Zoldia: The World Beneath

Part 9 - The posters

The next Saturday, Deborah met Clem at the same place as the week before, but this time in the early afternoon.

Clem was waiting for her a few meters away. They waved at each other, then Deborah joined her.

"Ready to help me with the posters?" asked Clem.

"Sure!" said Deborah.

Deborah had expected to see Clem with posters in her hand, but she was only carrying two small paint cans.

"Is that the glue for the posters?"

"No. You'll see. But first, let's go to a more appropriate place."

They walked to the conveys and rode them for a little while. They got off and walked toward a building made of red bricks. It was an unusual sight in here, where most buildings were made of a mixture of plastic and metal. A sign read 'University of Finap'.

"You guys have universities," said Deborah in a half-surprised tone. Considering the low birth rate, she didn't even think they had a school system at all. But the number of children was not zero, so it made sense.

"Yes. But they work in a quite different way from the ones above."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Deborah in an amused tone.

"Most people don't come here to learn for several years in a row," continued Clem, ignoring Deborah's comment. "They gather here in study groups, usually for a few weeks, to increase their skills on a specific subject.

"Oh, we have those two. We call them bootcamps. But usually they are held online."

"We have 'online' ones as well. One day I'll have to show you our 'internet'."

"Please do!" said Deborah in an overexcited voice, wondering what it could be.

"But let's focus on the posters for now. The university is also used by politically active people to debate or militate. It's a good place to start sticking our posters. Let me show you how it works."

Clem walked toward a well-exposed wall, then put the paint can onto the floor and took a painting brush out of her bag.

"It's quite easy to do. It's just like painting."

Deborah was confused but decided to watch silently as Clem started painting the wall. At first, she drew a vertical rectangle, then she started filling it. The blueish paint spread a bit more at each stroke. When the inside of the rectangle was full, Clem said, "Now, watch."

At first nothing happened, but, after a few seconds, the particles of paint started moving like some electrical current was going through them. Then the painted part lit up like a screen. The face of a forty-year-old man with an oval face, a sharp chin, and long brown hair falling down on his shoulder appeared. His face looked menacing. He resembled what Deborah imagined prisoners looked like.

A text appeared at the bottom of the image. It read 'Stop hatred! Wooper, out!'.

"Who's that person?" asked Deborah.

"A politician. He's our 'Head influencer'. I know this title makes no sense to someone who doesn't know our political system. I'll explain to you, but first, let's paint as many posters as we can."

Deborah watched the poster for a while. It not only looked like a screen, but also behaved like one: different pictures and videos were shown, and the subtitles kept changing.

"I wonder how it works," Deborah let out without thinking.

"Do you know what biomimetics are?"

"Tell me."