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. It would take weeks to fully map everything.
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 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 camera 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.
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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.
His stomach rumbled, reminding Grayson it was past time for a meal. He gestured open the food printer's menu and selected an appetizing kelp and bean stew recipe along with protein cake slices for dessert.
While waiting for the foods to print, Grayson's thoughts turned to the future. If he succeeded in his terraforming work, one day these shores might be unrecognizable. Lush jungles teeming withhis engineered species instead of barren lava. It was a sobering responsibility.
The printer beeped, pulling Grayson back to the present. He ate slowly, tasting each bite's complexity. A little flavor of home in this foreign place.
Fortified, Grayson returned to assessing supplies and planning next construction steps. He was eager to build out laboratory and fabrication capacities now that the basics were covered. The real work was just beginning.
As Grayson reviewed supplies, a notification popped up in his augmented display:
[New Quest! - Build Up Base - 20/500 progress]
Intrigued, he tapped to expand the window. A list of suggested tasks appeared:
- Assemble modular labs
- Deploy field sensors
- Fabricate tools
- Process material stocks
- Expand power generation
Underneath, the quest log described this as the initial phase to establish infrastructure for the long-term planetary restoration mission. Based on his parents' projections, an extensive base of operations needed to be constructed rapidly.
Grayson realized the quest structure would provide helpful guidance in bite-sized increments. And the progress bars would give a much needed sense of tangible advancement against such an expansive project.
Energized, Grayson got to work checking items off the list. Following blueprint diagrams, he positioned equipment and connected parts as drones carried stacks of fabricated modules from the busy printer.
The Assembly skill track congratulated him on tight, secure fittings and gave tips on properly seating connections. Grayson's confidence grew as he checked power couplings and initialized new lab servers. Seeing progress unfold kept his spirits high.
Near sunset the tired but satisfied novice builder surveyed the solar lights flickering on around lab domes, greenhouses, and equipment sheds. Nano-sensors embedded throughout the structures began monitoring conditions and self-correcting any anomalies.
Grayson watched his Base Build progress bar hit 100%. A triumphant sound effect chimed through his mind as the window displayed [Quest Complete! Well done Sir!]
Smiling proudly, he grabbed a nutrient pack and headed to his sleeping pod. It had been a long but productive day. Many more would follow, but with the interface's help each step brought him closer to his goals.
Tomorrow he would see what new quests awaited...