The forevers fixer 13, p.11
The Forevers - Fixer 13, page 11
Jayne said, “It is a card game.” He shrugged. Jayne mumbled under her breath, “Don’t get out much do you!” The test continued for 10 trials. During and after each of Jayne’s guesses, the skull cap scanners buzzed about her head. Finally it was finished.
“Good,” said the doctor. “We have to do this three more times under three different conditions. There will be three different senders. Those are entities that will see or know the cards you are trying to match. First will be the MAIU (Medical Artificial Intelligence Unit), second will be my assistant, Millie, and third will be an unknown sender. Do you understand?” Jayne nodded. “I would like you to be a little more serious this time though. No more giggles.” The doctor attended to his MED VID and the window video screen displayed the following:
Zener Test 2 Computer Sender
ID – Wu F 302875106592253
Name – Wu, Jayne Ester
Class – Fixer
Touch to Start
“Are you ready?” he asked. Jayne nodded. He touched the screen and the MAIU responded orally, “I have chosen the first card and I am concentrating on it. Please choose one card from the five Zener Cards you have in front of you, the one that matches the card on which I am concentrating.”
“Is that AIU going to say that whole line for each of the ten trials?” asked Jayne of the doctor.
“The MAIU has the latest AI programming. It can pretty much answer that itself,” said the doctor.
“Jayne, if I understand the intent of your question, you feel it would get tedious for me to continue in formal testing mode and would rather I choose a colloquial format,” said the MAIU.
“Yes, I just don’t want to spend my life in here,” answered Jayne.
“Yes, time is important. Are you ready to continue or would you like me to choose a new first card to ‘concentrate’ upon?” the AIU asked.
“No, the one you have is fine,” said Jayne, as she flipped a card with wiggly lines running up it. The scanners on her head buzzed and roamed over the surface.
“Is that your final choice?” the MAIU asked.
“If I flip it, it is my final response,” snapped Jayne.
The doctor recorded her response. The MAIU said, “Card two.” Jayne immediately flipped over a square and began to tap her fingers on the table in front of her. The doctor recorded he response. The MAIU said, “Card three.” Jayne flipped the wiggly lines again.
The doctor interjected. “Ms Wu, you must take this seriously. You are not even concentrating.”
The MAIU spoke up. “Dr. Thermonson, I don’t think it is a matter of concentration. Please let us continue. Card four.” Jayne flipped over her response. This continued at a fast pace and was soon complete. Ten cards were chosen by the MAIU and ten of Jayne’s responses were recorded by the doctor, followed by frenzied buzzing of the recording units on the skull cap on Jayne’s head. No one knew the accuracy of her responses at this time, except perhaps the AIU. Jayne did not even ask. The MAIU spoke. “The test is now complete. Goodbye.” The video screen turned back into a window. A small blond woman entered, carrying a chair. She set the chair in the corner of the room in front of a small table, looked at Jayne, smiled and said, “My name is Millie and I will send for the third part of the test.” Jayne nodded. “Do you need a drink of water or anything before we start?” asked Millie. Jayne shook her head. The woman turned and sat in the chair facing into the corner, took out a MED VID and a set of Zener Cards. “So as not to influence your choices, I cannot see your cards. They will be recorded by Dr. Thermonson and the cards I choose will be recorded by me into this MED VID. No one will know what you have chosen until all the tests are completed. If you are ready we will start.” Jayne nodded. The buzzing of the skull cap scanners were becoming irritating. “I am sending card one.”
Jayne flipped a card over almost before Millie had finished the sentence. “Done,” she said. The cards were recorded. The process continued at a fast pace until they had completed card six. Jayne raised her hand.
The doctor responded with, “Yes, Jayne.”
Jayne asked, “May I borrow that for a moment?” She pointed at the stylus that was in the breast pocket of his lab coat. He shrugged and gave it to her. Jayne quickly glanced at the five cards in her hand. She chose three of them, flipped them face down in front of her and wrote the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 on the back of each of them. Her skull cap sensors were madly zooming over its surface as she did so. She looked up and said, “Please flip the card that corresponds to the question number Millie is going to send.”
“That is not how this test is run,” said the doctor. “Please concentrate and follow protocol.”
Jayne, feeling contrary, simply folded her arms and closed her eyes. The scanners on her skull cap slowed down and stopped. It was quiet in the room.
Dr. Thermonson sighed, shook his head and nodded at Millie. “I am sending card seven,” said Millie. Dr. Thermonson flipped the card with a 7 on the back and recorded it. Millie recorded her card and said, “I am sending card eight.” The process continued until all 10 cards were sent and recorded. The skull cap sensors had remained quiet throughout the last four cards.
“Alright Jayne,” said the doctor, “we have one more sequence. We will use the window video screen to inform you when the sender has started. You may choose your card after and you may not do again what you just did. Is that understood? You must respect the process.” Jayne rolled her eyes and nodded. He turned to Millie and said, “Get the sender ready.” She exited just as the window video screen displayed the information as before.
“Who is the sender?” asked Jayne.
“Miss Wu, you are not to be told that information. Please, let us finish the test,” the doctor said with an exasperated sigh.
The video screen displayed, ‘Sending card one’. Jayne picked up the cards, fanned them out on the table and stared at them. She tapped her fingers impatiently. The skull cap scanners buzzed over her head. She looked up at the doctor. “Is this a trick?” she asked.
“No trick. Why do you ask?” queried the doctor.
“YOU really didn’t set this up?” she asked again. She thought of the dark-haired boy; Ranovich 91. It was something he would do. “Well, somebody thinks it is funny to … never mind. Let’s go.” She flipped over the card with the ‘O’ symbol and sat back and stretched her hands out in front of her, inverting her intertwined fingers. Her knuckles cracked. The scanners stopped. The video screen displayed, ‘Sending card two’. Jayne pointed at the ‘O’ symbol. The doctor recorded her answer. “I know a way we could save a little time here.”
“How could we save some time, Miss Wu?” asked the doctor with an exasperated tone.
“Just put that symbol,” she pointed at the ‘O’ symbol face up on the table, “for all of the answers.”
“Miss Wu, please, let us go through the process properly,” he sighed and shrugged and gestured with his hands.
“OK,” said Jayne. The video screen displayed, ‘Sending card three’. Jayne pointed at ‘O’ symbol. The video screen displayed, ‘Sending card four’. Jayne pointed at ‘O’ symbol. This continued for the remaining seven cards. According to Jayne, every card that was sent was an ‘O’ symbol. The scanners remained silent. When they were finished the doctor left the room and Millie came into the room and removed the skull cap and sensor apparatus from her head. Jayne got out of the chair and stretched.
The doctor returned and spoke to Millie. “I am sorry Millie, but an additional test has be ordered. Would you please reconnect the skull cap?”
“But Doctor, there have been no additional tests ordered for this subject,” she said, checking her MED VID.
“Just do what I say, Millie,” he ordered. The doctor turned to Jayne. “We have one more test. You will be given a set of cards and you will send to an unknown receiver. The procedure will be the same for this receiver as it was for you. Do you understand?” he asked.
Jayne nodded. “Who is it?” she asked.
“Who is it?” the doctor queried what she meant by her question.
“The receiver. To whom am I sending the card image?” asked Jayne. “Can’t send something to the ether. I need to know the receiver.”
“I am afraid you will just have to envision the card and not worry about who is receiving,” stated the doctor flatly. “Here are the cards.” He handed her a set of Zener Cards. “The MAIU will tell you when to start and when to stop. I will not be in this room.” The doctor walked out of the room and the MAIU started up.
“Millie,” the MAIU spoke softly, “would you please make some adjustments to the scull cap. I am not getting a recognition signal from scanner three.” Millie adjusted the cap and connections on Jayne’s head. “Thank you. I have a signal. You may join Dr. Thermonson. Now, Jayne, would you please choose a card and concentrate?” said the MAIU, as Millie exited the room. Jayne picked up one of the cards and looked at it.
“This won’t work unless I think about the person to whom I am sending this picture,” said Jayne flatly. “I am just going to choose someone.” She looked at the card with the star and thought of Ranovich 91, the boy from the bean bag game and the flier. The boy that was in the other room. She smiled, relaxed, squinted her eyes and concentrated harder on the picture. She imagined it as a solid object travelling through space, one point stretching out like an arrow and whizzing to the mind of Ranovich 91. She felt it land right where she had aimed. She felt the scanners buzzing like maddened hornets on the skull cap. She heard a scream from outside her small room. The scream was followed by a series of moans and she heard the words ‘make it stop’ and ‘it is hurting me’ and someone crying with pain. There were footsteps running to the source of the crying. She stopped and sat up just as Millie ran into the room and quickly removed the skull cap from Jayne’s head.
The other room was silent. Jayne sat up just as the doctor entered the room, removing a scanner skull cap from his head. He looked at Jayne with fear in his eyes. “That’s all for today. You may return to your cube in HUB…” he glanced down at his VID, “169.”
“What was all the screaming about? Sounded like a torture chamber,” asked Jayne.
“That is none of your concern. All testing is now over,” he stated sharply.
“So that’s it. No feedback on how I did with your guessing game,” Jayne taunted.
“Don’t be so arrogant. You know damn well how you did. You got them all correct. Every last one of them. Even the 10 zeroes at the end. Not my idea by the way. We will set up another appointment after the scan data has been analyzed. Now go!” he ordered.
Jayne turned to leave and then turned back. “I can’t read minds, you know. It is just luck. I am lucky, really lucky. That is just the way it is. I just know what it will be – whatever it is – and I am usually right. I have kinda learned to trust my luck.”
The doctor said, “Be careful trusting luck. It is my experience that luck is not to be trusted. It is rather fickle.” He walked out of the room.
Millie escorted Jayne out of the room. Jayne turned and glanced over to where the dark-haired boy had been sitting. The chair was empty.
Chapter 18 – “Biome Tech”
By mid 21st century, sociologists identified the concept of ‘The Family’ as the single most negative influence on a stable and productive society. The ‘Nuclear Family’ unit of the century before grew even smaller and more fragmented. The lack of child-rearing skills became compounded over a number of generations. Families were not working as a positive societal unit. Although they still existed, they were marginalized. The important task of raising and educating children was now in the hands of government-assigned professionals. The nursery was born.
Jayne received her acceptance the following morning. It came as an announcement from Lucky. He woke her up with, “Thirteen, it is time to wake up. I have received your schedule. Things have changed. You are to report to the Biome Tech Center.”
Jayne groaned. Her sleep had been fitful, filled with gigantic bean bags with ugly faces, whizzing down, trying to crush her as she ran down a high grav line. She groaned again, “What time is it? I just got to sleep. Be quiet and go away.”
“I cannot go away. It is 6:13 a.m. I know you have not had the required eight hours of sleep recommended for a person your age but ….” Lucky’s answer was interrupted by Jayne.
“Then go away and let me sleep,” moaned Jayne and she rolled over and pulled the pillow over her ears.
“I am sorry, Thirteen, but I am being overridden,” apologized Lucky. The next voice Jayne heard was not Lucky. “Wu 13, you are to report immediately to the PUT outside this cube. You have three minutes to obey or your application to join Biome Tech will be rescinded.” Jayne leapt from the bed, dashed to the bathroom, returned in record time, got dressed and stepped out of the cube and on to the PUT pad. Her heart was pounding with excitement and a little fear.
She looked up at the sign in front of her. It read ‘Biome Technical School’ and below, in smaller letters, was the motto of the school. ‘Omnes intrare sciens nihil et relinquere sciens paulo’ translates to ‘All enter knowing nothing and leave knowing little more.’ A voice behind her spoke. “Do you find that motto puzzling?” Jayne turned around and looked at a girl about 10 years her senior. “I’ve been here for two years and I am just beginning to understand what they are getting at.” She gestured to a series of bas relief sculptures of men and women, to the side of the entrance, that were obviously revered at this school. “It kinda means that there is so much to know, that to know a little really well is an achievement. I’m Sara. They sent me to get you and take you to the dorm. You don’t get your own cube here. We are not like the other tech schools. It is tougher here. We have the highest washout rate of all the HUB. Sometimes I think the instructors get a bonus for every student that washes out. I have nearly gone twice. Once when I lost these.” She held up her left hand with two fingers missing. “And once when I got this little baby.” She lifted up her tunic top and exposed a red mottled scar, 20 cm long, running down the side of her torso. Jayne did not respond. The girl continued, “I noticed you didn’t grimace when I showed you my battle scars. My advice to you is to grimace whenever you get the chance. Acting tough will get you hurt or worse. React to the nasty things whenever possible because there will be times when you won’t be able to. Reacting will get you killed. So do it when you can. It keeps you human. Believe me, after a year in here you will start to wonder if you are anymore.”
“Are you trying to frighten me?” asked Jayne.
“Yep! And you can thank me for that service any time you want. In here, they say your own fear is your most powerful weapon if you can learn to control it. I had an instructor my first year who was one wise, old, scarred bastard. He once told me that he never really controlled his fear. He just let it run all over him any time it wanted to. The more afraid he was, the more likely he would get to go home. So he let fear order him about. He said it was his secret to survival and not to listen to the other instructors when they talked about controlling fear. Controlling fear was for situations when there was nothing real to be afraid of. The biomes were filled with things that were truly fearful and you had better be afraid of them or die. I haven’t decided if he was right or not.” She smiled. “I’ve only got a couple of scars. So what is your name?”
Jayne was about to respond when she felt an urge to step backwards and protect herself. All the muscles in her stomach tensed until they were as hard as she could make them. She looked at Sara and saw a slight twitch in the muscle of her jaw. She did not look but she knew that Sara was tensing the fingers of her right hand. She did not want to give it away. She did not want to be known as the Lucky Kid. So she spoke her name, “Jayne,” and tensed her stomach muscles as tight as she could get them. Then Sara punched her right in the solar plexus. She let out a groan that was partly due to being punched really hard in the stomach and partly due to the need to relax her tense muscles. She decided she would not fall down even though her body said to fall down and clutch yourself and cry. She just buckled over and held her stomach. After the initial hit she realized she had really protected herself. Nothing was damaged and nothing really hurt. She slowly stood up and yelled at Sara, “What did you do that for?”
“Well, Jayne, I was just following procedure. You will hear that a lot around here,” she said, grinning, “and by the way, you can really take a punch. It was almost like you knew it was coming. But nobody expects to be punched on their first day here. I sure wasn’t but it is standard procedure. Punch the newbie in the guts as hard as you can. Maybe she will cry and go home.”
“I’m not going anywhere except to the dorm to get settled. Where is it or is finding it another stupid test?” she said as she walked into the school.
“No more tests or punches,” said Sara. “Follow me. Your bunk is right next to mine.” She led Jayne through the foyer, down a hall and into a dorm room. She indicated a bunk and said, “That’s yours. You will also find all your required equipment in that locker there.” Sara pointed to locker 13. “I understand that is your nickname, Thirteen, so we saw that locker 13 was empty…” She shrugged. Jayne looked at the locker. It was more like an entire cube than a locker. She wondered what it held.
