Chapter 9 - Starnet

Juniper decided that he would give it a try and see how things worked out.

After breakfast, Ciro showed him how to use the broadcasting functions and gave him the opportunity to practice with it.

Juniper set up an account and his ID had to be verified by the network.

The device vibrated and a screen appeared that read:

─ Message Sent

He heard an electronic voice say,

After that, the screen went blank again. All he could do for now is wait until his account was approved before doing his first livestream. He turned off the communication equipment, It would take him a bit of time to become accustomed to using all of the features on this thing, but the possibilities were endless. "It will come," he told himself with confidence.

"What's next?" Juniper asked. Ciro took a sip from his coffee cup and looked at him in silence for a few seconds before speaking. "We'll start with your wardrobe" He smiled and motioned Juniper toward one of the nearby chair, and dashed out into the other room.

The first and second husband had left one had headed out to work while the other dropped off the children at school. Clay sat at the table and spoke up at this point. ''Thank you'' he said in a low voice glancing at Juniper.

Juniper was confused at why he would thank him ''..?''

Seeing his confusion Clay continued looking down at his coffee ''Thank you for being Ciro's friend...., You know Females are pretty scarse the decline in female birth rate has dropped over the last few hundreds of years and the radio of females to males are now at 1:12, a lot of females are arrogant because of how society has pampered them although not all like that its still quite common, because of this Ciro has struggled to make friends.''

''I see...'' Juniper didnt know, he still had a vague understanding of this world. But it made him have more of a determination to cherish this friendship with Ciro.

***

Ciro returned shortly with a box of items in his hands. "These are for you."

Juniper lifted the lid and saw neatly folded clothes and shoes within. "You're letting me have these?"

Ciro laughed. "Yes! You're going to need more clothes, right?'' His eyes shone. Juniper shook his head and grinned back. It wasn't like he had any choice in the matter, and besides, it was kind of exciting to have some new items.

''Oh I almost forgot, I'll send over some links to your communicator they should be useful to you'' Ciro smiled again and waved him off as he headed back to his appartment.

***

A little while later, Juniper went through the messages Ciro had sent him. They were all helpful, including the one titled "The Nexus Network Manual.'' which was needed for his live broadcasting.

''Lets see.. Starnet guide, Starmarket...?'' Juniper was curious and went into it. Starmarket was the largest market for trade between planets on the Starnet. It was run by the AI system itself and there was no human intervention allowed and was strickly monitored.

This would work out really well for him. The market contained all manner of goods ranging from food and clothes to furniture and musical instruments, and even art works, and everything else in between.

There were also auctions, but Juniper had never used any of this so far, so it would take him some time to learn.

Juniper was pleased and decided to take a look to see if seeds for growing vegetables were available. After a few clicks he found several different kinds of lettuce and carrots, he looked at the other seed types listed on the page, and saw that some were unusual he had never seen before. The normal vegetable seeds were relatively cheap, it seems that people dont tend to buy them and only purchase the final product.

Juniper selected a bundle of six different seed packets and added it to his order. Then, he brought some planters and equipment. All together they came to a total of twenty seeds, He took a deep breath and hit 'confirm.' He had only just gotten his hands on an account and already had his first real transaction under his belt.

Thankfully the apartment he had, although smaller than Ciro's, it also came with a balcony from the bedroom, he decided to use this area to grow these seeds. Delivery is very quick in the interstellar age, delivery robots can deliver the said items within the hour most of the time, he saw his seed packages inside the small box sitting outside his door. Juniper hurried Opening the box, Juniper was happy to find that all the seeds were neatly packaged. He could not wait to set up his little garden!