by Bob Blanton
“Yes. I did a rough design, then Nikola worked with Ajda’s team to finalize it. We covered all the patents so we have worldwide rights, and I guess interstellar rights.”
“Send me the details on that and I’ll send it to the three mayors. But back to my delivery drones.”
“We can send you a design for those. We don’t own all the rights, but we’d cover that in the licensing fee. They’re pretty straightforward. Who wants them?”
“You remember the girls I told you about, Katya and Sebrina. Well, they’re thinking about expanding.”
“Staying ahead of the competition. You have to admire that.”
“Yes, even if it creates more headaches for me.”
“Hey, there’s always Advil.”
Chapter 7
Picky, Picky
“Mr. Verity, Welcome to Delphi City,” Siya told the man as she met him at the airport. Siya worked for the real-estate office, and her job was to meet new immigrants to Delphi City and get them settled into their condos.
Mr. Verity just looked at Siya.
“I’m Siya. I’ve been assigned to get you settled in. I’ll take you to the condo you’ve been assigned so you can drop off your luggage, then I’ll take you to Delphi Communications, so you can meet your colleagues, and they’ll take over for the day and get you settled into your office. I’ll meet you at the end of the day and show you more about how to navigate around Delphi City.”
Mr. Verity nodded to Siya and pointed at his luggage. It was stacked on a cart, two suitcases, and a golf bag. Siya shrugged and grabbed the cart and guided it out of the airport terminal. “Right this way, I have a taxi waiting for us.”
Mr. Verity followed Siya out of the terminal to the taxi. Siya put his luggage in the back of the taxi with the help of the driver. Mr. Verity just got into the back seat and waited for them. Once the luggage was loaded, Siya got into the taxi beside the driver.
“In Delphi City, nobody is allowed to own cars or other vehicles. Everyone gets around by walking, riding the subway, or taking a taxi. The city is not very large yet, so it’s never too far from where you wish to go. Quite a few of our residents work from home most days, so they don’t stray too far from their own neighborhoods. The neighborhoods all have a local grocery, restaurants, and other entertainment. So unless you’re looking for something special, there’s no need to leave it.”
Mr. Verity nodded at Siya, then turned his head to watch the scenery go by as they drove out of the airport.
“As you can see, now that we’ve crossed the causeway and are in the city, there are parks every few blocks. It’s laid out carefully so everyone has access to open space. There is a large central park that has a beach, and we also have a horse park where you can ride. It’s a nice location and some people go there just to picnic and watch others ride,” Siya continued to provide a commentary about Delphi city as they made their way to Mr. Verity’s condo.
“Here we are. This is a nice location, right across from the park and just a few blocks from the main commercial district. Your condo is on the top floor, so you’ll have a nice view. Once you’ve been here for six months you can purchase the condo, or choose another one if you like. We’ve just started selling condos so there aren’t that many on the market, but your contract guarantees you the right to purchase this one.”
Siya pulled a cart out of the taxi and unfolded it. It was just big enough to handle Mr. Verity’s luggage and golf bag. With the help of the driver, she loaded the luggage and got the cart moving toward the building entrance. The driver rushed ahead and opened the door for her. Mr. Verity followed along quietly.
“Each building has its own supervisor. Their job is to handle the maintenance and deal with any issues that the residents have. Their number will be registered on your Comm.”
“Comm?” Mr. Verity asked, it was the first time he had spoken.
“Why don’t I give you yours now. That’ll make it easier to explain.” Siya paused in the lobby and pulled a box out of her purse. “There’s a Comm in there, it’s just like a cellphone, there is also a pair of specs like I’m wearing. They act like a ‘Heads-Up-Display’, Google glasses, if you will. Then there is an earwig that you can put into your ear so you can hear your Comm when you’re not wearing the specs or you want it to be private. They have amazing voice recognition and speech synthesis. I never have to type commands in unless I don’t want someone to hear me.”
Mr. Verity opened the box and picked up the Comm.
“You can clone your existing phone if you like, or just use the Delphi Communications interface. Most people only use their Comm, although you can keep your cellphone if you’d prefer; it works just fine down here. Now, back to the tour. There’s a central courtyard through there. It’s only for the residents of this building and has a pool and barbeque area. We’ll take a quick tour once we drop your luggage.”
Siya pressed the call button on the elevator. The door opened immediately and she pushed the cart in. Mr. Verity followed her and moved to the back of the elevator. Siya pressed the button for the top floor and waited while the elevator rose.
When they reached the top floor, the doors opened to a somewhat startled man standing in front of it. “Oh, excuse me,” he said as he stepped aside to allow Siya and Mr. Verity to exit the elevator.
“Hello, Mr. Gantry, how are you settling in?” Siya asked.
“Just fine, thank you. I appreciated all of your help. Sir, you’re lucky to be assigned Siya, she knows everything there is to know about Delphi City.”
“Mr. Verity, this is Mr. Gantry, you’ll be neighbors.”
“How do you do,” Mr. Gantry said.
“Hello.”
Mr. Gantry shrugged at the short response. “I’ll see you around,” he said as he got on the elevator.
“What do you mean we’ll be neighbors?” Mr. Verity asked after the elevator door closed.
“Mr. Gantry has the unit right across the hall from you.”
“Are there more of them that live in this building?”
“More of them?”
“Blacks.”
“You mean people of color like me?” Siya asked.
“Yes, whatever. I was told this was an exclusive condo.”
“I don’t know who told you that. You were assigned this condo because it is close to where you work. You were assigned the top floor as a perk since Delphi Communications really wants you.”
“Fine, but are there more like him in the building?”
“You mean you would prefer a condo where all the neighbors are white?” Siya asked.
“Yes. I lock my doors, but I don’t want to have to worry about my safety every time I leave my condo.”
“I see. I’m sure I can help you find a condo that will meet your needs, just follow me.” Siya used her HUD to summon a taxi and also entered some additional instructions. She led Mr. Verity down to the taxi and again, she and the driver loaded his luggage into the back.
Siya continued to work in her HUD as the taxi drove through the city. After a few minutes, they arrived at the marina. Siya grabbed one of the carts from the rack next to the curb. Then she and the driver loaded Mr. Verity’s luggage onto it. She led Mr. Verity into the terminal building for the ferry.
“Where are we going?” Mr. Verity asked.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Siya said. “Here is a ticket for the next ferry to Rarotonga, and a ticket for the next flight that’ll take you back to where you came from. I’m sure that they must have a residential area that meets your needs.”
“What?! I’ve got a job here with Delphi Communications. I’m their new research manager.”
“Not anymore. Your contract has been cancelled. If you have any questions, I suggest you contact their personnel office. Don’t miss your ferry, your visa has been cancelled, so you won’t be able to get a room here in Delphi City. You’re welcome to keep the Comm, have a nice trip back to the dark ages.”
With that, Siya pushe
d the luggage cart toward Mr. Verity then turned around and walked away.
“You can’t do this to me!” Mr. Verity yelled as he started after Siya.
“Excuse me, sir,” a constable said. “The system says your visa had been cancelled, you cannot leave the building.”
“What?!”
“This is the port of entry for Delphi City. Things are so automated that sometimes people don’t realize that’s what it is, but my Comm says you don’t have a valid visa. Therefore, you cannot enter the city. There’s a ferry leaving in ten minutes that will take you away, or you’re welcome to do some shopping and have a meal if you’d like. But you’re restricted to the terminal.”
“How dare you!”
“I’m sorry, but I’m just here to enforce the rules. You’ll need to talk to someone else if you’re unhappy with the situation.”
Mr. Verity grabbed his cellphone and turned away. He let out a series of expletives as he moved to a sitting area so he could make some calls.
“I’m pretty sure I can guess why his visa was cancelled,” the constable whispered as he returned to his station at the entry.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Uncle Blake,” Catie said as she knocked on Blake’s office door.
“Hi, Catie, what brings you down here?”
“I just reviewed the Verity video. Good thing Siya kicked him out.”
“Yes, I’m surprised they didn’t catch the problem during the interview process,” Blake said. “Did you have a problem with how Siya handled it?”
“No, but I wanted to ask you about racism,” Catie said. “I can’t understand it; it’s so stupid.”
“Isn’t this a conversation you should have with your father, or your mother?”
“It’s the middle of the night in Orion, and Mom’s never good about explaining things like this. Besides, Daddy’s always worked at the university, you’ve been out in the real world more.”
“Okay, if you want, I can try.”
“Please,” Catie begged.
“First thing, it is stupid. But unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s uncommon.”
“Why?”
Blake took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Okay, here’s how I explain it to myself. First, humans have a tribal instinct that’s from back before the stone age when we had to worry about potential enemies or predators. So we naturally feel an affinity for other humans from our same tribe, people that look like us.”
“That’s stupid, you can’t identify bad people by whether they look like you.”
Blake waved his hand at Catie. “That’s true today, but the instinct is still there. Now today tribes are defined quite differently, it might be all skateboarders, pilots, farmers; but the thing that is the most distinctive is skin color. It’s just one of the first things you notice about someone.”
“But that doesn’t tell you anything about the person!”
“Not much. You can make some guesses, but especially nowadays you’re likely to be wrong. Now back to my lecture. So you have this tribal thing going. Now, most people manage to ignore that. When they meet someone, they have a momentary tribal reaction to them from their low brain, but then their high brain takes over and they use logic to classify the person. Generally, a new person is classified by how they dress and present themselves, but of course, that can fool you too. Plenty of bad people dress nicely. It’s important to learn to judge people by their actions not by their physical or social characteristics.”
“That makes sense, so why is there racism?”
“That comes from two other deep-seated human needs: the need to be special, and greed,” Blake said. “The need to be special is probably the most powerful.”
“That doesn’t make sense!”
“Come on, we all want to be loved, want to feel like we’re special, even that we’re better than somebody else. Anyway, the need to be special drives humans to divide everyone into different levels, somewhat like the caste system in India.”
“That system is inhuman!”
“Yes, it comes from ages of racism or prejudice, but that doesn’t justify it. Now back to the lecture. Every society has these castes, there are plenty of words to identify each of them: white trailer trash, Jews, immigrants, Blacks, gays, blue-collar, middle class, the list goes on. But the fundamental thing is that each caste wants to raise its status relative to the other castes. They want to be close to the upper castes which are the rich people, blue-bloods, folks like that. There are two reasons for that, feeling special and wealth by association.”
“Wealth by association, what’s that?”
“Well, if you’re associated with a caste that’s been accepted by one of the wealthy castes, then they’ll hire you, loan you money, throw you a bone once in a while. It’s the gateway to improving your personal lot. If you’re associated with a caste that is not accepted by the wealthy castes, then you’re discriminated against. The other castes don’t want to associate with you lest your unacceptability might rub off on them and lower their standing.”
“That’s stupid!”
“Yep, but that’s what happens when people don’t think past their prejudices.”
“So what drives the wealthy castes?”
“Greed and that need to feel superior to everyone else. That is easier to do if you identify a few classes that you target. The problem is that with so much money controlled by so few people, it’s easy to isolate a group of people and discriminate against them.”
“That’s awful.”
“It gets worse. By hoarding the wealth and privilege to the few castes they want in their elite circle, it sets up a positive feedback system that lowers the living standard of the other castes. The elite castes have better schools, better access to loans, jobs, food, housing. Not having fair access to those things drives down the living standard of the other castes and takes away from their ability to raise their standard of living. It becomes a vicious cycle.”
“Argh!”
“And then that lower standard of living, lower education, is used as an excuse to extend the prejudice.”
“That’s so absurd. But what can we do about it?”
“What we’re already doing. Delphi City and the companies controlled by MacKenzie Discoveries demand that people be evaluated only based on how they perform the jobs assigned to them. Personnel files only have job-related information in them. The ones that get exchanged between managers don’t even have names or pictures. Nothing that would trip a bias. The companies use those files kind of like the military. The files go to a promotion board where all the companies’ executives meet to figure out how to fill their slots. They select candidates based on the files. There is a round of personal interviews before the final promotions, but you’d better have a good reason for not going with the board’s recommendation.”
“I didn’t know that. What else?”
“We have an excellent education system, and when you have a job, you automatically get access to a free college education. That means everyone has a chance to move up to more challenging jobs. When someone is down on their luck, they can go to one of the dormitories and live for free while they work to get back on their feet. Everyone gets a job.”
“What about people who have limited abilities?”
“There’s still a job for them. Sometimes their abilities can be raised, sometimes we have to accept what they can do. But hey, the streets need to be cleaned, dishes washed, there is always a job that they can do. You just have to give them a chance and provide access to the resources for them to learn and improve their abilities for better jobs if they want to.”
“And kicking people like Verity out!”
“Yes, good thing we figured him out before he became a citizen.”
“Ohh, what do we do with those who get through?”
“As long as they do their job, not much. But we have ANDI analyze all the personnel reviews, promotions, and bonuses to make sure there’s no prejudice. Anything that looks odd is
investigated.”
“And if we find some racist on the staff, what do we do?”
“If they’re discriminating against people in the company, then they’re disciplined, or demoted.”
“Demoted, to what?”
“An assembler on one of the production lines if we have to.”
“What would someone like Verity do if that happened?”
“He might emigrate to someplace else, or he might learn something and work his way back up the ladder.”
“Would we ever trust him again?”
“He’d have to earn it.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Fred, how are you doing?”
“Fine, Catie. Can I help you?”
“I came by to review the schedule for the jump probes.”
“You can go over that with Alonso if you want.”
“I know, but I wanted to talk with you.”
“About something besides the schedule?”
“I was curious about what you thought of the Verity incident.”
“I thought it was unfortunate.”
“What did you think of the way Siya handled it?”
“I thought she did a great job.”
“Did she get approval, first?”
“She told her boss what she was planning to do; she didn’t really ask permission. She was following the established protocol after all. Her boss Commed her to go ahead and that she would take the heat if anyone didn’t like it.”
“Gutsy.”
“Yep. Siya’s personnel file had a green flag indicating she was a promising promotion candidate before the incident; now we see why. Pretty tough cookie for a seventeen-year-old.”
“She’s only seventeen? I couldn’t tell from the video. I assume she’s got a double green flag on her file now.”
“Yes, she’s pretty impressive. She and her mother are the main support for the family. She has four younger brothers and sisters. They moved here from India two years ago.”
“What does the mother do?”
“She works in the caregiver co-op for the community. She’s studying to be a teacher.”
“That’s nice. How old are the children?”
