Wildden was no exception. His residence had been supplied with an exam day outfit. Similar to the gray full length dress he wore daily, this one had white stripes and a badge which read Level 1 Student which attached to a magnet embedded in his dress.
The trains seemed to be more full today. He couldn't imagine anyone missing regular school days, so why were there more students today.
Instead of going to their normal computer lab, they were directed by a group of Education examiners who drove them on along the walkways of the vast Education complex.
Reaching the Exam complex, they were scanned for contraband, tablets surrended and replaced with identity cards, and each student directed into a separate room the size that Monastic Beginners got for a bedroom.
VR encased the entire room, and the desk and computer was built back into the wall of the cell.
Please Wait for the Exam to Start. Said a loud voice, seemingly coming from everywhere in the cell and echoing everywhere.
Wildden waited for a few minutes until the voice spoke again.
A few points of Order.
First, you may take the Subject Sub-Exams in any order. If you have a locked score on a sub-exam, you will not be able to take that Sub-Exam.
Do not leave your exam closet until your exam is complete.
When you are finished with all of the subject sub-exams, please follow the auditors directions obediently and quietly.
May the days of Hard study result in an Exam which exceeds expectations.
The exam computer turned on, resetting data that seemed to be from last weeks Exam in this cell.
Finally it was ready to receive Wildden's identity card, and when that was inserted it displayed the subject sub-exam menu.
Discipline : LOCKED (100%)
>> Civics
>> Health
>> Etiquette
Wildden had studied Civics and Health, but never got a chance to study Etiquette as he had started on thirdday of this cohort's first week.
He would save etiquette for last. It was unlikely but maybe he would pick up some hints while going through the other two subjects.
>> Civics
Civics VR started.
This time the VR equipment only took a few seconds before his vision and inner ear was confused, and then the scene changed from blackness into an exhibit which had different phrases written on easels, placed along the wall.
"Please put these concepts in order from less important / central / civic-minded, to more important / central / civic minded."
The phrases were:
- Achievement for the earner, exile for the spurner
- A City of Trust, by Trust, and for the Trusted
- Ordered Society: first the Examiner, than the Business, then the Monastic.
- A Proper Place and Proper Purpose for every Citizen
- The City Dream: Pursuing the Path
- Prudential and Overflow: Seeking the Surplus as Seedcorn
- Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.
- People of Integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed
This was challenging. Many of the precepts were similar, so how to rank them. This was not just a matter of reading the civics book and repeating it.
He worked on first sorting them into rough levels of significance to the city.
Higher:
A proper place ....
Ordered Society ...
A City of Trust...
Middle:
Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good
The City Dream
People of Integrity
Lower:
Prudential and Overflow
Achievement for the earner, exile for the spurner
He fiddled with the order, swapping the easels several times as he assessed what the City seemed to be from books and his own life.
1. A City of Trust, by Trust, and for the Trusted
2. A Proper Place and Proper Purpose for every Citizen
3. Ordered Society: first the Examiner, then the Business, then the Monastic
4. The City Dream: Pursuing the Path
5. People of Integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths with be exposed.
6. Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good
7. Achievement for the Earner, exile for the Spurner
8. Prudential and Overflow: Seeking the Surplus as Seedcorn
"Is that your answer, asked the anonymous voice."
"That's my answer," he finally said.
Next, the vista around him changed.
Buildings were underwater. People were extremely overweight, and many of them hardly moved at all, as they traveled in personal vehicles instead of using the train.
"What time period is this?"
"Late Pre-City," Wildden answered immediately.
"What problems were latent in the Late Pre-City period?"
"There was a lack of purpose for many people. A dissolution of social cohesion. Inability to coordinate to deal with changing climate because of pollution. Extreme reliance on point system that carried over from one generation to the next, leaving people with no chance of reaching high positions."
He went along answering questions accompanied by VR scenery and situations.
There was one freeform implicit civics test. The point of it was hard to find and there were many ancillary aspects to it. After that the civics sub-exam was done.
Health had a even mix of practical situations and question, answer.
The weird part at the end was a health assessment that Wildden suspected was more than a VR, but an actual measure of his health. Weight, height, Bodyfat%, Strength, cardiovascular capacity and health, nervous system, skeletal system, blood type.
The measurements went on and on, but it didn't seem to be any kind of grading, until he was being graded by his current health. He was older, and thus had some age related complaints but he was also health and physically active for his age.
Finally, the Health Sub exam was over and he was on to the only subject he hadn't studied: Etiquette.
When it came to the basics of respectfulness, Wildden was good, but when it came to properly living in high society, he had no experience.
He could recognize the first few situations the VR put him in, and respond humbly for what he thought were good scores.
He was clueless though, when it became time to follow the higher etiquette that was about social settings, dinners, and other situations which were even less recognizable.
Clueless, when it came to hosting events at the imaginary home the VR put him in. The fancy drinks of a fancy society were lost on him since he didn't drink.
After a long series of bumbling scenarios in the Etiquette sub-exam, he finished the test.
He didn't get to see any of his subject scores or the overall score until the end. Finally the VR withdrew and returned Wildden to his normal view of the tiny exam cell, where he looked at the screen for final results.
Discipline: 100%
Civics: 81%
Health: 69%
Etiquette: 43%
1/4 (1.5 Discipline + 1.25 Civics + 0.75 Health + 0.50 Etiquette) = 81%
81% OVERALL
20% (F:061) < 45% (E:081) < [[81% (B)]] < 90% (A : 102)
061 : Monastic School Level 1
081 : Business School Level 1
102 : Student Level 2
Continue as Level 1 Student (+45 credits, E3).
For only having a short week to study, Wildden considered that pretty good.
~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~
Promotion: Practicals (1267) + Leader (2898) + Theory (442) =4607 >> 4000 (+607)
Please Report to Central to be apprised of your Promotion Opportunity.
She remembered warmly the times before where she was promoted.
But now, she was mystified.
Chairman Business Order was a peak position, just like Master Monastic Order and Dean Examiner Order. There was no higher position for her to take, and yet here was the promotion.
She had seen three different Chairmen Business Order officials from the time she began in the order until she took the position herself. She never heard exactly why the others had moved or left their position.
She had figured it was some kind of violation when she' seen them replaced before. A severe kind.
Luckily for Jemma, Central was just down the hall.
Gov. Support Computer Sr. Examiner - Business Order HQ was manned by a balding Senior Examiner. Despite having a Chief Examiner, Division Chief and Dean over him, the status of a Senior Examiner was roughly the same as her status as leader of the Business Order.
So as she approached the Senior Examiner, she took on the posture of an equal, nonetheless, honoring the higher order.
"Senior Examiner," she asked, leaning into the doorframe of the man's office.
"Come in, Chairman" the man said, his desk marked with little bits of individuality which marked his status and past postings.
"I've received a 'promotion' notice. I'm not sure what position I could be promoted to."
"Close the door," the Senior Examiner asked, so she did.
"This is G6 classified information. You should find new information when you look at your data record."
Jemma noticed a new line in her identity record.
Prestige: Pending (Business Order -> Examiner Order).
"To provide an opportunity, as well as ensure there are not a multitude of qualified candidates for senior positions, the Prestige system was instituted. After reaching the position of Chairman Business Order, or Master Monastic Order, if the candidates performance is sufficiently above norm, they are 'prestige promoted.'
You will be promoted to the Examiner Order, wheres the Master Monastic Order would be promoted to the Business Order. On the other hand, because you haven't deal with the challenges of the Examiner Order since your original reassignment into Business Order, you will be starting over as a Student 1. A promoted Monastic Master would begin again in Business School 1."
"I don't have any choice about whether to start over?"
"Unfortunately, there is always a pressure from those who are ready to move up to take your position, and take their position and so on.
There is a Student block, having completed their first week. The block includes 3 other adult students who have been reassigned from various places. You might enjoy the challenge of competing with Level 1 Student Wildden, who just obtained the highest score ever on the discipline progressive evaluation VR."
"What about uniforms?"
"We'll have Hospitality deliver them."
It was only a few minutes before her identity record changed to Level 1 Student.
Prestige: Active (Business Order -> Examiner Order).
When she got to the E5 Level 1 Student residence, Jemma had no idea who her roommate Alana was, though it was obvious she had been business order, but she wasn't a past Chairman. Her tenativenss proved that.
The different hospitality levels assigned to each person in the city were not widely known, but rising up through the Hospitality division burned them into her brain. E5 was the beginning of Student residences. Business school and Monastic School housing started at the smaller and more sparse E3 and cell like E1.
As Chief Executive Residence Hospitality, Jemma was responsible for X(1,2,3) class residences and the top Examiner leadership who lived at them. They were the largest penthouses, and in some of the more central places in the city.
E5 double occupancy, but with two separate small bedrooms and one common room with small bathroom. It was the first level with a in-unit bathroom.
Jemma may not have known Alana, but Alana was shocked to find the head of her old order rooming with her.
"It's a second chance to prove myself as an examiner," she had told Alana.
"Similar for me, although I still had room to learn more in Business Order," Alana said.
She filled Jemma in on the adults in the Residence Block. Ex-Monastic, Ex-Business, and a Demoted Examiner going through Student status again.
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