Hieronymus Bosch Lyceum

The Hieronymus Bosch Lyceum (HBL) is one of eighteen secondary education institutes located in the city of ’s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1965 and ultimately named after Hieronymus Bosch, who was born in ’s Hertogenbosch.

Known for its experimentations with new pedagogical ideas and technologies, the HBL offers secondary education for higher general and preparatory science education. The current student population comprises 2,100 students.

In 2049, the HBL campus was quarantined due to the release of a modified strain of E. coli believed to have been engineered by the Dr4ma student collective.

HistoryPermalink

The Hieronymus Bosch Lyceum (HBL) was founded in 1965 as the Revolutionaire Maring College. The school underwent many transformations in response to societal developments, most noticeably changing its name to the Bisschop Mutsaerts College in 1970, the Hertogslyceum in 1984, and the Algemeen College Den Bosch in 1998. The HBL received its current name in 2013 after Hieronymus Bosch. ^[1]

When Elsi Bruines took over as principal of HBL in 2040, she launched a Fit for the Future initiative to modernise the school’s campus, including a relocated main entrance to accommodate both bicycle and waterway access. After the Netherlands voted in favour of Resolution ES-13/6 in 2041, Bruines expanded the initiative to include neural colloid implants for students and staff to “enhance cognitive functions, improve memory retention, and facilitate real-time data processing.” ^[2]

In September 2045, Bruines announced a partnership with Orbitat Inc. for the creation of an HBL corb on Orbitat that would enable students to attend classes digitally as well as physically “to make sure their education does not suffer because of illness, injury, or any other type of absence.” This partnership was later identified as the reason behind a sharp rise in HBL tuition fees. ^[3]

The Orbitat integration saw a difficult start, with students wearing inappropriate skins, hacking profiles to impersonate each other and their teachers, vandalising class rooms with decal sprays, and risking exposure to outside actors. While some of these issues were mitigated through the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven filters and moderation, others continue to this day.

2049 quarantinePermalink

October 4th 2049Permalink

The HBL campus was quarantined by the National Institute for Public Health (NIPH) on the request of Irina Koval, the mayor of ’s Hertogenbosch. In her statement, Koval claimed that she had been in communication with the World Health Organisation (WHO) after G6 flagged an outbreak of an unknown pathogen among the students, which was initially believed to have been Cariappa-Muren disease (CMD). ^[4]

At 14:30 CET, police forces cordoned off the outside of the school after several parents attempted to get past NIPH personnel to retrieve their children. A video clip posted to social media showing a parent being pinned to the ground and handcuffed by a police officer led to concerns over excessive use of force, with a statement from NIPH attributing the incident to “an unfortunate miscommunication between health officials and local authorities.” ^[5]

October 5th 2049Permalink

The NIPH brought a specialised hazmat team on-site, but no effort to enter the school premises was made. A member of the team voiced their frustration when questioned by a reporter from Brabants Dagblad, stating that “we’re completely ready to go in, but apparently we’re waiting on some third party to arrive.” ^[6]

According to messages exchanged between HBL students and their parents outside of the communications blockout, the outbreak began during the communal lunch break, with students and staff reporting symptoms ranging from nausea and uncontrollable coughing to chest pains and heart palpitations. While school officials initially assumed food poisoning, not all affected students had consumed the lunch options offered by the school.

October 6th 2049Permalink

Image

A published and subsequently deleted post on the MeHive account of an HBL student collective known as Dr4ma indicated that an unknown number of students have barricaded themselves inside the campus. ^[7] On the evening episode of The Lens with Rikki, Rikki van Roest seized on the events by blaming Dr4ma for the development and deliberate release of an engineered pathogen to force a school closure. ^[8]

October 7th 2049Permalink

After Koval’s office responded to van Roest’s claim by urging everyone to “avoid jumping to conclusions from the mouths of pompous windbags,” van Roest alleged to be in possession of evidence that Koval initially refused the WHO request to lock down the HBL campus and thereby “needlessly endangered lives.”

At 13:30 CET, a police negotiator arrived on the scene to establish communication with the students, with one news report indicating that they have been in conversation with school nurse Herman van Roosendaal. ^[9]

October 8th 2049Permalink

At 15:00 CET, police commissioner Myrthe Cornelissen issued a statement to confirm that the outbreak “most likely” resulted from a modified strain of E. coli, adding that Dr4ma was being investigated for its role in the creation and spread of the pathogen. Cornelissen made no comment on how this conclusion was reached or whether the claims made by van Roest contributed to it. ^[10]

October 9th 2049Permalink

After coordinating with police, the NIPH hazmat team entered the school as part of a “supervised testing scheme” to allow the release of students and staff that exhibited no symptoms of infection with E. coli. Koval stated that the quarantine would be maintained for those who were infected, adding that this would take “up to three weeks, which is as long as it can take for the pathogen to clear from the body.”

In response to Koval’s statement, the parents of the Dr4ma students announced their intention to press charges against the police for “defamation, false imprisonment, and unwarranted use of force.”

Fatiha Arroub, a microbiologist who has assisted the science faculty of the HBL in the organisation of biohacking competitions, commented that the E. coli strain could have been developed from samples supplied by Branch Education. Arroub speculated that such a pathogen could theoretically produce chemicals that can pass through the blood-brain barrier and interfere with the function of colloids. ^[11]

Notable graduatesPermalink

• Fatiha Arroub, microbiologist and recipient of the Leeuwenhoek Medal
• Georgette de la Fontaine, Oscar-nominated director
• Deena Kim, comedian and radio producer
• Sem Peeters, Olympic gold winner obstacle swimming in 2036
• Rikki van Roest, media personality and former politician

See alsoPermalink

• Dr4ma
• Biohacking

ReferencesPermalink