Collected (Selected Book 1) Page 9

  The chair enfolded me, pressing everywhere. The visor dimmed, but then I was presented with what appeared to be a computer screen covering my entire range of view. Words appeared, and then Minerva spoke.

  Welcome to visor training, Sapphire Fletcher.

  "Minerva, you bitch!" The chair let me scream. But there was no reaction to my words.

  Your visor represents a mix of technology from numerous species, including human technology as pioneered by Heads Up Display and night vision goggles utilized by some human military forces. Each visor is engineered specifically for the target species and then calibrated to a single individual. Furthermore, a particular species may have several models of visors. Yours is the most basic model and is used almost exclusively by testing and mating candidates.

  I stared at the last few words for a while. I was considered a mating candidate.

  "Bitches," I muttered.

  The training didn't continue immediately. Instead, the visor waited until my focus moved off the last words. Those words disappeared, and the training continued.

  Your visor is a multi-purpose device. You have already experienced some of these uses during testing, but we will review all of them.

  Your visor serves as:

  Vision correction and protection

  Communications

  Training

  Language translation

  Testing and mating candidate management

  I stared at the last line for a while. Yeah, I was familiar with that feature, although I thought perhaps I hadn't experienced everything the visor offered in those regards.

  Previously, your visor has been fully in slave mode, controlled remotely. At this time, much of the controls are being released to you.

  Your visor is not voice activated; voice capabilities are only used during communications and language translation. Instead, your visor is controlled by your eye movements. Sensors inside the visor track the movements, and the visor responds accordingly. There are a series of exercises to train you in the controls of your visor.

  And then, below all those words was a big computer button with the label, "Look Here to Proceed". I stared at the button for a second, and the screen changed.

  Very good. During this training session, when your input is required, a small cursor will appear on the screen. This cursor is normally hidden, as it proves to be visually distracting much of the time.

  And with that, a computer crosshairs appeared directly in my line of vision, and it moved around the screen as I moved my eyes. The visor was right. It was distracting.

  I moved the cursor to the Continue button.

  When your eyes focus on a selectable option, the option is highlighted. Normally, this does not select the option, it only highlights it. This page has several selectable options. Highlight each of them.

  Arranged on the page were several buttons. I moved my eyes around, and each button began to lightly glow as my eyes focused on it. Once I had highlighted each one, I dropped my gaze to the Continue button again.

  At first, nothing happened, but then additional words appeared immediately above the Continue button.

  There is one more selectable option to choose. If you cannot find it, I will make it flash to assist you.

  "Bitch," I said. But I began moving my eyes around the page. Then my gaze moved across the initial directions, and there was a brief flash from one of the words. It was just an instant, but when I focused on the word highlights, the word glowed.

  The additional directions disappeared, and instead new words appeared, and Minerva spoke.

  Very good. You didn't require assistance.

  I dropped my eyes to the Continue button. The screen remained the same, but the words changed, and Minerva read them.

  To select the highlighted option, you partially blink. Please highlight and select each of the options now on the page.

  A counter appeared in the upper right corner. I moved my focus to it, but nothing happened except the cursor moved around. So I moved the cursor to the first button. It highlighted, and I blinked. The counter stepped down by one. And so I highlighted each option and blinked, and the cursor reached zero.

  Good. Let's do the same exercise, but this time without the cursor.

  The cursor disappeared. I had been growing accustomed to it, and so this exercise was somewhat more difficult. Still, I worked my way through each button, and again the counter reached zero.

  The visor does not require a full blink. A squint will work. Over time, you will learn to be very subtle with your eye gestures, barely requiring more than thinking about an option to select it. Try again.

  This time, when I blinked on an item, the counter went up, not down. After going from eight to twelve to sixteen to twenty-four, I began growing frustrated.

  I read the words again. Then I stared at the first button and tried squinting. The counter decreased by one. After that, I worked my way through the page, experimenting with my eye movements to see how subtle I could be. Finally the counter reached zero, and I let out a sigh of relief.

  Very good. Scrolling works in a similar fashion. Try scrolling through these photos.

  A series of photos appeared below the words. They were various images of space scenes. I saw a picture of the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun, the horsehead nebula, and similar such features.

  I tried highlighting a picture, but nothing happened. I tried a variety of things, but I stumbled upon the correct procedure by accident. My eyes looked around the screen haphazardly, and I realized the edges of the array of pictures highlighted briefly. I moved my eyes more slowly and highlighted one edge. With a little work, I found I could highlight each of the four edges, and squinting caused the images to scroll, displaying additional images. I scrolled up and down, right and left.

  Very good.

  Your visor can operate in one of several modes. You are familiar with Normal Mode. The visor is now in Interface Mode. You normally navigate through Interface Mode through a menu system. But it is time to learn how to move from Normal Mode to Interface Mode.

  Everything went dark, and then I was offered a view of my room as it would seem from my chair, if the chair wasn't covering my entire face. Then a small ball appeared.

  Follow the bouncing ball.

  The ball didn't bounce, but it moved into the upper left corner of my field of view, then across to the right corner, then down, then across, then back up. I tracked the ball, and when I did, the screen went back into Interface Mode.

  Very good. Try that again but without the ball.

  Interface Mode turned off and Normal Mode turned on. I tracked my eyes around in a box, and the visor returned to Interface Mode.

  Good. Normally, Interface Mode is done as an overlay on top of Normal Mode, but that is distracting during training. To exit Interface Mode, select this button.

  In the upper left corner, a new button appeared and flashed briefly. And after that, whenever the visor was in interface mode, that little button would be visible. I highlighted it and squinted, and the view of the room reappeared.

  I sat there like that for a while, waiting for what would happen next. When nothing did, I tracked my eyes to return to Interface Mode.

  Well done, Sapphire Fletcher.

  Your visor has a variety of setup features. They are accessed through the main menu while in Interface Mode. To return to the main menu, select this button.

  A button in the upper right corner flashed. I squinted at it, and a menu appeared. The menu was lengthy, but most of the words were dim, like unavailable choices on a computer screen. Only the top item was available: Setup. I selected it.

  This visor is still partially slaved, and only some setup features are available. Please feel free to review the available choices and customize the settings as you prefer.

  Your visor training is now complete. All allowed features are now available.

  I stared at the words for a while. Then I clicked on the Continue button, and a list of setup features
appeared.

  I could change the visor's greeting for me. It showed my name. When I selected it, the visor allowed me to be called by my full name, my first name, or my last name with a variety of possible honorifics. I changed it to use simply my first name.

  There was a second option from the main setup menu: Voices. This brought me to a complicated screen, and it took me some amount of experimentation before I realized what I could do. I could pick the voice used in various communications modes. The visor itself had a voice. I could then pick different voices for different alerts and for voice communications with other computers.

  That was when I realized I hadn't been communicating with Minerva today. I was really only communicating with the visor. I changed its voice, picking a soothing female voice. Then I changed Minerva's voice to be more grating.

  The bitch of a computer.

  There were a few other options, but not many. I found I could put up a small, digital clock overlay in both Interactive and Normal mode, and I could pick the time zone used.

  I quickly grew bored playing with the setup options.

  I returned to the main menu, and the list of options available to me was lengthy. The second item was Frequently Asked Questions. I stared at it for a while, and of course, the words glowed. I squinted.

  I was presented with a scrollable list of questions. As I highlighted each one, the answer appeared to the right. I didn't have to squint. I read through the list of questions and most of the answers. I already knew some of the answers. Agent Bower told me I'd be here for three days. I learned there was another option that would cause the chair to release me, and that answer also told me I should review the other commands available from the main menu. I learned there were 437 sentient species in The Federation, although only 74 had achieved space travel beyond their own planetary system. Of those 74, only 22 were represented in nearby space.

  Only 22. The number was still boggling.

  I was still reading questions and answers when the page was overlaid by what could best be described as a popup.

  Incoming call from Moirai.

  I had the option to accept or decline.

  I held my gaze over the Decline button for some time. I was mad at her. But then I moved to Accept and squinted.

  My entire view changed, and I could see Moirai. She was sitting, looking directly at me. She spoke, and I understood her. "Greetings, Sapphire Fletcher."

  "You bitch!" I screamed. "You did this to me!" I went on a several minute rant, screaming at her and calling her no end of names. I'm sure I was foaming at the mouth long before I was done, but I ended with a soulful cry of, "I thought we were friends."

  "I am your friend," she said. "Or at least, I would like to be."

  "Friends don't do something like this to each other." I paused. "When did you learn English?"

  "I understand English, but my throat cannot make your sounds any more than you could make mine. Your visor translates my words. Perhaps you notice a delay from when I speak to when you hear the words."

  "I want to go home."

  "I know," she replied. "I did not do this to you. Not directly."

  "You knew what testing was all about. You didn't tell me."

  "Of course I didn't. Nor did I know you would be selected when we talked. Very, very few humans are selected. Frankly, most of you are decidedly unsuitable. This is why we have testing in the first place."

  "I'd kill you, and everyone involved, if I could," I snarled. "I'd start with those smiling bitches at the testing center-"

  "They don't know."

  "What?"

  "They don't know. Don't blame them. They don't know why we test. Most of them think it's a form of job interview, and they all had the option to decline."

  "But I don't."

  "No. We need you, Sapphire Fletcher."

  "Why do you use my full name like that? Just call me Sapphire."

  "Of course. Some species find that insulting, you understand."

  "If you're at all good at your job, you would know humans are not insulted by the use of their given names."

  "That is not entirely true. Americans are not insulted. Germans, however, are, until they give permission for such familiarity. In fact, Americans are decidedly informal with each other, far more than most humans. Someone else might have asked to be called Ms. Fletcher. It can be quite difficult to keep the rules straight."

  "Poor you."

  "I was not complaining, Sapphire."

  I paused. "Fine. This voice I am hearing. Is this what you sound like?"

  "Unless you customized it, it is the standard sound when speaking to any biologic being. If the visor knows the gender of the speaker, it will use an appropriate voice."

  "I can customize your voice?"

  "Yes."

  "If I do that now, will I lose you?"

  "How would you lose me?"

  "Will the call end?"

  "Oh. To end the call, there should be an option on the screen. And unless you changed the setting, there is a confirmation."

  Down at the bottom was a subtle End Call button. It highlighted when my eyes moved to it, but I didn't test the confirmation feature. Instead I put the visor into Interactive Mode, and the menu appeared as an overlay. I could see Moirai behind the menu.

  "This is weird."

  "I imagine everything is quite unsettling, Sapphire."

  I stared at her through the menu. "Why did you call?"

  "To apologize and to explain a few things."

  I looked away, but my head was immobile, and I couldn't actually hide my gaze from her. But I felt a lump form in my throat. I banished it by focusing on the immediate task.

  "I want you to have your own voice," I said quietly.

  "I can help you do it yourself, or if you give permission, I'll do it for you."

  "I want to know how."

  "I can show you or I can explain it, and you can do it."

  "Show me."

  She squinted, and then the Setup button was highlighted. It remained highlighted for a moment, and then we entered the Setup page. A moment later, she highlighted Voices. And from that page, there was an option for Current Caller. The option was listed as Default. She paused there before selecting it, and I was presented with a choice of Male, Female, or Other.

  "Do you wish me to choose for you?"

  "I can change it?"

  "Of course."

  "Then you pick."

  "All right. Thank you." She selected Female. The next choice was for Accent. There were a few dozen options.

  "Do you have a preference?"

  I scanned the list. And then I smiled and selected Russian.

  "Why Russian?"

  "You look like a little like a Siberian Tiger."

  "Siberian Tigers are from Russia?"

  "Siberia is a very, very cold portion of Russia," I told her. "Yes. Do you like the snow?"

  "Yes, actually. I do not know these Russian voices."

  "Find one that's deep," I said. "In deference to your size."

  She played several of them. "There! That one."

  And from that moment, Moirai spoke to me in a deep voice with a thick Russian accent.

  "Do you know how to leave Interactive Mode?"

  "Yes." I clicked the proper button and found the distracting computer screen overlay gone. And there was just Moirai, the innocuous clock, and the End Call button. We stared at each other.

  "Do you see me?"

  "Yes."

  "How? Does the chair have a camera?"

  "The visor assembles your image as mine does of me. You may have options to control this; I don't know. Mine gives me far more control. You can see me from a variety of angles and distances, or you can even see from my eyes."

  "I see." I sighed. "Will you answer my questions?"

  "Yes, Sapphire. I know you are upset and probably scared."

  "Upset? I'm spitting angry."

  She cocked her head. "You spit your anger?"

 
"When a human is very, very angry, we lose some control. We tend to shout, and we don't always control whether there is some spit involved. It just means I am so angry I can barely control myself."

  "You seem to be calmer than that."

  "If there were anyone here to accept my frustration, that would change."

  "Of course. I understand. Thank you for explaining."

  "Why did you do this to me? Do you expect me as your mate?"

  "I didn't do this."

  "You had a part."

  She dropped her head. "Yes. A small part. You would have been selected regardless. That is every indication. But our interaction played a part."

  "Explain."

  "There are several factors that would eliminate someone for consideration as a mating candidate."

  "Such as?"

  "We wouldn't take someone who was already a parent, or who was already mated."

  "So I'm here because I don't have a boyfriend?"

  "A boyfriend would not be sufficient. You would need to be mated."

  "So having sex?"

  "Sharing a household and feeling you were in a committed, permanent relationship."

  "Fine. What else?"

  "One of the biggest disqualifiers is being xenophobic. When you arrived, you displayed average xenophobia for a human. You were fearful of what was to happen and distrustful of us."

  "I think I was justified."

  "Perhaps. But you calmed down, and then you responded very positively to your swim with the dolphins."

  "So Rita set me up?"

  "You would have had that experience, or one similar, without her suggestion. It came sooner than it might otherwise, and it prompted our meeting."

  "I was afraid of you."

  "You were startled by the obvious predator, but respecting the might of a predator is a species imperative for survival. I would have judged you a fool if you hadn't been startled by me. But you were not afraid of me, once we began to talk. You were honestly intrigued by our conversation. And you asked good questions."

  "So I'm done in by my curiosity."

  "Perhaps you would consider looking at it from another direction."

  "I don't think so."

  "Perhaps you could imagine the coming adventure. You're going to meet space aliens, after all."