That night Iboi and Temid both looked at Arron with a different light in their eyes. Iboi’s cybernetic eyes were truly glowing a different color.
“You haven’t even been here for two full days and you already passed the physical, weapons, and mechanics requirements! At this rate, you will pass all the requirements before us! What kind of monster are you?” asked Iboi. His green glowing cybernetic eyes continued to zoom in and out while he inspected Arron trying to find a flaw.
“I’m nothing special, there are far more monstrous people in the military. I still have to take M1 history, Laws and Regulations, and basic hacking classes,” said Arron.
“Hmph, those classes are all easy,” said Iboi.
“Maybe for you,” said Arron.
“What job are you looking to get with the M1?” asked Iboi.
“Not sure, definitely anything other than a mechanic. I already did that for 8 years in the military, I want to do something else.”
Temid was too exhausted to say anything and just laid on his bed watching the two continue to bicker.
***
“…and so that is why the old history books of the past are banned! If you see any contraband like that, you are to report it to the [Office of Reason] right away. If you do not and they find out, you may be charged with aiding separatists,” said the humanoid robotic professor. The tall silver professor stood in the center of the large classroom that was shaped like a fishbowl.
Arron sat in the 20th ring of hoverchairs that had a foldable desk attached to them. The 20th row was high enough up on the wall that he was able to see the entire room and the several hundreds of trainees as well as the robotic professor on the center stage below.
“He’s a robot but he’s worse than my high school science teacher who droned on forever,” mumbled a girl who was sitting in front of Arron.
They had been listening to the lecture for several hours on various laws and regulations that they needed to be well informed on.
The reason they had no human teacher was due to the ever-changing laws and regulations that were hard to keep track of. The robotic professor was routinely updated with the newest information every day so it was never behind in what it taught in its classes even if that led to some confusion for the trainees.
Such information mainly pertained to laws dealing with Ads, assistant store bots, security regulations, transportation, worker drones and bots, as well as the new Mechanized worker bots (MWBs) that were becoming more and more popular in the industry sectors. Due to their versatility and strength to take care of troublesome problems remotely with its two arms and large treads that other machines could not do.
“Quiz time! Probationary trainee Duemass, what is the difference between the M1 and the police force on the first Level?” asked the robotic professor.
“Uh…Nothing?”
The bot professor’s eyes flashed bright red and a loud buzzer rang out from its mouth.
“Wrong! The main difference between the two, other than the lack of funding to the M1, is the tasks they are charged with handling. The M1 patrols the more dangerous parts of the city as well as taking on all of the deadly situations. The Police take care of the minor arguments and other civil cases such as speeding, jaywalking, and parking violations. Probationary trainee Duemass, as added homework you are to watch all 100 episodes of the history of M1 by the end of the week!”
“But that’s over 100 hours! How am I supposed to finish it with all my other training?”
Arron raised his hand which caused the robotic head of the professor to do a quick 90-degree jerking turn to look at him.
“Probationary trainee Arron what is it?”
“Didn’t you say that both hover cars and flying cars are mandated by law to be controlled by the Auto NavGuide driving system? How can anyone be speeding?”
“Because long long ago in a far… Error…wrong data. The answer to that question is due to the ‘Auto driving safety act’ that was passed in 198x. Due to the large number of accidents as well as 90% of drivers failing to pass the new driver tests, all vehicles from 197x onwards are to be modified with the Auto NavGuide driving system. All new vehicles no matter what type or what they were made for must have the system built-in by factory default. Vehicles from 196x or older were not included in the law. But such old vehicles are rare to see since the government did a forced… Error…a voluntary buyback where they destroyed…Error… recycled the vehicles. There is also the chance that someone has hacked the car’s driving system.”
The professor bot’s head jerked 180 degrees to look at another person, “Probationary trainee Smorty, Is a citizen with a D rank social credit score allowed to access the MagLev or a Taxi? At what rank can you access the holo-net and the government-sanctioned social media?”
“No, they can not! SCS rank C is the minimum rank!” said a man with large glasses.
The professor’s eyes glowed green and a dinging sound emitted from his mouth. “Correct! Remember if you see someone without the right SCS using such things you must report it… or you may be charged with assisting separatists.”
“Probationary trainee Liistor. List as many things as you can that will cause a citizen’s social credit score to receive negative points!”
“Overdraft on a bank account, using fake money, posting negative news or gossip on the Holo-net or social-media about the party of Mother and Father or any of its members. Spreading information deemed to be false by the [Party of Mother and Father]. Impersonating a government teacher and sharing unsanctioned teachings with one or more persons. Speech violation, religion, tax evasion, any type of fine such as a late fee, work fine, noise and animal fine, a speeding ticket, jaywalking. Unauthorized house renovation, and any minor or major crime.”
Again the professor’s eyes glowed green and a dinging sound emitted from his mouth. “Very good! There are many, many more ways to lose points. Be sure to study up on all of them so you know what not to do so you don’t get yourself in trouble.”
After a few more questions the robotic professor again started into its next topic discussing the new laws and regulations for the booming cybernetic research and business that had popped up over the last 10 years.
***
Arron’s next class was basic hacking.
The class was somewhat easy. He along with the other trainees were taught how to hack into and bypass many different types of simple locks including vehicle and house doors. This was all done by using a secure data-link cable connected to their NerViz implant to use its fast processing power.
For more advanced locks they would need special equipment and a hacking specialist to get the job done properly.
And so Arron spent his next few weeks engrossed in his studies of Neo-tokeyo’s laws and the basics of hacking.
