Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System-Chapter 78: Expedition

Months had passed since then, the world slowly changing with most of the Aelvarians under the rule of one—even if they didn’t know it just yet. But the chess pieces would be placed accordingly,and by the time they realized, it would be too late.

[System rebooting...][Recalibrating...][Hui drives, 100%][Audio drivers, 100%][AI, 100%][System tree backup commencing,][100%]

[Backed-up data processing][100%]

Astra sat in her room, Lyra and Kairo playing at her feet as Umi just sat and watched.The technician paced in her mind as she waited, listening and watching as the Celi’s UI would pop up and disappear, the engine beginning to start up once more.

’Come on...’ she thought to herself as the system kept rebooting over and over.

It had been like this for the past day, loading vital pieces of the system with seemingly no progress.

Her worry mostly lay with Tanaka, who was stuck inside of her until she could go online again.

The nail of her thumb caught between her teeth,her narrowed gaze filled with anticipation—until it finally showed itself: the map of the world.

Yet not a single word accompanied it.It was on a scale much grander than what she had seen before—dunes, ravines, hilly regions that soon melted into a grassy wasteland that stretched for miles.Many parts of the world the Aelvarians hadn’t even touched yet...

They were all separated on their own sides of the world.

"Astra, why are we going this far out?" Belk complained, still following closely behind.His eyes narrowed as he glanced behind him to an unwanted third party.

Godrick towered over the two of them, his burly hands tight around the handle of his axe as he followed.

"Also, why’s he with us—?" he muttered, his gaze catching the eye of his "adversary."

Godrick stepped back as they continued to bicker in front of him,his eyes drawn to the giant pillars of silver rock that surrounded them—fragile, loose to the touch, yet the pillars were firm and as strong as steel itself.

A quiet step was rare in these parts,as the crunching of the rocky earth filled his ears.

"I already told you—he’s here in case something attacks us out here!" Astra explained again, gesturing to the area around them.

"Yeah, still—what about Zelr?" he whispered, though it was clear Godrick could still hear him.

"He’s busy with Veira. Now stop complaining and hold this—"She shoved a bag into his arms. It was quite heavy, even for him.

"The hell is this?"

"Just stuff," Astra said with a smile.

She turned toward Godrick and Belk as they reached a significantly taller pillar, wide enough to be considered a mountain in itself.

"Tell me, boys," she quipped, turning toward the two, who now looked back at her."Have you ever flown before?"

The two looked dumbfounded at the mere thought of flying, their eyes drifting back to the path that led to the sky. novelbuddy-cσ๓

"So this is what you were talking about?" Belk questioned, remembering the events prior to this...

"I found something last night..." Astra spoke softly in Veira’s room of negotiation—the same setup as before.

It was clear neither side trusted the other, even after the truce they had signed.

Astra showed a map to the scientist on the other end, her eyes tracing over the rough drawing of the world seared into her memory.

"This is nothing like ours..." Veira muttered, taking the map into her own hands.

"I don’t get it..." Belk huffed, more so to the men standing beside him."How is that flat thing supposed to give us any details about our world?"

Vagnis shrugged, their eyes falling to Zelr, who was just as clueless.

"Where did you get this?" Veira demanded, loosely holding the map in front of the technician’s face.

"A world scan," Astra explained, no further than that, taking the map back from her grasp."Bottom line is, we still have much of this place to uncover—far beyond your walls and mine."

"There might be threats out there that we have no idea about..." Astra continued, pointing at a piece of the map that formed a crescent shape."I’m especially curious about this one."

"So, what do you suppose we do?" Veira pondered, her interest piqued, yet she remained unreadable.

"I propose an expedition of sorts."

Veira raised a brow at Astra’s declaration, waiting for her to continue.

"As everyone else works on the materials needed for the ship,a select few of us should see what else this world has to offer."

Her fingers stimmed against the desk as she spoke,Veira’s eye catching onto her repetitive motion.

"And what does this have to do with any of our current plans?Don’t tell me you’re doing this for the sake of it..."

She muttered, bringing her hands up to support her face as she leaned on the desk,her glittering gaze staring directly into hers.

"Because, let me tell you this..."

"I don’t give a damn about this planet, or whatever lies on it..."

She awaited an answer, her gaze unrelenting as Astra gathered her words.

"We’re making a world to rival those around us.We need resources for that—not only materials to build our equipment,but something to raise our value as a planet as well."

"Right now, we have nothing special. We’re just another rock in the solar system."

"Just as you keep us around for my knowledge of the stars and tech beyond yours,we need the same for them to care about us being around."

Veira’s eyes narrowed for a brief moment, as if giving it thought, before she nodded and leaned back into her chair.

"I suppose that makes sense..."

Astra smiled at her cooperation, using this as a sign to continue.

"We plan to make a group of two—with you and I leading one each.The last will be led by any other member you decide."

Astra reached across the table, offering a handshake to her comrade.

"We’ll move out in a few weeks, then we scour for anything we find."

Veira nodded and took her hand, a firm handshake between leaders.

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