I was thinking that, ya know lichens came from a different planet? The Spiral Order sent you out in a ship or something to the Lichens homeland (maybe that other planet on the log in screen) to see what's going on, as the lichens on cradle have been acting weirdly lately? I dunno, a massive lichen boss seems cool, and I want more back story on lichens.
We crash landed (Or more like were shot down) over cradle, and haven't built a spaceship to escape at all yet. We need a power supply, likely from the core.
Lichens also came onto Cradle from a meteorite, there would be no way to find out what planet they came from if they even came from a planet.