The bronchs idea is highlighted below
The train pulled up gently and silently at London Liverpool Street. When the station had first been built dirty, noisy, living steam engines had sweated their way to the buffers. Now, almost ghostly carriages glided on plastic wheels to a standstill. No noise, no pollution, and little excitement.
Gustav shepherded his adolescent flock to the bike racks. All except one freed a machine for the journey through the bronchs to the Tate Encounter. Ashley's pic didn't seem to work so Gustav released the bike himself hoping he would remember to transfer the charges to Ashley's account later. Why was it always Ashley? There was something about the expression in his eyes that puzzled Gustav. Was he stupid or crafty? He was certainly intelligent.
Gustav determined to realize rather than frustrate this intelligence. He made a cryptic note on his buddy which he had recently upgraded and fitted into his left shoe. He kept his sphinx in his right shoe and although his shoes communicated with each other Gustav liked some sense of control over his personal data and diary. He was suspicious of the combined sabs now available where sphinx and buddy were in one unit. Gustav began to make his charges look at their environment.
"Can you tell me when the bronchs were built and why? Do you think they have been a success, and what spin-offs have there been?"
They raced to the Tate, put their bikes in racks and savoured the artistic delights. The hologram dances were amazing.
"This place is based on an archaic and lazy design; however it still tells a good story. You can be taken around the time zones by museum transport but if you really want to think then walk and talk. I want you to answer this basic question. Why did China trigger the production of riders? And I don't want a sphinx type answer. The last time I asked a question about spin-offs from the creation of the bronch system you just gave me reasons for its genesis. You told me nothing about the morale of the city with people being fitter, liberated rather than frustrated in traffic jams. It has been a major force in the regeneration of city community. I expect better of you, so get behind the data to the wisdom it teaches! See you back here in two hours".
They disappeared relishing active learning rather than passive digestion of boring information. Peace at last, and time to think. Gustav had been to this place many times. The conveyor transport intensely annoyed his sense of learning. Despite regular correspondence with the authorities it remained in place. Their argument centred on equality of access for the disabled but Gustav wondered whether it was more about maximising throughput.
In one of his more creative moods he had sent messages by fountain pen on paper, and then by every other means invented since. Writing on paper was immensely satisfying although so slow. He still used it as an exercise for his students. Some had never seen ink before! Funnily enough it was his hand-written epistle that had produced the most response. It was one of two such messages received that year and was now framed as part of a display. The other correspondence was lost in statistical analysis showing that the majority of visitors preferred to be lazy.
William and Ashley paired off as usual. China launched more satellites in the second decade of the twenty first century than either Europe (including Russia) or the US.
"Let's start at the turn of the century, Wills", suggested Ashley. The chase towards wisdom had begun. Later they met in the sun beside the river. Gustav told them to pick up bikes for the bronchs down to the Thames Barrier. He had booked a floating conference room. Somehow to glide just above Old Father Thames created a sense of perspective. The river had seen so many changes but was largely unchanged itself. River traffic had reduced. The water of the Thames made air-conditioning efficient in summer and (via heat exchangers) was a source of heat in winter. Fresh air companies had sprung up along the bronchs pumping high quality air into the network, and also supplying local communities. Since the Hanoi Summit it was Earth policy that all such companies use sustainable energy sources.
Gustav called them a pod, not after peas all neatly arranged but after dolphins continuously leaping and taking turns to lead. He had no fixed number or type because he recognised that each intake of freshers was different. In this pod one girl, Pamela Smith, was joined by four boys. The mix worked well; they brought the best out in her: feminine intuition and persistence; and she encouraged them to be more thoughtful, to enjoy banter but also work as a focused team.
Alfred Cookson was the oldest at eighteen; he was one of those quiet people always present yet easily overlooked. He had spent most of his life in rural Suffolk and knew the Fens like the back of his hand. These country roots were proving invaluable to the pod. His colleagues had learnt to include quiet Cookson in their thinking.
They shared their findings with Gustav. China had scores to settle. The country had a vast population and ancient wisdom; yet the cocky so-called Western civilization treated them as somehow backward. Human rights was always the issue, but what record did the Western world portray? Beneath the veneer of decency was appalling poverty. The extremes between rich and poor were scandalous. There were no slaves in chains but there were many in economic bonds. How dare the West lecture China? And yet she did not wish to wage war, not conventional war. She would rule the ether by saturating geostationary orbits with her satellites. The West was suspicious and in turn launched supervisory satellites armed with sophisticated detection equipment and powerful lasers. Signals were monitored; if necessary these battleship satellites could fry any competition out of orbit.
Brussels made the first move in what would have been described in the nineteenth century as 'gunboat diplomacy'. China was ordered to share orbits or face the consequences. The Circinus launchers put up enough gunboat satellites to sort out China's entire fleet. It was of course the immature impetuous Americans who made the first mistake. During the Beijing Festival of China transmissions suddenly ceased. The cluster of Chinese satellites overhead were eliminated, all twelve of them. The fireworks display could be seen by the naked eye. Shrapnel was blasted in all directions. This volume of debris, even in the wide expanse of space, was to prove catastrophic.
This was the moment Gustav Kimmler relished. Soon the freshers would learn his style. It was immensely rewarding to watch wisdom blossom from data. It reminded him of the opening lines from Genesis where the Spirit of God turned the chaos into the beauty of Eden. The Spirit was wisdom.
"I'll give a fountain pen and paper to the student who, in the judgement of all of us, produces the greatest wisdom - quality, not just quantity". His eyebrows played across the dark complexion of his boyish face. At only 27 years of age he was commanding considerable respect for his innovative methods.
"I think the satellites had a kind of remote war and destroyed each other", offered Zoid.
"I bet it was a software fault that started it; always is". He couldn't help sounding superior; it was all that well-breeding. In fact Zoid Shevardnadze was a likeable lad with an appetite for learning. He didn't tolerate fools gladly. He came in for plenty of banter but stood up to it well. Only occasionally had Zoid been bullied and each time it had taught him to grow up. He wasn't frightened of a bit of rough and tumble. His first black eye had earned him respect. The son of new Russian money he'd been sent to the Waterbeach Metaguild largely on Gustav's reputation.
"Why start a satellite war if China's communications had already been downgraded?", asked Ashley.
"What would be the point?"
"I wonder if sphinx can come up with anything". William asked a few questions and eventually found out that at the turn of the century the power of the Western Allies was mocked by Saddam Hussein who had ruled Iraq with an iron fist. He particularly enjoyed tempting America to overreact. Every means to annoy was deployed by Saddam; he almost became respectable, even though he had been so brutal.
"I reckon the Americans decided to finish off China's satellites completely to be sure she was unable to embarrass them as Iraq had done before. I still can't work out why everyone else's went down too. China didn't have attack weapons in space", puzzled Pamela. She said little yet listened much. Her clear blue eyes looked at Gustav. Here was the fair, wise, confident goddaughter of Io Smith; it was a common surname but this particular branch showed uncommon prowess. Gustav intervened.
"You are working well but need to think laterally. I want to introduce you to Susan who has 102 years of wisdom". The freshers expected some new communications interface, but to their surprise an old woman's hologram was projected into the learning suite.
"Susan and I have worked together for the last few years. She has remarkable insight, and I was …" The hologram laughed and Susan (who was walking around her lovely cottage garden in the Yorkshire Dales) said how much Gustav's invitation meant to her. The young girl inside her old frame still danced. Gustav continued.
"I was delighted when Susan took up my invitation to act as my mentor, my elder. I once had a conversation with an African whose people had been caught up in a long and bitter civil war; their poverty was obscene. I asked him what the greatest difference was between our countries. I expected him to focus on wealth or peace. Adok replied that he was appalled by how we wasted the wisdom of our elders. As a result I approached Susan. Her wisdom may be a prize greater than wealth or peace".
Unexpectedly a hush fell on the freshers; they forgot their enthusiasm for a moment. They found Susan's hologram captivating. Here was a spirit that their young hearts sought. Here was living tradition. It was a revelation. The few seconds were a breach into eternity. Gustav sighed beyond himself, a primitive, secure sigh that was profoundly comforting. He was watching a divine movement. Zoid's family was at home in the grandeur of events. The scale of his stately home gave him an almost genetic sense of confidence. Such was the true definition of an aristocrat.
"Can you give us a clue Ma'am? We don't seem to be able to see what is in front of us".
"Let him who has eyes to see, see", began Susan.
"When Marie Curie discovered radium she realized that she had found a substance which appeared to give out energy without itself being changed. She had eyes to see what appeared to be impossible. We now know that an irradiating substance does change by releasing some of its extraordinary nuclear energy. How do we harness that energy? That's your clue. I'm off to do some gardening, but call again if you want help. Meanwhile I'll carry on listening to your conversation. I hope Gustav had the courtesy to tell you that I was listening".
Gustav was embarrassed a moment and flushed slightly. He apologized to Susan who although saying nothing somehow acknowledged him by carrying on gardening.
"I thought she was going to give us the answer, not ask yet another question", complained Ashley.
"Why did you call her Ma'am, Zoid. You're just a creep". His green eyes bore down on Zoid.
"Shut up, Ash. I like to find answers for myself", asserted Zoid firmly in his pristine English.
"What was it she asked?"
Susan's intervention brought them insight. Nuclear energy was harnessed by setting up a chain reaction, and the debris from China's destroyed satellites had set up a chain reaction destroying other satellites. The earth had been plunged into the equivalent of a communications ice-age. Geo-positioning systems no longer functioned; without satnavs people were lost because few could map-read. Only land based systems worked but they were so overloaded and slow that information was trimmed to the essentials of banking, security, and shopping. The earth community had shot itself it the foot in a big way. The rider network had been created to replace satellites and was based upon experiments carried out by Google over New Zealand in 2013.
"What is the wisdom in all this?" persisted Gustav. This time blue eyes spoke.
"I reckon wisdom was rediscovered when mass communication was lost". Susan's hologram suddenly reappeared.
"That's very profound, Pamela. I reckon you're a candidate for the pen and ink".
"A breakthrough. Insight. Great; it's been a good morning's work. Thanks. Time to relax. See you back here in one point seven hours, or if you like you can join Susan and me for lunch". Gustav's charges melted away. Here was a moment for him to learn again from a very wise woman.
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