Fi laid on her back in bed. The shelter was dimly lit. Her feet moving to the beat of music. A small strip of text on the entrance read; privacy mode engaged. No sounds would transmit to the outside.
"I haven't had any time to read up on any manuals on the UI. It has been up and go all the time." Fi thought adding some stomach drums to the song. She focused her mind and brought up the UI. Navigating through the options took only a moment. She entered the manual and read.
'The utility you are browsing with inside of Eden Dream has been simply called the UI. The word user-interface or UI was mostly only used in an official fashion after the ships launch. Using the word Dream quickly became the popular go-to all encompassing word of what the UI is capable of.'
Fi had heard about Dream being used as the term but had thought it wasn't the go to way, since everyone referred to it as UI when talking to an outsider.
'The Dream is capable of recording, storing and sending data to all participants on the Dream network. Offsite, meaning off the ship, beacons are required for longer ranges than touch. There are some carriable beacons as well as some magical powers which can bridge the gap between users.'
Fi knew all about this and couldn't wait to test it out properly after the beacon was installed and she could finally connect with everyone.
The next part told her that while space was almost limitless that didn't mean everything was recorded. In an effort to keep some privacy the implant wouldn't record anything unless the user willed it to.
'Once you start using abilities all of them will be recorded here in the most exact way possible. They can be shared. Your vital statistics have already been recorded and will continually update. Please look at the popup for an example of your current stats.'
Fi sped through the text and jerked in surprise when the popup opened. Her heartbeat showed a tiny spike when she was surprised but otherwise it had quite the steady rhythm.
All her statistic showed up in green. The recycling stations automatically filled all foods with the necessary vitamins. If you ate all on your plate you didn't have to worry about malnutrition in any way.
Fi finished reading the manual and got to checking all the other options. There was still the skills, friends, crafting and online to check out. All of them being grayed out till she had the capability to use them.
Fi decided she needed to add all of the team as friend first thing in the morning tomorrow.
Beacons coming online would also in another way be a good stepping point. They could start reporting about new points of interest and creatures. Even naming them possibly.
When you upload a record of something that is new. Preferably even have a sample of it recorded you get to name it. The name will be then added to the entry which others will see upon meeting the creature or looking up information about it online.
If the name wasn't popular it could be voted to not be the name for it. That had happened multiple times and usually it was for the better. Sometimes the names became absolutely atrocious and most likely only jokes that people thought was moderately funny that became voted as the actual name.
Fi had only heard of a few and they seemed to be so unremarkable she didn't really care that much as a complete outsider. She decided to start recording in every situation to be able to review the materials for later use. Fi had much to learn and had to use all available avenues to get stronger.
The Dream swooshed disappearing from Fi's sight.
"Wait wasn't skills already unlocked?" Fi thought. It was supposed to be grayed out, she hadn't learned any skills.
Thinking it was a visual bug when closing, she opened it up again holding no hope.
Contrary to her expectations it was actually in the same color as all the other text. In this case it was purple. She had been playing around with the colors when she got bored during a dull part in the manual.
There was only one thing listed under skills. A text in silver, italicized. It read 'Silver Exhaust'. Fi was flabbergasted.. She had never heard anything similar. Even the manual said that for something to be seen it had to have been triggered first.
Focusing her thoughts on Silver Exhaust a short description popped up.
'When burning up magical power (k20) all energy isn't transferred to the skill, but some is lost in the converting process. This excess energy that is lost is called Silver Exhaust. Gain Silver Exhaust by burning up magical power or in small quantities by secondary consumption.'
Understanding the gist of it, but never having heard about Silver Exhaust before she decided to ask Blue about it.
Tiredness washed over her. She willed the music off. Fi slipped out of her jumpsuit and slid under the covers. The velvety covers kind to her naked skin. A perfect temperature. Sleep was not far away.
* * *
Pruet sipped at coffee in the ship's secret compartment. A notification jumped up in the corner. Pruet smiled sincerely. Fi had finally read about Silver Exhaust.
Pruet stretched her long and slender arms. Her perfect body painting an alluring picture in the mirror.
She stepped into the hallway with her high heels on. Echoes of heels stretching into the faraway ends.
Pruet was only on her way to grab some long needed shut-eye. She had been monitoring Fi closely as her biggest project for the last few years was finally bearing fruit.
She was at the last door before her own. From behind the doors one sided yelling could be heard.
"I told you to not come here!" An absolutely livid voice rang out. Pruet recognised it at one of her comrades voices.
"How can you be so absolutely dumb to enter here. I damn sure you have a good reason to be here." The voice took a turn to an intimidating tone.
"You are completely unnecessary and your life is mine to take. Whenever I feel the slightest need for it."
Pruet recognised the voice. It was Jallow, the one responsible for the meatspace systems. Most specifically the possible allocation of materials and the exchange rate for all goods. Pruet pressed closer to the door and was about to listen in to the conversation, but stepped in to the room after hearing the next phrase.
"In fact you have already done your job. You shall die for risking my capture." Jallow said with a voice suddenly void of emotion. Pruet entered the room only to see a plasma pistol fired, executing a man in a blue jumpsuit.
Pruets eyes widened. A normal passenger. This was completely against the regulations. She thought it would have been one of the seven admins getting berated.
Pruet got fuming mad at Jallow. She thought the other was a good man dedicated to the big plan. Jallow had other schemes it seemed.
Wind cyclones appeared around her. Pruet's black her flowing turbulently in the raising wind. A blade of wind appeared in both of her hands.
"Jallow, I have got you now. I started recording outside the room and saw everything. Give up now, you are way weaker than me." Pruet spit between her clenched teeth. Jallow turned towards her in his office chair. An expression of annoyance rose in his eyes.
"Another pest to ruin my day." Jallow said shaking his head. Pruet got even more furious. She wanted to attack so badly but wanted to take him in alive. Last month they had fought to measure their abilities and just like every time before it Pruet had won easily.
"And most definitely you are not my match." Jallow said without rising up and pointed his finger at Pruet's heart.
"Die!" Jallow shouted out and a streak of light left his finger piercing Pruet's heart before she could react.
Pruet slumped on her knees with complete disbelief as she tried fixing her heart. The damage proved too big, her powers weren't enough. She struggled to speak something, but in the end death's sweet embrace took her.
"I really didn't want to use this yet." Jallow said with a heartbroken face. He thought at the painstaking decades it had taken him to figure out how to stop the full memory recall. He could only use it once. Jallow finally pressed the button and started cleaning up the bodies.