A collapsed wormhole leaves nothing behind
2nd January 2010 – 3.36 pmIt's quiet in w-space. I am by myself at the tower, which leaves few options. I would like to get back to New Eden to refresh my research jobs, perhaps check on my sell orders, and redeem my Zephyr. It seems somewhat perverse to have to exit w-space to collect a Zephyr, needing to scan for a wormhole in at least two systems before I can reach an NPC station to ask for a prototype scanning ship. But even if it looks like I am not the target market for the ship it may still be nice to have a new entry in my assets tab. Mind you, I don't actually have my own scanning boat yet, so I have to scrounge a ride in a colleague's Imicus. I warp to a safe point in the system, launch some probes, and start scanning for an exit.
Our own system is depleted of most sites of specific Sleeper interest, with only a few mining sites and a bunch of anomalies appearing on the initial, broad scan. The anomalies are easy to ignore, and the gravimetric and ladar sites are bookmarked and easy to update. This leaves only one or two signatures to pinpoint, making the exit wormhole straightforward to locate. Jumping through to the next system and punching the directional scanner shows that the system is occupied, with a tower and various defences and hangars visible. In fact, there are two extra large ship hangars, several smaller ones, eight corporation hangars, and multiple refineries all showing up on the d-scan. This looks to be a w-space system occupied by a busy mining corporation.
When I start my scan of the system I am surprised to find plenty of ladar and gravimetric sites showing up, for gas and ore mining respectively. For an corporation that appears to be set up for significant mining operations, they don't seem to be terribly active in gathering resources. It is possible that they clear individual sites completely, rather than only grabbing the highest value ore, and take a few days over each site. Or they could be visiting neighbouring systems in preference to their own, grabbing the valuable ore whilst the ephemeral wormhole link exists and saving their home resources for dry times, as we are doing with the Sleeper anomaly sites in our own system. It makes plenty of sense to run sites in ever-changing neighbouring w-space systems before your own.
When the next wormhole I scan turns to out to head not to New Eden but still w-space I return to our tower, where a colleague suggests collapsing our static wormhole. We can prevent the neighbouring occupants from visiting whilst also giving a chance that the new static wormhole will lead somewhere more prosperous. I borrow a Scorpion from the hangar, the only battleship present I have the skills to pilot, whilst Fin jumps in to an Orca. I trust my colleague's maths, as she works out how much mass is needed to destabilise the wormhole to the point of collapse, and how many trips each of our ships needs to take to achieve this. Two return trips for the Scorpion, and two return trips for the Orca with its micro-warp drive engaged, the active drive adding mass to the vessel.
I hope the maths is correct. It isn't too long ago that a corporation Orca became stranded on the wrong side of a collapsing wormhole. It took at least a week for the pilot to scan a way back out to k-space, carefully keeping the Orca safe whilst doing so. As I make my second return jump and the Orca her second outwards bound, the wormhole becomes much less stable, the distortion effect that surrounds it shifting more quickly and erratically. As the Orca thankfully returns, the wormhole collapses in on itself. This is the first time I have seen a wormhole collapse, and although it isn't violent it is certainly disconcerting. If I saw that happening behind me as I enter a new system, left with only empty space for millions of miles around me, it might be a cause for panic. As it is, we are both in our home system, a short warp journey to our tower.
The wormhole connecting to industrious miners is gone, and a new one leading elsewhere has undoubtedly appeared elsewhere in the system. I'll look for it, and an exit to New Eden, another time.
6 Responses to “A collapsed wormhole leaves nothing behind”
hey, I just wanna let you know this is the best Eve blog I've read. Good job.
"...reach an NPC station to ask for a prototype scanning shit."
I admit it's not much of a ship, but its been good to salvage my wrecks when I make, um tactical errors.
Oops! Corrected the faux-pas. Thanks, Fin.
And thanks for the kind comment, woog.
I think it was some kind of Gallentean slip.
I'm looking for a corp and you seem intelligent and congenial, if you're interested in doing some stealth bomber runs drop Jion Tichy (not my main) a mail with your in-game contact info. I think I'd enjoy flying with you so let me know.
My main will be 5 years old this year.
We are pretty much living in w-space now, stealth bomber runs are not happening too often and I am not likely to come out to roam low- or null-sec space, for logistic reasons.
Thanks for the offer, though, it's always appreciated.