by Jerry Aubin
Hearing Mikedo’s name had the predictable effect on Zax. Even a year after the young officer’s death, he still got weepy thinking about her. He knew her for only a short time, but she changed his outlook on life forever during those intense few weeks when she led the training contest for the Boss’s mentorship.
Without Mikedo’s influence he would probably still be near the top of the Leaderboard experiencing firsthand the pilot training he now only glimpsed through Kalare’s eyes, although he’d have been doing it entirely on his own. Mikedo cracked open his shell and forced not only herself but also Kalare inside. Even if they couldn’t see eye to eye about the Boss, Kalare was still the only person who truly cared about Zax, and he remained grateful for her friendship.
While Zax took a moment to get his emotions in check, the morning newsvid began to blare out of the screens around the mess hall. He looked up and saw the announcer superimposed over an image of a burned out Tube junction.
“The recent spate of destruction and bloodshed continues with a 300th consecutive day of violent unrest among the civilian population. In addition to the hundreds of agitators justifiably killed by Marines for damaging the Ship and harming our Crew, there have been almost 15,000 civilians Culled over the past year for their role in these heinous riots. Generations of civilians have been honorably protected by our brave Crew for millennia and yet for some unknown reason a faction has turned their backs on that proud history and threaten our peaceful existence together. Let’s go down to the scene of today’s riot for more details about this latest bout of senseless ruination.”
Zax latched on to the newsvid story and diverted their conversation away from yet another debate about the Boss. “Well, I hope your field trip doesn’t get impacted by this latest disturbance. Every day there’s a different area of the Ship we’re supposed to avoid. It seems whenever the Marines get one riot mopped up, another two pop up to take its place.”
“I know! It’s gotten so crazy the Boss doesn’t travel anywhere on his own anymore. The other day when he brought me to lunch at the Omega’s mess hall, we were shadowed by six Marine guards!”
“Well...I’m glad to hear you’ll be safe wherever you go with him,” Zax said with as much faux lightheartedness as he could muster. “I can’t imagine any civilians stupid enough to try anything when a half-dozen Marines are around!”
Kalare and Zax shared a laugh and gathered their trays for disposal as they stood to leave. Zax grabbed an apple off the pile on the counter and slipped it into his pocket (ten demerits) as they departed the mess hall and went their separate ways.
CHAPTER THREE
They get all the benefit and we bear all the cost.
Zax had two tasks on his agenda before he was due in Waste Systems. He was scheduled for advanced Plug training later in the morning, but before then had to lead a lesson for a group of eleven-year-old cadets from Gamma Cadre. Teaching used to be one of his favorite activities because the younger cadets had eagerly devoured his tales about Flight Ops. Zax’s tumble down the Leaderboard, though, drastically reduced the Gammas’ interest in his stories. They still had to defer to his position above them in the Ship’s hierarchy and his power to influence their rankings via the assessment of credits and demerits, but the group’s dwindling respect had become increasingly noticeable over the last year.
At least they would move along to another instructor soon. This cohort of students had witnessed Zax’s descent from Flight Ops to Waste Systems, but the next would only ever know him as the loser at the bottom of the Leaderboard they had gotten stuck with. Never having respect in the first place struck him as a more palatable prospect than losing it.
The training compartment buzzed with nervous energy. The words “civilians” and “riot” and “Tube” could be picked out repeatedly from the pockets of chatter around the room. Zax was supposed to provide the Gammas a primer on the inner workings of the Ship’s gravity generation system, but he decided to start instead with a discussion of the civilian situation given it was a topic he had more than a passing familiarity with.
The newsvid announcer had professed ignorance about the rationale for the non-stop civilian unrest, but Zax was certain it traced back to his actions in Flight Ops a year earlier. Before she died, Mikedo had convinced him their discovery of a mysterious spacecraft from Earth might spark a revolution. She believed evidence proving the Ship was not the sole remnant of humanity would radically destabilize an already teetering society built upon 5,000 years of that mythos. Between what he saw for himself after Mikedo’s death and what he learned from her final message to him, Zax had recognized the power of their shared secret and concluded the only way to prevent himself and Kalare from suffering the same fate was to expose it.
Zax shocked the Flight Ops staff with Mikedo’s video of the human spacecraft during his confrontation with the Boss a year ago. The same clash where he announced one of the Omegas had killed her to hide that evidence. The first riot occurred scant days later and Zax was confident word of the video had spread throughout the Ship and ultimately triggered the violence. Of course, Zax couldn’t share all of those juicy details with the Gammas, but he was curious to hear their perspectives.
“Cadets—what’s with all of the commotion? What are you all so excited about?”
Zax acknowledged the raised hand of a girl sitting in the front row of the compartment.
“Sir, didn’t you watch the morning newsvid? There was another civilian riot and this one destroyed a Tube junction a group of us just used the other day.”
“Interesting. Who can tell me why the civilians keep forcing us to deal with all of this violence?”
“Because they’re idiots,” said a boy towards the back of the class.
“That is the obvious root cause, but ten demerits for speaking without raising your hand.” Zax glared at the boy, but the Gamma smirked back at him. He was one of the cadets who had become increasingly brazen with his disrespect. “Does anyone have anything more insightful to offer as to why the civilians have been rioting for the past year?”
Zax looked around the room, but all of the hands remained down. He let everyone wallow in the uncomfortable silence for a min until finally the same girl who originally spoke raised her hand again.
“I don’t think anyone really knows why this has been going on for so long, sir. I just know it doesn’t make any sense to me. I mean, the Crew has spent thousands of years defending the civilians from all manner of alien attacks, right? I don’t understand why they can’t appreciate how many of us have died keeping the Ship safe during our Mission. I’ve heard some Crew say we should just put all of them into cryostorage and be done with it. That’s never seemed like the right answer to me, but the longer this goes on, the more I find myself agreeing.”
The girl provided a good area to explore and Zax jumped on it. “Twenty credits for a great observation. It’s true that being members of the Crew requires us to serve and protect the civilians. They obviously benefit from this a great deal, but what do we get out of the bargain?”
“I can’t think of anything we get from the civilians, sir. They get all the benefit and we bear all the cost.”
Zax smiled at her. A year ago he would have had the exact same viewpoint, and it would have stemmed from the same place of ignorance. These cadets had never experienced a single direct interaction with a civilian. Their fellow humans, who actually outnumbered the cadets one hundred to one among the Ship’s inhabitants who were not in cryostorage, were nearly as foreign and unknown as the aliens they were training to battle.
The civilians ceased being an abstract concept for Zax once he was dropped from Flight Ops and landed at the bottom of the Crew hierarchy. Waste Systems managed the Ship’s sewage and because it involved the most disgusting tasks it was staffed almost exclusively by civilians. Zax didn’t interact with them all of the time, but as the most junior member of the Crew on the small operations team, it was usually his job to assist whenever they neede
d help. He had been surprised to learn the civilians almost universally felt antagonism towards the Crew, though he hadn’t yet been able to prod any of them into sharing enough to help him understand their antipathy. Regardless, he had come to develop some small measure of appreciation for the work they performed.
“I’m assigned to a part of the Ship where I interact with civilians all of the time—excuse me, would you like to share what’s so funny?”
The cadet who made the “idiot” comment earlier had leaned over and whispered something to the girl sitting next to him. The friend started giggling and Zax decided to call them out rather than allow them to run roughshod over his lesson.
The boy stared defiantly at Zax. “You were talking about where you work, and I observed how we are all well aware because we can generally smell the stink on you.”
The words stung, especially because Zax knew they were true. He fought to keep the shame hidden as he refused to give the cadet the satisfaction of seeing even a hint of his self-loathing. Slamming the boy with a massive slug of demerits would be delightful, but Zax knew doing so could potentially backfire if the cadet appealed. A key feature of the Leaderboard system was that all officers and instructors knew they would be personally docked ten times the number of any demerits if they were shown to have assessed them out of self-interest or spite. Though they were clearly intended to offend, there was technically nothing inaccurate about the Gamma’s words and he had delivered them with a neutral tone. If the boy appealed any excessive demerits he would certainly prevail, so Zax focused only on what was incontrovertible.
“Twenty demerits for each of you for the interruption.”
The boy grinned once again as he clearly seemed to believe having fun at Zax’s expense was worth the cost. Zax swallowed his aggravation and continued.
“As I was saying, I’ve had a chance to work with civilians extensively in the past year. What I’ve learned in that time is they do serve an important role on board. Operating and maintaining this Ship requires a host of tasks that anyone in the Crew would hate. These jobs don’t require much in the way of skill, but the Ship wouldn’t survive without them.
“Maintaining the civilian population does require effort and resources, but throughout history they have typically caused far fewer headaches than they are right now. We don’t have to provide them with much beyond protection and food rations, so the benefits they provide usually outweigh their costs. As you get older and have exposure to more of the day-to-day life on board, you’ll come to appreciate their role more.”
The girl in the front row raised her hand again, and Zax gestured for her to speak.
“It reminds me of a quote from one of Earth’s great philosophers. ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution.’”
Zax grinned. “Great way to tie it all together. Fifty credits. Now, let’s put aside the civilians for a while and dive into how the Ship generates artificial gravity.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Ouch!
Zax finished with the Gammas and headed to his advanced Plug training. He had become quite adept over the past year at using his implant for communication as well as virtual activities like his flight simulator, but it was finally time for him to learn about interacting more directly with the Ship and its various components. He entered the training compartment and found a tiny vehicle positioned at the entrance of a maze. The maze led into an opaque box which was about half again the size of the maze. The instructor stood as Zax entered the room.
“Good morning, cadet. We’re here to complete the final stage of your Plug training. If you successfully complete this task, then you’ll be granted full access to all of your implant functionality. Are you ready?”
Zax nodded and the instructor continued. “The past year has allowed your Plug to completely meld with the neural pathways within your brain. While you’ve accomplished a lot with it in this time, you’ve only scratched the surface of the capabilities the Plug can ultimately provide. You’ll now learn how to connect directly with the Ship’s physical systems via your thoughts.”
The instructor turned and pointed at the vehicle and maze. “Your task is to maneuver that vehicle through the maze using only your mind. The path through the visible portion of the maze leads into the black box. The box covers the final portion of the maze, which you’ll need to navigate by relying on the sensory information being sent from the vehicle rather than what comes from your own body. Go.”
The instructor sat down. Zax looked at him expecting more information, but the man only returned his gaze impassively. After a few secs it became clear he had said all he intended to say. Zax needed to figure it out on his own.
He glanced around the room to see if anything else was supposed to play a role in the exercise and saw nothing. Zax looked at the vehicle again as he thought about controlling it and was surprised to notice a slight aura around it. The aura brightened as Zax focused more intensely on it, and then a prompt appeared in his vision.
Access vehicle controls, yes/no?
Of course the answer was yes, but Zax wasn’t entirely sure how to select his choice. He stared at the word ‘Yes’ floating in his vision, but there was no aura around it. After a few mins, he became frustrated and thought about how he wanted to give up and forget about the vehicle. At that very same instant, the text prompt disappeared from sight.
That was interesting. It was almost like Zax’s decision to give up on the vehicle made the prompt go away. But hadn’t he thought about controlling the vehicle earlier and nothing happened?
Zax stared intently at the vehicle and once again the text prompt appeared asking whether he wanted to access it. This time, he did not think about selecting ‘Yes’ as much as he thought about controlling the vehicle. He heard a click and its electric motor switched on and spun up with a whirrrr. At the same time, the text prompt disappeared and was replaced with a series of icons. There were arrows which suggested movement in different directions, plus and minus signs which hinted at the ability to speed up/slow down, and a few other icons which were initially incomprehensible.
The instructor finally spoke. “Can you explain what just happened there, cadet?”
“I think so, sir. When the prompt first appeared in my vision, I was focused on choosing ‘Yes’ in order to access the vehicle’s controls. I got frustrated because nothing happened regardless of what I tried. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t supposed to literally choose ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, but instead needed to focus on the action and outcome I wanted as a result of that choice. If I wanted to control the vehicle, then it would be under my command. If I wanted to give up on the vehicle, then I would no longer control it.”
“Well done, cadet. That’s the critical realization which proves hard for many people who are relatively new to their implants to grasp. Whenever you look at items on board the Ship and think about interacting with them, you will see prompts and other information in your vision which are intended to help you understand what kind of commands are available. For example, right now you are seeing icons which show what is possible for you to do with the vehicle under your control. These are just hints to help you shape your intention, not actual controls for you to interact with. As soon as you decide your intention is to move the vehicle forward in the maze, it will move forward until you intend for it to stop. Easier said than done, of course, but once you’re able to make that first leap, you stand a very good chance of quickly mastering the rest.”
Zax had been getting frustrated at the lack of vehicle movement as he stared at the forward arrow, but the last portion of the instructor’s guidance finally registered. Intention is the key. Don’t focus on what you see in your vision, focus on what you intend to happen. He took a deep breath and thought about how he wanted the vehicle to move forward. The wheels spun ever so slightly, and it began a slow roll away from Zax into the maze.
“Awesome!” Zax exclaimed.
“There you go, cadet. Let’s
see you make it all the way through, though, before we start getting too excited.”
Zax smiled at the gentle admonition and turned back to the maze. He identified the path to the black box and focused on keeping the vehicle heading in the right direction. It was moving smoothly through the middle of an S curve when the vehicle crashed for the first time. Zax was certain he wanted the vehicle to turn left, but it had turned right instead and lodged against the wall. He reversed to set up another attempt, but once again the vehicle turned the wrong way at the most critical time.
This pattern repeated a few times until the solution finally dawned on Zax. He turned the vehicle smoothly when it moved away from him because the direction of the turn as he perceived it was the same direction as it applied to the vehicle. His left and the vehicle’s left matched. When the vehicle headed towards him, however, there was a difference between what he saw as being a left turn and what the vehicle would see as a left turn. Zax’s left would be right for the vehicle and vice versa. With this in mind, he focused on directions from the vehicle’s perspective rather than his own and successfully navigated the remaining turns.
The vehicle reached the final straightaway which led into the black box, and Zax pushed it to go faster. The vehicle zoomed ahead and disappeared into the box only to come to a crashing halt a moment later. Zax looked over at the instructor, but he no longer watched Zax’s progress and instead stared at his slate.
