The grey robes were neatly folded next to her computer desk on the little end table. They were slightly fuzzy to the touch, but had the seriousness of a real accomplishment. One step closer to the black robes of the full examiner.
Just putting on the clothing of the initiate, the χ1 Examinee, was entering the real deal world of Examiners, going from student to applicant. Still studying with crazy intensity, but she would get to go to the Examiners Education Center in the capital, and join her friends who were already there.
Underneath the folded grey robes was the sealed envelope, a glossy golden colored envelope at that, with the return address: Examiner Stratum, Education Division, Student Mailings. 1 Education Ave, Bay City A40F-6CC2
She carefully removed the paper and glue seal, opening the long and tall envelope. A single double-sided page was inside.
"This letter commemorates the passage of Amanda Mercer, Monasterical village 16 from Twelfth Form (α12) with a qualifying record of 35 / 18. Entry to Bay City is hereby granted, and accomodation is hereby given for Amanda Mercer to reside in the Non-Family Examinee dormitories. Arrival of Amanda Mercer is expected by the 37th of October."
It would take Dad two days to drive her to Bay City, and it was already the 31st, she didn't have much time. Enough time to go online.
EXAMINER STRATUM - EDUCATION DIVISION
STUDENT REMOTE ACCESS PROTOCOLS IN PLACE
χ1 RESTRICTED ACCESS HIGH SAFETY MODE 2
DOWNLOADING UPDATES (χ1 LEVEL ACCESS PROTOCOL)
This was new. It was actually updating her protocols to a new even higher security level. Being interested in the Computing Division, she was curious what changed from the already elaborate secure transmission and anti-cheating protocols.
DOWNLOADING [1%]
There were only a half dozen Examiner stratum students in the surrounding villages. These were farming and mining communities run by the Monasterical authorities. There was an Examiner in each of the villages, members of the Governance division's Inter-Stratum Auditing team. That included her father.
4 of the other Examiner stratum students were children like her. One was an old man who had rise from the Monastery and reached the heights of Technianship (Q⑫ Ulti-Wizard!), and still wanted more. He was a fountain of wisdom when it came to study habits, but he didn't know Examiner habits.
Exams were important, but incidents equaled automatic failures in your current exam system.
Old man Willick was in Tenth Form, and he might reach Examinee, before he passed, if he could learn the standards and expectations of the stratum. He had been a technician since his mid-twenties, and internalized the cocky, semi-informal culture of the Mid-stratum, but he was unfamiliar and off in his expectations and actions as a Form student.
The other children of Auditing team Examiners were anywhere from Eighth form down to Second form.
Amanda looked to her phone, checking the percent progress on the security updates on her pc. She could only see public information on her phone. Rumor was there would be a secure phone for her in Bay City.
EXAMINER STRATUM DIVISIONS:
1st - Governance, 2nd - Education, 3rd - Computing, 4th - Controller, 5th - Legal, 6th - Senior Medical, 7th - Senior Engineering, 8th - Senior Science, 9th - Stratum Support, 10th - Auditing
She decided she would go for Education, Computing, Legal, Science and Auditing if she could choose five divisions to qualify in. Computing first, then Education, Auditing, Science, Legal.
Auditing because her father did it, Computing because she liked it, Education only if it focused on the analysis of education and EDCS.
It felt like she was still running a loop in her head, and since there were no exams to study for, no advised readings to do, and no online chatter about exams, she had nothing but time to wait.
13%
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > Congrats! Girl on Fire!
|: Thanks, hows is it so far
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > All the divisions are putting events on our calendars. Gatherings, meetups, recruiting attempts. The lower divisions are desperate to get new Examinees to at least listen. ExE is only making us attend one a week, which is a relief, but still, it's hard to cram in study hours like I used to.
|: ExE?
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > Examiner Education. Basically the department we report to. More deference is paid to us, and it's not a bulk teacher computer student relationship, it's more professional, senior junior relationships.
|: I'm waiting for my computer at home to download all the new security settings. At 15% after thirty minutes.
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > Get down here girl. Convince your folks to take you early.
|: I'll try. It's just my dad. Audit division remember.
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > Yeah. See you soon.
18%
You sat down for a brief dinner with dad just after the updates reached 100%.
The basic foods are more available here, but the tasty and fancy are difficult to get. Dad cooked a special treat, baked pasta with mozzerela and ricotta.
"I'm going to try to pass the Senior Examiner this time! They'll have to post me near you then," he said.
There was no way to test into staying at the same rank, Dad had been moving up to Senior Examiner and then failing back to Examiner over the years of her life. They kept him in the same assignment, just with more prestige and credits when he was senior examiner.
If he managed to reach Emeritus Examiner, they wouldn't be able to keep him in this small town posting. He'd be auditing something big! In Bay City.
"You can do it dad!" she said. If he wanted to really try he might have a chance. Dad had been discouraged last time he was a Senior Examiner. The test was so hard, and the citations so easy to get. He found it hard to be appropriately serious and respectful after his fifth time at the rank.
Dad only had to pass twenty more Exam credits without failing twenty. A credit was either one test, for younger students, or something that took 3 days in addition to normal work. As a Form student she had a 100% rate, one test per 3 days.
Dad's tests with highly complex audit simulations which took many weeks to pass but counted for 10 credits or even more sometimes.
Basically he had two months to go if he passed the next two tests at 100%.
After dinner, they sat and watched a movie that Dad had local cached over the past week. The bandwidth out here was just a fraction of what was available in Bay City.
She constantly wanted to run upstairs and check on her percent done, but she resisted. It was definitely Dad movie material. A Legal Thriller where one Examiner found out the treachery of a senior examiner, and finally managed to bring justice, despite so many obstacles.
She could lie, and say that she needed to go over all the new Examinee documents, but it wasn't true. She could have waited until she got to Bay City, but her success was partly due to that compulsion to get interested in new and upcoming material early.
Plus, she had access to a few interesting functions.
It was late when she got back to her computer desk, upstairs. She tapped the side of the monitor with her finger, and the display woke up.
EXAMINER STRATUM - EDUCATION DIVISION
STUDENT REMOTE ACCESS PROTOCOLS IN PLACE
χ1 RESTRICTED ACCESS HIGH SAFETY MODE 2
UPDATE COMPLETE
... ... ...
MENU ACCESS READY
>>> help commands new
Commands unlocked 2733-08-31
Sched+, Reside, Auth, ExamSim<v6>
>>> help Reside
Reside - Residence Management cli and vri
RESIDE VRX : active VR mode [[ Status: Disabled due to remote operation ]]
RESIDE INFO : displays current residential situation
Other options may be available.
Currently no other options are available.
>>> Reside info
[key 11BB] 38 Unit 1, Fourth Street, Mid Bay Community, C29E-11BB
Future Resident - χ1 class housing - Admit Resident upon Arrival
>>> Reside 11BB
Three units are part of the property at 38 Fourth Street. Each unit contains bedroom, bathroom and computer room, with Certified Examinee-class computing support.
The Three units share a common kitchen, dining room and gathering room. Fourth Street properties share common recreation and well-being facilities.
Current Occupants:
χ3 vbwunderbar : unit 2,
χ1 gamaraigh : unit 3
>>> EdPlan {χ1 g1}
N1. Choose Divisions (currently 0 of 5)
N2. χ1 Orientation
N3. Fourth Street Orientation
N4+. TBD
>>> EdPlan {χ1 g1} Prospect N1
::: Choose Divisions Prospectively :::
]]] Computing
Education
Auditing
Senior Science
Legal
::: Accepted -- Propsect E1 :::
[E1] >>> EdPlan {χ1 g1} | skip 2
... (lines skipped)
N3. Division Prelim Exams {x5}
N4. Division Lesson 1 {x5}
N5. Division Exam 1 {x5}
N6. Division Meeetings {x5}
[E1] >>> EdPlan {χ1 g1} Hours(weekly)
Week of 8/31 : 32 hours
Week of 9/1 : 120 hours
Week of 9/11 : 95 hours
Week of 9/21 : 100 hours
[E1] >>> EdPlan {χ1 g1} Prospect End.
::: Ended -- Prospect E1 :::
>>> EdPlan {α12 ~p}
::: Reviewing Past EdPlan data {α12 ~p} :::
[~p] >>> EdPlan {α12 ~p} Hours(weekly)
Week of 8/11 : 72 hours
Week of 8/21 : 50 hours
This was going to be even harder, Amanda realized, though she had known it already.
(** CUT TO FUTURE **)
The triplex was snug, even the central cooking / gathering space, but she was here, and she wasn't isolated anymore.
The unit was more impressive from the outside than the inside, with it's arch and fancy entry door and windows. Inside it was functional, tile floors in gold and white and most importantly, a computer that destroyed her pc back home. It ran updates and autoconfiguration in 30 seconds!
The bedroom was a nice four poster bed, a real adult bed for the first in her life, and an end table with reading material. Whatever wasn't put into the system could only be decorative and fanciful.
Having her own bathroom and shower was nice too. She would miss Dad, but she was ready to make him proud.
[χ1 ammercer to χ1 sumoderno] > I'm here! {{Reside share-location}}
|: Too bad we couldn't room together. I'm on 3rd street. See you outside.
"Farmgirl!" Amanda heard as she stepped outside. There was Sue, standing up against the limoauto carrying an all new purse.
"Classy Sue, "Amanda said. "What do you put in there besides your E-ID?"
"I just like the look," Sue said. "Come on. There's no one in the other units yet, so we can hang out in the common space."
The limoauto started driving as soon as they got back in. Three minutes, maybe four, to get to Sue's place. She supposed it was the closest thing to being roomies.
"What divisions are you going for?" Amanda asked her.
"You should listen to what kind of offers the senior examiners give you before you settle on your own. As for mine, I went for Governance, Controller, Med, and Stratum Support as my fallback plan. I failed the preliminary exam in Med, so that's out. Governance and Controller both are going well after my first Exam day. Stratum Support is easy so I've maxed that grade out, but I don't want to go to that one. Stratum is offering a chance to work with the number one Senior Examiner in their division if I make it to Intern in their area. I don't know though."
Lots to consider and talk about, Amanda realized. Everything up till now had been broad-based learning, and largely focussed on study buddies, keeping focus and effort high and getting those great grades. Now it would shift to focussing on specific areas.
"I want to do Computing, but unless I hear a lot that changes my mind, I'm going to try for Education, Auditing, Senior Science and Legal too," she said.
"Legal, eww! You'll go insane trying 5 divisions. It's theoretically possible, but only the super-elite can pull it off. I think you should dump Legal. Maybe try the other four. Listen to our Seniors though, they have great information on what it's really like, and they know what divisions need new examiners the most."
They put on a wide vr screenie and watched the events taking place from different perspectives. It was an adventure story that ended in a return home, and an encouraging ending as the guy decided to stop being foolish about his exams.
There was a flash forward scene with the man receiving an award for reaching the position of Emeritus Examiner.
"Even with 4 divisions, this will be our last chance for hanging out until the Downtime. I'll get an invitation for you to my family's party."
"That would be great. I'm sure I'll spot you at the ExE."
(** CUT TO FUTURE **)
She had tried a lot of interesting food that was raised or grown or caught in her home village, but the gathering for brand new Examinees had plenty of delicacies she had never seen before.
The man pretending to not be checking her grades on her left had to be stratum support, and the woman on her right. The man was wearing a Monasterical rank sash overtop his silver robes.
Mrs. Audit Division was clearly distracted, paying way too much attention to a new Examinee who was overindulging in the free food.
"Ministers," she said respectfully to them. "My father is an Examiner in the Audit division, so I will pursue that in my qualifications. I'm not sure what I would pursue Stratum Support, but I will listen."
"Mercer, good to see you here. Come visit me in the ExE. I have office hours there every thirdday," the Auditor said.
The man accepted her challenge. "Stratum Support would love to see an Examiner who has lived outside of their own stratum society. We take on older technician-advancers, and similarly, when we see an Examinee who grew up on the farm, we pull out our incentives. I'm offering 50 Q-points if you pass the preliminary exam for our division, and more if you proceed further."
The contrast between Auditing and Stratum Support, who were pursuing her, and Education or Computing, was huge.
"We don't have any planned incentives, but if we see excellence after the first three exams, we will contact you," said Computing's representative.
The Education rep wouldn't even speak with her. Legal was reasonable and concerned with letting everyone know that it wasn't the neurotic fussy topic that people thought it was.
After the big gathering, she met with Auditing and even Legal one on one. While Legal wasn't willing to offer any Q points for the qualifying exam, they did promise to offer points for the first exam if she scored in the top 80% for new Examinees.
She bailed on Education. She decided to stick to trying for four divisions, and she gave herself one hard division, two in the middle and one fallback, so she picked Computing, Legal, Science and Auditing.
Sue was still taking exams for the number 1 division, Governance, but Sue was just a bit better than her.
After choosing her divisions, she had a few hours to actually met and chat with her neighbors.
Vanessa Wunderbar was already an Examinee 3, focusing solely on the Controller division.
"If you end up going Auditing, we'll have a lot of notes to share. Controllers are the good counterpart for those bad auditors."
She winked. "I mean, we handle the periodic processing of resource gathering and expenditure for organizations. The best work within governance itself, but most of us work in a siloed departmen operation to determine if it is self-sufficient, or how much help it needs. Resource surplus also determines tax and iCurrency availability. If we find something off, we send it to the auditors next. If there's an auditor on the team, then we play a good lawyer to their bad lawyer."
Georgia Maraigh had been Examinee 2 but returned after she failed the meet the standard for advancing further. Now she was focussing on solidifying her understanding of the Engineering division.
"The Engineering exams are very sim heavy, which is my strong suit. I know I'm an Examinee, but the question and answer stuff gets hard for me," she said.
"I had a hard time with the sims, because high latency and low bandwidth out where my dad lives," Amanda said. "The question and answer or essay were how I made up the sim points I lost. I'll have to see how I do with the new sims. I hear the Computing prelims are sim heavy also. Some of the Computing sims are text-only which was a lot easier to make work back home."
"Ah, a farmgirl!" Vanessa said.
Amanda was already tired of hearing that! "I didn't touch the farm. We lived in a village, that doesn't make us farmers. My dad's an auditor. Not a farmer!"
"Ah, it's something unique that you were only a few miles from farms," Georgia said. "It's just a little jokey identity. I'm Simhead, Vanessa's Diva."
"My exam scores are just as good as the others!" Vanessa said defensively.
"Of course. But your mom is THE diva. Following in her footsteps."
"When can we hang out again. My next 15 days is going to be filled with busyness, but after that I want to check in with you ," Amanda said.
"Festival days! Vanessa's got about 3 months before she moves up to a place of her own and χ4. We're already planning for the end of the year festival," Georgia said.
"I hope everything goes as well as that," Vanessa said. "Controller Interchange Data Standards are breaking my brain."
"Wave/Fourier Engineering is the worst for me," Georgia said.
"Good luck! Back to our study bubbles," Amanda said.
(** CUT TO FUTURE **)
χ1 ammercer : Senior Science DPreliminary ExamComputing-56.49% - FAILED
Legal-74.22% - Bare Pass (#2 Division)
Science-61.91% - FAILED
Auditing-85.58% - Promising Pass (#1 Division)
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > Well shit, the transition is really hard isn't it? They call it a Preliminary Exam, but it's almost as hard as the regular exams in the Subject areas. You've been running along learning general and broad knowledge and now you are asked to be a specialist. You're a way better Auditor than me at least.
|: I gotta call my dad. I'm not giving up on Legal at least. I'm going to fight.
[χ1 sumoderno to χ1 ammercer] > You have to pass in 2 divs if you want to make Examinee 2 the first time around. So keep scores up in Legal too.
The video call functionality had no problem using her unit's computing systems, it was her dad's system, and the delay in getting signals out that far that made the picture choppy for a second.
"How's my star doing?" he asked. "I only have a few minutes, but I'd like to use them to hear from you.
"Prelims. I failed Computing and Science. 85% in auditing though."
"See, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.. I know you wanted Computing hun, but it's a really competitive division. Involved in the GEC which runs, well, everything. What about legal?"
"Passed that, barely. I have to work hard to improve my Legal exams, and hopefully I can push forward to Examinee 2 in six months."
"You know how to work hard, just take small breaks from time to time. Do a little casual study hangout with Sue, or with your unit neighbors. You'll get there. Gotta go hun, Love you!"
"Love you dad."
She study the Legal division lessons, supplemental material and et cetera mostly. She had a decent memory of auditing stuff from dad. She went over those lessons once, but the Legal lessons 7 times. She would balance out in a while, but she wanted to make sure she could hit the pass fail rate in Legal division so she could pass in 2 divisions.
Amanda's Examinee Snippets
Day 4: Passed today's Legal exam, so that makes me 1 for 1 in both divisions.
Day 10: 3-0 in Auditing, 2 pass 1 fail in Legal. I'm already sooo tired.
Day 12: Did some Casual study with Georgia and Vanessa. Vanessa is nostalgiac because of the overlap between Auditing, Legal and her division of Controller. Those case studies and courtroom sims. Yep, ridiculous. We had a good laugh. Engineering is just too different, but I appreciate Georgia's struggle because every day is still a struggle for me too.
Day 16: Feel like i'm turning a corner. I still haven't failed an Auditing exam, and only failed that one in Legal. Looking good for Sixtember Examinee 2, but I know it's still a lot of hard work ahead and things can turn.
Day 25: Huge pass streak. 15 - 1 overall. Too tired. Gonna take a break tommorrow, and then one more exam before the year end holidays.
Holiday 1: Last day on campus before Dad picks me up. I can only go home for a few days because it takes so long to travel between Bay City and home.
Monasterical Village 16 Holiday Party
The O-class, W-class and M-class monks congregated celebrating the year's end. The Monastery school went from M-1 to M-7 ranks, and was a very practical schooling, enforcing disciple, martial arts and meditation and training in physical work and the body preparedness needed.
There were a few Technician stratum people in the Monastery's village. Junior Engineers, working with an Examiner Senior Engineer remotely, maintained the town's systems. Technicians supported the mining and farming efforts through their Stratum Support as well.
Amanda watched as her father went to the speakers booth that had been built in the middle of main street, where everyone was gathered. No place indoors could hold everyone, so they had always celebrated outdoors. It was chilly but a few hours wouldn't hurt. She had a lot of memories of past years holidays.
"Testing, testing 1 2. People of Village 16, Riverridge as it is commonly known. I am happy to report that this year's audits have been very good. We only had two people living off the grid, and three cases of children born unregistered to unregistered medical staff. I am so excited to see my daughter going off to Bay City to continue her studies towards becoming an examiner. I am also excited to see your children excel and reach a higher height than the generations that came before. With your efforts you can lay the foundation for your children, and their children to become technicians and examiners."
Amanda had usually connected with the neighboring Examiner students in other villages, but once a year she would rejoin her peers in the village in Holiday celebration.
The Monastery housed their people in large buildings with many beds to a room, also large gathering spaces and eating spaces.
Some of her old acquaintainces who were monks from the community about her age, asked her to attend a party at one of the buildings.
There were no computers nor study places that she could tell. She knew of the morning rituals. Silence until 12 noon except as required for specific jobs. Meditation before bed and at rise, there were more of them she didn't know about she had never grown up in the culture. She was part of the few, the special examiner children in the surrounding region.
The children of technicians out here had to go to a boarding school type of setting, with enough structure to fit their inclinations, while the children of Examiners were allowed to study and progress in Forms from their homes.
In the city technicians could keep their children at home, since they could send them every day to their school.
They may have been quiet before noon but now they were hooping and hollering.
She tried to enjoy their celebrations and clumsily failed to perform their little physical activity games.
When she got back to her dad's she had a note from ExE.
[Examiner Education: hlwarburg to χ1 ammercer] > Based on system tracking, you attended a Monasterical gathering in your hometown. It is acceptable to gather with other stratums as required for educational or work matters, or as cleared by your Reporting Examiner. It is not acceptable to attend a Monastery function.
::: SYSTEM TRANSMISSION::: {ammercer : +1 Fail to overall χ1 PF tracking : now 17/2. Inappropriate socialization. Division sub-scores are unaffected
::: END SYSTEM TRANSMISSION:::
She knew it too. It was easy to slip back into a mindset that had been ok when she was a form student, but not as an Examinee.
She would ask Dad to come to her next holiday. Hopefully he would be making his way towards Emeritus Examiner by then.
The whole thing did make her holidays somber and she was tempted to study, but they had to make Examiner stratum take a break. She could get cited for working or studying during this time.
She was ready to cut away all the chaff. She enjoyed the comraderie with her housemates every few weeks, that was enough.
Year 91, Day 30 - Got my second fail in Auditing and second in Legal this week. Surprisingly I'm 12 - 2 in both areas now. I'm on target to make Examinee 2 in two months, so why am I upset, I had to call an emergency housemates gathering.
We watched holovids and ate our month's allotment of junk food. Half to get down to the exercise clinic soon. I've been losing some weight with all the stress, but I don't have any muscle tone and I get breathing hard way earlier than I should. The Exercise clinic is there for a reason, it's excellent as anti-stress and it makes us smarter and more focussed.
Year 91, Day 60 - My amazing initial results have settled into good enough to pass, but not blazing hot. 15-4 in both topics. I thought I would do way better in Auditing, but I guess my equal study in both areas has evened up my ability. Five more passes in each Division and I'll be on to Examinee 2! Georgia made it just a week ago.
Year 91, Day 90 - Made it in Auditing with 20-4 overall. I just need to pass two more Legal exams and I'll be on to Examinee 2. Nice and light schedule next week since I only have Legal exams.
Year 91, Day 102 - Overall Pass in Legal too with 20-6. 40-11 overall counting that stupid behavioral fail. Here we go, up to harder stuff. Monthly meeting with our group of Examinees and our senior.
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