Tales of the Spinward March Book 2: The Red Queen by David Winnie

Author:David Winnie [Winnie, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2017-10-01T06:00:00+00:00

Annika tapped on the door to Father James’ office. “Enter,” he called.

His office was neat, organized. She liked that. Other professors she had visited had messy, disorganized spaces. Father James’ office would have pleased Miss Norris to no end.

“Miss Raudona. I’m pleased to see you. Have a seat; how may I help you?”

She fidgeted for a moment, then stated, “I’m still not sure I understand today’s lesson. Was the statement valid or not?”

Father James steepled his fingers. “You were educated by Proctors using the direct download method, yes?”

“Why yes,” she responded, surprised. “How do you know of this? I was told it is a secret.”

“Amongst government and military departments, it is a big secret, yes,” he told her. “But educators have been discussing it with your Proctors for years. Imagine, loading all the information anyone needs for a lifetime directly into a subject’s brain, thus eliminating the need for a formal education. I believe you are experiencing the fault we found in educating this way.”

“I can access the information and utilize it. But without direct experience, I have trouble understanding it,” Annika said.

“Precisely. Consider Miss Wallace’s apple,” he suggested. “I could show you an image of the apple and I could show you the apple itself. I could describe how the apple tastes and the texture of the apple when I bite it. But how will you understand any of these things if you don’t taste the apple yourself?”

“My education is inadequate, then?” asked Annika.

“Heavens, no!” exclaimed the priest. “I daresay most of the university’s staff would love to have your knowledge! What we must achieve here for you is what can’t be downloaded. The ability to process and utilize the information, even if you don’t have direct experience. Today’s statement, for instance. You can’t grasp when I say there is no right or wrong answer.”

“But there must be a correct answer,” Annika insisted. “Every question must have a correct answer.”

“Not always,” the priest said. “Once you have achieved your throne, you will find that there aren’t always clear-cut answers to every problem. There will be many times when the best answer is the first idea that comes to you. Other times, you will simply have to do what seems most right at the time. But you will be wrong, more than once. In those times, you must learn from your wrong decisions and not repeat the same error.”

“You don’t understand, Father,” Annika argued. “As Empress, whole worlds, even of whole species will depend on my every decision. If I am wrong, beings will die. I was raised to be perfect and I must make perfect decisions.”

“No, Crown Princess. You have to be human,” he said kindly.

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