1 Quest for Knowledge System

Wind woke up tired. He was always tired nowadays. He was running low on food. He would have to go to the supplies office to pick up some. He missed the taste of real food, the artificial stuff that they gave him just didn't cut it.

His room was sparse, he always liked it that way though now he didn't really have a choice. There was only a bed, a small cramped desk riddled with cigarette stains and a large window overlooking the lake. In a corner of the room was a decrepit VR station. His computer was still whirling from the night before, he didn't turn it off anymore because he was afraid of what might happen to it if he did.

He turned on the holo-monitor for the computer. It sputtered for a second before coming to life. On the screen were the remnants of a game he was playing the night before. He had died, pitifully. He closed out of the game and opened up to all of the usual forums and news sites he looked at.

In the Gelasian Federation where he currently resided, it was almost always peaceful. Nobody bothered with the states within and especially not small border colonies like the one he resided in. He flicked through some other forums barely reading the headlines. It was always the same.

He got up from his desk, he needed some food. His kitchen was empty, all of the bowls of instant nutrition were gone, all of the flavor packages torn through. He sighed knowing he would have to make another trip to the colonies supplies office. He put on his only surviving jacket, a red one with little tears and frays from use.

He left the small cabin in a hurry. Taking a breath of the cold air he regretted the journey for food. He stuck his hands inside the pockets of the jacket and started to walk. The walk to town was lined with trees. Not the trees that he knew, small delightful kind trees, but hulking pine needle covered monstrosities.

He hated them. He passed the gas station long out of commission after gas was outlawed by the Gelasian Federation for the dangers it posed to kids, it was soon abandoned. The houses that he passed were mostly abandoned after the gas was abandoned there wasn't anymore blue-collared jobs left in the planet.

He finally arrived at the supplies office, a small place with shining star symbol of the Federation on the top. He opened the dilapidated door and stepped in. Vet Kildetjo sat there reading a book, he was a small whispy teenager, the son of the manager of the colony Loes Kildetjo. As soon as Wind entered he started to prepare the packages for him.

Nobody talked and when he presented him with his food he gave a curt your welcome and proceeded to go back to reading his back. It was better this way Wind didn't like talking to people anyway. Wind left the store carrying his package and started to walk all over again.

His house was cold, it always was. He sat back down at his desk.

He closed all the web pages he had opened, he would bother with them later. Right now he needed to remember. He opened one of the drawers, fumbled for a second, and finally pulled out an e-chip. Plugging it into his holo monitor and closing his eyes, he prepared for that familiar feeling. He waited one second, two seconds, three seconds, nothing.

He opened his eyes and the holo-monitor had gone black except for the words in all white.

He blinked. Did he pick the wrong e-chip? Was this one of his game saves but he couldn't remember what game would begin like this? He considered turning it off and looking back for his video but he decided against it. He could always live a memory another day. He hit the button.

The holo monitor started to shake, the colors started to change, first yellow, then blue, and finally landing on a rainbow. Wind tried to turn it off but it wouldn't happen, he knew this was the end he would never have the money to repair the computer. He was destined to wallow in boredom for the rest of his life.

Except

wasn't.

The ceiling was very pretty. Something was jamming into his side, maybe the chair. He could see in the corner of his eyes something he had never seen before in real life. A HUD. Words started to roll in from the top of his eyes.

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