Field Trip

All right class, Settle down and take your positions on your mats. Bobby, stop playing with your web suit. 

Yes, Mrs Pfeffer.

Today we are going to the Great Barrier Reef where we will learn about the life that abounds there. Please stand and put on your web suits and goggles, being careful not to tangle your umbilical cord with your neighbor's.  Stand only on your mat, not your neighbor's.  Do you understand Bobby? 

Yeees, Mrs Pfeffer

OK.  We are going to a briefing in the field. First, everyone adjust your video to your liking.  I'll be with you in a second or two....  Is everyone rezzed in?

YES MRS PFEFFER

All right.  Let me get my control panel up.  Hm, let me see: this one, that one, and the rest of these should do it.

The fish you see swimming in front of you are the twelve we shall study today in our outing. Memorize the color patterns and names. There will be a test on them tomorrow. The Yellow Fin Tuna a staple for most fishermen...next, we see the Hammerhead Shark, a predator with...

Mrs Pfeffer, Mrs Pfeffer,

Yes Cindy?

Can I download these so I can memorize them?

No Cindy, we will do this the old fashioned way. We will catch each one of these fish, one-by-one, until each of you has caught all twelve. Scientists used to study primitive life forms by catching, killing, and preserving them in fluids, for examination later. But we know better now, and rely on daily observations from quadrillions of autonomous nano-cameras in the oceans. We will be assigned one camera each and will actually see the environment that exists on the reef.

Jot your notes down by placing a thumbnail picture of each one in your heads up display.  Please identify the genus and species. OH ...and one more thing I forgot to tell you. We are all going to be bottle nosed dolphins.  In this way, you will have a reason to eat the fish. As you eat them they will be downloaded into your memory chips whether you have wetware , a chip in your skull. or the standard 10 terabyte thumb drive you have been given. Bobby I believe you are the only one with wetware, and you know how to access the data.

yes Mrs. Pfeffer, I am ready to accept all inputs. Please provide data.

"chuckle, chuckle, very good imitation of an andriod Bobby.

What are the controls Mrs Pfeffer, how do we swim as a dolphin?

Well, Becky, your legs power you forward.Just squat and stand. Every time you squat the tail will move down, then when you stand up, the tail goes up with you. Steering is accomplished with your arms. Put your arms straight out and your hands flat facing down, this is straight cruising. To turn right, dip your right shoulder and arm down like you are an airplane. Left turn is using left shoulder. To go up arch your back and look up, to go down bend over slightly and look down. The web suits should give you sensory feedback like the water is rippling past you.  Be careful these suits provide level 1 feedback so don't touch anything, except the fish. I know this is difficult for you, so we shall practice here in the fields before we go. Angie I want you to swim in the air just above the grass. So over to the magnolia trees on the far side of the hill, then turn around and come back. Remember, fly your dolphin like an airplane.

Yes Mrs Pfeffer

Ok Bobby you follow Angie then Andrew follows Bobby, and the second row follows Andrew. Stay in the simulation do not swim outside the pattern of lights I am providing for you now. Yes that's it just kick your right leg and fly your arms...

And what class is this??

That would be Mrs Pfeffers class Monsignor They are scheduled for a field trip today.

Can they hear us Father David? What are those kids doing, exercising?

No they cant hear us as long as they have their headgear on they are immersed in a 3 dimensional world. The web suits were a donation. They allow us to digitally recreate the body in cyberspace and provide limited tactile responses back to the user, so they actually feel the world they are in. The headgear gives them a 260 degree view of their world. And I believe the class is experiencing a P.E.F.T. A Physical Education Field Trip., where we combine athletics with classroom activities Its all quite fascinating...

Yes it is but lets get back to the point you and this school are bankrupt, the mortgage is overdue for 6 months and your classrooms are getting empty. You have no new sources of income. So what are you going to do.

Pray Monsignor, just pray that we find and Angel to guide us from this mess and into prosperity.