Chapter 03: Dr. Kim receives Archival Officer’s equipment

For a city of 50 million, Sanmachi was sometimes home to some very peaceful urban areas. Particularly Musea during the academic breaks. Being a city centered around education and research, about half of its residents were undergraduates or younger and thus beholden to the academic break cycle. Being in the midst of the summer academic break, the apartment block that Lauren moved to upon being accepted into the Knowledge Corps was almost deserted. Lauren was busy cleaning her apartment which, for her, meant mostly re-organizing piles of clothing, gadgets, and miscellaneous junk into different piles of clothing, gadgets, and miscellaneous junk which were somehow better. She had already finished all her prereading exercises for the week and was tired of focusing on things right in front of her face. Lauren stepped out on her balcony for a short break.

She closed her eyes and breathed, the sun felt hot on her face but a gentle breeze removed any discomfort. In the summer, the wind shifted from an oceanic breeze to an inland one which brang with it the rich dust of the plateaus and the smell of petrichor to those with an acute sense of smell. Lauren could hear the summer insects buzzing and a car driving by. She also heard a different kind of buzzing, a less natural one.

She opened her eyes and saw a delivery truck trundle through the street below. A swarm of drones surrounded it as they carried packages between the truck and the apartments lining the streets. Lauren leaned on the railing to get a better look at the truck and stared at it with a focus driven by excitement. An exceptionally large drone emerged from the truck carrying a correspondingly large package. Lauren gasped and dashed back into her apartment, grabbed a sliding mat, and hurried onwards to her floor’s receiving deck. She arrived just in time to see the last drone fly away. Lauren keyed in her mailbox combination and a system of conveyors shifted the packages around until the big box was in the oversized pick up area. A solenoid buzzed and the door opened. She threw her sliding mat onto the ground. With a coefficient of friction of almost zero against most surfaces, it slowly moved away from her until she gently stopped it with her toe. She then leveraged the box onto the mat and pushed the box which now slid effortlessly to her apartment.

Lauren had the box in the center of her apartment, various labels were on its faces but they didn’t obscure the black, white, and gold of the impressive seal of the Knowledge Corps. She plunged a box cutter into the box to no effect, she looked at the tip of the blade and found it was chipped from impacting the tough box. Lauren then took a moment to regain control of her excitement and started reading the labels. The first one she read was “SECURITY PARCEL: USE ID TO OPEN”. Lauren rummaged through the various things on her desk until she found her Archival Officer ID badge. She pressed it against the indicated area on the box and pushed the PING button. The box chirped and with a hiss opened like a gray flower. Lauren looked inside and confirmed her suspicions. Inside was her uniform and various other Archival Officer equipment. On top of it all was a blank sheet of thick paper. She picked it up and text spontaneously filled the page, it was a Smart Sheet. At around the price of a tablet and similar in functionality, Smart Sheets were quite rare in daily life. They were mostly used by large companies, universities, and other institutions that would otherwise go through a lot of paper. Given their cost, most Smart Sheets were owned by institutions rather than individuals. In the course of her PhD, Lauren got 2 Smart Sheets. She was enjoying the fact that this was the third Smart Sheet she received since being admitted to the Knowledge Corps; the first was her official acceptance letter and the second was the prereading syllabus she got about a week ago.

The smart sheet was a manifest and read:

Knowledge Corps Regulator Vest, R-handed … x1

Archival Officer Blazer, size M … x2

Archival Officer Pants, size M, Formal … x1

Archival Officer Pants, size M, Casual … x1

Archival Officer Pants, size M, Rugged… x1

Knowledge Corps Officer boots, size 9 … x2 (pairs)

Knowledge Corps Officer Formal Tie … x1

Archival Officer Recorder Glasses, -3.5 L, -4.0 R … x1

Archival Officer Artifact Gloves, size L … x2 (pairs)

Cosmitech Ψ-897 Series Laptop … x1

Cosmitech Ψ-112 Series Phone … x1

Cosmitech Universal Pen mk2 … x1

Cosmitech Series 2 Smart Sheet … x1

Cosmitech Archival Data Drive … x1

She took each item out in turn. All of the items had imprinted on them, somewhere and at some size, the seal of the Knowledge Corps. The items specific to the Archival Officer Corps, as well as the laptop and pen, also had the Archival Officer Corps seal printed on them. She hooked her two laptops up to each other and to begin transferring her files and software and then turned her attention back to the manifest. She scrolled down the page and found more detailed explanations of the items enclosed:

The regulator vest must be worn at all times while officer is on duty. Please keep standard sidearm in holster of regulator vest while deployed. The regulator vest connects to the heat exchanger on the blazer to keep the wearer within a comfortable temperature range. Note that the regulator vest is not a replacement for extreme weather gear and should be turned off in extreme weather to preserve battery life. Battery can last 36 hours under regular use but should be recharged every night when possible.

Lauren thought about why the regulator vest was the way it was, what purpose did it serve if it was so weak? She then thought about her days as a grad student and getting into thermostat wars with her officemates and then silently praised whoever made the regulator vest standard equipment. She continued reading:

The regulator vest contains 3 gold cubes and 1 diamond in the collar compartment to be used for bartering in extreme circumstances. Each gold cube is valued at $800 and the diamond is valued at $1600. Please note that replacement of the barter items is a long process subject to intense scrutiny. The existence of the barter items is an Intersyst Armed Forces secret and should not be acknowledged in the presence of civilians.

For formal events and ceremonies, please wear the Archival Officer Blazer, Archival Officer Formal Pants, Knowledge Corps Officer Formal Tie, Knowledge Corps Officer boots, and a suitable dress shirt.

The Archival Officer Recorder Glasses contain a stabilized, wide spectrum, wide angle camera. Its recording capabilities are a Knowledge Corps secret and should not be discussed outside The Citadel. The Glasses will connect with only your laptop. Data collected by the recorder glasses is intended to support officer’s memory of events and is never to be directly shared with anyone. For adjustments, use the Citadel Optometry Group.

The Archival Officer Artifact Gloves are to be used whenever handling valuable items or documents. They are repellent to water, oil, dust, and adhesives. Not machine washable, please use Citadel laundry services.

The Cosmitech Ψ-897 Series Laptop is made specifically for the Knowledge Corps. Although not encouraged, the laptop can survive falls from as high as 3 meters, being submersed up to a depth of 1 meter, and temperatures ranging from -20°C to 50°C although processing speeds will be throttled above 30°C. Holographic screen extenders can be requisitioned by your lab/group or purchased at the Citadel computer store.

The Cosmitech Ψ-112 Series Phone is made specifically for the Knowledge Corps and has an unlimited data plan provided by ISAF Strategic Communications. As of the beginning of 12010, officers are permitted to make unlimited interstellar calls but abuse of these permissions may be met with disciplinary action.

The Cosmitech Universal Pen mk2 is a second generation universal marking device. It is compatible with all digital writing surfaces. Switch modes to mark porous surfaces, switch modes again to mark smooth surfaces, and switch modes a third time to use pen as a stylus. While the standard de-marker is sufficient for most surfaces, switching modes again will allow you to use the laser stripper although note that some discoloration of the surface may occur. Note that Smart Sheets will not be replaced due to officers forgetting to switch modes.

The Archival Officer Data Drive is an optical gel rewritable encrypted mass storage device.The drive is only readable when it has a connection with your ID badge. Note that without your ID badge, the only way to read the contents of the drive is for Citadel Security to build a copy of your ID badge which may take up to two weeks.

Lauren reached the bottom of the manifest but found a prompt to continue reading. She opened the next document:

Combat training: You are in GROUP E, please report for basic training at the Musea Metropolitan Defense Headquarters on 12019-07-22 at 0400 hours. Basic training will last 36 days. You will receive your Gladius Laser Sidearm during training and be trained in its use along with several other standard ISAF weapons and tools. You are in GROUP E, you will receive special training in piloting common ISAF atmospheric craft. Additional training is available through application after completing your first year at the Knowledge Corps. All new officers are to report to the Citadel main lecture hall for Orientation on 12019-09-02.