GSC138 Education Environment detected. Would you like to connect?

Yes

No

Block

I minimize the message, unanswered, as I examine how GSC138 looks in the real world. Two multistory boxy wings and the main building enclose a fairly spacious courtyard. That’s a lot of open space, for a city. The building itself is inoffensive, slightly rundown and larger than I was expecting. How many kids live here?

My AR layers aren’t off just so I can get a clear look at my home. That was the only way to make the knife wielding cartoon bunnies stop trying to jump scare me. I guess this is why I had such mixed feelings about joining a group with Olivia. I mistook the first one that sidled up to me as some kind of ad. It wasn’t until I was turning away from it that it pulled the knife and jumped at my face. I did not scream like a child, no matter what Olivia claims. I may have cursed like a very adult sailor. I have no idea how the infection spread from our group AR to my AR system. It’s not like I got a system popup asking if I wanted to install Bunny_stab.exe. The short term solution I’ve found to this plague of gap moe rabbits has been to turn my AR layers off. I thought leaving our group would be enough, but the bunnies were too clever for that. They lurked in digital obscurity, lulling me into a false sense of security before three of them pounced on me at once. Now they live in my AR so I must never go there.

Olivia was very apologetic, after she stopped laughing. She’s not sure who is planting these viruses in her core, but she thinks it’s one of the other kids at GSC138. Evelyn, or one of her friends. They have been teasing her about how scared she is of the incursions. This isn’t the first time that the end of an incursion has triggered auditory or visual AR viruses. Given that I sort of knew about this it must have been going on for a while. And I didn’t put a stop to it. I was a shitty older brother. I open up a note app and add a task to find the hacker and make them leave Olivia alone. The creche has an antivirus consul that will zap the little pests and prevent a reinfection from this specific virus but new versions are constantly being created.

“Dave, what are we waiting for, let’s go. I can’t listen to music or anything until we eliminate these bunnies.” Olivia complains, tugging on my arm.

I’m hesitating, why don’t I want to go in? Because I don’t want to meet more people that I used to know. I’m spent. I just want to relax, network and chill. That didn’t make sense. Net something and chill. Netsurf and chill? Maybe. Well, there’s no help for it.

“Sorry Olivia, I’m just feeling tired. Lead the way.” I smile apologetically down at her.

“Stupid, if you’re feeling tired don’t stop right before we enter the creche. We have chairs and couches inside.” Olivia rolls her eyes at me while pulling me behind her into GSC138.

There are other kids around, but I try not to focus on them as Olivia hauls me behind her through the entrance hall. There is furniture, the space is almost crowded with the number of chairs, pillows, and couches crowding the walls. The walls look like they are made of beige foam. I reach out a hand as we walk past. They have a surprising amount of give, but pushing into the wall reveals a tear in the material. Like the exterior they are functional but worn. Olivia stops in front of a blank space on the wall. I look at her questioningly only to realize she is interfacing with some AR layer I’m not experiencing.

Oh, right, duh. I pull up the minimized prompt and chose yes.

Welcome back David

Nothing changes. I guess I have to turn the AR layers back on. As I resignedly turn my AR back on the world shifts and I see a symbol, a blue outline of a brain with a red plus symbol inside. I also see a bunny waiting for me. It makes eye contact, then bends down to eat some invisible grass. Quick movements draw their attention. I casually activate the brain health station, feeling the soft wall foam under my hand.

You have activated GSC138’s digital dispensary, would you like a complimentary virus scan?

Yes

No

Menu

I click yes, while keeping some of my attention on the bunny in case it tries anything.

Scanning… Scanning… Scanning.. Please Wait

Four known viruses found. Ninety suspicious files found. Would you like to cure the 4 known viruses for 5 Creche Credits?

Yes

No

Convert Sols to Credits

I wait, poised to click. That fucking rabbit twitches and I click yes as it pulls a knife from nowhere then disappears, sadly without any visual or audio fanfare.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Vaccines for known viruses installed. Known viruses purged.

“Rabbit free zone.” Olivia pumps a fist into the air before turning to me “Are they all gone?”

“Yup, no need to fear the bunny.” I offer Olivia a tired smile.

I glance around at the changed world around me. It is a riot of color. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling are all covered in art. Some of it is clearly the work of young children, but some of the pictures on the ceiling are really good. I watch as a kindergarten aged girl completes a drawing. She steps away from the wall, waiting for something. Her drawing shimmers, then shifts moving higher, but only a little, up the wall. She crosses her tiny arms with a grumpy expression on her face. I guess she was expecting a higher grade?

I’m wondering who the judge is, do we have true AI judging visual aesthetics? Is there a teacher monitoring the art projects? A wave of lethargy washes through me. Questions for another time.

“I’m going to lay down for a while Olivia. See you later?” I ask

“Sure, do you want me to tell Lady Kara about your condition now or …?” Olivia trails off

“Is she going to want to talk to me right away or will she let me rest for a bit?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes she drops everything, sometimes you’ve forgotten what you asked her when she tracks you down cycles later.”

“Then please wait, we can go talk to her together later.”

“Ok, but Doc said we needed to tell her so you can’t ‘forget’. Doc said you’re having dissocial amnesty not like general forgetfulness.” Olivia looks serious, perhaps I’ve ‘forgotten’ things in the past.

I hold out a pinky but Olivia gives me a blank look. Does she not know what pinky promises are?

“You hold out your pink like this, then we lock pinkies and I say what I am promising. That way we both remember and you know I really mean it.”

Olivia looks at me with some distrust but locks pinkies with me.

“I promise that after I get some sleep I will go with Olivia to talk to Lady Kara about my condition.” I make eye contact as I intone the promise with all due solemnity.

“Ok, I guess that’s a good enough promise.” Olivia takes her pinky back as soon as I finish.

I nod then turn away from her, walking further into the creche. I don’t really know where I’m going but now that I have my AR systems on the rooms have labels. Nothing labeled classroom, but I pass study halls full of desks, a small gym, a nursery and finally I reach the boys dorm. I think I’m in the right wing of the building. From the labels the bottom level is for the younger children so I head up the stairs. The boys dorm has its own dedicated stairwell. That makes sense given the number of teens I’ve seen and the lack of adults. I wonder what happens if you try to go up the wrong set of stairs? An alarm? Is this entire place automated? Is Lady Kara the name of the creche’s AI? There must be at least 100 kids here, maybe 200 given the size of the boys dorm.

I have continued climbing while lost in thought. I find myself at the top of the staircase, fifth floor. The label is Young Adults. There is a small landing with a hall leading away from the staircase. The door at the far end of the hall is clearly labeled bathroom. All of the other doors, on either side of the hallway, have pictures drawn on them. One of them calls to me, a circle with an arrow rising to the stars. The symbol of Mercury, or maybe Mars. That is my room. The door opens at my touch. I look into the room and a connection is made, memories come flooding back but they are jumbled.

----------------------

Flash opens the door to his new room. He is alone. The little hairs on the back of his neck raise, the feeling of trespassing, of entering a place he is not allowed crests then passes. He drops his bundled clothes and few personal possessions into the locker built into the base of the bed. It is so big, at least twice the size of his old locker.

Jumping onto the mattress, he rolls onto his back. Reaching out, stretching both arms to the limit he tries to touch first the ceiling then the walls to either side. His fingers can’t quite brush either. This is more personal space than he’s ever had before. The luxury brings forth a wave of emotion.

Flash smiles in triumph. He has finally done it, saved up enough creche credits to rent a private room. Now the real plans could begin. He already had contacts with several of the local gangs, although only The Cleaners had shown interest so far. Maybe his brother really had put in a good word. He can do this. He was better than just a sisyphean, or a grinder, he was a climber. The world would not grant him the opportunities he needed. He would make them himself.

----------------------

He opens the door to his new apartment. The smell hits him first. Cheap pine cleaner covering the lingering smell of smoke. The lady at the front desk had mentioned the motel had a firm no smoking policy, perhaps because the motel has such a lackluster smoke cleaning policy. He would need to ventilate the room before he could sleep. The smell was already bringing on a migraine.

The room was a coffin. Less space than prisoners were given under the Geneva Convention. Most of the room was a bed with a ceiling so low he had to crawl to get in it. He lets his trunk thump into the aisle then over it and into the bed. He reaches his arms toward the headboard while his feet are planted against the footboard. His arms are around half extended when they reach the headboard. It's not even close to enough room for a good stretch.

No bathroom, no running water, no TV, no closet, barely enough space to store his trunk in the aisle next to the bed. This apartment was shit. It was in a shitty part of a shitty flyover city. How did he end up here? How did everything go to shit?

----------------------

I collapse to the floor, the tsunami of memories and emotions too much to parse. It takes time, but I sort the flashes into two separate stories. One of Flash being excited at getting his first private room and another of someone being depressed at ?being forced? to live in a similar room. Neither of the memories feel like mine, or maybe neither of the people having those memories feel like they are me. If Flash was so excited, why was the other man so sad?

I pull myself into the bed, mimicking the actions that Flash took in my memory. I can just touch the ceiling above the bed but the walls are still out of reach. Unlike Flash I reach toward the wall above my head and easily touch it.

Maybe Flash wanted this room to be special and the other man was expecting his room to be disappointing? Or was it the smell of the other room? I try to imagine this room smelling like Papa Doc’s recovery room. I wouldn’t enjoy the work it took to remove those smells but it wouldn’t have been enough to turn a happy moment into a sad one. It must be their differing expectations. This room was a new high in Flash’s life. It made him feel like his life was getting better. The other man had known something better. His life was getting worse and he didn’t understand why.

Desire is the source of suffering. That's a saying, right? But Flash had desires too. Unmet desires are the source of suffering? Would Flash be as unhappy as the other man if he had to move back to the shared rooms after knowing the luxury of this room? What did I desire? Were my desires meetable? It’s been a long day. Time for a nap.