Finding Stardust

"What did she say?" Haoran asked in amazement. He did not understand the language used by the woman on the computer screen. On the contrary, Emma was transfixed in her place. She had not heard the Akkadian language for a long time. When she was little, she often listened to her parents spoke it.

Unknowingly, two drops of tears ran down Emma"s cheeks. Finally .. after a dozen years, she found the link between her and her missing parents.

"AWA ... nice to meet you ..." Emma whispered, smiling. "It"s been a long time ..."

"Princess, you were still a child when we last met. I still remember how you loved playing with some of the robots here."

Haoran could only watch from the side when Emma spoke to AWA. He could guess that the meeting was quite emotional for Emma, that she couldn"t help shedding tears.

Finally, Haoran could only leave the girl alone and retreated to give her s.p.a.ce. He did not understand what Emma and AWA were talking about anyway.

"I really miss my father and mother ... they left me alone here for quite a long time. Do you know where they are now?" asked the girl.

AWA shook her head, still with a deadpan expression. "Your father only ordered me to wait until you contact me."

"AWA ... how can we get to you? I don"t have a s.h.i.+p ... Can you come to get me?"

"Of course, Princess. Please specify the pickup coordinates, I will send the shuttle immediately."

"Uhmm ... How long will you need to get the s.h.i.+p here?" Emma asked quickly.

"I can send a s.h.i.+p now and arrive on Earth in approximately three hours, depending on your coordinates."

"Oh .. very good. Just a moment ..." Emma turned to Haoran with a happy face. "AWA can pick us up. The s.h.i.+p will arrive in three hours. Where should we ask to be picked up?"

Haoran was very surprised to hear Emma"s words. His eyes went round in shock, but he quickly organized his emotion and help Emma think about the best place to meet the s.h.i.+p.

"Hmm ... between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, there are several secluded lakes with vast open s.p.a.ce. n.o.body will see us if we meet the s.h.i.+p there," the young man finally said. "Here, I can help you find the coordinates."

He approached the computer and typed something on the keyboard. Not long after, he pointed to an area on the map. "This one looks good."

"Good. Can you take us there?" Emma asked Haoran.

The young man nodded. "Of course."

Emma hurriedly repeated the coordinates of the location to AWA.

"Thank you, Princess. I will see you soon."

AWA nodded solemnly and disconnected the call. Emma sat in her place with an expression of disbelief.

She was still dumbfounded ... finally ... after waiting and trying for so long, she found a link between herself and her past ... Soon, she would be able to ask so many questions about her family.

Haoran touched Emma"s shoulder gently. He didn"t say anything. Both of them were still in cloud nine... busy with their own thoughts.

Today was such a big milestone. They could finally get in touch with AWA and found a way for Emma to go back to her family home on the Moon.

This felt like a dream.

After five minutes of silence, Emma finally took a deep breath. She touched Haoran"s hand on her shoulder and squeezed it softly.

"Thank you, Haoran. Because of you, I can finally contact AWA ..."

Haoran smiled. "There"s no need to thank me. We are in this together. You also help me meet my mother. I can"t wait to go to Shanghai after we return from the Moon."

Emma nodded. "Right. After we return from the Moon, we will go directly to China. I will get the permission we need from your father. He will not interfere with our plans."

"Great idea."

Haoran did not want his father to go with them to Shanghai. He wanted to go alone to meet his mother.

"I"ll remove all of our traces here first. Later, after Professor Hanenberg wakes up, he must not know what we were doing here." Emma hastily fiddled with the computer in front of her. She erased all her logs and tracks. Ten minutes later, she turned off the computer.

"It"s done." She looked around and checked every corner of the room. "Hmm ... everything is fine. There are no surveillance cameras here. We"re safe."

She rose from her chair and examined Professor Hanenberg"s condition. Apparently, the man was still sleeping soundly. Emma smiled at him and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for your help, Professor. I am indebted to you."

She pulled Haoran"s hand out of the Ren Hanenberg"s office.

***

Haoran and Emma immediately packed their belongings in their suitcases and put them in Haoran"s rented car. After that, they went to see Mr. Lee, who was relaxing in his suit while discussing several reports with his two personal a.s.sistants.

"Father ... we want to ask your permission to go on adventures in Switzerland. We want to explore some places for three days. After we"re done traveling, we will stop by China according to plan before going back to Singapore. We will return to Singapore in five days."

Mr. Lee nodded obediently. He watched Haoran and Emma leave the suite with a blank expression. His two a.s.sistants just exchanged glances, but no one said anything.

***

"I am so happy!!" Emma blurted out excitedly. She was so thrilled that she lowered the car window and let the cool spring breeze blow her face.

Haoran only smiled at Emma"s childlike behavior. He had never seen Emma this happy before. He understood that his girlfriend truly felt she had gotten a breakthrough in her search for her missing parents.

In his heart, Haoran really felt happy for Emma. Soon, they would find more clues about her parents" whereabouts. He was also curious to know what Akkadia was like, and he couldn"t wait to go to the Moon with Emma.

The drive was very pleasant. Emma"s chest was filled with happiness, and it was contagious. Haoran couldn"t help but hum while driving. He was just as happy as his girlfriend.

Haoran drove his car to the coordinates Emma had sent to AWA. They pa.s.sed Interlaken and headed towards Lauterbrunnen. After 15 minutes, he exited the main road and drove to a smaller road that led to a secluded lake.

The sun had begun to set on the western horizon. It was 5.30 pm.

"Let"s just park here," Haoran said as he directed his car to a gravel road and parked it under a big tree. The place was quiet but beautiful.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a vast meadow filled with wildflowers, and on their right, there was a medium-sized lake, reflecting the color of the twilight sky above. Across the lake, they saw a row of green hills standing tall like giants protecting the beautiful lake. It was beautiful and serene. What a perfect place to get picked up by a s.h.i.+p that would take them to the Moon!

"Now, we just have to wait ..." Haoran said. He and Emma exchanged glances.

"You"re cold," Emma commented when she saw the young man s.h.i.+ver a little.

"Yeah...It is quite cold in spring, I"m a tropical country boy. I will go grab my coat," Haoran said.

"You don"t need it," Emma said softly. She wrapped her arm around Haoran"s shoulder and pulled him to sit next to her. "I will make you warm."

Haoran looked at Emma so profoundly that he almost forgot to blink. Finally, he smiled and nodded. Slowly, he felt the air around them become warm.

Haoran and Emma sat in each other"s embrace while they stared into the meadow. It felt like a dream. They were sitting on the gra.s.s, under a tree and watch the sunset together.

Soon the s.h.i.+p sent by AWA would arrive. Their chests were filled with excitement to the brim.

At 6 pm, it finally arrived.

Emma was the first to see the gra.s.s in front of them seem to sway violently.

"The s.h.i.+p is landing..." the girl said, pointing toward the meadow. "Do you see the gra.s.s over there?"

Haoran raised his face and looked carefully in the direction Emma was pointing. He did not see any s.h.i.+p, but he realized that she was right.

There must be something invisible slowly landing on the meadow so that it created such a powerful gust of wind. Maybe the s.h.i.+p was on stealth mode, so it would not be visible to humans and not caught on the radar?

They quickly rose and waited until the mysterious object had completely landed, and the gra.s.s in the meadow stopped moving.

ZING!

Suddenly, out of nowhere, they saw a small s.h.i.+p appear where they saw the gra.s.s swaying violently earlier. It was shaped like a bullet in metallic blue color. The size was slightly larger than the Lee"s private plane.

They had never seen such a s.h.i.+p before.