Toby Tsur
Dakota, Earth
June 22nd, 2151
Today’s the day…
The gleaming monolith of steel and glass in front of me doesn’t exactly stand out from the countless others around it. I’m downtown in a megacity after all, it’s skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. This tower in particular though could have been made from dirt and I’d still be in awe.
I’m staring up at the entrance sign to Flow Headquarters! And I’m about to walk inside! As an intern!
I can only hope today goes well. So many first impressions to make… I only just got my new visor a couple weeks ago, I haven’t had time to port over all my utility programs. Hopefully I’ll be ok with the bare minimum today, but it’s worth it in the long run for the sleek new model. This one even has a proper one-way volumetric display so I’m not stuck with the cheap looking transparent screen that leaves my real eyes visible!
I know I have a tendency to get lost in my own head, so hopefully the parts of my personalized heads up display I did manage to get working already prevent me from missing anything important. I stayed up a little late trying to get my custom facial expression analysis protocol working properly, but it wasn’t happy with the built-in equivalent. I hope I’ll be ok without it. I don’t want to miss a single-
”Pick up the pace bud.” I turn to see Dylan smiling at me and gesturing at the front door. He’s the reason I have this opportunity in the first place. His fully organic face still throws me off; actual stubble and hair, plus teeth made from bone instead of metal. Not to mention the exposed eyeballs. He doesn’t even use a visor like everyone else, just a pair of low-spec AR glasses. I might not ever get used to seeing an un-augmented adult, but I guess some people just like being squishy. He has bionic hands at least, though he always seems just a little extra grumpy about them when he has to go to Dad for a tune-up. “You don’t want to be late for your first day because you were too busy gawking at the gates.”
I speed up to catch him. “Sorry! It’s hard to believe I’m finally here. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this my whole life."
"Your whole life, huh? That’s quite a while.” He replies with a chuckle as we ascend the final few steps. I know he’s joking of course, he’s been working here since before I was born.
Before I can respond, the door opens for us and I’m frozen while trying to take in the hustle and bustle of the lobby. People in suits are moving with purpose in every direction at once, many of them speaking into devices, earpieces, or even just thin air. I notice a fully mechanical person touch their temple and begin speaking as if there’s someone next to them, clearly using some sort of AR interface to converse while they stride.
Everyone seems like they know exactly where they’re going and won’t let anything stop them, yet no one bumps into each other or even slows down. It’s like watching a typical warehouse’s drone swarm interweave. Very fitting for a logistics company like Flow to bring that to mind, I suppose.
Each individual’s digital nametag follows them along on my HUD, many with little personal colors and icons attached. No shortage of incoming data from public-facing blurbs and bios either.
I’m pulled out of my information overload when a woman in a sharp outfit appears out of the controlled chaos and approaches us. I feel my visor’s display freeze, my eyes wide as she reaches down to shake my hand. Her short black hair combined with her silver bionic jaw and purple bionic irises cutting a striking and instantly recognizable image, “Dr. Tsur, nice to finally meet you. I’ve been excited for your arrival.”
I stare for just long enough to make it awkward before returning the handshake and stammering out, “Oh, uh, ni-nice to meet you! You’re… Annette Reede… I’m Toby. You said that already. Wait you have?!”
She smiles warmly, but I can hear Dylan snickering to my side. She projects a small holographic display out of a port in her palm. “It’s not every day we take on a youngster with your accomplishments. I had to double check I had the correct info.” I take a look and see she has my application profile loaded up.
I can only stare at her and hope I look attentive instead of deer-in-headlights. Anette Reede knows who I am.
Name: Toby Tsur (He/Him)
Age: 15 Years
Education: Mandatory schooling with high honors, Elective with high honors (Mechatronics Engineering), Elective with high honors (Advanced Alloy Studies), Elective with high honors (Cybersecurity), Verified home schooling (Astrophysics)
Application type: Admission into the Flow Youngster Program at the request of Dr. Tsur, Melody, Dr. Tsur, Rodney, and Dr. Tsur, Toby
She then addresses Dylan, “Bring Toby to my office once you’ve shown him around.” I have to consciously resist my mouth opening in shock at the request. I get to visit the top level on day one?!
”Yes ma’am,” Dylan replies with a smile.
She starts to say ‘see you soon’ to me but is interrupted by a call on her earpiece. She gives an apologetic smile and a wave, then is in the middle of another conversation before she’s even three steps away. Busy lady I guess.
Dylan starts walking and motions for me to follow. “Greeted at the door by the boss, huh? Not even I got that level of a welcome. Granted, I was an adult already.”
Dylan seems to take a moment to reminisce before remembering I’m standing next to him and we’re supposed to be on our way somewhere.”You probably feel like a fish out of water just in the lobby.”
I look down at my t-shirt and cargo pants in comparison to the perfectly tailored business suits, prim skirts, and formal kilts on the people around me. Nearly everyone here is more mechanical than I am too thanks to my only having a visor and some basic cranial implants. Beyond even that, I’m barely two thirds of the average employee’s height. “Um. A little. I’ve never been somewhere so… corporate.”
Dylan actually laughs at that. “Well don’t worry, you’re going down most of the time, not up.”
We finally reach the elevators on the opposite side of the massive lobby and enter one with a few other people, each wearing lab coats and tool belts. Dylan starts poking at the on-board control panel, but I can’t stop analyzing the gadgets on the technician’s belts.
”You new here?” One of them asks me with a smirk. She takes the item I was looking at off her belt and shows it to me. “This is a multivoltmeter.”
I lean in, nodding enthusiastically. “A Haver model 5, I have a model 4! I’ve been wanting to upgrade for months now but I have to wait for my birthday to save up enough. I already wrote the program to be able to autoconnect it to my visor so I can get the readout on my HUD. Have you tried the built-in autocalculator yet? I heard there was a bug when you try to measure three sources if two of them are zero so it’d be nice to know ‘cause then I’ll just transfer over my custom Acalc instead.”
The elevator goes quiet for a moment and I worry I’ve said something wrong. The tech looks back at her colleagues and they all start laughing. I stop talking before I embarrass myself further.
Another tech speaks up. “Damn.” He turns to Dylan and asks, “Who is this kid?”
Dylan puts his hand on my shoulder and smirks at them. “This, my friends, is Toby Tsur. He’s going to be working here starting today.”
The group looks immediately… Incredulous? Definitely surprised, but there’s something else in there too. They look between Dylan and I with confused expressions until I pull out the ID card he gave me earlier and hand it to the voltmeter lady. Hopefully this will explain more.
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Dr. Tsur? As in, Phd? My mistake, you look very young.”
A man speaks up from behind her. “How old are you?"
"Fifteen.” I reply. They keep staring at me, so I provide more info. “Um. I skipped highschool and went right into mechactronics, and I did some materials stuff and cybersecurity on the side.” They’re all still looking at me, I guess I’ll continue. “Uh… I also really like astrophysics but I haven’t gone to school for it. I got certified anyway because my mom runs the observatory and lab a little ways north…” They’re still staring. I’m running out of things to list. “And uh… I’m co-writing a paper on production logistics and large scale manufacturing, but that’s still a couple weeks out. Um…” Nobody’s saying anything. Panic. Panic. “That’s the end of my list…”
Dylan, probably amused at my suffering, comes to the rescue nonetheless. “Good list, bud. You don’t need to rub it in too hard.”
The elevator chooses that moment to finally stop, and I wish I could keep moving despite it to sink into the floor. Thankfully the doors open before the other occupants can tell me to shut up. I didn’t mean to rub anything in.
The woman hands me back my ID and chuckles. “If that’s all true then welcome aboard, it’s never a bad idea to have more nerds around.”
I watch the group go after we all step out. Did she just imply she’s glad I’m here? I thought I totally beefed that interaction. The rest of them seem to be mostly in agreement too. I make a quick save of the past couple minutes to review later.
Finally noticing my surroundings, I’m immediately distracted. Pristine white paneled hallways with clear signage and utility carts pushed by busy engineers. This is the kind of environment I’ve been hoping for.