Love Code at the End of the World

Similar to the first time I’d traveled through space, we arrived in front of the moon before my younger brother responded. Then, in the cockpit…

“Blech!”

I chuckled. I guessed my younger brother’s bodily constitution was nothing compared to mine. I had to train him well when we returned to Kansa Star. There was a built-in device that would extend to catch vomit so one wouldn’t mess up the cockpit, at least.

Oh yeah, dad!

I quickly checked on dad’s situation. As expected, dad was puking too. He was doing worse than Loki. He was much older after all. Sigh…

I frowned, looking at them. I apologized, “I’m sorry… This… may require special training… Sorry for making you feel uncomfortable…”

My dad waved his hand while puking in the receptacle, suggesting I shouldn’t be bothered.

While everyone was throwing up, Magik had landed on the moon. Cang Yu’s garden library wasn’t far away.

I’d been rushing to leave back then, and I hadn’t looked closely at how the garden library looked without Silver Moon City. I realized that it actually looked like a real UFO, just like the ones in sci-fi movies. The metallic hull and protruding bits of machinery gave it a futuristic look.

The glass section of the garden library where I’d always chatted with Cang Yu happened to be in front. We’d burned everything inside the central part of the UFO to ashes. The formerly see-through glass was covered in a layer of ash.

The entire structure looked much bigger than I’d imagined it to be. I’d thought it was an escape capsule but I never expected it to be a complete spacecraft structure. Maybe it had changed its shape as Silver Moon City fell apart, but I hadn’t been aware as I’d been inside it.

Silver Moon City was a spacecraft itself, and it could change shape. Silver Moon City was merely one of its forms. In orbit it would look more like a landmass with open fields. But if it went too far into space, it would transform into a spaceship, with no fields or gardens in sight.

The twelve blue crystals continued to hover around the spacecraft, but they no longer twinkled with blue light. They no longer spun, but hovered in silence. The patterns and symbols on their bodies became clearer. The material was a little like metal, and yet like rock. It was a unique material.

I’d been worried about radiation earlier but I couldn’t feel a tinge of blue crystal energy at all. I became even more worried, wondering if I could return to Kansa Star.

“Reconnecting Ork and friends,” Magik suddenly said. Ork had to be the name of one of Loki’s friends.

“No!” Loki beckoned Magik to stop. He probably didn’t want his friends to see how bad his condition was.

“You said to connect them in an hour. I already connected to them,” Magik reported solemnly and the screens appeared again.

One of Loki’s friends was taking a shower. One of them was watching a movie in bed. One of them was practicing the guitar. Another one of them was wearing some sort of VR headset, playing games. They looked over casually, saying, “Are you going to pretend…” Suddenly, they were stunned. Their eyes were fixed on the image in front of them. I could feel how astonished they were across space. They weren’t pretending, but they were really surprised.

One of them dropped his toothbrush. One of them dropped his laptop. One of them dropped his guitar. The last one removed his glasses. They watched blankly.

“U-F-O!” Loki exclaimed in shock. He looked at the spacecraft-sized object in front of him in astonishment.

I’d really been inside, and yet I’d had no idea what it looked like.

“Sis, you really came in a UFO?!” Loki asked, looking at me in shock.

“It doesn’t count. It’s merely a part of a spacecraft. It can change shape. I need to head back to check if it’s damaged. I knocked into the American moon base by accident on the way here,” I said, frowning. It was clear then that the American base was underneath my UFO. The debris was scattered all over the place under the effect of the moon’s low gravity.

The other guys came back to reality. They stayed quiet and held their breath, watching the image closely. Their faces were almost touching the screen. They seemed to be trying hard to check if we were editing the image.

Magik flew towards the UFO, and the hatch under it opened. When we entered, we were in the hangar from earlier.

I jumped out of the seat and Loki followed behind me. He took photos everywhere using his handphone. He turned around to take a photo of Magik too.

“Magik, is there a medical facility in this part of the ship?” I immediately asked. From the outside, this section seemed huge. There had to be a lot of different rooms..

“There is, but it requires Cang Yu’s endorsement in the form of the golden moon key.”

Golden Moon… I grabbed my forehead. Cang Yu is dead now. Where would his endorsement come from?

“His Highness Cang Yu left you the golden moon key,” Magik said. It suddenly extended its hand toward me and spread it open. The golden moon key floated out of its palm.

I looked at the golden moon key blankly. Cang Yu left it to me… Who would have guessed that it was the demon who had left me a thread of hope in the end? Should I thank him for appreciating my talent?

I picked up the golden moon key and it twinkled in my hand. “User, Luo Bing. Identity confirmed. What is your order?” It was Silver Moon’s voice, but instead of a human tone, it had a robotic tone like Magik.

“Do a system check. Find the map of this escape pod. Report its current condition. Bring this patient to the medical facility!” I commanded. Light shone from the golden moon key, weaving into a holographic map of the entire spacecraft. When my dad walked out of the passenger cabin, a transparent, round elevator ascended from the ground, bringing with it a medic robot.

“Wow! Wow!” Loki gasped in admiration about everything happening around him.

“D*mn! It’s really a spaceship!”

“That’s really your sister! Your sister is so cool! She’s just like the captain of the spaceship!”

“Loki! You have to bring us with you! I’m going to pack my luggage now!”

“Fatty, don’t bother. They are already on the moon…”

I found the main cabin of the spacecraft using the map. “Dad, follow the robot to the medical facility. It’s a medic robot,” I said, pushing my mom’s sickbed into the elevator first. My dad followed closely, looking at me anxiously. He asked, looking around, “Is it okay? I see that… there were signs of fighting.”

I smiled at him, replying, “It’s okay. We’re preparing to return.” I then closed the elevator, and it descended before me. My dad’s somber face disappeared. He’d definitely seen through something. How could I hide anything from my dad’s sharp eyes?

The elevator descended, but my heart felt as if it were sinking too. Can we… really go back?