The CaSTE System

The N-HUD completed its initial installation and started to install other standard programs that was required in the daily life of humans who now lived in the spaceships. A program titled "CSALTS" started to install. The bar for this program was quite a bit slower to install, however, and it gave Jaff the time to focus on the smaller program window.

His mouth was agape as he looked at the second window,

<character: Palmount, Jaffeson has received the in-universe-tool: N-HUD!

User is now able to receive SYSTEM messages.

Welcome User to show: "THE METAL PUSHER", episode: "PILOT">

A series of memories from his life on 21st-century Earth rose in his mind, and though he still couldn't remember his name, just now, he remembered that he was addicted to television shows.

The fact all the words in the…"System" messages that seem to be displayed irregularly all kinda have something to do with some sort of TV program is interesting, he thought to himself as he studied the messages.

Jaff remembered how the orientation staff waved their arms in front of them before and quickly realised that if the N-HUD is something like a visual reality system, then waving your arms in this reality could be interpreted like a mouse movement or manipulating a touch screen in his original reality.

But, even though he was correct in his deduction when he moved his arms, the only window that was affected by the movement was the bigger N-HUD window.

What do I do about this other window?

At that very moment, the message in the smaller window changed.

How do I use the CaSTE System? The Character and Show Track Editor (CaSTE for short) System is fully usable by the User's mind. All System functions are unlocked and activatable by the User's thoughts.>

Jaff frowned and clicked his tongue at the name of the system as it had negative connotations, but he couldn't do anything about it. The fact that the system had a FAQs section was interesting to him though.

What can I do with the system? He thought slowly. He wasn't sure how responsive the system was, so he made sure that the prompt was slow and clear.

What can I do with the CaSTE System? – Beginner User detected – System functions for Users vary depending on User category. The following functions are unlocked for Beginner Users:

-Status Screen

-Unlocked Skills Screen

-(Beginner) Points Shop Screen

Possible Follow-Up Question Detected: What do these functions do?>

Jaff was surprised by the answer that the system gave. Even though it answered his question, it revealed new information through its answer in its mention of 'User Categories'. However, since the system also called him a 'Beginner User', and the fact that he only just gained access to the system, he didn't feel the need for it to delve deeper into explaining what it meant.

The three different functions he listed though; he felt the need to have that expanded on just to make sure he fully understood what they entailed.

The system automatically detected his thoughts and updated the window:

What do these functions do?

Status Screen — Where the Character and Show status is displayed. This includes the User's Category, Episode number, and show rating.>

His (still somewhat fuzzy) memories seemed to indicate that he was a fan of many TV shows, especially and including sci-fi genre shows, and he remembered obsessing over the status of those shows when a season ended.

Was the show getting renewed? How many episodes were scheduled for the season? Who was involved in the production crew? Did it have a showrunner or a writing team?

As he read the description of the first function, the language that the system used gave him a sense of confidence that he would be extremely comfortable with using the Status Screen.

<Unlocked Skills Screen — Lists the User's Unlocked Skills. These skills are varied and could have passive and/or active effects that may be used to aid the User.>

The way the system was explaining its functions reminded Jaff of some of the video games that he used to also be a fan of, so the Skills Screen explanation made a lot of sense to him, and he didn't need it to go into any more detail.

<(Beginner) Points Shop Screen — The Points Shop Screen is where a User can use their hard-earned points to unlock a variety of things including skills, items, and consumables. However, the Points Shop's catalogue is determined by the User's Category.>

Once again, everything the system was saying seemed familiar to Jaff. The fact that certain things were locked behind the User's Category meant that, most probably, the better items were locked for higher-ranked categories.

As he was about to prompt the system to show him the status screen, a staff member he hadn't seen before spoke loudly from the entrance to the post-implant waiting area which almost scared him to death. At the same time, the CaSTE window disappeared from his view.

"Hey! What the hashe are you still doing here? The orientation ain't over!" the burly man with an overbite and a scowl yelled at Jaff. He was pushing a metal bed with another person from Jaff's batch that just had their N-HUD implanted.

Jaff stuttered as he jumped up and had to blink a few times due to the constant visual feedback that the N-HUD gave him.

He regretted spending all his time in the waiting lobby focused on the CaSTE system.

"Still not used to the implant, ya? Just make sure you don't vomit everywhere," the staff member glared at Jaff as he spoke, "Still need you to move on to the next section, how'ver, you can't stay here the whole time."

The man jutted out his chin in a direction behind Jaff. Jaff struggled to turn and keep his balance as something called the "CSALTS" took up most of his vision. Behind the slightly transparent acronym, Jaff could see members of the batch leaving the waiting area through an automatic sliding door.

"You know how to use CSALTS to lead you to the next area?" the burly man grunted.

"Uh, no, sorry." Jaff awkwardly answered. He didn't dare to look back at the staff member as he feared that the dizziness would overtake him.

The man grumbled something just out of Jaff's earshot and in Jaff's vision, a window popped up above the CSALTS window.

[CENTRAL SHIP ALLIANCE LOCATION TRACKER SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED!

Citizen ID: 59781130-03 — Jafferson Palmount.

Current Location: N-HUD Post-Care Area D.

Enter Desired Location…

Desired Location Entered!

Visualising way to the entered desired location.]

The original big window disappeared from Jaff's field of vision and was replaced by a minimalistic heads-up display.

To the top left of Jaff's field of vision, he could see the acronym 'CSALTS' and his apparent desired location. The location listed was 'personal pod' in 'staff residential area level 6'.

A small, bright line then appeared on the floor in front of him and went straight for the exit that he saw other batch people exit through earlier.

"Thanks," Jaff said, still awkwardly refusing to turn around to face the staff member.

The staff member just grunted as a response, and Jaff took that as his queue to start heading towards the exit.

He was still slightly dizzy from the extra information that seemed to hang in the air in his field of vision, though, he assumed that it was like wearing a virtual headset in his original universe.

He almost tripped over his own feet and stumbled to the left a bit when he was surprised at the line he was following automatically shifted to follow his location.

It reminded him of a waypoint function in a couple of games that he used to play in his original universe. A particular horror game set in an abandoned spaceship had a very similar mechanic to prevent players from getting lost in its levels.

It's like a mix between a waypoint system in a video game and a GPS, Jaff thought as he started to get used to walking with the constant head-up display of the line guiding his way, I wonder what the staff residential area looks like.