The Governing Board Addresses the Virus
I know people think of me as being powerful, confident, and brave. And I’m not here to say I’m not those things. It should be noted, however, that having confidence and power doesn’t mean that I don’t feel tremendous pressure, strain, and even fear about what might happen next.
As governing board chairman, I have a responsibility to maintain a strong presence when I’m on stage, however, and I will do everything in my power to do so for the others.
I stand in front of the mirror: my all-black attire brings out the brilliant blue of my eyes. From the audience, no one will be able to see the clouds of worry that lurk behind them. The reality is, students of VLG have always had free choice. And throughout the years, most students have more or less stayed on the course outline as expected.
Have there been discrepancies? Sure. But always small, and always based on individual choices.
This virus however….it was changing everything. Students — good students — were going into the games and seemingly losing that ability to choose. Somehow, they were experiencing a sort of paralysis of free will that was changing everything about how the game was supposed to be enhancing their lives and their learning.
If there was some small fringe group just getting their highs off of showing that they can hack, that would be one thing. But this was bigger — even without being able to see the full scope of it, I could see it was much, much, bigger.
This was about creating fear, and the fear was meant to lead to total control.
At the moment, the signs were pointing towards the Zychosids. They were a smaller group, so at least that part felt manageable, at least if we took action soon enough. I shake my head, grimacing into the mirror.
The Zychosids had always been bad news, but we had chosen to just leave them alone. They hadn’t wanted to evolve, or learn, or take part in growing….but they hadn’t been hurting anyone either. So we hadn’t insisted, hadn’t made an effort to pull them into the new, modern world with the rest of us.
And now their lust for power and greed, coupled with their archaic way of life and thinking, had launched them into a dangerous game of virtual virus spreading.
Looking back, it seems to clear to me that we should have intervened long ago. When we heard they were having reproductive issues, we could have done something maybe? Instead, we carried on with our way of life and let them find their own remedies. The cloning they had been doing had obviously worked — they had a whole generation to show for it. But apparently they had also been isolating traits to either increase or remove them from their latest progeny.
And some of the things they were removing seemed to be creating an aggressive generation that was set on becoming powerful players on the universal scale. And they were apparently going to achieve that by inserting a virus into the VLG program.
I turned from the mirror, head spinning with how to best convey confidence, while also imparting the need for strong, decisive action. Because the worst news I’m sharing today is that someone from inside the governing board may somehow be tied to what’s happening.
After all, student reports that confirm the presence of the virus have come from only some schools — schools that the board has visited. I need to be honest with people, but I also don’t want to spread fear about who can be trusted. Otherwise when it comes time for the board to advise on what action to take, people might not listen — they might feel they have to revolt against us in order to truly be free from this insidious virus.
The only thing I know for sure — things are going to get more extreme before they get better. I have a three part plan to present today, and I can only hope that it will be a turning point in this insidious virus problem.
I run my hand over my bald head one last time, straighten my tunic, and stride confidently towards the stage.
