Tempus

Chapter Four

Your destination, room one hundred and five will be on your left in two point four minutes.

Rolling my eyes, I resisted the urge to hit myself in the head. The metal sync that happens when you get your chip implanted can be really disconcerting. From what the doctor told me yesterday, the chip is now ‘in sync with my mental brain capacity’ and can give me digital readouts from the online news stream, take calls from the network and also digitally analyze almost anything I want.

It’s like having a really high tech computer in your head. Blinking I push the map readout of how to get to my first class out of my head. I’ve been battling with my mental computer since I got the chip. I think it’s safe to say I’m old fashioned. Alex says it just takes some time to get used to but I don’t think I will ever be a huge fan of all this… stuff.

Putting my hand on the scanner of room 105, the door swishes open revealing the inside of a large lab. Class doesn’t officially start for another five minutes, but it being my first day and all I didn’t want to risk being late. And I’m still getting the hang of my chip, so I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it wouldn’t lead me to a broom closet instead of my third period class.

Looking around the room, it reminded me of the lab I woke up in when I was first recovering from Aflinn poisoning. Its walls were tall and thick with stone; it was divided into sections each with a lab table and a large screen off to the side.

Cabinets were placed about the facility filled with different colored bottles of liquid and tools. Glancing at my con I saw I was in the right place. Hearing the sound of breaking glass I jumped.

“Oh, dear,” said a voice from across the room behind a cracked door.

Realizing nobody knew I was here yet, I winced. Standing straight I tip toed over and knocked on the door. The plaque on the tinted glass read Professor Emily Bates, Tempus Accompanist Specialist. The night before Alex had said she was her favorite teacher here at the Academy. When I had asked why, she had said I’d get it once I met her.

From the vague description of the

class on the net, I gathered that this is where I would learn how to manipulate my chip. The door to the office swung open reveling a small room no bigger than a large closet. Stacked in piles and on shelves mounted high on the walls, were all kinds of books.

Files were jammed in between. This was the first room with any kind of paper I’d seen in it. It was refreshing, seeing printed words and knowing I could reach out and touch it, feel it between my fingers.

On her hands and knees, was a woman with wispy white hair held up in a bun on top of her head. She was the first person who… looked like her age.

The first time I saw the resident assistant of our dorm, I thought she was no older than thirty-five. Turns out she was fifty-five. The people of the future have mastered the art of age defiance. Just by seeing her being real, I could tell I could trust her. Cleaning up the mess of magenta colored liquid and glass, the woman looked up at me and smiled.

“You must be my new pupil.” Getting to her feet, she tossed the soaked rag, and bag full of broken glass into the trash, where the rubbish incinerator burned it.