chapter 5
Ensuring the perennity of our kin, that is my goal
“Hello fellow students, sit down please.” said the Instructor, leaning on his desk. “For the record, can someone state the date, place and class?”
“It is the 12th Duni of the 1rst month of the year 146, Instruction center, Technology club.”
“Good.”, The Instructor looked away from the hologram board and stared at his chattering students. He waited a bit for their attention. “Today is our first class together. This club was created to help the students understand the basis of our society. Technological engineering had a huge impact on the expansion of our society. Understanding it, enhancing it, that is our goal. We are going to start with the most basic object. The one we’re all using: the connectors. So first question, what is a connector ?”
The students were hesitant. One of them stood up and answered.
“A connector is the link between a person and Archive.”
“Wrong”, said the Instructor, “A connector is a neuronal patch, placed close to the brain at someone’s birth, which connects all of your sensory parts together, allowing you limited access to Archive. Archive is the common database of Aglion, where all the data is saved and used by the Decision and the Research center. What we call the screen is the representation of your personal archive through your eyes. What you see has no material form, it only exists through your senses. As you know since all of you have lived with it since birth, the connector possesses multiple functions. Who can enumerate those functions ?”
“That’s basically what I said”, interrupted the student, probably frustrated.
The Instructor sighed.
“If you’re here to learn what can be basically said, then I suggest you go and find a more interesting club. I’m here to teach you, if you’re not satisfied with my class, leave. Otherwise, sit down and listen.”
The student sat down.
“Who can enumerate those functions ?” asked the Instruction again.
Another student stood up.
“The connector is directly linked to Archive, it can help us communicate between us without the need to speak; it gives us our schedule; it helps us navigate through the city; and if we focus really hard on an object, it can tell us what it is.”
“That is correct, these are the general functions of the connector. But there are more. For example, if you focus on someone, focus on me. You will see here,” The Instructor waved his hand near his head “my name, my status, and my age. If you’re working at one of the four centers, you might have to take care of confidential documents. Your connector might blur your sight so you won’t be able to see the content of those documents. Or if you’re a farmer, your connector will tell you if a crop is sick, or if it is ready to be harvested. Your connector will help you in your daily life. Another question, how is your connector able to process all those information ?”
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This time, no student dared to answer the question. They were so eager to listen to their Instructor.
“We talked about Archive earlier. As I said, Archive is the common database of Aglion. It is an Artificial Intelligence whose job is to process all the information possibly usable. It is a gigantic database which retains every data produced by anyone at any time. Archive decides what you have access to. Your connector is simply the interface.”
“Now, do you know when and why the connector was created ?”
Yeetlhy pinged the Instructor and stood up.
“When the expansion project on Triptoen was created, they needed a relay of information, to understand if Aglion was a safe place to live. So they created the connectors to understand Aglion and monitor the group of people who were sent on the planet.”
“And when was that ?”
“That was 50 years before the arrival of the group on Aglion.”
“Can you tell me the year ?” asked the Instructor.
“I think it was around 300 years ago ?”
“That doesn’t sound very convincing, 146 years ago was the independence of the colonies, 100 years before that was the arrival of the first men on Aglion. Do the math, it was 296 years ago.”
Yeetlhy sat down, embarrassed. She felt humiliated. It was a four-year gap. The young girl thought the Instructor was rude to her for no reason.
“Your answer was incomplete but still better than some other students. The connector was first and foremost created to keep track and control of what was being done on Aglion. The resources found on the planet were so rare on Triptoen that the government, which our ancestors were working for, needed its exclusivity. If and only if Aglion was found to be a safe place to live, then the creation of a facility would be considered. So the connector's primary function is surveillance. After we lost contact with Triptoen, the connector was modified to serve the survival of society on Aglion. Now the connector’s principal function is to help every citizen of the colonies and help the Decision center. We already know how the connector helps us. Since we talked about Archive, we already know how they monitored us.”
The Instructor paused, giving everyone the time to grab some water and focus again on the class. He took out of a box a small object and placed it in full view of everyone.
“This is a connector, you used it all your lives but never saw one before. This is the first and probably the only time you will be able to touch one so be careful and enjoy this moment.”
All the kids approached the table and touched it, Yeetlhy was amazed by how such a small thing could be this amazing. It was flabby and transparent, she couldn’t completely understand how such a floppy thing works. She asked the Instructor who took back the connector.
“Everyone focus. Yeetlhy here asked an important question. How does it work? Well you see the small rectangle at the center, this is the processor, which executes the programs and tasks given by Archive. You see the four round thing connected at every corner of the processor ? Those are the electropulsor, they analyze your vital signs. As for the filaments covering the whole connector, they are called neuronal filaments, they are directly linked to your brains and transmit all the information you need.”
Yeetlhy wanted to ask more but was interrupted by her connector. It was time to go to her sports class. The students said their goodbyes to their Instructor.
“Next time we will talk about the climate regulator and our energy sources. I’m gonna send you some homework. It is facultative, though.”
Yeetlhy bowed to her Instructor and left. She didn’t want to be late to class.
And I’m going to do whatever it takes to stand above them.