Finally, I was able to move on with my life.
The last six months had been almost painful, I had forced myself into a mundane existence, almost as restricted as during the time I had been living with my father and brother, curbing my desire to experiment and funneling my need to understand the world into simple book-learning, reading scientific papers and textbooks.
But finally, I was able to move to Accord Island and into the student dormitory, protected by an excellent false identity and the strict rules made by the Guild itself. Unless one was a student of one of the Universities on the island, moving onto Accord Island came with a long list of requirements.
Accord Island had been established in its current form a short time after the end of World War Two, to be a neutral location, hosting the United Nations and the Powered Human Cooperation Guild and allowing for communication between the two power-blocks that had been established after the war. Nobody wanted a return to all-out war and the more powerful Powered on both sides had put pressure onto their own governments to create such a neutral position and the Guild itself.
The Guild was in an almost unique position, it was established to mirror the United Nations itself and officially subject to their resolutions. In effect, there was the Council of Five, a council of the five most powerful Powered, who had an interest in working with others on a limited basis, that made policy for the Guild. Nobody really knew who was on that council, it was quite shadowy in that regard, they only had a single representative that announced their resolutions from time to time.
Their mission was simple, keep the planet in one piece, and to that effect they were working in two different ways, one was spreading education and knowledge all over the globe, the other was actively defending against big threats, like the scourge.
From that mission of spreading knowledge, the Guild University was born, hailed to be the best University on the planet, a beacon of learning and technological advancement. Trying to cash in on that reputation, other Universities and Colleges created branch-schools on Accord Island, trying to hitch their own success to the highly successful Guild University. That worked quite well, the Guild University was limited due to its political nature, they could, for example, not educate with a bias to western democratic systems, or the representatives of different systems would register complaints. So, the Guild University was limited to what some called the hard sciences, others called STEM, things that remained true no matter where on the globe you went. Social Sciences, various Law Schools and similar subjects were quickly shifted to the myriad of other institutions of higher learning on the Island.
The result was that the average age of people living on Accord Island was in the mid twenties, with about eighty percent of the population between eighteen and twenty-four. Such an artificially created imbalance caused a couple of interesting effects, from the overall power of student-organisations to the prevalence of dormitory-style accommodations and much more. There were social studies papers about the effects of age-segregation amongst students on Accord Island, but I had only given them a cursory glance. It was hard enough to prevent bias when dealing with physical science-experimentation, I doubted that any social studies paper would satisfy my personal need for scientific rigour.
Admission to the Guild University itself was both simple and complicated, simple because they hardly cared about things like previous grades or even character references. Complicated because it meant that there was a long and arduous testing-process, meant to ensure the cognitive ability of the applicants.
My own testing, done months ago in January, had been intense, for multiple reasons. One of them was that I was proud enough, or maybe cautious enough, to leave my glasses at home, preventing Galatea from helping me while making sure that she could not be detected by anyone, causing me to be banned for cheating.
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That alone would not have caused me to have problems, I had studied enough to manage a normal test easily enough, no I had shot for the moon, trying to not only land a scholarship, but to do so in two different subjects, allowing me to pursue two different degrees at the same time. Between Physics and Electrical Engineering was some overlap, mostly in the maths department, but either of the degrees would be challenging for most people. I wanted both, so even I was tested into uncomfortable regions. But I succeeded.
It was part of my attempt to be approached for Guild membership, I wanted them to come to me, not go to them as an applicant. I wanted to be part of the Guild, not beholden to it.
It had worked and over the course of three days, filled with hard tests, I had managed to convince the committee to grant me my desire.
But that was all in the past, now, I was taking the train to cross one of the bridges connecting the mainland and Accord Island, carrying with me what I would need for the next months, maybe years. It was not much, mostly clothes and electric devices, and buried amongst those were the parts needed to reassemble my gauntlets and the stealth-suit. I was not sure if my luggage would be changed, Accord Island was considered not part of any nation’s territory but a neutral ground. It had its own laws, most of them rather free and open, unless one counted the migration-laws, which were very restricted to prevent people from flooding onto the Island.
In a way, Accord Island was both the most restrictive place on earth and the least restrictive place. Part of the limitation was the economic restriction, businesses could not be registered, there was no manufacturing beyond the prototyping-facilities of a few universities and almost all food had to be imported.
On the other hand, there were no treaties of extradition and the law could be summed up with, unless you limit someone else's freedom, you are free to do whatever you want. There were exceptions, mostly regarding self-defense and the defense of others, but otherwise? It was a libertarian utopia. From time to time, people tried to push their own agenda on the Island, trying to limit other people’s freedom to protect what they called marginalised groups, but those attempts were shattered due to the nature of Accord Islands population. If one was competent enough, everyone could gain a full scholarship, no matter their background. In many ways, it was the ultimate, liberal meritocracy.
As I was thinking about the unique society I was about to enter, the train arrived at the entry-station, the station that would allow me to switch between the normal train-system and the Accord-Island trains, as the island was optimised for pedestrians with strict limits on the amount of cars allowed. There were roads, but those were almost completely limited to emergency services.
The station was as modern as one would imagine and after a short, cursory glance on my papers, I was allowed entry, alongside hundreds of other young people, mostly my age, some accompanied by older people, likely their family, others on their own, like I was. The station was almost overflowing, as one would expect during a time that a good portion of the island was moving back onto the island.
Following the directions on my paperwork, I took another train, this one a monorail, into the islands proper, moving towards the dorm that would be my home for the next months. The monorail was filled to the brim, causing me to make a mental note to avoid admissions-day for the future, there had to be a better way, most likely arriving earlier, even if I would have to shell for a hotel room. Or maybe, I could negotiate with the dormitory-owner, allowing me to enter earlier.
Soon, I arrived at the station I needed to exit at, maybe two minutes away from the dorm I would be living in, and left the train, stepping onto the streets of Accord Island itself. There was no fanfare, no huge skyscrapers with futuristic flying cars, just a tidy, very organised landscape, with clear, straight lines, obviously planned to perfection, without ancient city-planning getting into the way.
The buildings were clean and tidy high-rise constructions, made to allow for high efficiency, even as it meant sacrificing creativity. Walking the few minutes to my dorm, I noticed just how strange it was to be in a society with almost everyone being roughly my age.
Finally, I arrived at Curie Hall, the dorm I would spend my time in. After checking in with the dorm-administrator, I was given my room-number and my room-key. The dorm was co-ed, with each floor being dedicated to a single sex, with my room being on the fourth floor. A quick elevator-ride brought me there. After looking around the common or maybe reception-area, filled with a few couches, a large television, a small kitchenette and a dinner-table, I moved towards the hallway leading to the various suites.