Thrones of Blood and Dust

NUG

National University of Giranticus was one of the most popular colleges in Mars. It was located in Woldo City: the capital of Giranticus.

Jack and the other four were admitted into the university after a day rest in their lodge. Everyone was entitled to a suit of three big rooms and five female maids.

Max could not believe when they asked to bath him. He gladly concurred and ended up getting a massage and caress. Life was good but better in Mars, he thought.

After all due processes, they were admitted into the college.

“This is the first step, getting general education about the universe. You are only aware of your earthly knowledge. There are more to learn and explore. There will always be more. The university is conventional. You will spend one month in other to acquire a degree and enhancement…”

Max sent a mental letter to his father.

Dear father, you think I am rotten  in jail. No, your boy is getting more than an international degree which I never even had the state degree. I am going to have inter-planet degree in one month. I am not a failure. Maybe you failed in raising me the way you ought to have.

“After the college, you will proceed to the academy before the final draft.”

Father, I am going to get a badge too. They said I am chosen. I feel the real Max they chose will pop out at the last minute and claim his seat. But don’t worry, even if he does, it is on record that I attended a university in Mars, drove in an ice car and had five Mars girls bath me.

The school was very big with magnificent structures. The Quaqua drove in through a very wide gate which was guarded by strange looking beings.

They were students all around, from different races and species. Most of the cars looked like sport cars, while some had more bizarre shapes.

They were driven to the administration block for final registration.

The building was a masterpiece. It was built in water, with massive glass bridges, with pellucid blue water with strange sea creatures swimming around.

The sky was blue, patched with yellow clouds, and a blend of gold color reflected. Space jets and flying saucers could be seen trafficking in the sky.

They were given all necessary documents, ID cards and orientation and field of study.

During the Welcoming Speech by the High Pedagogue (University President), he could resist his excitement in having such new students.

“National University of Giranticus is one of the most remarkable universities in the entire system.” HP Fumumbu had said proudly on the stage. “For over six hundred thousand years, NUG has produced some of the most notable scholars and great men in the world. Four out of the six renowned Klametarics  (a field of study in Mars) graduated from this great institution: Maberek Sintadel, Gugugu Hambtel, Twaller Shishifafashi, and Seneta Orgellaria. NUG has won the Lubanda Sports Trophy seventeen times and three times in the last two hundred years that I have been HP. I must confess that today happens to be one of the best days of my life. We have a set of new students that excite me and I am glad that this is happening during my life time and tenure as HP. For the first time ever, National University of Giranticus has students all the way from…Earth!”

Whoa!

There was a burst of excitement, astonishment and curiosity. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the new students.

“Please come on stage.” Fumumbu said.

“The HP is inviting students on stage!” Someone exclaimed. “It has never happened.”

“I don’t know what they take these Earthians for?” Another student said.

“Earthians?”

“What else do I call those jerks from Earth?”

“Are you jealous, Bampers?”

“No but I don’t like the attention they get. What the hell is so special about this Earth? What?”

“Maybe we will find out from these new students.”

No new student has ever been invited on stage of the HP and this seemed to make news.

The five of them came on stage amid applaud and eyes on them.

“You are welcome to NUG.” Said the Fumumbu. Fumumbu looked like human except the color of the skin which was whiter and the shape of his ears which was sharp at the edge.

“Thank you.”

“Why did you choose to come to NUG to study?”

“I love NUG because my grandfather once said he met a brilliant person under the ocean as he worked and they became friends. The person was a student of this college and my grandfather wished I would come here some day.” Max lied. “I am here grandpa.”

They clapped.

“So what course are you here to study?”

“Social Injected Flow.”

“That is a good one. What is your name?”

“Max Maxwell of San Francisco.”

The rest also introduced themselves.

“You are here to study Calcutrux Bysics and Machinetology. That is a complex one. What is your ambition?” Fumumbu asked Jack.

The hall was so silent.

“I do not have an ambition.” Jack said and there was a second of reactions and most of them were disappointed. “I know it sounds like retardation, but I got a mission, coming to NUG to study makes the base of the vision and to my realization, it is all a revision to ambition. I had an ambition which NUG brought to my notification.”

There was a loud applaud after his short speech.

There was a party organized in the evening that day. They called Flying In Party. It was organized to welcome new students.

After the school activities, they were summoned by Bitrux. It was time for Enhancement.

“I am sorry but you will spend the rest of the night for enhancement. It is the sine qua non for the rigorous lectures you must attend ahead. I must remind you that your true motive of coming here remains a secret. This is a normal. Convectional university and not a military academy so act normal and they must not know about your enhancement.”

“What is this enhancement all about?” Max asked.

‘That is the reason you are here. You will go through different stages and we how you can go through all today. Thank you.”

They were taken in an ice flying saucer to the enhancement centre.

They were made to sit on some chairs in a class.

“You shall wait for Barrydon Shyloq.”

Barrydon Shyloq was about three feet tall. His head was big, with square shaped eyes with no eyebrows. He wore what looked like a suit, but shiny and metallic.

“Sun in (good evening) my students. I am Barrydon Shyloq Vwiirrrr. I am a Barrydon of Braintialogy, a course which deals with the brains. I have studied over seven thousand brain species. I received your brain data before hand and made an extensive study.’

“How did you get the data?” Diallo asked.

“You were documented so every detail about you is known to us. I am to enhance the capacity and capability of your brains. With the loads of fields of knowledge you need to acquire, and the complex diversity, you make use of the unused part of your brain.

Did you know that human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

The journey begins.....