Chapter 18: Biome Tech
By mid 21st century, sociologists identified the concept of ‘The Family’ as the single most negative influence on a stable and productive society. The ‘Nuclear Family’ of the century before was no longer a beneficial social structure. Families were not working as a positive societal unit. Although they still existed, they were marginalized. The important task of raising and educating children was now in the hands of government-assigned professionals. The Nursery was born.
Jayne received her acceptance the following morning. It came as an announcement from Lucky. He woke her up with, “Thirteen, it is time to wake up. I have received your schedule. Things have changed. You are to report to the Biome Tech Center.”
Jayne groaned. Her sleep had been fitful, filled with gigantic bean bags with ugly faces, whizzing down, trying to crush her as she ran down a high grav line. She groaned again, “What time is it? I just got to sleep. Be quiet and go away.”
“I cannot go away. It is 6:13 a.m. I know you have not had the required eight hours of sleep recommended for a person your age but—.” Lucky’s answer was interrupted by Jayne.
“Then go away and let me sleep,” moaned Jayne and she rolled over and pulled the pillow over her ears.
“I am sorry, Thirteen, but I am being overridden,” apologized Lucky.
The next voice Jayne heard was not Lucky. “Wu 13, you are to report immediately to the PUT outside these quarters. You have three minutes to obey or your application to join Biome Tech will be rescinded.”
Jayne leapt from the bed, dashed to the bathroom, returned in record time, got dressed and stepped out of her quarters and onto the PUT pad. Her heart was pounding with excitement and a little fear.
She exited the PUT alcove and looked up at the sign in front of her. It read ‘Biome Technical Institute’ and below, in smaller letters, was the motto of the school. ‘Omnes intrare sciens nihil et relinquere sciens paulo’ translates to ‘All enter knowing nothing and leave knowing little more.’
A voice behind her spoke. “Do you find that motto puzzling?”
Jayne turned around and looked at a girl about five years her senior.
“I’ve been here for two years and I am just beginning to understand what they are getting at.” She gestured to a series of bas relief sculptures of men and women carved to the side of the entrance who obviously were revered at this school. “It kinda means that there is so much to know, that to know a little really is an achievement. I’m Sara. They sent me to get you and take you to the dorm. You don’t get your own quarters here. We are not like the other tech schools. It is tougher here. We have the highest washout rate of all. Sometimes I think the instructors get a bonus for every student who washes out. I have nearly gone twice. Once when I lost these.” She held up her left hand with two fingers missing. “And once when I got this little baby.” She lifted up her tunic top and exposed a red mottled scar, 20 cm long, running down the side of her torso.
Jayne did not respond.
The girl continued, “I noticed you didn’t grimace when I showed you my battle scars. My advice to you is to grimace whenever you get the chance. Acting tough will get you hurt or worse. React to the nasty things whenever possible because there will be times when you won’t be able to. Reacting then will get you killed. So do it when you can. It keeps you human. Believe me, after a year in here you will start to wonder if you are anymore.”
“Are you trying to frighten me?” asked Jayne.
“Yep! And you can thank me for that service any time you want. In here, they say your own fear is your most powerful weapon—if you can learn to control it. I had an instructor my first year who was one wise, old, scarred bastard. He once told me that he never really controlled his fear. He just let it run all over him whenever it wanted. The more afraid he was, the more likely he would get to go home. So he let fear order him about. He said it was his secret to survival and not to listen to the other instructors when they talked about controlling fear. Controlling fear was for situations when there was nothing real to be afraid of. The biomes were filled with things that were truly fearful and you had better be afraid of them or die. I haven’t decided if he was right or not.” She smiled. “I’ve only got a couple of scars. So what is your name?”
Jayne was about to respond when she felt an urge to step backwards and protect herself. All the muscles in her stomach tensed until they were as hard as she could make them. She looked at Sara and saw a slight twitch in the muscle of her jaw. She did not look but knew that Sara was tensing the fingers of her right hand. Jayne did not want to give it away. She did not want to be known as the ‘Lucky Kid’. So she spoke her name, “Jayne,” and tensed her stomach muscles as tight as she could get them. Then Sara punched her right in the solar plexus. She let out a groan that was partly due to being punched really hard in the stomach and partly due to the need to relax her tense muscles. She decided she would not fall down even though her body said to fall down and clutch yourself and cry. She just buckled over and held her stomach. After the initial hit she realized she had really protected herself. Nothing was damaged and nothing really hurt.
She slowly stood up and yelled at Sara, “What did you do that for?”
“Well, Jayne, I was just following procedure. You will hear that a lot around here,” she said, grinning, “and by the way, you can really take a punch. It was almost like you knew it was coming. But nobody expects to be punched on their first day here. I sure wasn’t but it is standard procedure. Punch the newbie in the guts as hard as you can. Maybe she will cry and go home.”
“I’m not going anywhere except to the dorm to get settled. Where is it or is finding it another stupid test?” Jayne said as she walked into the school.
“No more tests or punches,” said Sara. “Follow me. Your bunk is right next to mine.” She led Jayne through the foyer, down a hall and into a dorm room. She indicated a bunk and said, “That’s yours. You will also find all your required equipment in that locker there.” Sara pointed to locker 13. “I understand that is your nickname, Thirteen, so we saw that locker 13 was empty….” She shrugged.
Jayne looked at the locker. It was more like mini quarters than a locker. She wondered what it held.
“It’s big,” she said.
“Yep. There is a lot of equipment you will have to learn to use. It is all specifically fitted to you and only you.” Sara eyed Jayne up and down. “I hope you are stronger than you look ’cause the equipment is really heavy and anti-grav units are not allowed while you are in training.”
“I will be OK,” said Jayne.
“From what I have heard, I’m sure you will. Oh, that reminds me, my crew wanted me to ask you if you will play. Will you?” Sara asked.
Jayne played dumb. “Play what?”
“Don’t be cute. You know damn well what I am talking about. And don’t try to pretend you were not the kid who did that fancy loop over the center pipe in that ‘drop in’ game the day of the lockdown. We got a newbie last month who couldn’t stop going on about it. He said he was playing on the same team as you and he was totally grav’d about it.” She paused. “Well, if you are her and I think you are, will you play on our team? We are called Home Grown Panic. We are not the best in the league but we are not the worst either. We could sure use a fast BC. That is, if you are who I think you are,” babbled Sara.
“What’s the kid’s name?” asked Jayne.
“What kid?” asked Sara.
“Did this kid who said he played GravBall with me have a little horse-tail sticking out of the top of his head?” asked Jayne.
“I think so,” said Sara.
Jayne smiled.
“And just so you know, the GravBall league is taken very seriously. It is actually part of our training. A lot of the biomes have gravity variances so the omies can develop their bodies to cope on the new planets. So we have to cope without those genetic enhancements ’cause we have to go into the biomes and work. We’re the BF’s (b
iome fixers) and we’re the best, Huu—Rah!” She giggled and plopped down on her bunk.
“Ever been to one of the biomes?” asked Jayne.
“Not yet, but soon. I have to pass the ElecMech exam first. I hate that exam. It is a real dog,” complained Sara.
“What do you have to complete before they will let you go on a mission?” asked Jayne.
“Check your VID, it will tell you,” said Sara.
Jayne took out her VID and she immediately noticed a major update. She barely had any of the apps she was used to. The main page was filled with the Biome Tech Institute logo. She touched the VID lock and the screen displayed a smaller Biome Tech logo. She touched it and a list of her courses was presented:
1. Biome 3 Mini Pods
2. Weapons
3. Combat
She showed Sara the VID list. “What are biome mini-pods? What do we study about Biome 3? Isn’t that the jungle biome?” she asked.
“Yep. There are six mini-pods that have environments identical to Biome 3’s. They run simulations that will give us the experience of the real thing. They are just as dangerous but smaller and somewhat controlled. They can still kill you in a heartbeat if you do something stupid. The trick is not to,” she laughed and then she stared at Jayne’s VID with dismay. “How come you don’t have to take ElecMech?”
“I have already passed the exam,” answered Jayne casually.
“Damn! I’ve been working towards passing that exam for almost two years and you walk in here with it already under your belt. Damn!” Sara cursed. Then her eyes brightened. “I’ll tell you what, girly, I will help you by giving out some tips on those courses if you help me get through ElecMech,” she said, indicating the list on the VID in Jayne’s hand. “Some of them can be very nasty. I sure wish someone had helped me get through Combat. So, is it a deal?”
Jayne nodded her head, “Deal. Now what about Biome 3? What am I to expect?”
Well,” said Sara with a smirk on her face, “imagine every creepy, crawly, leaping, flying, jumping, biting, stinging, scratching… I could go on here… creature of every size and shape that has ever invaded your nightmares and that is Biome 3. But those aren’t the dangerous ones. The really bad ones are what you cannot see. Besides that, it is hot and wet and all jungle. Gravity and oxygen are a little above normal. All the omies in Biome 3 had to have some genes spliced into their DNA to supercharge their immune systems. It seems to be working for them but those same genes have some very strange side effects on omie children. The geneticists are working out ways to fix the problem. After all, we want to seed the universe with humans and not some other crazy creature.”
“What kind of side effects?” asked Jayne.
“Well, I think they must have used alligator genes. That creature has the strongest immune system of any creature on the planet. I will let your imagination do the rest, though I doubt you can do it justice,” she said with glee, as she watched Jayne’s face contort.
Jayne’s VID began to beep. She glanced at it and read, ‘Report to Lab 2 for Biome 3 Studies.’ “Where is Lab 2?” she asked.
“I have no idea. No one knows where anything is here. It is kept very secure by just directing people to a PUT pad and then dropping them off at the right place,” said Sara, just as her VID beeped. She looked at it with disdain. “I am off to ElecMech tutorials. How exciting!”
They walked together in silence to the PUT pads.