Chapter 10C: New Experiences
While Dr. Ptah’s sadistic rants were shutting down the hopes and dreams of children, Alex’s other friends were facing their own problems. Today was apparently the day where their mentors took them to their corresponding offices. Alex went to the Tinker society building. Kurt went to the military base off the edge of town.
One may ask, “What is at the edge of town that requires the military?” The answer is nothing. The spaces between the cities of Gaia were vast expanses of storage, wiring, and metal. It was a labyrinth of cold steel. A perfect place to perform military drills, without live weapons that is. Weapons training are all performed via Dives. Kurt stared with renewed vigor at his commanding officer. They had a long stare-down, the atmosphere became immediately heated.
“Looks like a worm here finally grew a spine!” The lieutenant finally said with a grin. Kurt saluted with a smile.
The other soldiers in his unit were confused. Why didn’t Kurt get punished for his insubordination?
“All you other worms could learn a thing or two if you ever want to ever be more than just a soldier,” The lieutenant ranted. But sadly, the other soldiers were already brainwashed to the point where they could no longer look for a higher position.
Kurt looked off into the distance. The giant metal pillars were the veins of Gaia. Thanks to quantum computing, the data travels are insane speeds. It was how the ARK system could run without any latency. Having any delay between thought and movement could immediately be detected by users. Suddenly, a cold wind blew. Kurt ponders why there would be wind inside of a vessel.
“It is part of the air filtration system,” Kurt suddenly remembered Alex explaining. The girl knew a lot about everything. She’s practically a walking encyclopedia. A bit dull on the social aspect, but otherwise a kind girl. Thankfully, she opened up recently.
While Kurt was performing drills at the military base, Ruri was brought to a giant building in the center of the city. It stretched all the way up to the ceiling and was coated with imperial blue paint. The sign out front reads ‘Library.’
“Every bit of knowledge that had ever been recorded is stored within Gaia,” Mrs. Katz said with awe. “We have access to it, but to sort through all that data in nearly impossible by hand.”
They walked into the library. Suddenly, they were faced with a gruesome view. Large cubes of flesh were encased in glass cubes. They were in stasis for now, but every once in a while, a light brings the cube to life.
“The best way to store data is through DNA,” Mrs. Katz explained. “We can store the entirety of the early internet on one square gram of DNA.”
Ruri was shocked and amazed.
“A-are they alive?” He asked.
“No, they are just storage.”
“How come they are in stasis?”
“For preservation purposes. They will be turned on when the data inside them are required.”
The cubes pulsed left and right.
“We are librarians are the caretakers of the knowledge of Gaia. We must learn the method of accessing the vast information of all of humanity.”
Ruri blinked to refresh his dried eyes. The room was very dry with very little moisture. He assumed moisture must cause wear and tear on the facility.
Mrs. Katz placed her cheek on the cube and was caressing it.
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Ruri felt a little bit of fear from her insane expression. He couldn’t help but wonder, why it is always the shy people who are mentally unstable without realizing the irony that he was shy to begin with.
While Ruri stared at his teacher rub cubes of meat with her face, Nell was having a blast.
“Here, is the congress building. We the people who specialize in the social aspect of life, manage human relationships. Thus we work at the government,” Hill said while flexing his muscles.
Nell and her fellow classmates stared at the government building in awe. It was made of pure white marble. A true classical Roman style building. Countless people and androids in suits and tie walked up and down the marble steps.
“Why do we need a government if MOTHER is around? Because MOTHER isn’t the law. She keeps us alive, feeds us, provides for us, but we determine our laws. Laws are just rules that dictate social interactions. If we never interact with each other, we wouldn’t have a need for laws,” Hill lectured.
“So we make the laws?” Nell asked excitedly. Finally, a stage for her to perform on.
“Yes, but with all thing politics, it may take ages,” Hill sighed. “Do you even realize how long it took for the city to finally get the budget to build a large-scale gym? An entire fucken year!”
Hill’s muscles twitched with rage.
Nell laughed. The muscle-bound professor really knows how to make his students feel more accepting. Perhaps it is the way of politics, to build connections regardless of who they are. You never know when you need to call in a ‘favor.’
Politics is a war of attrition and waiting. Today, Nell will enter the hellhole that is politics.
______
Alex stood around admiring the obelisks while Dr. Ptah was ripping the students ‘a new one.’
Finally, when almost everyone else was denied, the final two students were up. First, it was Alex.
“Now what do YOU have planned?” Dr. Ptah said while pointing his sharp finger at Alex.
“Nothing,” Alex said nonchalantly.
“Nothing?” It was the first time Dr. Ptah heard a student said nothing. He was shocked for a brief period before quickly regaining his composure. “Why is it nothing?”
“Because I don’t need to plan,” Alex stated as if it was a fact. After all, the old man left enough experiments to last her a lifetime. She could perform any one of them and maybe even perfect it. Now that she has the resources that the seed ships could never supply, a lot more doors opened up.
Dr. Ptah stared at the arrogant student.
“Show me then.”
Alex opened up her hologram projector, and a set of blueprints appeared.
Dr. Ptah quickly wanted to rip her a new one and yell at her incompetence, but he stopped dead in his tracks.
The blueprint showed something he had seen before. An old friend of his showed it in the past but never got around to making it. For it to appear again in front of him after all these years was a shock.
“Where did you get this,” Dr. Ptah said with rage. “There is no way you could have thought of this.”
Alex panicked but quickly regained her calm.
“Are you insulting my intelligence?” She calmly asked Dr. Ptah.
“You…” Steam could be seen blossoming off Dr. Ptah’s bald head.
Alex suddenly realized that she was antagonizing her mentor. He could really make life hell for her if he wanted to. But hindsight was twenty/twenty; there was nothing she could do to remedy the situation now. Better escalate it.
“What proof do you have that I didn’t think of this?” Alex asked.
Dr. Ptah nearly spat at her. “You…Don’t you know that science MUST be backed by proof by the one who states it? NEVER ask the opposition to provide disproof.”
He was clearly raged now.
But Alex stood strong.
Finally, the last student couldn’t wait any longer and decided to butt in.
“Dr. Ptah, how about you take a look at my idea,” He said with a sort of noble arrogance.
Dr. Ptah turned his head 360 degrees and stared at the student. But the student didn’t flinch.
“A noble huh? A rarity in these times.” Dr. Ptah said after finally calming down. He spotted the crest pinned to the student’s vest. It was someone who he couldn’t offend at random.
The student brought out a blueprint, and Dr. Ptah scrutinized it.
“Passable, you get a C+,” He stated after a few minutes and stamped a grade on the kid’s forehead. The noble student was the only person among the students who had gotten any score at all. It could be assumed the others all failed splendidly, other than Alex that is.
The kid was obviously displeased that Dr. Ptah stamped his forehead. The ink will take a while to wash off, and now there was a large red C+ on his wide forehead.
“And you,” Dr. Ptah sighed as he pointed at Alex again. “We will talk later.”
He walked pass Alex but quickly stamped her head as well with a separate stamp.
A sharp green letter appeared on Alex’s forehead.
‘A+’
Dr. Ptah conscience wouldn’t allow him to give any other grade to a project his old friend started.
“Perhaps…,” He quickly made up some theories. “God fucken dammit Gadget, stop giving me so much work.”
Dr. Ptah sighed as he walked away.
The other students stared at the noble kid and Alex with envy and awe.
The noble glared at Alex’s grade with rage.
Alex breathed a breath of relief. It looks like her career will be a long and painful journey.