Elite Dangerous 018 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40
Elite Dangerous 018 Gilbert Legacy - Bracket Hub - Lem Beacon - 221B Baker Street - Scotland Yard
The Grand Tour, PAGE 18
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts.
Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
Featuring my tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian London with
221B Baker Street, and Scotland Yard as the last two stops in this video.
09 Orbital 00
Gilbert Legacy
Communication Installation (Alethia)
DOCK: NONE
Stephen Gilbert (1912–2010) was a Northern Irish author best known for his 1968 horror/sci-fi novel Ratman's Notebooks, which was twice adapted into the popular films Willard.
Gilbert’s short bibliography spanned multiple genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and psychic horror.
Notable Works
Ratman's Notebooks (1968): His most famous novel. It follows an alienated young man who discovers an affinity for rats and trains them to exact vengeance on the world. The book was adapted into the 1971 and 2003 hit horror films titled Willard.
The Burnaby Experiments (1952): A blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and psychic horror. The story focuses on an eccentric millionaire and a young student conducting sinister experiments to achieve astral projection and discover what happens to the soul after death.
Monkeyface (1948): A uniquely imaginative sci-fi/fantasy novel about a scientist who brings a highly intelligent, talking ape from South America to Belfast. It explores ethical themes regarding mankind's exploitation of animals.
The Landslide (1943): His debut fantasy novel about prehistoric creatures that are uncovered by a landslide in a remote part of Ireland.
Gilbert was highly praised by his contemporaries, most notably the esteemed novelist E. M. Forster (also named in the stations of this system), who described him as "a writer of distinction".
PERSONAL NOTE:
I read the movie adaptation of Willard in middle school, but could swear it was titled Willard, not Ratman’s Notebooks. Can’t remember, surely the original title was on the cover, but in my mind’s eye it was a lurid red cover with the title “Willard.” I have memory problems, and some cognitive issues… plus I’m in my mid-60s. So of course I asked Gemini why my memory of the book seemed off.
Here’s what Gemini had to say:
You are not misremembering at all. Your mind's eye is completely accurate.
Following the massive box office success of the 1971 film adaptation, Lancer Books (and Panther Books in the UK) re-released Stephen Gilbert's original 1968 novel (Ratman's Notebooks) as a movie tie-in paperback retitled Willard.
The exact edition you read in middle school around 1973 featured:
The New Title:
The original title Ratman's Notebooks was completely scrubbed from the main cover and replaced with the movie title Willard in massive print.
The Lurid Red Cover:
The most ubiquitous 1971/1972 Lancer Books paperback printing featured a striking, vibrant red background.
The Cover Art:
Placed dead center on that red background was a stark, stylized black silhouette of a giant rat, matching the horror/thriller marketing of the era.
So, you aren't experiencing a Mandela effect or a lapse in memory. You read the official, retitled movie tie-in paperback exactly as it was printed and distributed to school scholastic book orders and local bookstores in the early 1970s.
Made me feel pretty good that I was right. :^)
09A Orbital 00
Bracket Hub
Space Farm (Demeter)
DOCK: NONE
(Yes, the station only has one L. I'm taking literary license because Leigh Brackett deserves a station.)
Often celebrated as the "Queen of Space Opera," Leigh Brackett was a major writer during the Golden Age whose gritty, noir-infused "planetary romances" brought a rare level of psychological depth and atmospheric brooding to the genre.
Her legacy is anchored by the Eric John Stark stories and her 1955 post-apocalyptic masterpiece, The Long Tomorrow, which earned her recognition for being the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Beyond her own works, Brackett played a pivotal role in shaping Ray Bradbury's writing style; she was his primary mentor during Bradbury's formative years in California. She collaborated with him on the 1946 novella "Lorelei of the Red Mist" and helped him refine the poetic, haunting voice that would later define his career.
Gemini put the details above together. But… Leigh Brackett. Foundational? That’s a high-falutin’ way of saying she helped create the stage upon which modern writers tread.
You’ve heard the saying “On the shoulders of giants?” She was a giant of her time, and the world of Sci-Fi owes her an unending debt of gratitude.
09B Orbital 00
Lem Beacon
Industrial Outpost (Vulcan)
DOCK: Medium
Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) was a prolific Polish writer and philosopher who became one of the most widely read and influential science fiction authors in history. His work is celebrated for exploring the deep ethical and philosophical consequences of technology and alien contact.
He was a visionary who predicted several modern realities decades before they existed, including:
Electronic Books: In 1961, he described "optons," small crystals that displayed text on a portable screen, essentially predicting the Kindle.
Virtual Reality: He coined the term "phantomatics" in 1964 to describe artificial realities indistinguishable from the original.
Nanotechnology and AI: He accurately anticipated self-replicating microscopic machines and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Lem argued that truly alien life would be so fundamentally different that humans might never be able to communicate with it or even recognize it as alive. He often wrote about "anthropocentrism"—our tendency to view the entire universe through a human lens, which he believed would lead to a "fiasco" when we encounter the unknown.
I can't even imagine what a solution to the problem might look like. Or even if it would be a problem at all.
PERSONAL NOTE:
It’s been a while, but I found a couple of books by Lem in the library back in High School. He wouldn’t have been my first choice to read, but this was the 70’s, before the internet, and new books were a rare treat. It was miraculous when to find a sci-fi book that I hadn't already read.
To my recall, at least some of the stories were silly/humorous, but the books were interesting, and provided a different viewpoint to my standard reading.
09C Orbital 00
221B Baker Street (was Maxwell’s Folly)
Coriolis Starport
DOCK: Large
See: Watson Botanical Market, Sherlock Relay, Sherlock’s Conservatory.
Pretty much every time I rolled a name related to Sherlock Holmes, I took it.
I’m sure most will recognize this iconic address as the home of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
This station is the orbital half of a 2-part set. The planet below has an outpost named “Scotland Yard.”
I’ve been a Holmes fan since 1971. At 11 years old, my Aunt Arlene (Dad’s sister) gave me a giant hardcover book titled “The Complete Sherlock Holmes.” I still have that book, and have read it more times than I can say. An 11-year old is rough on things, but I tried to take care of it. Got into a school fight when a bully pushed it off the desk.
A few years ago, my wife tried to buy an exact version of this publication for a reading copy, only she succeeded far too well. Rather than a knockabout book that I could read without risking my original… when the new one arrived, it had a penciled signature inside the cover, with an address.
The signature was “Eileen Moriarty.”
As if that’s not enough, Monique looked up the address, and it was registered in the name of a “Professor James Moriarty”, who had taught at a local college. Since the bookseller Monique used was an established used book dealer, we assumed the book was bought at an estate sale, sadly implying Eileen and her husband had passed away.
In my imagination, I have a fond vision of him buying this book for her, as a gentle humorous nod to his name and profession. I also imagine him as a young man trying to decide his career path. With the last name of Moriarty… what else could he do but become a professor?
Anyway, the irony, synchronicity, and appeal of owning a book that was owned by the wife of Sherlock Holmes' most dangerous nemesis was too much for me.
Now I have two exact copies of my favorite book, and treasure both of them too much to read.
I need one more, preferably one that will be suitable as a reading copy.
 |
| A Memory from a few years ago. It was the best of times. |
At the time I write this, Sherlock Holmes Day (May 22) was fairly recent. This year I decided (possibly for the very final time) to read my original book once more.
Because it's fragile, I settled on one iron-clad rule... I could only read it while it lays flat on my computer desk.
Since I'm often reading in the living room, or in bed, I decided to do my first ever hybrid read-through. I read at the desk when possible, and when it's not possible, I read a digital version on my tablet. Whenever switching from one to the other, I synchronize them.
It's not perfect, but still brings back the memories from all the other times reading that same book.
Scotland Yard (Was MacLeods Claim)
Civilian Surface Outpost (Clotho)
DOCK: Large
The other half of the orbital/surface pair in honor of Sherlock Holmes. I kicked around several potential names. With the Coriolis being “221B Baker Street,” it felt right to imagine Scotland Yard would only be a short jaunt away.
There’s a surprisingly large list of Scotland Yarders who worked with Holmes – Not only Lestrade and Gregson, but also Inspectors Barton, Bradstreet, Brown, Forbes, Forrester, Gregory, Gregson, Hill, Hopkins, Athelney Jones and Peter Jones, Lanner, MacDonald, MacKinnon, Merivale, Montgomery, Morton, Patterson, and Youghal.
If you’re interested, there’s a wonderful list of all Detectives, Constables, and Agents contained here:
https://bakerstreet.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_detectives,_constables,_and_agents_in_Sherlock_Holmes
I would have carried the theme further with more available slots, but planet 09C only has the one orbital and the one surface slot. There are some random-named facilities with a Holmes connection in this system, but they weren’t on purpose, just a happy coincidence.
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