The Higher Define (2018)

5

The capsule feels like it is free-falling and just as I think that it will never stop, it comes to a sudden jerk. I open my eyes (I shut them just a few moments ago, caught in the suspension) and the scenery that lies before me is a pleasant surprise.

My capsule is carefully postioned on a thick conveyor belt and a mile behind me, I see another capsule with a Higher Define it it. The person waves to me and strikes a pose, causing me to laugh.

The conveyor belt stretches beyond a green piece of land that we're travelling across and the artificial sky here looks brighter, more vibrant than the one above. As the valley of green comes to an end, the capsule enters another world- one that is half submerged in golden pellets. Where the hill of yellow beads that fuse together stops, a sloping sheet of water crashes against gently. The sound of the contact of the swash is detectable, even with the barrier between the environment and me.

On the other side where we just left, the sky was bright and the sun hung high, emitting its man made sunlight that has been designed to cancel out ill effects that the real sun has on humans (information flashes onto my contacts and gives me a brief history about the things that I see).

In this place, however, the sun slowly sinks down the horizon of gold, dipping into the deep water that dances back and forth, disappearing into the vast expanse of blue before approaching the capsule again.

My earpiece makes a soft dinging noise as my feed informs me on a notification from the Higher Defines guild chat.

A question blinks onto my frames and I expand it.

Open audio file?

'Yes' I think and a faint, soothing background music slowly tinkles through my earpiece.

"We welcome you into the family of Higher Defines. You will be spending your next few years with us, developing skills and training to be fully integrated into the Higher Defines society. When your time here is over, you will realise that the knowledge you have picked up here will assist you greatly when you are posted at the place which requires your skill sets, your uniqueness."

I can't wait to see what they have in store for me. My legs tremble from excitement and I force myself to press my palms against my thighs, hoping that the clamping gesture would suspend the movement.

"What you're seeing is a creative deviation from the Mid Defines' daily work. While Mid Defines are required to further the scientific works that will improve the Underground, it is also mandatory that they explore means for Higher Defines to lead a fufilling life."

"This piece of art can be found at our facilities, the Hub, later. Frequented by individuals who will instantly find themselves in any alternate universe that their subconscious wants, isolated from others, it is often used for meditation."

I find myself almost enchanted by the high-end technology that they use to give us the tour. My contacts inform me that this isn't an exact perspective of what the Hub is like, but a more basic replica and I try not to wonder and fanthom about how much more complex the Hub is in reality.

"The following scientific endeavour might seem plain but the truth and purpose of it runs beyond skin deep." My capsule slowly starts to pass an empty room but as I focus on it, the walls of the room start to shift, revealing a wide screen which runs through the length of the room's breadth.

Numbers begin to flit across the screen and red lines of code thickens the blank white. They glow brightly and flash almost dangerously.

"The Coding room is an area where you can alter your code freely and modify it. You will also be able to keep track with the latest installments and progress that you can develop within your coding."

This is the room of my dreams and the smile that crosses my face is more than genuine.

The next landmark that the conveyor belt crosses through is a Stimulation room, the voice in ny earpiece tells me. It is used to stimulate games that the Higher Defines participate in for leisure, such as professional hide and seek- a traditional game that young children used to play but is now only played by the Higher Defines.

The tour shows us a few other important places located in the Hub such as the dormitories, an archive where all old coding is stored and a dining and socialising area.

There is also a room, called the Immersion room which allows the visitors to engage in a world that seems fully impossible- to be in an aquarium full of creatures that vary in size- as small as my fingers or many times my height and to be up in the sky where the clouds drift lazily.

In their presentation, the Higher Defines hint at a code that will alter our ability to fly, give us the strength to breathe underwater and suggests a method that supports the idea of a code that won't fade.

When codes grow old or are overwritten too many times without taking the right precautions, contacts usually end up getting fried but the consequences of having your contacts fried like that are far worse than walking through a forcefield and frying them.

Contacts are something like the chips that has our data scored onto it and when your code is unable to handle the modification, the chip eventually burns out and lose all your data. You fall dead on the streets.

You contacts don't work and you become brain-dead, losing any control over your code. You're just gone.

Corrupts die young because the data files on their chips are corrupted, hence their labels. When your chip is corrupted, there are many flaws in your code that can't be fixed. Once tampered with too much due to lack of education and low acceptance into a hospital that can provide proper treatment, their chips fry out.

A code that promises to not fade is a chance at living forever.

Becoming a Higher Define is an opportunity to an eternal life, I realise, as the conveyor belt slows to a stop and pulls into a large complex.

I'm finally here. With a shot at a life that can never end.

A/N: Okay, so I really need help for this chapter. I know it's a huge information dump but if anyone can suggest how I can integrate the information along with a depiction of the environment smoothly, I'll be so grateful.
Feedback is encouraged and appreciated.