Thursday, April 26, 2012

Smart Eyes


New-Humans Metamorphosis Chronicles

Smart Eyes


by Ron S. Nolan, Ph.D.

New-Humans Lunar Base
Earth View Charter Prep School
Principal’s Office
Year 2112

The principal looked at the teenager with alarm.  She couldn’t tell if Clarissa always made gulping sounds when she cried, or if she was having some sort of attack.  The one fifth Earth lunar gravity occasionally had strange effects on humans—especially those born and raised on high-G planets.

Clarissa was seated on an antique chair made of actual wood, head in her hands, shoulders shaking.  She was crying...and gulping for air.  The hatch slid up into the ceiling and the principal rose to greet Torch Sanders, Station Captain and Clarissa’s father.  His long, thin frame was a dead giveaway that he was born off planet and the realization that this was the actual living grandson of Luna founders, Torch Sanders and Astra Sturtevant—Both Earth and Luna heroes!—made her need to mentally suppress the adrenaline spike that surged whenever she saw Captain Sanders in the flesh.

Torch shook her slim, semi-metallic hand and asks, “Not again.  Cheating?  So how did she cheat?   It would be obvious if she was interfacing with the Galaxy Wide Web during the exam, so rule that out.  That only leaves Thought Theft,   I hope I am wrong."

The principal stated, “Unfortunately, that is exactly what she did and she violated about half of the class.  I am guessing, but she may have thought that quick mini-nano event intrusions would go undetected.  She was wrong.  Our IP supervisor traced her connection right  to her seat on the back row.  Maybe she should have actually read and understood some articles on thought theft detection before experimenting on our class?”

“Luckily we are on Luna where the Luna State government has given us more latitude on dealing with TT.  On earth, there are mandatory criminal penalties.  Clarissa would likely be under arrest by now if she lived on Earth.”

The principal reluctantly continued, “Unfortunately Captain, this is Clarissa’s third thought theft offense.  We must expel her for six solar months.  TT is a serious crime  I ‘m sorry, there is nothing I can do, but she must learn her lesson this time, or face permanent expulsion,”

Torch sat next to his daughter and put his arm around her.  “Look at me honey.”

“I can’t dad. she turned off my eyes!”

The principal handed Torch a pen-laser which he flashedinto each of Clarissa’s eyes.  He asked, “How’s that?” 

Clarissa turned and glared at her father.  “It’s not fair.  How are we supposed to remember all those facts and dates and people’s names?  Why should we have to?  She even made us do arithmetic by hand.  How stupid is that?”

The principal had been silently watching from Behind Torch’s folder. But this was a sore spot and she interjected, “That is the problem.  All kids know how to do today is search and file.  They always think that they can come back and assimilate the content later, but somehow they never do.  So we are raising a new generation that is expert at retrieving information, but clueless as to how things actually work and very little awareness as to how ideas fit together and interrelate.  The entire emergent universe of synergistic thinking is lost to them.  All they know are the tag words for part A and part B, but cannot imagine what might happen if they put them together.  So A+B only equals A+B. Part C never emerges.”

Aboard the shuttle tram whisking back to the main base,Torch asked, “How did you do it?  How did you access all of those thought neural feeds?”

Well, Dad if you really don’t agree with the principal that I am an idiot, I will show you.  But, I will have to hack back into the lab’s new quantum computer.  It is the only one ever to have enough processing power to handle that amount of real time throughput to enable Thought access via artificial eye circuitry.  That is why the checks were so brief, I only allowed a few nano seconds to receive, analyze, and store their visual--based thoughts.  It had to be fast in order to penetrate the blackout barrier that came up when the test started--and of course avoid detection.  I still don’t know how the school caught on.

“You hacked into our new Quant?   I have been assured that Quant is impossible to hack...plus that’s totally illegal and could really mess things with our new research.  Do you realize that the Quant was specially designed to search for what the theorists call the ‘Spirit Guide Particle.”  If successful, we may finally understand a whole range paranormal phenomena.”

“Yes, Dad.  I have been following the SGP project.  Actually I would rather explore that world, then memorize a bunch of stuff to pass a test.  That’s why I spied on my classmates--to get time for more important things.”

“Clarissa, I had no idea you were so tech-literate.  I admit that I am impressed that you could gain access to our highly protected system to begin with, but that doesn’t mean I approve of your hacking, or spying or cheating no matter how much talent you have.”

“Dad, It really wasn’t that hard.  Luckily half of my classmates have artificial eyes like mine.  It was like looking out a window like this and seeing all the air domes flash by--but in this case they were answers to the test questions.   These New-Humans EyeSeeAll Vision Systems are fantastic and are perfect for Luna.  When are you going to break down and get some?”

“No thanks, my bio eyes are just fine.  Alright, Clarissa I have a proposition for you.  Starting next shift, you will assist the SGV team.  Dr. French will fill you in on your duties tomorrow.  Get some rest...and please dress sensibly for the lab, none of that weird stuff you and your friends like to wear.”  And no more illegal hacking or we’ll ship you to the dark side where your infrared sensors will come in handy.”

“Oh, Dad.  You wouldn’t do that!  See you tomorrow.”

This chapter of the Metamorphosis Chronicles was inspired by an article in the New-Humans Longevity News, "New Developments in Vision."

For those who may be curious about the prio adventures of Torch and Astra, check out our screenplay ‘White Hot’ which is patiently awaiting discovery at Amazon Studios.



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