Holonet

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16+ chapter ahead. --------------------------------------------------

A new room. Five beds, five closets, five nightstands. A datapad on each nightstand. It took the Jedi a day to get it all ready after that conversation with the handler. To be honest, I didn't understand the point of separating us from the bulk of the kids, but this is just the beginning. It's quite possible that our daily routine will change as well.

- Cool. - The word spoken from behind my right shoulder was, of course, different, but the meaning was exactly that.

As he said that, Palatt ducked past me and ran over to the nearest bed and flopped down on it.

- "That's cool! - he exclaimed again. - Look? Rayne, there are even mattresses!

Oh my God. What kind of an organization is this where kids get excited about mattresses?

The excited hissing from behind my left shoulder got even louder. Unlike the little Palatte, Rama couldn't get past me, so he was lingering behind me.

Once inside, and stepping aside to let the Tispian pass, I glanced around the room again.

The room itself looked small, about ten by five meters. There were five beds on one side, four regular rectangular and one round with a funnel-shaped depression. Apparently for a snake. Between the beds were nightstands with datapads on them, and opposite the beds, against the opposite wall, were five lockers. The walls were gray, the ceiling gray, the floor the same color... dull, in a word. And there are no private showers and toilets. And it's an even longer walk from here to them than from the dormitory.

- Soft," Ram stroked the insides of his bed. I've never seen a Tispian run to the latrine at night before.

The bed closest to the exit was occupied by Pal, and I went to the one behind it. Personally I didn't care where to sleep, I was much more interested in the datapad. So it was to it that I reached first of all and only then sat down on the bed, noting that the mattress was not so soft.

After twisting the miracle of local technology in my hands, I realized that it did not differ from my father's - the same "Versafunction 88", except that it was newer. And this could not but rejoice, with this model at least I know. Tack-s.... Turn it on, look... aha. Files folder - fourteen pieces of something. Let's see later. "Archives" - empty, "Trash", i.e. its counterpart - empty, applications... also empty. Connection to the holonet... wow, it works. Well, brother, let's live. It's, uh, two hours to bedtime. Where's our alarm clock? Mm-hmm.

- And what's this badge here? - Holy crap. I almost jumped at those words.

Palatt, who had approached unnoticed, was watching my actions with curiosity. I glanced over and saw that Ram, unlike the redskinned beastie, was comfortably ensconced in his bed, apparently already meditating.

- Download log," I answered the tagruthenny.

- What does that mean?

Fucking kids.

- This section will display everything you've uploaded to the datapad. When, how much, from where, for how long. What's viewed, what's not.

- What's that next to it?

- Palatte, don't you have something better to do?

- I don't.

- Then go meditate.

- Come on, Rae-ayne.

- Do you want to go back to the dormitory?

- No.

- Then go practice.

With a mournful expression on his face, turning back at me a couple of times, Pal settled on his bed in the lotus position and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. I was the only one who could not be pacified, so I looked him over with a stern gaze and went back to studying the datapad.

We got a new room the day after we talked to the curator. We were just picked up before the last lecture and escorted here. That was it. No instructions, no tutorials, no explanations, nothing at all. And since this reeks of moronic, even for the Jedi Order, I'm sure they'll explain everything to us before curfew tonight or tomorrow morning. Unless, of course, it's a test of some kind. Hmm, it could be. Why go to all this trouble?

We found out before lights out that it wasn't a test. A purple-skinned Jedi Twi'lek woman came into our room and announced that she was our new handler.

- As you can see," she nodded at the empty beds, "the room has room for five, but the allocation of younglings has not yet begun, so you will have to live in threes for a while. In that time I will teach you the first steps in the Force, and I hope that when there are five of you, you won't be cocky," she smiled. - Besides, you won't be much different. My task for the first time is only to show you the way in which your Power should develop. Because you've taken a different path so far, and if you take it any further, it will be very difficult for you to learn Jedi skills, and there are many things you would never master. Mmm, like reflecting blaster shots. - Oooooooooooo.... And here I was beginning to think this was some kind of Jedi philosophy. Or a banal restriction so we wouldn't find out too much. And here's how it is. - Until the younglings are assigned and your room is fully occupied, I will come and wake you every morning, but my advice to you is to get used to waking up by the alarm clock. You will study according to the old schedule with your old group, except for the last class, which you will study with me instead. As of this day, you have datapads and one hour of free time before bedtime. Once the younger groups are assigned, you will get another hour. During that time you can do your own thing, and I hope it will be self-education," she gave us a kind smile. - It is late today, but tomorrow I will take you to the library, where you can ask for the information you need for education. - And, after thinking for a while, she finished. - That's all for now. If you have any questions, ask them tomorrow, but now, younglings, go to bed and sleep.

When the door closed behind our new curator named Safi Lairi, I threw back the blanket, or rather the sheet, which is called a blanket here, and reached for the datapad. And for the first time since I had been in the Temple, I spent the time after lights out not on meditation. But Palatte and Rama, judging by the rustling, decided not to interrupt the tradition.

- Sleep," I said in a low voice. - No need to make things worse. You heard what Maestro Lairi said.

- And you? - Just as quietly so Pal spoke.

- I'll do the datapad. Go to sleep.

The Republic holonet can be summed up in one word: bummer. Exactly a bummer. It seems that, just like the Internet on Earth, you can find anything you like here, but alas, you can't download it. You have to pay money. I never found anything for free. No software, no books, no music, except that the YouTube analog was present. And in half of them, as it seemed to me, a part of videos was closed. Like, if you want to watch more, you have to pay. Fucking Republic with its democracy. Maybe there are some pirate sites, but I couldn't find them. Well, at least there was a shitload of articles. News, forums and ads. Especially advertisements.

When I got to grips with the holonet, I decided to look what files I had in the folder with the same name. "Techniques for Beginners", "One Hundred Ways to Use a Repulsor" heh, "Mechanics", "Elementary Engineering"... somehow all this for a five year old... complicated. Oh! "Droids for Kids", "Basic Engineering", "In the Footsteps of the Hyperdrive", "Basics for Beginner Programmers". That's the last one I'm gonna start with. I'm not a programmer, so it's not good to be a hitchhiker. I'm a kind of a student, albeit with a stretch, but I still have a long way to go before I am a classic hit-and-run guy. Well, a joke is a joke, but the opportunity to get into the "brains" of a droid and not only, will never be superfluous. And the main thing at the moment: no one will allow a five-year-old youngling to work at the workbench, but I already have a datapad for working with programs. And what is interesting, I even have the money to buy the necessary software. I would have to find out how to turn the chip my father had left me into an electronic account.