At 0600 hours, the young man awoke to his alarm. That gave him an hour until the rest of the city awoke to prepare for the day.
He started by stumbling his way into the bathroom and cleaning himself up. You could certainly say that this young man was not a morning person. Afterwards, he took the stairs down to the 10th floor which housed the building's cafeteria which took up almost the whole floor. He enjoyed the less crowded stairs as it gave him time to think alone. The elevator was always too awkward for him this early.
Even before entering the canteen, he already started to develop a headache from the noise. "How are some people so energetic in the morning…" he grumbled as he pushed the door open and entered. The canteen in the Command Center served the 13 council members, the command center staff, support staff and the maintenence crew and janitorial staff.
The young man joined the line for food which seemed to wrap around the room, but it moved swiftly and, within a few minutes, he had his dry biscuit, vegetable soup and a bottle of water. He found an empty table off to the side so he could enjoy his breakfast. That didn't last long, though.
"Heya Gabe."
"Hello Emma, good morning," his morning headache just got a lot worse.
"How's council life treating you?"
"I didn't even get to introduce myself before a vote to remove me was put forth…" the young man replied.
"Ouch. That's rough." An aura of darkness fell over the man. "You were placed in logistics right? How's that going?" He questioned to lift the dark mood.
"Well, when you don't have all that much to move, it's not so much a question of how to move it, but how to move it most efficiently. It's not a flashy job like yours, but it'll keep the planet alive just that little bit longer."
"Yea I guess we all have to do our part to keep it alive, or at least that's what the propaganda mill says. I suppose it's partly my propaganda mill now. I could've done with any other job." Gabe grumbled at the end.
"Yea I never woulda thought Algo would pick you as the new council member. It usually picks some old raisin that's 'old and wise.' I feel like the last councilor it chose was over 80," Emma replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"I wouldn't have put it that way, but I was thinking along the same lines. It's all I've thought about since we graduated 2 weeks ago and got our assignments." Silence settled over the table as confusion crept in the two's minds.
"Hey it's not all bad, you've got me here to cheer you up!" Emma said with a much needed lighthearted tone. You can always rely on Emma to bring a little color to the hazy, grey world.
Emma and Gabe graduated from university together two weeks ago. Prior to the ecological collapse, students spent 24 years in school to learn all of the knowledge needed for their advanced technology, and that was before any Ph.D. or Master's programs. With the advanced medical knowledge resulting in a higher life expectancy, this wasn't a huge deal as it was necessary for new students to obtain that knowledge.
However, that's not the case anymore. Waiting until that age would remove a significant portion of the potential labor force, so the government took a different approach. The full curriculum would be accelerated to 20 years but maintain all the same content. Education up until 16 remained the same, meaning students would have to learn 8 years of information in half the time. When students inevitably fell behind, they would simply drop out and enter the workforce.
Those with a lower IQ would drop out early, not waste a lot of resources and contribute to the city much quicker. The geniuses who managed to keep up would receive proper education and most likely gain a better job after graduation. It's a very cruel system that ensures minimum resource expenditure for the most educated students.
The other half of the system is the Algorithm, or what the students nicknamed Algo. It is a complex computational algorithm that takes in a persons character, personality, skills, abilities and anything that can be quantified to determine which job suits each person best. This is the only hope for those who drop out early. If a person has great communication skills, leadership abilities or intuitive understanding of a specific field, the Algorithm takes it into consideration and can potentially elevate someone's job. The reverse can also happen to those unfortunate souls.
As part of law, the Algorithm's assignments are always followed first, no matter what. However, The Algorithm can make mistakes so every worker is given performance reviews periodically, especially at the beginning of their employment. This is where others are able to claim incompetence or poor work quality and have them reevaluated. Only about 5% of people need reevaluation and reassignment, though. The rest find themselves working there for the rest of their life.
When someone dies, there are two options for who fills the now empty roll: either a promising new student is assigned by the Algorithm or the Algorithm transfers someone from a different job. That roll is then filled until no empty positions are left. The same happens if someone is deemed unfit during one of their performance reviews.
That is what happened in Gabe's situation. The previous Commander in Chief died to old age at the ripe old age of 97. However, never in the Algorithm's 15 years of service has someone so young been selected for a councilor position, especially for the Commander in Chief.
Gabe and Emma chatted quietly in the now bustling canteen when a sudden announcement was made.
"ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS REPORT TO THE MAIN MEETING ROOM IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT, ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE TO REPORT TO THE MAIN MEETING ROOM IMMEDIATELY."
"That's not good," Gabe thought aloud immediately after hearing the announcement.
"Oh do you think a group of outlaws attacked a logistics caravan again? Or do you think the mutant cockroaches took over the sewers again? Ooh! Do you think-"
"I think this is something different," Gabe cut Emma off. "I've had a weird feeling in my gut since I woke up. I have no idea what it is, though."
"Yea I guess those don't really require the council to convene," Emma replied in thought. "C'mon get up, you can't give those other councilors another reason to request your reevaluation!" she exclaimed as she literally pulled Gabe out of his seat and pushed him towards the elevators. "I'll try and find you during mealtime. You need to give me all the juicy details!" She yelled towards him as he walked away.
As he walked through the cafeteria towards the elevators, the eyes of most of those inside followed and snickered with rude comments.
"I bet he'll be the first of his class to be reassigned. What was Algo thinking making him chief? He looks like a single roach would tear him to shreds!" A particularly vocal man exclaimed.
It wasn't all rude comments, there were just as many comments of pity for him being so unfairly placed. Didn't matter to Gabe which of the two people voiced. Either way, they didn't think he could do his job, and that frustrated him more than anything.
"Its not like I choose this," he grumbled quietly as he walked through the tables of pitying eyes and mocking laughter. He finally made it towards the elevator and pressed the button for the 20th floor. The elevator did a quick scan and then started to rise. Only authorized personnel were allowed on that floor.
In the cafeteria, at the table Gabe came from, Emma watched silently as Gabe entered the elevator and left. "I believe in you, I know you can protect us, even if you don't think you can," she whispered in a voice barely audible, even to herself.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Gabe stepped out and made his way towards the main meeting room. He stopped outside and took a few deep breaths. "Stay composed, pay attention, and act confidently," he hyped himself up. His back straighten up, his shoulders rolled back, his eyes shifted from a dopey tired look to one with seriousness and intelligence.
He took another breath and opened the door. 23 sets of eyes snapped to him and conversation stopped. The 12 councilors and their assistants stared at him, almost as if they were wondering why he even bothered showing up. The only pair of eyes that didn't seem mocking were the eyes of the Speaker, the head of the council.
"Now that we are all here, please take your seats, we have much to discuss," the Speaker announced in a quiet yet commanding voice.
The Speaker was a wise and sagely old lady. By Gabe's guess, she was likely in her 70's, an achievement in today's world, meaning she was likely born before the Political Revolution of the 2030's. Her name was Diane Freemont and was the only council member that didn't totally disregard Gabe.
She had kind, wrinkled, hazel eyes that demanded respect. While she may be old, she was by no means frail. With her living for almost 40 years before the ecological collapse, she had likely received genetic enhancements and small cybernetic augmentations. Both of which kept her in good health comparable to when she was in her 50's.
In fact almost everyone of middle class or higher could afford enhancements if they were born before the collapse. Gabe received genetic enhancements since he was born before the collapse. He never received cybernetic augmentation, though, because you had to physically mature first.
"John, would you please read the report your intelligence has gathered?" Speaker Diane requested.
"Yes, Lady Speaker." John was the head of Intelligence which is one of the 12 sectors. The sector is responsible for duties such as, intel gathering, citizen monitoring, maintenance of internal records and others. Essentially, the CIA of the old United States of America.
John turned to address the council, "Over the last 3 weeks, we have identified a number of unexplained signal interference events..."