Chapter 10

Solomon timidly pressed the recognition plate on the Head Administrator’s door. When the door slid open, he entered without a sound. He stood quietly in front of the Head Administrator’s work station. The Head Administrator, a Level 17, was entitled to such respect.

“Solomon Barnaby Smith, you know why you’ve been called in to see me?”

“Yes, Head Administrator. It’s time for Selection.”

“That’s correct. Do you fully understand what that means?”

“Not completely, Head Administrator. I know it’s a time of testing.”

“Testing is the first part, yes. This will be a comprehensive evaluation of all the skills and aptitudes you have been exposed to throughout your early education. The entire process will take two weeks. The results will not override all of the other work you’ve done, of course. The Zaibatsu wants to make sure each young Citizen is given every opportunity to excel to his or her maximum potential. You understand, Solomon Barnaby Smith?”

“Yes, sir. I understand,” Solomon said dutifully, although he wasn’t totally sure he did. He didn’t want to take the chance of insulting the head of his school by implying the man had not been completely clear in explaining something.

“Once your evaluations are complete, which will take perhaps another week, you’ll be given a Selection regarding your future profession. After Selection, you’ll be sent to a professional education center to concentrate on studies related to that profession. At the end of your Advanced Training, you’ll be assigned to a work location. Is all of this clear?”

Solomon was extremely intelligent, but it was still too much for his ten-year old mind to understand all the details of the vast picture the Head Administrator was painting with such a broad brush. It was even more difficult as he hadn’t had a parent around to tell him what would happen on his tenth birthday. Since the age of six, he had been a ward of the Zaibatsu, the ‘parent’ conglomerate of the Region. In this case, Solomon’s Zaibatsu controlled the Northern Amerigo Region, which was comprised of most of the area that had once been the central and northeastern portion of the United States of America.

“I’m sure it will all be perfectly clear at the end of this month, Head Administrator,” Solomon said carefully. He wanted to be honest, as he had been strenuously taught by the school, and yet polite to his school administrator.

As he walked out of the Head Administrator’s office, Solomon’s head whirled with thoughts of advanced training, professions, placements, and going to new places to work on exciting things. Solomon was sure the next couple of months would be the busiest of his young life. He was absolutely right.

After nearly five decades of using the current system, the testing schedule was well established. From the age of six months, each and every child in the world had all of their mental and physical senses exposed to different written tests, games, pieces of equipment, auditory signals, lighting and color schemes, tastes, and other stimuli. This battery of experiences and activities had been painstakingly devised by an eminent panel of the world’s top educators, psychologists, and physical trainers. They had also enlisted the aid of leading professionals in all fields imaginable, including artists, scientists, administrators, entertainers, chefs, engineers, architects, and, of course, business people.

The children’s primary education was pretty well rounded, incorporating a little of all of those pursuits. There was no more emphasis on traditional academics than there was on the sciences, the arts, or physical education. The educational program went year-round, with a total of two month’s break each year from ages six to ten. Although certainly a much fuller curriculum than those frequent exposures as toddlers, the Primary Training was in some ways just a much more stringent testing process.

During the time of their Primary Training, as the Head Administrator had reminded Solomon, the students had been constantly measured on every aspect of their performance. The final testing sequence was basically a formality, more to make the children start thinking seriously about their futures than as a verification for the system. The Zaibatsu already had a definite idea of what profession each child would be selected for, and only a minor miracle could alter that. It was important to make the children believe these tests could actually have a serious impact on that future. The Zaibatsu wanted to make each child believe that every single evaluation during their life would have a significant impact on how their destiny eventually unfolded. This was at the core of their entire life styles.

Not knowing any of this yet, Solomon found the Selection process to be stimulating and enjoyable. The first two days were centered around the visual and performing arts, when the children would be at their freshest and presumably most creative. Then the academics started, including ‘business arts’ and the sciences. Those were broken up each day by at least two sessions of athletics, and some sort of domestic arts and other assorted disciplines. The children were also extensively tested in computer sciences, which were considered ‘fun’ by most of the students, as a large part of computer sciences included games or special effects for the entertainment industry. The testing was not designed around any competitive goals, not even the athletics, although aggressiveness and leadership skills were certainly evaluated during sports. Each child was measured according to their own strengths and weaknesses, with proficiency being assumed to indicate some personal interest.

Although the testing process would have been considered as extremely fair and impartial by any Twentieth Century standard, no child was ever asked what they “wanted to be when they grew up.” The difference was huge, although it may not have been perceived by the average person.

“I want to be an engineer.”

“That’s not very ambitious, Aimee Keiko Saito. Most engineers are only Level 10. You mean a Level 7, like either an advanced energy or computer engineer?” one of the boys asked.

“Yes,” Aimee said confidently. “But I eventually want to become the Regional Engineer.”

The boy howled, and most of the other children in the room also hooted with laughter. Aimee noticed that the only ones who seemed to take her declaration seriously were her three real friends, Thomas James Benson, Jennifer May Kozlowski, and Solomon Barnaby Smith.

“Why not just aim to be a President?” one of the other girls smirked. “Why be a Level 2 when you could be a Level 1?”

Several other children sitting around the school’s lounge interjected equally barbed and disbelieving comments. Aimee took it all in stride. In virtually all schools throughout the world, children who had just completed the Selection process would be sitting around in rooms very similar to this. Mostly, they would be throwing balled up papers, trading esoteric jokes, and talking about what they would buy as soon as they were Assigned. There would be little derision of what Level another child might be Selected for, as they would all be very uncertain of their eventual place in society.

When the comments died down, Aimee answered quietly, “Because I don’t like business. I want to make sure the systems in a Region work properly, not that it makes its production quotas and fulfills all the needs of its citizens. I like machines more than I like people.”

“And most of both feel the same way about you!” another boy exclaimed, while the rest of the crowd again howled in agreement.

Aimee looked at the boy in total contempt. Naturally, it was Matthew Franklin Scoble, a boy who fancied himself as extremely intelligent. In Aimee’s opinion, he was more of what she would call ‘shrewd’, meaning he was more of a manipulator than a true problem solver. Matthew was the son of a Level 3 Group Leader, the head of a Corporate Group inside of a Zaibatsu. Not surprisingly, he thought he was much better than everyone else in the school. Knowing Aimee was only the daughter of a Level 21 school teacher, one Level below most of the staff in the school they were about to leave, he had once actually tried to kiss her. Matthew was deeply insulted when she not only rebuffed him, but also warned him she would demonstrate her knowledge of the martial arts if he ever tried to do it again. Not being the physical type, he had not. But since then he had demeaned her at every possible opportunity. And, most of the children being sheep to the most obvious wolf in the pack, they had gradually taken the same attitude towards her.

“Except for the people who really know you well, Aimee,” claimed Jennifer May Kozlowski. “We like you.”

“And we believe in you, too,” Thomas James Benson chimed in. “I’m sure you’d make a fine Regional Engineer. You have a gift with equipment.”

Everyone knew that was true. The Regional Engineer reported directly to the President, who was actually the head of the Zaibatsu of the Region. Below the Regional Engineer were a number of City Engineers, all of whom must be incredibly well qualified engineers to oversee all areas of their responsibility, which were critical to the functioning of the entire Region.

There could be two or three City Engineers in a major metropolis, or one City Engineer could be in charge of a large area containing a number of smaller cities and surrounding rural areas. A City Engineer must be highly knowledgeable in electronics, computers, electrical and mechanical engineering. They also had to be fairly knowledgeable in metallurgy because of all of the robotics and conventional mechanical systems that impacted the smooth operation of their domain.

Above all, the Regional Engineer must oversee the two most critical functions in their Region: water desalination and hydrogen production. At the height of the Global Warming crisis more than one hundred years before, Japan had led the way in the energy conversion from fossil fuels to hydrogen, primarily because that country had to import virtually all of its oil and coal.

Electrolysis plants used electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, creating ‘green’ hydrogen that produced zero toxic emissions, with its only by-product being more water. Hydrogen could either be burned as a fuel in a similar manner to how diesel fuel had been used, or on much smaller scales in fuel-cells, which combined with oxygen to produce electricity. Once the challenges of storage and transportation were solved, the world converted to hydrogen’s use for virtually all energy demands. Those included ‘green steel’ refineries and plants – including the hydrogen production plants – electricity turbines to power cities, fuel-cell hydrogen electric cars and trucks, container ships powered by liquid ammonia made from hydrogen, and as a substitute for natural gas for cooking and heating in homes.

Global Warming was a memory, the air was nearly clean again, and the source of all of that power – water – would last until the end of the Earth. And the Regional Engineers carefully supervised all of the equipment and processes that made it possible.

As a consequence, Japan and its very strong bond between government and business had essentially taken the place of previous forms of government in the world. Furthermore, most individual rights and desires had been sublimated to the needs of the ‘good’ of the society.

“Yeah, and with your ‘great gift’ for dealing with people, I’m sure you’ll be just great dealing with Council members.”

Aimee gave Matthew a look of withering disdain, but inwardly she grimaced. As far as she was concerned, that was certainly the biggest drawback to the position. Regional Engineers needed to be very strong administrators. As they reported directly to the President of the Region’s Zaibatsu, and occasionally to the entire Council of the thirty-six Presidents who ruled their world, they must also be fairly skilled at diplomacy and communication. Aimee was very aware she was no diplomat, and not great at communicating with people. If she were ever to have a chance for her goal, those would be things she would really have to work at.

“What about you, Solomon Barnaby Smith?” Thomas asked, trying to draw their last ally, and Aimee’s greatest supporter, into the argument. “Don’t you think that Aimee Keiko Saito could become a Regional Engineer?”

Solomon looked directly at his young friend, ignoring the glare of the school bully. Aimee and Solomon shared several deep bonds in their tremendous intellects, their love for technological things, and their disdain for most people. Solomon was very grateful to Aimee in that, although she was quite athletic, she never belittled him for his mousy features or small, frail body, as did many of the other children. Aimee, in turn, liked Solomon for seeing and admiring only her mind instead of her pretty face. He had never once treated her like ‘a girl’, but like an intellectual equal – which even she did not believe was true. Everyone knew that, in a school of the elite, Solomon was a genius.

“I’m certain Aimee Keiko Saito will eventually be a Level 2, if that’s what she desires,” Solomon said deliberately. “But I still think it will be as a Religious Leader.”

Everyone in the room laughed at this remark. Even Aimee gave a chuckle as Solomon broke the tension in the room with what for him amounted to a big joke. In fact, the running joke had been his only attempt at humor in the four years he had been at the school.

Religious Leaders, the standard term for the head of any of the world’s recognized religious groups, were given Level 2 status. Their function was to preach the gospel according to the Zaibatsu and help keep the masses in check. There were only a couple of hundred people with the personal charisma and bureaucratic skills to keep their ‘flocks’ – as well as their lower clerics – under tight enough control to suit the Zaibatsu. Although he was well aware her personality was far from that profile, Solomon found Aimee to be quite dogmatic when it came to reciting the tenets of the Zaibatsu. After many classes in either Corporate Correctness or Theology (which he found remarkably similar), with Aimee always being the star of the class and leader of the informal study session debates, Solomon often teased her that she should be a Religious Leader.

“What about you, Solomon Barnaby Smith?” one of the other girls asked. “Do you want to be a Regional Engineer?”

No one laughed at this. Everyone looked at Solomon expectantly. He had never before discussed what he would like as an Assignment, and the others were terribly curious.

“No,” he said immediately. “I don’t want to keep things running that already exist. I want to build something new.”

“Like what?” Aimee asked, not insulted in the least by his indirect slight towards her dream job.

“I don’t know,” he lied. “But something significant, something that will change the world.”

“Why would you want to change the world?” Matthew asked querulously. “It’s perfect just the way it is.”

Solomon looked directly at him. “Nothing’s perfect,” he said quietly.

Some of the others snickered at this, thinking that Solomon might have been including Matthew in his remark. Matthew glared, feeling certain of the intent. Only those who truly knew him well – Jennifer, Thomas and Aimee – knew he would never deliberately insult anyone.

“And what about you, Matthew Franklin Scoble?” asked Ming Ai Lee, one of the boys who were among his dedicated followers. “You would certainly make a good President.”

The room held its collective breath. How would he respond to this near blasphemy?

Matthew looked around the room ominously. What few smirks he thought might have broken out were quickly hidden. “Yes, I would,” he said importantly. “Not that I would presume to such an exalted Assignment, of course. But,” he exclaimed loudly, his obligation to modesty being completed, “if I were fortunate enough to be elected the leader of one of our great Zaibatsus, I would strive to make my Region even ... more perfect.”

Everyone else in the room was shocked. At least Aimee had stated she would like to be Selected as an Engineer, with an ambition to rise in the ranks. For anyone to dare talk about becoming a Level 3 without first proving one’s competence in one’s Assignment was extremely rude and conceited. But to actually talk about being a President, who had to be elected by the Council! It was very dangerous talk. The discussion broke up quickly.

At the end of the week the children would receive their Selection notices, including the name and location of their Advanced Training schools. Until then, it seemed no one else had the heart to speculate on their futures. Matthew’s pronouncements, combined with the excessive flattery of Ming, had put too much of a damper on a usually exciting week. What if an adult had been listening to such talk, and included them in what blame and punishment might follow?