Finding Stardust

154 Daneria Space Base

Emma was too excited when she heard they could go to land very soon, that she didn't realize she was hugging Therius and tapped his shoulder many times.

"I cannot wait!" she squealed in delight.

Therius smiled thinly and let Emma hug him. This time he would not act awkward nor surprised like the last time so Emma wouldn't realize that she was hugging the person she used to hate.

"You cannot wait for what?"?Suddenly Xion's voice came from the door.

Apparently, the man was waiting for Emma at the training room to practice aeromancy with him, and since the girl didn't show up after a while, he decided to check to the library.

"Tomorrow, this ship will land on the Akkadian space base and we will go out to explore," Emma said, releasing her arms from Therius. She tapped Xion's shoulder excitedly. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Oh .. are we near Planet Daneria already?" Xion asked, turning his head towards Therius. "Time flies. The last time, it felt so long ..."

Therius nodded. "That's right. We are almost there."

Emma looked at Xion and Therius alternately with enthusiastic expression. "Have you been there? How is it?"

"I have. We stopped by there on our way to your planet. We went out to stretch our legs and find a change of scenery. The place is really beautiful. Akkadia built a base there. The government sent various research teams and exploration groups throughout the universe and built several space bases as the hubs to collect all data. They have really good food in Daneria, by the way."

"Is the planet habitable?" Emma asked enthusiastically.

Xion nodded. "Yes, it is. The conditions are similar to your planet. However no native humans are living there, and the size is quite small. There are only plants and animals. It really feels like an oasis in the middle of the universe. The planet was first discovered by a team led by professor Daneria. He passed away before he could return to Akkadia to bring his report. So, the king gave him the honor by naming the planet after him."

"Wow ... how nice," Emma murmured. At first, she thought the first planet she was going to see besides Earth was Akkadia, but apparently she would have the opportunity to visit another planet before she even reached Akkadia.

She could not wait to find out what the planet Daneria was like. In her heart, she actually felt sad for Haoran.

The young man loved astronomy, and he would have given everything he had to be able to see a new habitable planet with his own eyes. Unfortunately, he was still lying in a coma at the Doctor Salas clinic and couldn't share this excitement with Emma.

"Do we need to wear special clothes or gears to go down there?" Emma asked attentively.

"No, we don't. The oxygen in Daneria is very rich, and the gravity force is only slightly greater than the one you have on your planet, but I'm sure you won't find it an issue at all."

"Alright. I can't wait."

"Therius, do you remember, when we went to Daneria, we visited a big cliff with 20 waterfalls? It was amazingly beautiful. You have to take Emma there," Xion said, hitting Therius's shoulder.

His friend nodded. "Yes. I did plan to invite her to explore around the base for a few days. I will order Atila and Anddara to cancel their classes for three days."

"Good idea," Xion said.

Emma immediately glared when she heard the conversation between the two men.

"I don't want to go exploring if Xion isn't coming with us," she exclaimed quickly.

Emma did not want to risk being alone with Therius for days. What if the man confessed his love to her again? It would be awkward, and she didn't want to deal with such a thing. Emma really needed Xion as their third wheel.

Xion and Therius exchanged glances and then looked at her in confusion.

"Of course I'm coming with you guys," Xion exclaimed, squinting his eyes at Emma. "Do you think Therius will only take you to the waterfall to be alone with him?"

"Isn't that what you were talking about?" asked Emma, ??raising an eyebrow.

Therius shook his head while smiling amusedly. "No."

"Oh ..." Emma narrowed her eyes and tried to judge whether Therius was lying or not.

Finally, she could only grumble to herself because she had mistakenly thought Therius wanted to take the opportunity to be alone with her in Daneria. She rolled her eyes and turned to leave them. "Forget it."

***

Emma woke up the next day, feeling happy and excited. She immediately remembered that today the ship would land on a small planet called Daneria and the three of them would get off the ship to visit the Akkadian space base there and explore the surrounding area.

She was wearing a comfortable outfit with a thin shirt and pants, paired with leather boots. She looked ready for exploring. Atila also prepared a few clothes in a small backpack for Emma.

Therius had told her about their plans to have an adventure in Daneria. So, she had eagerly prepared all of Emma's needs. She even put some medicines in the bag, in addition to clothes.

Emma joined Therius on the bridge to watch the Coralia ship landing at the Daneria space base. She was very impressed when she saw the small blue planet slowly looked bigger and closer, and finally, their ship landed on its surface.

'I'm ready,' Emma looked at Therius intently and asked him with telemancy. 'How long will we be there?'

'Three days,' Therius nodded and raised his hand to invite Emma to come along. 'We will meet the base leadership and discuss various mission reports here. I will also demonstrate how you can use telemancy to control many people at once.'

'Ah, that's right.' Emma remembered that Therius did say he would demonstrate how he would use high-level telemancy to Emma.

She couldn't wait to see it for herself.

***

"Welcome to the Daneria space base, Sir Therius," said Professor Amara, a woman in her 50's with a very serious countenance.

'She is the mission leader at this base,' Therius told Emma using telemancy. 'She knows who I really am, but she must keep my identity a secret in front of these other people. That is why she still calls me Sir Therius.'

'Oh, I see.'

"Thank you, Professor Amara. We will trouble you for several days. Our ship needs maintenance and of course additional supplies. How are the missions at this base?" Therius asked as he walked along Professor Amara's footsteps.

They got off the Coralia spaceship and walked into a huge building with two beautiful domes on each side. In the complex, there were massive buildings and several ships of various sizes. Emma noticed that this base was located at the top of a beautiful hill.

Xion was right when he said that, in many ways, planet Daneria was quite similar to Earth. The main differences were the oxygen here was richer and the gravity was stronger since the small planet apparently had so much more mass than Earth. Emma needed a little time to get used to it.

She took a deep breath several times to fill her lungs with the rich oxygen. Soon, she felt her brain become so much fresher and her body felt healthier.

Ahh ... now she understood why, when they were in Singapore, Xion was complaining about how earth's oxygen was of bad quality. Maybe the Akkadian people were accustomed to healthier nature and richer oxygen like this.

Xion walked beside her with nonchalant steps. The man was also carrying the same backpack. His face was beaming like a child waiting to be given sweets.

"I can't wait to get out of here and go on adventures," Xion commented. "Down there is a beautiful valley. I think most girls will like it. There are hundreds of colorful wildflowers in the meadow. Then after the valley, there is a river that has flowing water looking like a rainbow. The water is very fresh."

Emma was very excited to hear about the beauty of that place from Xion. She turned to Therius, who seemed busy discussing with Professor Amara in a low voice.

'Do you still have a lot to discuss?' Emma asked him using telemancy.

'Not really. Come on, you have to come with us to the main hall. I will show you how to use high-level telemancy. '

Emma was amazed. She just realized Therius could communicate with her using telemancy while still talking to professor Amara without stopping. She could not split her mind that well.

If she was talking with her mouth, she couldn't communicate with others using telemancy. Truly, Therius' ability was amazing!

Professor Amara guided them into a hall and invited them to sit while she summoned fifty staff to come. They would have a briefing for the day.

When one by one, the staff working at the base entered the hall, Emma quickly realized what Therius was about to do.