by Dayton Grey
“Let’s get to the Commons and eat before next period, G.”
The Commons was busy and packed with students as usual. Geon smiled as they walked in. There was something about the energy of this center room of the school that pleased Geon. He looked around and saw groups of students, standing and talking with each other, sitting and eating, studying their holograms via the E-pillars, and some even playing interactive games with each other. One game looked reminiscent of paddle tennis with the hologram of a ball bouncing between two players, but to send the ball to the opposing side each player had to quickly solve a math problem projected in front of them. Geon was amazed at the speed of the two players battling back and forth. Another game involved four people in teams of two, putting together what appeared to be the holograms of architectural structures, in any way they choose. As the structures were finished, a randomly generated natural disaster would shake or destroy the structures and the one most solidly built would win the challenge. Strange game. Strange, but practical.
“Geon! Over here, grab some food and sit with us!” Allea called out, sitting with Bonsi, Vaya, Vilu, and some other students. “Have you met Helano Mena? He is part Chilean and part Spanish. Helano, this is my brother Geon!”
Helano leaned backward on the bench to survey Geon. He was a tan, short boy with an athletic build and long dark hair in the back and curly shorter hair in the front. His face had the expression as if he had eaten something very sour recently, with high arching eyebrows, flared nostrils, and a pursed mouth. He spoke with a heavy lisp, pronouncing words with strong enunciation and many different facial expressions to match.
“Theñor Geon. Tho good to make your acquaintanth. Allea hath told me much abouth you and I look forward to thpending time to get to know you. Let uth thync thometime, okay? Ith that okay?”
Geon nodded quickly and as the other students looked to him with smiles.
“Yeth, I, errrr… yes. I also, uhm, look forward to… getting to know you. Good to meet you, Helano.” Helano nodded and re-assumed his pursed expression.
Vaya’s smile grew wider as she was obviously pleased by Geon’s discomfort. Sabien grabbed him and led him into the line for lunch, explaining to Geon that Helano’s lisp was actually a regional dialect of Northern Spain. Geon smiled at his own ignorance, assuming that it was just a speech anomaly.
“It’s amazing how diverse everyone is, Sabe. I mean, in this room alone every single part of the world is represented!”
“The old world, G. The old world. The new world will be more and more diverse, and then eventually, less and less diverse. Funny how that works, isn’t it?”
Geon thought about it for a moment. “That might be the most profound thing I’ve ever heard you say, Sabien Jabari. Who knew you were a philosopher?”
“I did, Geon. I knew. That’s who.”
Geon laughed as they made their way to the front of the line. As he stepped up to the large automated metal boxes, a screen on the front of them beeped in unison with his LifeCuff and displayed his name. He held out his compartmentalized metal tray under the spout and a squirt of fish-scented sludge came pouring out. The same thing at the next machine and each one after, each of them a different color and slightly different smell and texture. As he got to the end of the line, he noticed that different students were getting different quantities of food.
“What’s with the portions?” Geon inquired.
“They sync with your cuffs. They measure your weight and health for your age, along with your nutrient and vitamin levels. Some students get more food, some get less. Some get more green slop and less beige slop, and some get more pink sludge and less yellow sludge. It all depends on what your body needs. Not sure it matters much because very few students want what they get anyway.”
“Kuki is definitely the exception,” Geon said with a laugh. They walked back to the table and squeezed in next to Allea and Helano and across from Bonsi and the twins. Kumuki was fast asleep in one of the five REMpods that were in the corner of the Commons. As they ate they all chatted excitedly about the upcoming TechSci Concours competition, JetSurf trials, and their field trip to the museum, or “MOOH” as they called it. Allea mentioned to Geon that she wanted to stop by a new art gallery exhibit on the way home. It was then when Geon realized he hadn’t seen any form of art since he woke up from his coma. There was nothing on the walls in their house, and nothing in the walls of the school.
Interesting. It probably just isn’t a priority anymore.
The rest of the day went smoothly, except for one glitch in Geon’s MechTech class, when the teacher asked him to come to the front of the room and help put the finishing touches on a holographic bridge and he accidentally cast his hand through the middle of the image and sent the bridge crashing down. Fortunately for Geon, when working with digital structures, there was always an undo button.
After school came JetSurf practice for Geon and Sabien and lab work for Allea’s project. Though the boys had tried to get information out of her a number of times, Allea was being unusually secretive about her upcoming entry into the TechSci Concours, saying only that it “isn’t that interesting yet, and may never even be realized, regardless.”
At practice, Geon finally began to get the hang of the board, and chose a spot farthest away from the spectating students to work on his maneuvering. The board still felt overly responsive to the slightest motions, but he began learning how to combat the board’s quick, jerky movements by anticipating its motion ahead of time and leaning forward in that direction prematurely. Thankfully, when some of the students began shouting “Flip-twist, flip-twist!” in Geon’s direction, Sabien stepped in and assumed all of the attention, directing the students to watch his “picture-perfect form” and “exhilarating-yet-graceful moves.” Mostly he just slowly surfed back and forth on the waterways in front of the stands, posing in different ways each time, once even upside down on the board, but it was enough to make them forget about their request to Geon.
Shiv and Tarro stayed mostly out of their way but gave Geon dirty glances each time he passed them on the water. I’ve been awake for less than a week and already I’m making enemies, Geon thought to himself. After a quick steamjet and change back to their clothes, the two grabbed Kumuki and headed to WEAF park, where they waited for Allea to arrive.
Geon stared down at the robotic synth-fish splashing around and interacting with each other in the stream that ran through the park. “You were right, Kumuki, they do look pretty real!”
“Yep! And look! If you put your finger in the water, they come up to it and nibble on it!”
“Kuki I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sabien said with a smirk. “They’re probably getting skin samples from you and reporting the information back to CARE. You’ve no idea what they’re capable of!”
“The fish or CARE?” Geon asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Both, G! Both.”
Kumuki sat there on the side of the water, now staring at the tip of his finger with a deeply concerned look on his face. He mumbled something about skin samples just as Allea came running up to greet them.
“C’mon! The gallery just opened. Let’s hurry up and maybe get some noodles after.”
“NOODLES! They’re so hard to eat, but they taste good! I can’t decide if I love them or not. Yep, I love them!”
Once at the gallery, the foursome walked in and were greeted by the curator, a stiff, tall, slim man, with thinning black hair on top and longer hair on the sides. Geon was expecting a typical art gallery, with clean, large, white walls and bright lighting, but this was actually just the opposite. The room was very dark and cluttered, and the walls were pitch black. There was no lighting at all, except for the art themselves, which seemed to have some sort of backlight built into the digital frames.
The curator directed the foursome to start at the first projection on the left and work their way around the room, and when Kumuki tried to stray from this order, he got quite upset, r
aising his voice and sternly lecturing Kumuki on “being a proper human” and to “know his place in society.”
“It’s not really art, is it?” Geon asked, staring at the digital image of mostly dark, muted colors. “I mean, it’s not painted or drawn. It looks like just some projection with a lot of random tiny repeating shapes. What’s so great about that?”
The other three seemed deep in thought as they stared at the picture, as if trying to decipher its meaning. Geon looked at them, puzzled, and then back to the picture. Leaning forward, he let his eyes relax and let the picture go slightly out of focus. It was a calming though. The colors were interesting. The shapes pleasant to look at. He let himself begin to slowly connect with the image, feeling suddenly very relaxed, lost in the colors and shapes. The image, blurred now, seemed to make more sense.
It’s an expression. But what does it mean? It’s very relaxing. Calming.
Time went by and oddly, Geon felt more and more at ease. Not sleepy, but more like in a dream-like state. At first it felt comfortable, but as he became aware of his state, as he has done on occasion when drifting off to sleep at night, he realized that something was unnatural and strange. He snapped himself back into reality and came jerking back to a fully alert state, rubbing his eyes and looking away from the picture.
“What the—guys? That was so weird, I was just staring at the image and then suddenly felt, I dunno, guys?”
He looked over to the other three, all of whom were staring deeply into the picture, smiles on their faces and heads leaning slightly to one side. Geon grabbed Sabien and shook his arm, eventually snapping him back to reality, and he then in turn shook Allea. It took all three of them shaking Kumuki to get him to wake up from his trance-like state, and no one volunteered to wipe the drool off of the side of his mouth.
The gallery owner came rushing over and began talking about how the artwork is very “enchanting and relaxing, and puts one’s minds and worries at ease.” Geon felt unsettled about it and felt like something was off. In the moment when he was staring at the picture, he did feel at ease, but almost too much. It didn’t feel right to him.
The four anxiously headed back out of the dark room without looking at the other pictures, much to the gallery owner’s dismay, and headed to a nearby noodle restaurant for dinner.
“Guys, didn’t you think that was really weird in the gallery? The way we all just, spaced out? I mean… how long were we even in there?” Geon asked the others.
Allea and Sabien nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it really was strange,” Allea added. “I mean I felt so relaxed. So peaceful. I just wanted to stay in there and look at the pictures. But then when you guys shook me, it was like waking up from a dream. I don’t know. I wonder—I wonder…” She mumbled something about “perception” and “cognition” and began to browse through some information on her cuff about it.
“G, I haven’t been to many galleries, but this was certainly a new experience for me,” Sabien said with a nod, while grabbing his spork and slurping up some noodles.
“Or was it?” Geon asked.
“What do you mean,” Sabien replied.
“Well, I mean, you guys have been to galleries before right?”
Allea looked up at Geon and she and Sabien both nodded in agreement. Kumuki sat entrenched in his bowl of noodles, squirting different smelly sauces on it and struggling to get the noodles to wrap around his spork.
“Well, I’m just thinking out loud here. But how do you guys even know this hasn’t happened before? I mean, if I hadn’t suddenly become aware of this strange state of relaxation I was entering and snapped out of it, how do we even know how long we would have been there? Or how we would have even felt after? I mean, it was so… weird, right?”
“You’re right, G,” Allea agreed. “We don’t know. I mean, theoretically, this might have happened before. I don’t think it has. But who knows? It really was like a trance. G, how did you even do it? I mean how did you know to stay alert?”
“I don’t know, Ally. It was sort of like… you know how I was in a coma? It was almost like that feeling was happening where I was slipping back out of reality, with no control over what was happening. For me, that’s sort of terrifying and when I realized it I focused all my energy on staying in the present.”
Sabien and Allea nodded in unison and Kumuki looked up from his bowl, one dangling noodle hanging out of the corner of his mouth, and blurted, “I like the art! I could stay there all day!”
“Exactly,” Geon said quietly, looking at Sabien and Allea and leaning in toward them. “Exactly.”
Sabien and Allea were both quiet for the rest of the meal as they both seemed to be deep in thought about the day’s events. Geon had an uneasy feeling all the way home after dinner. The streets were dark and cold as usual, but something felt suddenly peculiar. He found himself feeling anxious and worried as they walked home from the Glidewing station, looking behind him and around him multiple times as if someone was watching them.
There’s more to this. Geon lay in his pod that night, thinking about the strange events at the art gallery.
Something just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s just some new technology that’s meant to relax us. Maybe that’s what the artist intended.
But he couldn’t fight the feeling that something was bizarre about all of it. He felt torn inside, wondering if he should just let it go and continue to try to fit into this new world, get along with everyone, and try to enjoy the few simple things he had his new family, his new life, Jetsurfing, school. But a part of him that he couldn’t seem to suppress kept him up all night wondering what this strange, dark mystery was.
Why would anybody intend to put a person into a trance like that, controlling their minds and bodies? It doesn’t seem ethical.
He hoped that morning would come and bring some comfort and peace. He was wrong.
Chapter 7
The quiet, calm, soft wind, and chirping sounds that usually woke Geon each morning was replaced with the ruckus sounds of yelling, running, and banging on the top of his REMpod.
“GEON, WAKE UP! WAKE UP! KUMUKI! SABIEN! WAKE UP! IT’S MAMA V! SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH HER!”
Geon immediately shook off his sleepy sensation and squeezed out of the pod even as it was still opening for him. He ran hastily down the hall, following Allea to Mama V’s room, where they found her laying on the hard floor. Geon was overcome with terror and fear but tried to remain calm, seeing that Allea had lost control of her own emotions. She was hysterically crying and trying to ask Mama V what had happened.
“Mama V! Please talk to us. Are you okay? Geon is here too, Mama V. Please tell us what you need.”
Mama V groaned softly with her eyes tightly shut, her forehead slick with sweat and skin looking pale. Geon got down on the floor and propped Mama V’s head up and asked Allea to bring some water. As Allea ran off, he spoke quietly to her.
“Mama V, it’s Geon. Can you hear me? Please tell me what happened. Do you need me to call a medic here?”
Mama V groaned and slightly shook her head, putting her own large warm hand on Geon’s. “I’m okay, my boy. I just, I just fell or something. Mama V is okay, darling. Mama V gonna be just fine. Okay, don’t you vorry dear. Help Mama V up, okay?”
Just then Sabien and Kumuki came rushing in, both screaming hysterically over one another.
“MAMA V, WHAT HAPPENED? OH MY GOD, MAMA V, ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT’S GOING ON, GEON? TALK TO ME. WHAT HAPPENED? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SAY SOMETHING?”
“Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiighhhhhhiiiiii!!! Mama V, w-w-w-w-what’s h-h-h-h-happening?!” Kumuki cried as tears began to form in his eyes.
“Guys, it’s okay,” Geon calmly said. “I think she fell. She’s okay, I think. Ally is getting her water. Here, help me lift her up to sit.” The three of them lifted her heavy body up and propped her against the wall, still sitting on the floor. They sat down in front of her on the floor as Allea came back with the water. Mama V slowly sipped her water and r
egained her breath.
“Please, children, don’t vorry. Mama V gonna be okay. I just slipped or something. I feel a bit dizzy. I think maybe Mama V might be having some exhaustion or something. I don’t know… I don’t know….”
Allea grabbed Mama V’s cuff and quickly motioned through her health settings.
“Mama V, your electrolyte count is low, you’re dehydrated, your temperature is a little high, and you probably have other symptoms of exhaustion! How did this happen? We need to get you to the clinic and have a medic look at you!”
“NO!” Mama V suddenly and loudly replied, opening her eyes wide. “I mean no, please,” she said softly. “I need rest. I can’t go anywhere. You go to the clinic. Take my cuff okay? I’ll be okay. Besides, today is the big trip to MOOH. You bring me medicine in my cuff, okay children?”
“No, Mama V,” Allea cried. “We’ll skip the MOOH trip and stay with you! We have to make sure you are okay.”
Geon could see the fear in Allea’s eyes and hear the worry in her voice and it caused his own eyes to become teary. He wanted to stay strong for her and the others, so he held Mama V’s hand and talked to her.
“Mama V, we will do whatever you say. But please have some more water and please just take it easy today, okay? We’ll bring you medicine.”
Mama V nodded and gave them a small smile. She appeared to be okay for the most part, and although Geon was worried about leaving her, he knew that trying to argue with Mama V would be a losing battle. They helped Mama V up and into the sofa in the main room and sat down around her.
“Enough about me okay, my little ones? Listen, children. This trip today is very important. You must know your history. You must know your past. You must understand the vorld around you. Do you understand? Is important for Mama V, okay? And don’t forget—”
Sabien chimed in, doing his best Mama V impression, exaggerating her accent by lengthening her ‘e’s” and rolling his ‘r’s’ emphatically.
“To alvays be trrrrrrrrrue to you and teeenk for yourrrrrrrrrrrrself! You have beauteeeefull brrrrrrrrrrain so don’t vaste it okay yaaaaaa, okayyyyyyyyy!”
