Moving in isn’t all that troublesome, really. With the use of matter reconstruction technology, all I have to do is grab the matter storage unit containing my belongings, transfer everything into the reconstructor linked to my exosuit, make my way over to my room, and find places to put all my things.
I spend a few minutes acquainting myself with my designated living area as soon as I arrive. It’s remarkably spacious, and, in all honesty, quite nice—being a researcher under Celeis certainly has its perks. The ceiling is approximately ten feet high, and the main room, the room I am currently in, is fifteen by fifteen feet in area. The floor consists of a smooth black material, undoubtedly some kind of high-tech polymer, while the walls are white and glossy, with a bar of light built in at about eight feet from the floor all around the room. One entire wall is occupied by a glass window—stepping up to it, I can see a view of the beautiful blue forests and glittering landscapes of Archeiah.
I back away from the window to walk towards the workstation in the center of the room—an arc-shaped desk with holographic projection technology that can display as many screens as I need. Most of my on-base work will be done here, including my video logs, which Celeis requires every employee to make on a somewhat regular basis. While there is a communal working area, most of the employees are expected to work relatively independently. After all, thanks to advancements in technology, a single person can now accomplish work that would have taken a large team centuries ago.
Sliding my gloved hand away from the chill glass of the desk, I approach a glass sliding door on the side of the room. It slides open to reveal a much smaller room—my bedroom. A full-size bed occupies one corner, complete with the standard set of white bed sheets and a black blanket. The provided furniture includes a bedside table, a desk with drawers to store my belongings in, and a closet. There is also a door to the bathroom on the opposite side of the room.
After inspecting the area, I lift up my right palm and imagine a screen appearing over it. In moments, the mental image becomes reality, and a holographic screen flickers into existence over my palm, displaying the words EXOSUIT C.7.8.1. SIER AVAREN in a simple white font.
Good, I had been worried that wouldn’t work. Celeis employees on Archeiah are all required to get an implant before arriving, a chip at the base of the skull that lets us neurally interface with the exosuit. It can be a bit finicky at first, so there are options for hand gestures instead of the mental commands, but the convenience of being able to mentally control my exosuit is something I’m certainly glad for. Plus, I don’t want all the effort of neural calibration and training to go to waste. It helps a lot that I have strong visualization skills.
I pull up the list of my dematerialized belongings—I don’t have much, just some artificial plants, a few shiny rocks, some photos of the green regions on Earth, and a few casual outfits for my days off. Most necessities are provided by Celeis, so technically, I didn’t need to bring anything at all.
I start with my artificial succulent—the desk seems to be a good place for that, so I hold my hand over the glass surface and imagine that it’s there. A faint outline of white light appears before I confirm the action in my mind, and the outline fills with solid light before fading away to reveal the plant in place. The wonders of technology, huh? I would’ve loved to have this back on Earth.
The rest of my unpacking goes smoothly, and it takes me less than fifteen minutes to put everything into place. That done, I head to the transporter in my main room. There’s another door on the wall opposite my bedroom door, consisting of the same darkened glass. It slides open to reveal a small room with a transporter pod: a glass tube, essentially, that one can lie down in to be transported to any docking station in the facility. The platform in the pod is made of some kind of rubbery material, which sinks down easily as I sit inside and lie down. I can’t help pressing my fingers into the material—it has a very satisfying squish to it.
“Main conference room,” I say, and the pod slides closed. I feel a slight shake as the docking locks disengage and the magnetic rails activate. The transportation system hisses, and the pod’s interior goes dark as it enters the walls. In seconds, I’m adjusting to the twilight glow of Archeiah’s white dwarf star as I emerge in the main tubes of the research base’s transportation system. There’s an option to darken the tint of the glass, but I leave it fairly clear. I doubt I’d be able to discern much, but I’m still curious about what I might be able to see of the base.
The Celeis research base has multiple “nodes,” and my assigned living space is in the central node—a circular structure consisting of an outer ring of glass buildings, another inner ring, and then the orbital elevator in the center.
It isn’t a space elevator as some might imagine it. The orbital elevator is simply a tall tower that can both launch and receive pods that go between the planetside research base and the orbital observation station. It’s where I and the rest of my research team came to the planet after arriving at the space station and being pulled out of stasis.
Besides the central node, there are additional wing nodes for food production, specimen handling, and energy generation, among other things. I can see the distant buildings of one of them from my current position, but I don’t know which one it is. I’m still not familiar enough with the layout.
Most of my attention is on the scenery, honestly. The forests of Archeiah are a wash of cobalt flora with shining bioluminescence casting everything in an ethereal glow. With the pale light of Xiron, the dwarf star, the image seems like something out of a dream.
I close my eyes once the pod’s speed becomes too fast for me to make out much more than a blur. The main conference room is in the observation deck, a circular structure that surrounds the access point to the orbital elevator—slightly above the rest of the base. It shouldn’t be long before I arrive.
Soon enough, my surroundings darken, and I hear a ping followed by an electronic voice: “Main conference room.” The sensation of stopping is barely noticeable, but as soon as I feel it, I open my eyes to see the glass enclosure of the pod sliding open. I throw my legs over the side and climb out of the pod, stepping into a docking room much larger than the one in my own room. It looks like most others are here already—I count about ten pods gathered in the area.
I straighten my jacket and walk towards the exit of the docking room, immediately entering a spacious area as the door slides open. Opposite my entrance is a large window—the window of the observation deck, which goes all the way around the ring-shaped building. There are walls on either side of the room, with me entering near the left wall. To my right is a long arc-shaped desk that follows the curvature of the room. There’s someone standing there, dressed in regulation uniform. She has tan skin, short beige hair that curls slightly around her cheek, and amber eyes. A beauty mark is under her left eye. I recognize her from Earth: Reyla Wergen, my boss—more or less. She’s the representative Celeis board member for the Archeiah research base, and is in charge of the big decision making here.
I turn to look towards the rest of the room, which consists of seats and desks that slightly increase in level as one gets closer to the outer window. I’m reminded of lecture halls from back when I was in college, only these are much more high-tech—the screens are all holographic instead of built-in, for one. Many seats are already populated, but the room is nowhere near capacity. I estimate there are only twenty or so people, and this conference room looks like it can house at least a hundred, maybe two. I recognize most of the people here; we were given files to familiarize ourselves with, which included profiles on other employees.
Waving catches my eye, and my gaze lands on the familiar face of Kendra Cook: dark skin, dark brown hair in a bob cut, and yellow-gold eyes. She’s smiling brightly, as usual.
I met her during the pre-launch debriefing on Earth, and both of us found that we get along well. Though to be fair, having anyone to talk to before going into space is nice. She works in Communications, so I doubt I’ll see her much during work hours; the Field division usually works out in, well, the field, while those in Communications remain on-base.
After a quick wave and a smile back, I take the steps on the side of the room and sidle into the row Kendra is in. I sink into the seat next to her. “Hey, Kendra,” I greet.
“Hey,” she returns, half-raising an arm before letting it fall back to the desk. “Think there are a few more folks coming in, but we’re probably getting started soon.”
I nod. “Did moving in go well for you?”
“Well enough, I’d say.” Kendra props her head up with a fist, elbow on the table. “I’m more worried about Orca.”
I blink. Ah, right. “That’s your cat, right?”
“Yep.”
The process of getting pets approved to bring to Archeiah certainly isn’t anything easy, and I admire Kendra for her dedication. That, and I definitely appreciate the prospects of possibly being able to pet Orca for myself. I haven’t seen her yet, but I’m guessing she’s black and white.
A few others arrive through the door—a group of three with the lightweight exosuit configuration. My own uniform is the field variation, which deploys faster, has more functions, and has sufficient power and oxygen for a weeks-long outing at optimal operating capacity. We all have the black pieces on our shoulders and waists, though my field variation also has black polymeric gloves and boots. Kendra and the newcomers lack the gloves, leaving their hands bare until they materialize their thinner gloves as needed, and their shoes aren’t the full boots I have.
I recognize one of them—Alion Evans. He’s a bit taller than me, and he has somewhat light skin and short pale blonde hair, parted to one side with the bangs trimmed evenly. We talked a bit before the launch, as well: I found out that he’s in the Laboratory division. I’ll probably be gathering many samples for his use.
I smile slightly at Alion and wave. He blinks, expression unchanging, before nodding and taking a seat near the front. The others he was with go in other directions; one of them I recognize from the files. The youngest of all of us, I think—if I recall, she’s to work in Computation. She is rather short, with dark skin and short hair that is white where it falls over one side of her face and black on the other side. Her eyes are a pale lilac.
It’s always interesting to see people with altered appearances—though whether she changed her phenotype herself or inherited it is up in the air. I got my eyes from my mom’s side, for one, and Kendra changed her eyes herself.
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