“I've been looking for you for ages! Where have you been?” Cried out Rae.
Sam looked to Rae and shrugged. “Yeah sorry about that troll pulled me to an impromptu meeting to discuss my anger issues.” She looked Rae in the eyes. “I'm sorry, but apparently it's only partially my fault. Sergeant Tull thinks I have the “potential” to become a “berserker.” And it's effecting my emotions.”
Rae looked at her friend and rushed forwards and gave her a tight hug.
“Oh you poor thing don't worry! I'll tell the boys, they'll understand. You'll see.”
Sam shook her head. “I'm not sure about that, I still want to move. I'm not happy with mixed sex room mates.” Rae looked uncomfortable. she looked away for a second and them shrugged. “OK maybe they'll have a two bed cabin we can share that instead!”
Sam shook her head. “This is my issue Rae, I don't want to hold you back, if you're happy with shared accommodation then go for it.”
Sam looked up and noticed the assembly was coming together so the two girls found a couple of seats and focused their attentions on the front of the hall.
Rae leaned in and whispered. “This conversation isn't over, we'll talk after assembly.”
Sam just nodded. whatever, she had, had enough of that. she needed to focus on her rage and how to master it.
A large elderly bald man approached the dais and Sam noted the noise of the crowd dim as the man cleared his throat. Sam could see half a dozen other members of the academy's tutors sat behind him, Porter amongst them. She tensed and hoped she could get to him after assembly. This whole mixed room thing needed sorting.
“Today!”
The bald man suddenly announced, startling Sam into attentiveness.
“Marks the first day on the long journey you will all be venturing upon in your quest to become the next generation of Magi. You will be the torch bearers for the people who follow you. We face as a civilization a potential global catastrophe of epic proportions. Not only do we have too many people vying for too little resources, but we are blindly killing the planet as we try to extract more from it than the earth can give. this is not new. The leaders of Humanity have known this for 50 years and sat back and done nothing. But each year it gets worse and the planet is slowly dying. not only that but we as Magi face for the very first time a technology based threat great enough it could end us as a species forever. Humanities detection systems are now so abundant and so easily accessible that anything we do could be leaked onto the world wide web and in an instant be seen globally. satellites track our every movement. our governments look over our shoulders with more cameras on our streets every year. It has become almost impossible to remain under the radar and still live a full, rich and free life.”
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Sam looked round as she heard murmurs of discontent fluttering though the assembly.
“ I hear you say, so? Just come out. Let humanity know we exist and to hell with them. Magi are the pinnacle of life on this planet. It should be they who are cowering in fear of us. Not the other way round.” The bald man looked around the assembly as he saw faces nodding in agreement and he shook his head.
“The only problem is there is maybe half a million of us at the most spread thinly around the world but there are 7.5 billion of them. They could track us down and make us extinct inside a decade. Oh sure, We could decimate them too. Yes of course. And maybe ruin the planet for good in the process. So reveal our selves and create mutual assured destruction.” He shook his head. “Even the Americans decided against that one.” There was a ripple of laughter that ran through the audience.
“So. The planets going down the plug hole, there's not enough resources to go around an over populated planet and we are on the point of being discovered and made extinct.” he looked around, “bugger.”
Nervous laughter sprung from the crowd in the assembly.
“ So. What's the point?, might as well not try, Heh? Well that's the bad news. The good news is.” He clapped his hands and a giant sphere appeared above the dais and it showed a satellite floating around the planet.
“We have a hand in every major development in the tech industry in the last 100 years. Every large tech company or major start up we have either influence over or high level people in to guide and to inform us so we can keep ahead of the pack.”
The picture in the sphere changed to that of a real time satellite video of “The Storm Haven”
“Any tracking device on the planet has a back door into it and we have the keys. Humanity has fabulous tech. We on the other hand have fabulous tech Magi.” The video of “The Storm Haven changed to a clear sea, not even a wake was left behind.
“Anything they can make, We can break. There's not a system on the planet we cannot hack. We have people in every major government in the world and we have had for over 300 years. Yes, no more Salem witch trials for us thank you very much. But let me make myself clear, we are not holding humanity back. In many cases we are pushing them forwards. Helping, guiding them. Making better solar. Increasing battery life, Carbon farming machinery, Creating suburban vertical farming technology Which needs no dirt or direct sun light to produce pesticide free bountiful plant based foods. Yes. We are doing this and so much more. But we are a tiny fraction of the populace. Every single one of us, of you. needs to excel in order for us to continue to live, to thrive to survive. So think on that over the course of the next few days and months ahead. Think of how you can benefit your community the most going forward. Because without your success, there can be no our success, thank you! I am professor John Smythe and I am your head master. Good day!