Chapter 3

Julian looked up to see that a small shuttle Merchant Ship class was coming in for a landing. He had no idea how many classes there were or the differences between them, but the information was provided by a standard ship terminal. It provided ship takeoff and landing information, as well as doubling as a security camera for the landing area. The ship touched down smoothly, and a woman dressed in formal attire disembarked.

“Hey there! Let me be the first to welcome you to this wonderful world!” She beamed a smile that would have anyone at ease, and stuck out her hand for Julian to shake.

“I’m Kimberly, but you can call me Kim. Everyone does.” Julian took her outstretched hand and shook as best as he knew how. Firm, but not a death grip. “I’m Julian. I’m glad you volunteered your help. I think all I’ll need is the basics of this general area and some starter items, and I should be fine.”

“You’ll need all the resources you can get in this world. When you become Perma, it’s more than a game. It’s a way of life. First, let’s go next door to the communications store.”

Julian tagged along behind her as they passed the starship store on the left. Julian hoped that was where they would be going next after he could communicate.

Looking at the shops from outside, he thought he was just imagining that the small interiors of the buildings had no visual element to them. As they stepped into the Communications Store, he was right. The stores in this world seemed only to attract the people that know what they want and leave.

“Luckily, Kim says, the mentor program allows us to give our protégée’s a handful of credits to get started with. Since you have no way of knowing any financial information without a computer hooked up to the Galactic Network...”

Kim manipulates a shopping terminal in the shop. A few seconds later, a small portable device deposited itself at the bottom of it; her transaction completed. She grabs it and hands it to Julian.

“Pressing the only button at the top left hand corner will activate its menu system. Go ahead, try it.”

Julian did as she instructed. There was only one option that appeared, and that option was to register for the Galactic Network.

“The Galactic Network doesn’t know who you are yet,” Kim explains. “Once you register by fingerprint, several things are created. Most pressing right now though is a bank account to store funds, so you’ll need to do that now.”

Julian did so, and the process was surprisingly simple. He thought he’d have forms to fill out or some other process to hold him back, since these are how these things usually are, but his print was accepted in just under thirty-seconds, and the computer presented its simple to use menus. One of particular interest to Julian was “Messages”. He noted that he had two messages, one from Alchemy with a Welcome Message, another from “Galactic System Message” saying that a bank deposit account was created in his name, where he could directly deposit, withdraw, or create multiple funds with this account. They said they gave his account the standard amount of credits to keep it opened, 1000. Obviously that wasn’t going to be enough to buy him anything, even in this store.

“Okay, I’m set,” Julian says. “You can transfer some credits. I’ll pay you back once I’m on my feet.”

“That is not really necessary, Julian.”

A message flashed on his information computer indicating that Kimberly Aldrich transferred credits to Julian Matthews account totaling 2,000,000 credits.

“All right, looking good so far. Now, the first order of business is to buy a communicator. Pick the option to buy at the shopping terminal here, pick that you want a standard communicator, and then pick your look and feel.”

Julian nodded and did just that. He went with a black and blue communicator with big, square buttons so that they could easily be felt. He turned it on and was immediately swarmed with people on a bunch of different frequencies and channels.

“Well, I know it’s working. Is there a way to filter this thing?” asks Julian.

“There is. Press the “Tune” button. That will enable you to filter out communications that don’t interest you. As you’re just getting started, I recommend tuning out combat for now. There are many combat missions going on, and it may overwhelm you.”

Julian nodded again, thankful for her help, and tuned out several channels. General, combat and alliance chatter, just to name a few. Once he learned more about those things, he’d decide whether to turn it on.