《Finding Stardust》Prologue: Princess Arreya & General Kaoshin Stardust (2)

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The small ship quickly shot toward Earth after Arreya entered the coordinates of her intended destination. She sat in the pilot's seat and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.

She always became emotional whenever she remembered the events that had happened a long time ago when she and Kaoshin had just landed on the Moon. Arreya couldn't remember anything after the party in the palace other than suddenly waking up in the capsule.

Several days had already passed since Kaoshin and Arreya first landed on the Moon. Kaoshin had been conducting an investigation while managing the robots to repair the ship's damaged parts. Arreya then decided to roll up her sleeves and help in supervising the robots.

Back on their home planet, Akkadia, Arreya had led an engineering division before she was appointed to become the crown princess, so her skills with machines were quite good.

"How's the progress?" Kaoshin asked as he approached Arreya who was overseeing the two robots repairing some damaged pipes.

The girl shook her head. "Bad. It'll take a long time for the ship to be repaired, and it won't be 100% functional."

"Hmm..." Kaoshin nodded. He turned and stared at the dark space decorated with millions of galaxies comprised of hundreds of billions of stars. "Do you see the blue planet over there?"

Arreya's eyes followed the direction where Kaoshin pointed at and nodded. "That blue planet looks very beautiful. It looks like it has a lot of water. There's none here."

"Right. Looking at it from the surface, about 70 percent of the planet's surface is covered with water. The people living there are very fortunate. Luckily, we have a complete life support system in the capsule. We can produce water and grow our own plants." Kaoshin observed the planet with great interest. "But it would be more interesting if we can see what kinds of plants grow on the blue planet."

Arreya knew that Kaoshin loved plants. The man had always wanted to be a botanist. But he gave up that dream and joined the military to protect Arreya after he had heard she became the crown princess.

"Why don't we go down there and find out?" Arreya said with a smile.

"I'll have to investigate first and ensure the planet is safe before I take you there. I don't want to risk your safety. Do you remember how their satellites attacked our capsule?" Kaoshin asked.

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Arreya nodded. "Of course, I do. But I think what they did was quite reasonable. They considered us suspicious and unauthorized visitors, so we need to contact them properly first."

Kaoshin's face grew dark at Arreya's suggestion. How would they contact the blue planet? Also, there were only two of them. Of course, their existence and intention to establish contact would be highly suspected.

"We don't need to worry about such things right now. Let's focus on fixing the capsule and building the life support systems first for our survival," he said as he noticed Arreya's worn-out face. "You look tired. Let's take a break and eat."

Arreya looked up and smiled at Kaoshin's request. The man reached into his pocket, taking a small box, and forked out five pills. He handed four to Arreya.

"Er... that's a lot. I only need two." Arreya took two pills and pushed Kaoshin's hand back, so the man would take the rest. "You need to eat more than me. Look, my body is smaller than yours."

Kaoshin smiled faintly and nodded. He downed the three pills in his mouth before putting the box back into his pocket.

They sat and rested on the two folding chairs the robots had made. They had been stranded on the Moon for several days now but hadn't had much time to explore the area but based on the capsule's radar observations, there were no other living beings on the Moon. Hence, they didn't have to worry about being attacked by other creatures and had focused on repairing the ship and building a livable habitat.

Arreya had been trying to jog her memories these past few days but came up with nothing. And Kaoshin had been checking the capsule's navigation logbook but also couldn't get a satisfactory explanation. It was all a big mystery.

***

"Princess Arreya..."

The girl flinched awake with damp eyes. She didn't realize she had cried in her sleep. Quickly, she rubbed her eyes and turned to the computer screen on her left.

"General Kaoshin Stardust!" Arreya cried out in surprise when she saw the face of the young man she had been longing for all this time to suddenly appear on the ship's computer screen. "General Kaoshin Stardust, where are you?"

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"I recorded this message before I went to Earth. And I know that if I don't come back, you'll use this ship to search for me."

Arreya fell back on her chair, dejected. She thought he had finally contacted her but that wasn't the case.

"Princess Arreya, please reconsider your decision to go to Earth. The situation is still unclear, so I set the ship's automatic control to return to the Moon. I'm sorry."

"No way! General Kaoshin, you're bad!" Arreya shouted while covering her face with both hands. "You have no idea how lonely I was back there. You've been gone for so many years. There was no one I could talk to besides the computers."

Frantically, she turned off the automatic control and manually controlled the ship. The ship curved, turning its nose away from the Moon.

"Ugh... I don't like driving," Arreya said.

Arreya was forced to drive the ship by herself and observe every coordinate and direction she could take before flying to Earth as originally planned. "General Kaoshin, you're wrong if you thought it's okay for me to stay on the Moon alone."

The ship was small but was equipped with warp technology. Within a few hours, the ship entered the Earth's atmosphere. Arreya turned on the protective shield of the ship to protect it from the friction of the Earth's atmosphere. She also enabled the ship's stealth mode so that the Earth's radar on land and satellites wouldn't be able to detect her entrance.

The small ship was shaking violently as it glided on top of a dense forest. Arreya tried to use the trees to slow down the ship's speed, but she finally screamed as she noticed a large rock blocking the ship's path. The ship crashed onto the rock, and Arreya's head smashed against the ship's hull, making her lose consciousness.

***

Arreya woke up to the sound of a crackling fire and the creaking hull of the ship. She touched her forehead and felt the damp warm blood on it. She looked around but was puzzled at the buttons, control panel, her whole surroundings. Arreya didn't know where she was! Cautiously, she pressed the large blinking button.

BEEEP....

"Princess Arreya."

The computer screen to her left suddenly turned on and the face of a handsome young man appeared stunned her. The silver-haired young man with a pair of sparkling blue-green eyes spoke with a solemn expression. His dark, deep voice was soft but firm. Arreya immediately felt he was so familiar.

"I recorded this message before I went to Earth. And I know that if I don't come back, you'll use this ship to search for me."

Arreya grunted as she patted her forehead. She said to herself, "Who is man? Who is this Princess Arreya he mentioned?"

She had a feeling that Arreya was her name, but she couldn't remember anything else.

"Princess Arreya, please reconsider your decision to go to Earth. The situation is still unclear, so I set the ship's automatic control to return to the Moon. I'm sorry."

Arreya was stunned. She was now absolutely sure she was the one called Princess Arreya. She was starting to panic because her memory about herself was blank. Arreya searched her surroundings and found a bag containing objects bearing the names Princess Arreya and General Kaoshin Stardust.

Was the man on the screen Kaoshin Stardust? Who is he? Arreya thought.

"I... I have to find that person. He must know who I am." Arreya stood up but lost her balance, her world was still spinning. She grabbed on the panel beside her and finally found her ground. Following the ship's interior path, she found a more practical outfit and stepped out of the ship after changing. "I'm on Earth, but where can I find you?"

The moment she tried to step out, she fell again on the soft ground. Her body seemed to search for a familiar gravity, but it wasn't there. She breathed in and started to get more dizzy, her body wasn't used to the rich oxygen in this place.

She stayed still for a few minutes for her body to adjust to her surroundings, and after she felt better, Arreya stood up and disappeared into the forest.

Years later, Arreya would still remember the day she landed on earth was 15 July 2038.

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