Nah nah nah. you got it all wrong. That cannon has a wicked curve to it's flight path, it actually DOES fire you north eventually.
Spent like an hour exploring on a rogue, couldn't find my way into any deeper areas. Seems like a cool zone. I -really- hope they put some Crucial quest NPC in the house at the end of the maze walkway in the sky just to mess with boxers.