I have finally made it! It's been weeks and weeks of constructing the Invictus and it took a lot of effort to mine the necessary ice but I have finally left the planet surface. The hydrogen drive worked as expected, and although the ship has considerable weight it has enough thrust to overcome gravity.
I couldn't detect any ships above the atmosphere, so whoever sent me the supply drops after I crashed on the planet clearly has left orbit. If there ever was a search party in this part of the system they must have given up some while ago. The moon is within reach, but if there'd be anyone of my fleet I should have detected some sign of them by now. I doubt the Invictus leaving the planet would have gone unnoticed.
I'm wondering - maybe exploring the moon is of no use at all. Maybe I should head directly to the inhabitable planet, and leave behind the desert planet I've been stranded on for what felt like ages. But first I'll have to find some resources, and better sooner than later. Escaping the planet took a heavy hit on my fuel reserves and I'm down to 50% hydrogen. I can't afford doing too many maneuvers so I need to be careful when approaching asteroids and I have to be as efficient as possible. There are plenty of large rocks around and so far I haven't found anything but iron deposits, probably way enough to build a whole fleet of ships. I need at least some ice, or - even better - metals for building ion thrusters.
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