Outliers 2A Artemis

Written by Artemis Stone

    Alan Scott sat in the back of the room.  He heard the board and wanted to comment, but he really didn’t have much to add.  It just amazed him that they were years into the fall and yet people still complained that they wanted more of the schools and teachers.  Some wanted the school to feed their kid, but they didn’t have the facilities.  Others wanted leniency for bad behavior.  And yet others wanted the school to keep out of disciplining their children.

The board reminded the parents that it was not their job to feed the kids or put clothes on their back. Nor was it their mandate to allow poor performance and bad behavior to go unchallenged and in some cases without consequences. 

Now the board had one more motion on the agenda.  The motion that Alan was waiting for.  The secretary of the board stood and read the motion.  “There is a petition before this board to expel one Artemis Stewart Stone for misbehavior and dangerous actions while a student at the High School Level.” 

The lead board member listened and then said, “The motion is before the board.” He then looked out over the crowd, “Those that oppose the proposal will address this board at this time.  You will have five minutes to speak.”

An older woman stood and made her way to the front. She looked at each board member. “My son loves school and learning.” 

There were some laughs from the crowd.

The Board Chair reminded the crowd that they would respect the speaker.

The old lady started again, “Art’s a good kid.  A bit too curious sometimes, but he doesn’t mean anyone any harm.”  She looked at each board member, he only has half a year left.  She trailed off.  There was an emptiness in that statement. She had nothing else to add.  She could not defend his actions.  She turned to leave.  

Once she sat down and no one else rose to defend Artemis the board opened the floor to those that supported the measure.  At this point two men and the women stood at once.  They looked at each other and kinda decided that the closest one to the board should go first.  She brought a piece of paper with her and looked at it as she spelled out all the incidents she had encountered with the young man.  This was followed by others.  All of the supporters were tired of the disrespect and trouble that this student was showing in their classes.  The final straw was when Artemis built what looked like a bomb and when it went off, it spread foam all over the classroom.  They suspended him for that, but this petition was for a permanent suspension.  Which meant that Artemis would be entering the workforce full time.  And that is why Alan was here.  What would you do with a kid like this?

When the last petitioner had spoken a vote was cast and Artemis was unanimously kicked out of school.  

Alan walked the short distance from the meeting house to the home of Artemis’ mother.  She had left after the first speaker took the stand.  She knew that there was no use in trying to dissuade the board to her favor.  Alan wanted to talk to the young man before the school board did.  They would actually write up a letter and have it delivered to his house. But Alan didn’t need to wait for that, he needed to figure out where to place this person before everyone heard about the expulsion.  

“Good evening Mam.” Alan said when Clare answered the door.

“Oh my, it must be really bad news if you are here.” She exclaimed.

“I’m afraid so.” Alan said. “Can I come in and talk to him?”

“Don’t know what good it would do.” Clare said as she waved her hand.

Alan was shown to Artemis’ room.  He knocked.

“Come in.” was all he heard.

Alan opened the door and there in the dark was Artemis sitting by the window. 

He didn’t even look around when he said, “I’m out.  Right?” 

“Yes.” Alan said.  

“Just as good.” Artemis responded.

“Have you given any thoughts about what’s next?” Alan asked.

Artemis turned to him and realized who was at his door.  He stood, “No Sir.” 

Alan had given up on trying to get people to stop calling him sir.  He was the head Elder and he had been so for almost a four years.  He knew his time was coming to an end, but for now all of this was still his to solve.  “Can you tell me anything that could help you?”

Artemis looked at Alan for a few seconds then turned back to the window, “No.”

“Do you understand the concept of having liabilities and assets.” Alan asked.

“I’m a liability.” Artemis said.
“Yes.” Alan did not continue.  Artemis knew that right now he was costing the colony resources without returning anything.  That was something no one could afford.   

“You know there are going to be more of us?” Artemis said without turning around.

“I know.” Alan said

“We can’t change.” Artemis said.

“Some have.” Alan said.

“They lie.” Artemis was getting angry.

“I know.” Alan said.

“If you're so damn smart why can’t you fix this.” Artemis turned around.

“Have you tried engineering?” Alan asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Artemis put his hand to his head, “So boring.  We don’t have any calculators and if I do one more page of load calcs or evaluate heat loss on a building.. Well I’d shoot myself.” 

“I don’t understand.” Alan said.

“WE DON’T HAVE Calculators or computers. So every first grade engineer has to slog through the math manually.  Thousands of simple calculations.. Pages and pages.” Artemis was very agitated. And then explained, “They bring these pages to the advanced math classes as busy work.  This way they get their calculator, us, and the teacher gets a free pass.” 

“Is it important work?” Alan asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well”, Artemis turned to him and saw that he already knew.  “It doesn’t make it not boring.” 

“I wish we had calculators and computers, but we don’t.  We also don’t have.” Alan was cut off.

“The luxury of a freeloader.” Artemis said.

“No.” Alan said waiting for Artemis to conceded 

Artemis raised his eyebrows to indicate that he was listening.

“We don’t have scientists.” Alan continued. “Or full time politicians.” he had a far away look in his eyes. “There was a day when they made great discoveries and produced marvels.  But that was yesterday.  Today we need practical things.  Things that allow us to make it another season. Another year.  Things that will ensure that our children's children will survive.”

“I know.” Artemis said.  

“So tell me what you can do to that end.” Alan stated.

“I don’t know.” Artemis was frustrated.

“Well, you need to find something.” Alan stood, “I’m expecting an answer by the first of next week.” and then he turned to leave.

“There will be more of us.” Artemis said.

“I know.” Alan responded. He turned back to the genius kid, “There are more of you… Outliers. Then anyone wants to admit.  They're on both ends of the spectrum and they will always be a problem to the society as a whole.”

“So… What…” Artemis was looking for something.

“We kill them.” Alan said.

“What?” Artemis was surprised.

“We exile them.” Alan was cold.

Artemis paced back and forth.  This is the first time he actually thought about being put out of

the colony.  Oh shit!  That was just not where he thought this conversation was going.

“Stop!” Alan said.  “You need to calm down and think.  What do you bring to us that we can

use?” Alan went to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder, “stop and think.  Make a list of things you can do for these people.  To make a difference and to ensure we can do better tomorrow.” Alan said calmly.

Artemis was starting to feel hopeful again, “I can do.. A lot of things.”

“Get me a list.” Alan said, “By Tuesday.” 

Artemis shook his head yes.

“It will be okay.” Alan assured him. And as a joke, “Maybe you can come up with a plan that deals with Outliers in a better way.” With that, Alan left.

Welcome to the Outliers Handbook.

    

            If you want to read more about the Remnant Series see the links below.

            Book 1-3: Graham Heights available on Amazon.com

            Book 4: The Grey Abyss available on Amazon.com

            Bood 5: Chaos coming soon to Amazon.com

Book 6: Obsidian Arrows

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R. A. Legg

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.