2 Blue Moon Station

More than five days passed in the blink of an eye. I was in the middle of reading a book in a chair.

Flutter! Sounds of paper being flipped came out as I opened the next page.

The book in question was an archaic physical book — supposedly almost extinct in this era. Nowadays, there were hologram e-book and holo-movie capable to make the scene of the story real and be experienced. Even knowing this, I didn't care. I had always enjoyed reading books on science fiction and fantasy, which had been an initial inspiration for my becoming an explorer.

"No matter how many times I read this, it never gets boring. I wonder if I would ever encounter an alien artifact…. No, it will never happen." I muttered, before shaking my head and stored the book to my dimensional storage, which had the form of a transparent bracelet.

Hah… such a shame that my dimensional storage was an outdated device, and only had a size of 100 cubic meters. I fondly stroke the bracelet while daydreaming.

Just then, a sudden frosty and emotionless female voice resounded from the surroundings, [Destination almost reached…. Estimating arriving at the target in 10 minutes…. Space Warp Travel will be slowed down to ensure a completely safe arrival!]

Curious by the time, I looked at the clock on the hologram screen, which showed 10 O'clock in the morning on 16 September 3153. 10 in the morning, huh? The Blue Moon Station should be at the same time since they also use 0 GMT to match time universally.

Not long after, a hole in a void appeared in front of the ship and the view of space littered with stars replaced the darkness. The lack of light from outside was no more — the darkness encompassing the ship dispersed — as the hole came closer and closer to the ship. What met my eyes weren't a sunlight star in the middle of a solar system, but a light azure gas giant the size of Neptune with multiple icy moons orbiting it. Without a sun to heat the planet, the gas was losing heat and making it looked like a dying lonely mother with the moons as its children. Yup, it's a rogue planet.

Not far from the azure gas giant, a big space station with a length of 50 kilometers was orbiting the gas planet leisurely. There were quite a lot of spaceships going in and out of the station. The space station was, of course, the Blue Moon Station. The reason it was so-called, was because it orbited a unique rouge gas giant radiating blue-azure light.

It's been almost half a year since the last time I came to this place. I wonder if old Hussein is still alive. I couldn't help but grin in wonder when gazing at the Blue Moon Station. Although I didn't quite trust him, there wasn't any better choice than this place to sell the Golden Stardust.

Before long, the spaceship finally reached the Blue Moon Station and I issued a request to dock. A few seconds later, a confirmation was received from there. Right then, one of the hangars at the side of the station was opened and I instructed ATA to control the ship to get into it. Despite the hangar opening to outer space, there wasn't any air leaking out, since a layered force field blocking it.

Unexpectedly, a brand new, 200-meter-long Frigate class spaceship overtook my ship and got to a bigger hangar at the side. Seeing that, I gritted my teeth in irritation and stomped the floor with my feet before swearing, "Shit, just because you had a fancy ship doesn't mean you can act cocky!"

Shortly, my spaceship passed the force field and got into the hangar before docking in. I took my plasma gun and wore the armor I had prepared beforehand. The armor was made of black colored sophisticated ceramic, making it easy to put on despite it being a full body armor, and the weight wasn't heavy in the least.

I wore a smart glass-encased helmet, a bit scared it might get damaged if I didn't treat it carefully. There was a small logo of a word carved at the back of the helmet which read ATHENA.

Artificial Technology Helmet of Endurance and Assistance, the smart A.I. ATHENA should activate soon. Still, no matter how many times I touch and wear this, I always feel shudder and goosebumps in my hand and head.

[System on~ Activating all of the function! Good day, Master!] A cheerful female voice came from inside the helmet.

"Cheerful as always, huh?" I muttered, reminiscing about the time I had spent with ATHENA — my most important treasure.

Subsequently, I glanced out from the ship when the automatic door opened smoothly to left and right. The steel boarding ram was then extended forward to the bridge, accompanied by a smooth steel-extending sound. I moved my legs and took the first step out from the ship gallantly, just like the first man that took his first step to the Moon's surface.

The Blue Moon station used an advanced artificial gravity, instead of an ancient centrifugal force. Which had been commonly used by spaceships and habitats as it was more practical. The only drawback was the energy consumption to produce it.

I looked at my spaceship; a Corvette class spaceship with a 60-meter length and a larger cargo capacity than the ordinary spaceship of its class. Subconsciously, I could feel a smile formed on my mouth by just looking at it.

I crossed over the bridge of the big hangar filled with many other spaceships the size of my own. A symbol of X-05 was seen painted around the hangar, indicating the hangar number. There were also a few humanoids robots and floating drones stationed near enough to be visible.

The robots carried plasma rifles in their hands, guarding the site from any intruder that might be present. As for the drone, it was charging tax for the people who were docking in.

The Blue Moon Station was a medium-small sized spaceport owned by multiple, dark-dealing, private companies. It wasn't a pirate spaceport and of course, had better security. Yet, I couldn't stop being vigilant to my surroundings. This was also another reason why I chose this place to sell my belongings, as it accepted almost anything with a quite fair price

Not long after, it was my turn. The drone robot scanned my body with its camera, before stating in a monotone voice, [Victor P. Asterisk, 25 years old explorer with a Corvette class spaceship. No criminal record found, a total of 500 credits per day will be charged automatically for the hangar tax, proceed?]

500 credits!? That's insane! The last time I came, it was only 200 credits. Damn, the people that charge this place must be corrupt!

I was annoyed by this daylight robbery but conceded after thinking about the amount that I would get from selling the Golden Stardust.

"Proceed." I nodded my head with a stiff smile. If only I could slip past without paying, I would have done so.

The transaction was done after making digital contact with my bank. Next, I proceeded into the inner port. Since the Blue Moon Station was quite big, a loop train was available to travel from one part to another. I got into one of the loop trains, which traveled so fast that I reached my destination sector in a matter of seconds.

After leaving the loop train, I stepped onto a floating electromagnetic disk, sending me straight to my destination. Just when I got to the periphery of a marketplace, I stepped off from the disk and decided to stroll in the market first.

"Guess, I'll try to gather information and find some rare supply that might catch my eyes."