THE FEW IMPORTANT LESSONS#
“Now, wasn’t that interesting?” Master Engineer Sanchez had just introduced his young pupil to the Master Mechanic of the office, Robert Thompson, an old man who called himself a ‘phreak’ or something alike.
“The man is…” Technician Baldwin wanted to say crazy, lunatic maybe, or probably just deranged, but he had respect for old people.
“A little out of his mind—we all know.”
“Yes… a little…”
“Now, pupil, I have a question… for how long did you train with Master Balboa-Marquez?”
“Two years, Master.”
“Did he teach you the ‘basics’?”
“Basics? Of?”
“Interaction with different social groups.”
“My former Master did not interact much with society. He was a man who loved silence and the darkness of his basement.” Solomon smiled and placed his right arm over the neck of his pupil.
“Well, in that case, I need to instruct you in that matter.” He let go and took a few steps towards Tavera’s shop, then stopped in the door frame. “For you see, it IS an important thing to learn how to interact properly with every social group.”
“An example, Master?”
“When walking through the streets, did you greet anyone?”
“No, Master. I only minded my business.”
“Did anyone greet you?” Now that Daniel thought about it, he was greeted by several people as he walked through the streets. He didn’t return the formality with anything—not even a nod or a friendly hand.
“Yes…”
“Ah. It is always customary to make any sign of formality to those who greet you; the slightest shall do. Doing this is not only a formality but a ‘blessing’ to the commoners.”
“Blessing, Master?”
“They hate and love us at the same time. They think that we are the curse that brought the world into its current state, and I wouldn’t blame them. After the U32 incident, people have found it doubtful to trust any of our kind.”
“It was our fault…”
“Not ours directly, young one. The Engineers of lore predicted this, but it was not them who did not wish to proceed with the fixing—it was the Governors and the Law Men and those who hold the word of the several Gods. One can push as hard as he wants; we can all push as a group, but we will reach nowhere if the amount of people who pull against us have more power.”
“Then why a blessing if we are such a curse?”
“Because even if such was the level of damage provoked by the incident, they still need us to fix what little is left of ancient technology. Did your former Master ever explain to you the Legacy Complex?”
“He mentioned something but never went far with it.”
“Did I ever tell you what my mastery is?”
“I believe not.”
“I am Master of Legacy Archaeology. Computer Repairs is an addition to the title, but that honestly means nothing to me. But to avoid getting away from the main subject, my task is to investigate further into the remains of the past, to learn from it, and to spread the knowledge.”
“Like the book you found about the x86 Architecture or the discs you found containing non-corrupted versions of Linux?”
“Yes, that book is probably the most important find on the matter of hardware understanding, but the discs—those were a major find for the whole Order and the world, being able to reproduce and understand what caused the U32 incident.”
“What exactly caused the incident?”
“We are still not a hundred percent sure, but so far what we understand is that it is related to the infrastructure of the motherboards and the processors. Something they never thought about until a decade or two after the construction of the great father of all systems.”
“And why exactly wasn’t this fixed?”
“Our Blog Records and books show that this was caused by a conflict with several governments and companies of the world. It mentioned something regarding Legacy Software and what at the time was called the Week of Darkness.”
“I’ve heard the term before. Master Balboa-Marquez mentioned it during one of our discussions regarding programming.”
“And what did he tell you?”
“He said that they had to turn everything off literally to be able to update the core of the machines. Such things would have caused a global collapse that would have lasted for at least a week.”
“And they decided on an eternity over a week… the fools.”
“May the spirits of the great programmers watch over us, Master.”
“On a side note, never mention this to Engineer Tavera.”
“Why is that?”
“He gets a little out of hand with this type of conversation. You don’t want to make him angry or see him get angry—a personal experience that turned sour.”
“In my mind now, Master.”
“Master Engineer, do I interrupt something important?” Engineer Tavera called from behind Solomon. He turned around and saw the man holding a notebook.
“Found anything?”
“Not at all. We are all out of pieces from the last decades of the 20th century, and our supply from the early 21st are running low now.”
“And I suppose we cannot pull some strings and ask a favor or two?”
“We already pulled too many strings and asked too many favors without giving anything in exchange. As a matter of fact, Office 11 sent us a message just a few moments ago—they need support with some equipment.”
“What kind?”
“Software related. OS issues. They report errors on their desktop.”
“Can’t they fix it?”
“They don’t have specialists in that Office, only Mechanics, and as a matter of fact, we might be able to ask them to do us a favor in exchange.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Remember that old backup generator that busted last summer? Rob told me he could fix it if he had the pieces.”
“Leave the order for that PC at Office 11 on my desk, and I will check on it later when we get back from the Cathedral. Come, pupil, we leave before the traffic gets the best of us.”