12. The Race
Chapter twelve
The Race
Istood silent while Ralia spoke with yet another group of pompous self-proclaimed geniuses who would rather not disclose how they got into the neurocore.
The more hardened they became by Ralia’s “ lack of business discretion“, the more eccentric she grew, touching and prodding them verbally until they broke.
“You know, I actually program fixes,” she said.
It was a lie as far as I knew. It was hard to tell what was and wasn’t true with her.
“Me and my gals would go hard, zeggin’ ourselves up with any form of physical intoxicant until they couldn’t give me the buzz I craved, so I figured, why not step it up a notch?
Same thing happened with fixes, but I could make my own there where I couldn’t with drugs, you plug? So I made the Galactitab, which–”
“I know what it does,” the man across from her said. His voice sounded like he was at the point of breaking into rage. “I just told you those ruined my job, hence the need for—“
She talked over him as if he had never spoken.
“Like I was saying, the tabs make you feel like you’re communicating with aliens, which we all know don’t exist because the Earth is flat.
They make you feel like you’re a genius because you’re the only human capable of intergalactic communication when the product says that all Galactitabs do is make you feel like you’re flying through space. ”
“And that lie ruined my life. My wife left me, took the kids–”
“Babe, she left you because you have a ruler up your ass trying to measure your intelligence when we all know it’s an act.”
“We?”
“You know, I created them just to ruin your life, knowing you would deny me a decent conversation here.”
“The zeg are you talking about?”
She leaned in. “I’m saying that there are more things to life than being a self-proclaimed genius. Maybe if your head wasn’t in your neurospace all day your wife wouldn’t have left you.”
She kissed him on the cheek, violet light radiated out from where her lips connected.
He swung his arm wide for a slap, but she ducked away just in time for the slap to connect with one of his companions, who held his chin so high it was almost at a forty-five degree angle.
Rather than react to the slap as a typical human would, the man’s image seized, blurring for a second as if he was glitching.
Ralia laughed and pulled me away as a fight broke out among the group.
“Can you hurt other people in here?” I asked.
“Oh, no reprimand for causing problems this time?”
I smirked. “He deserves it.”
“They all do, babe. Most of these pompous shacs couldn’t care less about actual intelligence. They want the badge of knowledge like every other idiot who thinks they know what the world is actually like. They’d all piss themselves if they knew but a fraction of what you do.”
“Still, I’m not as good as they are at manipulating the system to appear smart. I don’t have the net smarts like you.”
“Which is why I’m here to help. They act all bold and ready, but they have no zegging idea what is coming.”
“Do you?”
“Nope, which makes this fair.”
I shrugged. “I guess that’s fine.”
“What did you ask again? Oh yeah, pain. Well, it’s not the same as it is outside. That shac isn’t going to feel his cheek throb from a skin on skin slap.”
“I figured that after seeing his image flip out.”
“Exactly. Pain in here is more cognitive. Your body freaks out because the mind that is here thinks it should feel pain, but it doesn’t.
It’s an attack on the conscience, like a panic attack or guilt turned to the max.
Or kind like if you see something that you know can’t exist, yet your vision argues otherwise.
You said you saw something like that in the sea, right? ”
“Yeah, but I’d rather forget it.”
“I figure. Think of it like a bad fix trip. This world connects to our minds the same way as most fixes do.”
“Because you’re an expert on them now that you’ve created one?”
“I know enough to make guys like that lose it. My point is, try not to get hurt in here. I doubt you’ll be spared from all the pain if this test is as zegged up as anything in the world outside but do your best to stay smart.
Remember what is on the line. Be selfish and let these people get hurt before you. ”
“Well–”
A voice interrupted me. Everyone looked around for a source, though no one seemed to be able to find it. It wasn’t quite a loud announcement, rather a tame voice–the one that belonged to the being who greeted us upon entry–that we could hear despite the crowd.
“Welcome, students, to this round of the Standardized Test! In a moment, the second floor will open for you to begin the first segment. Please proceed in an orderly manner, respecting your fellow students. You have five minutes to reach the second floor. Any delays will not be tolerated and will result in immediate failure and expulsion. Please proceed as instructed, you wouldn’t want to fail on the entrance segment would you? What a shame you would be!”
A rectangular potion in the ceiling disappeared and the room became a cacophonous cluster of impatient pride as every self-proclaimed scholar shouted that they deserved to be one of the first to reach the staircase.
Fortunately for us, Ralia had aimed her rage-baiting conversations towards the staircase.
She slapped my butt, which felt like a tickling ripple in my mind, and pointed for me to follow the others sprinting up the wide white staircase.
The more people who started up the staircase, the more fell off the edges, which lacked a railing. Those who fell blurred with shaking images, just as the slapped man had, though they were quick to stand and return to the bottom of the stairs.
“Hurry the zeg up!” Ralia shouted, pulling me from my distracted pause.
I sprinted after her. With the chamber’s colossal size, the staircase was several stories high.
Despite my malfunctioning mod, I was still an impressive runner, though running here was not the same.
The fatigue of climbing each step was not met with the buildup of lactic acid.
I felt my body slow with my mind. Rather than struggle for the next step as I reached its apex, my mind struggled to think as clearly as I had at the bottom.
We reached the top and after a brief rest, I felt clarity return.
The second level was a mirror of the previous, except for one wall being a violet veil which blurred the path beyond. Ralia and I joined the others and proceeded towards it.
The crowd pushed us forward as more people filled in the space behind us. I checked back to see them struggling forward as the crowd piled in towards the end of the stairs. Some moved to the sides while others would not budge from the top of the staircase.
“Ten seconds remaining,” the voice announced, igniting hysteria around the staircase.
I glanced towards the staircase, no longer able to see the floor in the sea of people.
“This floor has been sealed,” the voice spoke. “Two hundred and fifty of you entered the Test, one hundred and sixty one remain.”
I turned to Ralia, her smile met my trepidation.
While it hadn’t surprised me that she took pleasure in the ruthless rigidity, I was surprised that so many had already failed.
What would have happened if Ralia hadn’t placed us so close to the staircase?
Would we be cut off until we found another assassin to utilize? ”
“What do you think happened to the people who didn’t make–”
The announcer cut me off. “In a moment, this light veil will disappear, opening the first segment.”
Shouts of confusion and demands for clarity led me to conclude that even though we were outsiders, none of these competitors had the faintest idea what was happening.
“Segment one: the Race. In this segment of the Standardized Test, you will compete for intellectual endurance. The brightest minds must not only be able to keep and retrieve knowledge, they must also learn to strain their minds to great extents to obtain such knowledge. Only the first seventy-five finishers will be permitted to continue on to the second segment.”
“That few already?” someone shouted.
“I demand an explanation!” Another, her voice haughty and forced to sound so.
“Zeg, you, Lemme forward!”
Bodies pushed us to the side as the group condensed near the front.
“Zeg you, shac, I got here first!”
They continued to shout as the announcer continued. “Those who fail are not fit for Pure Knowledge. Begin.”
The veil dissipated and the crowd pressed forward with screams and shouts.
Had I not been pressed against bodies in every direction, the force from behind would have knocked me over.
I felt like I was in a rally against Pavtov back in Medislavia.
I thought we had it bad back then. How was it now?
How was Arabasia since the Republic failed to take their Essence?
The world’s powers contested on the outside, yet none of their corporate schemes mattered under the threat of the fetal god.
How foolish they were to believe that lumens bought worth.
They couldn’t even buy wisdom. Seeing these people around us, I knew there were many who had reached this point through manipulation and greed, nothing more.
I was no moral paragon, but I felt that I deserved to win.
But this was a competition of intellect, wisdom, and knowledge.
Morals had nothing to do with it. If it was anything like the world out there, the victors would be those who were willing to deceive.
I was willing to sacrifice my moral ground there, but I still lacked intellectual prowess.
I was no genius. I never had been, even as a social media politician. That was the luck of the algorithm.
I hoped luck had its worth here.
“Pace yourself here just as you would in any other race.”
Even without luck, I had Zhu.
Ralia pulled my arm as space opened before us.
And I had her. She was worth more than any degree or fabricated certification any of these people had.