Rift Station: Open Worlds

Really, psychological testing aside, it's arguable that no one who does this fits conventional ideas of sanity. And its been noted that for whatever reason, overwhelmingly, the volunteers are Humans. The most common reasons given are a massive or traumatic personal loss, an introverted personality with a lack of ties to begin with, complete bankruptcy, or an extreme case of midlife crisis. More frequently now, religious pilgrims are popping up. Occasionally the rift gets a public figure who's been involved in a scandal on a level they don't believe they can ever face up to, or a deposed dictator or two. Despite the care taken to screen out actual criminals, it's also of course likely a few manage to slip through, either on the run from prison or from their own kind.

There's one major perk offered to volunteers, although circumstances rarely align to allow them to cash it in: if you end up on an uncharted world and manage to make contact with either Humans or Emittiers, the world becomes yours in the legal sense, and any benefits that come from it are credited to you. Usually posthumously, due to the limitations of FTL travel, but a few have gotten lucky. (What the situation would be in the event of discovering an inhabited world is a grey area deliberately not covered, as it would be more of a governmental or military issue.)

So anyhow, why are YOU here?