MPE12

Edited by: ASaltedFish

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Since they had figured out a general direction, they decided to pick MPE12, which was near a resource planet. It was two days away, giving Ellery plenty of time to rest and recover his spiritual energy.

Thankfully, there were dozens of resource planets scattered around the border. These resource planets were created to help the military replenish its supplies during its fight against the Ineks. They also served as military bases that housed millions of people and soldiers.

While Ellery got some rest for a day, Aster mostly stayed in their room or sat in the control center while looking at the map. Even though he was quieter than Ellery, he did his best to copy Ellery's mannerisms when people talked to him. After they left, he would wilt in his seat, dozing off into space.

This worried some people, but Edros and Akimitsu did their best to explain that Ellery used too much spiritual energy and was trying to recover.

"Ellery" recovered the next day, making almost everyone relieved.

Ellery switched places with Aster to let him mentally rest before having to go to MPE12.

MPE12 was an uninhabited planet that hadn't been explored. It was named so people knew of its existence. The reason it hadn't been explored at first was because of the high and dangerous radiation levels. No one wanted to risk going there until the radiation levels dropped.

Nowadays, it was fine, but there were other safer planets to go to, so this planet was left untouched.

Still, Edros wanted everyone to wear protective equipment when going to this planet, so everyone followed those orders. Some places could still have high levels of radiation, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

When everyone was ready, the exploration team jumped out of the spacecraft in their mechas. Edros and Aster, who were in one mecha, followed, with Akimitsu closely behind.

Akimitsu spoke to Edros and Aster in their private call: "I heard some rumors about this planet. An amateur explorer saw ruins of a civilization here. Large metal and concrete buildings were hidden under vegetation. He didn't bring protective equipment when the radiation was high and suffered irreversible damage that quickly ended his life."

"Do you think the radiation killed off the people living here? From what I heard, no Ineks are living here either." Edros asked, a bit curious about these structures.

Even Aster wanted to know because metal and concrete were used to make the buildings in his past life. He knew that this was not the planet Earth he was born on, but he felt a bit of nostalgia hearing about it.

"If we run into a city or a town, can we explore it for a bit?" Aster questioned before they could finish the conversation. "I am curious because my home planet used concrete and metal to build their buildings. I know this is not the planet from my past life, but I wonder if I can find some similarities…"

It was hard to explain why; he just wanted to see it with his own eyes. He had heard many times that the planet he once lived on could be destroyed in a nuclear war. He wondered if that was what happened to this planet, too.

Edros didn't see the problem with it, so he agreed. "That's fine. Since there are traces of intelligent life, we will have to send some data to the Empire's scientists. They will then send some people to explore the place. If you want, I can have them send you the data when they are done."

"Thank you, Edros, I appreciate it!"

With that out of the way, the three of them continued forward, looking for a trace of the rumored civilization.

After two hours of traveling in their mechas, Edros spotted a city that had a river running through it. Many scraps of metal could be seen along the sides of the river, making it seem like it had rushed through the city, taking down anything in its path.

The city itself was buried underneath vegetation, with only a few metal pieces peaking out. If one didn't look closely, it would look like mountains full of greenery.

Aster saw the familiar asphalt road that was crumbled and scattered around the area.

"We do not know what is hiding here, so stay vigilant," Edros said to Akimitsu.

Even if there were no Ineks, this planet could be hiding other unknown species that could be as dangerous.

"Understood." Akimitsu activated his large gun, which was fitted to be used with mechas. He also had a shield, but it had not been activated yet.

Edros did the same and slowly led them forward. He had Akimitsu take pictures of their surroundings. No one would leave the mechas until it was deemed safe.

The two slowly inched forward, seeing if they could go inside the ruined buildings, but most were crumbling under the weight of all the plants.

The environment was eerily quiet. There were no birds chirping or insects buzzing. It was as if the destroyed city was frozen in time, waiting to be returned to nature.

In the distance, Aster saw a resemblance of a car in his past life. "Edros, do you see that lump by that building? Could you go to it and take some of the plants off of it?"

He nodded and went to the lump of plants. After moving some of it away, he could see the metal underneath, showing the skeleton of a vehicle. It was different from their hovercars, but it shared some similarities, such as the seats.

"It really is a car…" Aster said softly, but he didn't know what he was feeling.

"A car? Like a hovercar?"

"It's close to that, but the car I am talking about is another way to say automobile. The word car comes from a language called Latin. Anyway, this automobile uses four wheels and fossil fuels to get around. Fossil fuels are a type of non-renewable resource that countries fought for. I did not think I would be able to see it here…

"Well, I don't know if the people of this planet called it the same thing, though, but there are a lot of parallels between this planet and the one I used to live on."

No one was a stranger to Aster having a past life and had heard a few things about the planet he used to live on. It was isolated in the universe, and there were no sentinels or guides. The other races of the universe could not be seen on that planet, only having humans.

Even though this galaxy had buildings and vehicles, it was all created using different materials from what Aster was used to.

He didn't realize how much he would miss a place where he didn't have any family or a home. He had an apartment, but it was a temporary shelter for him.

Now, he had a home, but it was strange that he missed the past self that could have had more but didn't.

Actually, he was grieving his past life, but he could not understand why. There were no happy memories from his time there.

"Let's look somewhere else…" Aster sighed, trying to suppress the heavy weight on his heart. "I think I saw something else by the building over there." He pointed toward the building across from the car.

Edros could see that Aster wasn't feeling well, but he didn't know what to say, so he went to where Aster was pointing.

It was a vending machine, but there was nothing inside of it.

"This looks like a drink vending machine," Aster said because he could see the plastic that was still intact, looking like it had once held a cylindrical object.

"Vending machine?" Akimitsu was curious about the foreign technology.

"Yes, you insert money into the machine and input the number of the drink you want, and it would drop down into a compartment where you can grab your drink. It was a cheap and convenient way to grab something to drink when you are not at home or a restaurant."

Most cities and towns in the Zevaria Empire were not walkable cities, so this concept was strange to Edros, Akimitsu, and Ellery. Even places that were walkable, like the city Orin was living in, didn't have this technology because food stalls and restaurants were affordable and easy to find.

"Ah, I talked a lot…" Aster felt his throat was a little parched. "I wonder what kind of connection this place has to Planet Earth…"

They all knew that "Earth" was the name of the planet that Aster had lived on in his past life.

Akimitsu poked at the vending machine, but it didn't move much. "A research team should be able to figure out what happened here. Maybe that will answer a lot of our questions. I am betting that the people of Earth somehow fled their home planet and eventually landed here."

Since the technology was similar, Aster wouldn't be surprised. Still, it left a bad taste in his mouth that those people could have destroyed Earth and then destroyed this planet, too.