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Sutopia

Ch 7, Sclass: Space Class

It felt like she dropped a bomb when she brought up the same topic his parents used to raise more than five hundred years prior. "Considering you wanted to be independent, I was wondering what you wanted to do for a living. You know... since jobs are optional and most businesses as YOU'D probably think of them don't exist anymore."

Despite how much things had been altered by the passage of time, some things were painfully unchanged.

Star continued for quite some time discussing the importance of having a solid plan for Logan's life, especially since most of his idle ideas turned out to be "no longer viable" in the new world of the 28th century. The vast majority of jobs didn't require managers or administrators or even business owners; with the decentralization of wealth, the majority of people who started up businesses were the front line people who provided the services inherent to the industries themselves-- why work for a manufacturing company when you could be a single-employee manufacturer?

At that point, Logan pointed out, why bother manufacturing at all when there were a gazillion nano-bots who could do it for you? His comment elicited a snicker from Star, and she pointed out, despite the snide attitude with which he had proposed the question, he had a valid point: most unskilled labor WAS done by machine and the only trans-humans who bothered with it were the ones that enjoyed the repetitive tasks, physical activity or just had a love of 'the old ways'. She then proceeded to tell him a story of one of her contemporaries who used to install fences for a living the old fashioned way-- and how he still did it due to his familiarity of the industry.

That definitely gave Logan cause for pause. "Wait a minute... you mean to tell me that he DUG the holes and HAMMERED in the posts himself?"

Star only shrugged in response. "Well... yes. According to him, he learned the old fashioned way of doing things the way they did them hundreds of years before he was born. When we talked about it he said that there were inventions that came about in the early and late 1900s that made it easier, but apparently he never got involved with any machinery heavier than a hand-held post hole auger."

Logan stared blankly at the fox. "What's a post hole auger?"

Star smirked in response. "I asked the exact same thing."

With a wave of her paw a device appeared standing up beside her; it caused Logan to jump in surprise since he'd all but forgotten they were meeting in VR. The device looked like one of the old combustion car engines his grandfather was always so keen on, except it was placed atop a lengthy metal corkscrew almost as big around as his calf. A large metal bar circumnavigated the engine and appared to have two hand grips-- one on either side.

Something about it reminded him of the old fashioned mechanical melee weapons that littered some of his first person shooter visor games. He wasn't about to say that aloud to his several-hunred-year-old niece. "Except for the engine on top, it almost looks like the end arm of a piece of construction equipment."

The Fox gestured and the item disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "He went to the trouble of explaining how it worked, and even gave me a demonstration-- he hand-installed the fence surrounding a small piece of property I have on IPL4-3."

Logan very nearly asked Star the significance of 'IPL4-3' but he quickly corrected himself and did a metanet search on it instead. He did a lightning quick scan of the information to get the important points: an orbital platform habitat set up on an orbit around the sun opposite from the Earth. There was a lot more to learn about it, but he remembered one of the main rules about metanet searches during a conversation: less is more. Knowing that, he simply kept the conversation moving. "You have a home on an orbital platform?"

His niece smiled, slowly standing. "I have property-- it's more of a 'get away' place than a real home.... but, yes."

So many questions went through Logan's mind, but he chose instead to stick to the topic of the 'post hole auger'. "So... you hired a guy to help you build a fence in some really old, probably really slow way using hand-held equipment?"

The question, despite being loaded with judgement, was responded to quite casually. "I didn't really hire him, no. He did it as a favor. James enjoys working with his hands and he likes undertaking projects like that. In fact, he was the one who convinced me to let him do it instead of having it fabricated or nano-formed."

Logan stared blankly. "Why?"

Star tittered, covering the end of her muzzle with her paw. "Like I said before, Logan-- most people in this day and age enjoy doing what they do. People fill their days with activities that bring them satisfaction, whether that be leisure, self-improvement, or a sense of accomplishment. James is one of that last category."

He couldn't really argue that line of thinking, especially when he considered that people didn't really need to work for income. Still, he realized, why go through all that trouble? He put his thoughts to word. "But... if you had fabricated it or had it nano-formed it probably would have been faster, and looked better... right?"

Smoothing out her fur (it seemed like a silly gesture considering they were in VR), Star shrugged. "Perhaps... but why have a fence like everyone else? Besides... nanofabrication is not used for everything, and for some projects it's not worth the set-up time. There's something to be said for the character of an item crafted by hand. Imperfections are beautiful in their own way, and, in this day and age, the effort put into something determines its value, not how flawless it is."

The statement had been said time and time again to Logan, albeit not always in that exact form. He thought he was finally starting to understand. "I guess if you can have a flawless diamond created in a snap you have to find other ways to measure value, huh?"

Star smiled. "Exactly-- and that is the basis a lot of creators use when they spend their time making things. Sim-sense, X-Vids, artwork, writing... all of it is personal and genuine and one-of-a-kind. Value and worth are measured by these things more and more in modern society, so the people who create are priceless."

Logan took that to heart. "So... maybe I should figure out how to create something. Wait-- I heard those terms before: sim-sense and x-vids... what ARE those, exactly?"

His niece giggled. "One thing at a time, Logan. You'll have plenty of time to learn all about that. I wouldn't want you getting involved in any of that stuff until you get a better hang of the simple stuff first. I'm sure they'll go over all of that in your orientation anyway but, for now, I suppose you can think of them as electronic sensory narcotics. A lot of people use them responsibly, but plenty get in a little too deep so, for now, let's just set that off to the side. Fair?"

Although he didn't get his question answered what she had to provide was sufficient to satisfy his curiosity for the time being. "Okay-- I guess that's fair."

Logan caught the faint flick of Star's eye He wouldn't have noticed it had he not spent the day learning about the implants; she was checking the time. It was, therefore, no surprise when she spoke up. "Wow... I haven't had a nice VR chat in a long time-- I forgot how fast time goes by sometimes."

Doing a check of his own, Logan verified that it was indeed later than it felt. "No kidding. Oof-- I have to be up in a few hours."

Star responded with a snide smirk. "Well... I don't, but it wouldn't be very polite of me to keep you up much longer. How about I let you get some sleep and we can pick this up again later? We can do VR again if it's a comfortable option for you."

He found himself liking the suggestion. "Okay... tomorrow?"

She seemed earnestly surprised by his suggestion and the insides of her ears reddened ever so slightly. "Really? Sounds good, Logan. I'll look forward to it."

Logan stood up, ready to show her to the door before he suddenly remembered that they were indeed in VR and neither of them had to physically move for them to say goodbye. Even as he was wallowing in the self-reproachful embarrassment of the realization. During that moment, Star seized the opportunity and stepped forward to give him a hug. "See you tomorrow."

Before he could respond she disappeared in a cloud of 'pixels', logging out.

Logan lingered in VR a few minutes longer, exploring the virtual world created to resemble the basement of his parents' house. He used his five senses, astounded at just how real it all felt before, at long last, closing out of the VR program. Opening his eyes anew, he felt his limbs respond as if he'd just awoken from a nap, but it was surreal seeing the very room he'd just left in VR, facing it in real life.

Throwing such existential philosophical questions regarding the reality of reality from his mind, he made ready to get some sleep. He knew he had quite the day awaiting him in the morning, and he at least wanted to get enough rest that he wouldn't face it like a sleep deprived zombie. With any luck, he reasoned, day two in class wouldn't be quite as chaotic and discombobulating as day one.

* * * * *

In his many years of school and then college, Logan couldn't remember any day in which he was up, ready and on his way to class any significant amount of time ahead of schedule; his orientation class had apparently changed that. The first day the young man had been early by about ten minutes but, on the second day, he 'beat the bell' by nearly a half hour-- he even beat Pete to the classroom. It was the instructor, of course, who was the first to arrive besides him, almost ten minutes after Logan sat down.

As seemed to be the norm for Pete, the affable black man took it all in stride, even going so far as to chide him in a friendly manner. "Still learning to cope with a relaxed schedule, Logan?"

Logan had no problem being forthcoming. "I spent some time last night talking with Star, and she said that this class will be good for answering a lot of my questions. Right now it feels like that's all my life is: questions. The sooner I get answers, the sooner I can get back to living."

Pete chuckled. "Well, frankly, I think that's a good thing. Most folks who make their way through the orientation just look at it like a chore. It's been awhile since I've had such a dedicated student."

The comment made Logan laugh. "I think that's the first time anyone said something like that about me for pretty much anything."

His instructor offered a casual shrug. "Well, seeing as you're starting fresh in a brand new world, why not a brand new Logan, hmm?"

It seemed like a silly thing to say; Pete obviously knew that awakening in a new time in a new place wasn't just as easy as reinventing himself. Still, there was something to be said for rolling with the punches. Shrugging off the difference in opinion, Logan started up a note taking program and mentally began parsing out space for a lesson plan. "So... what're we talking about in class today?"

Pete offered a ready smile. "Well... today we're going to go over a brief review of what we discussed yesterday, and then move onto a talk about trans-human habitats around the solar system."

For a split second, Logan imagined having ears like Star and, if he did, they would be perked. "Oh? That's so cool! Are we discussing the ones in other solar systems tomorrow?"

Rather than answer the question, Pete countered with one of his own. "You know, Logan, you're doing a great job on learning the uplink, navigation, and integrated technologies. How would you feel about helping me when we do our review today?"

The invitation made Logan's brain come to a screeching halt. "Help you? What's that involve? Are you sure?"

As usual, his instructor's face had a serene, welcoming calm expression; he nodded. "I am sure, yes. Some of the other students aren't following along as quickly and plenty are taking awhile to pick up with you seem to grasp half way through the session. It shouldn't be anything to intense-- just walk them through the steps if they are having trouble or can't remember what they learned yesterday. You can think of it as a 'teaching assistant' position."

Logan felt a faint warmth of pride deep in his chest; it had been a long time since someone whose opinion mattered acknowledged that he was doing well. Pausing at his own thoughts, he began to decipher why he thought Pete 'mattered', but his musings were disrupted as other students started showing up. Half the class had appeared before he knew it, at which point Pete gestured to the table Logan had occupied the prior day. "Why don't you go ahead and take a seat... think on it a bit, and if you think you'd be up for it, I'm sure we'd get past the review faster and onto new stuff if I had you helping."

Unsure whether it was because Pete was good at manipulating people or just knew the right kind of carrot to offer, but Logan realized that the proposition wasn't one he could pass up. With almost everyone in attendance, Pete began welcome everyone to day two of the orientation and, good on his word, he went straight into a review of the prior day. By the time class had been going for ten minutes Logan found himself moving about, providing guidance to a few of the slower-to-acclimate students.

At first, Logan was forced to watch for signs of hardship-- frustrated expressions or a raised hand indicating a question. After the first two interventions, however, he received a private message from Pete, who gave him instructions on a biometric code reader available in his implant, which could bring up a basic scan that let him know when one of his peers was stressed. Pete then suggested approaching those students with an offer to assist.

Logan couldn't help but wonder just how few secrets people could hide from one another when things like medical data was available with the activation of a single program. Nevertheless, he threw himself back into his task and, in a short time, everyone completed the refresher and they could finally progress to new topics.

That was right around the time Harper Knight FINALLY showed up. Entering into the room casually, the 'Hollywood nobility' slid into the same seat he'd occupied the prior day, waving to Pete as he disrupted the conversation with "Hey, Pete. Sorry... go ahead and keep going-- I get caught up with Logan later."

If Harper's tardiness bothered the instructor Pete certainly didn't let it show. Just as was promised, once the class concluded the review, the orientation turned toward a discussion on habitats. The conversation was kept light and 'non-technical', with a promise that any of the deep specifics of terminology, habitability structure styles and the science behind the different hab methodologies were all available via the metanet. Once Pete started talking about the habitats, he focused specifically on their locations.

"As you all know, seeing as you're here, there is a habitat on Earth's moon. The Lunar Spire, which we are in now is at the very center of a set of concentric rings inter-connected similarly to a spider's web. Since the Moon is tidal-locked we are always facing the Earth, and always facing the sun. As the very first habitat that has been present since before trans-humanity rose from humanity, it is considered the most 'Earth-like', up to and including the gravity normalizer built into your uplinks that give you the impression of Earth level gravity, despite it actually being about 1/6th. Many low gravity habitats have similar sensory aides... just don't expect the same treatment on micro or zero gravity habs."

One of the students near the front interrupted. "Are there a lot of habitats that have micro gravity?"

Pete nodded. "Many of the smaller ones, yes. Earth, Luna, Mars, Venus and Titan are all considered standard or low gravity and utilize the same sensory program."

Another student interjected "Earth has a colony on it? I thought it was dead!"

Before Pete could address that comment another student spoke up "Trans-humanity landed on Venus?"

Pete raised both hands, palms out to calm the class. "One at a time, please. Yes, Earth is inhabited again... although the population is far less than it was and not all regions are as hospitable as it was before the war... as for Venus: no. While it may be possible to have terrestrial habitats there, the weather patterns, atmosphere and temperatures make it far easier to have aero-habs--- floating cities, I suppose you could say."

Class fell into disarray again and, as Logan watched Pete wait for the noise to die down a little, the young man got another private message from his instructor. "Now do you see why it needs to be a 'brief' overview?" Logan couldn't help but chuckle.

Once he was able to get another word in, Pete further elaborated that not all of the trans-human habitats were located on solid ground. The most common form of habs included terrestrial, atmospheric and orbital. Terrestrial habitats like the one on Luna utilized a solid planetary body, planetoid, moon or asteroid; atmospheric habitats were used in situations like Venus where an atmosphere was thick enough to support a floating colony; orbital habitats were placed in space, either circling a moon or planet or, in the case of mega structures, at a Lagrange Point-- such as the one located at Earth's L3.

Although Logan wasn't entirely familiar with the term, he wasn't sure it was worth speaking up over but he didn't have to ask for clarification since another student did. "What's a Lagrange Point? L3?"

Pete gestured to the wall and a holographic screen appeared; Logan honestly didn't know if it was being projected against the wall, or if it was just another AR effect of his implant as guided by his instructor. Throwing that thought aside for the moment, he focused on the diagram Pete presented, showing the sun, the earth, and lots of lines drawn geometrically involving one or both.

He presented the diagram, each of the indicated points turning to bold font when he discussed them. "Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put. L4 and L5, which you can see here, creating equilateral triangles between themselves, the Earth and the Sun are considered stable; L1, L2, and L3 are considered unstable, which is just another reason why the L3 hab, all the way on the opposite side of the sun from Earth has maneuvering thrusters... but we're getting a little off topic."

Although he hadn't fully answered the questions (and hadn't even begun to discuss the ramifications of his answers), Pete continued and, surprisingly, the students let him. "So... in addition to all of the permanent habitats, there are also plenty of temporary habs, such as mobile space stations, bubble habs, and bee-hives--" he paused when one of the ladies raised her hand, but he addressed her before she could ask her question. "If you're interested about habitat types you can learn all about bee-hives on the metanet, Doris... we need to move on for now."

Casting a side-long glance in the woman's direction, Logan did a quick check and saw that, in fact, she WAS doing a search on bee-hives which, he was able to note through secondhand observation had something to do with hollowing out asteroids and setting up habs inside them. He didn't dwell on it, however, interested in hearing more from their instructor. Sadly, the next question was spoken aloud by Harper rather than waiting to be called upon. "Hey-- Pete? You're talking a lot about all the space stations and stuff in OUR solar system... what about all the ones in like, Alpha Centauri and stuff?"

Despite the interruption, Pete, as usual, was zen, and addressed the inquiry. "Extra-system travel isn't exactly common place, Mr. Harper. Our solar system is it, for now... but, believe me, it's more than enough for the vast majority of trans-humanity. But, since you brought the topic up, I suppose now is as good a time as any to discuss travel... considering the system IS big, you should all be aware of your options to get from Point A to Point B."

Pete motioned to the AR-created screen and it changed to a basic map of local space. As he spoke, he gestured first at Earth and then way out into the far reaches of the solar system. "So.... if you're looking to use basic space travel techniques to go from Earth to Neptune it would take twelve years. For most space travel it wouldn't make any sense to take that kind of trip, let alone somewhere like Alpha Centauri."

One of the class participants raised his hand. "How long would--"

The instructor was ready with the answer. "Forty four years to get there from here."

Harper didn't seem quite ready to let the 'dream of inter-stellar travel' die off completely, "But what about alternative transportation methods? Space travel HAD to have advanced in the past several hundred years, right?"

Pete and his infinite patience seemed to have no trouble addressing the continued questions. "There are advanced propulsion options, yes, but they take a lot more resources and planning. Even then you're looking at a four year journey. We're talking about great distances, class-- it takes over four hours just for a habitat out there to receive messages from us."

One of the students Logan recognized as a scientist interjected, raising her hand. "What about a nuclear salt water rocket?"

That went far beyond Logan's understanding so he utilized his newfound metanet skills to figure out what she was talking about. Apparently, rather than using a chemical propellant there existed a rocket which was fueled by salts of enriched uranium. Although it was apparently only theoretical back in the 21st and 22nd centuries, the science required to implement it had been proven and implemented in the 25th. However, according to the metanet--

He didn't have a chance to finish reviewing it before Pete filled in the blanks. "You could use that to travel to the outer system in a few months and, yes, for urgent matters NTRs can be used, but the resources and efforts associated with them make them the exception, not the rule. We are, however, getting off topic."

Pete gave the class a few moments to talk amongst themselves before getting back on topic. "So... if traditional methods of going from Point A to Point B physically takes a prohibitively long amount of time, how do modern trans-humans visit friends and family half a solar system away, you ask?"

Lilian, the woman Logan had run into the first day of class quickly raised her hand. "Visiting via Email!"

Their instructor paused for a half second, almost as if he were trying to figure out if Lilian were being sarcastic. Eventually he must have come to the conclusion that she was not. "As I said before, it can take hours for a message to transfer from Earth to Neptune so, yes, that IS a way to stay in correspondence, but not the easiest way to carry on a conversation. There are, in fact, ways for trans-humans to travel between locations by transferring their Sum to another body, essentially traveling at the speed of information."

Logan had an idea what Pete was talking about. "You mean... i-ack-tis?"

The class's guide winked and pointed to the young man. "Yes, Logan. Very good. Iactis, class, is the act of transporting one's Sum as information rather than trying to relocate your Corups. In many ways you can think of it as a temporary Corpus Verto with the expectation that, after a set period of time, you return to the body you left behind, taking all of your experiences with you."

One of the other students spoke up "But what happens to your body-- I mean, 'Corpus' in the meantime? Do you exist in both places at once?"

Pete shook his head. "No. Iacktis requires a shutdown of consciousness or risk extensive cognitive and psychological trauma. When you transfer your Sum to another Corpus you are put under, and your Corpus goes into stasis. The process can sometimes take five or six hours total and, at the end of which, you awaken in your new Corpus at the end destination. When it's time for you to return, that Corpus is put into stasis and your Sum is transmitted back to your prior location and prior Corpus."

Harper leaned back in his chair next to Logan, waving at Pete. "So... how does that work, exactly? Do we just go out and rent a fresh body or something?"

Pete almost scowled. "The term is 'Corpus', Harper and, that is an option, yes. Some of the more 'well positioned' members of trans-humanity keep more than one Corpus at different habitats so they are always able to secure a fresh Corpus. Plenty of Iactis agents have a network of available loaner Corpi, but those who use Iactis the most prefer to have one with which they have familiarity. I'm sure you all remember the strange sensation of when you awoke here after your first Corpus Verto-- imagine entering into a new body with which you aren't familiar... it can take awhile to get over the dysphoria."

Even as Logan considered the significance of such a surreal way of travel his mind was about to be blown further when Pete brought up the idea of a body significantly different than his own. His thoughts bounced back to Star, and then to that four legged dog astride the woman in the elevator, and went to even stranger directions. He was so far out in left field that he almost missed the next question that arose in class... and that REALLY took things to a whole new level.