The meeting did not go as smoothly as the two families had hoped. In fact it seemed to divide them. A minority was in favor of letting everyone have a turn with the stone. A second group wanted to take a wait and see approach and a third group thought that the artifact should be locked away forever. A few people were very angry and vocal. Some thought it was unfair to not let those who wanted to touch the stone. Others felt the four teenagers should be quarantined and clearly did not feel comfortable around them. One man said it gave them an unfair advantage. When Talon offered that he could have the same advantage if he wanted to take the same risk they had taken, the man had just made a loud, rude noise. It didn’t really go well.
In the end, the middle group won out. Everyone decided that the best thing to do for now would be observation. Compassion was asked to continually monitor the four teens and Timothy was asked to help with this task. Their parents were admonished to keep a closer eye on them in the future and let everyone know if there was even the slightest risk of danger to the others with them.
Kindra’s mother was one of the ones who started out insisting that her daughter get the same chance as the others. In the end, she was moved by the arguments in the opposing camp and decided that her daughter was going to have to stay away from the others. Hans was also told to stay away from them. Orchid’s family was more neutral at first, but in the end they told Orchid she would have to stay away during a period of quarantine. She shrugged her shoulders and gave the others an apologetic wave as her family left. The group had decided to observe the teens for thirty more days before coming to any decisions. In the mean-time they told Timothy to keep the artifact safe and to not allow anyone to have access to it.
The next day, Kindra came by with her mother. Her mother had changed her mind again. This time she was insistent that Kindra be allowed to touch the stone. However, the stone was no longer in the care of the doctors, but of Timothy. Timothy was programmed to be loyal to the group decision and he was not about to bend the rule. He had placed the artifact in a sealed container in one of the empty chambers where no one could get to it without extensive tunneling or the Q.T. device. It didn’t matter how much kindra’s mother complained or how loudly she thought her daughter should be given the same advantages. Nothing could change the group decision except another vote which was not scheduled until one month after the first meeting.
During their month of waiting, the four teens felt like they were under the microscope. Everyone was watching them closely. Some people even seemed to be openly hostile towards them. They decided to continue working on the play, but with just the four of them and Kindra. At least that way Kindra would not feel so left out. The problem was, they no longer felt like making a comedy. In the end they decided on a drama with comedy mixed through-out it.
Kindra was very helpful since she was feeling better than normal instead of worse like the others. She had been feeling left out before. It didn’t bother her that her friends could make things move. It just meant she didn’t have to do it for herself. The boys would get her anything within reason from across the room and put it right in her hand. She learned not to ask Eliza, however after asking for a drink of cold water from across the room. Eliza had gotten it for her and had carefully balanced it across the room, but for some reason she claimed she had lost control when it was right over Kindra’s lap. Kindra got the distinct idea that Eliza didn’t like her. Eliza seemed to have staked a claim she didn’t want anyone else to come near, but Kindra felt that was unfair. It was bad enough that she was left out of the loop by not knowing anyone. She wasn’t about to give up without a fight.
The one good thing that everyone who had touched the stone could agree on was that school had become very easy for all of them. They were all making perfect scores on their exams now. In response their teaching programs had automatically accelerated the pace of their learning and had added more subjects. The teaching programs were designed to adjust to the learner they were assigned to. They were almost smart enough to be considered A.I.’s but lacked some of the features like self-awareness and a personality. The teaching programs went with them from kindergarten to as high as they wanted to go. They had the latest upgrades before leaving their home world so that they could earn even a PhD if they so desired and were willing to put in the work required. Education was considered a basic right most places as long as it was done by a machine. Human tutors were another matter. Usually they were specialists with PhD’s even fore tutoring on an elementary level. Only the very rich could afford them. Even the poorest could afford the hardware and software needed for an education. On all but the poorest worlds in the galaxy both items were given to children free of charge.
CITEȘTI
Living Under Ice
SFWhen Talon and his family are on a routine trip through hyperspace on a small inergalactic mail carrier vessel with only a few other passengers, things go wrong. They exit hyperspace at an unknown location where the only available planet is an icy...
