The spaceplane was very fast, so we made it to the Hyperspace in fifteen minutes. The space hotel was absolutely gigantic. Our spacecraft looked like an ant next to an elephant.
The Hyperspace was shaped like a mushroom, with a cylindrical bottom part and the top being the mushroom's cap. There was a large, metallic ring rotating around the bottom half. The ring was generating artificial gravity via rotation. The whole Hyperspace was white with blue windows and yellowish stripes on the "cap".
As we got closer, I noticed a small rectangular room sticking out of the cap. It was the dock. Upon approaching the dock, a mechanical claw grabbed our spaceplane and dragged it inside. We touched down and left the spaceplane.
- This mission may result in allergy, injury, or dea... I mean, distress - Jaxon warned us and came back into the plane. As he flew off into the distance, the hatch that we've been pulled through closed and we took off our spacesuits, replacing them with casuel cloves for disguise. After that, we left the dock. The area we entered looked like a fever dream.
The main plaza (as that was the area we found ourselves in) was circular and filled with several caffe's and resteraunts, with escalators leading to higher floors being all over the place. Neon lights covered the entire area, and the shear amount of colors was nauseating. Blue, green, red, yellow, orange... There were also stores, gift shops, food trucks and lots of other buildings we didn't notice. It seemed like a whole futuristic city was crammed into a single space station.
Suddenly, an android approached us. It was shaped like a human, except for the square head. On it, a black screen depicted green holographic eyes. The robot's body was white with black and grey elements. There was also the logo of the Hyperspace on it, with a small label: "HISS android".
The android's erratic introduction shouldn't have been a surprise to us, as similar robots were everywhere, given that the whole Hyperspace was managed by HISS. Still, we were baffled when the machine walked up to us and gave us four keys.
- Welcome, visitors. Please come over to the living area on floor 3A. Your dormitories are 1450, 1451, 1452 and 1457. Enjoy your stay! - The android was trying to sound cheerful, but its synthetic voice didn't help with that.
- Excuse me? How many dorms are there in this place? - Claudius asked.
- 10,000 - The android calmly replied before walking away and dissapearing in a crowd of tourists.
- 10,000?! How much space do they have in here?! - Sebastian was understandably shocked by the amount of dorms. Such a massive living space meant that finding our enemies will be extremely difficult.
We soon found out that the tourists were also newcomers having a small tour around the Hyperspace, so we joined the group, wanting to learn more about our surroundings. The crowd was following another android which was nearly identical to the other one. The only difference was the serial number on the back of the android's head.
- This floor is the Orbital City, or floor 15. In here you'll find everything needed to sustain yourself, including food, medical care and, of course, recreation. However, things get interesting when we go down. Follow me into the elevator - The robotic tour guide walked into a transparent, cigar-shaped capsule. As we found out, THAT was the elevator. Because the floor was also translucent, it made looking down pretty unsettling, considering how many floors there were beneath us. The edges of the elevator were also equiped with neon lights shifting between red, blue and green. The whole group managed to fit in the lift, including us.
As we started descending, the android told us about the floors beneath the Orbital City. As we found out, floor 14 was a huge shopping center, floor 13 was a sports centre, floor 12 was a farm, floor 11 was a factory, floor 10 was a gaming area... It was hard to keep track of everything, but we were still astonished by the different zones in here. There was even an artificial beach!
- This is insane! How did they manage to fit all of that in one place? - Amber was overwhelmed. The android treated that as a question.
- The Hyperspace was slowly and laboriously built floor by floor. Initially, in 2030, we only had floors 17 to 14. We started building downwards after that and reached the current size last year, in 2034. The construction of each floor was fully automated with humans only acting as supervisors. After all, HISS can manage everything here...! - The robot explained.
After about five minutes, we reached floor 3A. Floor 3B was on the opposite side, as there was a gap between them. The gap existed so that trash could be easily dropped into the lower levels without building a complex pipe network. Trolley-like vehicles were used to get across from 3A to 3B.
- Have a great time aboard the Hyperspace! - The robot left us as the tour ended.
Due to the immense size of the living areas, flying cars were used to quickly get around. They weren't actually flying, as it was maglev technology that created the illusion of flight. Still, it seemed like we time travelled. We entered one of the flying cars and had no idea what to do. There was a key socket, so Sebastian inserted his key, unsure of the effects. Fortunately for us, the key was recognized and our vehicle automatically and quietly drifted towards the dorm. Sebastian's dorm was 1452, so that's where we stopped. As I soon found out, my dorm was 1457, so I walked over there, as I felt that using the flying car was unnecessary given the short distance. I unlocked the room and entered.
My hotel room was significantly larger than my dorm in the academy. The walls were sleek and black, with neon lights illuminating the ceiling. Instead of the old bed from the academy, there was a luxurious black bed with two comforters with a chessboard pattern on each. The bed was insanely soft and made me instantly want to fall asleep, but I reminded myself of the mission and swiftly got up. There was a circular, wooden table next to the window. Much like the spaceplane's window, it couldn't be opened for obvious reasons, but the view outside was beautiful with all the distant stars illuminating the sky. Interestingly, the table and the surrounding chairs weren't attatched to the floor. Screwing things to the floor was a common practice in space, as the furniture would otherwise drift away, but with artificial gravity, this would be pointless. On the wall parallel to the mega bed, there was an enormous TV that took up half the wall. On the table, I found a remote that allowed me to control the TV and the neon lights on the ceiling. I changed them to a deep blue, as that was my favourite color. I felt relaxed, knowing that this was where I'd be staying over the course of the mission. At the same time, I felt bad for Einstein, who was stuck in the secret room aboard the Pitstop Station due to defying Captain Nigel's orders to save our lives from Dawn during the previous mission.
I snapped out of the relaxation when I heard Sebastian's voice through my walkie-talkie.
- Chris, come to us. Let's meet up and decide what to do next.
- Okay! - I grabbed the walkie-talkie and left the room, making sure to lock it up prior. I found my friends standing in front of Sebastian's room. Everybody seemed amused by the luxury.
- These rooms are crazy! How much did the agency pay to get us here? - Amber asked in excitment.
- Shh... - Sebastian silenced her - We don't know where the enemy might be hiding, so we need to say as little about our real task as possible. Also, we need to use our fake names from the American Moon Base.
This meant that I was now George Williams, Amber was Emilia Mendoza, Claudius was Cameron Brown and Sebastian became Carter Anderson. We had used those names before, so it was easy to get used to them again.
- So, where do we go now? - Claudius asked.
- I don't know - Sebastian shrugged.
- I say we take a break and entertain ourselves a bit. We've just completed our previous mission and need to relax. Additionally, we can learn more about the various floors of the Hyperspace - I proposed.
- I agree, we need a break! - Amber joined me.
- Maybe we can visit the gaming zone? That place seemed interesting - Claudius added.
- So it's decided. Let's go! - Sebastian led us to the flying car. We soon arrived at the elevator and reached floor 10. The floor had a retro theming, with pixel lamps and pastel colours everywhere. Several arcade machines and VR platforms were visible. A fat guy accidentally ran into a wall whilst playing a VR game, yelping and catching our attetnion. To our left was a laser tag arena. We decided to take part in the match.
We've been given blasters and special holographic visors that showed us how many lives we had. Every player initially had three lives and lost one with every hit. The laser blasters were uncannily similar to the real laser blasters that we used during our previous missions. Laser blasters were invented and 2029 and created a laser for a fraction of a second, thus shooting a pellet of light that could pierce metal. The toy versions weren't nearly as powerful and wouldn't hurt. Still, we were advised to avoid shooting the upper half of an opponent's body.
We entered the hexagonal arena, with colorful blocky towers as obstacles. As the match started, I instantly hid behind one of them.
The game went well and at the end, only the members of our unit remained. As I had only one life left, I decided to avoid my rivals instead of confronting them. For now, at least. I heard quiet footsteps nearby and expected an ambush, but all of a sudden, the lights went off and the arena was plunged into darkness...
ns216.73.216.13da2
and then Add to home screen.