DSF@f6c927020fdb7778cbdb7d56d92836e6
I walked out of the port with a backpack on my back, following the navigation instructions. DSF's pilot station was located on Galileo 1B. Since I still had plenty of time, I decided to take a stroll in 1C. I opened the memo Mars had given me, and the first item read: "Go to the pharmacy and get sleeping pills."
I couldn't help but laugh. For astronauts who have been living alone in spacecraft for years, facing crowds and social life after landing can be a bit awkward. This can cause insomnia, either due to social pressure or excessive excitement. It's also difficult for their biological clock to adjust quickly from the 4-4 clock cycle in the spacecraft to the 7-9 hours of sleep per 24 hours in normal society. So after landing, it is generally recommended to get sleeping pills just in case.
Walking on the streets of 1C, this is a transitional area that connects the port and the commercial district. The diameter of 1C is about 4 kilometers. Although all the building structures are hollowed out inside the original planet and constructed, with the help of artificial sunlight and a large amount of space excavated after structural reinforcement, it doesn't feel oppressive at all. The commercial district is the largest hollow area, and various projection areas on the dome display various pictures, logos, and animated advertisements. In the middle of the street, it passes through the center of the asteroid and links to the curved long-arm to other cities. The collective residential area is located in the space directly above and below the commercial district, and behind the projection walls of various shops on both sides are winding passages that lead to infrastructure or private residential areas. Generally, the part of the space habitat's celestial body close to the outer space is sold as residences for the more affluent people, where there are reinforced panoramic windows overlooking the outer space. Pedestrians on the street are calm and composed, some of them are wearing uniforms of various companies, probably just landed or about to take off, while others are wearing more casual clothes, probably residents or workers who have already changed into leisure clothes. Everything seems to be in perfect order.
Following the navigation, I climbed up to the second level of the commercial area with a staircase layout and found the pharmacy. Mars had already reserved it for me, so I walked straight to the pick-up counter. The display on the counter indicated to wait for a moment, so I flipped through the email messages on my arm terminal while waiting. Suddenly, a robotic voice from the counter said, "Excuse me, May I have your name please?"
Without lifting my head, I continued scrolling through the message list on my arm console screen and answered my name. However, I heard my voice mixed with another voice saying, "Ami..." / "Alcon..."
Following the voice, I looked up and saw a girl in a DSF spacesuit, also stopping to look at the information on her hand. I felt a little embarrassed and said, "I'm Alcon..." It was obvious since no one was competing for my name. The girl smiled and said, "I'm Ami..."
The robot repeated our names and then left the counter to retrieve two boxes, labeled AL and AM, which were conveniently adjacent with consecutive lettering. The robot probably processed them in alphabetical order, so it gave me the AL box first. I said, "Ladies first," and the robot paused, put the box with the Alcon name at the back, and switched the Ami box to the front. I scanned it quickly and realized that Ami and I were picking up the same medicine. We both laughed at the coincidence.
After picking up the medicine, we walked out of the pharmacy, with Ami walking in front of me. We both checked our navigations, and I asked her, "Are you headed to the DSF Rest Stop too?" Ami smiled and replied, "Yes, are you?"
"Yes, do you want to take the pedestrian auto-walkway?" I remembered to ask her as we walked past the entrance of the automated walkway.
"Thanks but no, I want to go for a walk..." I realized that she had also ignored the automated walkway earlier.
So we walked along the main street toward the 1B connection point. I glanced at Ami; she had slightly over-shoulder length hair, a slight side-swept fringe, an Asian face, and a petite figure. She carried a small leather backpack, which looked cute with her DSF uniform. Ami told me that her spaceship had just docked in 1C, and her departure point was Ark 7 near Earth-Mars orbits, and she had just completed a traverse survey of the asteroid belt and arrived at Galileo 1 for her first exploration journey.
We chatted as we walked along the main street, and suddenly my arm terminal vibrated. I lifted my hand, and a message from Mars appeared: "Snack store." I looked around, and there were two snack stores nearby. It seemed that Mars had set a reminder triggered by location. After all, years of space travel with food capsules and virtual snacks were not enough. Ami stopped when she saw me stop, I said: "My AI reminds me to buy snacks..."
Ami couldn't help but stand on the street, holding her stomach and laughing loudly. She looked at two snack stores and pointed to one of them, saying, "I want to buy some snacks too. I haven't had it for almost a year." We walked in together and I realized that it was an Asian snack store with mostly Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters. Ami began browsing along the shelves, and although the food names had English labels, most of the descriptions were in Asian characters. I tried to guess what was what based on the pictures on the packaging, and Ami came over to help me translate and describe them. She explained, "I'm a mix of Japanese and Taiwanese, but I was born and raised in Japan, so I can speak Japanese and some Chinese."
"So, where is your hometown?"
"Ibusuki."
I opened my tablet and checked. It was a coastal city on the southern tip of Kagoshima in southern Japan. I looked at the photos and said, "It looks like a quiet little city, very beautiful."
"Well, like everywhere else with people, there are good people and bad people." Ami continued to look at the product catalog and answered, "And you?"
"Oregon, North America."
"Well, I heard it's very beautiful, with lots of trees."
"I'm not a tree..." I don't know why I answered like that. I wanted to kill myself.
Ami laughed again, "How long has it been since you talked to humans?"
I calculated, "More than three years..." She looked at me and continued browsing snacks.
After we paid, I took out a snack and handed it to Ami. "Do you want to eat and walk at the same time?"
"Haha, no thanks. My mom told me not to eat while walking on the street."
I couldn't help but laugh, "How old are you? You're on Jupiter now, and you're still listening to your mom?"
"I've always listened to my mom..."
I put the snack back, and the store would send it directly to the DSF rest station where we were staying. So we walked back to the street empty-handed and continued walking.
"Your AI is called what? It's funny that it even manages snacks," Ami asked.
"He's called Mars, what about yours?"
"Anguirus."
"Huh?"
Ami saw that I was confused, so she opened her portable computer and showed me the origin of the name, which turned out to be a little monster from a children's cartoon.
"How old are you?" I regretted asking the moment I finished my sentence...
"I'm turning 21 soon, and I brought my Anguirus plushie with me on the spacecraft." Ami replied nonchalantly.
That's quite unusual. Most pilots start training around the age of 22, so their first flight is usually around the ages of 23 or 24. Based on this calculation, Ami should have started training when she was 18.
We talked a lot on the way and arrived at entrance B, where we changed to the rail transport and crossed the circular arm of 1B-1C to reach 1B city. This city is slightly larger than 1C, but the planning and layout are the same. There are fewer shops but more restaurants and service-type stores, including a cinema, a music hall, a bar, and even a courier center. The DSF rest stop is actually contracted with a well-known hotel chain, so you can basically see pilots from various interstellar companies here.
After checking in, I sent a video greeting to Mr. and Mrs. Bryan, and sent a good night message to Ami before taking my medicine and going to sleep.