A nice article, space exploration is always a favorite of mine, though there are a couple of things I'm confused by:
Is the second earth a projection, actually there, or just phased out of sync with the surrounding reality?
Whats the point of the beacons and the map? To show where Humanity in this universe previously reached? To show a safe haven? If the latter, why arent there more earths? If the former, wheres the evidence aside from what amounts to a automated relay station?
My only real criticism is the fact that, in the logs, Andrew Finn, a critical member of the crew, comes off as ever so slightly emotionally unstable.
Now, granted, this probably done for emotional impact, but as critical and sensitive as a mission like this would be, where multiple people need to be working together in near-sync efficiency in order to survive not only a *very* hostile environment, but also hostile anomalous entities, one would think the FPS and B.o.E.T would thoroughly evaluate all crew members in all capacities before signing them off for a mission of this importance. To say otherwise would imply an extreme level of incompetence on their part.
Andrew even goes so far as to attempt to build a miniature Temporal Sink, a technology he even says that he doesnt even understand completely, and it just makes comes off as highly irresponsible to be tinkering with a technology thats only *just* entering general use, not to mention dangerous for the ship and his fellow crew members.
I dunno, I guess the way their approaching something like this, in this manner, just doesnt settle with me.
Overall, again, a very nice article.
