When Hancock first arrived, she had spotted the enormous Vine reaching into the sky. She had never imagined Rubick's home—and royal residence—was up there.
"What about the east?" Hancock asked. "It sounds like these districts form one big ring."
"That's right," Rubick said. "The middle is a huge park where residents can relax. Besides gardens, it has public facilities like table tennis and basketball courts."
"The eastern district is for public services. That's where our hospital and schools are."
"A hospital and schools?" Hancock asked in surprise.
"That's right. A hospital is where people go when they're sick or injured. When the country was smaller and had fewer people, a handful of doctors was enough. But as the population grows, we'll need a hospital."
"Then there are the schools. We can't let our children spend every day running around outside. If they don't work hard while they're young, they'll regret it when they're old. I started school at seven and graduated at twenty-one. That's how I gained the skills I have today."
"Hiss..."
Hancock and Old Woman were stunned. Even Kalifa had only just learned that Rubick had spent fourteen years in school.
"Every country is different," Rubick said. "Children in Sky Country won't need to study that long, but they'll have to be at least sixteen before they graduate."
After discussing it with his father, Foer, Kapa, and the others, Rubick had decided that children would start kindergarten at four. The main purpose was to bring them together under one system. If families kept raising their children entirely on their own, as they had before, it would be little different from leaving them to grow up on their own. That would make it harder for the country to plan for its future talent.
The ten years from ages six