Finding Stardust

After falling asleep for 70 hours due to mental and physical exhaustion, she had to wake up to a completely different reality from what she usually experienced, and her life changed 180 degrees.

She was no longer on earth, the only home she had known for most of her life. All the people she knew were gone now. On this s.h.i.+p, she only knew Haoran, Therius, and Xion. Haoran was in a coma, Xion didn"t care about her, and Therius was more like an enemy than a friend.

Emma felt completely alone. She felt like she went back to her old life, before she knew Haoran: alone and lonely. She used to feel like an alien on earth, and she only managed to adjust after a dozen years of living alone without her parents.

She could imagine, later in Akkadia, she would also become an alien. Even though her parents were from Akkadia, Emma was not raised there. Everything would feel foreign to her as she did not know their living system and their culture.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Ah ... at the very least, she would be able to meet her father, mother, and younger brother. And hopefully, one day, Haoran would wake up, and they could be together again.

She tried to focus only on the good things to cheer up her bad mood.

***

Emma got a two-hour study scheduled with each of her private teachers every day, which meant a total of six hours. She could spend the rest of the time walking around the s.h.i.+p, training, or doing whatever she wanted.

Emma planned to always start her day by visiting Haoran at the clinic for half an hour and talked to him about anything, to keep herself sane. Then she explored various places on the s.h.i.+p to familiarize herself with the s.h.i.+p.

After that, she would come to the study and start learning with the teacher a.s.signed to teach her. After getting rest and did some training, she would spend another half hour with Haoran before going to bed. That"s how she pictured her life for the next six months.

"Hmm ... my first teacher is Atila, the second one is Anddara, and finally, Therius," Emma muttered to herself as she walked towards the study room. "That"s good. If Therius comes first, I will definitely feel so angry that I don"t want to continue studying with the next teachers."

When Emma arrived in the study room, Atila was already waiting for her inside.

"Welcome, Miss ... You look fresh today," Atila said, smiling broadly.

"Thank you, Atila." Emma nodded. She was happy because Atila fulfilled her request not to call her princess or her highness.

"Today we will start with simple things," Atila said, pressing a small remote in her hand, and soon the wall next to her turned into a screen. "We will watch three short movies, and I will explain everything you"ll see in them. After you can read in our language, I will give you lots of written material for you to study."

"Ah ... that"s right," Emma said. She could not read books and various materials about Akkadia because she had never learned Akkadian written language. She only understood the spoken language when she heard her parents converse when she was little. "In that case, shouldn"t you teach me how to read first?"

Atila shook her head. "Mr. Therius himself will teach you how to read. The lesson will begin this afternoon."

"Oh ..." Emma frowned.

She didn"t think Therius would be the one to teach her reading. Even though she was an adult and a genius, Emma realized that teaching someone a new language was very difficult and tiring.

Why did Therius not leave this a.s.signment to others?

"Why is your face contorted?" Atila asked with a smile. "Is something bothering you?"

"Hm ... nothing important. Let"s start."

"OK."

Atila showed three half-hour videos and explained to Emma about their planet. The first video explained the size and geography of Akkadia. Planet Akkadia had a size slightly smaller than Earth and consisted of six regions or kingdoms. The biggest and most advanced was Akkadia, and they ruled over the five smaller kingdoms.

Their biggest colony was Thaesi, followed by Terren, Mireen, Sandsana, and Pallas. Planet Akkadia was very rich and the population was strictly controlled.

They made sure the natural resources was enough to provide for all the humans and animals living there. Birth rate was controlled and no child was born unwanted or by accident.

"In Akkadia, everyone must obtain state permission before they could procreate. People who are deemed physically and mentally unfit to care for children should not have children," Atila explained. "But if they are deemed capable, the state allows them to have as many children as they want."

Emma frowned at this. "This sounds good. But doesn"t this mean that the state is too meddling in its citizens" private lives?"

"You could say that, depending on which side of the coin you are in. There will always be pros and cons to every decision. This policy had been implemented for the last two centuries and is working well. Previously, overpopulation and child abandonment were quite a big problem in our country. After the state established these new regulations, people become more responsible."

"Oh ... Then what about children born outside state approval?" asked Emma. "For example, some couples might get into pregnancy by accident. What will happen to their child? Or, what about rape victims?"

"Every couple who wants to get married must register with the state to get permission. Likewise, if they wanted to have children. Without this permission, the hospital and doctors wouldn"t want to help in the delivery process. If couples got pregnant without the state"s permission, then their child will be taken in by the state and raised by the state."

"Uhm ... what? Just because their parents don"t have the state permission? What if they tried to apply for the permit after a pregnancy?"

"They can"t. Their failure to take care of permission BEFORE pregnancy occurs shows that they are not responsible enough to be parents."

"Hmm ..." Emma began to feel that the Akkadia system was quite complicated. She did not know whether she would be able to live in such a place. Earth had many problems with overpopulation and high birth rates, but no country had interfered with their citizen"s private lives to the point of being as controlling as the Akkadian government.

"Wouldn"t it be detrimental to the child if they didn"t live with their biological parents? No human is perfect, parents are also not perfect. Some people need a very long time to be able to become better parents for their children. If they are not given an opportunity, how can they show that they can improve themselves?"

"The thing is, Miss ... children are not meant for trial and error. If they really want to improve their parenting and get permission to have children, they can submit the permit application for the next child BEFORE they plan to get pregnant."

"Hmm ... that makes sense." Emma finally nodded in understanding. "So ... the children will be taken care of by the state?"

"That"s right. Besides being taken care of by the state, they can also be taken care of by couples who want children but are unable to give birth naturally due to various infertility issues. These children will be raised by two fit and loving parents." Atila smiled as she continued her sentence. "I am one such child. My parents are not my biological parents. They love me very much, and they are great. I am very lucky."

Emma stared at Atila for a long time and then nodded. "You are."

On Earth, adoption was not uncommon, but she often read awful stories about children being abused in the foster care system and by adoptive parents who were just as unfit as the children"s biological parents.

"People who break the rules, for example having children without a permit, in addition to their children being taken by the state, they will also get some penalty and it will affect their rights as the citizen. So... people try so hard not to break the rule."

"Hmm ..."

Atila explained a lot about the life system in Akkadia and Emma could only listen. There were too many things she needed to know and it seemed like six months would not be enough.

She tried to take notes about some things that she deemed important. Later, once she already learned the written language, she would search for more information and references from written materials. Atila told her that the s.h.i.+p had an astounding collection of books in its library.

"Sir Therius spent a lot of time in the library. We have digital books that could transform into paperback for reading pleasure. Some people still enjoyed paperback to this day and this technology was invented for such people. Sir Therius is one of them."

Emma remembered the few times she met Therius at the penthouse, he was always with some doc.u.ments or books. She now kind of guess that the man was indeed a bookworm.

"That"s interesting. I would love to see a digital book that could transform into paperback. I cannot imagine how it would look."

"Don"t worry, you will study with him later in the library. He will show you those books."

Emma was excited about seeing the library, but she hated seeing Therius.