The bluish moon of Verdant-43

The 20 year old could not hide his amazement as their little spaceship got closer and closer to the surface. The Green Glutton wasn’t only huge in terms of its bast extension. The plant also had numerous enormous stems that were twice as high as any skyscraper on Earth.

-Oh… my… God-, whispered Nyco.

-There is no God here-, interrupter Levi. -Many have died because of this stupid herb. This is no field trip, Nyco. Pull yourself together-, the Star-finder scolded him.

-You are right-, the ashamed boy agreed.

They left the spaceship hovering without touching the plant’s roots because if it did, the plant would automatically attack them. They could not land the spaceship or their mission would be over before it even began.

When the 3 Star-finders came out of the spaceship, they felt the difference in gravity as they flew out. It was higher than the one on Earth, but not nearly as much as the one from the red planet he had visited with Emma all those years ago in the 5-S. Nyco remembered that Emma called that planet Twilight because of its red color. He wondered what she would call that planet he was on now.
Nyco scolded himself for thinking of her again, he had to pay attention to the mission.

-Ok. In a few minutes, the massive moon that orbits Verdant-43 will enter the stage. It will only stay for 6 hours, that’s all the time we have to find the scientists and let them out. As soon as you see one of these scientists I want you to teleport them with you immediately. They’ve been missing for 5 days so they are probably very weak and dehydrated. Taking them outside of this planet as fast as possible is our mission and I will not accept any mistakes-, Levi started explaining.

-So we don’t wait until we see that all of them are ok?-, Nyco asked.

-There is no time for that. Every second that we stay here is a second we are in danger. As you know, the plant has a special defense system that segregates a powerful acid that can melt our suits. If you see one of the scientists, grab him and teleport him out of here, Asap. If you happen to find all three of them, teleport them at the same time. They should all fit inside the 2 meter radius of the jumping sphere. If any of us finds one, we notify the rest with the suit's communication system. If for some reason we lose the signal and can’t communicate, just leave this planet with them. They are the priority.

Nyco didn’t like the sound of that. He did not want to leave without informing them since he knew they wouldn’t stop searching for the lost scientists. That’s how Star-finders were, they never let a mission mid through. If someone didn’t inform them that the mission was completed, they refused to leave that planet.

-Ok, the moon is here. Get ready-, informed Silvy.

It was soon time for the phenomenon that made Nyco rejoice in excitement. The planet’s massive moon slowly creeped over the horizon, ready to change the planet’s gravitational pull.

The humongous bluish moon orbited so close to the planet’s atmosphere that it was able to pull rocks and animals towards it. This phenomenon made things float mid air for 6 hours as the moon’s gravity canceled the planet's natural gravitational pull. This let everything on the surface float around for the 6 hours that the moon was in its closest orbit. Nyco was ready to experience this strange phenomenon.

First he started feeling lighter, then he started seeing small rocks flying upwards. After 10 minutes of waiting, Nyco finally started floating. The boy kicked the floor and started making backflips in the air as the massive moon slowly pulled him upwards.

He felt liberated. This was one of the funnest things he had done in his life. His long dream of becoming a Planet-Gazer was finally a reality. All he wished for when he was little had come true. But then he remembered that he was made that way. It was determined at birth the type of things that would excite him, the kind of things that made him happy. It was all designed to bring him to that moment.

That thought stained the experience a little bit. But what really blew his joy away was the thought of the girl he had loved years back. Floating in the air reminded him of that special moment they had dancing on the moon and their first trip to the moon with Juliet. They were memories he had tried to suppress but failed. He thought about what she would be doing today on her birthday. Would she be celebrating with her friends Yve and Gyanna? Would she had totally embraced the AI that imitated her mother?... Would she think of him?

He quickly discarded that idea. After the way he had treated her she must have moved on. She must have certainly found a new boyfriend by now.

That thought made him feel a small sting in his heart.

The beautiful moon that was looking at him as it made him float, the huge plant that made that planet unique, the vast horizon he could see and enjoy as he floated around… None of that seemed to matter since he could not share it with the girl he still loved.

An intrusive thought managed to push through in all of that chaos he had in his mind. “I wish I lost my feelings for her and had a heart as cold as ice, like all the other Star-finders”, he desired. The blue eyed boy was tired of suffering.

-Whatch out Nyco!-, yelled Levi through his helmet.

Nyco turned the propulsion boots from the suit on and made himself stop floating around. The Star-Fly suit was so advanced that all he had to do was think of his boots turning on.

He then saw it approaching him. The biggest seed anyone had ever seen.

The huge Green Glutton had a way of expanding itself over the surface of the planet, and that was to utilize the moon’s gravitational pull to make his seeds reach longer distances. The massive plant released one of its seeds and, since the moon was so close to the planet’s surface, the seed was left suspended in the air. Then, the seed released a small skirt of water that propelled the seed and sent it flying at amazing speeds. Since it didn’t have to fight against the planet's gravity, the seed was able to travel long distances and expand the plant's domain over the planet’s surface.

Nyco was now on the way of this seed's great journey. This seed was the size of a small church on Earth, making Nyco’s chances of avoiding it pretty slim.

The frightened 20 year old watched as the huge seed was about to smash into him. In all of that panic he could only think of one thing: I’m sorry Em.