Civilization Beyond the Stars - discontinued

8

"It has been a lovely experience meeting you today. I look forward to our interactions in the future" he finished in a formal way as the door once again slid open to reveal Ken. "He told you about the academy?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, sounds very college like, don't know how I'll manage all this." I replied suppressing a yawn. My body craved for rest.

"I made some of my best memories there. You'll enjoy there, provided you make the right friends."

"Where are we going?" I asked after we tuned into another corridor leading deeper into the very heart of the palace.

"Some things will make your life easier around here. Not everyone is acquainted with English here." he shrugged. I was exited to find out what they had in store for me.

Ken led me into a tiny room compared to the huge hallways where a small lady sat behind a cluttered counter tinkering with a small object. Each and every surface of this windowless room was covered with electronic gadgets unlike any I had ever seen before. There were different colours of a geoid shaped devices which were whirring in a corner while one wall was almost entirely covered with different types of dark classes and ear pieces which I had seen the guards wearing. I gaped in wonder. All this was beyond me, but it was still amazing. Such advanced technology was unimaginable for me just moments ago, before I had seen all this. My sleepiness simply vanished.

Ken exchanged a few words with the lady behind the counter and she vanished into the mess returning with a white, v-shaped device and a pair of glasses in her hand which she gave to Ken and resumed with her work. 

The two parts combined were called an interpreter, Ken later told me. Handing it to me, he proceeded out into the corridor coming to rest against the opposite wall. "Gets a little stuffy in there" he explained. It was a small room. We could barely stand there. If I would have had a muscled-by-gymming body instead of the scarecrow-inspired one, one of us would have been forced to stand outside.

The interpreter was soft but firm to touch with smooth and rounded edges. Ken touched one side of the V, bringing the device to life. A blue led started to blink at both ends.

The joint of the device rested right above the bone on the base of my neck, molding perfectly along the back of my ear, the ends fitting snugly in my ear. I put the glasses on. A click sounded as the devices connected.

"Speak the name of the language you are comfortable in understanding." Ken instructed.

"English"

"Please specify the preferred dialect: think of assigned no. to choose dialect- "a robotic lady started. In front of me, a list of dialects popped on right beside Ken.

"No. 1, US English, No. 2 British English, No. 3..."

"No.2" I replied, cutting the robotic lady off mid-sentence/mid-list, whatever!

Ken raised his eyebrows in amusement. "She told you to think, not speak, did she not? No one can hear what you are listening to, so make sure you do not say anything out loud. The interpreter is designed to read your brainwaves, use that feature."

"Sure, I'll take care" I mumbled.

"What other features does it have?"

"The earpiece can camouflage so that its invisible to everyone, it can play whatever songs you want it to, search the univcon, the internet in your case, record videos, click pictures, basically do everything a computer can."

"Surf YouTube?"

"Yes"

"Call someone?"

"Yes, but you'll have to sync your sim card with it first."

"Can I take it with me?"

"Of course, it's all yours."

That reply made my day, and a hundred days after it. I wish I could describe the wild ideas that popped into my head. Suddenly, sacrificing my sleep to come here didn't seem so bad.