プロテルのクラス

A week passed before I stepped foot in class.

I snuck into the back of my lecture hall, taking the very last chair obscured in shadows. Strictly speaking, I didn’t need to ever come to class, not with every lecture recorded and the option to digitally attend class in VR, but those weren't for me. As Caspian loved to remind me, I was a lot of things. A loner wasn’t one of those.

Next to me, Sky typed away at the air–oblivious and screen hidden from view. Sure it was private and all, but damn did it look stupid typing with a private screen.

“What’s so special you have to hide your screen?”

“You’d know better than me Asta, they're your brother's files. Just… this isn't any old corruption.”

“What do you mean?”

“Here,” He tapped something, making his screen visible–a jumbled mess of code and photos. “Normally when data gets corrupted, there's one of a few things that happens depending on the corruption. I’d expect to see blank folders or jumbled text. Even random Unicode characters wouldn’t be uncommon but well… This is new, even for me.”

On his screen, it was like gravity had disappeared. Text floated fifteen lines above where it should have been, folders replaced with emojis and blank patches of neon blue. I’d not even call it code at this point. “Do you have any ideas?”

“One, and you’re gonna hate it. Let me look into this a bit more, I don’t want to plant ideas in your head just yet. I don’t trust someone willing to leap a police hover car with that.”

“It's not my fault I’m cool.”

“Quiet down everyone!” Professor Remming walked out from the front, a shorter man with a voice that boomed like a cannon. His well-fit suit barely creased as he took a seat.

“I know a lot of you have been prepping for the exam next week, too much if you ask me, so to keep your head on straight today we're going to have a debate. Winning side will earn ten extra points if they are able to articulate their side well enough.” He said, slapping a piece of chalk against the board.

My ethics professor, Professor Remming, wasn't like most of the professors at Protel University. For one, enkes were a foreign sight, as were most electronics. No screens, no 3d holograms, nothing but a piece of chalk and some handmade drawings.

I loved it.

“Now, before you get up in a haste and choose your side, I have a story to tell you. In the old world, historical documents tell us they had courts much like our own in Iero, and it's from those documents that we have an intriguing example of a case long ago.

In those days, an innocent man sat on trial for a crime he did not commit–the murder of a pair of schoolchildren. The judge knew him innocent, the jury was convinced as well, yet the problem lay with the public. They were well convinced that he was guilty on all counts, and were more than ready to fight for their self-proclaimed justice if the court battle didn’t go their way.

Numbers differ, but a general estimate is that if he was found innocent officially, the death toll would number in the dozens, if not more, or it could have been zero. There's no guarantee when it comes to dealing with people.

To add on to the case, if he was found guilty, all efforts to search for the real killer would be stopped until the end of time. No need to search for a man who you already think you have.”

Professor Remming leaned up against his stand, his confidence almost contagious. “So class, if you were that jury, what would you do? Sentence the innocent man to death, or save his life while risking dozens of lives in the process?”

“Oh, this’ll be fun,” I muttered to Sky, leaning back in my chair.

My classmates shuffled about, heading to either side of the room–left for kill, right for save. Somehow they’d settled into an even split, because of course that's how this would go.

“I see,” He mused, standing back up and eyeing both sides, an uncertain air to his stance. “Team kill, state your case.”

A girl my age stepped out from the crowd, with long brown hair and a cute orange top. “From our perspective, you have to like, kill him or something. I think everyone here could agree that a dozen lives are worth more than one, so like, it's simple math. Sure it sucks that he has to die, but it's for the greater good.”

“Interesting, team save?”

“Well, it's quite elementary if you ask me. Team kill is operating clearly on the premise that innocents will die. Humans aren't so predictable. As Professor Remming himself said, that's no guarantee. But, for argument's sake, let's say the killings are guaranteed. Is putting the rioters above the innocent man the right decision? However it came to be, there's no denying the rioters are there of their own free will. Mob justice is bad, no matter the cause.”

“Interesting perspective. Both fascinating yet flawed in their own ways. You there in the back, I noticed you two didn’t bother to take a side.

“Me?” Crap, I shot up as his finger pointed straight at us. Time to use my most practiced skill–making shit up. “Uhh, I’m just so split I couldn’t choose a side. Hypotheticals like this never reflect reality anyway, not that I’d ever be put in a position like this anyway.”

“Who knows, in modern day Iero technology brings new surprises every day.” He snapped, the chalkboard behind him folding itself back into the wall. “Ten points to everyone here today! And, make sure to do some research on my question. Your answers today were insightful, but on the exam I’ll be expecting you to go a bit more in-depth.”

A cheer went out as I collapsed back in my chair. Crisis averted.

“Well would you look at the time, class dismissed!” The professor said, getting to his feet. “I expect to see each and every one of you here bright and early next week!”