“Alright. Activate the Interstellar Drive. Begin space compression.” I said without hesitation, activating the warp drive. Nothing could stop me from going home now!
“Alright. Charging warp drive.” As expected, it was similar to Raffles’ design. The warp drive required charging before use. As it charged, the child from the Deity Universe became anxious. He hugged the blue energy crystal tightly, looking around in terror.
Oh, so now he knew how terrifying it was to have one’s lifespan consumed?!
He was a child who had run away from home. His cosmic rail had broken during his rebellious journey. I guessed it was probably the machinery outside. Then, he’d merged with Hagrid Jones, who had found out about blue crystal energy - no, wait, it was called cosmic energy in the Deity Universe the child came from. His people used the godlike cosmic energy to sow and harvest planets.
In the end, Hagrid Jones had used cosmic energy to create Kansa Star’s apocalypse, while the child used the opportunity to recharge his cosmic rail.
The child thought he had done something good, giving the people on Kansa Star a shortcut to becoming gods, but he hadn’t been aware of the price they would have to pay. Children always behaved like that. They never thought about the consequences!
As parenting experts often said, the adults were at fault even though their children were the one who made mistakes. It was Hagrid Jones’s fault, and it was also the child’s parents’ fault! They hadn’t educated him well. They hadn’t told him that he needed to respect all lives!
Just what was Deity Universe like?! Even a child had the terrifying power to destroy a planet. I really didn’t want anything to do with such people.
Maybe they really had great wisdom and knew how powerful they were, which was why they hadn’t appeared in our universe. But they’d never expected their child would run away from home.
The child was scared. He’d rather go back and be imprisoned for tens of thousands of years than stay with me for another minute.
“Charging complete. Three, two, one! Activate!” The robot rushed forward at high speed. Space suddenly collapsed in front of me. The technique used in this drive was entirely different from Raffles’.
With Raffles’ warp drive, Ice Dragon would accelerate to the speed of light, making the surroundings seem to collapse into 2D space. With this drive, space collapsed, forming a clear tunnel; at the other end was Earth. Even before we reached it, Earth appeared magnified in my sight.
“We have arrived on Earth,” the robot reported.
I looked at the blue Earth right before my eyes. Hagrid’s launcher was even faster than Raffles’!
“Beginning physiological scan. Cell composition, normal. Nerve system, normal. Body temperature, normal. Blood pressure, normal. No abnormalities.”
“Time?” I immediately asked, because the journey felt as if it had happened in the blink of an eye.
“Fifty-six minutes and forty-six seconds,” the robot replied.
How is that possible? It felt like just an instant. How did any time pass?
When Ice Dragon moved at the speed of light, I could still feel the ticking of time. But I couldn’t feel time passing with Hagrid’s Interstellar Drive.
Physics is magical indeed… Forget it. I can’t be bothered. I don’t think it’s something I can comprehend anyway. I might as well let Raffles analyze it.
“Download a map from one of the satellites,” I commanded. The robot hovered in orbit around Earth, and satellites were everywhere.
In the past, when I lived on Earth, I knew that many nations had launched satellites. But I couldn’t feel their existence, nor could I see them with the naked eye. As I watched the orbiting satellites in space for real, I realized that they were huge!
“Yes, prepare to connect to the satellite,” the robot said, extending a long data cable from its hand. It connected to the orbiting satellite for only a split second before disconnecting. The satellite didn’t affect our movement at all.
“Map downloaded,” the robot said. The map appeared before me and I began to locate my home. Found it! I was thrilled.
“The satellite captured our image,” the robot suddenly said.
I felt awkward, commanding, “Delete it.”
“Image deleted. I already hacked into its system during the connection earlier. I can connect to all the satellites in range now. I have deleted all images associated with us,” the robot reported.
“Phew... Activate invisibility.” I wanted to go home, and I couldn’t scare the world with my robot. After turning the robot invisible, I couldn’t wait any longer and rushed toward home at full speed.
Mom! Dad! I’m back! I’m coming home!
After retrieving the map, the robot located my home quickly. It plunged through the atmosphere, and its shield reduced the friction between us and the atmosphere tremendously. It didn’t cause any sparks in the air, but it still looked like a falling comet.
Flying through the atmosphere and layers of clouds, the gorgeous night view of my home city came into view. I couldn’t fight back my tears. I really… couldn’t…
The tears had accumulated over the past five years of missing my hometown. No one could miss home more than I had, because my home had been so far away across spacetime. I’d thought it was hopeless, but such a great surprise had come in the end.
I wiped my tears, looking at the brilliant lights under us, like stars covering the ground. Road lamps formed long light lines, separating the brighter clusters of light from the buildings. I had never thought that my city would look so futuristic from high up.
Amid the beautiful lights, a quiet residential area appeared in my blurry vision. I wiped my tears as we slowly descended.
“The top of the building is made of reinforced concrete. It is unable to take my weight,” the robot reminded me. I came back to reality from my excitement about arriving home. I quickly wiped away my tears. I’d forgotten that Earth buildings were more fragile. If I landed there, the roof might collapse.
I changed my landing point to the ground just south of my home. My house was located on the ninth floor. I slowly descended, hovering in the air, facing my room. The room was very dark and the windows were open. I couldn’t see inside clearly, but my heart started racing.
I jumped out of the cockpit onto the robot’s hand. It extended its hand toward the window and I jumped in. I waved at it as it landed slowly, standing in the field to the south and forming two deep pits.
I stood in my room. My heartbeat raced as my eyes welled up with tears. I covered my face as I cried.
No way. I can’t hear mom and dad crying...
I took a deep breath.
That’s strange. Where’s my dog? He should have barked when he heard a noise. Why is it so quiet? Did they… move?
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