The Laptop - Ch.55 - The Boring Frontier (Patreon)

"We don't all need to go through at the same time," Annie explained as the four of us lined up in front of the portal. "And we don't need to hold hands either. The only rule you have to remember is the person with the laptop, or whatever the interface looks like, has to go through last. So your girlfriends can go first, I can go ahead of you, but once you've gone through with your laptop then the portal will close."

I smiled, "So it's impossible to leave your laptop behind when travelling between realms. The portal doesn't close until the laptop goes through."

"Not really," the half-elf shook her head. "Portals are one-way only, so once you go through it you can't turn around and go back the other way. So unfortunately it's still possible to leave your interface behind."

Then she added, "Which is another good reason to get it upgraded to an implant. Then it's impossible to forget it someplace. So let's go."

Despite what she said, my girlfriends and I all still held hands. We let the bard go first, then the three of us stepped through together. And this time, as soon as we were on the other side I quit the expeditions app and opened my character sheet instead.

Once again there was nothing I could use as a makeshift desk. So rather than holding the laptop and using it one-handed I sat cross-legged on the floor and balanced it on my left knee while I worked.

It only took a half minute to navigate to the correct spot, then I activated 'safe mode' for the three of us. After that I went back to the expeditions app again, to check the map information for our current location. Meanwhile my girlfriends were quietly taking in our surroundings.

The four of us were in what seemed like a huge dimly-lit warehouse. We were in a narrow corridor between two enormous objects that seemed to be wrapped in plastic, like the way you'd wrap up something really big so you could keep the dust out while you were shipping it somewhere.

"What are these things?" Gwen asked softly.

Chelsea added, "This place is huge. It's hard to believe we're really on a space ship."

"It's mind bogglingly big," Annie agreed. "Imagine a giant flying donut, about fifty klicks across and fifteen klicks high. With almost a hundred and fifty thousand people on board, it's basically a self-contained city. And it's moving through space at almost half the speed of light."

After looking at the map screen I added, "We're on deck two thousand four hundred and thirty, in compartment twelve thousand one hundred and ninety-three. Designation, 'Aquatic Vehicle Hangar Bay' number three one eight."

"Does that mean these things are boats?" Chelsea asked as she looked back and forth at the two giant objects on either side of us.

The bard nodded, "They're big ocean-going ships. The MGAS Popławska is en-route to a water-world. The plan is to land in the sea, where the Popławska will become a big floating city. Then they'll begin exploring the world, and probably start a fishing industry so they can continue feeding themselves."

"Which means they aren't likely to open or even visit this hangar until after they've reached their destination," she continued. "Which in turn makes it a relatively safe part of the ship for us to visit, since we can be somewhat confident we won't run into any locals while we're in here. As long as we don't touch anything, that is."

Then in her teacher voice she addressed my girlfriends, "Anyways Chelsea and Gwyneth please don't wander off and especially do not touch anything. I need to work with Lisa for the next few minutes, then we'll be leaving as soon as we're done."

Without waiting for my girlfriends to reply she turned her attention back on me and added, "Lisa please open the localizations app. And please pay attention while I walk you through the process. This is a situation you very much don't want to get wrong."

"Yes ma'am," I grimaced as I quit the expeditions app then launched the localizations one instead.

Annie took a position standing behind me, so she could watch the screen over my shoulder as she guided me through the process.

It was relatively intuitive at first, like I had to confirm I'd read the manual and understood the limitations and caveats and all that stuff. Then I had to confirm I wanted to modify my SysAdmin interface so it would blend in with the tech level of the realm Popławska-3210. And finally I had to confirm that I was assigned to this realm and that this upgrade was necessary in order to fulfill my duties.

"Just go ahead and click 'yes' for all that," Annie said quietly. "As far as I know there's nobody left checking any of these things, it's all just baked into the interface."

Once I got through all that it finally gave me a list of recommended hardware options. And unlike just about everything else on my little pink laptop, this time there were actual graphics, each hardware option was accompanied by a couple little pictures.

The most basic option was like something out of a sci-fi movie, like what you'd imagine smart phones would be in fifty years. It was a smooth skinny rounded rectangle, about ten by two by one centimetres. Apparently when you held it just right a holographic screen would unfurl, then you could tap the screen and use it more or less like a normal smartphone. Which was probably pretty cool, but didn't actually solve any of the concerns I had about the laptop. Except maybe being more portable.

The next one was the same thing, except it was worn on the wrist like a smart watch. The main advantages were you didn't have to hold it, and the holographic screen was bigger. Otherwise it wasn't much of an improvement.

Then the introductory implant option was another wrist-mounted device. Still with the holographic screen, but instead of being a separate device you could take off and subsequently lose, it was physically embedded directly into your body.

"Just scroll past all that crap," Annie said after I'd wasted a half minute reading through the recommended items. "They always hide the best choices at the very bottom."

Sure enough the one she got was the last thing on the list. There were no pictures of the actual device, instead there were simulated pictures of what it looked like when you used it. From those images it seemed to be a combination HUD and augmented-reality overlay that appeared in your field of view. And like she said, it worked by tracking your hand and eye movements.

"So what do I do?" I asked. "Should I just select it? And what happens when I do that? Will the laptop disappear or something?"

The half-elf explained, "Once you select it there'll be a bunch of customization questions, and a couple more confirmations before it happens. Like I said, I'll walk you through the process. Trust me, you'll know when it's about to happen. There'll be plenty of warnings."

I nodded slowly, then went ahead and selected it like she said. Sure enough the screen shifted so I was basically filling out a long multiple-choice form. And fortunately it was all still sort of intuitive, although I was glad to have Annie there to answer any questions I had.

The process took another couple minutes, and I felt kind of bad for my girlfriends. At one point I glanced up at them and apologized, "Sorry this is so boring for you two. I was kind of hoping a sci-fi realm would be fun, or at least interesting? Final frontier and all that? This is more like the boring frontier, hiding in a dusty old cargo bay while I poke away at the laptop."

"It's ok Lisa," Chelsea replied.

Gwen nodded, "Annie warned us there wouldn't be anything to do here."

I gave them a sad smile, "I know. I still feel bad about it though."

"Maybe our next field trip will be somewhere better?" I added as I glanced back at my mentor.

The half-elf rolled her eyes then nodded at the laptop, "The sooner you finish the sooner we can leave."

"Right," I sighed as I focused on the localizations app again.

Once I got through all the questions and customization options I hit those confirmations Annie mentioned. And I couldn't help feeling a little anxious as I asked, "So this is it? Is this safe? And um, will it hurt at all?"

"It's safe," she replied. "I've been watching to make sure you didn't pick anything risky. And the process doesn't hurt, but it does feel kind of weird at first. That passes though, it's only the first few seconds that you notice it."

I grimaced at that reply. Then I asked, "So should I go ahead and do it?"

"Sure," she nodded. "Just keep hitting 'yes' until it starts."

Once again I had to go through a handful of 'are you sure' and 'are you authorized' prompts. Then when I got past the last one, that little blue LED lit up while the screen when blank. And a moment later the laptop itself got all pixellated, then those pixels began to fade away. It only took a couple seconds, and the little computer was gone.

There was no time for me to panic though, because as soon as it disappeared the vision in my right eye also became pixellated. Then it suddenly felt like I had an eyelash or some dirt or something in my eye, and that was really uncomfortable. My eye became super itchy and started watering, and all I wanted to do was rub it. I forced myself not to give in, my hands clenched into fists but I kept them on my lap and closed my eyes while it almost felt like something was actually moving around in there.

It only lasted for around five seconds, but it felt a lot longer. When the weird sensations finally faded I opened my eyes again, and was a little surprised to see a small blinking tab in the lower right-hand corner of my vision.

I didn't even have to wait for Annie's guidance, I just intuitively reached out and swiped the tab upwards towards the middle of my view. That gesture brought the new UI into place in my field of view.

Rather than being completely text-based I now had two columns of basic bitmapped icons, one on either side. Down the left were the five editors. Character, inventory, level, realm, and status, followed by a file manager at the bottom. And the utility apps were on the right, with codices at the top, then connections, expeditions, localizations, a terminal emulator, and finally a settings app.

"I take it you've got it working?" Annie asked with a smile. "And you're already navigating the interface?"

I nodded as I got to my feet, "Yeah. I haven't done much, but I can see all the old apps plus a couple new options."

"I'm probably going to need some time to familiarize myself with how it all works though," I added as I reached out and tapped the icon for the terminal emulator.

Sure enough it worked more or less like expected, and I found myself looking at the world through a transparent text screen with the familiar command line interface prompt in the top left corner. And below that a transparent version of the laptop's keyboard appeared, like a holographic version of its former self.

Typing on the illusory keys was a bit weird and I knew that'd take some getting used to, but I was happy to note that the CLI appeared to be exactly the same as it was on the laptop. So at least I didn't need to relearn that part of the system.

After a few seconds I exited the terminal and it all vanished from view. Then I looked at my mentor and asked, "So was that it? Are we going straight back to Hoag's Hole now?"

"Why don't you open up the expeditions app and get it ready," she replied, "But don't initiate the portal just yet."

I nodded, then swiped up with my hand to get the icons back into my field of view again. I tapped the appropriate icon, and the new expeditions interface appeared in front of me. It was still mostly text, but instead of a monospaced white font on a black background it was now 'friendly' black text on light grey, with blue highlights and lighter grey boxes indicating which fields were editable.

"Seriously?" I grumbled quietly as I selected the logging tab, "Why does the most advanced sci-fi interface available have a GUI that looks like it was designed in Redmond back in the early nineties?"

Annie smiled but instead of responding to me she addressed all three of us, "Before we return to Daearen there is one thing you might like to see here before we leave."

Then the half-elf motioned us to follow, as she turned and set off down the corridor between the two massive boats. We probably covered over a hundred meters before we got to the end, then she turned to the right and the four of us walked another fifty or sixty meters, before we reached a corner of the massive hangar bay. Meanwhile I was still keeping half my attention on my new interface, and found it wasn't as easy as I expected to pay attention to where my friends and I were going while also navigating options on the screen that filled half my view.

So I was the last one to notice what it was Annie wanted to show my girlfriends. My eyes widened as I finally realized Gwen and Chels both had their faces pressed up against a small round window. The little catgirl was on her tiptoes with her ears angled forward and her tail standing up tall behind her, while the tall elf was crouched down a bit next to her.

There was just enough of a gap between Chelsea's ears for me to see what the two of them were so interested in, and my eyes widened again when I realized we were looking out a porthole in the side of the massive starship. And outside was the full majesty of deep space, an endless black void punctuated by countless brilliant points of light in the distance all around.

"You can open the portal now Lisa," Annie commented quietly. "Whenever you're ready."

I already had the location ID for our room at the Hoag's Hole Inn up on the screen, so all I had to do was tap the 'open portal' button. Then a blue light appeared in the lower-left corner of my vision, while a yellow light popped up in the lower right. I'd been wondering about the status LEDs, so I wasn't too surprised to see them implemented like that. Meanwhile the portal formed against the side of one of those big boats, and I got an alert in the middle of my vision once it was stable.

Annie passed through it first, then my girlfriends and I all joined hands and stepped through right behind her.

Sure enough we found ourselves back where we started, and as the portal faded away behind us I dismissed the interface overlay from my view.

"Now that that's out of the way," my self-appointed prof announced, "I'm going to go hang out with Frank for a while. Lisa I'm sure you'll want to take some time familiarizing yourself with the features of your upgraded hardware, so before I leave I'll give you a few very brief tips."

She continued, "One, it can be used as a HUD. Those functions are modular, and there's a few preloaded options you can play around with. You can also create your own, once you get the hang of it. Two, the UI is very customizable so you can have fun with that. And three, you can create macros and tie them to specific eye movements. That can be very useful, especially in emergencies where you want quick or hands-free access to certain functions."

With that she bid us all a good rest of our day before heading out. And as soon as she was gone my girlfriends both moved in close to get a better look at me.

"So what's it like? And which eye's it in?" Gwen asked.

Chelsea's tail flicked back and forth and her ears were standing up again as she grinned, "It's in her right eye! It's subtle, but I can see the difference. Very pretty Lisa, I love it!"

That made me blush, but I was smiling too. "Thanks Chels."

My right eye was still mostly pale light green like the left one, but now it had a thin ring of pink surrounding the iris. It was subtle enough I figured nobody would notice anything unusual, unless they were up close or specifically looking for it.