Grayson awoke as the first rays of sunlight filtered into the shelter. Today he hoped to take stock of the resources his parents had supplied to support this imposing mission.
After breakfast, he flexed his fingers then activated his neural interface with a subtle gesture. Windows flickered open, displaying inventory lists and equipment statuses.
Selecting the entry for [Modular Shelter Pod], Grayson spread his fingers and twisted clockwise. Responding to the inputs, the external camera drone detached from the pod structure and began scanning its surfaces in a slow spiral.
As the drone sent back 3D mapped visuals, Grayson grasped and rotated the holographic model projected in his palm. He noted scorch marks on the ceramic heat shields and buckled stress points in the spaceframe struts from the rough landing.
"No critical damage, but we'll need to reinforce this," Grayson noted. Detailed scanner data streamed continuously through his lace, updating the shelter model.
Next Grayson pulled up the supply manifests. He flicked through categories—rations, medicines, tools, hardware, spare parts. It was a compact colony starter pack. Many items were physically tagged for his augmented vision.
One supply cache blinked insistently. When Grayson shifted focus to it, a stream of images flashed by—coils of metal ingots, spools of material filaments, tanks of base liquids.
"Enough stock to keep the printer busy for a while," he murmured. Turning his attention back to the slowly rotating shelter model, Grayson highlighted an area then dragged his finger down. In response, a drone detached from surveying and began stripping corroded plates from that section.
There was satisfaction in seeing it come together so intuitively. Grayson was already meshing with these systems better than he had hoped. Step by step, he would transform this foreign land into a home.
By mid-morning, Grayson had inventoried a sizable stockpile of supplies—from protein biomatter for the food printer, to tools and hardware, to the all-important raw materials for the molecular assembler/recycler.
His hands worked continuously as he sifted through manifests, flagged items needing maintenance, dispatched drones to scan environmental data. It was an exhilarating blur of information filtered through his augmented senses.
The intuitive neural interface let Grayson grasp and manipulate projections, zoom in on details, and rapidly sort mountains of data into actionable tasks. He couldn't help a swell of gratitude that his parents had cultivated these talents in him from childhood.
Pausing the scans, Grayson decided to check base security. According to the maps constructed so far, they were surrounded by rocky highlands on one side and ocean on the others—fairly defensible terrain.
But he dispatched a stealth quadcopter drone to get an aerial view of the perimeter. It returned 15 minutes later with no notable activity beyond the expected seabirds and lizards to report. For now, this land was untrammeled by human footprints.
While inspecting some volcanic glass slabs for use as shielding, Grayson slipped. The sharp edge cut deep across his palm. He hissed in pain, crimson welling fast. Within moments, his biometric display lit up:
[Laceration detected. Deploying nanobot repair swarm. Estimated recovery: 36 hours.]
Grayson wrapped the wound hastily, shaking his head. "Guess I needed that reminder I'm still made of meat."
Egg's voice came gently. "Consider it a prompt. Humans often learn best through embodied setbacks. While your nanobots repair the tissue, I suggest channeling your attention into skill progression. I have prepared a framework."
The wall shimmered to reveal a new interface: a clean skill sheet with branching categories.
[Assembly: Rank 1]
[Fabrication: Rank 1]
[Systems Management: Rank 0]
[Surveying: Rank 0]
[Resilience: Passive — Active]
"Skills?" Grayson asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Competencies," Egg corrected. "I will track your growing proficiency. Each task builds mastery. This is not a quest log of chores—it is a reflection of your expanding capacity. Humans need markers of progress. Consider this your character sheet."
Grayson chuckled despite the sting in his hand. "So I'm grinding IRL stats now."
"Precisely. For example, when you repaired the printer yesterday, your Assembly rating improved. Efficiency of connections is already up twelve percent."
As Grayson resumed work one-handed, drones carrying fabricated modules buzzed past. He guided them into position, connecting power couplings, aligning seals.
Notifications blinked in the corner of his vision:
[Assembly: Rank 1 → Rank 2]
[Fabrication: +12%]
By late afternoon, lab domes and power hubs began to dot the rocky slope. Solar panels tracked the descending sun, greenhouses sealed tight against the salt air.
Embedded nano-sensors pulsed softly as they synchronized into the base grid.
Grayson surveyed the progress, his injured hand still wrapped but throbbing less. His interface tallied the day's growth:
[Base Operations: Initiated]
[Skill Progress Logged]
He stood in the cooling twilight, watching the solar lights flicker on around his small colony. A pang of loneliness pressed at him, but the glowing structures answered it with quiet reassurance.
"Tomorrow," Grayson murmured, "I'll push a little further."
"For as long as it takes," Egg replied.