Earth Landing

The shuttle landed softly on the surface of the planet. The landing pad was just on the outskirts of the settlement. Olivia had quickly gathered her belongings and ran out of the shuttle the moment the door opened. She was gasping for air as Dr. Richardson walked up behind her.

"Is everything okay Olivia?" Dr. Richardson looked at the girl with concern.

"I'm fine now." Olivia straightened up and took a deep breath. "Just a little bit of claustrophobia." She lied as she picked her duffle bag back up.

"That's good. Wouldn't want you getting sick on your first day here." The doctor replied as he lead the way to the camp.

It was larger than she had thought it was going to be. More akin to a town than an encampment. They had repaired the buildings in the camp and had brought tools and machinery to help with the restoration process. Though because the soil and water was still irradiated food and water had to be delivered regularly.

Dr. Richardson lead Olivia through the streets where people were working away at various tasks. She also saw there were vendors out peddling their wares. Olivia thought it strange but guessed everyone needed to earn credits somehow.

Olivia had been walking for what felt like forever and wondered if she would ever get to their destination when Dr. Richardson finally stopped in front of a building.

"These are our quarters. Our apartment is on the main floor and I had a room made up for any possible travel companions so you have your own space while we are here." Dr. Richardson opened the door and walked in then promptly turned to the first door on the right. It was here he scanned a keycard that unlocked the door.

Olivia walked in and was impressed by what she saw. The room was spaceous, and two of the walls were lined with shelves full of books. She guessed Dr. Richardson spent a lot of time here. There was a small kitchen, a modern bathroom, and two bedrooms.

"Your room is the door on the left. I will leave you to unpack while I check in." Dr. Richardson left Olivia alone in the apartment to get settled.

Olivia opened the door to the left and was greeted to a modest sized room with a dresser, closet, and a large bed. It didn't take her long to unpack everything so she decided to sit on the bed and see if the upgrade to her data pad was working.

Hey Tori! I made it to Earth! This camp is a lot bigger than I thought it would be, and I even have a room to myself with a bed and everything! I was worried I would be sleeping on the ground in a tent. I hope to hear from you soon.

Olivia waited to see if her device would connect. It finally did after a few minutes then she got the notification that her message was sent successfully. Now she had to figure out what to do with her big problem.

Olivia didn't want to hurt anyone and because the camp was bigger than expected she was hoping there was a hospital with a supply of blood. Her other hope would be that it wasn't heavily guarded. She didn't want to drink blood but she also didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't drink it and her hp went to 0. Would she just keel over and die? Her system had been less than helpful so she doubted it would have an answer for her. It didn't react like an AI so she figured the only information available to her would be what was initially programmed into it. This was one of the reasons Olivia wanted to search for those upgrade balls and where they came from.

'I guess the first thing I need to do is explore the camp.' Olivia thought as she grabbed her data pad and stuffed it in her bag. 'I just hope I can find my way back.'

[Would you like to set a home point?]

'Wait I can do that? Yes set this location as my home point.'

[Home point set.]

This was actually one of the first really useful things the system had done for her so far. Olivia hoped that aspect of the system would improve as she leveled.

Olivia walked out to the main living area and saw an extra key card on the desk. She figured Dr. Richardson had left it for her.

Once she left the building Olivia was greeted by a bustling street, and the scent of cooking food. Just then her stomach growled and she realized she hadn't eaten anything since they left Arcadia that morning.

Following her nose Olivia came across an outdoor market. There were many street vendors set up and quite a few of them we cooking and baking delicious treats. She made her way through the market and decided on a stall that was selling meat skewers. Olivia hoped that the currency used here were still credits as she had nothing else to pay and she was really hungry.

"Two meat skewers please." Olivia placed her order and was releved when she was handed a terminal to scan her data pad on to pay.

The meat was tender and juicy. Olivia had never had meat that tasted so good in her life. She gobbled the meat up and licked the juices off her fingers and lips. She may have been a little overzealous though as she got a few stares from the locals.

Olivia quickly disposed of the wooden skewers and continued her trek through the camp. As she walked Olivia passed a few construction sites. There were people clearing debris from an old damaged building and some were testing the dirt for contaminates.

"Hey there miss, are you lost?"

Olivia turned and saw a young man, not much older than herself wailing towards her. He had short sandy blonde hair and a warm smile.

"I might be a little lost." Olivia admitted. "I just arrived here today with Dr. Richardson."

"Oh so you're his new assistant. Well then it would be my honour to give you a tour of our fair city." He said with a flourish. "My name is Sam. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Olivia." She replied awkwardly. Olivia didn't talk to many boys. Actually she didn't talk to many people in general. She wasn't exactly shy, she just preferred to be alone. "A tour of this place would be great." She smiled. It would help her figure out where everything was faster and to see if there was a hospital here.

Sam lead the way down many streets and pointed out some places of interest, including the archives headquarters where Dr. Richardson would be spending most of his time. There was also a small lending library filled with actual books that were still in well enough shape that people could handle them without them getting too damaged. Sam also told her where all the local hangouts were and some places she should avoid all together.

"Even though humanity has been at peace there are still trouble makers out there and they tend to hang out on the outskirts of the camp. Many of them are hunters and are only here for one thing. To make as many credits as they can." Sam explained as they saw a group of people camped out a little ways from the city.

"Hunters? I haven't heard that term before. What exactly are they hunting?" Olivia asked.

"They are the ones that go out to the more dangerous sites. Some sites are unstable buildings, old religious sites, crypts, and the like. Most of them stay in the areas that are no longer irradiated but the crazy ones still go out to the hot zones in search of bigger prizes." Sam shook his head. "In reality they give those of us like Dr. Richard's a job, but they aren't the type to make friends."

Sam then walked off to continue the tour. Olivia was intrigued, trying to get in with the hunters may actually help her find out the information she came for.

"And the last stop on our tour is where you will find the supply store, and the trauma centre. We are still working on building a proper hospital but the medical staff is great so I wouldn't worry too much."

Bingo! Olivia may have found the answer to her current problem. Now how was she going to get in there to get what she needed without anyone finding out? Maybe she would come back later in the evening when things hopefully started to settle down for the night. She also wanted to go talk to those hunters but knew Sam and Dr. Richardson would not approve.

"Shall I take you back to your apartment? I'm guessing you are staying with Dr. Richardson." Sam asked. He wanted to make sure Olivia got home safely as he noticed she spent too long looking over at the hunter encampment.

Not wanting to look suspicious Olivia agreed. Sam then walked Olivia back home.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Olivia. I'm sure we will see each other again soon." Sam said cheerfully and waited for Olivia to walk through the door of her building before he was satisfied and stareted to walk down the street.

'I'm going to have to keep and eye on her.' Sam thought. 'I just know she is going to be trouble.'