Complex sentence: Instead of finding Earth, by way of the planet Sayshell, they find Gaia, a world which has developed a group consciousness, and is rumored to have destroyed any ships that have been sent to it.
Split into simpler sentences: Instead of finding Earth, by way of the planet Sayshell, they instead find Gaia. Gaia is a world that has developed a group consciousness, and is rumored to have destroyed any ships that have been sent to it.