You wake up.
You spend some time lazily stretching, enjoying the sense of the warm blanket over you. You don't have to hurry today. But you'll have to get up eventually.
You push the blanket off of you and slowly get out of the bed. You make your way to the refresher, your eyes still half-closed, sight not really needed for you to navigate the familiar path. You splash some water on your face in an attempt to wake yourself up, trying to rub the sleepiness out of your eyes.
Feeling somewhat more awake, you turn off the water and (after rubbing the water out of them) finally open your eyes. You look at your own reflection in the mirror. Your hair is a mess. All tangled and somewhat wet from all the splashing.
You move to grab your comb but pause. Instead your arm moves to the gap behind the cupboard. You find the small winch Dad fashioned to replace the broken down motor operating the window mechanism. You stare at it. You're not admiring the makeshift arrangement of metal and the plastoid tape grip. You're thinking, trying to process the guilt you're feeling. But in the end you make your way to the window, slot the winch into place and start turning it, the window slowly sliding open with a squeaking noise. Partially because you prefer the somewhat cold and foggy outside air to the stale and dusty air coming from the old air filtration system. But mostly you just hope he comes to visit you. It's been a while since last time...
You grab your comb and turn to face the mirror. There's no point standing here staring at the clouds. It's still too early. His shift won't be over for a while longer. Better finish combing your hair and then go make some breakfast.
...
You wait for the water to boil, staring at the small bubbles forming in the container while your mind wanders. Preparing breakfast isn't hard. Just put the dust in the bowl and then add boiling water. It's not like you've never had to do this before, though usually it's because Mom and Dad are busy with something, not because they're both out. Both got called in to replace sick co-workers. You hope it's just a coincidence and not another plague. That would be horrible. You remember last time, Dad said the lower levels had to be put on quarantine and- Ack! The water!
...
You're lying down while the holovision plays in the background. You're not really listening though. Instead you idly scroll through the various programs Mom and Dad have installed on your datapad. After mopping the spilt water, eating breakfast and washing everything, your morning routine is complete. Now all that's left to do is study. The question is, what to study first?
There's math. You're currently up to matrix manipulation. It's not very fun, but it's supposed to be the foundation you need to pursue more advanced subjects like understanding the complex physics that power everyday objects like hovercars or learning the equations that allow spaceships to find their way through the void and the strange dimension of faster-than-light travel.
Then there's programming, which is somewhat more fun. Learning about tools, then getting little challenges and then using trial and error with the tools you were taught to solve those challenges, like a sort of logic puzzle. Much like math, in a way, except it leaves you with a more tangible result and less of a headache. It's fun to get your datapad to greet you or make a game out of chasing blinking dots, though sometimes it gets a bit repetitive and you think you've started reaching the limit of what the poor little thing can achieve.
There's history, but you're not really a fan of that. It's just memorizing endless lists of dates, places, speeches and declarations, small battles and poorly explained trade deals. Still, if you look past the program requirements and into the material itself, you can find some interesting stories, gain some insight about how the galactic community works and learn about all the interesting places and cultures one can find in it. It's fun to imagine what those events would look like from up close, what the people doing all those deals and fighting all those wars were actually thinking and feeling.
There's also chemistry. You're still at a point where you're memorizing building blocks and learning notation, which is quite boring. You wish you could actually see the sort of things described there in action. Sure, you can learn that material X and material Y become material Z and a whole bunch of energy, but what does that look like? Does it fizzle? Does it explode? Yet you know that this is the stepping stone to learning how to manipulate exotic materials of the sort that support the tower you live in, the miraculous dust that can turn into food with just a bit of boiling water, the inner workings of your body, the medicine that Eiwhyl uses to save so many lives.
And then... your finger lingers over the last entry, what you really want to read. You know it's wrong. You know you're not supposed to, not until you're finished with studying. But you really want to find out how it ends. Ever since Draggy transferred it to your datapad it's been on your mind near-constantly. It's about a rogue trader and his Gigoran friend. At first it's about the various trade deals, cons and adventures the two find themselves involved in but then on the second part they rescue a princess from an evil warlord and the three of them have more adventures together.
In the last chapter you read the mobster's men caught up with the trader and ambushed him, capturing him! Luckily his friend used his immense strength to break him out. But then he returns to his ship only to find out that the princess is gone! The gangsters managed to capture the princess and take her away, aiming to collect the bounty on her head as payment for the credits the trader owes them. The princess was heartbroken, thinking he betrayed her for the credits. But he reveals to his friend that he really loved her, despite their constant arguments and he just hadn't found the courage to confess his true feelings to her, afraid she would reject him because of how different they are. Now he races to the mobster's hidden palace to rescue her before the warlord can get there! You can't wait to see what happens next! ...but... you know the right thing to do would be to wait for until after you finish studying.
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Topic: Surviving in an Alien World [Suggestion Game] (Read 106717 times)