Snow

Suddenly, Kai found himself awake in a pure white space, floating weightlessly. Words refused to form in his mouth, but he heard a voice in the background.

[Knowledge transfer commencing. The recipient will be placed in an unconscious state.]

As the voice spoke, Kai's body went limp, and he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. Screens displaying various data began to descend from the sky, spinning around him at a very fast speed.

Suddenly, the screens began to merge into his head, Information about planetary environments flooded his mind: the factors that shaped them, the different types, and the life forms they could support. 

The words from the data echoed faintly in his ears as the light in his optical sensors intensified. 

The knowledge transfer continued, and Kai remained blissfully unaware of the information torrent pouring into his mind.

Hours turned into a full day, then another. After forty-six hours, the pod's internal light brightened and then dimmed. With a hiss of steam, the glass cover slowly opened.

Kai jolted awake, removing the headpiece and clutching his head with a slight grimace, blinking his optic sensors.

"Well, that was a bit overwhelming for a first-timer," he muttered, "but this thing is definitely useful. I can save some System points by using it whenever I have time."

He climbed out of the pod and stretched his limbs, noticing a slight stiffness. "Ugh, why do my limbs feel so creaky?" he wondered aloud.

He then made his way towards the command deck, wondering, "I wonder how far we've come. It's been over 46 hours; we should be getting close to the planet by now."

Kai opened the command deck door and entered, once again greeted by the mesmerizing view of swirling colors outside when he left the deck. He took a seat on the command chair and tapped his fingers on the table.

"So, Sera, give me a status report," he said while continuing to tap his fingers. "I see we're still in the hyper tunnel. How far are we, and did you encounter any complications along the way?"

Seraphina replied calmly, displaying the star map. 

[Hmm, No complications so far, all systems are functioning normally. The droids have been working continuously on repairing the lower floors.]

Kai nodded, thinking to himself feeling a little bad, Even though they're designed for this work, it wouldn't hurt to give them some time off once the repairs are finished.

Seraphina continued,

[As for our destination, you've returned at just the right time. We're almost ready to exit the hyper tunnel. After that, we'll travel the remaining distance through normal space.]

Kai smirked and gripped the armrests, his excitement growing. "Then what are we waiting for?" he exclaimed. "I can't wait to land on a planet after so long. I'm ready!"

Seraphina's voice mirrored his enthusiasm.

[Let's get started then! Gathering energy charge at the frontal point. Requesting permission to open a space rift.]

Kai, amused by the formality of requesting permission, thought to himself, "This is what it must feel like to be the true owner of such a magnificent spaceship."

He extended his hand and declared, "Permission granted! Go full speed ahead!"

[Permission authorized. Angling the built up charge. Opening the space rift in 3... 2... 1...]

when Seraphina counted down, the space in front of the Colossus began to rupture and crack, similar to their entry into the hyper tunnel. A large rift opened, revealing the inky blackness of normal space on the other side.

With a surge of speed, the Colossus plunged through the rift, returning to the familiar space. A few hundred thousand kilometers away, a faint, bluish-white light flickered erratically.

Whenever the light pulsed in the direction of the ship, the Colossus's systems experienced minor disruptions.

"Hey, Sera," Kai asked, concerned. "Can you tell me what that is?"

[The scans are running, but it's interfering with the wavelengths a bit,] Seraphina replied. [I should have the results in a moment.]

As the Colossus hurtled towards its destination at tremendous speed, Seraphina suddenly slowed the ship.

[Good thing the scans picked it up in time, or we would've been flattened,] she said, her voice suddenly serious.

Kai, a little nervous, muttered, "Flattened?" he echoed, his voice tight. "What do you mean? Is it something dangerous ahead?"

Seraphina chuckled.

[It's not a threat if you're aware of its existence,] she explained, displaying various images and scan data on the command deck screens.

[If the scans are correct, the planet we're heading towards orbits a pulsar. Fortunately, it's far enough away from the pulsar to avoid being crushed and has maintained its atmosphere.]

Kai was familiar with the concept of pulsars from his old world: They are incredibly dense, rapidly spinning dead stars with powerful magnetic fields that emitted beams of radiation from their poles.

"Isn't it dangerous to get close to a planet orbiting a pulsar?" Kai asked, his voice filled with fear and nervousness. "What if we get caught in its gravity?"

Seraphina chuckled reassuringly and replied.

[The Colossus is designed to traverse even the most hostile environments in the universe. If I wanted to, I could even make it orbit a black hole. A pulsar is nothing compared to that. And we're not going anywhere near the pulsar itself; our destination is the exoplanet orbiting it. We'll be perfectly safe.]

Kai, still slightly nervous but somewhat reassured by Seraphina's confidence, leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Alright, I trust you," he said, turning his attention back to the screens as the view of the planet ahead became clearer.

After traveling a few thousand kilometers, the planet they sought came into clear view. It was a pristine white sphere with streaks of blue, its surface dotted with dense clouds. And, of course, there was the pulsar it orbited.

A dark sphere of immense gravity hung in the blackness of space, spewing radioactive waves that illuminated the surrounding void. "That still looks a bit dangerous, no matter how much you reassure me," Kai said with a nervous chuckle.

Seraphina interrupted his self-deprecating thoughts. 

[It's not a particularly large pulsar. If I were to classify it, it would fall into the lowest category due to its small size and relatively weak radio emissions. It won't last very long in cosmic terms.]

Kai, hiding his unease with a forced smile, thought to himself, "Only someone from a highly advanced civilization could say something like that."

He sighed and turned his attention back to the view outside, as the ship gradually drew closer to the exoplanet.

The Colossus hummed slightly from the gravitational pull, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred, relieving Kai's anxieties.

"Do you recognize this planet, Sera?" he asked curiously. "Does it have a name?" to which Seraphina paused as if thinking and replied. 

[I don't see any record of it in my database, so I guess not,] Seraphina replied.

[Finding a planet, especially one orbiting a pulsar, within a dark matter cloud is incredibly rare. It's most likely that this planet got flung out from its original star system and got captured by the pulsar's gravity while drifting through the cloud.]

Seraphina eventually brought the ship to a halt at a safe distance, allowing Kai to fully appreciate the planet's majesty: like a massive snowball gleaming in the dark space.