An hour later the group were finally meeting Nina again.
"Ahh, there you are… I hope you liked your rooms" Nina asked as she approached the group of visitors that Jerry was leading to the cafeteria of the space station. "If you need a minor change, just ask a Cortana about it… or if you feel adventurous you ask a group of Exocomps."
"A group of your tiny flying robots?" Dr. Steinberg asked. "I think I saw a few of them closeby."
"Yes, exactly. They are always eager to help and love all kinds of construction, if you announce that you want to build or repair something, you will quickly gather a small crowd of them" Nina explained with a grin. "But if you are not careful, they might misinterpret what you want to build and you need to do even more work to get things done."
"Which might be exactly what these little devils wanted the whole time" Jerry explained. "they have an interesting way to express their humor."
"I will keep this in mind" Dr. Steinberg said, "but I think we came here for dinner, right?"
"Yes, of course we did… just follow me, the Cafeteria is just around the corner. You might find it a bit unusual, but the food is really good." Nina led the group through a door and a small corridor where they could already hear other people talking. "Oh, just as a warning… the room here on the right is reserved for people who want to take a nap. You can use it too, but you might find someone else sharing the couch with you when you wake up. Better go to your rooms if you don't like this idea."
"Just don't say I didn't warn you" Nina said as she lead the group through the corridor. She could hear two of the students chuckle. "I can tell you some people don't see it coming."
"Less warnings about catgirls, more talking about food!" Jenny suddenly said and pointed at the Cafeteria at the end of the corridor. "I am hungry, lets get something to eat!"
The Cafeteria at the Little Big Bang Labs was a room with enough chairs and small tables for a few dozen people. A couple of booth walls partitioned the room to give the visitors a bit privacy. At one wall there was an counter and an open door to a kitchen where a catgirl with a chef's hat was working.
"This is the place where you can get fresh food and all kinds of packed stuff. Luckily we have a group of seven catgirls that like to cook and experiment with food, so most times at least one of them is here" Jenny explained. "If not, you will find a note when someone should be back in the kitchen again or a name you can call. In an emergency, there is a fridge with sandwiches in the kitchen just behind the door."
"The signs on the wall will tell you what are the normal dishes today and what are the suggestions for the next week" Jenny continued, "You can make your own suggestions of course. The most popular ones have a good chance appearing on the 'todays dishes' list if someone knows how to make them."
"I am sorry, but what signs you are talking about?" Dr. Miller asked, "I don't see any signs describing dishes… in fact I don't even see something to attach a sign to."
Nina instantly began to laugh.
"Oh oh, this will take a long time until people will not talk about this day anymore" Nina said. "Jenny, did you forgot that they cannot see the sign because its not real?"
"But, but, but! Damned, I really forgot about it."
Jenny looked confused for a moment and then facepalmed.
"I am really sorry but we are all just used to it" Jenny said and looked to their visitors from Earth. "You cannot see the sign because it does only exist in cyberspace… we all can see it because we are using augmented reality interfaces like the Third Eye Julia and Amanda are using."
"You mean everyone here on the station has one of these mind-to-machine interfaces?" Dr. Steinberg asked, "They are not special equipment that is handed out when necessary?"
"We have been using AR technology for a long time… in the first years we used special glasses or contact lenses connected to the local computer network" Nina explained, "but when the Third Eye technology became reliable enough all of us dropped the old stuff. It makes interacting with cyberspace much easier!"
"Really, its fun! We really have to get everyone of you a Third Eye or at least some contact lenses and earplugs" Jenny said, "there is too much important information on the station which is only visible through cyberspace."
"We can talk about this later, I think we want to have a little bit more time to think about this Third Eye thing" Dr. Miller said. She quickly looked at her student Amanda Fox. "Mrs. Fox, can you maybe tell us what we can have for dinner today?"
All of them quickly decided for some dishes and Nina told the kitchen about their choices. While they were waiting, Amanda began to look around in the room for more augmented reality objects.
"Hmm… where do I find the prices for the food?" she finally asked. "I found a list of dishes of the past months, there are even reviews what was good or bad… but no price."
"We don't use money internally anymore, currently we are experimenting with a reputation based economy" Nina explained. "You can get the normal dishes for free, but if you want something special you need to ask. If enough people want it too or your own reputation is high enough you will get it!"
"Ehh… reputation?" Dr. Steinberg asked.
"Yes, reputation… everything you did what someone else liked. Maybe the great Science experiment that you published… maybe an online video everyone likes. I still remember the insane amount of reputation someone got when she solved the problem of hairs clogging our shower drains" Nina replied. "The whole concept is still a little bit rough, but it is fun to do and much better than to deal with money that is just circulating around locally."
"Thank you for this explanation" the doctor replied slowly. "I think it will take some time to get used to the way you do things here."
"Ahh, there you are… I hope you liked your rooms" Nina asked as she approached the group of visitors that Jerry was leading to the cafeteria of the space station. "If you need a minor change, just ask a Cortana about it… or if you feel adventurous you ask a group of Exocomps."
"A group of your tiny flying robots?" Dr. Steinberg asked. "I think I saw a few of them closeby."
"Yes, exactly. They are always eager to help and love all kinds of construction, if you announce that you want to build or repair something, you will quickly gather a small crowd of them" Nina explained with a grin. "But if you are not careful, they might misinterpret what you want to build and you need to do even more work to get things done."
"Which might be exactly what these little devils wanted the whole time" Jerry explained. "they have an interesting way to express their humor."
"I will keep this in mind" Dr. Steinberg said, "but I think we came here for dinner, right?"
"Yes, of course we did… just follow me, the Cafeteria is just around the corner. You might find it a bit unusual, but the food is really good." Nina led the group through a door and a small corridor where they could already hear other people talking. "Oh, just as a warning… the room here on the right is reserved for people who want to take a nap. You can use it too, but you might find someone else sharing the couch with you when you wake up. Better go to your rooms if you don't like this idea."
"Just don't say I didn't warn you" Nina said as she lead the group through the corridor. She could hear two of the students chuckle. "I can tell you some people don't see it coming."
"Less warnings about catgirls, more talking about food!" Jenny suddenly said and pointed at the Cafeteria at the end of the corridor. "I am hungry, lets get something to eat!"
The Cafeteria at the Little Big Bang Labs was a room with enough chairs and small tables for a few dozen people. A couple of booth walls partitioned the room to give the visitors a bit privacy. At one wall there was an counter and an open door to a kitchen where a catgirl with a chef's hat was working.
"This is the place where you can get fresh food and all kinds of packed stuff. Luckily we have a group of seven catgirls that like to cook and experiment with food, so most times at least one of them is here" Jenny explained. "If not, you will find a note when someone should be back in the kitchen again or a name you can call. In an emergency, there is a fridge with sandwiches in the kitchen just behind the door."
"The signs on the wall will tell you what are the normal dishes today and what are the suggestions for the next week" Jenny continued, "You can make your own suggestions of course. The most popular ones have a good chance appearing on the 'todays dishes' list if someone knows how to make them."
"I am sorry, but what signs you are talking about?" Dr. Miller asked, "I don't see any signs describing dishes… in fact I don't even see something to attach a sign to."
Nina instantly began to laugh.
"Oh oh, this will take a long time until people will not talk about this day anymore" Nina said. "Jenny, did you forgot that they cannot see the sign because its not real?"
"But, but, but! Damned, I really forgot about it."
Jenny looked confused for a moment and then facepalmed.
"I am really sorry but we are all just used to it" Jenny said and looked to their visitors from Earth. "You cannot see the sign because it does only exist in cyberspace… we all can see it because we are using augmented reality interfaces like the Third Eye Julia and Amanda are using."
"You mean everyone here on the station has one of these mind-to-machine interfaces?" Dr. Steinberg asked, "They are not special equipment that is handed out when necessary?"
"We have been using AR technology for a long time… in the first years we used special glasses or contact lenses connected to the local computer network" Nina explained, "but when the Third Eye technology became reliable enough all of us dropped the old stuff. It makes interacting with cyberspace much easier!"
"Really, its fun! We really have to get everyone of you a Third Eye or at least some contact lenses and earplugs" Jenny said, "there is too much important information on the station which is only visible through cyberspace."
"We can talk about this later, I think we want to have a little bit more time to think about this Third Eye thing" Dr. Miller said. She quickly looked at her student Amanda Fox. "Mrs. Fox, can you maybe tell us what we can have for dinner today?"
All of them quickly decided for some dishes and Nina told the kitchen about their choices. While they were waiting, Amanda began to look around in the room for more augmented reality objects.
"Hmm… where do I find the prices for the food?" she finally asked. "I found a list of dishes of the past months, there are even reviews what was good or bad… but no price."
"We don't use money internally anymore, currently we are experimenting with a reputation based economy" Nina explained. "You can get the normal dishes for free, but if you want something special you need to ask. If enough people want it too or your own reputation is high enough you will get it!"
"Ehh… reputation?" Dr. Steinberg asked.
"Yes, reputation… everything you did what someone else liked. Maybe the great Science experiment that you published… maybe an online video everyone likes. I still remember the insane amount of reputation someone got when she solved the problem of hairs clogging our shower drains" Nina replied. "The whole concept is still a little bit rough, but it is fun to do and much better than to deal with money that is just circulating around locally."
"Thank you for this explanation" the doctor replied slowly. "I think it will take some time to get used to the way you do things here."