by Isaac Hooke
“You’d think an exhibitionist like yourself would enjoy that,” Jenna quipped.
“Hey, you’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to exhibit myself to, my sweet treat,” Greg told her with a wink.
“You would,” Jenna said.
In a short time the tram dropped them off at one of the transport terminals. The three of them queued up in one of the lines. Since Kalindor city was the only metropolis on the planet, the transport terminals handled a lot of traffic and were busy at all hours.
Of the twenty stations, only half were open, leaving ten lines. At the front of each station was a counter manned by a friendly synthetic. Behind them, armed robots watched the actual transport gates, which consisted of large silver rings with small glass tanks beside them that contained what looked like floating sponges.
Controlled by AIs operating the tanks, those sponges were non-sentient lifeforms, essentially organic machines manufactured to Siphon the Essence and create the necessary distortion tunnels between destinations on the planet. The gate was made of Chrysalium-238, a special element that enhanced the drawing of the Essence and magnified its effects. Chrysalium enabled the small lifeforms to Siphon far more than they naturally could. A skilled Essenceworker could potentially use the gates to Siphon, which was why there were so many guards in place. Probably unnecessary, considering how rare the Ability actually was.
TSN starships were equipped with similar Essence-magnifying elements, though on a much larger scale, giving the navy the weapons and distortion tunnels they needed to traverse the stars.
Tane knew all that without even having to look at an Omnipedia page.
The wonders of being chipped.
“The three of us are traveling together,” Tane told the synthetic attendant when he reached the front of the line.
The attendant nodded. “Enter destination.”
A prompt appeared on his HUD and Tane chose “Chalcedony Station” as his target. The destination appeared as a top down map on his vision, and he confirmed it.
“Proceed,” the attendant said.
Tane, Jenna and Greg walked past the counter, and then approached the armed robot near the gate.
“When the tunnel opens, stay near the center of the ring,” the armed robot said. “Don’t approach the edges.”
Tane and his friends positioned themselves as requested in front of the large metal ring and waited. They gazed through it at the blank wall on the other side.
The sponge life form in the tank elongated and compressed slightly, and then a rent formed in the fabric of spacetime. That rent enlarged until it filled up the whole gate. The back wall was gone, replaced by the scene of an open-air speeder terminal surrounded by dunes.
Tane and his friends stepped through the distortion tunnel and emerged onto the dusty terminal. Behind them the concourse winked out, leaving only a metal gate that was twin to the one they had just walked through. A sponge life form in the tank beside it jiggled grumpily.
The three of them waited for the next speeder. When it arrived, they loaded into the anti-grav shuttle and sped off into the red desert.
Tane read through the chip’s instruction manual on the way home. Everything seemed relatively straight forward. Like Jack had said, it wasn’t recommended that he manually tinker with those parts of the body controlled by the autonomous nervous system, but it was good to know he had the ability.
Though capable of seating twelve, the speeder was empty save for Tane and his friends. Not many came all the way out here.
Jenna destination came first. The speeder arrived at what essentially looked like a giant metal tree. Glass domes sat on the humongous branches, each dome harboring a different type of crop inside.
“Bye Tane!” she said, and kissed him on the cheek before fleeing the shuttle.
Tane rubbed his cheek in delight.
“When are you going to tell her?” Greg said after the speeder took off again.
“Tell her what?” Tane said. “There’s nothing to tell. She’s always been my friend.”
“But you want more than friendship,” Greg said.
“Not really,” Tane said. “What’s the point of ruining a good friendship?”
“If you say so,” Greg said.
Tane reached his stop next and bid Greg farewell. His friend lived a few more farms down.
Tane emerged from the speeder and onto the dust-covered landing at the base of the towering structure he called home. Like Jenna’s farm, it looked like a giant tree with metal substituting the branches and glass domes in place of leaves. Before he went inside, he noticed the sand dunes had been piling up on the righthand side of the main trunk, burying a few of the lower domes there. The windstorms had apparently gotten pretty bad while he was gone.
After taking a sonic shower, he smeared some hair stimulating cream into his scalp and then met his parents in the dining room for supper.
“So what’s the news?” Dad asked over a plate of recycled meat. His gaze drifted to Tane’s scalp. “Any problems?”
“Nope,” Tane said. “The procedure went well.”
“Then what’s with the shaved head and scar?” Dad said.
“Oh, apparently the nanotech didn’t like my DNA, so the synthetic had to manually install some of the chips,” Tane said. “No big deal.”
“Opening up my son’s head is a big deal in my books,” Dad said.
“I’m not too worried about it,” Tane said.
“Well, as long as there are no complications going forward...”
“There won’t be,” Tane said. “In a month my hair will cover up all the evidence. And the good news is, I’ve finally got my chip now.”
Dad nodded. “At least you got that done. It’s always been a right of passage around these parts. I was never really considered a man until I got chipped. Plus you can’t forget the benefits. Your mother wouldn’t even look at me until I added a few points of charisma.” He winked at Tane.
Mom shook her head. “Don’t listen to any of that talk. I always loved him before he got chipped.”
“You say that now...” Dad said. “By the way, Julius received the seeds you picked up in Kalindor. They look to be good stock. Should make excellent splicing candidates.”
“Good.” Tane was wondering how to broach the topic that had been on his mind. Well, no point in delaying further: might as well just let it out.
“I was thinking about applying for a support position in the TSN,” Tane said.
“The TSN?” Dad said.
“The Thorran Star Navy,” Tane explained.
“I know what it is,” Dad said.
“Now that I’m chipped,” Tane said. “I qualify for a ton of entry level positions. If I’m accepted, I can start right away in Kalindor.”
“You really want to sit in a chair all day, acting as a traffic controller for starships in the system?” Dad said.
“Well I know it’s not the most glamorous job,” Tane said. “But there is the opportunity for advancement, and who knows, maybe someday they’ll need me aboard a starship.”
“I’m the one who needs you, Tane,” Dad said. “Come on. You know this farm is yours once your mother and I are gone. You have a good life out here. Friends. Why throw all that away?”
“I—” Tane lowered his gazed. “I just feel I was meant for something more.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being a hydroponics farmer,” Dad said. “Tell you what, I’ll book you on a planetary tour next year and you can get a taste of starship travel. Trust me, once you’ve been on one ship, you’ll realize it’s not so glamorous. And if you’re still feeling the wanderlust after the tour, then by all means, you can go to the city.”
“Why not let him go now?” Mom said.
“You know we can’t afford it,” Dad said.
“I mean to the city,” Mom said. “If it’s what he wants...”
Dad shrugged. “I’m just trying to save him the heartbreak. You know the TSN will never let
him onto a starship. Those planet-side support positions are all dead end jobs. Long hours. Low pay. I don’t want them to break his spirit.”
“But you might be doing that very thing yourself,” Mom said.
Dad sighed, then he looked at Tane. “One year until we can afford the tour. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Fine.” Tane finished his meal in silence.
“Take the afternoon off,” Dad said. “You can repair the hydrator tomorrow.”
Tane nodded sullenly and excused himself.
He flopped down on a bean bag in the hydroponics research lab, where Julius, one of the family robots, was gazing into a microscope, studying the seeds Tane had purchased in Kalindor. Around him, young orange plants grew in trenches underneath sprinklers, forming rows.
What was the point of chipping himself if Tane couldn’t even use all these newfound abilities of his?
No wait, who was he kidding? He had no newfound abilities.
But I can learn.
“Julius, can you teach me mixed martial arts?” Tane asked the robot.
The robot didn’t look up from the laser microscope. “Mixed martial arts? No. At least, not at the moment. But I could download the appropriate program.”
“How much would that cost?” Tane asked.
Julius paused. “Cost? There would be no cost. There are many freeware dumps available online.”
“Dumps are free for robots,” Tane said. “But not for humans. How fair is that? We have to buy nanotech upgrades whenever we want to learn something.”
“Of course,” Julius said. “It’s a regulated industry that generates trillions of dollars annually.”
“And it’s mostly robots that profit,” Tane said.
“Yes. Our way of turning the tables on your humans. But there are modifications you can get that adapt robot dumps for human consumption. They are illegal, however, and the side effects can be… unfortunate.”
“I’ll stick with natural learning for now,” Tane said. “With your help.” Maybe he had found a way to circumvent the high costs for some of the skills he wanted to learn. It would require some elbow grease on his part, but hey, he didn’t mind putting in the effort.
“There are no military grade dumps available for download, of course,” Julius said. “And with the strength limits on my servomotors, such dumps wouldn’t be of much use anyway.”
“That’s fine,” Tane said. “I’m happy to learn the basics.”
“May I ask why a farmer wishes to learn mixed martial arts?” Julius said.
“No you may not,” Tane said.
“Is there a certain young woman you wish to impress?” Julius said.
“Not at all,” Tane said. “Why does this have to be about impressing someone? Maybe I just want to better myself. Okay fine, maybe I might want to show a certain girl a few moves sometime.”
“That is a lame reason,” Julius said.
“Hey, I never asked for your opinion,” Tane said.
“I’m downloading the dump now,” Julius said. “But shouldn’t you be working on repairing that hydrator?”
“What, are you my dad now?” Tane asked.
“No, but I have access to your task list,” Julius replied.
“I’m taking the afternoon off,” Tane said. “Dad’s orders. Besides, it can wait. Hydrator’s been down since I left for the city. A few more hours isn’t going to hurt. I’m surprised one of the repair robots hasn’t already gotten to it.”
“All of the repair robots are currently engaged at the external silos.”
“Ah yeah,” Tane said. “I heard about the windstorms while I was gone. I saw that the whole base of the farm was buried. Were the winds as bad as they say?”
“Worse,” Julius said. “The storms spawned a tornado.”
“Geez,” Tane said. “I’m glad the farm didn’t take a direct hit.”
A moment later the bipedal robot stood. Julius’ body was made of a white polycarbonate torso with a black battery pack protruding just above from the waist. The arms and legs were composed of white polycarbonate tubes with black spheres serving as the joints. The head was a white cylinder with a black visor shielding the top portion. Displayed on the visor were eyes, a nose and a mouth, represented as animated 2D vector graphics to reflect the robot’s current expression and mood. Small black antennae protruded on top of the head, linking the robot to the farm’s local mixnet.
“Download and installation complete.” The robot’s two mouth lines on the visor moved in sync to its voice. Julius stepped out into a clear area between the plants and assumed a defensive crouch. “If you would like to spar?”
Tane grinned widely. He approached the robot, but then his gaze fell on the offline farming bot stowed in an alcove nearby. “Wait.”
Tane went to the bot and surveyed the interchangeable farming implements in the rack beside it. There were plows, pitchforks, scythes, sprayers, pollination extensions, and so forth. Depending on the task at hand, the bot could mount up to two of those implements at once via sockets on its underside.
Tane’s eyes fell on a good old fashioned rake.
“Now how does this work…” Tane found the item identification menu in his HUD and selected it.
Weapon: Rake.
Item type: Common.
Inflicts blunt force damage.
Additional damage: None.
Additional effects: None.
“It’ll do.” He picked up two rakes and sauntered over to Julius. “Catch.” He tossed the spare rake to the robot.
“A moment. I’ll have to download a dump dealing with sparring weapons.” Julius paused, then a few seconds later resumed its defensive posture, incorporating the rake into its fighting stance. “Ready.”
Tane mimicked the robot’s stance and then set about bashing.
Julius easily blocked the weapon and instantly moved to the offensive. The robot had absolute control of its rake and most of the time was able to halt the weapon before physically striking Tane. The hard exterior served Julius well in return, so that the rare time Tane managed to score a hit, the rake took more damage than the robot.
Tane got himself some minor scratches during the practice session, nothing that couldn’t be healed with a quick skin spray. He took frequent breaks, but still found himself growing weary as the minutes turned into hours. Finally, after the third hour, when we he was nearing exhaustion, an alert flashed on his HUD.
New skill received.
Rake Fighting. Level 0.
“What is it?” Julius asked when he stopped.
“I finally leveled up,” Tane said.
“Impressive,” Julius said. “Your chip is working better than we could have hoped for.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that. It says level zero.”
“Oh,” Julius said. “That means you’ve learned the very basics. You can’t even properly defend yourself yet, let alone hope to fight someone at level one.”
“I know what it means,” Tane said. “I’m chipped, remember? And like I’m ever going to be facing someone with a rake. Rake Fighting.” Tane shook his head. “Not really the skill I wanted.”
“What were you hoping for?” Julius said. “Energy sword level one?”
“No. Well, sort of.”
Julius made a digital scraping sound reminiscent of a snort. “Then get access to energy swords and we’ll practice.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen soon,” Tane said. “Not.”
Energy swords were the preferred weapons of the Volur. They were extremely difficult to use, and powered by the wielder’s own Essence.
“I’d be happy for ordinary swordsmanship,” Tane said.
“Again, what good is swordsmanship for a farmer?” Julius said.
“You’re right, you’re right,” Tane flung the rake aside. “I guess I was still dreaming of becoming… more than who I am. I’ll never touch the Essence.”
Julius came to him and rested a heavy metal hand on
his shoulder. “It was a good dream.”
“Let’s switch to mixed martial arts,” Tane said. “That could be useful. In case the marauders ever come.”
“Oh sure, try to think of an excuse other than showing off to girls,” Julius said. “Because you do know that if the marauders come, and they’re close enough for mixed martial arts to be of use, you’ve already lost.”
“And that’s why we have plasma rifles,” Tane said.
“Bingo!” Julius said. “That’s the skill you should be practicing.”
“All right, we’ve sparred enough for the day,” Tane said. “But I’ll need you to teach me how to dance at some point.”
“The Pumpkin Dance this weekend?” Julius asked.
“You got it,” Tane said. “I’ll drop by tomorrow when I’m done working on the hydrator. I’ll expect you to have a few lessons downloaded by then.”
“I have work I must do as well,” Julius said. “Your father wants me to splice in the longevity genes from the new seeds you purchased in the city.”
“Of course,” Tane said. “But are you sure you’re not just trying to avoid teaching me?”
“Dancing isn’t really a subject I am fond of,” Julius admitted. “It’s a behavior that has always struck me as odd about you humans.”
“Come on, you’ll like it,” Tane said. “Download a few brain dumps on the subject and you’ll see!”
Julius made a hissing sound that was his version of a sigh. “Very well. I’ll make room in my schedule.”
The following two days passed in a blur. Tane was busier than usual as he had to catch up on a week’s worth of chores and repairs. It was a big farm, with a lot of moving parts, and many things that could break. At least one subsystem failed daily. If Tane didn’t keep up with the repairs he’d soon have a backlog a kilometer long. Especially considering that most of the repair drones were still occupied with the silos. Tane had taken a look at the damage: the tornado had struck with full force, tearing most of the silos right off their foundations. The cereal crops stored inside were write-offs. As were the silos themselves: the drones were 3D printing new ones from scratch.
