It's been a quiet few weeks since my encounter with Lark. Of course, it gives me time to transcribe the recordings I’ve already made. I know there are faster ways, however I find doing it personally has a sort of… charm to it. Helps me keep my thoughts in order. 

We must be in a void area. A chunk of space that has no nearby planets or space stations. Just stars as far as you can see, distant among the great blanket of black across the sky. Looking out my cabin window even now, I see maybe two, three stars? Ah, no there's a fourth. Anything beyond that is just too distant to see. The human eye was not meant to be able to see so far off. 

There is a legend among human space travelers about void spaces. I had to do quite a bit of research on it for a paper once. Rather interesting quite honestly. Something to do with things beyond human comprehension. I believe they stem from the human idea of Eldritch beings. Of course Eldritch beings of old tend to be aquatic in nature, so there's some differences. 

Truth be told, the whole fear of such great entities can most commonly be traced back to one poem that made its rounds among human explorers when we first made it to space. Its source has long since vanished, and the author vanished into history. 

Silky Skys, endless and vast

Barren of stars, each distant and far

Roam no beast, nor mortal comprehension

Silky skies, water breaking across rocks

Endless river, deep and pitted

What lurks at the bottom

Where even minds cannot find

Silky skies, Silky skies

How i see you so far away

So close, so far, not within arms reach

Bated breath we watch and wait

To be welcomed within its breast

Silky skies, silky skies

At last we may now rest

An odd little poem isn't it? I suspect it's the source of any superstition surrounding void spaces. Of a great creature that to see would turn you insane. I’m no poet, so I cannot say for its craftsmanship, but it was quite popular back when humans first achieved long space travel. A fear of the vastness of space I suspect, made manifest. 

Isn't that interesting? I should ask some of the nonhuman crew members about how they process fear. For some they hide, some run, and at the end how do you deal with a constant fear? For so many it seems art is the answer. Of course the Silky skies poem’s author has been lost to time, so we may never know what fueled them. 

Hmm… 

You know, I once asked someone, a friend, what they thought the silky skies poem was really about. For me, I thought it was fear. They thought it was a sort of love. The way you love a dangerous creature that could rip you to shreds. Although I suppose that's not the right word for it. A fascination, that's better. I suppose to some the two words mean the same thing. 

Fascination with the unknown and dangerous. Isn't that where most mythology and stories come from? I suppose it's why this log exists in the first place. Hmm.. yes on second thought i do think i will ask the crew about this. See if there's anything interesting about how legends are formed for other species. 

Harrington, signing off