Chapter 2 First steps..

The clothes provided were not anything special, a t- shirt,boxers and one orange coverall suit that reminded Simon of a prison outfit next there was a pair of shoes made from a material he has never seen before and a pair of worker gloves.

After putting everything on and being a little shocked that everything fitted him perfectly,he moved on to his starter pack which was in a plastic like container with a closed lid.

The pack was just like Mikael said it contained three nutrient bars,2 canteens of water 

1.liter each, a belt with pouches meant for those canteens, a backpack and a sleeping bag.

After taking an inventory and putting everything in a backpack he left the room into a corridor where Mikael was waiting for him.

-You ready to leave? 

Asked the older man after seeing him.

-Yes i got everything let's go.

After that answer Mikael started to walk, gesturing to Simon to follow him.

They were walking in silence for about 5 minutes passing by many doors and finally there was a beep sound from a thin bracelet on Mikael's wrist.

-What is that?

Simon has broken the silence.

-Oh this ? spoke Mikael raising his right hand up to show the device closer..

-This is a personal computer you can buy one in the shop. It's quite useful but also expensive.

-If i can give you any advice it's better to buy one as soon as possible, as it gets your life a whole lot easier for instance the map function lets you always find your way around and it also has a built in communication device so you can call for help or just to say hi and many other useful functions.

Simon looked curiously at the gadget; it looked like an ordinary rubber wristband,but after Michael touched it with a finger a holographic display materialized before him.

It was a map with a marked road and it showed that they had reached their destination.

-Well, this is it behind these doors you will find a new beginning so let's go.

After speaking those words Michael pushed a small tile on the wall right next to the door and after a quiet hiss sound the door split open,revealing a big square which was at least a kilometer long and 2 kilometers wide and was surrounded by mountains of scrap metal and other junk leaving only a few narrow passages between them.

The square was paved with something that looked like concrete and there were many conveyor belts which went through a hole in the ground leading, god knows where.

Beside every belt stood something like a touch screen and two poles emitting a green light.

every belt was like 3 meters wide and it looked like it could move a lot of materials at once and the holes in the ground were at least 4x4 m so that a bigger pisces could go through.

-This is a collection station, one of many on this planet,that's the place you bring the materials to be sold .No matter what station you use the price is always the same so it's easier to use the closest one to your position.

Spoke Mikael.

-and that's where a map comes in handy because every station and shop are displayed there, not to mention it also tells you if a structure is occupied by someone.

After hearing all this Simon made up his mind to purchase one as soon as possible.

-You see the building in the middle ?

Asked Mikael pointing in that direction.

-I see it, what is that?

-That is a shop, let's go so you can see everything up close.

Walking towards the shop Mikael explained how to sell the materials and collect you're credits and it was surprisingly easy scan youre microchip so that its registered as you're salvage and then just throw the materials on the conveyor belt where it will be scanned evaluated and then transported away after that you can see your balance and the material info on the monitor,Credits are automatically transferred to your account.

After getting to the shop Mikael scanned his chip and the display opened on the big touchscreen.

-I don't think i need to explain how this works right?

Asked Mikael in a joking tone.

-No i got it but what is this tube thing on the side?

Simon pointed at a device that looked like a cloning aperture from a sci-fi movie.

-that's a regeneration capsule, if you get injured you can use it to heal and even regenerate a body part but it's expensive as all hell so it's better to stay safe than use it.

-Now that you know some basics it's time to find you a home.

Said the older man and started walking in the direction of one of the passages forcing his younger companion to catch up.

-What do you mean house? you mean like the one i woke um in?

Asked Simon.

-No, that was an arrival room and you'll probably never see one again.

I'm talking about a place that is all yours and we can find one not too far away behind those scrap mountains.

Anvseres Mikael, continuing to go through the passage that was easily 20 meters wide and surrounded by at least 100 meters scrap walls on both sides.

Tired of asking questions Simon went after his guide and after some 20 minutes of walking he saw what the older man was talking about.

Before him was a Starships cemetery with hundreds if not thousands of different ships lying around as far as the eye can see, some stacked on one another and some lying separately..

Mikael pointed at one of the smaller ships.

-That's where I live. It's marked on the map by the marker so that everyone knows that it's my place and if they don't have a map the marker will inform anyone approaching that it's taken.

Saying those words the older man activated his map and sure enough there was a marker in the place he pointed on.

-As you can see there is no one else here so you can choose any ship you want as your home and the moment you plant and activate the marker it's yours for as long as you want.

-So what do i do if i want to move elsewhere?

-That's easy just deactivate the marker and move but the moment the marker is off it's a vacant place and someone else can move in.

That answer made a lot of sense but there were way too many ships to choose from so Simon asked.

-Which one would you recommend as a home?

- Look for one that is not too badly damaged and has some space in it so that you can store your stuff inside once you start buying tools and stuff, one with some doors is preferable because there are dust storms once in a while so it's good to have the ability to hide behind closed doors.

-Well I better start looking through the real estate here.