In a room beside the ever crunching recycling station a girl sat smiling. A foolish grin on her face was in stark contrast to all the other inhabitants around. Everyone who lived and spent time near the awfully loud recycling station were the ones who were the most down on their luck.

Everyone wore light blue jumpsuits with red accents in differing conditions of wear.

The girl stuffed the last of the grey-brown goo into her mouth and dropped the finished plate into the recycling chute.

A series of light steps later she was outside in the hallway. Jumping into the elevator beam she rose upwards. The clear plastic encasing reflected her worn jumpsuit and the yellow name tag, which read Fi. The unmistakable expression of excitement shone from her viridescent eyes.

Arriving at her destination, the only greenery available for those living here, she sat on the small grass patch and caught the light whiff of life absent from everywhere else on the ship.

Fi tried to calm down. After a few minutes the whole idea of a relaxed time before the awaited time escaped her mind.

Today Fi turned eighteen and she finally had the chance to do something for herself. She could finally, just like everyone else over twelve years old, join in on Eden Dream.

Eden Dream was the virtual reality where everything on the spaceship was decided. Allocation of resources, living spaces, workload and even the possibility of bearing offspring is all behind the doors of Eden Dream.

She couldn't take it anymore and rushed towards the Eden Dream workshop. There were many workshops on the ship in different areas. Depending on how many dreambucks you pay per month you unlock more parts of the ship. Fi only had access to the lowest & noisiest level on the ship.

Arriving at the workshop Fi's smile couldn't help but grow wider again. On the walls multiple different video feeds were playing. Fi made a grabbing motion in the air towards one of the screens and the sounds started playing in her ear.

"Eden Dream, where everyone can get to know the life on the planet Eden, our ultimate destination. For 280 years we have traveled to reach Eden. In twenty years time the ship and its inhabitants will reach its destination. On the planet life will be completely different than on our home planet Earth. According to our probes and best researchers there exists a foreign sort of energy on the planet. The creatures inhabiting the planet have been seen performing miracles aking to magic.

In Eden Dream we prepare you for the life ahead. Magic, monsters and hardships will be the common daily routine. Train well and prosper for all of humanity!"

Fi knew all the words by heart. It was one of the few videos she could actually watch about Eden Dream. Only those who had the brain implant could watch videos from Eden Dream. Fi had been heartbroken for quite many dreams as everyone around her got the Brain implant as they turned twelve. Fi on the other hand had a birth defect which made it impossible for her to join before her brain had properly grown. The doctors had said and tested her multiple times and were sure she could get it once she turned eighteen.

It had been many rough years being at the bottommost rung of the ship, eating something only resembling to food. Sleeping in communal rooms where the sound of constant crushing literally crushed the possibility of peaceful dreams.

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As a younger child she had been in a zone few places higher with her parents. Until you turned twelve the ship would pay for the same level as the parents so families wouldn't be split up. As she couldn't enter the game at twelve she was shortly dropped to the lower levels as her parents couldn't or wouldn't pay for her upkeep. Fi didn't really know which way it was and after many years of thinking about it she decided she didn't really even want to know.

While she still was under twelve Fi had really loved swimming and used almost all of her allocated hobby time for it. Sadly swimming was quite expensive and she hadn't been able to do it since.

The first thing she would do after gaining enough capital would be to book swimming time. Her greatest dream at the moment was to have enough money to rent Lake Pearl for her private use.

Lake Pearl was the artificial lake within the ship. It had warm, almost tropical water and massive amounts of different lifeforms. Renting the whole Lake Pearl was however something only the richest few could do.

After watching the few videos available to her, she heard the light tingle of a notification and saw her name appear on the wall in front of her, indicating it was her turn to enter the backroom. Small arrows appeared superimposed on the floor showing her the way to enter.

In the backroom the arrows showed her to enter room number two. It wasn't the first time she had been here. This where she had been doing check ups yearly to see the progress of her brain's growth. This time however she would get the implant, as both the doctors and the ship's AI had confirmed she was ready.

Fi entered room number two and saw the pod-doc readying up the implant program. Beside the pod-doc sat doctor Ramon entering some information into the ship's computer. Ramon was an older man with an approachable face. His graying beard softened his already kind smile, making him have the perfect grandpa look.

"A second if you may." The slightly raspy voice of Ramon uttered. His hands entered the last few lines of information, while Fi sat her slim body on the chair reserved for clients.

"So it is finally time for you to enter the Dream." Said ramon with a smile while turning towards Fi. She only nodded with an excited expression. Ramon didn't say anything further and rose from his chair to check on the pod-doc. Clearly understanding Fi's excitement.

"You can take off your jumpsuit already, this will be ready in just a second." Ramon said after prodding the buttons on the pod-doc. Fi didn't hesitate and took off her jumpsuit, revealing more of her light brown skin. Fi also put her hair into a bun knowing the pod-doc needed access to her neck. Her hair was a few tones darker than her skin and matched well with her black underwear. Just as Fi had finished setting up her hair the pod-doc opened with a hiss. Ramon only stepped back a few steps letting Fi enter the pod.

Fi wriggled into the most comfortable position she could find while laying inside the pod. Above her face, on the dome of the pod, an interface popped up. It explained the brain implant procedure and mentioned that she should not be alarmed of the weird sensory feelings that happened when she would enter Eden Dreams tutorial in her sleep. After explaining the information required a new window popped up. On the window were the options of "Yes I understand the procedure and wish to continue" and "Please explain again". Fi grabbed the affirmative answer and clenched her hand until the confirmation countdown ended. As soon as she was done yet another countdown appeared.

"You will fall asleep in: Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven...Six…" She closed her eyes and drifted asleep just as the countdown hit zero.