Beta Planet: Rise (13 page)

Chiah looked embarrassed at being used as a classroom example as he stared sadly at the now-empty bottle in front of him.

“Well, we need fluid to survive. And although there are certainly other options that might be more favorable than that red drink that Chiah has, that amalgamation of a drink could possibly save one of your lives one day. Understand?”

I can’t imagine the things that must have happened to cause these massive changes in the way we live. What will the world be like in five years… ten? Will mankind ever taste real fruit again and eat real foods again?

Professor Keiran paced the front of the room and spoke again. “Here is another example. How many of you have Biolimbs?”

A sudden rush of nervousness overcame Geon and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He began to slouch down in his chair when suddenly a number of students in the room put their hands up. Geon was shocked. Nearly half a dozen students in the room had their hands up and he couldn’t tell that any of them had any type of Biolimb. Feeling more assured, he too slowly raised his arm halfway as Sabien looked over at him with a slight nod.

“All right, there you are. Those Biolimbs were created by gene modification as well. To make the limbs as real as possible, scientists had to engineer them by first understanding how the genetic behaviorism of the real limbs worked, and then creating a code that mimics the real DNA, and incorporating that into the artificial limbs. Nano skin—same thing. It’s not a living and breathing thing, but when you break down any living thing to the most basic pieces and parts, they can be essentially duplicated by science. Those limbs act as if they are
alive
, because the code that runs them and the blocks that built them act exactly as your
real
limbs do. Quite remarkable, really. And although our technology in this field advances every day, and the gap between artificial and living lessens, there
is
and will
always
be, a true separation—an indefinable and unexplainable inequality between the two. The question is, ‘Will the margin be so small that the difference is even noticeable?’ Something to think about for next class.”

Geon nodded to himself, thinking about the professor’s words. She seemed to have a deep understanding of her material, but also seemed skeptical of all changes and progression. He was also reassured to know that so many other students had Biolimbs like him. He looked around the room and saw that no one seemed to be judging him or any of the other students who earlier had their hands up.
They must have gone through so much while I was in a coma
, he thought to himself.
They must have seen horrible injuries and now it’s just a part of life
. Suddenly, he caught the eye of Shiv Barron, who was sitting two rows behind Geon and staring directly at him with a menacing smile. Geon felt instantly uncomfortable as his ears became warm and flushed and he turned back forward again. For the rest of the class he tried to pay attention to the professor, but he felt the eyes of Shiv staring at him from behind and found himself anxious, upset, and distracted. After class he and Sabien walked out together.

“Sabe, what do you think about all of this gene manipulation?” Geon asked.

“Look, G. Gene manipulation, more like
brain
manipulation. This is all CARE propaganda and conspiracy! No real fruit in the world? GIVE ME A BREAK! There is fruit. CARE eats it all! They probably have fruit that is so smart it makes more fruit or something. What I mean is that it doesn’t make more fruit, I mean that it—”

Geon interrupted Sabien’s rant. “Sabe. I mean, it’s so unnatural, you know. I know that we
need
resources to survive right now, and that probably the only way to get resources is to make them, like Professor Kieran was saying, but don’t you feel like something is wrong with all of this? Don’t you feel like we’re tampering with something that we shouldn’t be? I dunno, I—”

“So! It’s Sabe the Great and his Biolimbed Buddy!” Shiv suddenly interrupted, as he and another very large student walked up to the two of them. He stood looking at Geon while his large, stout friend stood staring at Sabien through extremely squinted eyes, set widely apart on his large, round, and fat face. “I knew there was something off about you,” Shiv barked. “You’re a partial, huh?”

“EXCUSE me?” Sabien exclaimed, his face flush with anger and his fists both tightly clenched. “You got my name right but my brother’s name is Geon, and even with one real arm he can ride laps around you in the water, so back off, Shiv. And take your stupid friend Tarro the Terrible with you.”

Shiv’s large friend suddenly grunted and moved closer to Sabien, but Shiv put his hand up against Tarro to stop him. “Whatever you say, Sabe,” he said. “We’ll see… on the water.”

Geon was hurt and embarrassed and found himself pulling his sleeve down again to cover his arm.

Sabien noticed and leaned toward Geon, speaking with gritted teeth and in low tones and still staring at Shiv and Tarro as they bumped their way through the other students down the hall. “Don’t give them a second of thought and don’t feel bad about anything. Look around you, G, we’re all partials in one way or another. Some physical, some emotional, some mental.”

Just then Chiah walked by them, empty canister in hand, heading for the Commons for a refill of his drink.

“And some of us just aren’t complete until we’ve got that full thermos of red drink to sip on!” Sabe finished with a laugh. Geon appreciated Sabe’s effort but found himself thinking about JetSurf and wanted to figure out a way to get back at Shiv on the waterways.

“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.

“The
ñ
or 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, raising his voice and sternly lecturing Kumuki on “being a proper human” and to “know his place in society.”