Dark Energy by carlsojos

Chapter 3

I quickly open the lecture hall door and step inside. Looking around, I don't recognize any of the other students, and on the blackboard was a strange drawing covered with symbols I don't recognize. As the door closed behind me, the professor looked up at me, clearly expecting an explanation for the interruption.

Am I late for the lecture?

Yes, young lady. I'm already halfway done. Please grab the materials from the table by the door and quietly, take a seat in the rear. You will need to see me later if you wish to go over what's already been discussed.

Sorry. I feel quite embarrassed, as this is the first time I've ever been late for a lecture. It's clearly about some concepts I hadn't seen before, although he isn't the professor I was expecting. I grab the pamphlets off the table beside me and sit down in the last row of seats. I open the pamphlet to try to catch up, and get bewildered by how everything looks so different from what I've already learned.

You look a little confused.

Huh? I look over to see a man sitting a couple seats over. I can't help but notice his messy appearance, with a wrinkled white shirt with black stains, and hair going in every direction, even a raggedy beard like a vagrant's. He also has a strange machine on the side of his head with a green-tinted piece over his eye and a wire leading to a strange box on his back. I take note of an ID card pinned to his shirt, marking him as a Post-Graduate, or a student still attending advanced classes or research beyond the Senior year.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a girl like you in any of these lectures before, huh? Apparently, he was sizing me up, too.

I don't know, I thought that Professor Hanover was introducing his theory on the molecular structure of genetic information.

With a shrug, he said, I think you're a bit early. He put on the notice board by the professor lounge that he was delaying an hour so Sparks here can cover a few recent discoveries. He was also asked to talk to the principal for something, so it works out in the end.

I take another look at my pamphlet. Oh. Well, since I have some time to kill, what is this stuff about?

This particular lecture is about the hardware architecture behind a Pre-Collapse Artificial Intelligence- essentially, how a machine can be built to think like a man.

Is that possible? I had never heard such a ludicrous concept! Not even a biomonster is capable of articulated thought above an instinctual level.

Damn right it is. I've seen it myself. I just came in for a quick refresher, because I heard that they need more people for a little expedition in Zema, north of here. There's a possibility there might be a functional AI in the ruins. I'm trying to get assigned there.

Zema? What's happening there?

My question was apparently funny, since the guy chuckled before he answered. It's a little complicated, but basically, a forgotten ruin was rediscovered in a 'Birth Valley', in the northern part of Zema. At first, I just thought it might've been just another database server laying around, ready to be stripped for parts, but then some history student dug through the academic archives to see if we had any old knowledge about the place.

He found something special? I could see he was building up to something.

More than special! Apparently, one Professor Holt had explored the ruins and discovered some unique machinery that reportedly grew monsters!

I thought for a minute. ...The monster makers in the Self-Defense room? I had heard that they use live monsters to train people in the arts of self defense, but I have yet to attend such a class myself.

Bingo! But it gets even better. Word just came back from the dig team there, they have reported that the primary computer system may have only sustained moderate damage. Imagine what information could be inside a system built over 2,000 years ago, specifically to play god like that...

Wow! was all I could really say. What he just said is quite beyond not only my understanding as a Biology student, but even my imagination of what could be possible. At this point, I notice that a large part of the class was looking at us, along with a rather irate professor.

Hey, Mystery Girl, Etirn, could you please keep your fanciful delusions to yourselves? There are students here that would like to learn something.

Before I could apologize, Etirn shot back a quip, Sorry, Sparky! Just don't grab the hot wire on me. I don't need you frying yourself again. I sense a joke that I don't understand.

For a moment, a look of rage washed over the professor's face, but it was gone in an instant. He muttered something under his breath, quiet enough that nobody else heard him, but I think it was something along the lines of I hate that guy.... He got back to his lecture without ejecting either of us from the room. Normally, professors are completely intolerant of such behavior. I've even seen one go to fisticuffs over a continuously tardy student, once.

Next chapter

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