THE NEXT DAY, JUPITER TECH INDUSTRIES
A group of people stood inside of a viewing room, their eyes aimed through the force resistant glass and fixed on a sleek silver spacecraft. This group of people were the Steinholm couple, the AI Aria who was being projected from the couple's wrist communicator and Dr Hohenheim.
"Well, this is your last time to think about this little Andrew and Arisa" reminded Dr Hohenheim softly, as his elderly face gazed at the spacecraft.
"We've already done the hardest part...How can we back out now?" Dr Andrew said helplessly, a concerned expression on his face.
"You don't even know for sure if the boy is fine, the cocoon still hasn't shown any signs of hatching after waiting a whole day... Ah! Nevermind...perhaps maybe because I've gotten older that I nag too much now" Dr Hohenheim responded shaking his head.
'No matter what I say they won't listen...besides, they may even be right about those ores...I've been getting a bad feeling for a while now' Dr Hohenheim thought as he stroked his grey beard.
"He will be fine Dr Hohenheim... I ran a few tests last night and his vitals were stable and based on the values, he seems to be in a hibernation state" Dr Arisa replied confidently, she seemed to have been freed of her worries as her face seemed bright in comparison to the day before.
"Ahh yes that reminds me, thanks for making the necessary adjustments to the spacecraft an adding a life support system for the cocoon Dr Hohenheim," Dr Andrew said gratefully as he looked at Dr Hohenheim.
"No worries little Andrew, that much is nothing" Dr Hohenheim replied with a smile.
The group sat down and continued talking for a while about the WSO and the ore phenomenon as they exchanged theories with one another. The attendees from Jupiter Tech brought food and refreshments and their talks continued for a while after.
"It is time" Aria's robotic voice came to the ears of the three.
Dr Arisa shivered for a moment, and then they all stood up and made their way to the glass window as they watched the spacecraft.
A hologram appeared on the window showing the state inside the spacecraft. A single, huge, purple-coloured egg was nestled inside an incubator, there were strange patterns that resembled scales on the outer surface of the egg. The egg was fastened by a strange material similar to a seatbelt inside the incubator and there was a strange clear liquid which filled the inside of the incubator leaving no room for air.
The group all looked at this egg, each with different emotions. Dr Arisa's body trembled and her face contorted with an indescribable expression. Dr Andrew's face was serious and stern, but his trembling fingers which he had to ball into a fist sold out his true feelings. Dr Hohenheim sighed and said nothing as he felt it would be inappropriate to say anything else. Aria the AI silently looked at this egg, and her pixelated emotionless face didn't show any difference.
"Aria...are you going to miss your brother?" Dr Arisa asked as she rubbed her eyes dry.
"No" Aria replied emotionlessly.
Her reply made the others laugh as they guessed she probably hadn't awoken such complex emotions yet, however, the reason they found it hilarious is that her reply was similar to what a true sibling would say since siblings always fought.
"I will not miss him because I will always be with him...or at least a copy of me" Aria's robotic voice once more sounded out.
"Oh! That's right! Your consciousness merged with the nanobots!" Dr Arisa replied excitedly, as she recalled the events of the previous day.
"Indeed...I had forgotten about that. Even though you won't be able to communicate with him, you will always be a part of him" Dr Andrew laughed happily, as this eased some of his worries.
*Rumble*
The hologram of inside the spacecraft abruptly cut off and a loud rumbling sound caught the attention of the group as they looked at the spacecraft.
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1"
*Boom*
The booster rocket engines on the spacecraft fired up, and spacecraft slowly began lifting off from the ground. Dr Arisa saw the moving spacecraft and her body trembled before she fainted in her husband's arms when the reality of what they were doing had set in.
'Because of our jobs...we barely got to spend time with Arin. Arisa will never forget this as long as we live, hopefully, our fears were unwarranted and Arin can return home' Dr Andrew thought to himself.
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He could only shake his head and watch as the spacecraft continued climbing until all he could see was a bright light in the sky.
***
TWO DAYS LATER, UNKNOWN LOCATION IN SPACE
The silver spacecraft merely drifted around Earth, not going toward Earth or into deeper space and just stayed around the same spot. Sometimes the thrusters on the spacecraft would turn on and correct the path of the spacecraft, ensuring it doesn't go too close to Earth or too far from it as per its design.
The cocoon-like egg did not show any signs of movement, every now and again parts of the spacecraft would shift and allow sunlight to rest on the egg for an hour or two. The cocoon-like egg did not show any signs of hatching anytime soon and remained relatively still.
"Earth anomaly detected! Strange energy source detected!" A unisex robotic voice inside the ship declared.
"Issuing self-preservation commands!" The robotic voice once more declared.
Suddenly the silver exterior of the ship changed to black, the exterior vibrated and the strange hexagonal shapes appeared on the external part of the spacecraft. A blue layer appeared over the spacecraft which appeared to be a type of forcefield.
Suddenly a huge white coloured wave spread across the Earth's surface like if someone dropped a small stone in a bucket of water. The ripple spread all across the Earth, then the Earth seemed to vibrate for a few seconds before a huge flash of light erupted from the Earth. Strangely, there was no shockwave and instead, there was a strong suction force coming from where the Earth was supposed to be. In place of the Earth, there was a huge black gaping hole that seemed to want to devour the universe.
"Blackhole phenomenon detected! Maximizing thrusters!" The robotic voice stated.
The spacecraft tried its best to resist the suction force, but could not move an inch and instead was being dragged into the black hole.
"Utilizing reserve energy! Ship stress durability threshold reaching maximum! Order cancelled! Ship durability compromised! Estimating danger! 99.1% chance of destruction!" The robotic voice once more declared.
The spacecraft did not continue fighting against the black hole suction force and allowed itself to be swallowed.
"Maximizing defensive field!" The robotic voice declared.
The blue layered shield around the spacecraft intensified and the ship was swallowed into the black hole and both the shape and blackhole disappeared. Once more this small part of this universe had become calm again, except the only difference was that now the "Blue Jewel" of the Milky Way was gone.
***
UNKNOWN LOCATION IN SPACE
A silver spacecraft suddenly appeared. Static danced all over the ship's body, and it seemed to have sustained quite a bit of damage.
"Estimating damage...55% Functionality!... Initiating self-repairs and drift mode protocol" The robotic voice sounded.
The ship vibrated and seemed to have shed its skin as the silver outer coating spread out and seemed to be searching for something.
"Ultraviolet rays detected! Signs of life detected! Drift-mode activated!" The robotic voice continued narrating its actions.
The silver outer coating assumed a strange form like the fins of a dolphin on each side of its body, the nanobots combined and created two small engines on each fin that emitted a suction force that propelled it forward. Once the spacecraft picked up enough speed, the engines on the fin-like limbs would alternate between speed and steering. Slowly the spacecraft drifted in this new space...
***
3 DAYS LATER, UNKNOWN LOCATION IN SPACE
"Destination reached! 5% reserve energy remaining! Diverting remaining energy to shields! AI shutting down! Emergency crash landing protocol initiated!" The robotic voice made its last report.
What appeared before the spacecraft, was a brand new world. Surprisingly, this planet was just as blue as Earth except it was much larger than Earth. The spacecraft then entered the orbit and started plummeting towards this unknown planet. The blue layered shield around the spacecraft seemed to be holding perfectly and like a falling star, it appeared like a blazing sun.
Once the spacecraft reached the lower atmosphere, what appeared before it was a wide expanse of forest as far as the eye could see. The spacecraft quickly mapped the area and diverted its path to a nearby lake, the reverse thrusters blew the last remaining energy in a single blast greatly reducing the acceleration of the spacecraft. However, the gravitational field of this new planet wasn't like Earth and was much stronger than Earth's. The thrusters were not enough to stop the speed of the spacecraft and the AI once more rebooted!
"Emergency landing failed! Ejecting passenger!" The robotic voice reported.
*Boom*
The incubator chamber with another attached device was shot out from the back of the spacecraft and a parachute sprouted from the device attached to the incubator chamber. The spacecraft slammed into the huge lake and a huge splash came out from the lake disturbing its peace. The incubator peacefully glided away from the lake and became lodged in a tree.
***
THREE DAYS LATER, UNKNOWN FOREST
"Life support reserve depleted" A robotic voice resounded from the incubator.
The incubator then opened from below and the huge egg fell out from the incubator, hitting a few of its branches and tumbled to the ground. Luckily the egg seemed very durable and did not break, the branches and leaves on the tree were also very big and provided a cushioning for the egg.
The egg rolled for a bit and then ended up falling inside of a cave, the egg rolled and rolled down into the cave. The egg knocked into a red-gold coloured fluffy object and finally stopped moving. The object the egg knocked into only moved for a moment after the impact, it appeared to be some type of animal or more precisely the corpse of an animal. The corpse had four limbs and a tail, its body was feline in nature and it had a small mane. The corpse was smaller than the egg and still had a lot of baby fat and only seemed to be a cub and wasn't at all a mature kind of its species. There were strange gold patterns on its body which probably made it look very beautiful if it were not for the horrible wounds on its body. The blood around its body was still warm indicating that the creature had only just died.
Suddenly the cocoon-like egg trembled and microscopic bug-like metallic-red robots emerged from the cocoon. The nanobots linked together to form numerous metallic-red tentacle-like appendages, the tentacles pierced straight through the cub and slowly pulled towards the cocoon. The cocoon then opened like a blooming flower and pulled the corpse of the cub in and then once more closed resuming it's hibernated state. Shortly after the colour of the cocoon-like egg changed to red with shades of gold and patterns appeared on the cocoon-like egg similar to the cubs' patterns.