Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans Page B

a comfortable pace. To facilitate this theory, every room had a machine called the Teacher. It was a large armchair set on a large black platform that extended vertically, supporting a screen that faced the occupant of the seat. To Sammy it looked like a giant arcade game built for brainwashing people.
    He sat down, and the screen automatically powered up to reveal Commander Byron’s face looking back at him.
    “ Good morning, Psion. Today you begin your personal instruction. The education you will receive is based around a core of information you need to become an effective member of a Psion Alpha team. You are expected to learn and understand all of the material presented. Part of the Psion Panel which you must pass to graduate from Beta is scoring high enough on the exams you take after completing each subject unit.
    “ See the subject units in which your aptitude will be tested.” An interface titled Main Menu replaced Byron’s image.
    “ Basic mechanics,” his voice continued, “weaponry, theory of combat, mission planning and execution, critical thinking, physics, history and political science, and geography. Parts of combat, mission functionality, and weaponry will be covered in your simulations and in the Arena; however, you must also learn the principles behind these subjects for the Panel. I encourage you to take advantage of the flexibility of your education. There is no homework, just exams. If you wish, both the Teacher’s menus and the library are available for you to explore sections more in depth.”
    Commander Byron’s face faded, and a tutorial appeared on the screen to teach Sammy more about the Teacher. It took him about five minutes to complete. Then the main menu appeared again. When Sammy touched a subject, it broke down into several units. All of these units had dozens of subunits from which to choose. He was staggered by the amount of information, and guessed it would take years to get through the material.
    He chose history and started with the first subunit. The screen displayed information in the form of text, movie clips, news footage, and pictures relating to political history.
    The format of the material made the presentation quite fascinating, but Sammy still found himself losing interest in the female voice that guided him through the information. The only reason he could think of was that she spoke too slow. He stopped the lecture to find the menu allowing him to adjust the speed.
    After another hour, boredom set in again. He turned the speed up a little more. Then a little more. By the time his first session finished, the lady’s voice sounded like she’d inhaled too much helium. On the other hand, Sammy got through over half of one subunit. He was pleased with himself as met up with Brickert. In the cafeteria, he ordered a sub sandwich; Brickert got a hamburger again.
    “ Geography was pretty cool,” Brickert said with a mouth full of lunch. “It was mostly stuff about territories, major cities—you know, like that, but some of the other subunits that come later on look really cool. I think I’m saying cool too much. Anyway, a bunch of them deal with important geographical CAG sites. I can’t wait to learn all that!”
    “ Didn’t you think the lessons were too slow?” Sammy asked.
    Brickert shook his head. “It seemed fine to me. Maybe it was just your lesson. I mean, it’s totally different than school. You get to pick what you want to learn about. No busy work. I tell you, I wish my old school had been like this.”
    Sammy agreed with him. This new way was definitely better. If he didn’t understand something all he needed to do was touch the subtitle, and the program would offer supplemental information to help him. Best of all, he had no distractions. What if he had to sit through a class with Kobe? Or worse . . . Jeffie? He’d spend the whole class sneaking peeks at her instead of listening.
    “ Hey guys,” a voice behind him said. “Mind if we sit by