Jinn Part 3

Chapter
one: Continued

“Was that thorough enough to fill your notes out Miss Samsara?”

She smiled and nodded at Astor.

“Yes sir. I really only needed brief notes but thank you, now I have a
much more complete history.”

Some of the other children snickered. They were nervous
and afraid of the three gifted students so shunned them. They became
outcasts, but never minded. Their advanced nature led them to care
more about the society as a whole rather than individual members.

“Kailar, why don't you explain the four basic stages of augmentation to the
rest of the class. Seeing as you have already had two of yours
activated and will be receiving an extra three in your life, perhaps
the other students would like to know more about them all.”

Kailar was a tall, athletic boy. Standing over six feet
he was chosen to be the next Tracker. His body will be almost
completely replaced with mechanical parts to allow for vastly
improved movement, motor skills, problem solving as well as some
small telekinetic powers through amplified gamma brain waves. His
mind was already undergoing the intense transformation that was
required to be a Tracker. Every village has just one. An elite
huntsman meant to guard the village, locate anyone connected to the
villages Cultural Hub and in times of war, to coordinate the villages
defence force.

Kailar walked towards the front of the class resolutely. He was proud
of his enhancements and took great care to study, practise and
perfect everything he was taught. He stood and carefully removed the
plates covering many of the augmented joints on his left arm.

“This is the self lubricating, fully adjustable nanite sphere joint which
allows me to move my arm around full three hundred and sixty degrees.
The nanites allow for shock absorption, they transfer the impact
energy into kinetic energy for my body to store and use later. They
are also capable of sending out single nanobots to repair damaged
tissue around the joint. I have one in each elbow, shoulder, a
similar one in my knee and wrists also.”

He placed the pads back and raised his right leg up on the desk in
front of him. Carefully he tapped and slide off the back plate of his
heel and exposed the mechanism within.

“Here you can see the base of the specially crafted titanium dual spring
system that runs up my tibia. At the base of the heel it is highly
compressed and fits to a metal plate which runs across my foot
allowing for extended jumping range and better deceleration. The less
compressed spring is placed around my tibia to absorb excess shock
from jumps and falls. In a few years time my entire skeleton will be
replaced with an artificial bone and several of these spring systems
will be placed in along with other nano technology and kinetic
converters to absorb shock and turn it into usable electronic
energy.”

Many of the children were stunned in silence and all the others were
busy making mental notes of what they'd witnessed. It was unusual to
see so many enhancements so early on in children. Kailar was an
exceptionally gifted child and it was seen that he was ready for the
augmentation earlier than any others.

“That's it for today. I won't be seeing you for a lesson until Thursday after
you've seen the Mechanist's. I wish you all the best of luck with
your augmentation ceremony and of course, stay true to the path of
truth and remain Adept.”

The students all stood up from their
seats, bowed in unison to the professor then, one by one, shuffled
out through the electron door into the amber light of the setting sun
emblazoned against the silhouette of the machine city off in the
distance. The constant low hum of activity filling the air. Anyone
else would be driven mad by it but the residents of the nearby
villages had come to rely on it. The dull hum meant that the machines
were still hard at work in the city.