The Orb

Captain’s Log, Stardate 58463.8: We have called the object “The Orb”. While it orbits a primary star, has a planetary mass, and a ring system, The Orb is clearly not what we would consider a natural planet. We may have even overlooked its existence had our computer not altered us to what appeared to be a gravitic anomaly. On closer investigation we found what seemed to be a planetary body, but it did not return any EM signatures.

As we got into visual range, we examined the object – a featureless, black, planet-massed perfect sphere sitting in a complex ring system. Our visual inspection yielded no details whatsoever. No variations in shading, no breaks in the perfectly spherical surface. In fact the Orb is the most mathematically perfect spherical mass ever encountered. But we remain perplexed as to why and how we can see it as it appears to return no other forms of EM radiation.

After a distant inspection, the Clarke pulled into a distant orbit around The Orb. As we did, the mass of the object suddenly doubled over the course of 21.6 seconds. Between our computer navigation fail safes and quick thinking helmsman, were able to adjust our orbital insertion trajectory to compensate, but we are on high alert for any future such shifts. Strangely, the mass increase had no effect on the surround ring system, not did The Orb’s outside dimensions physically change.

The dangers in remaining close to this object are obvious. We are preparing a subspace probe to remain in orbit, but we are all quite eager to get outside the influence of this eerie planetary anomaly and continue our exploration of the Sagittarius Galaxy North.

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People have been urging me to have the Clarke meet the Monolith, but I really didn’t want to steal that object, wholesale. So I took some of its characteristics, made a huge sphere, and added some extra features.

Clarke (Century class) model by DJ Curtis. Ring texture via Drell-7. DAZ Studio render.