We came to the Zadar colony because we extracted information about Amanoiwato Frozen Distribution during the hexarappid hunt, when we took down one of their destroyers. It started with the possibility of one of their transport ships being in a scrap belt in Zadar.
In the end, half of it was true. We did find something big in the scrap belt, but we couldn’t even salvage it, and ended up in a fight with Mishun prime, which is what the Zadar colony belongs to.
But isn’t it their fault in the first place for having a group of smugglers in their ranks?
Still, we don’t feel too comfortable here. Is it just me, or is the dock designated to us in the Zadar colony in kind of a hard to reach place? The atmosphere here is iffy.
But we met Vasilisa because of it, so I guess it worked out? Let’s say yes.
It’s the day after we met again, and apparently Vasilisa and Suzuri drank too much and are in bed with me. Poor Suzuri is caught in Vasilisa’s octopus tentacles and can’t escape.
“Good morning…”
“Good morning. We’re supposed to rest today, so you can sleep.”
“I was caught by a predator and cannot escape…”
It wasn’t really like that, but it is a mess here in my room. I think Vasilisa might be the type that tosses and turns in her sleep.
“I guess there is something cuter to small ones…”
“I don’t think I get it…”
I hear a quiet ring from my phone, and move the tentacles to check it. It’s a text from Iris.
‘I am installing necessary materials in the server.’
I clean myself, and leave poor Suzuri to go have some bread and soup for breakfast, and I see Kori and Saratha leaving Saratha’s room.
“Good morning darling~.”
“Morning, Genma.”
“Good morning. Were you having a mini girl’s party?”
They say it’s fun sometimes, and input the same as me before sitting at the bar counter.
“Did you get Iris’ message? We’re going there after we eat, but I’m sure it’ll be pretty much done by the time we get there.”
“Then can you hold on a bit?”
Like I said to Suzuri, today’s a day off, but we’re installing a server in Tortilla Double.
We’re normally connected to a dock’s wireless LAN provided by the port when we get to a colony.
It can break through interference and its speed of one Gbps means that’s not a problem. We get radio waves inside colonies too, and since I signed a wireless contract when I registered with the Mercenary Guild, I can access the net.
When we’re in hyperspace or the middle of nowhere in space, we access the net via an ultra high speed connection built into Tortilla Double. But this one’s slow. I measured, and it was either one Mbps or nothing at all.
If it’s something like texts or calls, I can do it with what’s built into the smartphone, within Tortilla Double’s visible range.
This has never been an issue, but last time when we were salvaging, we were cut off from the net. That was a problem, especially since we couldn’t even look up data on a space being we were seeing for the first time.
Also, Iris doesn’t have infinite data capacity or anything, so if she’s seeing something for the first time, it’s possible she can’t access information about it if she’s cut off from the net. The ship crab was one such case.
And so, we’re installing intranet in Tortilla Double. And by we, I mean Iris.
We’ll have things that would take time to download outside of colonies such as encyclopedias, information on various star systems, and internal websites where we can check how Tortilla Double is doing in terms of resources. And of course, Iris is handling security.
But just as I finish eating and I’m about to head there, Iris comes here and hands me something. It’s a tube that’s bigger than a cigarette but smaller than a cigar.
“Chapstick?”
“Data storage that connects to the server. This can store ten percent of all the data in the video website in the Zadar colony. It is priced at nine thousand nine hundred eighty puni. I thought you might find it interesting.”
“One of these can store ten percent… This future technology really… Nevermind peta, this is beyond exa.”
“We also have something for a portfolio that focuses on physical durability, and something for entertainment that prioritizes transfer speed. The physical cables are high grade ones that are both fast and sturdy, and of course, we have dedicated backups. It cost a total of two hundred thousand puni.”
“Oh~. It’s all online, right? Suzuri is always hogging the physical terminal, and I can tell from her ears and tail that she feels bad about it.”
“Yeah, I’ve been keepin’ an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t take work to her room, but…”
“For me, I’ll be happy if I can finally play online…”
I want to play Minecraft. I bought other games like it, but I couldn’t set up an online server for all of us to play together, which sucks. Well, it sucks for me anyway.
There are places in colonies that rent servers for multiplayer, but the slow connection means it’s not possible away from colonies.
But now that we have a server, we can play Minecraft, and even do combat training with FPS games in full VR. I can also train with power armor, spaceship piloting, and other things. And I can train spaceship combat with Iris.
I’ve also discovered that only me, Vasilisa, and Iris can swim here, so I’m setting up different games for training and practice in a virtual space. Is this necessary? Probably.
It was only recently that I realized that without a wireless LAN connection, I can’t do multiplayer in the ship, aside from smartphone apps. That started a discussion about getting wireless LAN, but we figured we might as well go bigger
“So where is the server?”
“In the old shield generator room. We also have cooling there, and the shield we currently use is in the cargo bay.”
“Ah~. If it’s there, it should hold even we take direct hits~.”
“True, but maybe we should reinforce, right Genma? Can we look at fasteners later?”
“Of course.”
And the fire suppression will kick in if there’s a fire, so it’s not bad.
“By the way, where is the backup?”
“In my room, of course. I am planning to backup the asset charts myself. The small drones are laying down the cables as we speak.”
“I wish I had those in my old job…”
As we talk, the door opens, and Suzuri leaves my room with suction pad marks on her face.
“Good morning… I finally escaped those evil tentacles…”
“I’m really sorry! I just haven’t slept that well in a while.”
“Ah! Yeah~! Yeah~! I got Lisa a big bed like Sara’s~.”
“It can split, so you can make it smaller if it’s too big.”
“Ah, really? Thanks. But that’s a nice mattress!”
“People spend a third of their day in bed, so if you can afford it, you should get a good pillow and mattress.”
“But perhaps that mattress ruins people…”
“The futon in the living room isn’t that comfortable to sleep on so…”
“I’m not gonna lose!”
Kori is fired up, but let’s ignore that and spend the morning inspecting the server racks and cables.
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Ni**a, you can have 10 Gbps internet service already, and in terms of just link speed alone, 100 Gbps is already a thing… Yet, ages into the future, the internet service they get and are satisfied with is just 1 Gbps? Tenth of the data is in the range of exabytes, right? To download 1 exabyte over 1 Gbps, it’ll take over 253 years.