Sutopia
Ch 31, SHab: Space Hab
Logan's eyes were glued to the viewing screen as he watched the hab come into view. Although he wasn't really looking out of a window, the fidelity of the feed made it feel the same. He stared at the massive, cylindrical structure rotating against the backdrop of space, and admired the way the shuttle used its small thrusters to line up with what appeared to be the dock. To Logan, it almost looked like a hub cab crowning the disc closing off one end of the ring. The shuttle was headed toward the very end, which appeared to be the dock.
He was able to change the viewpoint of his screen, allowing him to watch as the airlock door to L4 came closer and closer to the shuttle's hatch. The docking procedure was probably incredibly technical for the pilot, but, from Logan's point of view, it was just an amazing display to watch; it was almost like a choreographed dance. The entire docking process took over a half hour, but the young man watch content to watch the entire thing, right up until several large metal clamps secured the connection.
At that point the screen went dark and a broadcast came in over his implant. "Passengers, thank you for joing us on our trip. Please wait for an attendant to come by and indicate that you may disembark. Make certain that you have all of your belongings with you before you leave. Enjoy your stay on the L4 habitat."
Logan waited patiently for the attendant to come by; as he waited, he saw Drew return to his seat from the back. While he was looking around, he also caught sight of Tom, who had pulled a bag out from under his seat; the young man had no more time to look around however as the attendant indicated that he was free to disembark. Thanking the man, Logan made his way to the exit. He was stopped by another attendant, who held out a hand. "Wait just a moment please, Mr. Bradshaw. L4 requires individual intake."
Not exactly sure what the attendant meant, he did, nevertheless, wait to be permitted forward. The airlock door in front of him opened and she relented, taking a step to the side and gesturing him onward. "Alright. Go ahead."
The sleek, minimalist interior of the airlock looked exactly like what Logan expected for something of the sort; it had the early 2nd millennia aesthetic. Other than the door he entered and the one at the end of the short room the only other feature was a monitor on one side wall between the two doors and a sign on the other. The sign was rather unspectacular, being made of some kind of plastic material, and, on it, written clearly in English (unless his implant was translating it into English for him) was: PROCESSING IS MANDATORY. PLEASE TURN AROUND AND WAIT FOR THE MONITOR TO BEGIN PLAYING THE WELCOME MESSAGE.
About-facing, Logan turned to look at the other wall. He recognized a flat panel monitor despite being rarely used in the 22nd century; it seemed almost quaint compared to the various forms of output devices that were so much more common than a two dimensional transmission. As he looked at it, the screen illuminated, showing a false three dimensional logo for 'KALPANA L4'-- it didn't even make the attempt to transmit so much as a few-inch deep picture.
As he watched the slowly rotating logo, Logan heard upbeat marketing music, and then a female narrative voice. "Welcome to Kalpana L4-- where individuality thrives."
The marketing phrase appeared beneath the rotating logo, then both faded out to black, revealing a view of the hab from the space; it looked almost identical to what he saw upon his approach. The scene then transitioned into the very same airlock he inhabited, with a man and woman standing roughly where he was, and the narrator continued. "Kalpana L4 is a haven for independent thought and personal growth. To fully experience this unique environment, we kindly request that you disconnect from external networks during your stay. This includes social media and metanet connections."
The couple looked to one another and nodded, reaching their hands up to touch one another's temples as they smiled; the entire thing looked entirely overproduced, over-acted, and incredibly hokey. He didn't have much time to reflect on that however since the narrative voice continued as the couple on the screen smiled again at one another, nodded, and shared an embrace. "We understand the importance of staying connected, but we believe that a temporary digital detox can enhance your experience and foster deeper connections with yourself and others.
"
The screen then cut away to what looked like an enclosed park with people reading on benches; although Logan rarely if ever encountered a book, he saw that was exactly what the person was looking at. The scene beyond was a clear glass wall with an amazing view of space beyond, Even as the view panned across what looked like a park sealed away in glass, the narrator kept speaking. "Immerse yourself in the present moment. Explore the wonders of our habitat. Discover new passions. Reconnect with your inner self."
The next shot was of the exterior of the station again, bathed in starlight in an incredibly photogenic moment. "Forget the insanity of the solar system beyond; you've arrived at Kalpana L4. Your sanctuary awaits."
As the presentation ended he felt his ears pop from pressure and he felt a moment of discombobulation; his body had felt so light in the micro-gravity, but his implant adjusted his perception to make movement easier. A moment later the door on the opposite side of the airlock opened, allowing him entrance to the room beyond. Passing through the threshold, Logan saw that it was a large, bureaucratic-looking room with several service windows and what looked like old fashioned queue lines. He'd heard stories of government centers like that-- old anecdotes about the "Department of Motor Vehicles", an office that people used to visit in person up until the 21st century before everything was digitized.
There weren't many people on the shuttle and very few of them got off at L4, meaning that there wasn't much of a line; there were two people ahead of him. As he waited, Logan saw the airlock he'd exited open and Tom stepped out. The young man waived in greeting, assuming that the rock-man was going to get into line behind him but, to Logan's surprise, Tom simply walked around the lines and went to a door in the wall; the rock man held his hand up to it, the door opened, and then he disappeared through it, door closing behind him.
The person in front of him was also watching; apparently more familiar with the procedure than Logan, she stated "He must be a local-- didn't have to wait for intake."
The young man didn't get a chance to respond as the attendant called her up to the window. Logan continued looking around the room, waiting patiently for his turn to be processed. It was a quiet area, and he didn't have to disconnect from social media to avoid an endless number of messages; it was quite the relief. The walls were fairly barren without any actual ornamentation or decoration except for plastic posters indicating that social media was to be deactivated before entering L4, that metanet would not be accessible, and that sim recordings were prohibited.
He was pulled out of his casual inspection by a curt and flat tone. "Next please."
Logan stepped up to the window; the way his foot scuffed across the floor temporarily caught his attention, making him realize that his implant was helping him cope in a micro-gravity environment. The attendant was a surprisingly 22nd-century-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair and a well-kept but bushy mustache. He wore a neat, clean jumpsuit of lime green and olive drab with a nametag that indicated his name as 'Jed R'.
As Logan stood at the window staring at him, the attendant wriggled his mustache impatiently, eyes focused on Logan for just a moment until they transitioned to the monitor. "Details, please?"
Realizing that there was no social media or metanet, Logan suddenly understood that introductions would not be done for him; he surprised himself with how quickly he'd begun to take that for granted. The next three-ish minutes were spent with the young man providing details about himself. He watched Jed's hands, which danced across a keyboard; Logan hadn't seen an analogue input device since he'd awakened from Corpus Verto and he found himself mesmerized.
Jed did not seem to take note of Logan's distraction. "Mr. Bradshaw, you have a residence reserved for the next ten earth days. All visitors have assigned quarters. You've been provided with unit 216."
Logan nodded. "Uh... okay. Thanks."
Jed continued. "All residential quarters are considered personal space. I see you're visiting from Luna, so you should know that displays of nudity, indecency, intoxication, active drug use, and sexual activity is prohibited in public areas."
Logan nodded again by rote. "Okay."
The attendant didn't relent, continuing on. "Entering a resident or visitor's personal quarters without permission is also prohibited."
That made perfect sense; the young man nodded once more. "Got it."
Jed continued on speaking as if by rote. "You are able to access Kalpana L4's internal navigation guide through your implant. Please respect privacy controls and do not attempt to access the metanet or make any social media posts; these applications will be deactivated for the duration of your stay and any attempt to bypass security controls will be considered a breach of your visitor's agreement. Do you understand?"
Logan started feeling like a broken record. "Sure."
Jed, however, was still not done. "Your ability to provide backup memory recordings will not be inhibited, but please be aware that sim vid recordings are illegal while aboard Kalpana L4 and backup memory recordings must be for primary recorder's individual use only. Do you understand these terms?"
The young man went to do a metanet check on the terms 'backup memory recordings' and 'primary recorder', but he realized very quickly that it was a fool's errand: the metanet was not active. "uh... what does 'backup memor'--"
He was interrupted. "You're a Class 1. Just pretend that you can't make active memory recordings and if you have any scheduled brain scans, they can't be distributed."
It wasn't that Jed was cold, per se, but the attendant just seemed to want to keep things moving. "Oh. Okay... uh... anything else?"
Jed motioned with his head toward a sliding door that opened to his left. "That's all. Enjoy your stay, Mr. Bradshaw. Don't cause any trouble."
Logan thanked him quickly and headed through the entrance, pulling up the navigation info as he'd been directed; it was definitely a step down from the real-time location-coordinated system on the Lunar Spire. He stepped off to the side in case anyone else cane in behind him and took a moment to look up what information was available. Despite not updating with his location, the map turned out to be perfectly sufficient including an indicator of where he was: at the center-point of rotation, it made sense that he was in micro-gravity; once he was closer to the ring (which rotated much faster) he would have centrifugal force bring about a low-gravity environment.
Doing a check of the map, Logan saw that he needed to head to one of the 'spokes' that led from the intake office to the 'surface' of the ring. He used the map to find a transport tube, which resembled the lift on the Lunar Spire but, as he stepped into it and selected his floor, the transition felt entirely different; he had a strange sinking sensation in his stomach but no real sense of movement. A moment later a chime indicated that the doors were opening and Logan stepped out into a rotunda separated into numerous rings; each ring was marked off by a solid line on the floor and a dotted line against it. All along the lines were stenciled warnings to be mindful of gravitational fluctuations.
On the far side of the large, circular room were tunnels with hand-holds on either side and the floor. Not completely sure what to do, the young man waited until he saw another person traverse from floor section to floor section before taking hold of the hand-holds and timing their descent into one of the tunnels; it was a dizzying display of acrobatics to go from micro-gravity to centripetal-assisted low gravity. He watched another person go through the process as well before he gained enough confidence to try it himself. Making a mental note that it was a good time for his implant to help him out, the young man approached one of the tunnels.
Even with the aid of his implant, Logan was able to tell there was a difference in how his body reacted to the microgravity as he moved toward the tunnel that was labeled as taking him closest to his assigned residential quarters. He timed his movement with access to a handhold and felt a moment of vertigo as his inner ear tried to correct his expectation of what way was up; fortunately his implant helped him recover quickly, and he was able to transition from the handhold to a short ladder, which led him to a panel that looked like a lift similar to the one he had seen on the Lunar Spire. Pressing the only button available, Logan steadied himself on the floor. A moment later the lift started moving and, even though there were no windows around him, he was left with the impression (based on the increase in gravity) that he was getting closer to the outer ring of the hab.
As the lift came to a stop, Logan realized that his perception of movement around the hab was not entirely accurate; rather than the number he'd looked at earlier being a 'floor', it was, in fact, more of a 'district'. Normally, travel around the circumference of the ring would be a lengthy prospect, but the lift from the dock had the benefit of a micro-gravity environment and it was far more efficient and economical than trying to walk from one part of the enormous ring to another. It was a strange mega-structure and he realized it would take time for his brain to get used to navigation aboard L4.
Taking a deep breath, Logan stepped out of the lift and began gazing around at the strange habitat; it was incredibly different in almost every conceivable way from the Lunar Spire. The habitat's structures were sleek and efficient. Where the Lunar Spire was crafted and sculpted, L4 was engineered and efficient. It was evident even to a young man unfamiliar with design that the Kalpana habitat was focused on utility over appearance, though there was a strange beauty in that too.
Although Logan couldn't see the interiors of the various residential quarters they were all over the place and looked identical from the outside. There was a certain plug-and-play appearance to them-- modular, with the obvious goal of making them easy to fit together and connect in a space-saving, mass-production way. The entire approach was nothing new to the young man, who was used to seeing affordable housing in his hometown put together utilizing 3-D printed residences, but, having spent several weeks in the 27th century where things were put together with attention to aesthetics he hadn't expected to run into something like that ever again.
Without a metanet navigation system like the one available on the Lunar Spire Logan was left to using a mostly non-interactive program available on L4. While it was helpful in the same was as an old-fashioned map, he still had to look at the stenciled residential numbers on each unit. It wasn't that much different from manually navigating side roads back in the 22nd century so, while it did take a little longer to find his assigned quarters than if he'd had exact directions to follow, Logan didn't make too many wrong turns and, after a time, he finally got to his temporary residence: unit 216.
The door was already attuned to his bio-metrics and, between a touch on the door handle and a simple notification from his implant the door opened-- another interesting trait of L4: back on the Lunar Spire the doors were automatic and slid into the wall, while on the Kalpana habitat they were much more 'old fashioned'. Smiling at the much more familiar doors, Logan showed himself in; the lights turned on when he entered, showing him where he'd be staying for the next week-and-a-half.
The interior was a singular, barren room; despite the differences outside and the door, it reminded him a lot of the residential quarters he had back on the Lunar Spire. The room itself was a matte gray with no real discernible features aside from a single faux wood stool situated in the middle of the room; there was a folded polymer pamphlet situated on it, which drew Logan's attention. He made his way over and picked up the item, which looked to be a tri-fold welcome-and-introduction letter.
The pamphlet was not customized to him, rather it simply said 'Greetings visitor', and then went immediately into the information it had to provide. The front of the slip also included a brief overview of the contents, starting that it would explain 'cardinal directions', basic social expectations, most notable laws/rules/guidelines, and how to navigate the habitat. Opening it up, Logan saw that it did a great job of providing a lot of information in a relatively small amount of space.
According to the pamphlet, the general terms of 'up' and 'down' referred respectively to closer to point of rotation for the habitat where ships docked and the ring itself that used centrifugal force to create gravity. Since the ring was continuous there was no 'north' or 'south'-- such directions were referred to as 'with' and 'against', referencing whether a traveler is moving the same direction as the hab rotates or the opposite. 'East' and 'West' became 'Port' and 'Starboard'-- both of which were based on the directions determined when the hab was built hundreds of years past.
The pamphlet also went over details that Logan had heard so many times by that point including the exclusion of social media, the illegality of recording sim-vids, and accessing private quarters without the permission of the owner. The last two pages, however, were actually new, and ended up quite helpful.
The second to last page presented recommendations of things to see and do while visiting including a green space, a night club, several restaurants, and, if what Logan was seeing correctly: a petting zoo. That sounded strange considering everything he heard on the Lunar Spire referenced all the animals on Earth dying off. Then again, he reasoned, there were Transhumans like Noah who selected an animalistic Corpus. If that were the case, were the animals in the petting zoo Transhumans? He quickly brushed that thought out of his mind and moved on to the final page.
The last section of the pamphlet discussed the amenities in the assigned residential quarters. Logan was pleased to read that, like the one provided to him on the Lunar Spire, the L4 accommodations included customization settings and nano-machines to help a visitor choose their own surroundings. With that in mind, the young man set the pamphlet down and began inspecting his usable area. The first thought to cross his mind was to recreate his parents' house again and give himself his basement bedroom, but that inclination didn't linger as he considered 'getting away from it all'. Mind set, Logan began the lengthy process of preparing his direction for the room.
Star had told him that she'd used his memories before he'd entered his room back at the Lunar Spire to do the heavy-lifting and getting the nanobots ready to prepare what he'd want there; he didn't really appreciate just how important that was until he watched them take in his idea and begin to manufacture it real-time. He had to actively focus on each component of the room, and then wait, continue envisioning what he wanted so that the room could take the appropriate shape. He started and stopped several times in the beginning because he wasn't exactly ready for just how much focus it took.
He spent over twenty minutes just getting the three walls (mostly) right to separate the bedroom, bathroom, and living room. "Oof... I'm definitely not cut out to be an interior decorator."
Suddenly caught with a spark of inspiration, Logan tapped into his implant; it was good at reading his mind so it should be able to decipher what he was looking for, right? There was no way he had to really tax himself that much to try and get the set-up he needed-- the implant could take over! It confirmed that, indeed, it was capable of interfacing with the room to give him a proper environment if he wished it. Logan gave it said permission, and backed up toward the door, letting it take over. Letting it know it could proceed, Logan resolved to be an observer rather than active participant. It didn't let him down.
Even with the implant in charge, the nanobots still took plenty of time putting together the room, reinforcing Star's suggestion that pre-programming expectations was definitely the way to go. Thankfully, the implant got done in the next twenty minutes what Logan had barely managed to start. In the end, the young man had the exact room he had held in his mind's eye: it was his impression of a room his dad had used during a trip to New York-- he'd sent tons of pictures back to his family from his business trip to show off how amazing it was. Logan smiled when he realized that the 'windows' in the wall also had the self-same view of the New York skyline of the 22nd century, complete with simulated movement beyond.
With one more aspect of his stay dealt with, the young man moved to flop down on the king-sized bed; it was as comfortable as he expected and held the faint scent of freshly laundered sheets; his implant had definitely not left out any detail. Releasing a contented sigh, Logan took in the silence, staring at the ceiling as he finally let himself relax a little. "Well... if nothing else, a few minutes of peace and quiet without having to worry about a DM notification is really nice."
He wasn't entirely sure if he zoned out, or if he took a micro-nap, but Logan realized that some amount of time had passed as he lazed on the bed and let his cares disappear. Stretching and yawning, he had his implant check the local time aboard the habitat and was surprised to see that it was technically early-afternoon. The young man wasn't able to point out exactly WHY he was surprised, but, for some reason he was left with the impression that it should have been early evening at the earliest-- his implant then reminded him that he was still on Lunar Spire Time; it WAS the equivalent of early evening there.
Sitting up, Logan took a few minutes contemplating next actions. On one hand, he was more than happy enough to just sit in his room and enjoy the peace and quiet; on the other, the young man was on a new hab which was significantly different than the Lunar Spire. He had about a week-and-a-half to explore it and experience what it had to offer. While he was confident that it would in no way compare to what he'd seen at Ozar's Realm, he'd heard time and time, again and again that L4 had its own unique way of operating that was (hopefully) worth learning more about. Coming to the conclusion that he could at least look around, Logan resolved to learn what he could before stepping out.
As he unpacked his single suit case, Logan began sifting through his implant, searching for any kind of transmission, connection, channel, or broadcast. He found no metanet, which was no surprise, but lots of person-to-person transmissions, none of which were available to him. So lost in the tapestry of non-user-friendly communications, he focused on putting away his clothes into the simple dresser in his room, letting his implant take over in finding anything that might provide him information. As with other projects handed off to it, the implant was quick and efficient: it identified five broadcast channels he could access.
He sifted his way through the five options, not particularly focusing on any one of them as he attempted instead to get a feel for what they were; it turned out that four of the five transmissions were informational: two news broadcasts, announcements, and what sounded like a governmental declaration channel. The final channel reminded Logan of some kind of public broadcast channel-- there was some kind of educational science broadcast that sounded to him like a high school presentation on keystone species. It made Logan laugh considering the information was pertinent to Earth, yet, based on what he'd heard, Earth was long lost after the 'final war'.
Switching back to the announcement channel, Logan finished putting away his personal effects, listening to one broadcast letting residents of L4 know that there was a 'swamp-meet' coming up in two days; there was also an announcement regarding the importance of keeping the shoreline of Green Lake uncluttered and that picnickers should set up their blankets no less than 10 meters from the water. The declarations were beyond mundane, and very nearly made Logan laugh at the seemingly casual concerns of L4. It was a nice change of pace, and he happily digested the banal announcements.
Unpacking complete, he was just settling back onto his bed when Logan was surprised by an obviously 'produced' announcement on the transmission. The 'advertisement' explained that the state's entertainment activities were set to begin in two days, at which point the broadcast began rattling off numerous events at numerous times on numerous days, far too quickly to keep track of but, thankfully, Logan was able to access all of the information since his implant recorded the data for him to digest at his own pace. Once the announcement completed, the young man disconnected.
Letting out a sigh, he stared at the ceiling. "Alright... let's see what's available during my stay."
His implant began to show the schedule starting with activities that would begin in two days. Taking that into consideration, Logan realized it'd give him time to familiarize himself with the habitat and meet some of the residents before things kicked off. Although he was more inclined to stick to his introverted ways, he also knew that structured activities would be the best way to see what L4 had to offer, and would help him get a taste of the hab and learn more about it.
There were several events that appeared worth looking into, and several of them were designed to welcome visitors to L4, so that gave him a good opportunity to pick from what was available. He had a large selection to choose from and there was no reason he had to do them all, meaning he had both opportunity and flexibility in his schedule; as far as he was concerned it was a good combo. Most of the activities appeared to be guided programming, which suited him just fine. Promising himself he'd do at least one activity a day, Logan knew he had two days to prepare, and so he set the schedule aside and returned to lounging on the bed.
His quarters were quiet, which was nice, and he reveled again in the lack of concern regarding social media announcements, or the hidden stress of having them go to a do-not-disturb folder that he'd later have to sift through. Logan berated himself for letting his mind wander in that direction when he realized that he still had that folder, and that mountain of messages would be waiting for him when he returned to the Lunar Spire. From there, his mind jumped to the next frustrating train of thought: most of those message were probably about the Sim Vid he'd accidentally shared with all of Transhumanity.
Growling at himself, Logan rolled over and pulled the pillow tight against his head. "Way to go, asshole. Stop sabotaging your own vacation, Bradshaw."
When his implant acknowledged that it could help censor his wandering thoughts, Logan's first concern was just how much it could change him if given the permission but, setting that concern aside, he was ready to just be 'over it', and gave it permission to help him avoid thoughts about-- wait... what was he worried about again? Logan knew there was something on his mind causing him problems and necessitating his trip to L4. It had something to do with social media and-- no, he didn't need to keep worrying about that; he was on L4 and there were tons of amazing things to experience!
Letting out a relieved sigh, Logan realized that whatever his implant was hiding from him was being avoided per his request. A lingering concern made him worry that he could end up tripping over it when his vacation ended, and checked to make sure his implant would 'unlock' that train of thought once his vacation was over. At his behest, the implant confirmed that he would be able to start fixacting on it again as soon as he left L4. Logan couldn't help but think that there was some degree of chiding tone to its confirmation, but it reminded him that it was just a program and both it, and his interpretation of its meaning was entirely in his mind.
That also sounded almost mischievous, but Logan was happy enough to leave things as they were; there was an entire habitat to explore!
I’m sure I’m imagining it, but there seems to be more to his implant than
It is revealing to him. If so, that opens up many interesting possibilities.
Heh... that being said, this should be quite the adventure for him.
Thanks for sharing.