The Hive hummed in the back of my ear as I walked down the hall, a quiet murmur like the distant sound of people talking through a thin wall. By now, the sound was familiar and comforting, as constant as my heartbeat, though I remembered the first time I tuned in, the sound overwhelmed me despite its quietness, the voices like waves crashing on the shore of my consciousness. I focused briefly, and the whispering resolved itself into familiar voices, the other members of my Network bombarding me with multiple threads of thought.
Anyone know how to solve the Navier-Stokes with a no-slip boundary? I’m trying to figure out how much maple syrup I need to-
Who knows how to use the 3D Bioprinter in EBB?
I just used it yesterday. What kind of tissues-
Shout out to the girls at Alpha Phi!
I winced at the last shout and turned my attention from the conversation. Sometimes I wondered why we had let Rick into the Hive in the first place. In fact, I wondered that most of the time. I approached the door to the conference room and took a breath.
Alright, Hive, it’s interview time. I sent my own message out to the Hive. There was a moment of quiet, as the various voices settled and the members of my Hive tuned in. A rush of collective anticipation, the result of the rudimentary emotion-sharing module we installed last month, coursed through my veins like a shot of caffeine.
From the application, I knew that the interview was with, Lily Feng, freshman, top of her high school class but from some rural town in Kansas where they probably still thought optic fiber internet was as fast as it got. Recommended to the Hive by Theresa Hallaway, a prolific Hive member who now worked as a neural coding Node in the Genentech neural implant research and development Network. It was practically a guarantee for acceptance into the Hive.
Lily rushed to stand as I walked in, and extended a hand.
“Hi,” she said in a tumble of nervous words, “it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Lily. Lily Feng, and I’m here for the Hive interview, though I’m sure you already know.” Her smile was genuine though, as was her excitement.
I smiled, took her hand and gave it a firm shake, “Michelle, Hive member with a focus in human resource management.”
She doesn’t even have an implant. Travis sent through the Hive.
She’ll need a lot of help, Irwin agreed, it’s been a while since we had someone so green. As if he had touched a Network more than a handful of times before he’d arrived. We’d had to teach him how to keep from broadcasting the slightest whim at full volume.
That might actually be a blessing, Nora argued, we’ve got too many experienced users, we need some fresh eyes if we want to keep up with the Collective. There was a murmur of objecting voices at the mention of our rival Network, but they died down as Nora projected firm conviction through the emotion-sharing module. She’d take to it like a current to a wire, though that was no less than was expected of Theresa’s last protégé.
Plus, she’s pretty cute.
Shut up, Rick. Followed by a swell of irritation. I suppressed a smile. Trust Nora to keep the order.
“I’m sure you know what our goals. Divide and conquer, teach and learn. Distributed learning and Network thinking are the future, after all,” I said.
She nodded, “That’s why I applied here, you’re one of the first programs in the nation that uses Networks for learning.”
I smiled. “Do you have any questions?” I could tell from the way her eyes lit up that she did.
“Sorry if this is rude,” she said, “but can I see it?”
I nodded and turned my head. Lifting my hair, I showed her my node, clipped to my ear like an earring. The receiver was a tiny silver drop, from which hair thin wires snaked out and into my skin like ivy curling into the crevices of an old building. I traced the wires, barely feeling the slight raised texture to where they disappeared near the base of my ear.
“Did it…hurt?” she whispered almost reverently.
“Didn’t feel a thing,” I replied, “the micro-wires are small enough to slip between cells. They don’t even trigger any inflammatory response. One end connects to your frontal lobe through the external acoustic meatus, patching to your cochlea along the way, so you’ll be able to hear the Hive.”
“You’ll have to have the implant, of course,” I said. It was rare to find someone without it, and she would probably have to get one before graduation if she wanted any company to hire her.
She nodded, “My parents didn’t really believe in this kind of thing, but I already have the procedure scheduled. I asked Theresa to help me prepare.” Her initiative was impressive. I could see why Theresa had recommended her and, judging by the murmurs in my ear, so could the Hive.
“You’re a bright candidate,” I said, “so I’ll offer you some advice. While you’re here, become an expert in something. Something useful but not too common, like regenerative genetic engineering or black hole physics. Don’t bother with trying to learn it all. Your Network will take care of everything else.”
She nodded, “I was thinking about focusing on artificial intelligence.”
“Well, coincidentally we just happen to be looking for someone in that field,” I murmured, feeling the agreement of the Hive, the certainty like a weight in my bones. Her eyes lit up, and she opened her mouth to respond.
“You’re only as good as your network,” I said, “so choose carefully.”
Her smile was bright, “I only applied here,” she said, “so it’s not a hard decision.”
“Welcome to the Hive then, Lily.” In the back of my mind, the Hive buzzed its approval.
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Jessica spent her childhood reading all the books she could get her grubby little hands on, and attempting to con her sisters out of their allowances by charging them to read the tales she wrote about fairy princesses. Somewhere along the road to adulthood, Jessica found herself getting a degree in engineering, where she now has a career as an overworked graduate student. She spends what little free time she has between experiments walking her dog around campus, pondering cell culture and the logic behind magical systems, and collecting pretty stationary while she writes on her laptop. |
