jpmschweitzerandClaude Opus 4.6
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Complete Drifter's Guide coverage for the North Reach corridor. 49 new entries from hop 3 (Crown's Hollow) to hop 12 (Rekohu), plus updated gttr-north.md index with all 55 north systems. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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THE DRIFTER'S GUIDE TO THE REACH — GJ 3988
GJ 3988 has no population, no name anyone uses, and an automated relay station that has been broadcasting navigational data for two centuries without maintenance, which is either a testament to engineering quality or a sign that no one has been close enough to notice if something changed.
The Transit Node
The system is a K-M binary pair — two dim stars in close mutual orbit, habitable zones either nonexistent or destabilized by tidal perturbation. Gate infrastructure was extended through here because it needed to reach Mossbank beyond. Nothing else was built. The automated relay station harvests solar power, maintains position-lock data, and issues standard navigation broadcasts. It has been doing this alone since it was installed.
The binary's gravitational geometry makes in-system maneuvering slightly more demanding than average. The charts are available, frequently outdated, and nominally the responsibility of Athabasca two hops back. Athabasca has a full docket of outer-reach compliance management and has not inspected GJ 3988 in some years. Its operational status is presumed from the fact that the broadcasts continue.
Last year, a vessel reported a third navigation signal in the system — not the relay, not a passing ship's transponder, something else. The report was logged at Athabasca and filed under "equipment anomaly." Nobody has been sent to look.
Practical Information
GJ 3988 is six hops from Gateway — a transit point between Athabasca and Mossbank. Nothing stops here. Nothing lives here. The relay broadcasts on schedule. Whether the signal that was reported is equipment malfunction, sensor artifact, or something else is a question that has been documented and set aside.
The Guide notes that "equipment anomaly" is the classification given to things that are inconvenient to investigate.
Adams of the Guide rates GJ 3988: Transitory. Signal Unresolved.