcast is amplified and the signal zone extended throughout the galaxy, allowing to take photographs of buildings on any planets. The player could visit other planets, but it can be done on the initial planet.

The Signal Booster can be used to reveal some of the required buildings, but with not exact results.

The following images are needed for completion, the planetary coordinates are given for Rikasu XIII.

• Monolith → -35.56, -99.77
• Minor Settlement → -37.07, -97.71
• Abandoned Building → -39.62, -101.99
• Trading Post → -34.68, -101.80
• Portal → -35.78, -101.80
• Holographic Comms Tower (HoloTerminus) → -35.46, -103.57

If you turn in partial results, the following conversation takes place.

Specialist Polo

-{{ You have pictures, friend? Did your camera see anything unusual, any messages from the lost? }}-

• Transmit images

Thank you for this data, friend. Data always brings hope!

• Decline

After taking all 6 images, the data limit is reached and the mission objective will be updated.

Return to space and contact Polo again by using the starship's scanner.

Specialist Polo

-{{ You have taken so many images, friend. This... this will be all I handle. I fear I am getting behind with my analysis. }}-

• Transmit data

-{{ Polo signs off, but there is none of their usual enthusiasm, the joy of discovery long since gone. This task has taken its toll upon them. }}-

Visit Polo's robotic companion

The Space Anomaly will warp into the player's current system, allowing it to be boarded it.

After speaking with the merchant NPC again, the mission will be completed.

Rewards

• 2,000 after retelling the story.
• 3,000 after transmitting all 6 images.