Starbound: A Space Odyssey

Once the blinding light subsided, John curiously looked at his surrounding.

He was in the middle of a giant city with towering buildings made only with colorful plants and woods.

All around him there was Florans from all ages, all types of colors and body types.

The Florans that were walking around the main park that was in the middle of the city stopped in their tracks and curiously stared at John.

Some of them had their guards up, others were just curious by seeing a Human for the first time.

[So this is the biggest Floran colony of this sector.] John was impressed by the scale and beauty of the city.

"So you arrived." John heard a familiar cold voice coming from behind.

He turned around and was soon face to face with Peri.

The only notable difference was that she was actually wearing some kind of dress made of plants fibers with some decorations of flowers.

She looked way more inoffensive in her dress, different from when she was using the armor.

But John knew that this was just her exterior appearance. She was way stronger than him and probably stronger than anyone he ever met, in raw strength.

"Hi." John warmly greeted Peri.

"Come with me." She glanced around and saw that both of them were the center of attention of the whole park. "There"s too many people here." She turned around and started to walk away.

"Okay..." John could only helplessly follow along.

...

"Here"s my grandmother"s house." Peri beckoned John to enter in the huge mansion made with beautiful trees and flowers.

"It"s huge..." John looked around. He was clearly impressed by the size and also the beauty of such structure.

"Now we can talk." Peri fell on the sofa and relaxedly leaned on her back. "My grandmother will be here soon. Don"t worry."

They were inside the living room of the mansion on the first floor. The room was completely decorated with flowers, from top to bottom.

One thing John realized was that there was no energy in the house. The light of the living room was coming from a kind of plant that was dangling on the ceiling.

"Well..." John lowered his head as he nervously tried to come up with a topic for conversation. "How are you?" His lips twitched immediately after he spoke his question.

"Fine." Peri didn"t think too much about John"s question and just answered rather indifferently.

John slightly frowned his eyebrows. [Her behavior is somewhat different from when I met her in the Underworld Facilities in the Ark Outpost.] He threw a quick glance at Peri. [Looks like the event which her tribe was wiped out really affected her rather deeply.]

"Peri, dear, are you here?" John was about to speak again when he heard a voice coming from the main door. The voice clearly belonged to a female, a rather aged one on top of that.

John looked over his shoulder at the newcomer.

It was old Floran, it was clear from her brown colored foliage of her body. Despite her old age she still looked fit and healthy, and more importantly, her eyes glistened with wisdom.

John was only able to deduce the age of the Floran because of the color of their foliage and also because of the voice.

"Grandmother..." Peri stood up and happily hopped toward the old Floran.

"Oh?" Peri"s grandmother was surprised by Peri"s move, but she was still able to safely secure the young Floran in a tight hug while she was still in mid-air.

"I missed you." Peri snuggled in her grandmother"s embrace.

She was behaving just like a child and that really surprised John that was watching from the sideline.

"Oh, my child." The grand other warmly smiled as she caressed Peri"s head. "And who might this be?" She suddenly squinted her eyes and looked at John that was sitting in the corner of the living room, trying to not interrupt such warm reunion.

"I"m-"

"He"s John Connor, a Human that helped me a little." Peri interrupted John"s own presentation and straightforwardly gave the resume of the resume about John and why he was accompanying her.

"It"s a pleasure to meet you, John Connor." The grandmother warmly smiled and extended her hand toward John. "I"m Akna, Peri"s grandmother."

"The pleasure is mine." John flashed a polite smile and shook Akna"s hand. He was surprised inwardly, Peri"s grandmother wasn"t like most Florans that would hiss and also had a more simplistic way of speech.

After both of them greeted each other they went back to the living room and sat on the sofas, John in one side, Akna and Peri in the other.

Peri resumed what had happened on the planet where her tribe resided. How the tribe was wiped out, how she arrived and immediately went for revenge, how she met with John and Lenny, and finally how both of them helped her achieve her revenge.

"Oh, I see now." Akna nodded her head in understanding after Peri finished telling everything that had transpired in that planet. She switched her sight from Peri to John, "I must say thank you for helping my granddaughter in her endeavor."

"It was nothing." John dismissively waved his hand, telling Akna to don"t worry too much.

"So..." Akna narrowed her eyes and sternly stared John. "About my granddaughter"s promise... What exactly you want to know?"

John also switched from a casual behavior and tone, to a more serious and stern as well. "I"m looking for something... An object in particular."

"And how might this object look like?"

"I... I don"t know." John helplessly shook his head. "All I know is that it probably is a sphere that is capable of emitting light and great power."

"A sphere, huh..." Akna thoughtfully scratched her chin, trying to think of something that might look like John was looking for.

Even after a few seconds of pondering she was unable to think of something that matched the description that John had just gave her.

John saw that Akna probably didn"t know anything about it and helplessly lowered his head. [Looks like I"ll have to do as Esther asked me to do. Using my scanner to look for historical objects of the Floran culture and then she would try to find out where the Ancient Artefact is.]