lexicon- Untitled

lex·i·con

   [lek-si-kon, -kuhn] Show IPA
noun, plural lex·i·ca  [lek-si-kuh] Show IPA, lex·i·cons.
1.
a wordbook or dictionary, especially of Greek, Latin, orhebrew.
2.
the vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class,person, etc.
3.
inventory or record: unparalleled in the lexicon of humanrelations.
4.
Linguistics .

Chapter 1



My name is 78. I've always felt enjoyment for the definition of words. Particularly when those words being defined have multiple meanings. There is always a thrill in the discovery of an unassuming new word which may seem to lack in any real personality or any evident ingenuity, but whose purpose covers several topics of interest. Adversely, I cannot stay the disappointment upon finding an apathetic definition to a seductive and complex sounding word. I was ten years old when I discovered a nearly ancient edition of a paper dictionary...paper on cardboard book. My mother told me that it belonged to my great grandmother. After counting back I can estimate the decade to at least the 1990s. The current year is 2048. That means this dictionary was printed at least 90 years ago., with no exact printing date evident within the pages. She (my great grandmother) was born before the System. I have learned that before we plugged in to our System the affectations of the human race were..... simple. Simple in mind, simple in acts. When not simple, more toward barbaric .. or base- low value, inferior properties. Easily ready to procreate at any moment- wayward, pointless, or misguided lives with no structure, no value, and nothing to plug in to. They "educated" themselves relying on other humans to teach them! Thankfully a few savants were smart enough to realize just how inadequate this terrifying process was. Our human minds cannot help, or control a predisposition towards the illogical, the irrational, and to actions that are in essence egocentric. If everyone in the world hadn't plugged in to the system... if we hadn't allowed our computers to guide us-and our robots to teach us...this world would be chaos, if there were a world left at all!
la! I digress. I own a dictionary and thesaurus, both paper ink cardboard monstrosities that are nearly 100 years old.In the past, my monitor has questioned the logic of my owning such items.
"These texts are dated- many of the definitions useless, irrelevant. The inevitability of waste, both of time and of material when you are no longer in possession of this article is irrational."
My Monitor was a standard issue AI-500 pow*com. A wrist strap computer which (while slightly simplistic in appearance) performs a full range of programmed tasks. The hologrammed image of my monitor is nothing fancy. Its the general-eyes nose lips in varying gradiants of chrome with an air-touch interface and sound receptive modulator the gray scale morphic face of the hallogram is what awards the pseudonym HollowFace. I named my Monitor. I call it Endman- another word I found in my huge tattered book, meaning "comedian at end of the line, or performers in a minstrel show"- a nearly nonsensical definition if you ask me but ironic enough to my understanding. Endman also suggested to me the pointlessness of naming it.
"AI500 is not your pet, your child, nor any type of entity in need of naming for identification- AI500 is simply an AI500 personal wristlet computer monitoring system"
pow-coms do not exactly have a sense of humor.But, then I guess no AI does.
Then...
"Are you sure you would like to rename AI500- Endman?"
"Yes"
"AI500 is now called Endman."
I came up with the idea to name my wristlet on the first day of high school after the review of my middle school LifeChip and Endman's assesment was approved for transition into my high school upgrade. A surgical robot scanned the LifeChip embeded in my hand for authenticity. It then removed the chip by searing through several layers of tissue on the fatty part of the thumb of my writing hand-in which time it removed my outdated chip and implanted the new high school Path and Protocol chip. The laser should have been painful, but the whole process was fast. Pain blockers were administered through flashing "go" beams from the surgical bot before I even realize anything was happening. After clearance to enter high school, I was allowed to walk through the sensor towers and to the first class that my LifePath chip designated for me. My life path was listed as Data Entry- Advanced- Transportation Division. It's a good career path and I couldnt help but feel flattered at the "advanced" prospect. I must have shown a lot of progress in my middle school Information Input courses. I knew i would earn enough to eventually pay off the education debts that I had been accumulating.
I also knew that if i work often enough I may even make enough to put myself through college. Something artistic, possibly program design. Despite the rarity of someone of my class actually succeeding in such a venture, I had dreams. I was, of course, not allowed to talk to Endman during school, or anyone else aside from the teachers. This isnt a huge hinderance, your powcom always relates to you- sometimes with a text, or if you have wireless earbuds they can vocalize needed information to you, and process info that you have sent them. Some of the students at this school have walking powcoms. That is to say- their hollogram isnt just a face projecting off their wrists, but a whole, albeit ethereal, body. Along with the walking human like hollograms, I've seen translucent flying birds, and cute clever and clear koalas "clutched" to students piggy backing students as they walked the titanium slate halls. Oddly there were not as many students with plain HollowFaces as there had been in middle school.
It was highly unlikely that anyone from my middle school would attend the same high school as I. Students are shipped all over the country to find the high school that can provide the most fitting education for them. I suppose I got lucky in being adept at data entry, given the most acclaimed DatEnt school in the U.S is not only in my home state, but also my hometown- Davenport, Iowa.
My first day of classes had me on a transitioning platform. A transitioning platform is an intimidating structure that moves along with projected impulses from my own body in any direction I wish. The sleek titanium slab shifts all along one huge circuit board- the size of a factory wall. but this class was not about inputing information into the circuit board yet. For now, I had to learn to drive the platform. The difficulty of even attempting to get the piece moving below my feet was demanding enough. Like trying to move an object via telekenisis. Many students made several trips to the floor on their first third and twentieth attempts . I would have been too embarassed to be one of them- so I made a minimal effort at the whole deal. Best to practice my intended directional movements at home and attempt it for real next day. They say learning a transitional platform is akin to learning how to ride a bike. Other classes i took were Ethics, Ettiquette, politics, and software knowledge. It was during my ettiquette class that I observed the first odd thing Id ever encountered in my 15 years of aging. It was during a Greetings excercise. I was paired with another female student.
There was nothing special about her, she did not stand out in appearance. She wore the same uniform as every other person in school, a white jumpsuit under a loose fitting white tunic. A fitted hooded head piece which buttoned at the neck was equipped with built in wireless headphones that allowed us to communicate with computers and powcoms. The ensemble is finished with calf length white patent Dr. Marten boots- zip no lace. Hands are almost always sheathed in black mesh gloves, and of course the powcom wrist strap. The only visible skin is an individuals facial features. Our classroom is much like our attire. All walls are chrome and shined so high as to look white. One wall is a hollogram- and our teacher. The wall itself undulates in shape to create 3d simulations. We had just watched a scenario In which two featureless humanoid figures demonstrated the correct way to greet and briefly associate informally. We students were seated on two long rows of benches, 20 students per row. Each individual spaced moderatly apart in the rectangular classroom. The simulation closed with the figures exchanging a final handshake and "goodbye". Figures, shaking hands, goodbye- got it. We stood and the front row turned to face the other. I was facing a female -by face value alone- the body of my partner was so slight so unchallenged in curves that I couldnt quite tell the gender underneath the bodysuit cap and earphones. As one whole, our class began the drill we had just seen
“Hello” -I said part of 10 voices speaking simultaneously
“hello”- 10 others replied
“how are you”- said the ten
“I am well,and you?”- was the reply
“I too am well, and is your family well too?” asked only 10
“they are well”- 9replied
I stood slightly confused as how to proceed, my partner had not delivered her line. I wasn't sure whether to continue or not. Were they not well?
“I am happy for you”- we 10 replied
“yes thank you let us return to work”- finished the 10
hmm. Now i was thinking.

* * *

I tried as much as I could to access for myself the rationality of naming my pow-com. My indecision immediatly alerted my powcom, and, responding to my increased temperature and quickened heartbeat, the hollow face appeared in the air before me like an unenthused genie.
"You are showing signs of confusion. How may I resolve your problem?"
My confused state would not have been obvious to anyone, if anyone were to take the bother to look at me. Monitors are equipped with what is essentially a more advanced version of the antiquated lie detector. Endman's sensors pick up minute changes in my bio rythyms and pair them with the most likely corresponding human emotion. Its very clever. I always know exactly how i feel.
Of course I had to answer Endman. You can't exactly lie to your Monitor, nor can you hide anything- unless you want a bad review on your next update. Monitors are quick to mark any deffering acts... anything that would make someone stand out of the ordinary. Hiding information and thoughts from your powcom may result in having to get a psyche reform implant- these are implanted directly into the the brain through a surgery....inserted through the eye. This would allow a more advanced model of the powcom to directly communicate with you and undergo reprogramming.

Nimbus \'nim-b*es\ n, pl nim-bi \-,b*i,-,b*e\ or nim-bus-es 1 : a luminous vapor, cloud, or atmosphere about a god or goddess when on earth2 : an indication (as a circle) of radiant light or glory aout the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign3 : a rain cloud that is of uniform grayness and extends over the entire sky [Latin, "rainstorm, cloud"]

Chapter 2?
The city of Davenport spreads along a major water transportation circuit. I have only made use of this transit system once; taking one of the rapid underwater shuttles to the Windy City only took an hour- half the time of land travel- and minutes off the time of air. I hear Sky Moto, a major air travel company, is close to making available the first effective air shuttle that closes the time gap between air and water travel, if not surpassing it... this will be the big surprise reveal of our decade. That sure would be nice if it did. Davenport has been a mecca for transportation for over 40 years, since the hydra boom in the early 2000s. The city was the first to invest in the water purification technology that provided a chromium barrier for the river walls and bottom, as well as a mineral and sediment elimination process that makes the waterways nearly as clear as air. The fish were exported to some eastern countries where I hear they have multiplied fruitfully and have since improved commerce astronomically. Here in America if any fish are found in the Mississippi they are exterminated before they get too plentiful and clog the river. We dont need them for The purification system keeps the water balanced enough for our purposes.

At some point during my high school career, a student deferred. He or she- just stopped coming to school. News of this was everywhere on the coms. I watched with Endman as a beautiful “frozen” woman on the news told us of the defferement.
“a local student has been reported as not in attendance at dapP041 Highschool.” the anchor turned her permanant smile to face another becoming angle “the student at this point is yet unidentified- but sources believe this student to be female of Caucasoid decent and possibly unplugged”
Unplugged! I had never known of anyone unplugged- and they went to my school! The student chip is buried deep into the tissues of the hand interacting with nerve and muscle. She allowed herself pain- for what? and her persecom must have been going crazy trying to communicate with her while she maimed herself. I couldnt imagine disconnecting myself from Endman. He - I tend to think of Endman as male- he is everything! Iwould be completly lost without him!
I softly brushed the air between the still speaking anchor- she vanished and making another soft motion upwards I called up Endman’s droid hallow face .
“Well?” i asked
“You are asking about the missing student- I have more information you can review on human standards ethics and protocal. Further you may confer with a teacher on the risks of unplugging from the system”
“okay....”
...a moment then-”You have not finished your sentence, I will refresh you on the subject of human standards ethics and protocol.”
“All humans are embedded with a life chip. The lifechip was created to maintain structure within the human race. Humans are attracted to chaos- they do not know how to work systematically as a whole to eliminate the negative energies they create themselves. Negative energies propagated by human thoughts was found in the early 21st century to be the cause of illness- natural disaster, and the sense of an impending doom looming over the human race and the earth. After stumbling upon this knowledge humans could no longer allow themselves to be in control- so utilizing their only true accomplishment relinquished control to technology. Present day, there is no crime the last crime that was committed was-
“jan 14 2058” I said aloud with Endman.

“There are many acts that are unethical and therefore criminal-It is irrational to know that an act is a crime and follow through with the criminal act. Irrationality is a punishable crime, unplugging from the system is a crime.
Irrational humans are subdued for the good of the earth and all mankind by undergoing the treatment.The treatment will subdue the guility's abilitiy to act within their own will; thereby turning off the sin function of the human brain . After this process the guilty will be renamed Redeemed. The Redeemed are monitored more thouroughly with implanted computer programs, implanted with the intention of keeping them indefinitly plugged into the system sincethey are incapable of functioning on their own.”
None of this was new to me- but the information did not sit well. I couldnt help but wonder about who this student was? Had I seen them before? I couldnt imagine having noticed someone- other than the girl from my class...What was her roster number? i am number 7 of 40.