Arcadia Boulevard and Quant Boulevard no longer met in the middle of downtown. Not for vehicles anyway. They were both closed for one block either way from the center of town.
First Street between University and Hospital was westbound only, Hospital from First to A was southbound only, A Street from Hospital to University was eastbound only, and University Street between A and First was northbound only.
These streets formed what amounted to a two-block-on-a-side traffic circle around the center of town. The center of town was a pedestrian zone.
JieMin got off the bus at Arcadia Boulevard and First Street. He waited for the traffic light crosswalk signal, then walked across First Street and down the broad sidewalk that had been Arcadia Boulevard.
He was in the middle of four of the largest buildings he had ever seen. As big as anything in the Chen compound. Except these were made entirely of steel and glass. These were the four original buildings of the colony, he realized. Transported from Earth a hundred years ago.
He walked forward under the pedestrian bridge between what must be the university to his left and the hospital to his right and into Charter Square. This had been the intersection of Arcadia and Quant Boulevards, but was now a large pedestrian park.
On the other side of the square, to the right, was the colony administration building. On that corner of the square stood a statue of a woman in a business suit holding aloft a document in her right hand. It read ‘Arcadia Charter’ across the top. The base of the statue was inscribed:
Adriana Zielinski
Chairman of the
Charter Convention
JieMin turned to the east, toward the university, and was struck by another statue there. This one was of an old man in a lavalava, bald, with a long mustache and goatee. He was seated in tailor’s seat on a pillow. The base of this statue was also inscribed.
Chen Zufu
Matthew Chen-Jasic
Father of the Republic
There were potted trees and flowers in the square, but the sight line between the two statues was kept clear. It was as if Adriana Zielinski was holding the Arcadia Charter up for Chen Zufu’s approval.
That was an actual event, JieMin knew. August first, 2295. Everybody knew that was the day Zielinski had taken the completed charter to the Chen for his approval. The statues recreated the event.
Chen JieMin felt proud to be Chen.
The University of Arcadia
JieMin went into the university building and took the elevator to the correct floor – the top one – for the president of the university.
There was a receptionist there, and he walked up to her desk.
“Hello, little boy. How may I help you? Are you lost?”
“I have an appointment with President Connor.”
“I don’t think so. Come along now. You should get back to your schoolwork.”
She got up from her desk and started to come around. JieMin decided it was time to invoke the magic name.
“I am Chen JieMin. I am sent by Chen Zumu.”
She was not Chen, but when JieMin mentioned Chen Zumu, the receptionist stopped like she had walked into a clear glass barrier. She sat back down at her desk, and checked her appointment schedule for Anders Connor.
“I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Chen. I have you right here. Please, have a seat, and I’ll let President Connor know you’re here.”
“Thank you.”
Anders Connor knew Chen JieMin was fourteen years old. He had also seen his picture in the university’s personal information file. Even so, he was not prepared for the slight, vaguely distracted youngster waiting in his lobby.
He would learn that vaguely distracted or vaguely disoriented look was part and parcel of Chen JieMin. He always looked like he couldn’t quite figure out what was expected of him, and, besides, he was mentally working on some complex problem at the moment and couldn’t be bothered to be completely in the here and now.
From JieMin’s point of view, Anders Connor was an impossibly tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed man in a business suit, about as far from being Chen as he could be.
“Mr. Chen,” Connor said as he walked up to JieMin.
JieMin stood, and Connor extended his hand. JieMin shook it.
“I’m very pleased to meet you. Please come into my office.”
“Thank you, President Connor.”
Connor waved JieMin to a chair in a sitting area off to the side of his office from the desk. Connor waited for JieMin to sit before he seated himself.
“When Chen Zumu called me about your situation, Mr. Chen, I of course checked your academic records. That you are so accomplished so young portends great things for your future.”
“Thank you, President Connor.”
“Now, Chen Zumu was very clear in her request to me that you be allowed to follow your own interests in pursuing your further education. We have advanced courses in mathematics, of course, from Earth. We also have advanced courses in some of the other disciplines in which mathematics plays a very central role. You may wish to sample some of those courses to see if something interests you.”
“Actually, that sounds very good, President Connor.”
“Excellent. For right now, we have an office for you in the Chen Hall of Science. That would be proper for a graduate research assistant to a professor. We are granting you the same sort of situation, but without the research duties. Your research duty will be to pursue your own interests.”
“That is very generous, President Connor.”
“Not at all, Mr. Chen. When one has such a gift, it is in everyone’s interests that it be developed fully.”
Connor nodded, as if convincing himself.
“Come with me, Mr. Chen, and let’s get you settled.
If anyone else thought it was unusual for the president
