Staff Residential Area 6

Jaff followed the line slowly. He made sure that he stayed out of the way of other people as they walked — and sometimes ran — past him. All following their lines, to head to their destinations.

He followed the line through multiple sliding doors, cramped metal corridors and even a loud, seemingly worn-down elevator all to head towards the next part of the orientation process. His personal pod in the staff residential area level 6.

He attempted to open the CaSTE system window again along the journey, though it never listened to his mental commands. After several failed tries, he gave up and observed the ship's interiors and the other people aboard the Maxo's Lightbringer.

When he wondered where the Maxo's Lightbringer was to other points of interest in the System, the CSALTS window popped up on one side of his vision and zoomed out to show him the map to the SOL-2 System. The map highlighted that the Maxo's Lightbringer was currently on a parallel orbit to a space station that orbited the System's fourth planet, Intenza; Sanctuary Station.

Jaff realised that even in Jafferson's memories, he didn't know much about the SOL-2 System, and responding to that prompt thought, the N-HUD switched the CSALTS window with several brand new ones, like when his computer booted up.

The new window covered his whole area of vision and forced Jaff to stop in his tracks as the dizziness feeling returned.

"Shaik! Watch it!" somebody he couldn't see through the new window who had been walking behind him cursed and shoved past.

Jaff leaned against the wall, wondering how to stop the N-HUD window from rendering him essentially blind. Automatically, the window disappeared, though Jaff then started to hear an audio file start to play. Not through his ears, he noticed, as the ambient noises slowly lowered, but never fully.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could still hear the vague, muffled conversations of the other people aboard the ship; the clanking of feet on metal; and the low, soft rumble of machinery.

All that was still there, but Jaff remembered that the N-HUD connected to different parts of his brain. Including the auditory cortex. He realised that the N-HUD had started to play an audio file straight to his brain as a response to his thought prompt.

Once the dizzy spell left, he closed all the windows that popped up in and he quickly prompted the N-HUD to restart the audio file, and then continued to follow the line the CSALTS gave him.

***

The SOL-2 Star System is remarkably similar to the Old System. Located approximately 2000 light-years away from the Old System. SOL-2 is named after the Old System as it consists of a singular yellow dwarf and several planetary bodies orbiting said yellow dwarf. Affectionately named 'Sol 2'.

Though accurate records of the Old System have been lost due to the Cataclysm, scholars have argued that the number of planetary bodies in SOL-2 almost match those in the Old System completely.

The following is the list of planetary bodies and official CSA stations implanted in the SOL-2 System in relation to their distance from Sol 2:

Hel – As the closest planet to Sol 2, it is constantly barraged by the yellow dwarf's heat. Terraforming efforts have been unsuccessful, as its proximity to Sol 2 means that frequent extreme heat storms form on the surface.

Death's Door – Hel's solitary and desolate moon. It spends two-thirds of Hel's orbit around Sol 2 in Hel's shadow and is the location of the System's mega-prison complex: Death's Lock.

Hel's Shadow Station – Official CSA space station in charge of the region around the planetary body and Death's Lock sole connection to the rest of the System.

Bridge Station S2-Alpha – Due to the distances between several planetary bodies in SOL-2, multiple Bridge Stations were created to allow for refuelling and supplies.

Chariot – SOL-2's second planet. Its increased distance from Sol 2 made terraforming efforts easier, though the world is still considered hotter than the ancient temperature records taken on Earth before the Cataclysm. Chariot is home to metals and minerals that are necessary for spacefaring.

Kaseo Station – Official CSA space station.

Kor – The third planet in SOL-2, and Earth's sister planet. Currently in the process of terraforming, though harsh environmental conditions have slowed the process significantly. So much so, that terraforming attempts in other planetary bodies started and completed before it.

Haperon Station – Official CSA space station that orbits Kor. It is also where the Ladon Corporation's Terraforming Department is located. Named after Captain Proster Haperon, famed first-generation spaceship captain.

Guardian – Kor's first satellite planet. Believed to be one-half of Kor's original moon, though many millennia before humanity arrived at SOL-2, a meteor impact split the original moon into two in a haphazard orbit around each other and Kor.

Saviour – Kor's second satellite planet. The other half of Kor's original moon, though its wild orbit path means that once every revolution of Sol 2, it slingshots past Intenza and its satellites—

***

Jaff was in another slow-moving elevator listening to the audio file when a large section of the Maxo's Lightbringer made of vacuum tensile glass appeared in front of him and he could see what he easily mistook as Earth in the distance.

The distant blue-brown planet that reminded him of home was small, but he was still awestruck by the serene-looking horizon. A label appeared on his N-HUD that informed him of what he already knew. He was looking at Kor.

He was brought out of his daze when the elevator roughly hitched to a stop. A sign of the aging technology aboard the Maxo's Lightbringer, and after he waited for others to step off the elevator, he followed the CSALTS line behind them.

Before long, he finally found a plaque above a doorway that was translated by the N-HUD as "Staff Residential Area 6". The sliding door creaked as it slid open when he stepped closer.

Part of him was surprised when he stepped through the doorway. Another part was not shocked. He shouldn't have been shocked, to be honest. He noticed that the further away he was from the defrosting station and the early orientation areas, the older and dirtier the areas were.

The state of staff residential area 6 shocked him greatly. The space that he first saw was quite massive. Unlike the cramped corridors and normal-sized lobbies and rooms, the residential area opted for a cavernous feel.

He looked up and there was an oval opening that led to a metal ceiling. On the metal ceiling was a massive light source that cast big, stark shadows. It seemed to be the only source of light for the residential area.

As part of the automatic orientation program, Jaff's N-HUD played a short informational video that was slightly translucent. A robotic AI voice narrated as a simplistic overlay of the residential area appeared on one side of his vision.

"Residential Area 6, like its five predecessors was designed to fit as many people as possible. It had five different levels that bustled with life as almost a thousand people lived there.

"Each floor was designated for a different category of staff. On the bottom level lives the Retirees. Retirees are staff members and shippers who have retired from their designated jobs. This is either because of old age, or disability. As Residential Area 6 is designated to mostly physical labour, most of the Retirees living here are because of unfortunate workplace accidents."

As Jaff slowly followed his CSALTS line and the orientation video played, he looked over to a couple of residents that lived on the bottom floor. They seemed older than those that defrosted with him and an alarming number of them had amputated limbs. Only a couple of the Retirees had metal prosthetics to replace their lost limbs.

"Depending on their job contribution, and as thanks for their hard work, Retirees are gifted Retirement Plans which include being assigned bottom-level pods that allow for more space and privacy, as well as medical help opportunities."

Jaff gulped at the frankness of the orientation video. The pods look so cramped, he thought.

He continued to the elevator, making sure to avoid running into other passengers. When he reached the elevator, a notification appeared on his N-HUD. It said:

[Your personal pod is located on level 5, column AH, Cluster 3.]

On level 5, his CSALTS line finally turned into one of the many small corridors that housed the personal pods. A familiar red-haired figure waited by the entrance, shaking his head at Jaff.

"Where you been? An' why not respond?" Dexta asked him. He was shaking his head and had a disappointed look on his face, but his voice was still friendly.

"What do you mean?" was all Jaff could reply with.

"My frein request!" Dexta said excitedly.

Jaff's confused look on his face clued him to the answer.

"You still not find the comms program?" Dexta asked him.

"Comms Package?" Jaff mumbled, and as soon as he said it, a new window popped up on his N-HUD.

The window showed a notification that he recognised as one of the windows he closed earlier.

[Dexta Eastmore has sent you a friend request. Would you like to accept?]

"Oh I didn't see this," Jaff mumbled.

"Is okay. Guess what?" Dexta quickly walked in front of him in the corridor that Jaff's CSALTS line led him to.

In the corridor, there looked to be several compartments along both walls. The compartments were stacked four high and there were four more groups of four high compartments along the walls to the end of the corridor.

In between the groups, there were in-wall handholds and footholds — ladders — that allowed people to climb up to the top compartments. Dexta stopped by the ladder for the third group compartments and climbed up to the second-top compartment.

"This here, my pod," Dexta said as he beamed down at Jaff. He pointed to the top compartment, "That, your pod."

Jaff stood in disbelief as the extroverted Dexta opened up the top compartment and Jaff's N-HUD confirmed to him that Dexta was telling the truth.

"We're bunkmates!"