September 8, 2152
While she slept, her mind wandered but always returned to the mystery of the signal on Yuzuno. Most of the dream, she imagined the figure was a helpful person who would help Emory uncover mysteries of the world, yet the dream turned to nightmare, for now the figure was a lone monster that used magik. For some unknown reason, this creature had the head and torso of a woman on the body of a spider that was the size of a horse. It was such a terrifying vision that it caused Emory to wake up in a cold sweat and out of breath.
Jask beep, "Miss Reiss, I sensed a disturbance. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a bad dream," Emory grumbled, "How long until we reach Yuzuno?"
"Two hours and twelve minutes. Are you quite sure you're alright, Miss Reiss? Body scans show elevated cortisol levels," Jask warned in a concerned tone.
"I had a weird dream, that's all," Emory spat, "Would you like to interpret it, Jask?"
Jask replied, "Despite all our modern advancements, scientists still don't know why we have dreams. Should I pull up information about understanding dreams?"
"That's what I thought, robot. No, Jask, I don't want to interpret my dream. Just make sure everyone is awake in a few minutes," Emory snarked. She was in a foul mood, both because of the nightmare as well as for waking up just a few minutes earlier than she needed to. So, she decided to sit cross-legged on her bed and mediate. With her eyes closed, she could picture her mana pool like a vast container the size of a competition pool. After accepting the Arcane sphere, the pool always had some water in it, a growing amount that now filled the pool halfway. Of course, it wasn't always that large of a container, but the training she had introduced to her friends was a practice she had done since she lost her parents. If she only knew that this vessel was the largest in the Sol System, she would be shocked. It was due to this incredible depth of magik reserves that she could go toe to toe with the strongest of casters. Emory, though, was concerned, not about the size of the pool, but the water filling it.
At first, deep blue water had filled the pool a third of the way in a week and had risen to the halfway point shortly after learning to create an Arcane Shield. But no matter how much she tried by drawing in magik and storing it, the pool would grow larger at the same rate as the water filled it. When school started, it was only the size of a kiddie pool. And recently, gold sparkles had begun to populate the water. Emory understood that the water was her Hexblood heritage, which allowed her pool to be sealed instead of porous like a regular human. She even had a vague idea that her progression in the Arcane sphere had some relation to how high the water was in the pool. But there were also a lot of it that didn't make sense. When she shared this analogy with Perceval, he mentioned his own vessel was roughly the size of a local pool and as porous as limestone but didn't have any insight into why hers was the way it was nor what the gold dust may be. In truth, she had slowed the rate of her growth because it had begun to cause a burning sensation in her bones. Emory instead would just close her eyes and stare at the pool, taking note of the progression of the gold dust.
Since accepting the Arcane sphere, her senses had also progressively gotten better, and after meditating for twenty minutes, she began to hear people moving around the ship. A knock on her door broke her concentration, so she stood up and walked over to the door. Tethys stood in the doorway in her military suit when Emory opened the door. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you that everyone is at their stations," Tethys excused herself since she saw Emory hadn't changed yet.
"I'm sorry," Emory apologized, "Wait on the bridge for me; I'll just be a few minutes." Tethys nodded and left while Emory shut the door. Luckily, she was a pro at getting ready in a hurry, so she left her room in only seven minutes. She walked to the bridge and looked at the screens showing images of Yuzuno.
Tethys motioned with her hand and brought up current pictures of their destination before whispering, "I thought you were just thinking about changing the drop zone, not that you did change it."
"Sorry, I described the situation wrong this morning; I already did it and was rethinking my decision," Emory said quietly at first before addressing everyone, "I'm sorry for the late notice, crew, but I changed the landing zone this morning due to some new information." The holograms changed to a wireframe view of the whole planet and displayed the three pings Jask had told her about earlier. Murmurs began growing as people realized what they were looking at.
Emory raised her hands, "Now, before your minds start running wild, this is either a single entity or a small, sporadic population. The energy readings didn't match any signatures for the Mantoan and were at a reasonable level. Equally important is the possibility that they have advanced technology. So, I balanced a good geographical location with this new information." The image now changed to the location Emory had chosen, a grassy plain. Unlike plants in the Sol System, these plants were dark red, almost the color of blood, though this was expected from an M-Class star system. This particular was central to several key needs including a river to the east, a forest to the north, and a rising plateau into mountains that stretched into the south and west. Yet the plains themselves were spread out tens of square miles, which allowed it to be a rather defensible position as well. These factors bolstered Emory's reason for changing the drop location, so the chatter quickly calmed down.
"Everyone, settle in," Tethys cleared her throat, "T-minus ninety minutes until landing. Emory, who's on the shore party?"
"Ellen, Geese, Wolt, Zeiss, and I will lead the shore party. While I'm away, Tethys, you have command," Emory calmly commanded. Tethys frowned a little but had expected this situation. After all, the captain of the ship landing on a planet for the first time should be part of the group that touches land. Time seemed to fly by until thirty minutes before arrival, and then the screens showed not a picture but the real planet. From the angle of their ascent, the atmosphere glowed a brilliant rainbow. Everyone stood up from their seats to see this amazing new world followed by a chorus of gasps as the continents and oceans came into view.
Emory boomed, "Shore Party, report to the cargo hold!" She nodded her head towards Tethys and smiled before walking off the bridge. An average woman with long brown hair, a bulky man with equally long purple hair, a slender man with spiky blonde hair, and an athletic man with red spikes all stood up and followed Emory to the cargo hold. Once they reached the room, Emory handed out state-of-the-art exploration suits to each of the people. They had onboard communications, life support, and provided a flexible form of full-body protection. Rumbling started shaking the room as the crew braced to enter the atmosphere moments after the shore party had donned their suits.
"Good thing these suits have magnetic shoes," Zeiss chuckled, "It'd be really embarrassing to fall down right now."
"Quiet, Zeiss. We're about to land," Wolt scolded.
Ellen whispered to Emory, "Commander, are you anticipating trouble? Is that why you brought me along?"
"Never can be too cautious," Emory explained, "Still, I doubt they'd even be able to reach us."
"I wouldn't mind a little action. Maybe it's just the cabin fever," Geese commented. The shaking of the ship intensified before the sound of the retro thrusters rang out. Everyone held their breath until the sound stopped, and Jask chimed joyfully over the intercom.
"Team Gimmel has successfully landed on the planet Yuzuno, second planet in the Ross 128 system. Please take a moment to recognize the significance of this event: this is the farthest human landing from Earth. You have all gone beyond where everyone else has gone before. Shore Party, local air is safe to breathe; however, the ship will still use the airlock as the intended exit at this time."