Finding Stardust

"Professor ... you were talking about involving the world"s best white hat hackers to design and test cybersecurity systems in s.p.a.ceLab ... does that include those well-known hackers like Goose, for example?" asked Emma, ​​while sipping her juice. "I"m very interested in these two fields, Astrophysics and cybersecurity. So your presentation really piqued my interest."

Prof. Hanenberg shook his head. "No. Goose is very famous indeed, but she is not a white hat hacker. She has a history of doing work for the underworld, so she cannot be trusted to enter s.p.a.ceLab. She is the type of person who only does work for anyone who could pay the highest."

Emma realized Prof. Hanenberg must know Goose well enough to know that the famous hacker was a woman from his use of the p.r.o.noun. But even he didn"t know that Goose was not entirely after money.

Emma experienced firsthand how the hacker helped her and Haoran without asking for payment. Unfortunately, Emma couldn"t say anything about Goose to the man to correct his words.

"Allan, would you mind leaving us alone? There is something personal I want to ask the Professor," Emma said suddenly, touching Allan"s hand beside her.

The young man blinked his eyes several times and then nodded obediently. He immediately rose from his chair and left them. After seeing Allan disappear behind the door, Emma moved her chair closer to the handsome genius and spoke in a very serious tone.

"Professor, I want you to forget our conversation after we parted ways, but right now, I need your help ..." She pulled out her cellphone and showed him the picture of the coordinates carved by her father on an antenna pole at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

"My parents left their capsule on the moon, at these coordinates. They came from Planet Akkadia and came to earth a few years ago. Now they are gone and I only get a clue to the location of the capsule they left behind. I want to contact their AI a.s.sistant who is still there or go to the moon to look for it. We are trying to get his attention by sending radio signals to these coordinates using moon bounce but it is very difficult because the position is on the far side of the moon. Can you help us contact my parents" capsules?"

The young professor took Emma"s cellphone and checked the numbers on the screen. Without speaking, he then opened his own phone and calculated something. He then nodded.

"You"re right. The location is on the far side of the moon. You won"t be able to contact it using Moon Bounce. The best way is to use a satellite to relay your message. s.p.a.ceLab has one satellite dedicated to observing the moon and you can use it to reach your intended coordinates."

Emma was stunned by man"s words. Instantly her eyes lit. She suddenly felt she had hope.

Ren Hanenberg had confirmed that Emma would be able to contact AWA by using a s.p.a.ceLab"s satellite, and now, one of the most influential people at s.p.a.ceLab was actually sitting next to her. It must be her lucky day!

"Professor ... can you help me? I need to use your access to relay my message via the s.p.a.ceLab satellite to contact AWA? I will be very grateful. I miss my mother and father very much and want to find them ..." The girl"s voice sounded emotional as she begged the man to help her.

Ren Hanenberg looked at Emma deeply with furrowed brows. A moment later, he took a deep breath and finally nodded. "I will help you."

Emma was stunned to hear profound sadness in Professor Hanenberg"s voice. She became curious to know what made the man so sad, and so she read his mind.

Emma was surprised to learn that the man had lost both parents when he was very young. He never even knew his father. Ren Hanenberg was apparently far more lonely than her. At least, now Emma had her friends, while the man didn"t have anyone.

"Thank you very much, Professor." Emma smiled sweetly and handed her cellphone into Ren Hanenberg"s hand. "Please write down all the information I need. I am going to need your access code and pa.s.sword."

Ren Hanenberg typed them in quickly, almost without the need to remember. Emma stared at her phone screen happily. She just got a really important piece... Now, she only needed to break into s.p.a.ceLab. Later, with Ren Hanenberg"s access, she would be able to use the satellite to contact AWA!

Emma felt that she had gotten what she needed and shouldn"t linger at this conference. She immediately kept her phone, finished her orange juice, and stood up. She politely bowed to Ren Hanenberg and said thank you.

"Your help meant so much to me. Thank you. Please forget everything we talked about today." Emma squeezed the handsome young man"s hand and looked into his eyes with a sweet smile. "I hope, after this, you can rest well."

Emma walked with light steps out of the VIP banquet hall. Professor Ren Hanenberg, whom Emma just greeted, took a deep breath and then closed his eyes.

He folded his arms to his chest and slowly his lips smiled faintly. His face looked peaceful and his breathing became regular. A waiter, who was about to ask if he wanted more wine, became confused seeing him that way.

"Is he sleeping? Very weird..." she muttered to herself.

When she was about to touch Ren Hanenberg"s shoulder and wake him up, a man dressed in black rushed over and stopped her.

"Please don"t wake him up. Master had not been able to sleep for three days." He then gave a signal for the waiter to leave the table. After the waiter left, the man in black appeared to be watching Ren Hanenberg with a concerned look.

He then decided to take a seat next to him and make sure no one came to bother the man and wake him up from his sleep.

***

Allan could not find Emma anywhere. He looked for the girl to the VIP banquet room but only found Ren Hanenberg who was sleeping. The man was guarded by a scary-looking man who immediately drove him away.

Allan also did not find Emma in the conference room. Finally, he called the girl.

"Hi, Emma ... where are you? I"ve been looking for you ..." he asked quickly as Emma picked up her phone.

"Oh, hi, Allan. Sorry, I rushed home because I have to quickly do something. I already found what I was looking for, so I decided it would be useless for me to stay there. By the way, thank you for taking me to this event. I sent an SMS to your cellphone. Didn"t you receive it?" asked Emma.

Allan quickly opened his phone and realized that Emma had indeed sent him an SMS to say goodbye. He became disappointed because the girl just left.

"Oh .. I just saw your text. I"m happy that you found what you were looking for. Did you have a chance to talk to Professor Hanenberg? I went back there to look for you, but as it turns out, he was actually sleeping. How strange ..."

"Oh ... we had a chance to talk. I left him alone so he could rest. Professor Hanenberg has very severe insomnia and he hasn"t slept for the past three days. You should not bother him."

"Oh, really?" Allan was very surprised to hear this. He couldn"t imagine how a person can function if they don"t rest for days.

"Right. Okay, I"m almost home. I have to hang up," Emma said again.

"Uhm .. well, all right. You will come to the last cla.s.s next week, right?" Allan asked again. He actually didn"t want to end their call but he had no reason to continue talking to Emma.

"I"ll come. See you next week."

"Uhm .. see you later." Allan was forced to hang up.