ã€ŠFirst Academyã€‹


 Chapter 1:

    SIM AC513

    You have rolled SENSORY IMMERSIVE MODULE AC513.

    Leigh¡¯s CHIP immediately pulled up the SIM¡¯s stats. She¡¯d automated the procedure a long time ago.

    Difficulty Rating: A6

    Average Overall Completion Time: 00:31:36

    Average Overall Completion Score: 5,746.24

    Best Completion Time (Year) : 00:07:32

    Best Completion Score (Year) : 22,820.79

    Best Completion Time: 00:06:53

    Best Completion Score: 31,992.44

    Your Completion Time: N/A

    Your Completion Score: N/A

    Leigh¡¯s eyes went directly to the AOCT. She¡¯d been hoping for one of the shorter SIMs, so when she saw a Completion Time of over thirty minutes, she couldn¡¯t help but click her tongue in irritation. She was quickly rewarded with two unwelcome notifications.

    WARNING! 1 point deduction in Civilized Comportment.

    Reason: [attached vid]

    Leigh didn¡¯t need to watch it to know that it featured her little tongue clicking incident.

    WARNING! 5 point deduction in Anger Management.

    Reason: Elevated heart rate, increasing blood pressure, elevated catecholamine levels, muscles tensed at 32% above resting standard.

    Seeing as today was Selection Day, it was understandable for her stats to be a little off; she¡¯d been aware of it to a certain degree herself, but Leigh hadn¡¯t expected to be that far from baseline. Priding herself on being a level-headed person, she took a deep meditative breath to slow down her heart rate. She didn¡¯t, however, bother to meditate her body out of its tense state. There were only thirteen minutes left on the Selection countdown, and she wouldn¡¯t be at peace until the results were officially out. But releasing another slow breath, Leigh at least managed to get her vitals steady before she read on.

    Recommended corrective measures:

    Leigh contained an eye roll. She didn¡¯t want to get slapped with another deduction, but the fact that the UE Government took the time to inform her of ¡®corrective measures¡¯ twelve minutes and fifty seconds before points would never matter again was absolutely ridiculous. It deserved some kind of outward display of irritation, but Leigh managed to control herself. She hadn¡¯t gotten a score drop in weeks and to get two right before Selection would just be too embarrassing to bear. Instead, she took another deep breath and focused on the the standard UEG¡¯s recommendations.

    - Visit your local clinic for a verified calculation of your chemical imbalance regulation. Though improbable, it is possible that your CHIPs standard functions are not capable of¡­

    - Participate in an Anger Management Seminar in one of the Centers near you. Possible options include, but are not limited to:

    - Oulu Center, May 1st, 2992, 2200 ST

    - Tampere Center, May 2nd, 2992, 1700 ST

    - Turku Center, May 2nd, 2992, 1900 ST

    - Helsinki Center, May 1st, 2992, 2000 ST

    Leigh read just enough for her CHIP to mark the notifications as ¡®received¡¯. She¡¯d read enough of them over the years to know exactly what it was going to say. She wasn¡¯t missing anything, especially considering the fact that today was Selection day. The last sixteen years of her life had been built around this. It was the final judgment on every decision she¡¯d made, every step she¡¯d taken, every word she¡¯d uttered, every action and reaction she¡¯d had. They¡¯d all been measured, gauged and scored; today she would now see if her decisions had paid off. The Recommended Corrective Measures no one ever followed through on were the least of her worries.

    Leigh¡¯s eyes habitually flicked to the top right of her virtual overlay, where she had both her Rank and the Selection countdown displayed. It was one of the few portions of her overlay that remained the same no matter which configuration she was using. Her SIM configuration gave her vitals more priority, her ¡®burn¡¯ configuration gave the Cognitive Exercises - or Cogs - more priority, her ¡®coding¡¯ configuration gave her automated functions - or Tofus - more priority, and so on¡­ but the Rank and countdown display stayed, a constant reminder.

    RANK: 986

    [00:12:46]

    Her heart stuttered in her chest at the sight, her Rank had fallen again. It had been at 983 less than twenty minutes ago. While lower Ranks tended to switch around a lot due to the close distribution of scores, the higher Ranks were supposed to stay the same. She¡¯d been at 983 for over a week. It had taken her six months of ceaseless work to get her Rank from 1126 to 983 before the Selection. She knew the buffer she¡¯d secured was more than enough to keep her in the top 1000, but seeing it dip so easily right before the Selection was taking a toll on her already frayed nerves. Her Rank was everything. A quantifiable measure of her worth, it defined her and would determine her path in life; she needed to be selected for First Academy.

    There were 398,792,315 people in her Year. Only the top-Ranked 1000 would be selected for First Academy; the rest would be accordingly distributed to the seven other military academies. And though it was remarkable to get into any of the top three military academies, that just wasn¡¯t going to cut it for Leigh. Her whole life, she¡¯d had no life, everything done in order to maximize her scoring potential. She¡¯d minimized her sleeping time so she could have more time to complete SIMs and Cogs, she¡¯d chosen her friendships carefully, only interacting with those from who she could profit and she had no hobbies that she did for ¡®fun¡¯, only endless lessons. Sometimes it made her feel like a fraud, like a machine, but it would all be worth it when she got into First.

    Leigh brought up her brother¡¯s stats as a reminder; she looked at them whenever she felt herself wavering. He was the reason she had to try so hard. Kyle was five years older and had always been exceptionally talented. When she was younger, she¡¯d admired that in him, but over the years, as the burden of expectation placed on ¡®Kyle McMann¡¯s little sister¡¯ increased, she couldn¡¯t help but feel resentful. All she could ever remember was not being good enough, not as good as Kyle. Even now, she was barely scraping by the Selection, while her brother had been Ranked first in his entire Year. She¡¯d be considered a failure if she didn¡¯t get into First.

    Leigh was wringing her clammy hands together when she caught herself pacing around her Housing Unit. Today was supposed to be a celebration, but something was making her uneasy. She was supposed to just be hanging out with Mikah and Vinnya in their usual virtual hangout until the Selection was over. They were the only two people in the world that she considered true friends. She would probably still hang out with them even if their parents weren¡¯t important connections. It didn¡¯t hurt, however, to get political bonuses while she was at it.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    On the surface, everything seemed to be going as it was supposed to, as she¡¯d planned. Leigh poked fun at Mikah for his longstanding not-so-secret, crush on Vinnya. She could see him flush even through his dark complexion and idly wondered what his stats looked like. Unlike Leigh, who was forced to keep her stats public for the forthright bonus points, his were private. He wasn¡¯t, after all, trying for First like her. She, on the other hand, had to milk the points wherever she could, when every digit mattered.

    It was why, even now, she had two windows open on her overlay, each displaying a different difficulty A6 Cognitive Exercise. Cogs were already quite rewarding in terms of points, but were even more so because of the multitasking bonus they offered when completed in tandem with other activities such as social interactions, SIMs or even showers. Thus, her overlay always had at least one section dedicated to Cogs; she¡¯d been working on them for as long as she could remember. When she was younger, they¡¯d been H7 and G2 Cogs, but she¡¯d worked her way up the alphabet in difficulty. She¡¯d had to in order to stay in the top 1000 Ranks. It had become second nature for Leigh to be answering these types of problems. In fact, it had become so natural to her, she barely even noticed them anymore. It was like, over the years, she¡¯d managed to split her brain into two, one that focused on Cogs, and one that focused on everything else. The Cogs themselves ranged from every subject imaginable, from physics, to astrophysics, relativity, politics, xenology, xenobiology, terraforming, and even childcare. She was currently working on an two A6 Cogs, one in theoretical mathematics and another in DNA repairs.

    In summary, nothing out of the ordinary, so why couldn¡¯t Leigh stop nibbling the inside of her bottom lip? And why was she so damn anxious? She didn¡¯t know when it happened, but a ball of tight dread had settled itself deeply into her stomach. She glanced at her Rank.

    RANK: 987

    [00:12:31]

    Her stomach lurched. Thirteen Ranks between her and Second Academy was plenty, but something she couldn¡¯t put a finger on made Leigh increase her Cogs¡¯ difficulty setting to A4. Her Rank wasn¡¯t supposed to be an issue, she¡¯d made sure of it, so why was it dropping now?

    RANK: 988

    [00:12:30]

    As if mocking her, it dropped again. Leigh tasted iron on her tongue and noticed she¡¯d bitten herself in her agitated state. The dull throb of her bottom lip helped her focus. Leigh now realized she¡¯d subconsciously rolled the SIM for a reason. She hadn¡¯t taken a moment off in months and to be celebrating right before the deadline just seemed¡­ wrong. Leigh was used to taking action and she couldn¡¯t just sit around waiting for her Rank to plummet. She¡¯d rolled the SIM because she needed to be doing something, even if she wasn¡¯t able to finish it on time. She glanced at the countdown.

    RANK: 990

    [00:12:28]

    Leigh frowned when she saw that her Rank had dropped again, this time it had dropped twice in the span of two seconds. Something was wrong. Top Ranks didn¡¯t just shift around like that. They belonged to the outliers, the geniuses and ridiculously talented. More often than not, this talent was concentrated in one particular area, be it political adeptness, physical prowess, computational skills or any number of other areas. Leigh was amongst a much smaller group of individuals in the top Ranks that had bust their butts off on anything they could put their hands on, scavenging for points whenever possible, in order to make it there. Leigh didn¡¯t even have a home-life that wasn¡¯t monitored by her CHIP; that would mean missing out on all the personal exchange points she got from her rare interactions with her parents. She wasn¡¯t ashamed to say that she exploited their fame to her benefit; the number of political connection points she got from them was huge. But as her Rank kept dropping, she couldn¡¯t help thinking that even that hadn¡¯t been enough.

    RANK: 991

    [00:12:24]

    Her dread was quickly being replaced by panic. A few seconds, ago she¡¯d meant to do the SIM as a form of insurance or maybe even as a way to gain back a couple of the Ranks she¡¯d just lost. Twelve Ranks had seemed to like an impenetrable security blanket, especially with only twelve minutes left on the clock; she¡¯d felt safe. Now, with her Rank dropping by the second, completing the SIM before the Selection cutoff had become a necessity. She was petrified. How had it all come down to this? Where were all these points even coming from?

    Leigh didn¡¯t have time to go into a full-blown investigation, but she needed more information before she started the SIM. Going in blind without a clear target would be stupid and potentially harmful. According to the predictive Tofu she ran, she¡¯d be out of the triple digits within the minute and around Rank 1050 by the Selection; strangely, the difference in points between Ranks increased greatly after Rank 1020.

    At the same time, she ran a detailed analytical Tofu on SIM AC513. She¡¯d rolled it, and unless she finished it, she wouldn¡¯t be able to roll for another until an hour later. Although there was never any direct information available on the SIMs, on account of people not wanting to give others an advantage over them, Leigh had found ways for her Tofu to work around it. The only publicly available information on SIMs were each individual¡¯s CT and CS, so Leigh had programmed the Tofu to find the correlation between the best scorers. Usually it would find a trait or ability that they all shared or sometimes a skill or field of knowledge that they excelled at. Usually this narrowed down the field the SIM would concentrate on, be it Xenology, Astrophysics, Quill Relations, Planetary Studies and so on. Unfortunately, the results for SIM AC513 were inconclusive; the error margins were too high. They only suggested that Endurance, Speed, Height and or Pattern Recognition could be vital to success.

    Leigh clenched her teeth. The results only told her that it would be physically demanding and seeing as Height was included, she guessed there would be some jumping involved. She wasn¡¯t the biggest fan of jumping, but she could do it if she had to. Pattern Recognition on the other hand, basically told her nothing. Most SIMs required Pattern Recognition in some way, shape or form; it was one of the skills the UEG loved to stress the importance of.

    If Leigh didn¡¯t manage to finish the SIM on time, she wouldn¡¯t get any points, not for the SIM or any of the Cogs she completed while doing it. The only other option she had was to focus purely on Cogs, foregoing the SIM completely. It was the safer option; however, she¡¯d miss out on the big SIM multitasking bonus and the SIM completion points. If she somehow managed to beat this Year¡¯s best time, she might even get a bonus on top of that. She¡¯d only broken 127 SIM records to date, but she might be forced to get one today. By the way things were panning out, it might be the only option available to her. The Cogs just simply wouldn¡¯t cut it. She needed more points. Her future depended on it; she wouldn¡¯t be able to live with herself if she made it this close to the finish line only to stumble and drop the ball.

    She still didn¡¯t understand how this could be happening. There were no unknown variables in Leigh¡¯s life; she¡¯d made sure of it. The only explanation she could think of was that people were handing in last-minute extended SIMs. Unlike regular SIMs, they were linked to the events of the real world and often went on for weeks, if not months. They were also very high in point rewards. It made sense that people wanted to get their SIM points in before the Selection; what didn¡¯t make sense though was how close they were cutting it. Leigh had handed in all of her own extended SIMs the previous week. This lack of preparation was not what First Selectees were known for. Then again, maybe they were so prepared that they could push it to the last minute. Leigh shook her head. Ultimately, the reason didn¡¯t matter; she just had to make sure she was on the right side of 1000.

    RANK: 997

    [00:12:09]

    Leigh had spent more time gathering information than she¡¯d intended to. She wanted to be in the SIM before she dropped out of the top 1000; she just wasn¡¯t ready to see it become reality. She needed to go in the SIM, kick some butt and come back with her Rank secured. The predictive Tofu she ran gave her an 89% chance of Ranking in the top 1000¡­ if she broke the Year record of seven minutes and thirty-two seconds¡­ and completed at least twenty A5 Cogs. She could do this, she would do this. Unfortunately 89% did not seem like very good odds to her, not when her future depended on it. She needed to beat the all-time record of six minutes and fifty-three seconds. If she managed to do that, her chances of success were 100%.

    Nodding to herself, Leigh hurried to the corner of her Housing Unit where her second suit and SIMsuit were stashed. In its stand-by mode, the suit looked like a nearly black cube; it was made up of 94% nanites and 6% synthetic fiber. It was by far the most nanite-rich, and thus most valuable, object in her possession. Leigh grabbed the cube and smashed it against her chest; a metallic liquid coolness spread over her chest like water and then surrounded her from head to toe, sparing her face. By the time the SIMsuit had finished its three-second boot-up, Leigh had already activated her grav-plate. Without a moment of hesitation, she took a deep breath, held it, and jumped up into the mini-gravitational field. Instead of coming down like the Earth¡¯s gravity demanded, Leigh continued to hover about half a meter from the floor above the grav-plate. The motion was so practiced that Leigh made it seem effortless.

    RANK: 999

    [00:12:02]

    She was in the SIM a second before she hit the quadruple digits.

    You have commenced SENSORY IMMERSIVE MODULE AC513.

 Chapter 2: (Part I)

    Leigh landed in the SIM holding her breath with her eyes closed. She¡¯d been in enough underwater SIMs to have a full lung of air at her disposal going in. Luckily, AC513 wasn¡¯t one of the aquatic nightmares; she already had enough cards stacked against her to deal with. Following its preset Tofus, Leigh¡¯s CHIP presented her with a full diagnostic rundown of the environment; all of the surveyed factors fell within the green or yellow parameters for human survivability. Leigh wouldn¡¯t have to worry about them; yellow parameters only posed a threat at prolonged exposures. She didn¡¯t plan to be in there for that long.

    While the CHIP ran the diagnostics, Leigh changed the Countdown to six minutes and fifty two seconds - the time she had to beat the Best Overall Completion Time - and looked into the SIMs objective.

    Mission: Your location is Point A. Get to Point B.

    It was a standard objective, but standard did not mean easy. After the CHIP gave the all-clear, Leigh opened her eyes and started breathing again. Looking around, she directed her CHIP to bring up all available schematics of the SIM on the overlay as she surveyed her surroundings. Unlike the majority of SIMs, this wasn¡¯t what you¡¯d call a ¡®realistic¡¯ scenario. She was on top of a floating platform made up of broken, patched up rubble; her overlay marked it as Point A. It was surrounded by similar floating platforms of all shapes, sizes and compositions. Some platforms were made up of all manner of debris all mashed together and looked a lot like the one she had started out on while others had plants and even trees growing on them; she thought she even saw a pond on one of them.

    Unfortunately, her CHIP let her know that less than 3% of the platforms were stationary or even moving at a sedate pace. The vast majority was moving at or above 15km/h in patterns she couldn¡¯t immediately recognize. This was where the Pattern Recognition skill came in; Leigh immediately directed one of the Tofus she¡¯d spent years perfecting to find the patterns and calculate the platform trajectories. It took less than two seconds for it to calculate 92% of the patterns, but Leigh was already on the move. The moment her CHIP had identified the location of Point B less than 500m away, she had taken a running leap and jumped onto the nearest platform in that direction. The platform was only two meters higher than the first, but Leigh still had to scramble to make it on top of it; she could see how Height might be an advantageous attribute for the SIM.

    One jump was, however, enough to tell her that she would need to come up with a better plan than jumping from platform to platform. She was already sporting a bruised rib and a significant three second loss because of the time it took to pull herself over the side of the platform, and that was only one jump. By the CHIPs calculations there were at least another two hundred jumps, and that wasn¡¯t even if she took the best-time path which, because of the patterned movements, included an additional thirty jumps or so. Platform to platform was most straightforward strategy, but it would take her at least twenty-five minutes if she followed through with it. And seeing as the BOCT was less than a third of that, there was a strategy she hadn¡¯t considered yet. Going by how the Average Completion Time¡¯s range was all over the place, Leigh guessed that most people hadn¡¯t bothered to consider another strategy; it was a luxury she didn¡¯t share. This was her only shot and she couldn¡¯t fail.

    [06:42.11]

    Leigh had already wasted eleven valuable seconds with barely any progress to show for it; she was still only on the third platform. She needed to come up with a strategy, fast. As she thought of how best to approach the problem, Leigh continued to head towards Point B, only targeting platforms that increased her elevation. Point B was 237m above her starting location and although some of the platforms were very attractive with their easy and low access - it was a lot harder to go down than up - Leigh knew she¡¯d only have to make the height back up later and continued on her predominantly vertical course. By her CHIP¡¯s most efficient climbing route¡¯s estimates; she would be on par with Point B¡¯s elevation in eight minutes, that wasn¡¯t going to cut it.

    Leigh refused to panic and instead focused on her breathing and muscle movements. She monitored her vitals and brought up her body¡¯s diagram. As much as she wanted to just sprint ahead to the finish line, she knew better. She needed to keep an eye on her progress and find the best rhythm with which to get through the SIM. Run, breathe, jump, climb, repeat. Leigh kept an eye on her heart rate; getting a side stitch now would be counterproductive.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Outside of the SIM her CHIP the SIMsuit¡¯s nanites mimicked all of the sensory inputs of the virtual environment. Unfortunately it also meant that she felt every impact in its bone-rattling intensity; each platform added a bruise she would be nursing later. Even though the hard surface platforms made out of concrete, cobblestones or gravel were rougher to land and grab a hold of, Leigh preferred them to the soft surface platforms made out of grass, earth or grass that had no purchase for her jumps. It had been one of the variables that her CHIP hadn¡¯t taken into consideration and she¡¯d almost missed one of the larger jumps because of it. Taking the new variable into consideration her CHIP recalculated the route: nine minutes and twenty eight seconds. She couldn¡¯t keep doing this, not only was she not going fast enough, but her body couldn¡¯t keep taking the beating.

    [06:37.02]

    By the time Leigh reached the seventh platform, she was sweating profusely, her hear rate was elevated, her breathing 12% sub-optimal and every muscle in her body was on fire. Every time she jumped to the next platform she ended up banging parts of her body against its side before she managed to pull herself up. By the eight she knew she couldn¡¯t keep going like this; she was wasting time. She needed the aid of a tool of some kind if she wanted to clear the height of two or three meters cleanly. She was lucky with the ninth platform; it had vines or pipes trailing after it that allowed her to quickly climb up its side. She needed something that would repeatedly allow her to do that.

    Platform nine had given her no new bruises, she¡¯d managed to recuperate her stats by 2% and she¡¯d even managed to come up with an acceptable answer to a A4 Galactic Quill Politics Cog that had been bothering her since platform seven. It was one of the few subjects she struggled with, most humans did. The Quill were an inherently different species and having to understand their politics meant understanding their culture, but even having been surrounded with it all her life, Leigh still struggled to understand the Quill¡¯s line of reasoning. Luckily higher difficulty rating Cogs like A4 tended to have a higher concentration in the scientific and generally arithmetic fields that Leigh specialized in; her parents were scientists after all.

    Moving onto the next Cog, Leigh decided it was time to invest some points into an item. The prices were exorbitant and if you weren¡¯t careful you could easily come out of a SIM with an overall point deduction, but if you chose your items right it could be more than worth it, significantly reducing the time it took to complete the SIM. Each item had a different cost; Leigh just needed to find the one with the most return on investment. As she continued to climb Leigh quickly perused through the items. Her overlay was now split into multiple sections allowing her to continue working through the A4 Cogs, keep an eye on her vitals and monitor her progress along the climb her CHIP had mapped out for her.

    By the time she reached the tenth platform she¡¯d discarded various stairs because they were all either too flimsy, heavy or expensive. By the eleventh she¡¯d discarded ropes entirely because they were useless individually - 1000 points - and the 100% mark-up of the second item, like a grappling hook - 800 credits -, that she¡¯d be forced to buy along with it. She needed something cheap, yet serviceable. Leigh couldn¡¯t afford to spend more on items acquisition than absolutely necessary. If she spent too much, it would literally derail the rest of her life.

    Reaching the twelfth platform, Leigh was handed one on the Aerodynamics of Hoverflight. Taking a moment to read over the question, she took a running leap, jumping as high as she could to grab the dangling vines from one of the surrounding platforms as it flew by. She missed the vine she¡¯d aimed at initially, but was luckily able to grab onto the one next to it. Unluckily, she¡¯d forgotten to factor in the rope burns and fought to keep her hold instead of instinctively letting go of the source of pain.

    Shrugging it off, Leigh climbed the vine as quickly as she could. She¡¯d struggled with ropes in her early teens, but unwilling to have any weaknesses that could be exploited, she¡¯d turned it into one of her strengths with months of practice and forceful SIM practice. It had served her well over the years and continued to do so now. Right then, Leigh was going to need that rope, but she was unwilling to spend the extra 1600 on the grappling hook, and without it, the rope was pretty much useless.

    Scrolling through the other possibilities, Leigh calculated the gravity and atmosphere ratios for Tulon, the planet being used in the Hoverflight question. She sighed when she saw its low gravity, wishing she was dealing with a similar scenario. In low gravity, she¡¯d simply be able to hop from platform to platform, maybe even glide a little. Leigh answered the question, pulled herself over the edge of the thirteenth platform and froze.

    Glide.

    That was it! She would have to glide her way to Point B.

 Chapter 2: (Part II)

    The idea lifted some weight off her shoulders; she had a plan. Leigh just had to figure out how she was going to implement it. She now needed something that would allow her to glide, as well as something that would help her climb. Leigh slammed into the fourteenth platform and almost slid off completely when an unexpected sharp pain in her hip made her flinch away; she¡¯d been cut by a jagged piece of metal that dislodged itself when she¡¯d hit the platform. Leigh winced in pain; unless it was a mortal wound the nanites were not forgiving, but Leigh didn¡¯t give herself time to cry; she couldn¡¯t afford any type of first aid anyway. She needed to find something to help her climb high enough to get enough gravitational momentum and then find something else to launch herself to the finish line.

    ¡°First things first,¡± Leigh muttered under her breath as a platform floated over hers, easily giving her access to the roots of a massive tree that was growing on it.

    She climbed the tree, gaining about 20m of height while scrolling through the options. She needed to find a way of getting a rope and a grappling hook in one item. She needed something to glide and something to climb and if she wasted two items on climbing it would mean the third item markup of 200% would be applied. She simply couldn¡¯t afford that.

    ¡°A fishing pole?¡± she considered as she came across the item, but then immediately discarded the thought. A hook wasn¡¯t going to help anyone if she couldn¡¯t climb up the line and there simply was no way she could climb up a fishing pole line, no matter how good she¡¯d gotten at climbing ropes.

    ¡°But maybe¡­¡± she considered for a second, before deciding it might work.

    A fishing net. It wasn¡¯t as good as a grappling hook. The throwing radius was severely reduced, meaning she¡¯d be limited to the closer platforms, but it would make the grueling job she was experiencing much easier. As if to prove how difficult the task was turning out to be, Leigh slammed full-force into the concrete side of a platform, right where she¡¯d just gotten cut. Her CHIP had misread the pattern and the platform had suddenly swerved mid-flight. She was lucky she¡¯d gotten a hold of it at all.

    Grunting in pain, she pulled herself up, prepared for the next jump and looked through the rest of the items. She needed to come up with the gliding solution before investing in the net. If the second item she chose turned out to be the more expensive one, she needed to trade for it first. Leigh scrolled through the lists as she answered the next astrophysics Cog and slammed into yet another platform. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to succumb to the pain.

    The next Cogwas on nanites. Modern society had used nanites for centuries and their use was so widespread that humans could hardly function without them anymore. The Cogs always varied, but Leigh preferred the military based ones the most and so she was relieved when the question was about nano-suits and not the use of nanites in the auto-farms. Leigh knew all there was to know about nano-suits, it was one of the biggest reasons why she needed to get into First Academy. If she didn¡¯t, she¡¯d never be able to wear one. In five seconds flat she was able to answer the optimization Cog, she¡¯d done so much research on the subject over the years, particularly the last, that she knew the topic as well as the back of her own hand.

    Leigh landed the next jump with slightly more grace and had her CHIP recalculate the route; she wasn¡¯t as trusting about its pattern calculations anymore; pain did that to you. Her CHIP had years of information stored in it. Usually she trusted her Tofu implicitly; it had once been able to find a pattern based off of the steps of some ancient Quill folk-dance. This time she didn¡¯t have any room for error though. She didn¡¯t have time to backtrack; the route needed to be perfect. She didn¡¯t have time for any dead ends.

    [06:03.45]

    Leigh minimized the countdown display so it wouldn¡¯t keep distracting her. She needed to find a way to glide first. If she had a nano-suit things would be a lot simpler, she¡¯d just fly to point B in two seconds flat. Unfortunately¡­

    Wait.

    Leigh froze for a second before the next Quill Biology Cog was assigned. Unconsciously working on the Cog, she went back to the menu and found what she was looking for, a wingsuit modification.

    5800 points.

    She growled at the sight. The suit cost more than most people made after completing the SIM, but Leigh didn¡¯t have time to second doubt; she purchased it. She didn¡¯t have a choice. A second later she got the net as her second purchase and subsequently used it to fling herself to the next platform. It snagged on a few outlying metal pipes and she was easily able to climb her way up using the net as a ladder. Her improvisation had turned out better than she¡¯d even hoped. The CHIP was even able to come up with a better route after the net increased her platform-to-platform range from barely three meters to nearly nine.

    After pulling herself up the twentieth platform Leigh checked on her stats, answered a Cog and moved on to the next platform. She repeated the process, over and over and over. It became so mechanical she barely even knew where one platform ended and the other began, but at least with the help of the net her progress was much faster. She continued to repeat the process as quickly as she could and kept significantly picking up in speed until she reached the same height level as Point B.

    [03:26.13]

    Her legs were shaking and her eyes burning from the sweat. Other than to make sure she was still making optimum use of her muscles, Leigh stopped trying to force her body¡¯s diagram and vitals to behave exactly like she wanted them to. She was only about a fifth of the way there horizontally and there were only about three and a half minutes left. Leigh panted and wiped sweat off her brow as she considered her route for a moment. Had she really chosen the best way?You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    There wasn¡¯t enough time to dwell on it.

    Pushing any superfluous thoughts aside, Leigh tried to focus on her breathing which had gotten a little irregular after all of the climbing. She wasn¡¯t done though, by her calculations she had to climb at least another 150m to get high enough so that her glide would make it all the way to Point B. If she missed the right platform, even by a little, she¡¯d have wasted her opportunity. She only had one shot at this, if she failed, she¡¯d never be able to get high enough to get enough momentum going to propel her anywhere, it would simply take too long.

    Leigh cast her net and was already scampering up to the next platform.

    [03:24.39]

    Time flowed in a strange manner as she continued her climb. In some ways it was going by too fast, but in other ways it felt like it was standing still. Her mind solved the Cogs she¡¯d been working on all along faster than she¡¯d ever been able to before. She unconsciously upped their difficulty rating to A2, and yet, the answers kept coming just as easily. It was like each question she received fell in the exact areas of her expertise. She wasn¡¯t about to question it. Not when physically, she was about to die.

    Her lungs were burning and the Cogs were about the only thing left able to distract her enough from the physical strain. At some point she¡¯d gotten a side-stitch as well. She hadn¡¯t managed to control her breathing as well as she would have at any other time. Her heartbeat was racing 38% over what it should be for optimal performance, but she wasn¡¯t going to pull back now. Her legs trembled from the exertion and her arms felt like limp noodles every time she managed to push herself over a ledge. Leigh had been in many challenging physical situations before, but right then, she couldn¡¯t bring up the memory of a single one. It was as if she had been born to live that single moment. Eventually, she realized what it was, focus. Pure focus.

    Two and a half minutes and 179 vertical meters later, Leigh knew that immediately going for the fastest vertical climb was the best idea she could have had. The higher she got, the easier it was to see the patterns the platforms laid out; she didn¡¯t even need her CHIP to show her that the entire SIM encouraged the upward climb. The platforms were laid out closer to each other vertically than horizontally and the platforms themselves were often quite tall, allowing for a much faster vertical climb.

    She¡¯d made it. She was here. It was time.

    Standing on one of the flatter and longer platforms in the vicinity, Leigh took a moment to look down at the glide-path she¡¯d had mapped out for her on the way up. It was a grid showing the predicted movements of every platform. The ones that had a defined pattern they were following were marked in green; they were the majority. The 4% that the Tofu hadn¡¯t been able to make out were marked in yellow. With the CHIPs features, Leigh was able to keep track of any rogue or new platforms, those would be marked in red; so far there were none.

    Leigh¡¯s breathing was ragged. It felt like her lungs had been replaced by useless gelatin at some point. Her heart was beating so fast she almost couldn¡¯t tell where one heartbeat ended and the next one began. Her limbs were shaking from the exertion and she knew she¡¯d have mad muscle cramps to deal with later, but it didn¡¯t matter. All that mattered was the jump.

    So far Leigh was ahead of schedule. She took a second to take a deep breath, both to calm herself and see if she could get her oxygenation levels up by a degree; she¡¯d been very lax about it on the way up and she couldn¡¯t afford to pass out now. Then, she backed up to the very end of the platform, sprinted full speed ahead, and jumped.

    For a moment she was in pure free-fall with her arms pinned tightly to her side, with slight adjustments of her body she was able to avoid two boulder shaped platforms right below her. Then, she slowly started opening her arms, where a synthetic flap now linked her arms to her body, creating aerodynamic lift, allowing her to glide. It took her a couple seconds to realize she¡¯d stopped working on Cogs during the dive, she amended the situation immediately.

    She needed the points.

    The wind was drying the sweat that had accumulated on her skin and Leigh was finally feeling a little of the physical exhaustion she¡¯d felt since the beginning of the SIM melt away. With the flight path displayed prominently in her overlay, she avoided a dozen or so additional platforms and even used a few to launch herself further into the air; she needed to stay airborne as long as possible. She¡¯d climbed further than she calculated she had to; she needed the safety margin. Any extra second she could guarantee herself was invaluable; she could absolutely not miss her landing.

    [00:19.01]

    Leigh was on the final stretch when a grassy platform appeared as if out of thin air. Trying to avoid it Leigh veered sharply to the right, but in doing so she was thrown completely off course. Re-calculating as quickly as she could, she diverted all of her attention to the task, even ignoring the Advanced Computer Systems Cog she was working on. She had less than twenty seconds to make it to Point B, one or two extra A2 questions weren¡¯t going to fix her problem. That was something only the record bonus could do.

    Leigh made as much of her way back to the planned flight path as she possibly could, but she was still two platforms away when she was forced to land. If she went any further she¡¯d end up below Point B again, and the ascent was always harder than the descent.

    Not taking another second, Leigh rolled to her feet immediately upon touchdown. Dashing across the platform she tried to keep her momentum going as she leaped off onto the next platform, three meters below. Now, there was only one platform between her and Point B, but the platforms were misaligned and and Leigh had to wait three valuable seconds, the longest and most excruciating seconds of her life, before she was able to once more take a running leap onto the next platform. Then, she couldn¡¯t wait. There was a two second time frame in which she could jump down the last 12 meters and make it to Point B.

    She didn¡¯t think. She jumped.

    There was no time for thought.

    There wasn¡¯t much time to put into her landing either.

    A loud crack on impact told Leigh it might not have been the best move.

    She¡¯d gotten hurt before and she knew the pain was there, but she refused to let herself feel it. She only had 15m left to reach her destination.

    She had five seconds to do it in.

    Sweat poured down her body. The cooling breeze of the descent long forgotten.

    Four.

    She felt a wash of dizziness when the sharp pain in her leg refused to let itself be pushed aside.

    Three.

    Leigh gritted her teeth, and surged forwards.

 Chapter 3:

    There were only three seconds left on the countdown, but when Leigh reached her hand out for the shimmering blue hologram in the middle of the platform, her vision swam and she was bombarded with memories of her early childhood. Her hand was replaced with that of a little girl¡¯s. She was running after her older brother, her small grubby hands always reaching for a back that was no longer in sight.

    On the surface they were the splitting image of each other, but in reality the little girl was always trying to catch up. Every time she thought she¡¯d finally be able to reach him, the distance between them just grew. Leigh¡¯s past Ranks were there as mocking proof of it. She¡¯d been in the top 100 until she was six, but those numbers soon gave way to the 200s and then the 300s when the other kids her age started getting serious and before she knew it, she was fifteen and in the 1100s, that had been ten months ago.

    She¡¯d considered giving up then; her brother was an unattainable goal. She¡¯d been born to follow in her brothers footsteps, but she¡¯d always known she wasn¡¯t like Kyle. Success came as naturally as breathing to him and failure an entirely foreign concept. The things he achieved without even trying, she had to bust her butt off. She¡¯d worked tirelessly, giving up everything else in her life to keep her Rank, but even that hadn¡¯t been enough. It was then, when she¡¯d finally come to terms with her limitations, that Nathan Kies showed up.

    Leigh had always been Kyle¡¯s back-up, but Kyle had never needed one. He¡¯d set records so high that no one even stood the chance of breaking them. They remained unchallenged for five years until Kies suddenly started breaking them left and right. He was destroying her brother¡¯s legacy, and while Leigh had come to terms with the fact that she¡¯d never be able to measure up to her brother herself, she couldn¡¯t just let some rando roll in and usurp her brother like that. If anyone was going to beat her brother, it had to be her.

    From then on, every Rank had been more hard-fought than the last, and gaining them back turned out to be exponentially harder than keeping them. Leigh had given all of herself to the task of being selected First. In some ways, that hurt more than if she hadn¡¯t. If she still failed now, she¡¯d have no excuse to fall back on. Maybe she simply wasn¡¯t good enough.

    Immediately the thought had Leigh gritting her teeth. She¡¯d been the victim of self-doubt too many times to let it ruin her last chance at First Academy. If she really wasn¡¯t good enough, it wouldn¡¯t have come down to seconds. As if needing some other kind of confirmation that she deserved this, Leigh launched herself off her injured leg, shouting ¡°Fuck that!¡± at the top of her lungs.

    WARNING! 25 point deduction in Civilized Comportment.

    Reason: [attached vid]

    WARNING! 40 point deduction in Anger Management.

    Reason: Accelerated heart rate, high blood pressure, elevated catecholamine levels, muscles tensed at 107% above resting standard.

    Worth it.

    Two seconds.

    A grin tugged at the corner of Leigh¡¯s lips giving her a pained grimace as she once more landed on her bad leg; pain shot up through her nerves like hot iron. She cringed, nearly buckling under the indescribable pain. She almost lost her footing, determination was the only thing keeping her going.

    One second.

    Leigh didn¡¯t give herself time to think about the consequences, and used her entire body weight to propel herself forwards. It was the only hope she had to clear the last three meters in time. A moment later a definitive crack accompanied the worst self-inflicted pain she¡¯d ever prompted, but her fingers touched the shining blue holographic gate that was her destination.

    Point B.

    You have cleared SENSORY IMMERSIVE MODULE AC513.

    She couldn¡¯t celebrate, not until she knew if she¡¯d beaten the record or not. Leigh¡¯s eyes skimmed the results, all pain forgotten.

    Mission Completion Score: 7,422.3

    Year Completion Time Bonus: 10,000.00

    Overall Completion Time Bonus: 20,000.00

    She¡¯d done it. She¡¯d broken the Best Completion Time. She¡¯d gotten the bonus. Leigh had never associated weight with relief, but in that moment it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The rest of the results table showed a breakdown of all the Cogs she had answered and how well she had done on each of them. She was able to score another 5,677.7 points off of that, the most she¡¯d ever been able to during a mission.

    The equipment deduction was 8050 points, but she was still able to recover that with her performance. She¡¯d done well. A small self-congratulatory smile covered her lips until she saw her rank.

    RANK 984

    And the Countdown.

    [00:04:18]

    She¡¯d done it, she was back in the 900s, but would she be able to stay there until the deadline? As if to cement her fears, her Rank dropped by one and Leigh felt all the fear and anxiety pile right back on again. Her heartbeat picked up and the drying sweat covering her whole body, which hadn¡¯t bothered her a minute earlier, suddenly felt cold and clammy. Leigh opened up her overlay, splitting her vision in four quarters, each depicting a different A1 Cog. She couldn¡¯t solve them all simultaneously, but over the years she¡¯d found that this was the most time efficient scoring method other than SIMs.

    It let her focus on one Cog while her subconscious muddled over another that she¡¯d read until she got to it. She doubted the points she earned from answering the Cogs would be enough, but the score difference between the Ranks was so small she had to give it a try. Leigh had never been the type to sit idly by while ¡®fate¡¯ bitch-slapped her in the face. If she were doing the Cogs in a SIM they would be worth five times as much, but the score wouldn¡¯t be totaled until the end of the SIM and there wasn¡¯t a single SIM she knew of that could be completed in less than four minutes.

    Her CHIP wanted to feed her some pain meds, but Leigh refused. They made her drowsy, and if she was drowsy, she wouldn¡¯t be able to answer Cogs fast enough. The only option was to keep answering questions. The pain even helped sharpen her focus. She made it through the next three minutes, barely holding onto her Rank somehow, but then time was coming to an end.

    [00:00:48]

    Time was coming to an end, and her Rank was still dropping.

    RANK 997

    She just had to pull through long enough for her to stay.

    RANK 996

    A Solar Thermodynamics Cog.

    RANK 995

    [00:00:42]

    Just a bit longer¡­The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Leigh vaguely heard her friends¡¯ voices saying something in the background, but she shut them out. She¡¯d deal with them later. They couldn¡¯t help her out of this no matter what they did and she didn¡¯t want to burden them with her failures, for them it was a day of celebration. They had each made it into the Academies of their choice with room to spare. Vinnya was Rank 45,693 and was going to Second Academy, Mikah was Ranked 622,821 and was going to Third. She wasn¡¯t going to ruin it for them. This was all on her. She was the one that wasn¡¯t good enough, not them.

    Catching herself, Leigh bit her tongue and shook her head. What was she even thinking about? She didn¡¯t have time for self-pity.

    RANK 998

    [00:00:17]

    Just a bit longer¡­

    RANK 997

    RANK 999

    Astrophysics?

    RANK 998

    Hold out.

    [00:00:08]

    Just.

    RANK 999

    A bit.

    RANK 998

    RANK 1000

    Longer¡­

    [00:00:03]

    RANK 1001

    RANK 1000

    [00:00:01]

    RANK 1002

    CONGRATULATIONS! You have been Selected for the Second Academy!

    Leigh¡¯s eyes skimmed the message, but she only read two words.

    Second Academy.

    She¡¯d failed.

    Second.

    Feeling empty, Leigh accepted her CHIPs advice and pumped herself full of painkillers to take the edge off her injuries. She wanted to be numb, but she wasn¡¯t. The physical pain from her hip and leg were gone almost immediately, but inside she was in emotional turmoil. Leigh was coated in sweat, she was shivering. It was cold and she was empty. Why couldn¡¯t the pain meds take those feelings away?

    Logging out of the SIM module, Leigh deactivated her grav-plate, reconfigured it into her hoverboard, took off her SIMsuit. Her friends were still trying to talk to her so she blocked them. She had to stop by the clinic. Her CHIP was telling her that her right leg was broken in three places, if she didn¡¯t get it fixed soon, the Meds would send droids after her. Leigh could have avoided stepping on the foot, but she decided not to. The numbed pain felt good in a way. It almost managed to push the emptiness she felt aside.

    Leigh was trying to focus on anything other than the obvious. Every time the thought of the Selection came into her mind, she¡¯d shove it aside. She had the rest of her life to deal with her failure, she could ignore it for an hour or two. Five minutes later she was at the clinic. There were five people in line in front of her. A rare occurrence, but Selection day was a rare occurrence. Three of them looked to be similar to her in age. It seemed like she wasn¡¯t the only one pushing her limits today. Why would she be? She wasn¡¯t special. Wasn¡¯t today proof of that?

    She frowned at the thought. She had to stop rehashing the results in her head. She tried to smoothen her features. One of the people her age she¡¯d been staring at caught her eye. They gave each other pained smiles, both knowing why they were there. Five minutes later it was her turn to get treated. She scanned herself in with her CHIP and was directed to one of the three Medics.

    Leigh knew the petite woman she was assigned to. She¡¯d been at the clinic enough times to know most people working there. The woman, Betana, was one of the most motherly and caring people Leigh had ever met; she always had kind words for everyone, so it didn¡¯t surprise her when the woman hugged her and excitedly congratulated her.

    ¡°Congrats, Leigh!¡± Betana exclaimed, loud enough for everyone in the clinic to hear, ¡°Your parents must be so proud! First your brother got selected for First and now you get selected for Second!¡±

    Leigh¡¯s lips contorted into a forced smile, but she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say anything in reply.

    ¡°It¡¯s too bad Ashtov isn¡¯t here today! He went to Berlin Center to get Certified before the Modifications tomorrow. Did you know he got chosen for a spot in the Warsaw Center?¡±

    Leigh¡¯s lips thinned; the Warsaw Center was the closest Center with a Space-Port. It¡¯s where she would have wound up if she¡¯d made it into First Academy.

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t,¡± Leigh replied, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to be rude to the affectionate woman who was running a diagnostic on her as she pumped her full of medical nanites.

    ¡°Yes, we were all so exited for him! He¡¯d been talking about¡­¡± Betana¡¯s bubbly voice filled Leigh¡¯s ears until it turned into a droning monotone.

    It was all just too much.

    Vinnya was messaging her, probably trying to comfort her, but Leigh didn¡¯t want comforting. She just wanted to be left alone. Leigh closed her eyes, trying to block everyone out. She hadn¡¯t actually expected it to work, but as if by a miracle, everything was suddenly silent. Even Betana had stopped her bubbly chatter. Leigh assumed the woman had finally understood her need for peace and sighed in relief.

    Five seconds of blissful silence passed, but then she got a notification from Mikah. Then Vinnya. Then her parents. Then Vinnya and Mikah again. Then all the other notifications she¡¯d pushed aside during her last SIM came back, reminding her she still hadn¡¯t acknowledged them. Gritting her teeth, Leigh massaged her temple; recommended anger management seminar time slots were the last thing she wanted to be dealing with right now.

    It was all just too much, she needed space.

    She turned her CHIP off, as in completely off.

    Blissful and somewhat disorienting silence enveloped her. There was no overlay, no stats, no Ranks, no extra information, no virtual add-ons¡­ nothing. The emptiness in her head was not what she¡¯d expected and her relief was soon replaced by apprehension. Her eyes slammed open when the blackness in her head became too much. Gripping the medical chair, Leigh looked around, still feeling a bit lost.

    It took her a moment to realize that nothing had changed, she was still in the medical clinic, still getting an injection. The only difference was that her CHIP was no longer showing her each person¡¯s information, nor was it altering their standard suits into the unique virtual clothing. Everything looked plain and bland. The girl she¡¯d exchanged glances with earlier had been sporting neon purple hair, but without the CHIPs virtual overlay, Leigh saw it as a muddy brown. Frowning at how different the world looked without the CHIP, Leigh was tempted to turn it back on. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the tidal wave of notifications expecting her once she did.

    Focusing on the soothing silence, Leigh laid back and watched the plain white ceiling. It was strange not to have her view cluttered with overlapping information on every subject imaginable. She mulled over how different the world was without the CHIP for what felt like ages. She kept expecting for Betana to announce the end of her injection, but more time passed and it still wasn¡¯t over. At first, Leigh figured she wasn¡¯t keeping track of time correctly because of the lack of her CHIP, but eventually the pricking sensation of the injection actually started to hurt. Figuring it was due to the lack of automated CHIP painkillers, Leigh bore the pain as best as she could. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain herself to Betana, so she kept silent, staring at the woman. Without her CHIP she had no way of knowing the exact percentage or time to completion, she could only hope Betana¡¯s expression would give her an indication of some kind.

    Leigh felt her muscles bunching up, spasming in pain, but she forced herself to remain still, watching the woman closely. Betana¡¯s eyes were glazed over like everyone else¡¯s in the room, like her own would be if her CHIP was on. For a moment Leigh thought she was seeing a pained or even shocked expression on the woman¡¯s face, but she dismissed the thought; she was just projecting.

    The pain in Leigh¡¯s arm blossomed, tearing its way through her veins like steel thorns. She¡¯d gotten medical nanite injections before, but they¡¯d never hurt like this. The most she¡¯d ever felt was a slight tingling sensation, and that¡¯s when she¡¯d completely shattered her arm in a SIM a couple of months ago. Leigh didn¡¯t want to complain, but when she looked down at the injection site again, she realized that her lack of CHIP might be causing her body to reject the nanites. It wasn¡¯t how it was supposed to work, but Leigh couldn¡¯t think of another explanation for the angry red rash spreading across her skin. Leigh sat up. She couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She¡¯d tell Betana about the pain, but before that she had to turn her CHIP on. She¡¯d be mortified to find out it was her own doing, but when she was giving the command Betana unhooked the injection and spoke up.

    ¡°Healing should be done in the next twenty minutes or so,¡± she recited the usual instructions, ¡°try not to put too much strain on the leg, but other than that you are free to go.¡±

    Leigh nearly cried with relief, and didn¡¯t turn on her CHIP. She still wasn¡¯t ready to face the world. Instead, she got up on unsteady legs, and looked for the exit.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Leigh said, already stepping away.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± Betana replied woodenly, all bubbly friendliness gone.

    Leigh was too focused on getting outside for a breath of fresh air to notice the change in Betana¡¯s voice.

 Chapter 4:

    Clutching her arm, Leigh hurried out of the clinic, only to freeze at the sight in front of her. Her throbbing injury almost forgotten, Leigh¡¯s jaw slackened in shock as she tried to take in every detail of the CHIP-stripped, naked, and very different world than she was used to. Gone was the overlay obstructed and virtually altered view, giving her unrestricted access to the warm sunset that colored the sky in whimsical streaks of orange and pink. Its heat caressed her skin as the fresh scent of damp earth surrounded her. Leigh blinked, momentarily unable to completely comprehend the sensory overload. Her until now mostly underutilized senses kicked into overdrive, giving her a completely different take on reality.

    In some ways, the naked world was very plain, the housing stacks particularly. Without the virtual alterations and customizations that families chose for their homes, the stacks were nearly identical to one another, only varying in size proportionate to the number of housing and work units available to each family. On the way into the clinic, the stacks had all featured various architecture styles, some old, some modern, some homey and some eclectic, but without the CHIP they just looked like a bunch of stacked metal boxes.

    The stacks were lined up equidistantly along the narrow walking paths separating the the stack rows. There was a small strip of vegetation surrounding each of the stacks, where small drones watered and tended to each family¡¯s garden. Seeing as they lived in the suburbs, most people chose to have their own produce grown, and being in one of the colder climates this meant a small vegetable patch around the stack and a greenhouse unit on top. It was so common-stance and automated that Leigh rarely thought about it, but the evening irrigation taking place all around her filled her nostrils with the fresh scents of plants, herbs and wet soil, her hair curled from the moisture in the air.

    The paths were an uncommon choice, most people tended to fly to and from their destinations. Leigh was the same, but without her CHIP¡¯s overlay activated she couldn¡¯t access the navigational controls. Sighing, she succumbed to the fact that she¡¯d be walking home, she still wasn¡¯t ready to face the world yet; they could wait a while longer. Unwilling to leave her hover-board behind and even less willing to open her overlay, Leigh accessed the sub-controls of her CHIP to have her board compact itself. The nanites made quick work of morphing it into a standard stow-away cube. Habitually bouncing it from arm to arm, Leigh winced when the seven centimeter cube landed in her left hand. The compacted matter was small, but it still weighed the same and reminded Leigh of the nanite shot she¡¯d just received. The pain was quickly receding though, and Leigh continued her juggle one-handedly and headed home.

    She didn¡¯t come across many people, and the ones she did were usually zooming by overhead, completely oblivious to her existence. They all wore the standard unmodified suits, and Leigh had a hard time coming to terms with how utterly homogeneous humans were. Hair colors only varied from black, to brown, to blond and the crazy hairstyles she was used to seeing through the virtual customizations were completely gone. It was hard to believe how much of a person¡¯s personality was conveyed through their hair, accessory and suit customizations alone. Everything was so completely equal that Leigh was having difficulties finding her way back home.

    It didn¡¯t help that she wasn¡¯t used to seeing the world at eye-level or that her CHIP¡¯s vision, lighting and guiding assistance weren¡¯t available to help her. As the sun continued to set, the path grew darker and darker and she wondered if she¡¯d be able to make it home on her own or if she¡¯d have to turn her CHIP on prematurely. She¡¯d only planned on turning it on in the privacy of her own home. A public emotional meltdown wasn¡¯t going to make her feel better about failing the only real goal she¡¯d ever set herself. She kept her emotions on lock-down and her CHIP off.

    Leigh sighed and looked at the empty world around her. After getting over the initial sensory shock, her fascination with the naked world was replaced with a feeling of familiarity, like she¡¯d experienced the world like this before. Up until that moment she¡¯d been sure that her CHIP had been her constant companion for the last sixteen years, but the uncluttered view of the world poked and prodded at a forgotten memory until she wasn¡¯t quite so convinced. Hadn¡¯t Kyle and her played ¡®hide-and-seek¡¯ once?

    It was an ancient game that most people didn¡¯t even know about. Modern technology had long ago ruined its challenge, the CHIPs of anyone below the age of six gave their location away to everyone. The privacy option only became available at the age of ten, and even then the parents were still given the override option until the kids came of age. Until the Selection there were a lot of CHIP use limitations. Come to think of it, kids weren¡¯t even supposed to be able to turn their CHIPs off. Knowing this, Leigh still couldn¡¯t shake the impossible hazy unCHIPed memory aside. She couldn¡¯t even check her CHIP for the memory since it had been off at the time.

    Had her parents given them permission to de-activate their CHIPs? Leigh frowned, knowing that couldn¡¯t be the case. It was Kyle; he had managed it somehow. He had even told her that it was their little secret, hadn¡¯t he? He¡¯d made her promise never to bring the games up in any way, shape or form. Leigh bit her lip in confusion. She¡¯d done so well not bringing them up that she¡¯d almost forgotten them herself. Back then she had worshiped the ground her brother walked on. At the age of seven, she still hadn¡¯t understood the burden of expectation her brother¡¯s legacy would cast on her. Confused as to why and how her twelve year old brother had wanted to play with her like that, Leigh almost lost track of where she was going.

    An unexpected smack into an older man was the only thing that snapped her out of her reverie before she ended up on the wrong side of the lake. The encounter rattled them both and they simultaneously staggered back. People didn¡¯t generally have accidents; CHIPs always prevented this kind of thing from happening since it could be very disorienting to be yanked out of whatever virtual overlay you were in. Leigh blushed furiously, knowing she was at fault. Bowing, she was about to apologize profusely for her lack of decorum and attention to her surroundings, but other than a slight scowl in her direction, the man promptly dismissed her and made his way into one of the stacks. Leigh pursed her lips in wonder, she¡¯d at least expected some kind of admonishment. Most adults treated anyone under the age of sixteen like they were toddlers and never passed on a chance to share their wisdom or advice.

    After the man was gone, Leigh was left feeling a bit bereft and disconnected from the world. Other than the drones she saw here and there it was oddly empty. If there were any people zooming by in the inky darkness overhead, she didn¡¯t see them. The moon and spacetation were the only light sources keeping the path from being swallowed into the night as well. A shiver coursed through her body, reminding her of her CHIP¡¯s absence, without it her suit¡¯s auto-temperature regulation wouldn¡¯t be active. Leigh sighed, but still refused to turn on her CHIP out of sheer stubbornness.

    The lack of the CHIP had gone from liberating to discomforting and turning it on now would feel too much like surrender too soon after the Selection. She sighed, attached her matter-cube to one of her suit¡¯s satchel magnets and picked her pace up to a jog. Making sure her right leg¡¯s injury was completely healed and pain free, Leigh gave it a minute before upping her tempo again into a run. It felt strange running without her CHIP displaying her body¡¯s optimum running movements; she couldn¡¯t help but feel like she was doing it wrong. Rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the thought, Leigh focused on her breathing. Running had been an every day activity for as long as she could remember, the chances of her doing it ¡®wrong¡¯ were slim to none, especially considering the flat terrain between herself and her home.

    Clearing her mind, Leigh focused on the endorphins surging through her veins as she ran. The discomforting emptiness inside her expanded, but she pushed it aside and came to a decision. She hadn¡¯t made it into First Academy. This was incontestable and unchangeable; a cold, hard fact. She had to buck up and learn to deal with it. If she couldn¡¯t be make it to first place in First Academy, then she sure as hell had to guarantee her spot as best in Second Academy. Nodding to herself, Leigh made her way back home, hoping she¡¯d remembered it correctly.

    The decision settled her a bit, and she managed to enjoy the last twenty minutes of her run home. The unCHIPed world was strange, different and even beautiful in some ways, but Leigh doubted she¡¯d ever unCHIP herself completely like this again. The disconnect from the world was too big, it made her feel too alone and she missed too many of modern conveniences, especially all of the Tofus she¡¯d so painstakingly scripted over the years. And so, when she finally turned into her street, she couldn¡¯t help grinning with relief; she¡¯d be turning her CHIP back on soon. She slowed her run down to a jog and came to a stop before her family¡¯s housing stack.

    Her brother seemed so unreachable now, but his housing unit had once been a part of their home, included in their stack. It had gone into storage when he went off-planet after becoming a First Academy Select. Looking up at her own housing unit, Leigh considered programming a quick temporary entrance to sneak through. She did it all the time when her parents weren¡¯t home, but it was generally considered rude not to use the front entrance when other people were around. Although her CHIP wasn¡¯t active and she couldn¡¯t see her parent¡¯s icons, she knew they¡¯d be home. It was Selection Day.

    Leigh sighed. She wasn¡¯t going to be able to postpone meeting her parents much longer. Both her mom and dad had wished her luck on her final submissions that morning, but Leigh was pretty sure they weren¡¯t even aware of her Rank. Her parents were both renowned physicists with fame that could rival even her brother¡¯s. They each had their own lab in the Centers, but they tended to work from home more often than not. She¡¯d seen both of them lose themselves in their work for weeks at a time. They¡¯d made it into First Academy out of pure intellectual capacity.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Unfortunately, Leigh hadn¡¯t inherited their scientific genius, and for her to be able to do anything of significance with her life, she¡¯d first have to guarantee herself a spot in the right place. This was something she¡¯d never been able to convey to them. Her brother had gotten into First Academy so easily that the Rank issue had never come up with him. Leigh sighed again. She still didn¡¯t want to have that conversation.

    Leigh rolled her eyes. When had she become this weak person full of self-pity, self-doubt and fear of confrontation? Sure, she¡¯d failed at the only goal she¡¯d ever set herself, a massive goal, but she would recover. Shaking her head, Leigh tried to get rid of the uncharacteristic behavior that had been trying to get ahold of her since she left for the clinic. It worked well enough, and she focused her attention forwards. Although she knew from the familiar configuration that she was in front of her home, the lack of customizations only visible through the CHIP interface made entering it discomforting.

    She¡¯d never seen the her home in its naked state. There were no columns ¡®holding up¡¯ the second overhanging story that was composed of her parents¡¯ working units. Her mom had insisted on them ages ago and refused to get rid of them, no matter how much Leigh begged to try something new. The most she¡¯d gotten was command of her own housing unit, which she¡¯d programmed to show swirling galaxies at night and an overgrown rainforest treehouse, with tumbling vines during the day. She considered turning her CHIP on right then, just to be sure this was really her home, but decided against it. Leigh knew that the moment she turned it on, she¡¯d be bombarded with all the information she¡¯d missed over the last hour. She¡¯d rather deal with it in the privacy of her own unit, not out in the dark street.

    Bypassing the activation of the entire CHIP interface overlay, Leigh chose only the functions she needed to key herself through the entrance. The housing¡¯s energy-matter folded aside in the new waterfall configuration she¡¯d created herself only a few weeks ago, and she stepped through. She waited a moment for the suit to make its home adjustments, usually the suit loosened, the synthetic fiber softened and the temperature regulator adjusted to the interior temperature, but none of these things happened. For a moment, confusion settled in, but then she remembered her CHIP was inactive. Rolling her eyes at her own forgetfulness, Leigh headed inside.

    ¡°I¡¯m hooome!¡± she shouted as she walked by the living area.

    Her parents were watching a vid, but without her CHIP activated, she couldn¡¯t see or hear what they were watching. When they didn¡¯t immediately reply, Leigh figured they hadn¡¯t heard her over the CHIP-inputted sound. Shrugging, she decided to drop off her things first. By the time she entered her unit, her body was feeling clammy. Leigh tried reading her stats, but the CHIP was off. She rolled her eyes again. Running a frustrated hand through her hair, she almost gave in to the urge to turn the CHIP back on, but resisted. She knew that the moment she did, she¡¯d never turn it off again. There were simply too many advantages to be had through it. Leigh had no idea how pre-CHIP humans lived. It was unthinkable. The lights weren¡¯t immediately regulated, the water temperature wasn¡¯t just right, the suit and unit customizations¡­ Life was difficult and boring without her CHIP. It sucked, but she was unwilling to admit defeat on anything else today, much less a piece of technology the size of her thumb.

    Instead, she used it only when absolutely necessary, which was more than she was willing to admit. The shower stall needed to be activated, the water temperature needed to be regulated, the soap needed to be chosen, the wash-dry unit was needed for cleaning her suit, plus a dozen other minor adjustments that she¡¯d always taken for granted. The jasmine soap-infused water sprayed onto her body and she was finally able to wash off all the sweat and anxiety the day had brought. The warm water calmed her in a way her mind couldn¡¯t force. Humming in contentment, Leigh turned on the rinse stage at a colder temperature, enjoying the cooling sensation. She liked walking out of the shower feeling crisp and refreshed instead of muggy and hot.

    After the drying cycle, Leigh felt a thousand times better. She deactivated the shower and it quickly retracted into the wall of her unit. Without the CHIP¡¯s automatic function, she¡¯d forgotten to turn on her suit¡¯s drying cycle, so she took the opportunity to stretch out her muscles as she waited. The cycle only took thirty seconds, but Leigh spent the next five minutes going through slow, meticulous stretches that focused on individual muscle groups. She¡¯d been remiss earlier and had forgotten to do it before and after her SIM escapade. The routine movements brought a calm to her mind that she hadn¡¯t felt since watching her Rank drop out of the First Academy Selection zone. Clean, calm and content - or at least resigned, she sighed. She was ready to talk to her parents.

    Before keying herself back out of her housing unit, she gave it one last glance. She¡¯d programmed so many changes into it over the years that its naked, unCHIPed state was nearly unrecognizable. The oversized bed she¡¯d chosen to dominate the far side, the virtual simulation station she¡¯d installed near the entrance and the small little window alcove she¡¯d programmed into the side were the only fixed features she could recognize without the CHIP. It was enough to recognize her room, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. Shaking her head, she refused to give in to the recurring urge to turn the CHIP back on and left her unit to join her parents in the living area.

    They were still watching the vid so Leigh took the opportunity to get herself some water. Most homes didn¡¯t have a fixed sink, but Leigh and her parents had pooled a significant percentage of their housing unit alotment to form the spacious common area they were now in. Her parents barely spent any time in their rooms and since they slept in the same bed, the three of them had enough space for a fixed sink, stove, fridge, vid display and dining area. Leaning her hip against the sink, Leigh enjoyed her glass of cool water as she watched her parents¡¯ backs. It was quite unusual for them to be so engrossed in a vid. Leigh wondered what the world would think about two of the most brilliant physicists wasting their time on entertainment. She smiled at the thought and put her glass into the cleaner before walking over to her parents.

    She approached the vid area and noticed for the first time that her parents were standing instead of taking advantage of the sofas. This struck her as odd, but she didn¡¯t think too much of it until she got a clear look at their faces. Their mouths were hanging open in shock, their eyes were filled with a tumultuous mixture of anger, horror and sorrow and they were gripping each other¡¯s hand while the other was balled in a fist. Her mother had tears running down her face and her father¡¯s lips were so tightly clamped together, she could only see a line where his mouth usually was.

    ¡°Mom?¡± Leigh asked after recovering from her initial shock. ¡°Dad?¡±

    Neither of them replied, but when her mother noticed her presence, she turned her bloodshot, teary eyes in her direction and simply tugged her to her side. Confused and a little scared, Leigh turned on her CHIP. The need to see what had her usually calm and analytical parents so emotional trumped everything else going on in her head. Leigh didn¡¯t know what she expected to see, but the dozens of open newscasts before her wasn¡¯t it. Being bombarded with the amount of information usually provided by the CHIP after almost two whole hours without it was unexpectedly disorienting. It took Leigh a couple seconds to catch on to what was going on and when she did, she choked, refusing to believe it. If she hadn¡¯t seen her parents¡¯ reaction firsthand, she would have thought it all some kind of terrible practical joke.

    [HALF A BILLION HUMANS DEAD IN ATOMIC ANTI-QUILL SABOTAGE]

    [12 EUROPEAN CENTERS DESTROYED BY ANTI-ALIEN ACTIVISTS]

    [ANTI-QUILL ATTACK KILLS BILLIONS OF HUMANS]

    [H-DNA TERRORISTS¡¯ DEATH TOLL RISES EXPONENTIALLY]

    By the time she¡¯d read the headlines, accompanied by gruesome pictures, Leigh had tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She was being torn apart by dozens of emotions, but the only one she could really process was shock. How could so many people be dead from one moment to the next? Why were humans fighting humans when a much bigger war needed their attention? What was wrong with humanity that even now, it managed to commit such atrocities?

    After skimming dozens of articles, trying to understand what had happened, Leigh finally copied her parents and directed her entire attention to the newscasts. The articles had only revealed that nobody had any details. Her CHIP warned her of her accelerated heartbeat and elevated blood pressure, but she quickly silenced the alarms and turned her attention to the news. Newscasters were still arriving on site, as most of the people in the Centers had been wiped out, along with their newscasters. The thought brought on more tears that joined the continuous stream down her cheeks.

    The Quill were their allies! What was wrong with humanity? The Ardus, that¡¯s who they were fighting. Those were the real enemies! If they wanted to blow stuff up so much, then they should have expended that energy in the war. Her shock and sorrow were slowly being replaced by anger and disgust when her inbox suddenly pinged. Annoyed, she quickly opened it. Leigh meant to dismiss the alert and get to it later, but the content of the message froze her in place.

    OFFICIAL UNITED EARTH STATEMENT: What happened today was a great tragedy and we will not cease to investigate the cause until we come to the bottom of it. We must however, not let this get in the way of our ultimate mission, the survival of mankind. To this effect, there has been a recalculation of Ranks and the Ranks as of 00:23:00am will determine this Year¡¯s Selection.

    [CONGRATULATIONS, FIRST ACADEMY SELECT! WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU, LEIGH SERENA MCMANN: RANK 996, THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE FIRST ACADEMY. THE UNITED EARTH FORCE IS PROUD OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS THUS FAR, BUT YOUR JOURNEY HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.

    THE NEXT THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE WILL BE DIFFICULT AND WE WILL PUSH YOU TO GREATER, UNIMAGINABLE HEIGHTS. THE EVENTS OF THIS NIGHT ARE UNFORTUNATE, BUT THEY CANNOT DISRUPT HUMANITY¡¯S ULTIMATE GOAL: SURVIVAL.

    PACK YOUR HOUSING UNIT AND PRESENT YOURSELF AT¡­.]

    Leigh stopped reading, unable to continue. The disgust she¡¯d been feeling intensified, but this time it was directed inward. Millions upon millions of people had died, yet all she could think about was the bolt of joy she¡¯d felt after receiving the message. Leigh was nauseous. She¡¯d accomplished her goal, but how many had to die for her failure to be turned into a victory?

 Chapter 5:

    The feeds monitoring the zone of destruction were unapologetic in their depiction of the carnage. There were some Med-droids milling about, trying to locate surviving victims. They were, however, vastly outnumbered by the clean-up droids that zoomed back and forth, indifferently filtering through the debris for dead bodies and body parts. Leigh¡¯s stomach rebelled when she saw one of these closely pass by the cam-droid with the upper half of a human being, a woman. Her bowels were trailing behind her until they caught on a protruding metal fragment. Leigh watched with morbid fascination, but the droid simply applied more force and the bowel was severed, leaving a piece behind, still attached to the metal.

    Her overlay showed feeds of the massacre, even as officials came in to re-label the human bodies as non-urgent when compared to the energy-matter that was pooling all over the scene. All she wanted to do was turn them off, but she felt she owed it to the victims to watch. She hadn¡¯t wished for a terrorist act, but it had resulted in her obtaining what she¡¯d always wished for. Leigh couldn¡¯t help but feel partially responsible. Parts of real people, alive, dead and dying, lay strewn around the site and the camera droids captured people¡¯s agonized cries in clear definition. Leigh¡¯s skin crawled, but she didn¡¯t turn it off.

    Her whole life she¡¯d been sheltered from images like this. At first, the CHIP had completely blacked out anything ¡®potentially traumatizing¡¯, but over time it had slowly revealed more and more of the contents by pixelating the image less and less until it was almost revealed. Leigh thought she¡¯d be ready for it when the veil was finally lifted. She¡¯d worked through enough anatomy, autopsy and medical emergency problems to be comfortable seeing ¡®dead¡¯ people, but only now did she realize how totally wrong she¡¯d been. No matter how realistic the SIMs and problems had been, none of them had been ¡®real¡¯. None of them had been real people, with real lives. Lives whose death she had profited from.

    All her goals and aspirations, her need to surpass her brother, it all suddenly seemed so childish and pointless. In the grand scheme of things, her existence itself seemed pointless. She was a little girl with a big dream, but what did that matter when they were at war, even with themselves? Suddenly, the world seemed like a different place, but it hadn¡¯t really changed, she had. She was finally seeing things for what they really were, and she couldn¡¯t hide behind the rose-colored and filtered version her CHIP had shown her all her life anymore. It was time to step up and be the grown-up she¡¯d always assumed to be.

    Keeping an eye on the cleanup efforts, Leigh made herself bring up the Rank history displays so she could find the names of those whose death she felt most responsible for. Her mouth dried when she saw them: seven names. Leigh¡¯s Rank had dropped to 1003 in the last seconds of Selection Day, and if it hadn¡¯t been for these seven people dying, she would never have had the chance to follow in her brother¡¯s footsteps. It all seemed so petty now. Did they really have to die for her to learn that lesson?

    V¡¯or Chocobo von Nielsheim (56)

    Vox¡¯en Dicit (2)

    Flavio Antonio Genialus (899)

    Jake Herbert Isaya (12)

    Sassano Peti¡¯dal Anadini (911)

    Simone Raodin Calderari (371)

    Leigh Anna Adams (238)

    What were the chances? What were the chances that a girl named Leigh had been among the seven in the top 1000 to die? Leigh didn¡¯t need her CHIP to tell her, not very high. Tears running down her face in a steady stream, Leigh opened the girl¡¯s history. She¡¯d been Ranked 238 and with her dirty blond hair and long face, she didn¡¯t look too different from Leigh. The only difference was that Leigh Adams¡¯ eyes were a shocking blue, while her own were a dark brown. The similarities between them were numerous, but none too surprising. They¡¯d been born into the same Year and had spent the last sixteen Years following the same system, trying to get as highly Ranked as possible. Leigh mourned for the girl, overwhelmed by guilt.

    The announcers reporting on the scene were calling it the greatest terrorist attack since 2888; that had been over a century ago and even her parents barely remembered it. Needless to say, the entire world was shocked by the event. The terrorist threat was supposed to have been under control, but that wasn¡¯t what the feeds showed. Thousands upon thousands of destroyed working units lay scattered in pieces across great expanses of radioactive wasteland where thriving Centers, like Delphinia¡¯s Center, used to be. Leigh dedicated one display for each of the twelve Centers that were attacked.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    It was difficult to associate the complex, towering stacks that made up each Center with the devastation in the news. The CHIP-linked functions had all been either destroyed or severely damaged, leaving no traces of the virtual architecture the stacks had once displayed. At over three thousand meters in height, the Berlin Center had been one of the tallest stacks on Earth, it was also renowned for its complex architectural beauty. The announcer was mourning the loss of one of humanity¡¯s most involved stack projects by showing the before and after of the Berlin Center side by side. Only hours before the Center¡¯s working units had been stacked in the shape of a double helix.

    ¡°It took almost two decades to get the millions of people who worked here to agree on the details of the structure, but in the end they all managed to come to an agreement,¡± the camera angle flew around old footage of the glittering masterpiece, ¡°Even down to the type of glass pane they would later use to create the glittering, DNA-shaped monument that had been one of humanity¡¯s treasures for so long. And now¡­¡±

    The image cut away to show the rubble that had replaced the tower after the attack. No words were needed to describe the gruesome scene of death and destruction, there wasn¡¯t a single speck of the tower¡¯s former glory left at the sight. All it inspired was horror and disgust.

    For over an hour, Leigh stood mutely next to her parents, watching as the victims¡¯ CHIPs automatically kept track of the rising death toll. At some point, her mother must have noticed Leigh¡¯s frayed emotional state and pulled her closer, but Leigh didn¡¯t register it. More tears streamed down her face with each new victim that appeared, but she felt unworthy of them. The CHIP allowed her, and everyone else in the world, to experience the disaster as if they were there on site. Leigh saw many people choose to publicize their profiles in order to pay their respects, but she chose to keep hers private. Instead, she paid close attention as the technicians first gathered up all of the unlinked energy-matter before it became concentrated enough to pose a problem. Only then did they transfer their attention to the bodies that lay scattered about.

    ¡°Leigh, honey,¡± her mother said. ¡°You should get some sleep, tomorrow is a big day.¡±

    ¡°I¡ª I can¡¯t, Mom, I have to¡­¡±

    Leigh turned to her mom and tried pleading with her eyes, hoping her mother would understand the feelings she couldn¡¯t put into words. When she looked straight back at Leigh, there wasn¡¯t a single blemish of age to be seen on her face, a face disturbingly similar to her own. At 352, her mother was still young. It would be another four to five decades, at least, before her mother¡¯s mind broke down, taking her body along with it. The process was usually very fast, happening within the span of a year or two, and most people chose the end voluntarily instead of going through the uncomfortable aging process before dying. Leigh had never thought of her mother¡¯s death before, but now she saw it everywhere she looked. It felt like humanity would come to an end at any minute.

    ¡°You have to what?¡± her mother asked.

    ¡°I have to watch until¡ª¡±

    ¡°Until what?¡±

    ¡°Until they recover every last one.¡±

    A sad look crossed her mother¡¯s eye before she spoke again.

    ¡°Honey, they won¡¯t recover every last one. It was a nuclear event, many people have been obliterated past the point of recognition, some even past the point of existence.¡±

    ¡°Still!¡± Leigh said, a little more forcefully than she¡¯d intended.

    Her mother narrowed her eyes at her.

    ¡°Leigh,¡± her father said, coming around her mother to put a hand on Leigh¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Get some sleep, you¡¯re not doing anyone any good by fretting over this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not fretting!¡± Leigh practically yelled, not able to understand how her parents could be so stoic about the whole thing. ¡°Millions died! Don¡¯t you see!? I have to watch, I have to be here. It wasn¡¯t supposed to¡ª I shouldn¡¯t have¡ª I owe it to them. It should have been me!¡±

    She could see her parents exchange a look under the overlays of the catastrophe, but she didn¡¯t care. It didn¡¯t matter if they thought she was losing it. Perhaps she was, but she deserved to. It was unforgivable, what she¡¯d done was absolutely unforgivable. If she celebrated death, she wasn¡¯t any better than the H-DNA terrorists they were blaming it on, she wasn¡¯t any better than the Ardu. She was going to have to live with it on her conscience until the day she died, all because of a girlish desire to be recognized by the world. The only way she could even make a step toward redemption was to achieve something with her spot in the First Academy. Leigh Adams had been ranked 278th. If Leigh wasn¡¯t able to at least match what the girl had done and what she could have done in her life, then she didn¡¯t deserve to be where she was. It wasn¡¯t for her brother anymore, it wasn¡¯t for herself, either, it was for something much greater, for what it should have been for from the start: all the lives that had been and would be lost through this war. Leigh would never be able to wipe her conscience clean, but she would do as much as she could to make her life count in the war effort. The terrorists would pay for what they had done, and the Ardu would pay for setting humanity against itself in the first place. Only then would she¡ª

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about this, honey,¡± her mother said, interrupting her determined introspection.

    ¡°Sorry about wh¡ª¡± Leigh asked as the world went black around her.

 Chapter 6:

    Leigh woke up the next morning feeling like she¡¯d forgotten something big. At first, she was Selection day all over again, but a moment later, the events of the previous day came crashing down upon her. Freezing in place, she realized her parents must have used a tranquilizer on her. The moment she came to this conclusion, her hab alerted her to her father¡¯s keyed entrance.

    ¡°You tranqued me,¡± Leigh stated after he¡¯d walked through the threshold.

    ¡°We did,¡± her father replied.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You know the answer to that question,¡± her father said.

    Leigh reviewed her stats from the night before, looking at the history of her blood pressure and hormone levels around the time in question. They¡¯d reached extreme levels, which was what had given her parents CHIP-override privileges in the first place. Leigh sighed. Her stats would have needed a far higher margin deviation for strangers to attain the same privileges. Even after reaching the age of maturity, her parents were still going to be her parents.

    ¡°Are you better now?¡± her father asked. ¡°Your stats seem normal, but I¡¯d like to know what caused your agitation in the first place.¡±

    ¡°Agitation,¡± Leigh scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Dad, I was just feeling¡­ bad about what happened is all. It¡¯s just¡­ all those people¡­ And some of them in my Year¡­¡±

    He watched her with a strange expression on his face as if dreading what she was about to say.

    ¡°And I only got into¡­¡±

    Her father¡¯s bottom lip twitched in displeasure, but he didn¡¯t say anything and just waited for her to continue as if sensing she had to get it off her chest.

    ¡°I feel guilty¡­ I mean, I know it¡¯s not my fault¡­ Deep down. I know, but I still can¡¯t help feeling somewhat responsible¡­ I don¡¯t really know.¡±

    She bit her lip, anxiously waiting for her father¡¯s response. They weren¡¯t what you would call particularly close, but his approval had always meant a lot to her and she¡¯d always been able to tell him anything. Her father nodded, understanding. She expected him to say something encouraging in reply, instead, he looked down at his lap. He was clutching a small rectangular obsolete object her CHIP identified as a book. She hadn¡¯t noticed it until then, but going by the way her father¡¯s fingers were wrapped around it protectively she figured it must have some meaning. Discomforted by the silence that stretched between them, Leigh reached out and laid a hand on her father¡¯s and spoke up again.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay now, I¡¯m okay,¡± Leigh said. ¡°I know what I have to do now.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah?¡± her father asked, looking up with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. ¡°And what is that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotta go kick some ass! What else!? I got into First didn¡¯t I?¡± she said, hiding her real emotions under false bravado and a smile.

    Her father laughed, but she couldn¡¯t help but feel that those weren¡¯t his real emotions either.

    ¡°That¡¯s my girl!¡± He encouraged her warmly, but again, Leigh could have sworn there was something sad and almost even bitter in his eyes. She was about to ask him about it, when he said, ¡°I have something for you.¡±

    Leigh looked expectantly at the book in his hands, wondering what was making him so on edge.

    ¡°I thought I wouldn¡¯t have to¡­¡± he said, almost apologetically. ¡°But then yesterday¡­¡±

    He rubbed a hand over his face.

    ¡°We thought we would have more time with you,¡± he said almost remorsefully, ¡°we didn¡¯t expect to have you taken so soon, like your brother.¡±

    The words were like acid on a healing wound, but she tried not to interpret it the way her fragile ego did. Her father meant that he¡¯d wanted her to stay close to him, not that he hadn¡¯t expected great things from her. Logically, she knew this, but she still couldn¡¯t help the words from hurting all the same.

    ¡°Here,¡± he said, handing her the book.

    Feeling the cool metallic surface, Leigh immediately reached out to it with her CHIP, but was unable to interact with it. Her puzzlement must have shown on her face, because her father chuckled lightly and said, ¡°Sorry Leigh, this is what one might call ¡®old-school¡¯.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s¡­ old school?¡± Leigh said, already looking it up on her CHIP.

    ¡°Just something they used to say in the early twenty-first,¡± her father said.

    Leigh nodded, but didn¡¯t answer. She¡¯d never understood her father¡¯s obsession with the ancient times, but it did explain why he was handing her a relic she couldn¡¯t even interact with. How was she supposed to store the damn thing, if she couldn¡¯t even compact it? Leigh handled it dubiously, turning it around in her hands.

    ¡°It¡¯s ahm¡­ beautiful!¡± Leigh said brightly, not knowing what else to say. Asking him about what she should be doing with it seemed like a rude question to ask.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Her father¡¯s grin only widened, almost chasing away the shadows still lurking in his eyes.

    ¡°Take it with you and keep it somewhere¡­ safe,¡± he said enigmatically.

    Leigh quirked an eyebrow and he smiled warmly in return.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when to use it,¡± he said in the same tone, ¡°humanity has always turned to books when seeking the truth.¡±

    Leigh opened her mouth to thank him, but her father cut her off by ruffling her hair as he hadn¡¯t in years. They spoke for a while on other subjects, and the book was forgotten in her lap. He told her about how her mother had left early because of a presentation she was supposed to give on the new and improved gadgets they¡¯d recently come up with for expanding the FTL tracks. Leigh paid attention, smiled and nodded when was appropriate, but inside she was counting off the seconds until she was supposed to sign in at UEF¡¯s nearest HQ. Eventually, her father must have caught on to her restlessness, because he leaned over and hugged her. It was a very uncharacteristic gesture, and she reacted awkwardly, patting his back limply until he let go about ten seconds later. He stood up to leave, but turned around at the last minute.

    ¡°And Leigh,¡± he said, suddenly serious.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± she asked, apprehensive.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably best that you not show it to anyone,¡± he said, looking pointedly at the book, still resting on her lap. ¡°Okay?¡±

    Leigh jerked back slightly at the unexpected request, but simply nodded her head in mute concession.

    After the uncomfortable situation was over, he nodded at her, said he had to go join her mother and left. Her father had always been strange in his fascination about obsolete artifacts, but he¡¯d never behaved quite so cryptically. Looking more closely at the book she saw that it had a thumb pad, a very ancient artifact indeed. Carefully placing her finger on the pad, she waited expectantly until it clicked open and she was able to leaf through thin synthetic pages. They were all blank. Frowning, Leigh leafed through them again, just to make sure, but other than the first two pages there was nothing. On the first there was an inscription in cursive writing, she was barely able to read it.

    For my little survivor.

    She frowned, her father had never called her that before, but she knew it was his handwriting because he¡¯d made a big deal about her learning it a few years back. The next page was even more perplexing, but at least it was in a clearly legible modern font.

    It is only the survivor that tells his tale.

    Leigh wondered if her father meant for her to have a ¡®diary¡¯. Maybe he wanted her to keep track of her thoughts and then learn from her mistakes? After all, thoughts were pretty much the only thing CHIPs didn¡¯t already keep track of. Leigh scoffed at the idea, but it was the only purpose she could think of for the book. He¡¯d made such a big deal about a blank book¡­ her father could be strange at times. Shaking her head fondly, she stood up and started packing, stowing the book in the only backpack she¡¯d be taking with her. Looking around her sparse hab, she decided to take a shower before packing up.

    As Leigh showered, she watched a farewell video her mother had sent her, apologizing for not being able to wait for her in person. Leigh understood, really, she did, but she also couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit neglected. Who knows when she¡¯d have the chance to see her again? Leigh sighed, knowing she was just being selfish. Her parents had a lot more important things to deal with than her need for a physical goodbye. She should count herself lucky that her father had waited for her to recover from the tranq shot, that in itself was already miraculous.

    She continued to consider her parents¡¯ relationship. The UEG had pretty much arranged it in order to check the viability of the two genius¡¯ offspring. Her brother had been a home-run in that regard and although she didn¡¯t consider herself as successful, she¡¯d still managed to Rank quite highly. It was quite probable that the UEG would urge them to remain, partners, at least for the genetic decision for any subsequent offspring. Being only at 79% capacity, Earth was more than capable of dealing with a new influx of children. The capacity was increasing faster than humanity could multiply. Most couples didn¡¯t have their first child until the middle of their second century, after their service to the UEF was over. Her parents were the same, though their military service time had been shortened by over a century when their genius had been recognized.

    It was common for people to change partners every couple of decades though, so it was quite possible she¡¯d return to her parents being with different people. The thought rankled a bit and Leigh sighed at the stupid tangent her thoughts had taken. Leigh finished drying up, got into her suit and started packing up. First, she gathered all the things she knew would be obsolete in two years¡¯ time. Her virtual simulation module was the biggest, but there were a few other gadgets here and there that would be ancient in a couple of months¡¯ time. Bundling them up, she directed one of her five thrusters to take it to the recycling lot. Next, she piled all the material things she¡¯d never use again. The perfect mattress that had taken months to find, the pillows she probably should have replaced a year ago, the old suit she definitely should have gotten rid of already and a couple other things quickly found themselves on the way to the decomposition lot with her second thruster where they¡¯d be atomized.

    The Quill had given them the technology to break things down to the atomic level over 700 years ago and humanity was still putting it to good use. Back then, the friendly aliens had been a lot more forthcoming with new technology, but it had been decades since they¡¯d given humans anything out of pure goodwill. Some xenanthropologists theorized it was related to the hostility directed to them from certain human groups, but her dad had once told her it was because humans scared them.

    The thought had Leigh opening an overlay to her parents¡¯ conference. There were thousands of people physically present and another couple million spectating just like her. Having heard about their discoveries as they made them over the last couple of months, Leigh wasn¡¯t really paying attention to their words as much as she was to their excitement to be sharing new knowledge with the world. The sight brought a smile to her face. She finished packing up, using her CHIP to detach her housing unit from her family¡¯s stack as she waited for her two thrusters to come back. By the time they returned fifteen minutes later, she had her unit¡¯s energy-matter compressed into its storage form, a waist-high cube that encompassed all of her earthly belongings. Leigh separated just enough energy-matter to form a hover-board. The rest she sent off with three of her thrusters into storage. Once dropped off, the thrusters were programmed to find their way to recycling while storage dealt with unlinking and stabilizing the energy-matter of her unit. In the end, all that would be left of her housing unit would be a 1m3 dead-matter cube, stacked in storage until her return.

    Leigh watched her compressed unit fly off into the distance for a good minute before deciding she¡¯d reminisced enough. Then, she formed the energy-matter she¡¯d kept into a millimeter-thin disk, stepped on top of it, formatted bands that secured it to her feet and jumped. The two final thrusters activated at her command and linked themselves to the bottom of the disk. Leigh smiled, remembering how long it had taken for her to perfect the move after she¡¯d seen another kid down the block do it years ago. Shaking her head, she wondered what had her remembering so many unnecessary things today, and keyed her course straight to the nearest Center.

 Chapter 7:

    It wasn¡¯t far and Leigh was running a bit early so she kept her speed low and enjoyed the flight, going through a series of practiced hover-board maneuvers, twisting, turning and looping through the air. She didn¡¯t know when she¡¯d be on Earth again and although she didn¡¯t know what it would feel like to miss Earth, she was sure she would. The UEG invested heavily into creating a sense of home when it came to Earth, something worth protecting, and Leigh wasn¡¯t loathe to admit that it worked. Her family and the few friends she¡¯d made through her life were here, it was where she grew up, it was¡­ precious. Just like that, Leigh found herself dealing with unnecessary emotions once again. She¡¯d put off saying goodbye to Vinnya and Mikah as long as she could, but the thought of not being on the same planet as them for years on end made her bring up their profiles. Leigh had checked in on them earlier and sent her congratulations to each of them for getting into Second and Third Academies. Leigh hadn¡¯t wanted to talk to them earlier, knowing that her Rank history was readily available to anyone who wanted it, but the nostalgia of the moment made her earlier reluctance seem frivolous.

    In seconds, she had the two of them on a three-way vid-chat.

    ¡°Lee-Lee!¡± Mikah sing-songed and had Leigh laughing in seconds.

    He hadn¡¯t called her that in years, not since they were little kids. They had met in person when his parents had still been stationed in her region, but had kept in contact virtually over the years. Mikah was still more athletically inclined than her so they¡¯d often overlaid themselves via CHIP in order to train together. Vinnya, on the other hand, was more of a people person. She could charm her way into and out of any situation she wanted, including the very tight-knit, exclusive friendship Mikah and Leigh had once shared. The three of them had grown close over the years and although they only talked for about five minutes, promising to keep in touch, Leigh¡¯s spirits were vastly lifted.

    When her mother¡¯s part of the presentation was over, she contacted Leigh via her CHIP. Leigh in turn, could still see her mother in the conference overlay, standing silently behind her father as he animatedly went on about the new track distribution particles. They couldn¡¯t vid-chat without other people becoming aware of it, but her mother spent the next ten minutes vid-chatting with Leigh about this and that until Leigh reached the Center. Her mother apologized for not being able to congratulate her in person, but promised she¡¯d make it to Leigh¡¯s graduation, even if Leigh ended up in Ehien like her brother. Her mother joked she was due for a serious vacation anyway. Leigh wondered if her mother realized that her graduation was still three years away, but then remembered that at 352, she¡¯d probably consider three years the way Leigh considered three months. Having said her goodbyes to everyone that mattered to her on Earth, Leigh closed out of her social overlays.

    She approached the 275th Center and handed route control over to her CHIP so as not to interfere with the heavy traffic around the area. The 275th Center wasn¡¯t nearly as big or as awe-inspiring as the Berlin Center had been, but it was fascinating nonetheless. Millions of people worked in the stacks that towered over her. There were bridges that connected many of the stacks, some of them in constant movement, adjusting to the demands of traffic as needed. Most people chose the simple way of traveling, which meant thousands upon thousands of personal levitation disks and hover-boards zipping this way and that in orchestrated chaos. On the off chance that people needed to carry something big and bulky along with them, they¡¯d simply bring additional thrusters to levitate a bigger disk. A much rarer travel option was the transportation unit, reserved for either very long distances or delicate and volatile cargo. Appearance-wise, it resembled a housing unit, modeled to look like a aerodynamic pill. However, as the transportation units had separate travel lanes at a much higher altitude, you tended not to see them unless they were loading or unloading.

    Leigh enjoyed the sight, letting her CHIP guide her towards the UEF headquarters. The knowledge of what was about to take place was both exciting and daunting. She¡¯d dreamed of the First Academy modifications for years, and now it was finally going to happen. Excitement was about to overwhelm her when she reminded herself on how she¡¯d attained her spot. It didn¡¯t take long for guilt to completely obliterate joy and by the time she reached the entrance to HQ, she was sober once more. The attendants processed her in short order, giving her preference as a First Academy Select. Their congratulations were undeserved and each time she heard one, she felt like an impostor.

    The first thing they did was lead her into a room full of labcoat-wearing technicians who directed her toward a shower stall. Knowing what was about to come, Leigh ran a hand over her dirty blonde locks one last time before activating the water. The initial spray was relatively harmless, sporting the same jasmine scent she¡¯d always preferred, but as the second phase of the cycle began, she watched in resignation as all of her hair was completely washed away. Her eyebrows, the hair on her arms, her legs, her head¡­ everywhere, in less than a minute, the hair-corroding solution had completely stripped it away. Leigh sighed and then watched as the next solution also took the top couple of layers of her skin, leaving her a pale, tan-less white. Next, she was directed to rinse her mouth out with the solution; it tasted acidically sweet. Finally, they released her to the next step in the process, her uterectomy.

    Feeling more naked than ever before, Leigh was directed into the next room full of anonymous labcoats. They directed her to lay on a cold metal bed and she wondered about the procedure ahead of her. She¡¯d seen documentaries about it, the evolution of human procreation, but she had no idea what to expect. Her uterus would be taken out and kept alive to mature in a machine until the time she chose to have children. It had been centuries since humans had carried their own offspring, but she still wondered if there would be a sense of loss afterward. Leigh wasn¡¯t given much time to consider the subject, as she was tranqued for the second time that day. It only felt like moments later, but when she woke up, Leigh¡¯s upgraded CHIP told her it had been almost an hour since she¡¯d entered the room.

    The technicians had taken advantage of the operation to give her CHIP a major overhaul. The overlay was noticeably different, but Leigh wouldn¡¯t have a chance to investigate all of the new First-Academy-exclusive features until much later. For starters, she knew its processing capability was at least one thousand times higher than it had been an hour ago. Things she¡¯d considered fast before were now immediate. Its first alert was the recovery status of her uterus, currently at 18%, and the slight organ reorganization it had caused in her body. Leigh lay a hand on her belly, trying to see if she felt any different. There were no visible scars from the operation and when they ushered her over to the next procedure, she decided that if anything, she only felt lighter after the removal. In a sense, having her reproductive organs preserved for when she needed them was a relief.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The next procedure involved another cold metal table. She was directed to lay on it, arms and legs splayed out while a machine scanned her. It was an uncomfortable sensation, like a sheet of ice was slowly rolling through her body, both inside and out, but she knew that there was worse to come. The invasive full-body scan took over ten minutes and mapped out every single proton, neutron, and electron present in her body. It was the reason all her hair, with its impurities, needed to be eliminated first. The cloning procedure for which the scan was necessary was incredibly expensive, and in order to preserve resources, the UEF only stored the necessary information for those it deemed irreplaceable. Leigh wasn¡¯t irreplaceable yet, but as a First Academy Select, she soon would be. The sheer number resources the UEF would pump into her and her education over the next three years was simply terrifying. The UEF knew it too, otherwise her data wouldn¡¯t be stored in the first place. Leigh couldn¡¯t help thinking that if the terrorist attack had taken place a day later after the original First Academy Selects had already been scanned and mapped, then her death would have eventually been just as final as theirs turned out to be. Now, the UEF had the option to clone her if she died. Human rights laws stipulated there could only ever be one of her at a time, but as long as she was useful to the UEF, she¡¯d essentially been immortalized.

    Mapping her brain came next. Unlike all the other procedures, Leigh couldn¡¯t even feel it taking place. All she had to do was put on a helmet and wait. They told her that electrical impulses were being sent through her brain to illuminate the synaptic pathways, so she¡¯d expected some kind of pain or discomfort, but there was none to be had. The only inconvenience of the mapping procedure was how long it took. She had to sit still between six and ten hours, depending on how easy her brain was to map. During this time, they had her perform a series of activities, mostly sitting still and watching and reacting to some kind of sensory stimuli. In the end, it took over eight and a half hours to map her brain, above average, but not Earth-shatteringly long. Still, she knew worse was still to come.

    Next, she had a chance to rest again as they once more tranqued her, this time in order to surgically install the suit core into the back of her neck. This surgery was a lot more complicated than the first and, in her case, took over six hours to perform. Although the back of her neck felt a bit sore afterward, she was otherwise completely fine and well-rested. She sighed. After sixteen hours, she was down to the last procedure, the nanite infusion. Although the suit function was the most famous First Academy perk, it did not work without the nanite, or energy-matter, infusion. The suit core was just a piece of dead material without it. Leigh sighed again. The only problem: it was known to be the most painful experience imaginable. In the first couple of generations of suit implementation, there had even been a high risk of death. Luckily, that wasn¡¯t the case anymore, but Leigh was still not looking forward to it.

    She was led into another room, with another empty, metal table. After spending almost an entire day naked in front of strangers, she barely registered the discomfort as she lay down. Her heartbeat started to accelerate until a new CHIP function revealed itself and forcefully hijacked her breathing in order to calm her heartbeat down. The sensation was disconcerting, but Leigh appreciated not having to go into the procedure in a distressed state. Unlike the others, she couldn¡¯t be tranqued for this one; they needed to know her lucid limit for nanites. The general rule was, the more, the better, but everyone had a threshold after which the benefits no longer outweighed the drawbacks. Some people lost motor function while others lost brain functions or underwent a complete personality change. In order to avoid any of these complications, the procedure had to take place completely untranqued. No painkillers, nothing.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± one of the labcoats suddenly asked.

    Leigh flinched before nodding tersely. She tried to relax her body, sensing that a rigid stance was not going to be particularly helpful in this situation, but before she could convince her body of that fact, the infusion had already started. At first it was just pain, pure and simple pain. It came slowly, trickling in through the dozens of needles the labcoats had tacked to her veins. Then, it was fire. Leigh tried to stay still, but she slowly lost control of her body. This was nothing like the pain she¡¯d felt over the medical nanites. The labcoats had told her to keep going for as long as she could. They¡¯d told her that if she could still muster the will to scream, then she could still take more. When they¡¯d her told that they would keep pumping her with nanites until she stopped screaming, she hadn¡¯t considered the fact that she¡¯d have to start first. First it was tears, then it was twitches and later she was kicking, screaming and crying, but she didn¡¯t stop them. She could take more pain, she had to. She deserved to. The more nanites she was able to convince her body to process, the stronger her Energy Suit could become. After all that had happened, that had led her to be in this position, she had to endure.

    Five minutes, that¡¯s all it took for her endurance to be filed away to nothing. The pain was unimaginable, unending, unrelenting. Leigh just wanted to give in, to have it stop. She¡¯d walked into the HQ numb, but the pain was washing away the numbness, revealing the real, raw emotions she¡¯d tried to hide. This was the path she¡¯d always wanted in her life; the terrorist attack had guaranteed and soiled it at the same time. She wouldn¡¯t be able to experience it through the lens of excitement and accomplishment that she wanted. It was a filthy thing she¡¯d won and she wasn¡¯t sure she wanted it, not if she¡¯d have to keep going through pain like this for the rest of her life, for something she would always feel guilty for. Maybe it was best that she didn¡¯t go, didn¡¯t take someone else¡¯s spot. The pain chased these thoughts to the forefront of her mind, muddling everything together until she didn¡¯t know what was real and what wasn¡¯t. The only certainty, the only reality she could cling to, was pain.

    Leigh cried until she didn¡¯t anymore. She was spent, she didn¡¯t want it anymore. She wouldn¡¯t be able to do Leigh Adams justice. After all, she was a fake, she¡¯d never be able to do anyone justice, not even herself. Her tears were soon spent along with the rest of her. She still screamed, but she didn¡¯t know what for and so she stopped. Her screams no longer echoed through the room and she was about to call an end to everything when the pain cleared just enough for her to realize what she was doing. She was giving up. If she could give up, then she could still go on. Gritting her teeth, Leigh started screaming again, telling herself she wasn¡¯t a quitter as the pain started up again with renewed vigor. She was not a quitter, not now, not ever.

    Her tears were dried up, her throat was raw from her screams, her body was bruised from the convulsions that racked it repeatedly, but she didn¡¯t quit. She kept going until she realized that yesterday, she would have already quit. Yesterday, it had still been all about herself, but now she was fighting for something so much bigger than herself. If she quit now, she was doing them and their deaths a disservice and that was something she could never do. And so, the pain continued, on and on and on. The pain taught her a valuable lesson. Human strength came from within, but it was a strength that could only be unleashed through emotion. If she didn¡¯t let herself feel them, she would never become as strong as she needed to be to become deserving.

    V¡¯or Chocobo von Nielsheim

    Vox¡¯en Dicit

    Flavio Antonio Genialus

    Jake Herbert Isaya

    Sassano Peti¡¯dal Anadini

    Simone Raodin Calderari

    Leigh Anna Adams

 Chapter 8:

    ¡°¡­ how we didn¡¯t catch this. Her body was overloaded with medical nanites.¡±

    ¡°It almost killed her! This is why the protocol was changed!¡±

    ¡°We should have checked.¡±

    Leigh must have passed out at some point, because suddenly there was no more pain. Her body shivered in relief and she was only vaguely aware of the voices carrying a conversation around her.

    ¡°¡­ not in her CHIPs history. It only says treatment was administered yesterday, there are no specifics on the dosage, and the visual record of it simply doesn¡¯t exist.¡±

    ¡°¡­ just wipe it and keep it off her record. We don¡¯t need any more bad press for the UEF right now. She¡¯s one of the McMann¡¯s children¡­¡±

    At the mention of her family, she tried to open her eyes and move, but the strain was too much for her body and everything went black again.

    ¡°¡­ beyond my calculations.¡±

    Leigh heard voices again.

    ¡°I agree, seeing as she wasn¡¯t really Selected, my estimates had been for¡­ 38% of the final injected mass.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, she¡¯s¡­ ah. She¡¯s awake.¡±

    ¡°Hello Leigh, can you open your eyes for me?¡±

    Leigh opened and then immediately closed her eyes when confronted with the glaring light above. She wanted to ask the technicians to turn it down, but her new and improved CHIP was already displaying a light sensitivity reduction alert. Leigh opened her eyes reluctantly and was relieved to see the light was no longer burning her retinas. She blinked a couple times, adjusting to her surroundings, but before she could, her CHIP notified her of the examinations the lab coats were performing on her. Leigh frowned, having never encountered that kind of notification before. All the information that the technicians extracted from her CHIP was relayed to her, core stats and all. She skimmed through the extracted stats until one caught her eye, the nanite report.

    Unfamiliar with what she was looking at, it took her over a minute of CHIP-assisted guidance for her to understand it. The report basically gave a breakdown of the entire nanite population that was currently present in her body, including their status and current tasks. A quick investigation showed that most of the nanites were currently in the process of attaching themselves to bones and organs or creating the energy pathways through which she would later activate her energy suit. The working nanites tingled everywhere they touched and after ascertaining that every other bodily function was in order, Leigh looked down at her hands. It was the first time she was seeing her body since waking up. She¡¯d seen vids of First Academy Selects and graduates, she¡¯d even seen vids of her brother after he graduated, but even knowing what to expect, she wasn¡¯t ready for what she saw.

    Leigh¡¯s hands were the whitest she¡¯d ever seen them. She¡¯d spent so many hours on the track and hover-boarding every week that she¡¯d always sported a healthy tan. It was strange seeing a hand that didn¡¯t look like hers obey her commands as she opened and closed it experimentally. However, that was only the beginning when it came to the changes that her hand, and her body, had gone through. Thin silvery, metallic veins could be seen flowing on the surface of her skin. They were literally flowing, as they delineated the pathways the nanites were taking to perform the various functions throughout her body. At a thought, the CHIP brought up a virtual image of what she looked like to others and Leigh gasped at the sight, barely recognizing herself. She was bald, white, with silvery and ever-changing veins of metal running across her skin, and yet, other than her lack of eyebrows, the most disconcerting change of all was the complete whiteness of her eyes.

    Gone were the brown eyes she¡¯d grown up with, and her hair, she knew, would grow out white. Leigh bit her lip, not knowing how to adjust to the change. Her own parents were First Academy graduates, but adjusting to the complete lack of visible pupils and irises on her own eyes proved to be more difficult than she¡¯d anticipated. It almost felt like she¡¯d lost part of herself, her identity.

    ¡°Leigh,¡± the shorter of the two technicians said, snapping her out of her self-evaluation. ¡°Did you hear what I said, Leigh?¡±

    Leigh shook her head to clear it.

    ¡°I said that¡ª¡±

    Leigh¡¯s attention wavered again as the CHIP took it upon itself to replay the conversation she¡¯d missed while caught up in her self-evaluation After she¡¯d woken up, the technicians had started talking, explaining a few things, Leigh had missed all of it but the CHIP was now playing it back at 4x speed.

    ¡°Your stats look good,¡± the shorter lab coat said. ¡°Especially your nanite integration. With such a high injected mass, we expected more complications, but your body recovered quite splendidly.¡±

    ¡°Above expectations,¡± the taller one said, garnering a glare from the shorter one, who was obviously in charge. ¡°Your levels are not unheard of, but they are definitely in the higher margin, so if you experience any nausea, dizziness, sleepiness, sluggishness, loss of motor function, loss of hearing, loss of feeling¡ª¡±

    ¡°Anything out of the norm,¡± interrupted the shorter one said. ¡°The CHIP will alert you if anything is actually wrong, but just in case, do pay special attention to your stats over the next couple of days. Technology has come a long way, but there is a reason humans still lead the world and not robots¡ª¡±

    ¡°Because we nixed self-aware AI about three centuries ago¡ª¡±

    Another glare.

    ¡°I remember when your brother came through five years ago,¡± the short one said, changing subjects. ¡°He was also an exemplary specimen when it came to nanite integration. Both of you seem to be cut from the same cloth, after all.¡±

    Leigh chose to ignore the surprise apparent in that statement.

    ¡°His intake was still significantly higher, but¡ª¡±

    ¡°But,¡± the short one interrupted again, with another glare at the taller one, ¡°you have done better than anyone of your Rank ever before.¡±

    Once the CHIP recap finished, she panned back to reality, where the short one was advising her to contact the medical officer on board if any irregularities should arise over the next couple of days or weeks. Leigh nodded.

    ¡°I understand,¡± she said, uncomfortable with making the technicians have to repeat themselves.

    ¡°Good,¡± the short one said. ¡°Then let¡¯s get you clothed and shipped off. We¡¯ve got about five hours left to get you on board.¡±

    ¡°Five hours?¡± Leigh asked, surprised.

    She checked her CHIP and saw that she¡¯d been out for nearly seven hours. It was no wonder the departure deadline was so close. Leigh lifted a hand to run over her hair, but came to a smooth, bald head. She jerked in surprise until she remembered and sighed, rubbing the unfamiliar surface. Idly, she wondered what she¡¯d look like with white hair.

    ¡°Yep,¡± the tall technician said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we were able to arrange for your ship¡¯s shuttle to come here last.¡±

    Leigh nodded lamely, looking at the lab coats. She hadn¡¯t bothered to check their names until then. The CHIP notified her that they were Marvin and Samyah Tiephs, brothers by the look of it. It explained a couple things about their interaction, or at least Leigh thought it did. She didn¡¯t have a particularly good reference when it came to what she thought was ¡®normal¡¯ sibling relationships. Leigh smiled nonetheless.

    ¡°Thanks¡­¡±

    ¡°Now,¡± Marvin, the short one, said. ¡°Can you stand up for me?¡±

    Leigh nodded and sat up, almost hitting her head on her knees in the process. Surprised, she held her breath and tried to process the new speed at which her body reacted to her commands. She¡¯d only meant to sit up and had instinctively raised her knees in order to get off the metal table afterward. Stunned, she took a few moments to look around and noticed a few other peculiar things. The table she was laying in had small dents in the area of her wrists and feet. Leigh¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°Did I¡­?¡± she asked in part amazement and part horror.

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± Marvin said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, it happens sometimes. The nanite reaction is different with everyone, but it¡¯s always quite potent. Oh, another thing I advise is strength management in the next couple of days. Nanites don¡¯t make you all-powerful by any means, but your body can be anywhere from three to eight times stronger than it was before the injection.¡±

    Leigh¡¯s eyes widened. She¡¯d known about many of the advantages of the nanites, but somehow her research had never revealed this particular aspect of it. She nodded mutely, not knowing what else to say.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the table,¡± Samyah said, ¡°it¡¯ll be re-molecularized.¡±

    Leigh nodded again before trying to get off the table once more. She took it a lot slower this time, managing her reactions and strength carefully. Only when she was standing securely on the ground did she heave a sigh of relief and transfer her attention to the brothers once more.Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Follow me,¡± Samyah said.

    Leigh looked at Marvin, who nodded for her to proceed, so she took off after Samyah. He led her to the corner of the room to a dressing room. Seeing as she¡¯d been naked in front of these people for more than a day, it seemed redundant, but she entered it anyway.

    ¡°Stand on the labeled footholds, stretch your arms out, close your mouth and eyes and hold still,¡± Samyah said.

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    It was only when the assumed dressing room started filling with a dark blue liquid that she realized she¡¯d been wrong about the label. The small chamber filled so quickly that it didn¡¯t give her time to freak out and before she could even wonder how long she¡¯d be expected to hold her breath, the chamber had already been drained, leaving a layer of the viscous liquid on her skin. Leigh felt a jet of cold, then hot and then once more cold air blowing through and in less than a second, the liquid had been transformed into some kind of suit. Leigh felt the nanites absorb the suit in front of her eyelids, nose and mouth. Breathing freely once more, she gave Samyah a look of annoyance.

    ¡°A little heads-up would have been nice,¡± she said.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he said noncommittally.

    Leigh sighed.

    ¡°You can customize the suit now if you like,¡± Samyah said, directing her out of the dressing room.

    ¡°I can?¡± Leigh asked, but the CHIP was already showing her all the features the suit offered. She was already gaping in astonishment after reading the first few.

    [IMPERMEABLE TO RADIATION]

    [IMMUNE TO FOREIGN SUBSTANCES]

    [COMPLETELY ABSORBABLE BY NANITES]

    Needing to see it for herself, Leigh ordered the nanites to absorb her suit and, sure enough, she was naked again two seconds later, the only difference being that the silvery veins running all over her body had taken a darker, blue-tinged hue. Amazed, Leigh brought the suit back, but so it only covered her from neck down. The elastic, yet very breathable feel of it was the most comfortable thing she¡¯d ever experienced. It made her feel freer, nimbler and more agile than she did even when naked. Next, she read through a couple of other features, until she came to the customization Samyah had mentioned. Although the entire population wore the same type of suit model, the customization options led to very few suits ever looking the same through the CHIP. By the time Samyah had guided her to the exit, she¡¯d already changed her own to something closer to what she was used to.

    The dark blue color had been replaced completely by a midnight black. Many people liked to add virtual frills here and there to spruce the suit up, but Leigh preferred its simple lines. Instead, she tended to customize a single part of the suit. For the past couple of months, she¡¯d been customizing her left arm, but today she decided to customize her right leg. The black soon became a white, mimicking a boot that came up to her upper thigh. She attached two large buttons to the side, closing the virtual flap she added down the side. Enjoying the simple look the boot offered, Leigh chose to stop the customization there and instead change her usual style. She added two one-inch wide bands two inches apart on her forearm and called her creation done. Quite pleased with the simple aesthetic it provided, she turned her attention back to Samyah, who was offering absolutely no opinion on her outfit choice. It didn¡¯t surprise her in the least.

    ¡°Follow this hallway to the waiting room, it will be the eighth door on the right,¡± Samyah said as he motioned to her bag on a counter, opened a door and sent her the route map he¡¯d just explained.

    Having nothing else to say, Leigh picked up her bag, nodded her thanks and left. Any questions she might have would be answerable by her CHIP, so there was no reason to take any more time out of his day. Walking down the hall, Leigh felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. It made her think of the warnings Marvin had issued, but she chose not to make a big deal out of it just yet. Her CHIP showed her stats to be within the expected range for the first day post-nanite injection; she would start worrying when it didn¡¯t anymore. Rubbing a hand over the still-unfamiliar baldness of her head, Leigh continued to make her way down the hall, reaching the waiting room at the same time as another boy her age. They exchanged courteous CHIP pings and she followed him inside, unprepared for what lay before her. Dozens upon dozens of people in her Year were milling about in various groups in a large hangar that opened out over the city on one side. A few transport units had pulled up and were being efficiently filled with sixteen year olds to be carted off wherever their training would be taking place.

    Leigh¡¯s CHIP alerted her that her shuttle would be arriving in sixteen minutes, but most of her attention was directed at the people around her. The moment she stepped through the door, half of the heads turned her way, expressions unfriendly. She could have discounted it for the strangeness of her hairless appearance or the perhaps the fact that she was unique in the crowd as a First Academy Select, but her CHIP alerted her to the presence of two more First Academy Selects waiting for their own shuttles. One of them was off to the right, practically engulfed by a crowd, the other was in the corner in the left. Leigh noticed that the one on the left was receiving similar treatment. At first, she thought she might have imagined the animosity directed towards her, but the fact that someone else was receiving the same treatment made it clear that she wasn¡¯t imagining it at all. Curious about what was going on, Leigh approached the one on the left to see if she had some answers. People stepped aside as if she was contagious when she walked by. There was something really strange going on and Leigh¡¯s confusion had skyrocketed by the time she reached the girl.

    ¡°Ah,¡± the girl said when Leigh walked up to her, ¡°You¡¯re 996.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yeah,¡± Leigh said, unused to being called by her Rank.

    ¡°I¡¯m 999.¡±

    ¡°¡­Ok,¡± Leigh said, unsure of how to respond.

    The girl who Leigh¡¯s CHIP identified as Ashley Suez, smiled in amusement, but Leigh didn¡¯t smile back. She was too busy staring at the girl¡¯s white eyes. Did she look that strange too? Her parents had always had virtual configurations modifying their eyes, they said it tended to distract people. Leigh had never understood the necessity until now, it really did make First Academy Selects stand out, but maybe that was the point.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t been spending a lot of time on social recently have you?¡± the girl asked, breaking into her musings.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Leigh asked, automatically opening up social at the mention thereof.

    The girl who Leigh¡¯s CHIP idendified as Ashley Suez, smiled in amusement.

    ¡°We are pariahs,¡±

    ¡°Pariahs?¡± Leigh asked, confused as she browsed the forums.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± the girl, whose name was Ashley, said. ¡°We¡¯re fakes and cheats. The UEF should never have replaced the ones killed in the H-DNA attack¡­ Or at least, that¡¯s what is being said.¡± The girl shrugged.

    Leigh scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, ¡°But why are we fakes, it¡¯s not our fault¡­¡± Leigh said. It was the first time she¡¯d spoken the words out loud, but she¡¯d said it many times to herself. She hoped that if she said it enough times it would finally feel real.

    ¡°Yeah, no shit it¡¯s not our fault,¡± Ashley said. ¡°But they,¡± she added, nodding to the people still glaring at them, ¡°don¡¯t think that. Then again, they¡¯re just jealous they still didn¡¯t make it to First, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Leigh remained stoic, unsure how she felt about the girl¡¯s take on the attack, but her smile was contagious and Leigh found herself smiling right along side her. In a way, Ashley reminded her of Vinnya, always able to turn the situation around to something positive when she felt like it. Leigh sighed, wishing her friend was with her in a moment like this.

    ¡°So, what ship you on?¡± Ashley asked.

    ¡°Er¡­. Seven,¡± Leigh answered, parroting off the information her CHIP supplied.

    ¡°Aww, shucks. I¡¯m four, guess I won¡¯t have a comrade ¡®fake¡¯ on board after all¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, you could have¡ª¡±

    ¡°Oh come on, what are the chances two of the ¡®cursed seven¡¯ land on the same ship? I bet they¡¯ll separate us on principle. The fact that we¡¯ve even met by coincidence is kind of unbelievable, but I guess not all Centers process First Academy Selects¡­¡±

    Leigh nodded, not sure of how to respond. She¡¯d always been social to the exact extent required for her rank, it had never been her forte and the girl was a regular chatterbox. Leigh had never been so forthcoming with someone she¡¯d just met, but then again, she¡¯d always had to be careful. As the daughter to two quasi-celebrities and the sister to another, it wasn¡¯t rare for people to approach her for the sake of her connection to them.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Ashley said, ¡°Looks like my ride is here, gotta go!¡±

    Leigh didn¡¯t even have the time to process the girl¡¯s words before she was already gone, speeding toward the shuttle that had just arrived. After Ashley¡¯s shuttle departed, Leigh stood in awkward silence among the glares and whispers, perusing social until her own shuttle arrived. She was surprised to see the other First Academy Select also head toward the shuttle. At the thought, her CHIP told her he was also going to be on her ship.

    Leigh opened her mouth to extend a greeting but the boy cut her off with a curt, ¡°You¡¯re one of them, huh?¡±

    She blinked, surprised at the obviously hostile tone, only to be even more shocked as he shoved his way past her to get in the shuttle before her.

    ¡°Well, hello to you too¡­¡± Leigh muttered under her breath as she followed him in, wondering what kind of reception she would be getting from everyone on her ship, the people her future would depend on.

    Before she could take a seat and think about it too much, an official UEF message arrived in her inbox. She opened it immediately.

    [CONGRATULATIONS ON PASSING THE PRELIMINARY INSPECTION!]

    Leigh wondered why they bothered to congratulate them on something that no one had failed in centuries.

    [YOU ARE NOW ON YOUR WAY TO YOUR DESIGNATED SHIP, WHERE YOU WILL STAY FOR THE ENTIRETY OF YOUR FIRST SEMESTER. THE LENGTH OF THIS SEMESTER WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE LENGTH OF THE JOURNEY TO YOUR DESTINATION PLANET. AS YOU ALL KNOW, THERE ARE TEN SHIPS SENT OUT EACH YEAR. SOME OF LAST YEARS¡¯ SHIPS HAVE STILL NOT REACHED THEIR DESTINATION, AS THE FIRST SEMESTER JOURNEY CAN TAKE ANYWHERE FROM TEN TO EIGHTEEN MONTHS OF TRAVEL.]

    Leigh¡¯s brother had been one of the unlucky ones to go to Ehien, the furthest of the destination planets at eighteen months of travel. Leigh hoped she didn¡¯t get sent there as well, not because she didn¡¯t want to have such a long journey, but because she didn¡¯t want to be subjected to more comparison to him than she already was.

    [EACH SHIP WILL BE SPLIT INTO TEN TENTS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. YOU WILL BE GOING THROUGH A SELECTION PROCESS FOR YOUR BEST LEADERS WHICH WILL THEN DETERMINE THE COMPOSITION OF EACH TENT. YOUR MISSION DURING THE FIRST SEMESTER WILL BE TO PREPARE AS WELL AS YOU CAN FOR THE SECOND SEMESTER, DURING WHICH YOU WILL SPEND 365 STANDARD DAYS SURVIVING ON THE PLANET DESIGNATED TO YOUR SHIP.]

    [BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE DESIGNATED PLANET, YOUR TENT WILL HAVE TO COMPETE FOR ONE OF THE EIGHT SPOTS AVAILABLE. THE TWO TENTS THAT ARE NOT SELECTED WILL BE SPENDING THEIR SECOND SEMESTER ABOARD THE SHIP AS IT RETURNS TO EARTH. LEADERS ARE NEEDED BOTH ON THE FRONT AND BEHIND THE SCENES TO GUARANTEE THE CONTINUED ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH OF THE UEF.]

    Leigh swallowed, hoping the animosity she¡¯d felt in the waiting deck wasn¡¯t going to follow her on board the ship. If she was hated by their Tent it could be fatal to their teamwork, and she¡¯d have a hard time guaranteeing her presence on-planet for the second semester. Leigh knew that the idea behind the vote was to enforce the importance of leadership and trust within the Tent. In order to be selected by your teammates, most of whom also wanted to be selected for the second semester on the destination planet, then you had to be able to convince them not only that you had the skills necessary for survival in a savage and foreign environment, but that they would also be able to tolerate your close presence for an entire year.

    Leigh sighed. If her starting point was animosity from all sides, then she might want the furthest destination, after all. Either way, as the 996th Rank, she had a lot to prove.

 Chapter 9:

    ¡°You getting in ?¡±

    Leigh jerked at the sound of a nasal voice. It belonged to a boy sitting close to the shuttle¡¯s entrance. His bright white eyes were staring straight at her, so intently that Leigh felt he could see right down to her marrow. Swallowing, and feeling more than a tad uncomfortable, Leigh nodded and stepped into the shuttle. The moment her feet were through the threshold, the energy-matter sealed into place behind her, like a guillotine severing her from the point of no return. The sudden deafening silence that detached them from the world only hammered it in further.

    ¡°You going to sit down?¡± the strange kid spoke up again in the same exact bored tone, apparently oblivious to the imperial silence that reigned.

    Reluctantly, Leigh made her way to her Rank-assigned seat right next to him. She tried to get a read on him, but his eyes and face gave nothing away. Resorting to his records she found him to be Arthur LeMakovien, Ranked 988th. His athletic and interpersonal stats explained his relatively ¡®low¡¯ score. Most of his scores were lower than even hers by quite a bit. However, when it came to physics, biology, chemistry, and particularly programming, the guy was a genius. Out of curiosity, Leigh brought up the stats on her parents when they were her age and was shocked to see that they were on the same level as Arthur¡¯s. He was going to be one of the geniuses of her generation¡­ and she¡¯d pretty much ignored him¡­ twice.

    Leigh sighed in resignation, Rank or no Rank, she was already making a mess of things. She took a seat, and only then did it dawn on her that she wasn¡¯t Ranked last on the ship; there was a girl sitting to her left as well, she was Ranked 1000th. Leigh couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved that she wasn¡¯t the only one of the ¡®frauds¡¯ on the ship, and she tried not to think about how glad she was not to be Ranked last after all.

    Once she¡¯d adjusted herself into her seat, the constricting silence returned with a vehemence. Curious as to whom the bald heads and blank stares that surrounded her belonged to, Leigh spent the next five minutes going through everyone¡¯s stats. Her CHIP told her that her perusal of their stats would be known to them, but after checking and seeing that her own stats had been picked over by dozens of others, she shrugged and did the same. Knowledge hadn¡¯t been private in a very, very long time. Scrolling through stats and information, she wasn¡¯t surprised by the exemplary performance in all of their files. She¡¯d already encountered most names at one time or another over the years, so looking them up served more as a reminder than a full-blown investigation. If she really wanted to make it on-planet, she had her work cut out for her, there was no way she could even begin to compete with some of the scores.

    ¡°Are you feeling sick?¡± Arthur suddenly asked via private virtual chat, ¡°the rising glucose levels in your bloodstream are indicative of stress.¡±

    Leigh raised an eyebrow at him until she remembered the gesture was useless without the eyebrows actually there to express it.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine,¡± she said, ¡°just¡­ been a long day.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I agree,¡± he said. ¡°However, if it makes you feel any better, it still only has twenty-four hours in it, just like all the ones before and the ones still to come.¡±

    Leigh smiled and shook her head, not knowing if she was comforted or irritated by his words. Looking him straight in the eyes, Leigh couldn¡¯t detect any malice, so she decided to go with comforting.

    ¡°I guess that does make me feel a bit better,¡± Leigh said with a laugh, not wanting to lose her chance to fix his first impression of her. ¡°I¡¯m Leigh, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± the boy said, giving her a confused look. ¡°You¡¯re labeled¡­ just like I assume I am.¡±

    She glanced at the label he referred to.

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Leigh said, ¡°I just figured it¡¯d be polite to introduce myself.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s more polite for you not to waste our time,¡± the boy said. ¡°The UEF is investing a lot of valuable resources into us, the most valuable of which is time, so let¡¯s not waste it.¡±

    Leigh bit her lip, trying not to be annoyed by his matter-of-factness. She wanted to retort with something snappy, but the more she thought about it, the more he was right. All the functions the CHIP had given them were time-saving. So much knowledge would have to be crammed into them over the next three years, that it was no surprise that introduction speeches, ceremonies, and greetings were skipped. There was a reason the UEF didn¡¯t have a salute, but merely a CHIP ping.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Leigh said. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a guess,¡± Arthur said.

    Leigh was about to roll her eyes at him for taking her literally, but then she saw the glint of amusement in his white eyes and knew he was just making fun of her. She smiled back at him, happy she¡¯d met someone in the ship who didn¡¯t immediately hate her like the rest probably did. Leigh already felt subjected to steely, angered looks and even some outright glares. The seats were grouped in fives so that there were always two groups of five seats facing each other. Leigh hadn¡¯t spoken a word to anyone but Arthur, yet it seemed she¡¯d garnered unfavorable interest from the entire assembled cast before her. Arthur seemed to be thinking the same thing because it wasn¡¯t too long before he spoke again.

    ¡°Seems like they don¡¯t like you,¡± he said in private.

    ¡°Yes, it does, doesn¡¯t it?¡± she said with her best yeah-no-shit smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite shortsighted of them really.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Leigh asked carefully, wondering where he was going with this.

    ¡°Well, the way I see it, they should be thinking along the lines of ¡®the more lower-ranked people, the better.¡¯ Easy competition.¡±

    ¡°Ahm¡­¡± Leigh said carefully, trying not to tread on the land-mine Arthur had just placed, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about her Rank or how she came about it. ¡°Soo¡­ That gives you, oh master of reasoning and deduction, a grand total of two to look down upon,¡± she said, motioning virtually between herself and Aru¡¯bal, the girl next to her.

    They laughed and exchanged quips for the next couple minutes, giving Leigh the first real outlet for emotion in what seemed like days. Arthur¡¯s no-bullshit attitude was more comforting than she could fathom. Then, the shuttle came to a sudden halt which Leigh only became aware of through her CHIP, she¡¯d thought that her stop had been the last. She hadn¡¯t been paying attention to the scenery out of the windows. The new CHIP functions were still too overwhelming and she still wasn¡¯t able to process everything thrown at her in real time. While she reviewed the location of their stop, the shuttle walls melted away to reveal the exit. The last four Selects of their ship were waiting for them and they walked in one after the other to take their seats. Leigh¡¯s mouth fell open when she saw the last one walk in. She wouldn¡¯t have recognized him without the CHIP, but there he was, Nathan Kies. How had she missed his name in her search?

    ¡°It¡¯s weird, right?¡± Nathan said when he caught Leigh staring.

    Clamping her mouth shut in embarrassment, Leigh shook her head and asked in what she hoped was a calm-sounding voice, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ what is?¡±

    ¡°The eyebrows,¡± Nathan said, rubbing at his naked forehead.

    ¡°Oh, yea¡­ you¡¯re right,¡± Leigh said and started rubbing her own forehead awkwardly.

    She looked to her side and saw Arthur rubbing his too, the three of them stayed there rubbing their naked eyebrows until they made eye contact. A moment of uncertain and uncomfortable silence followed, where Leigh and Arthur sat there with Nathan standing in front of them, all three of them were still with a hand to their foreheads. Leigh bit her lip not to laugh. It wasn¡¯t the right time or place to laugh, but the scene struck her as so ridiculous that she simply couldn¡¯t hold it in for long and was soon cracking up until tears rolled down her face. At some point, the other two must have joined in, but by the time Leigh noticed, a girl was already complaining in virtual public social.

    ¡°Children,¡± she said with a tone of contempt.

    Being the center of attention of the whole ship immediately sobered Leigh up. She didn¡¯t have to see anyone¡¯s eyes to know who they were looking at, and she fought the urge to slump her shoulders. Weakness was bait.

    Leigh glanced aside at Monique LaKur. Monique was the third-ranked Select of the ship, so it was possible the girl merely thought Leigh and everyone else below her notice, but Leigh suspected the almond-eyed girl had always behaved in that way. Monique¡¯s IQ was off the charts but her interpersonal scores were lower than even Arthur¡¯s. For that to be the case, she would have to have displayed this kind of behavior her whole life. She was probably the kind of person who thought human relations to be a waste of time, especially when humans were fighting for their survival.

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Leigh said automatically, relying on the years of forced politeness that the rank system had instilled.

    Monique glanced her way, flashed her an annoyed glare through narrowed eyes and said, ¡°Yeah, whatever. Just keep it down.¡±

    Leigh nodded, but the cackles still coming from the two boys beside her made anything she said or did seem quite insincere. Monique gave her a pointed look. Leigh shrugged helplessly, trying to convey the message ¡®boys will be boys¡¯. Monique rolled her eyes in response and everyone got back to the business of ignoring everyone else. That is, everyone except the girl across from Leigh, who was now staring naked daggers into her soul. Leigh didn¡¯t need eyebrows or irises to tell her that.

    Monique¡¯s use of public social, coupled with Nathan¡¯s arrival, had the unfortunate consequence of liberating the until-then mutes.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Kies?¡± a person in the high 200s asked in public virtual.

    ¡°Did you see that guy¡¯s scores?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s like 5% ahead of any Select in our Year¡­ 7% of anyone here.¡±

    ¡°Still not as good as McMann.¡±

    Leigh tensed.

    ¡°You kidding me? Haven¡¯t you seen his latest submissions? He¡¯s crushed McMann in everything.¡±

    ¡°No, McMann is still better at tactical and¡­¡±

    ¡°Fram, that¡¯s his sister.¡±

    ¡°He has a sister?! And she¡¯s here!?¡±

    ¡°Cog, man! She¡¯s so low!¡±

    ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been for that attack she wouldn¡¯t even be here¡­¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Leigh¡¯s face reddened as her profile was suddenly plastered all over social and all heads turned her way. The girl in front of Leigh grinned maliciously at Leigh¡¯s discomfort, but Leigh refused to look away. Her hands balled into fists, but she refused to show any other kind of outwardly emotion immediately closing down her public profile, lest someone see her stress indicators again. Why hadn¡¯t she done it earlier? It was too late to worry about it now.

    Seeing the commotion, Nathan looked like he was reaching out a hand to comfort her, but before Leigh even noticed his intentions, he was already gone. He headed toward his seat at the other end of the shuttle; he was Ranked first.

    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s too good for us,¡± Arthur joked in private.

    Leigh could tell by his awkward tone that he was attempting to comfort and distract her from the fact that she was still the number one discussion in social. Gritting her teeth Leigh watched as social broke down into separate channels, with everyone talking all over each other. Suddenly, Leigh knew what had felt so strange about the shuttle ride until that very moment.

    It had been too quiet, like the calm before the storm. And though it remained so outwardly, chaos now reigned in social.

    ¡°Oh please,¡± Leigh heard a girl say derisively, ¡°she only got in because of her brother.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how Ranks work though¡­¡± a deep voice replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± another baritone replied.

    ¡°Then how do you explain the fact that they shifted hundreds of millions of Ranks? Has that ever happened before?¡± The girl spoke up again, it was the same one who was staring daggers at Leigh, as if daring her to contest what she was saying.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°But neither has a terrorist attack¡­¡± another voice chimed in.

    Leigh wiped her sweaty palms against her suit when more and more people started joining the channel.

    ¡°Oh please, you know how the UEF operates.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    The glaring girl, Shi¡¯estna SaTafan, Ranked 222nd, was stringing them along beautifully, and apparently had it out for Leigh.

    ¡°Any other year,¡± Shi¡¯estna said, motioning vaguely at Leigh, but her meaning was clear, ¡°and they never would have shifted Ranks. It not only undermines our entire social structure, but it also strips the victims of the respect they deserve.¡±

    Leigh avoided direct eye contact as she went over the girl¡¯s file, not taking any new information from it so that Shi¡¯estna wouldn¡¯t notice what Leigh was doing. She was trying to find a reason for the resentful girl to bear such animosity towards her, but nothing in the files gave anything away. They¡¯d never even been in the same quadrant until today. Confused, Leigh continued to track the conversation, there had to be a reason for such hatred.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think¡ª¡± someone began to speak, and Leigh was surprised to see how many people were actually willing to speak up for her, she thought the majority would be thinking along the same lines Shi¡¯estna was currently advocating.

    ¡°Because of some people,¡± Shi¡¯estna said, completely disregarding what Leigh¡¯s spokesperson had tried to say, ¡°the victims of our Year will permanently be removed from history.¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s a bit extreme¡­¡± the spokesperson tried again.

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Shi¡¯estna asked, ¡°And how would you feel if they stripped your Rank away? Ranks define who we are¡­ or at least should¡­¡±

    Shi¡¯estna crossed her arms and said, ¡° ¡°But some of us are apparently exempt¡­¡± looking in Leigh¡¯s and Aru¡¯bal¡¯s direction.

    Leigh tried not to recoil under the attention they were getting. It was her worst nightmare come to life. Biting the inside of her lip in a nervous gesture, Leigh tried to come up with an appropriate rebuttal.

    ¡°Want me to say something?¡± Nathan asked, surprising her in private chat.

    Before Leigh had a chance to process his unexpected offer though, someone was already speaking, completely dominating the channel.

    ¡°Well, well, well,¡± a large deep voice said.

    Leigh almost groaned when she saw who the voice belonged to: Charlie Delta, Ranked 8th. She didn¡¯t even have to look him up, recognizing him by his ostentatious voice alone. She¡¯d never understood the guy¡¯s popularity, but he was even more well known than Vox¡¯en Dicit, who had held the number one Rank for years before Nathan showed up. Charlie was the most active individual on social, his political skills were through the roof, trumping even her brother¡¯s. Everyone, particularly those of her year, was enamored with him, but personally, the guy had always struck Leigh as a stuck-up jackass.

    ¡°Looks like we got ourselves a catfight boys!¡± he said, confirming her belief.

    What kind of name was Charlie Delta anyway?

    Some of the other boys cheered, making most of the girls roll their eyes. Before she knew what had happened Charlie was already orchestrating a betting pool, and suddenly even Shi¡¯estna was shirking away from the attention she¡¯d garnered. Apparently, this wasn¡¯t what she¡¯d had in mind with her defamation campaign. The pool kept getting bigger and bigger until all the boys and eventually even some of the girls joined in. Shi¡¯estna made a couple vain attempts to stop it, but once she realized her pleas were only making it worse for herself, she settled down and resumed her one-sided glaring contest with Leigh.

    Shaking her head, Leigh leaned back and closed her eyes. How did things like this happen? Yesterday hundreds of millions of people had died and today they were playing stupid games on a shuttle. She sighed. Was she the only one seeing the big picture? Opening her eyes, she found herself being studied by none other than Charlie Delta. She frowned, displaying her displeasure, but he just winked at her, as if he¡¯d just done her a huge favor. She rolled her eyes and wondered how an individual could be so full of themselves.

    ¡°You think you can take her?¡± Arthur asked in private, infringing on her thoughts.

    ¡°¡­ Excuse me?¡± she asked, bewildered. ¡°Not you too!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®me too¡¯? Have you not seen your odds? They¡¯re horrible. Like really, really, really bad. If you can think you can take her, I can make bank.¡±

    Leigh frowned at him.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked, confused. ¡°You want part of the cut?¡±

    Leigh shook her head at the lost cause, and directed her attention back to social where the catastrophe continued to unfurl, she felt sick. This wasn¡¯t supposed to be happening. She was hoping to go by unnoticed until the terrorist attack wasn¡¯t quite so fresh in people¡¯s minds. She glanced at forgotten Aru¡¯bal. This is what happens to those that wish evil onto others. Leigh had counted on Aru¡¯bal as being the main target of their resentment, and this is what she got for it.

    ¡°Alright, alright, alright,¡± Charlie said, once more booming over all the other voices on social. It was annoying how easily he managed to control a crowd by just waving his hands admonishingly.

    ¡°Arthur there,¡± he said pinging Arthur, ¡°is in charge of the bets, so stop bothering me with them.¡±

    Leigh¡¯s eyes widened in shock and she glared at her supposed friend. He didn¡¯t notice, as he was probably too busy processing the stakes. Feeling betrayed, Leigh crossed her arms.

    ¡°Having a fight here would be stupid,¡± he said, purposefully riling up the crowd.

    There were some murmurs of disagreement, especially from the guys. The rest of the girls had also joined in at some point. Charlie had that effect on the female population. His roguish smile would get him almost anything he wanted and he knew it, he grinned as if to illustrate the fact. Leigh scrunched her non-existent brows in annoyance, but the booing continued. How he thought he would get her to actually fight Shi¡¯estna she didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°I think¡­¡± he said suggestively, amongst all the murmurs of disagreement, ¡°we should have them go for it during Initial Eval.¡±

    That¡¯s how.

    The announcement shut everyone up, and they waited anxiously for more information. Even Leigh couldn¡¯t help but feel a little intrigue. Not because of the fight, but because of potential information on the Initial Evaluation. First Academy was very secretive about most of its teachings, but a few things had managed to leak into general knowledge here and there. One of these things was the first assessment, but other than there being some kind of bonus, not much was known about it either.

    Charlie grinned at the silent attention he¡¯d managed to inspire from the recently rebellious crowd. Leigh shook her head at his childish sense of accomplishment. Manipulative people like him had always rubbed her the wrong way and it irked her that he¡¯d managed to work his magic on her as well. She only wanted to know what the eighth Ranked Select knew about the Initial Eval, she tried to console herself. It had nothing to do with him, she¡¯d be just as interested if it had been anyone else.

    ¡°We all know¡­¡± he said slowly and teasingly, relishing every moment in the spotlight, ¡°how the Eval takes five criteria into consideration to create our baseline.¡±

    He paused, knowing full well that most people, including Leigh, did not know such a thing. Leigh waited, knowing he would come to it eventually, but others in the crowd were not so patient and she heard some people shouting here and there for more information. Charlie smiled benevolently and continued in the same languish pace.

    ¡°The criteria are,¡± he held up his right thumb, ¡°Logistics.¡±

    He didn¡¯t give any more information.

    ¡°Leadership,¡± he added his forefinger, ¡°Strategics,¡± his middle finger, ¡°Combat,¡± his ring finger and finally¡­ ¡°Suit.¡±

    Leigh wondered over the final pause, it hadn¡¯t felt completely intentional, but she was too preoccupied with what he¡¯d revealed to give it much further thought. He¡¯d given them five criteria, but from the names alone Leigh had no idea exactly how she would be tested in each. For ¡®Combat¡¯ alone she could think of a thousand different ways. He¡¯d basically said nothing of import, and he was aware of it too because he was already moving on with his spiel before anyone figured it out.

    ¡°So direct your attention to my partner there,¡± he pinged Arthur again meaningfully, ¡°he¡¯ll be taking more detailed bets on the criteria. Since there are five different criteria, you have five different chances to win!¡±

    Leigh frowned, feeling like a bit of a joke prize-fighter when her profile was set up next to Shi¡¯estna¡¯s on social. Charlie was going all out, circling her portrait and name with blue flames and Shi¡¯estna¡¯s with red. Sound effects were being added, of girls shrieking at each other. The stakes were rising, and things were generally getting out of hand. Leigh wanted to get up and scream herself, to tell everyone to just stop, but she knew it would just make it worse. Wiping her face of any expression, she took the backpack she¡¯d been leaning against from behind her back and put it on her lap as a protective shield. It was as retreating a gesture as she would allow herself.

    ¡°Ten seconds to the final bet, people,¡± Charlie suddenly said and the ruckus rose to an all-new level. Leigh closed her eyes in resignation. Technically, the bets wouldn¡¯t be affecting her at all since she would have done the Evaluation anyway, but now the outcome would be picked apart by every single person present. If she didn¡¯t manage to perform well, she could kiss her already meager chances of being Selected by a good leader goodbye.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a wrap!¡± Charlie declared, even cutting some last minute bets off. ¡°A wrap is a wrap,¡± he said with decisive finality.

    A hundred teenagers immediately rebelled, staging a revolt, and if it hadn¡¯t been for an unexpected system announcement, the protests would have gone on for another while.

    [YOU ARE NOW LEAVING EARTH¡¯S ATMOSPHERE.]

    For most of them, the system announcement came out of nowhere, but Leigh knew Charlie had timed it perfectly, the guy knew how to put on a show. People¡¯s attentions automatically veered outward, looking down at the Earth. Leigh knew that they were heading into space, but for some reason, she¡¯d expected it to take a bit longer, or for there to be more procedure involved. Looking out the window and had her CHIP record a magnified version of the view for when she was homesick in the future. If all went according to plan, she wouldn¡¯t be back on Earth for quite a while, and the planet was magnificent from space. The announcement extinguished the conversations that were being held and every single Select of the shuttle looked out in silence, taking in the blue-and-green planet they lived on as more and more of it appeared. It seemed she wasn¡¯t the only one thinking about if and when they¡¯d ever be back.

    Much of the once-blue oceans was now covered with floating plantations and most of the cities were tightly packed together, leaving massive areas for even more plantations between them. Each family was required to grow a portion of their own food, to harvest as much sunlight as possible for the production of calories. All roads had been eliminated in the beginning of the Purge, every square inch of the world was being mapped out and used to its fullest potential. It had been centuries since the UEF took over, maximizing human production so that it would eventually be able to maximize the human population, but the closer humanity got to the inevitable war, the less willing people became to have children. The general consensus was why have children when they would probably end up in a war anyway.

    A few minutes later they were hit with another unexpected series of notifications; Leigh didn''t even know where to begin.

    [WELCOME TO THE FIRST ACADEMY, SELECT!]

    [FIRST YEAR CLASSIFIED MATERIAL HAS BEEN UNLOCKED.]

    [FIRST ACADEMY CLASSIFIED: TRUESUIT MANUAL AVAILABLE]

    [TRUESUIT INITIATION PROCEDURE: 0.00% COMPLETE]

 Chapter 10:

    The series of notifications introducing the Suit banned the ceaseless Social chatter at once. The gleaming heads were suddenly as quiet in virtual as they had been in real all along. Silence reclaimed its throne and Leigh¡¯s eyes, like everyone else¡¯s, quickly skimmed the ¡®Truesuit Manual¡¯. The Suit had always been one of the First Academy¡¯s well-kept secrets and the mystery surrounding it was too big for even the angry Shi¡¯Estna to ignore. For the moment, Leigh was forgotten.

    Two paragraphs in, the document had Leigh¡¯s eyes as wide as saucers and bugging out of her head by the end of the first page. She could barely even comprehend the words she was reading and going by the muffled gasps reverberating through the quiet shuttle, she wasn¡¯t the only one. The archive¡¯s first twenty pages debunked many of the certainties they¡¯d carried through life concerning their CHIPs, nanites and energy-matter.

    ¡°My whole life has been a lie,¡± Arthur stated in private, not a hint of emotion on his virtual voice.

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Leigh said, eyes still running across the document.

    A few seconds passed before he spoke up against, this time almost sounding upset.

    ¡°How can this even be true¡­¡± he said, ¡°if it is¡­ the entire population is training for something they will never need.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Leigh said, unable to contradict him, ¡°but it¡¯s not like it¡¯s the only reason we have CHIPs.¡±

    Arthur didn¡¯t immediately comment, so Leigh continued with her argument.

    ¡°The CHIPs have so many functions outside of preparing us for this¡­ ¡®real¡¯ CHIP¡­ think about how it lets us automate basically everything in our lives! Think of the convenience we¡¯d have missed out on without it.¡±

    ¡°Still¡­¡± he said quietly, ¡°I still don¡¯t think it¡¯s right to keep people in the dark like this. The Quill have too many¡ª¡±

    He stopped his complaint mid-sentence, but Leigh knew what he wanted to say. ¡®The Quill had too many stipulations.¡¯ She also knew why he didn¡¯t feel comfortable complaining about them so soon after the terrorist attack. It was a view shared by many, but a few extremists made it impossible to express the view without garnering resentment from the public, especially today. On Earth, bodies of millions of innocent victims were still being gathered and put away for no reason other than the human inability to accept those that were different from them in any way, today was not a day to complain.

    The Quill had arrived on humanity¡¯s doorstep seven-hundred-and-twenty-one years ago. Their arrival instigated human terror. Until then humans had believed to be alone in the Universe. The fear only multiplied when the far technologically superior species warned them of another impending alien threat. In despair, Earth had thrown all of its weapons against the first, message-bearing ship, but the Quill didn¡¯t even flinch when they flicked all of Earth¡¯s best weapons aside. How would Earth survive with aliens like this looming over them from space? What chance did humanity even have, when the supposedly friendly aliens warned them of a far greater threat even they - with their incomprehensible technologies - couldn¡¯t match?

    Earth sank into a Dark Age that went on for over a decade. Despair, lack of hope and fear brought out the worst of humanity and it almost didn¡¯t come out on the other side. The Quill had watched silently from Space as the Earth¡¯s nations fought each other, arguing over the best course of action. Some, not seeing another option, wanted to cooperate. Others thought it was some big ruse, but most simply couldn¡¯t understand why an alien species would come to humanity¡¯s aid without asking for anything in return.

    The arguments turned into conflicts and eventually into full-out wars as people chose sides on the alien debate. Years of bloodshed and death only worsened the situation, and humanity became a hull of its former self. It was only once the world almost managed to annihilate itself that the governments of the world came to a consensus. Limping, bloodied and raw, Earth became the United Earth Government.

    Then it was the humans that approached the aliens and this time, they took the Quill warning to heart. Relieved that Earth was joining in their struggle against the unknown ¡®Ardu¡¯, the Quill helped humanity out of the Dark Ages by handing them innumerable technological advances. Without the friendly aliens, humanity would still be stuck tinkering with rockets and satellites. The knowledge came freely at first, but over time the Quill refused to hand anything else over without stipulations attached to it. Their technology gave them all the bargaining power in the human-Quill relationship.

    Humans were obviously unhappy with the sudden stipulations, but there was nothing they could do; they were completely at the Quill¡¯s mercy. There were many theories as to why the aliens changed their approach to humanity from one day to the next. Some thought it was because of the growing number of activists rebelling against alien involvement in the world¡¯s affairs. A few thought the Quill were afraid that humanity could eventually surpass them technologically, but that theory was dismissed by most. The general belief was that the Quill simply wanted to guide humanity along a path more similar to their own.

    Human ideals, beliefs, and logic rarely lined up with that of the foreign species, and so many of the technologies were not adopted in the way they were ¡®meant to be¡¯. Scientists thought that in order to guarantee that they were, the aliens simply refused to teach Earth anything unless humans did it as specified. At first, there had been many controversies, such as the Selection Modifications which required the removal of reproductive organs. At one point humans had been attached to the idea of bearing their own, but that belief weaned itself out over the decades after it was implemented and humans saw what an advantage it gave to everyone. And over time, humanity became more amenable to the stipulations, especially since most were benign, like guaranteeing that each household would be using the micro-farming techniques that had multiplied caloric yields more than tenfold.

    Leigh didn¡¯t want to resent the Quill today, it felt ungrateful, but she understood where Arthur was coming from. She had never thought of the CHIP as particularly invasive, but the Manual simply ¡®notified¡¯ her that any and all memories she made from then on pertaining to or containing the Suit would be tagged and censored once her service to the UEF was over. It was probably how the UEF had managed to keep the Suit information from the general public for so long, and it had ¡®Quill Stipulation¡¯ written all over it.

    The fact that the CHIP would be able to alter her memories at the end of her Service frightened her; it really did. And keeping the primary objective of the CHIP from the general population was wrong, Leigh didn¡¯t deny that, but today, of all days, she couldn¡¯t muster the resentment to agree with Arthur. Today she just wanted to be grateful that she was alive and that she still had a chance to fight for her species¡¯ survival.

    ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± Leigh said, finally replying to Arthur. ¡°Their stipulations don¡¯t always make sense, but today¡­ today I want to believe that there¡¯s a good reason. One I can¡¯t immediately comprehend.¡±

    Arthur then turned to her, it felt like he was getting ready to disagree, but something on her expression must have changed his mind because he simply nodded and veered away from the subject.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the nanites are actually just the¡­ carriers and guiders of energy-matter,¡± he said, with exaggerating interest, ¡°No wonder the terms are always used so interchangeably, someone must have let it slip somewhere along the way.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Leigh said, smiling slightly, but going along with it, ¡°even if they censor some of our memories, they can¡¯t take it all away.¡±

    ¡°True¡­¡± Arthur said blandly, obviously not agreeing with her, but not bothering to contradict her anyway, ¡°Well¡­ At least we¡¯re part of the population that actually gets to use the modified CHIP for the real reason the CHIP was created.¡±

    ¡°I know right?¡± Leigh said with relief, ¡°It¡¯s like we¡¯re finally allowed to have a bike after wearing training wheels for so long.¡±

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s a bike?¡± he asked in confusion.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± she said, remembering that not everyone had been raised by her artifact-loving father, ¡°just an Obsolete.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡­¡± he said a moment later and Leigh knew he must have looked it up.

    A couple of comfortable minutes of silence passed as they both tried to comprehend what the Manual revealed about energy-matter. They¡¯d skipped the awkward silence phase of their friendship entirely; it was like they¡¯d been friends for years.

    ¡°So let me get this right¡­¡± Leigh said, knowing he already understood the mind-blowing and reality-shifting information the document revealed. He was a scientific genius, there was no way he didn¡¯t. ¡°The TrueSuit is us basically having the ability to manipulate the energy-matter¡ª¡±

    ¡°EM,¡± Arthur interrupted, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they use that term so we don¡¯t get confused with how we use ¡®energy-matter¡¯ on Earth¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Leigh said, ¡°then EM. So¡­ If it¡¯s the ability to manipulate it¡­¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°it¡¯s technically not our ability, but the ability that the EM CHIP gives us.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ technically, we¡¯re just manipulating the¡­ EM CHIP?¡±

    ¡°Mmmm,¡± Arthur said, ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain yet as I¡¯ve only read the theory behind it, but the way I¡¯ve understood it is that we are manipulating EMs through the EM CHIP.¡±

    ¡°EMs?¡± Leigh asked, ¡°how can it be plural?¡±

    ¡°Because it manifests itself in the form of particles,¡± he said, ¡°energy-matter is just energy so concentrated that it has gained density. It¡¯s the reason why unlinked energy-matter is so volatile.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡±, Leigh said ignoring his rant, as the information finally clicked into place, ¡°so the energy-matter on Earth is usually accompanied by nanites, each of which ¡®takes care¡¯ of one particle?¡±

    Arthur nodded vaguely. He had obviously grown bored with the conversation and was busy focusing on something else, but Leigh just needed to work through the process and kept saying her thoughts out aloud.

    ¡°So then ¡®nanites¡¯ are really a pair of the two. The caretaker nanite and the EM. And that¡¯s what we got pumped full of?¡±

    Arthur nodded vacantly again and Leigh looked down at her silvery skin. She wondered if the color came from the energy-matter or the nanites. Rubbing her cool skin absently, she went back to theorizing.

    ¡°And I¡¯m guessing the Initiation Procedure is how we learn to work the EMs without the nanites?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Arthur said, finally turning to her. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have to guess at anything if you¡¯d just read the damn thing, and stop using me as your fact-checking, sounding board.¡±

    Leigh bit her lip, feeling a little guilty.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± she asked tentatively.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re not,¡± he said simply, ¡°but just shut up and move on, you¡¯ve got the gist of it.¡±

    She smiled sheepishly, she was back to focusing on her manual when Arthur spoke up again a few seconds later.

    ¡°I really can¡¯t believe they chose to keep all of this from us¡­¡± Arthur said as if compelled to share the thought, ¡°From what I can tell there are so many different ways to manipulate the EMs¡­ So many different uses¡­ I don¡¯t even know why they would want to keep it from the general public¡­ And how.¡±

    Leigh nodded, completely agreeing with him, but not having the time to dwell on it too much. As if reading her thoughts, Nathan added, ¡°You should really start your IP, you¡¯re already falling behind.¡±

    Leigh frowned, not immediately aware of what he was referring to. The shuttle was still dead quiet, but it had been since she¡¯d gotten in. It was social that was blowing up with activity. Looking at the history, it wasn¡¯t hard to find the cause and center of the commotion: Charlie Delta. Who else?This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°It¡¯s on Frams!¡± he¡¯d announced forty seconds ago, posting his Initiation Procedure completion rate.

    [0.00001% COMPLETE]

    Scrolling through the older posts Leigh saw that at first, no one had posted theirs in reply, but then Charlie had added, ¡°Awww, you little Cogs too ashamed of your own rates?¡± in a mocking, sing-song voice. ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Guess me and Nathan here will be going at it alone.¡±

    Nathan¡¯s participation surprised her, but going by his stunned micro-expression in the chat¡¯s log, he hadn¡¯t known about his participation until it began either. He quirked his lips in some kind of inner struggle as if he really didn¡¯t want to be a part of the competition, but a couple seconds later he gave in to whatever pressured him and posted his score.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he said with resignation, but going by the dismissive tone and the way he went back to ignoring social, that was all he would have to say on the matter.

    His participation completely changed people¡¯s willingness to join though, and in less than ten seconds 72% of their Ship had joined, which was where they were at now. The majority were still at 0.0% like Leigh, but she didn¡¯t publicize it. She wasn¡¯t about to start making anything public that she didn¡¯t absolutely have to. From now on she was going to stay in the shadows as much as possible.

    Nothing had gone as she¡¯d hoped or expected since she¡¯d entered the shuttle. She kept getting blind-sided by unexpected developments. With so many uncertain variables surrounding her, she was completely out of her depth. Going in blind had never been her forte. Frowning, Leigh continued to quickly read on, skimming most of the rest. The largest part of the Manual dealt with the introduction of the Suit¡¯s Initiation Procedure. Leigh thought it would be a simple matter of turning it on, but it had an average completion time of 62.19 days, and a completion rate of 67%. Leigh pursed her lips in confusion, she¡¯d always thought that every First Academy graduate had a Suit. What happened to those that didn¡¯t complete the procedure?

    Social continued to buzz with excitement as people started competing with each other, commenting on the advancement choices they were making in regards to the Suit. Leigh almost shook her head, marveling at the inability of those around her to not constantly be monitoring their progress in comparison to others. They¡¯d grown so used to the competition, that they couldn¡¯t progress without knowing what they were up against. Leigh bit her lip her inner lip in admonishment, she was feeling the desire to join in as well. She didn¡¯t want to be considered on the basis of her Rank anymore, on account of how she¡¯d come by it, but she also couldn¡¯t undo the sixteen years of self-quantification. It was almost as if she couldn¡¯t know her worth unless it was pitted against those around her.

    Sighing, Leigh continued to fight the urge and opened the Initiation Procedure.

    [TRUESUIT INITIATION PROCEDURE: 0.00% COMPLETE]

    [CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING INITIATION GUIDES:

    - EM MANIPULATION: (0.0% COMPLETE)

    <ul>

    <li>INTERNAL: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>EXTERNAL: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    - DIMENSIONAL MANIPULATION: (0.0% COMPLETE)

    <ul>

    <li>SPATIAL: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>TEMPORAL: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    - EM COLLECTION: (0.0% COMPLETE)

    <ul>

    <li>SOLAR: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>NUCLEAR: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>PHYSICAL: (0.0% COMPLETE)</li>

    </ul>

    - EM APPLICATIONS: (LOCKED)

    - EM STRUCTURE: (LOCKED)

    - EM TRANSFORMATION: (LOCKED)

    - (LOCKED)

    - (LOCKED)

    ...]

    The list went on for pages and Leigh suddenly understood why completion could take so long. Leigh only had access to the first couple, but she didn¡¯t spend any time going over them. She was already falling behind. Plus. The UEF always did things for a reason, if Internal EM Manipulation was first on the list, that is where she would be starting. At least that is what she told herself in order to contain her curiosity for another time.

    Opening up the guide she quickly skimmed the instructions, always keeping an eye on the other people¡¯s progress. She also monitored the shuttle¡¯s trajectory, not wanting to be caught off-guard again. This at least was one variable she could control, or well¡­ at least monitor. They were thirteen minutes away from the space station where First Academy Ship 7 was currently undocking. Looking up through the shuttle¡¯s spy-glass, Leigh marveled at the space station ¡®up-close¡¯. It was still 82,388km away, but from this distance, it almost took up the whole view. She¡¯d seen it in vids enough times, but even those didn¡¯t quite do reality justice.

    It was one of humanity¡¯s only direct refusals to Quill Stipulations, a massive construct that had started five hundred years ago when humanity first turned to space travel. Made primarily of asteroids and its mined metals, it was coated with a reflective layer of solar panels that both protected its inhabitants from radiation and powered the entire station. For reasons unknown to the general population, but agreed to by the UEG, humans were not actively allowed to inhabit other planets. They were allowed to stay there for the duration of their Service, sometimes lasting upwards of three hundred years, but they were not allowed to raise children outside of Earth. The Space Station was the only exception.

    Amongst its sixty-seven million inhabitants there were 127,209 minors. Their Ranks were calculated just like those on Earth, but the Selects were sent down for their Selection Modifications. Curious, Leigh searched her ship¡¯s records and was surprised to find that there was actually one person on the shuttle that had grown up there. Her name was Jade Unita, Rank 248, and there was one other that had made it into First Academy, but he was on Ship 1. Leigh frowned when she saw the girl. Jade sitting right in front of her, right next to Shi¡¯estna. The girl sat in such a nondescript manner about her, that Leigh found it hard to focus on any aspect of her being. Eventually, Leigh settled upon the Spacie¡¯s slanted eyes which hinted at ancient Asian origins.

    As if noticing Leigh¡¯s examination, the girl looked down from the spy-glass she¡¯d also been looking out of, right back at Leigh. The girl¡¯s face didn¡¯t register an inkling of emotion, but Leigh swore she felt surprise emanating from the girl. Before Leigh could ascertain the feeling though, it was gone and the girl was back to looking out at the Space Port She wasn¡¯t the only one, by now the majority of eyes were directed outward. Forgetting why she¡¯d even been interested in the girl in the first place, Leigh went back to admiring the Space construct.

    It¡¯s overall shape was spherical, but there were various branches spanning outward here and there, like antlers reaching out to the stars. As they passed the side directed towards the sun, solar panels gave way to artificial lights. Living, ore processing, industrial and agricultural areas. An entire economy. An entire society. For them, an entire world. Leigh had grown up with the Station lighting the sky up at night, but seeing proof that there were people living behind the solar panels gave her pause. Even knowing that it wasn¡¯t true, you grew up thinking that you were at the center of the Universe. There was a reason people had once held the belief. In reality though, she¡¯d grown up in a bubble, on a piece of rock like many others out there. It meant nothing to anyone, but them. Its only worth was what they attributed to it, and it was up to them to defend it; no one else would.

    Once more reminded of her duty, Leigh refocused on the first set of instructions, she was startled by its contents.

    [FOCUS ON FEELING THE EM INSIDE OF YOU. EVERY SINGLE PARTICLE IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO YOUR WILL, BUT FIRST YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM AWARE OF YOUR PRESENCE. THINK OF THEM AS SENTIENT BEINGS YOU NEED TO COERCE.]

    Quirking her head to the side, Leigh had a hard time thinking of the EMs as ¡®sentient beings¡¯. The instructions went against every fiber of her technological upbringing. It was almost like the UEF was asking her to believe in spiritual forces as an actual thing.

    [THE PROCESS OF CONTROLLING THE EMS IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL, AND THUS HARD TO EXPLAIN. HOWEVER, A GOOD INITIAL VISUALIZATION IS TRYING TO FIND YOUR ¡®CENTER¡¯ - THE ALTERED EM CHIP - AND CONNECT A STRING TO EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ¡®NANITE¡¯.]

    Center? Leigh almost scoffed aloud. Soon they¡¯d be telling her to gather her inner chi, or maybe they¡¯d just skip right into magic.

    [START WITH JUST ONE EM AT A TIME, FIRST REACHING OUT TO EACH OF THE NANITES IN YOUR BODY. THEN CAREFULLY EXPAND YOUR REACH, SO THAT ALL NANITES ARE AT YOUR INTRINSIC COMMAND INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING YOUR CHIP¡¯S PROGRAMED ASSIST.]

    Leigh couldn¡¯t help herself from glancing at the other¡¯s completion rates. Her heart stuttered in her chest when she saw both Nathan and Charlie at 0.00002%. Most of the others, including Arthur, were now at 0.00001%. Leigh really was falling behind. Feeling a cold shiver of apprehension run down her back, she found herself looking across her again. She hadn¡¯t imagined the ill-will being thrown her way, Shi¡¯estna was already glaring at her again. If it hadn¡¯t only antagonized the girl more, Leigh would have rolled her eyes, but in the effort to remain invisible, she shut herself off like most of the others and focused on the Initiation Procedure.

    Her CHIP easily told her the exact amount of ¡®nanites¡¯ in her body, over nine trillion. She shuddered at the thought of having to control every one of them individually, that was something the CHIP had always automatically taken care of. Singling one of the nanites currently located on the tip of her right index finger, Leigh told her CHIP to keep it there while she tried to make herself ¡®aware¡¯ of it. She caught herself looking at her finger as if it would help her see it somehow, and when she realized the foolishness of her behavior, she put her hand down in embarrassment only to find a dozen or so others doing the exact same thing.

    Leigh quirked a smile. Knowing that she wasn¡¯t the only one having trouble finding an appropriate approach settled her nerves a bit. This was nothing like anything they had ever been required to do. Shaking her head in resignation, she returned to the nanite still frozen in her finger. Closing her eyes this time, she tried to focus on it, but no matter how much she tried to ¡®feel¡¯ for it, she simply couldn¡¯t grasp it. She had all the information in the world about it, but that was only what the CHIP was telling her about it.

    A minute, two minutes and then three minutes ticked by and she still struggled while dozens of other people started moving up in the percentiles. Biting the inside of her lip she glanced at Nathan and was shocked to see little blue zaps appear on the palm of his hand. It really did look like magic. Eyes widening in horror, as the distance between her and those around her grew, Leigh couldn¡¯t help but look at Charlie as well, only to find him already looking at her. He then did something that undulated the silvery hues of his skin and winked at her while he was at it.

    Looking away, she didn¡¯t give him the satisfaction of a reaction, but couldn¡¯t help muttering, ¡°Show off,¡± under her breath.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Arthur said simply beside her, ¡°If you¡¯ve got it, you¡¯ve got it.¡±

    Leigh had no idea how he¡¯d even caught on to the exchange, Arthur was leaning back with closed eyes and folded arms. His legs were stretched out in front of him. He looked like he was in a summer barbecue instead of being shuttled off to an interstellar mission.

    Arthur was now at 0.00002%.

    And Shi¡¯estna¡¯s glare was back in full-force.

    She was at 0.00001%.

    Leigh groaned and got back to her own procedure. She couldn¡¯t afford to keep track of others. Closing her eyes once more, she blocked out everything else like she had on the day of Selection. Only the core CHIP functions were on, and Leigh once again tried to get a feel for the nanite. She tried all of the suggested methods, extrapolated and then moved on to whatever she could think of, but ¡®feeling¡¯ the nanite just seemed to be beyond her capabilities. Was she going to be one of the 33% that didn¡¯t manage to Initiate her TrueSuit? Leigh clutched her hands anxiously.

    There was a sea of nanites inside her, how was she supposed to focus on a single one of them? Leigh was mulling over the fact when a thought came to her and she wondered if she¡¯d been going about it wrong the entire time. Water. She¡¯d been thinking of the nanites as a body of water, but you couldn¡¯t separate water from water. Sand though. Sand you could separate from one another. Hadn¡¯t Arthur said something about particles? Immediately switching tactics, Leigh tried to visualize herself as a massive sand-stuffed doll. All she had to do was focus on one granule, one nanite. One particle.

    The result was instant and Leigh felt like an idiot for not having thought of it sooner. Once she had the visual down, and the ¡®nanite¡¯ in her command, everything changed. It was like the nanite, or the EM the nanite carried anyway, became part of her and she was able to move it around at her will. But really, it wasn¡¯t moving around at her will, it was her will. The moment she understood, she was able to link dozens of other EMs in succession. Dozens became hundreds, hundreds became thousands and then millions. For a while, she¡¯d believed that the higher than average number of nanites in her system would put her at a disadvantage, but it was turning out to be the exact opposite. Each nanite was one EM she could link with ease. Leigh had no idea what she would do if she were required to link an EM without a nanite there to guide her.

    Nanites really were like training wheels and in minutes she¡¯d linked herself to all the nanites in her body, all 9,493,942,773,112 of them. She was moving on to the next instruction that had her removing the go-between nanites from the EM, when a notification popped up.

    [THE SHUTTLE WILL BE DOCKING IN 60 SECONDS.]

    Leigh startled at the message, having once more let herself get caught off guard. Huffing in annoyance she opened her eyes again and got back up to date. At 0.00003% of completion, she was still lagging behind most people, but she was no longer last, and for now, that was all that mattered.

    The Space Station now loomed over the entirety of the spy-glass, but Leigh was too busy monitoring the shuttle¡¯s progress and trying to figure out a way to get rid of the go-between nanite to pay it much attention. She was momentarily surprised by the utter lack of expression on Jade¡¯s face as she looked at it, but then the girl looked away and Leigh wondered if she¡¯d imagined it. Wasn¡¯t that her home? Shouldn¡¯t there be at least some semblance of homesickness? She remembered the way all the Earth Selects had gravitated towards it when they left the atmosphere. Jade¡¯s progress bar was not public and Leigh found herself wondering about the girl, even when she couldn¡¯t afford to.

    Next to Jade, Shi¡¯estna was back at glaring, but that was nothing new.

    With a slight shake of her head, Leigh focused on the nanites again. This time she wasted no time trying to think of how to split a grain of sand. Instead, she relied on the power of picturing it like she had last time. This time though, she completely changed the image in her head from a grain of sand to a baby koala. It was the first thing that came to mind when she thought of the caretaker role of the nanite, she didn¡¯t question it. The first separation was once again tricky, but once she¡¯d successfully separated the first baby its mom, the rest came by easily. The image in her head was so vivid though, that she almost felt bad for the koalas. Almost.

    Breathing a sigh of relief that she¡¯d at least managed to get through one of the instructions with ease, she turned her attention to the next step. It required her to ¡®reclassify¡¯ the metallic substance the nanites had been made for, recycle it basically. Excited that she was really getting into the swing of things - she was slowly catching up to the others - she was unprepared for the jumble of emotions the next set of notifications brought.

    [INBOX: NEW MESSAGE FROM KYLE MCMANN.]

    It was her brother. He hadn¡¯t sent her a message since¡­ ever.

    [DOCKING NOW.]

    What could he possibly want from her?

 Chapter 11:

    The shuttle¡¯s deceleration through the ship¡¯s outer layers was so quick that Leigh barely had time to get a good look at them before they docked. All she saw in the seconds it took to traverse the five mostly empty kilometers that separated the ship¡¯s outer-most layer from its innermost one, were streaks of colorful lights that jumped around at seemingly random intervals, strongly resembling a terrifyingly beautiful electrical storm.

    At one point, she even thought they¡¯d hit one, but then the ray of light, or whatever it was, just flowed around the shuttle like water on oil. Before she could process the event any further, the shuttle was suddenly upon the central layer, and Leigh¡¯s breath once more caught in her throat at the magnificent sight before her. The layer consisted of a gargantuan sphere -of over 1km in diameter- made of some dull black substance. Even as large as it was, Leigh would have missed it entirely against the dark backdrop of space if the shuttle hadn¡¯t slowed to a stop, her CHIP had alerted her to its presence or if she¡¯d not seen the dull reflections of the colorful storm on its surface. Now, it loomed over her like some dark sentinel of doom.

    [DOCKED. EXIT NOW.]

    The shuttle¡¯s wall rippled as it attached itself to the side of the massive sphere, ripping Leigh out of her musing. As the exit opened, Kyle¡¯s message pinged again, insistently reminding her of its presence. Instead of opening it though, she filed it away for later perusal. Whatever he had to say to her could wait, he¡¯d waited five years to say it so it couldn¡¯t be that important. She was about to go through some kind of Evaluation and she didn¡¯t need the distraction the message would surely present. The stacks were already stacked against her, she didn¡¯t need to unnecessarily add another variable into the game.

    At least, that¡¯s what she told herself while giving the ship¡¯s exterior one last look. The ship¡¯s structure had something to do with the Academy¡¯s curriculum, but until now Leigh had only ever been able to speculate. A little annoyed she¡¯d missed out on the two other ship layers, whatever they were, Leigh got up and made her way out the shuttle after Aru¡¯bal. Leigh hadn¡¯t expected the ship to be enveloped by an electrical storm, but she was even more surprised by what she saw inside. She¡¯d always imagined the ships¡¯ interiors to be small and narrow, but the massive room they encountered they set foot aboard was anything but.

    Leigh would have stopped in her tracks to ogle the sight before her, but Arthur was already ushering her forward.

    ¡°Move,¡± he said curtly in the physical world.

    Leigh snorted.

    ¡°You know, if we weren¡¯t such good friends¡­ and if I didn¡¯t already know you so well,¡± she said sarcastically, ¡°I¡¯d think you were rude.¡±

    He shrugged and said, ¡°Rudeness is, at its root, an arbitrary opinion based on arbitrary societal norms that are, in turn, based on what exactly?¡±

    Leigh didn¡¯t know how to answer that.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± he said as if he¡¯d just debunked one of life¡¯s mysteries.

    She wasn¡¯t quite as convinced of the point he¡¯d made, but she didn¡¯t have a chance to put it into words before she was knocked aside by an angry shoulder. Leigh didn¡¯t need her CHIP to tell her whose bald head it was that blazed past her. She didn¡¯t even need the back of the ostentatiously modified, completely glittering and white suit to know. Seriously, what was her deal? Rubbing at the pain in her shoulder, Leigh sighed.

    ¡°Now, that. That was rude.¡± Arthur stated simply.

    She didn¡¯t bother with an answer.

    They were amongst the first out of the shuttle, but in seconds they were surrounded by the rest. Leigh tried to keep part of her concentration focused on the EMs and the Initiation Procedure, but it was challenging given the amazingly monstrous dome they¡¯d walked into. It suggested that at least half of the main sphere was mostly hollow. She activated the CHIP schematics and the view before her changed immediately, suddenly overlaid with the blueprint grids of the ship. The new overlay came along with a small, rotating, three-dimensional icon of the sphere. On it, there was a small red dot, highlighting Leigh¡¯s current position.

    The sphere was parted in almost perfect halves and Leigh wondered about the other half. The extra 2.5m that prevented it from being an even split was particularly intriguing, but the schematics were blank. Frowning at the lack of information, Leigh turned her attention back to the domed room. It was monochromatic, the color of silvery dark metal. The only thing stopping it from being a plain, perfectly circular and empty metallic dome was the way its ceiling was layered like the steps to an upside down Colosseum.

    The first step was exactly 147.5 meters above them. It in turn was exactly 100 meters wide and circled the entire dome. 100 meters above it, there was another step that was also 100m wide, above which there was the same thing. The layers continued in the same circular upside-down-step fashion with 100 meter dimensions until the very top where it finally ended with a dome of 300m in diameter.

    By the time Leigh finished her study of the room, most people had already migrated away from the entrance. Looking back, Leigh blinked when she saw the place on the metallic wall where the connection to the shuttle had been; it was gone.

    ¡°Sorta creepy, eh?¡± Arthur said sporting a big smile on his face. He didn¡¯t bother using virtual chat since most people were out of hearing range.

    Leigh nodded in response, not knowing how to react to his cheery smile. Why he should feel excited about the disappearance of their only possible escape from forceful confinement of indeterminate length with another 99 teenagers, was beyond her.

    ¡°They¡¯ve made energy matter so stable now that the new ships don¡¯t need the docking mechanisms anymore,¡± Arthur informed her.

    ¡°I was more thinking along the lines of¡­ I don¡¯t see an escape¡­ or even doors, for that matter,¡± Leigh rebutted.

    ¡°You want to go out into a vacuum?¡± Arthur asked with a truly perplexed look on his face, ¡°Why?¡±

    Leigh glanced at him, waiting for the joking smile, but when it didn¡¯t come, she realized he was being serious. All he saw was the science. Leigh frowned, trying to figure the boy out. Sometimes it seemed like he couldn¡¯t understand subtext at all, but other times he went out of his way to make sure she wasn¡¯t uncomfortable. Arthur was one of the strangest people she¡¯d ever met and she wasn¡¯t able to get an accurate read on him at all. The fact that she couldn¡¯t do it even with all of his stats visible was all the more infuriating; he had the vitals of an emotionless android.

    She¡¯d peg him eventually, but until then, she wanted to find out what exactly was up with the strange dome they were in. Going by the speculative murmur picking up around them, she wasn¡¯t the only one. One minute stretched into two, then three, then five and the murmurs grew accordingly until the Selects had all broken down into groups, examining the room and exchanging ideas about the blueprint.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Class III Explorer constructed just last year,¡± Arthur said with excitement.

    ¡°An exploration vessel?¡± Leigh asked, somewhat surprised. She wasn¡¯t exactly sure what she¡¯d been expecting, but it was something more along the lines of warships and frigates, not exploration vessels.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Arthur said excitedly, oblivious to her internal speculation, ¡°Other than the test flight to Jupiter and back, this is its first flight.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s reassuring or not,¡± Nathan Kies said, suddenly a part of their little group.

    ¡°It should be,¡± Arthur said, seemingly unperturbed by the first rank¡¯s unannounced appearance. ¡°It¡¯s one of the first new ships with the ability to spread TRACK particles. This will be a historic voyage, do you have any idea how many more systems we¡¯ll be able to access now? How much faster faster-than-light travel will be because of this? The discovery of¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Leigh said, cutting him off, ¡°we get it.¡±

    Arthur raised an eyebrow, or would have, if he still had it. The appearance of his distorted brow paired with the milky white eyes was still discomforting, but Leigh didn¡¯t want the conversation to go down the path it was taking. The TRACK particle spreader was one of her parents¡¯ invention, and although the connection between her and them was already circulating, she didn¡¯t need to call more attention to it than necessary. As it was, there were already too many people who resented her presence as a ¡®fraud¡¯, the last thing she needed was more talk about favoritism. Arthur was still looking at her suspiciously, but Leigh just smiled and pretended nothing was amiss.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s up with this place?¡± Leigh asked, changing the subject.

    Luckily, Nathan picked up the conversation, no one commented on her exceptional rudeness, and they went on discussing the possibilities of the dome. None of them had access to the curriculum yet, so they could only guess what was expected of them. The other Selects were going through the same process, approaching the walls and patting them down manually after the CHIP blueprints failed to indicate the location of any exits.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about what happened,¡± Nathan suddenly said to her in private, not giving any outer indication that he was speaking to her.

    Perplexed, she answered, ¡°About?¡±

    He looked slightly embarrassed in physical when he said, ¡°Back on the shuttle¡­¡±

    ¡°You mean about the¡­ fight?¡± Leigh asked, she refused to call it by the stupid title the attention-whore had given it.

    Without even thinking about it, her eyes found the culprit in question, surrounded by a little group, a couple of dozen meters away. His skin¡¯s metallic sheen was undulating at his command. Leigh didn¡¯t need to check the IP rates on social to know he¡¯d already progressed more. She was already falling behind, and only found another reason to hate the guy. She frowned, once more resenting the asshole for what he¡¯d done. Why did he have to go out of his way to make her own Initiation miserable?! They didn¡¯t even know each other!

    ¡°Yes, that too,¡± Nathan said, answering her question about the fight, ¡°but mostly for calling attention to you, I guess. I hadn¡¯t realized that would happen and later I saw that you just wanted to be left alone.¡±

    ¡°And¡­ so why are you here talking to me now?¡± Leigh asked, glancing around and already finding herself becoming a talking point again.

    As if her worries had summoned it, a conversation channel pinged her in social as its focus. People were now discussing her possible relation with Nathan.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°I bet she knows him because of Kyle,¡± one person said.

    ¡°Told you she¡¯s only here because of favoritism.¡±

    ¡°Pays to have friends in high places.¡±

    ¡°And here I thought we lived in a meritocracy.¡±

    ¡°Nathan¡¯s just with her because of her brother.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you think they¡¯re actually a¡­ thing?¡±

    ¡°Fake Rank. That¡¯s for sure. I wonder if she¡¯d even had made it to Third without her family.¡±

    Leigh felt a death glare to her right, both dreading and knowing what she would find if she looked that way. She fought the urge to, and didn¡¯t¡­ Well, at least not physically. Using her CHIP she saw that, as expected, Shi¡¯estna was back at the glaring game. Leigh contained a sigh. She¡¯d hoped that slamming into her earlier had given the girl enough satisfaction to plug her unexplained resentment for a while. Leigh had been wrong. She still couldn¡¯t understand how the girl could hate her so much when they didn¡¯t even know each other. She was about to glance away again when she caught a look the girl shot at Nathan. Leigh wondered if she¡¯d imagined, but there it was again. She frowned, that couldn¡¯t be it, could it? A question for another time.

    Leigh sighed, ¡°Look,¡± she continued to Nathan in private while Arthur still went on about his ship and curriculum theories aloud, ¡°maybe it¡¯s best if we don¡¯t interact with each other. I¡¯m already getting enough negative attention as is¡­¡±

    She was looking straight at Arthur, her body turned away from Nathan, hoping he would catch on. Pretending to be oblivious to the commotion revolving around her in social, she still scanned the crowd trying to single out those who had it out for her specifically. A couple heads were turned her way with anger or disgust, but more often than not those most vocal on social were simply enjoying the entertainment of trash-talking her. A surprising exception was Charlie Delta; he was glaring at her.

    Leigh couldn¡¯t help herself and turned to face him, glaring right back. What had she ever done to him? She was supposed to have all the glaring rights in their relationship. Annoyed at all the attention that was once more being dumped on her, Leigh was more than relieved when the next announcement popped up.

    [FIRST ACADEMY SHIP 7, YEAR 2992 NOW LEAVING EARTH¡¯S GRAVITY WELL. 11.89 HOURS UNTIL SOL SYSTEM¡¯S NO-FTL ZONE IS CLEARED.]

    The message stilled the Selects for a moment, but the real development happened a moment later when dozens of streams of black liquid oozed out of the ceiling. In seconds enough liquid had oozed out of each stream to form dozens of ten meter wide orbs. Her CHIP told her there were fifty of them in total, ten on each Colosseum step layer, placed at even intervals. The closest one was over 150 meters over their heads, but their sudden appearance was all the Selects could talk about and she was once more forgotten. Immediately flinging herself upon the chance to move away from the spotlight, she looked around, only to find Nathan already gone. She felt a little bad.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that,¡± she told him in private, walking away from where she¡¯d been seen with him. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to be quite so curt.¡±

    He took a moment to reply, but when he did he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I am the one who is sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have approached you directly.¡±

    She completely agreed with him, he shouldn¡¯t have.

    ¡°So why did you then?¡± she heard herself ask before she could stop herself.

    Leigh had started walking without a word, and Arthur had trailed along beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The scientific genius was still voicing his theories about the ship and its curriculum, and the appearance of the strange black balls only had him more excited.

    ¡°Seeing as there are one hundred of us, but only fifty of them,¡± he said excitedly, pointing at the fifty orbs above their heads, ¡°there is a high probability of this being a one-on-one combat simulation.¡±

    ¡°If it was a simulation,¡± Leigh countered amicably, ¡°why would they need to put us in together? We could each have our own¡­ just like at home with the SIM modules.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ Oh!¡± he said, ¡°their properties just showed up on my CHIP.¡±

    Leigh checked her own and saw what he meant, but all it said was: CIM: Complete Immersion Module. What was the difference between CIM and SIM? Was there one?

    ¡°If it¡¯s complete instead of just a simulation,¡± Arthur mused, ¡°does that mean we will actually be fighting each other in those?¡±

    They looked up at the large 10m diameter orbs. Everyone seemed to have the same question in mind and social filled up with the noise of their questions and guesses. Even Arthur got involved in social, where he posted theory after theory on the subject of the fifty orbs.

    ¡°Honestly?¡± Nathan asked in private, still continuing their conversation, ¡°I¡¯m not really sure why I approached you. Just¡­ I saw the way that girl, SaTafan, banged into you on the way out of the shuttle and I thought¡­ I don¡¯t know, I thought maybe you just needed a show of people on your side¡­¡±

    ¡°That obviously didn¡¯t work out,¡± Leigh said, belatedly realizing her unnecessary snarkyness. The guy was just trying to be nice, but in the back of her head she still couldn¡¯t get rid of the one-sided rivalry she¡¯d started with him so many months ago.

    ¡°Obviously,¡± he said jokingly and Leigh heaved a sigh of relief; he hadn¡¯t taken it personally.

    ¡°Well,¡± she said, finally letting reason take over, ¡°thanks for looking out for me. I really appreciate it, but it really wasn¡¯t your fault and had nothing to do with you. I¡¯m really not your responsibility.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± he said, ¡°it just wasn¡¯t right. Especially what happened after¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Leigh said offhandedly, really not wanting to get into the discussion about the Initial Evaluation competition between her and Shi¡¯estna.

    ¡°If it makes you feel any better,¡± he said, ¡°I put all my bets on you.¡±

    Leigh cringed. No. It didn¡¯t make it any better, but she wasn¡¯t going to tell him that. She was being stupid to turn away the first rank¡¯s friendship. For some reason he felt indebted to her and if she was strategic enough, she could use that in the future. By continuing to snap at him, she¡¯d be unnecessarily burning a bridge. It was time for her to stop being impulsive and reactive, she had never been before, and start being proactive and predictive again.

    She didn¡¯t quite know why she was acting the way she was toward Nathan Kies. Maybe it was because it was him. Leigh glanced in Nathan¡¯s direction, across the dome. He was the guy whose progress she had monitored as closely as her own in the last six months. The guy who had usurped her brother, but ultimately, the guy whose sudden performance boost had her busting her butt to make it into First after she¡¯d almost given up.

    He was why she was in First, and she couldn¡¯t help but resent him just a little bit for having that impact on her. She should have been strong enough to keep trying without him, and being reminded of her childish motivations the day after the attack, had her ashamed. Perhaps the other Selects weren¡¯t so wrong in what they said about her. Needing to reaffirm her right to be there, Leigh grudgingly checked her IP rate in comparison to the others.

    Nathan led at 0.00008%.

    Charlie was close behind at 0.00007%.

    A select few were at 0.00006%, Shi¡¯estna and Arthur were amongst them. Leigh didn¡¯t know how Arthur managed to keep working on his Integration when all he did was post his speculations about the spheres on social.

    Most of the others trailed at 0.00005%.

    Leigh was amongst the few others at 0.00004%.

    And any of the ones she¡¯d seen at 0.00003% had unpublicized their rates as soon as they realized how far behind they were falling. Either way, Leigh was just scraping by mediocrity. It was what everyone, but herself, expected from her. She needed to break that preconceived notion before it was too late. First opinions mattered, and as it stood, their first opinion of her was rotten. It pained her to admit it, but she¡¯d have to devote herself to crushing Shi¡¯estna in the Eval. Leigh had hoped to ingratiate herself amongst their ranks with an exemplary IP rate, but she just couldn¡¯t get past the nanite recycling issue. The harder she tried to force her progress, the more it stalled. She could work nanites and EMs together, but had a hard time figuring them out individually.

    Arthur still droned on with his theories and the others had now spread all over the dome, still inspecting the dome here and there. Some had even made their ways to the walls to see if they could climb or program them in some way. If it was energy-matter they should be able to mold it to their will, at least that¡¯s how it had always been back on Earth, but going by the disgruntled comments, no one had made any progress on that front. Leigh ignored them for the most part, focusing on her own nanite problem.

    She couldn¡¯t recycle, not in the way the instructions asked her to. She tried, over and over, but some point she got frustrated enough to simply reattach the nanites to the EMs. Maybe if she restarted the process and took it apart with more care, she¡¯d be able to recycle the nanites as was required of her. The first nanite re-attachment didn¡¯t go at all as she¡¯d expected. It was as if the EMs refused to be bound again now that it was free. When it didn¡¯t work one on one like it was supposed to, Leigh just imagined the nanites ganging up on a single EM particle. It helped to cement the slippery EM in place and the nanite was successfully reattached. The moment she did so, her % jumped up to 0.00006% and her eyes widened. That hadn¡¯t been the result she was expecting, she hadn¡¯t followed the instructions at all, but she was rewarded for her progress nonetheless. It meant that progress did not have to be linear and that it did not have to follow the mold the EM-CHIP set out for her.

    Relieved she¡¯d managed to re-attach the nanite, but still worried about where to go from there, Leigh suddenly realized she¡¯d just skipped a step. By re-attaching the nanite directly after unattaching it, she was recycling it, she¡¯d just not broken it down to its atomic state beforehand. And suddenly, an idea came to her. She¡¯d managed to force the nanite onto the EMs because of ganging them up on each other, couldn¡¯t the same work for the nanites themselves? Leigh tried it out by thinking of compressing all of the nanites into a cube. She tried repeatedly, from all different angles. It didn¡¯t work, at least not how it had with the EMs. She thought she might have to change her approach, but before she did that, she tried another image. Instead of a box, she tried thinking of forcing all of the nanites into a single point in space, like threading nanites through a needle that only fit an atom at a time. The first one, as always, was the hardest and it felt like she was forcing an elephant down the drain, but after that one, it was just chimpanzees.

    She climbed to 0.00007%, but by then, Nathan was already at 0.00009%.

    The question of what they were supposed to do inside the dome only got more urgent as time passed. They hadn¡¯t even been on the ship for five minutes, but the uncertainty of what was going on, made time stretch indeterminately. Were they supposed to be doing something? Climbing the walls to get access to the black orbs</img> Leigh had her own theories, she just hoped her worse fear -that they had to wait the 11.87 hours until they left their system¡¯s NO-FTL zone- didn¡¯t come true. If the Selects were given that much time to wander around, the subject of Leigh McMann was bound to come up again. She needed for that not to happen, at least until she had a chance to prove herself and give them a different take on her than the one Shi¡¯estna had offered on social. A little frantic to get things moving, Leigh looked around, as if she¡¯d be able to spot something the other 99 hadn¡¯t managed to. Leigh gritted her teeth in growing irritation.

    The UEF loved instructions, where were they?

    Where was their teacher for that matter?

    Leigh monitored the theories on social as well, but didn¡¯t add anything to the discussion. Staying in the shadows was her new goal. She was one of the very few that stayed out of social, and she wasn¡¯t surprised to see Jade Unita and Monique Lakur amongst the other few. The perfectionist probably didn¡¯t see the speculations as worthwhile, Monique was probably using this ¡®free time¡¯ to progress her rate steadily, but Leigh had no way of knowing since the girl also kept her rate private.

    Jade, on the other hand, Leigh had already completely forgotten about. Looking around, she was surprised to spot the girl simply sitting in the exact middle of the room. You¡¯d expect that the position would make her stand out, but somehow, she was the most overlooked person in the dome. As if sensing her gaze, Jade turned to look at Leigh who immediately flinched and looked away. Leigh didn¡¯t know why she¡¯d done it, but it was too late to look back and the way the girl could always feel her gaze was uncanny.

    As time ticked by, Leigh also began to suspect that it was their responsibility to find out what to do next. Since the room wasn¡¯t giving anything away, the blueprints weren¡¯t showing anything and the mysterious black ¡®CIM¡¯s were unreachable, Leigh brought out the entire ship¡¯s icon. Perhaps they had been going about it the wrong way, and the answer was outside, instead of inside. The small rotating ship icon showed a large central sphere, what Leigh hadn¡¯t noticed though, was that it also showed ten smaller orbs circling it randomly. Leigh was about to start looking into it with more detail, when a woman appeared as if out of thin air. Apparently, the answer wasn¡¯t outside after all, at least not anymore. Who knows where the woman had come from.

 Chapter 12:

    Leigh replayed the woman¡¯s entrance and saw that she¡¯d come through the very same wall many of the other Selects had been patting down. The energy-matter, or whatever it was, had rippled open, exposing a cylindrical corridor behind her before closing again, leaving them once more isolated from the rest of the ship. Checking the ship¡¯s history log, Leigh saw that the random corridor had lined up with one of the colorful bolts from outside. It had momentarily connected to one of the other ship¡¯s layers, before it was gone again.

    ¡°Line up,¡± the short and stocky woman said without introduction. ¡°Single file. Highest rank up front, lowest in the back.¡±

    Before the woman even finished speaking, everyone was moving as they sync¡¯d their CHIPs to display the same line-up in the center of the room. Jade was already there, and Leigh wondered if the girl had known somehow. Not having enough time to dwell on the fact though, she sprinted to the center of the dome like most of the rest. Moving toward the back of the line-up as she pulled up the woman¡¯s records and skimmed them for pertinent information.

    Va¡¯Letty ¡ª

    Current Rank: Alpha-7

    Year 2851

    First Academy Selection Rank: 12

    Graduated on the third moon of the fourth planet in the Tayen system.

    2 Tours Exploration in Sector 43398.

    1 Tour Exploration in Sector 43399.

    2 Tours Space-Base Sentien A-2.

    9 Tours UEF Mercenary Force.

    Leigh¡¯s eyes widened at the last entry before Va¡¯Letty went into Academy Supervisory duty. It was common for Alphas to be recruited into the Mercenary Force, but most decided to move into a different sector after the required five tours. The fact that the stocky woman decided to stay on, even after losing her right leg in the third tour and her left arm in the eighth tour, was especially impressive.

    Bionics had come such a long way that they could be indiscernible from real limbs if you so chose, but Va¡¯Letty had foregone the synthetic skin coating, leaving the gleaming, metallic energy-matter bare for the eyes to see. It was an odd choice in Leigh¡¯s opinion, but then again, the woman had also chosen to be quite risque in her suit choice. Va¡¯Letty had retracted it to the extent that her entire torso was bare with the exception of a palm-wide black band that covered most of her breasts. The bottom part of her suit was also a simple black, at least it was on the left side. On the right side, she¡¯d chosen to leave the bionic leg just as bare as her left arm. Together with her clothing choices, Va¡¯Letty¡¯s tattoos looked almost natural, though she¡¯d tattooed the right arm so intricately it almost looked like a suit design choice.

    The stocky woman¡¯s unique features didn¡¯t end there. Although pretty much everyone Leigh had ever met had always been in great shape, La¡¯Vetty¡¯s muscular body made it seem like the rest of the world was wimpy and gelatinous in comparison. Her abs were not only distinctly delineated, but literally bulged out in the most clear-cut eight-pack Leigh had ever seen. Finally, Leigh couldn¡¯t help noticing that with the woman¡¯s white First Academy hair cropped short, she¡¯d pretty much eliminated all of her feminine features. She was filled with so much muscle that she looked like a little barrel. At 169cm, she was a full 20cm shorter than Leigh, who was herself slightly below average in height.

    ¡°Forty-three seconds¡­¡± Va¡¯Letty said when everyone had finally finished lining up.

    After struggling back and forth for a few seconds because of Ranks, the others settled down. It was something Leigh didn¡¯t have to worry about; she knew for sure she¡¯d be at the back of her file. Only Aru¡¯bal was behind her.

    ¡°That was¡­¡± Va¡¯Letty said in her bored yet no-nonsense voice, ¡°embarrassing.¡±

    The short woman commanded attention and her height was suddenly forgotten as everyone shrank from her penetrating glare.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not embarrassed¡­ you should be. Not a single one of you had to traverse more than four-hundred-and-twenty-three meters to get to your current positions. I¡¯ve checked your records, I know you can all clear that distance in less than twenty seconds¡­ so why did it take over twice that for you to get where you are?¡±

    No one spoke.

    ¡°If that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to be until we get there¡­ I¡¯m sorry to say, you will all fail. I don¡¯t give a shit if this ship has to go back fully loaded, I am not staking my name on unprepared individuals. So if you want to be on-planet for your second semester, I suggest you get your shit together.¡±

    Still, no one spoke.

    ¡°Scratch that, it¡¯s not a suggestion. You¡¯re supposedly the best of the best. The cream of the crop. The top one percent of the top one percent. Act like it.¡±

    [NUMBER OF COMPLETE IMMERSION MODULES?]

    The question came out of nowhere, but Leigh answered it without second thought.

    [50]

    The moment she did, a second one appeared.

    [TIME TO FTL?]

    Not that long since the announcement, so...

    [11.86h STANDARD, ASSUMING WE ENTER FTL IMMEDIATELY ONCE CLEARING SOL¡¯S NO-FTL ZONE.]

    [NUMBER OF GIRLS ON YOUR SHUTTLE SEATING GROUP?]

    Easy.

    [4.]

    [NUMBER OF BOYS IN THE SHIP?]

    CHIP, sort by gender. Count.

    [42.]

    [STOPS SHUTTLE MADE BEFORE LEAVING EARTH?]

    CHIP, ship seven shuttle schedule. Number of stops. First one is maintenance and supply.

    [37, ASSUMING ONLY SELECT PICK-UP STOPS ARE COUNTED.]

    [HEIGHT OF TALLEST SELECT ON BOARD?]

    CHIP, sort by height.

    [2.32m]

    [TIME TO DESTINATION?]

    Easy. CHIP for exact numbers.

    [UNKNOWN, ESTIMATED 13.27 TO 18.73 STANDARD MONTHS.]

    [NAME OF YOUR SUPERVISOR.]

    Easy.

    [VA¡¯LETTY ¡ª]

    [ORIGIN?]

    Hadn¡¯t gotten to that one yet. CHIP, supervisor background info.

    [MIDDLE EAST, REGION 0328, DISTRICT 44627.]

    [DISTANCE TO SUA LEMA.]

    What the heck is a Sua Lema? CHIP search. One of the girls on the ship, Rank 344. Ugh, should have known that.

    [23.99m]

    ¡°FALL, ROLL, JUMP!¡± Va¡¯Letty shouted out of nowhere.

    Instinctively, Leigh fell to the ground and executed a roll and a jump. Years of simulations and combat training had made all of these actions automatic. The same could be said for everyone else around her. They all fell in unison, with the exception of one or two stragglers, executing all of the motions by muscle memory.

    [NUMBER OF WORDS SPOKEN BY YOUR INSTRUCTOR?] The question came while Leigh was still rolling, but with the help of her CHIP, she pulled up the script of Va¡¯Letty¡¯s words. Skimming the CHIP¡¯s function for counting, Leigh added a few words here and there, choosing contractions where it felt appropriate and still not completely sure how many words four-hundred-and-twenty-three or forty-three counted as. Being decisive about it, Leigh went for five and two. Chances were, she wasn¡¯t going to get it right, anyway, and her instructor had already shown a preference for speed.

    [171, ASSUMING CONTRACTIONS ARE COUNTED AS MULTIPLE WORDS.]

    On her feet again, Leigh was ready for the next barrage of commands, but as seconds passed and nothing happened, she realized the test, or whatever had just happened, was over.

    ¡°Slightly¡­.very slightly¡­ better,¡± Va¡¯Letty said as if the words of semi-praise pained her. ¡°However, slightly better than utter crap is still crap. Get that through your heads before you take your next breath.¡±

    There was silence as people acknowledged her words, but Va¡¯Letty seemed unsatisfied and barked, ¡°What you waiting for? A flood? Stop breathing, you numbnuts.¡±

    Leigh heard a bunch of people inhale loudly around her, but she¡¯d already halted her breathing before doing so. She was already regretting it a second later, but then Va¡¯Letty said, ¡°Disqualified, I told you not to breathe.¡±

    Leigh¡¯s CHIP showed 19 people¡¯s names light up in red, signifying their disqualification from the ¡®exercise¡¯. Leigh¡¯s eyes widened in relief, happy she hadn¡¯t followed suit after all.

    ¡°Now, listen up. Yeah¡­¡± the barrelly woman glared at a small group of ¡®breathers¡¯, ¡°even you failures¡­¡±

    Leigh listened, but mostly she hoped that Va¡¯Letty¡¯s preaching tone didn¡¯t actually mean she was going to preach. Her longest underwater breath holding time was six minutes and twenty seconds, but she doubted she¡¯d even get half that right now.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Up until this moment in your lives, you¡¯ve been competing for Ranks. Now, that¡¯s great and all, it¡¯s gotten you prepared enough so that all of you knew to open up the ship¡¯s blueprints to survey your surroundings with. However, you¡¯ve all been trained to do what is expected. Daily Simulations and Cognitive training in every imaginable subject. The same exercises over and over and over again. Whoop-dee-doo. It¡¯s always been about performance, you knew what was expected and you performed accordingly¡­ I¡¯m here to tell you that that¡¯s all over. You see these Ranks you¡¯re lined up in right now?¡±

    It was a rhetorical question, obviously no one was going to answer while holding their breaths. And those that weren¡¯t, well¡­ they were ducking their heads in embarrassment. None of them were bound to speak up any time soon.

    ¡°Well, this is the last time you¡¯ll see them. There is no such thing as a Ranking anymore, at least not in the way you¡¯ve grown used to. You don¡¯t get points for making friends. This isn¡¯t a playground. This is war. The UEF knows you have talent¡­ somewhere, so now we figure out in what.¡±

    She glanced at Charlie Delta before speaking again, ¡°A little birdie told me you already know the categories, but I¡¯ll repeat them for the sake of protocol.¡± She looked at the other Selects as she spoke, ¡°They are: Suit, Logistics, Combat, Strategics and finally¡­ Leadership,¡± she said and something in her tone made it seem as if she were searching for something she couldn¡¯t find amongst them. The disappointment on her face only grew and Leigh couldn¡¯t help but feel even more like an ant.

    ¡°Every single thing you do will count towards your score in these five categories we call Skills, short for S.C.L.L.S.¡± Va¡¯Letty continued, as if she were used to having to deal with garbage that was forced upon her, and had simply come to terms with her lot in life, ¡°Oh, not so different to what you¡¯ve been doing so far? I¡¯m here to show you how wrong you are. You¡¯ll be doing things you¡¯ve never done before, learning to deal with things you¡¯ve never encountered before. All in the hopes that you¡¯ll be able to adapt yourself to unfamiliar situations in the future,¡± she paused and looked them meaningfully in the eyes, somehow managing to reach every person present with a single look.

    ¡°Learn,¡± she said, ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be prepared for everything, for every occasion. The fact that none of you were able to correctly answer every single question is¡­ sad. Predictable. But sad. You have to be ready for anything. Always.¡±

    Leigh cringed a bit internally, wondering where she¡¯d gone wrong. She could see the expressions around her, people having the same thoughts. She was used to being right, they all were, always trying to succeed, to be the best, to have the best results. To have someone bring them down and trample on them repeatedly like this was demoralizing to the extreme. Realizing she was letting her emotions get the better of her, Leigh shook her head to clear it and looked ahead, right at Arthur¡¯s gleaming, bald head right in front of her.

    ¡°While all of you accessed blueprints, only eighty-nine accessed all your comrades¡¯ personnel files before docking, only seventy-seven accessed my personal files the moment I walked in, and only a paltry three even thought about opening all one hundred files. That is¡­ pathetic. You¡¯re going to be on the same enclosed areas as these bozos for the next extended period of time, you all had at least seventeen minutes time in the shuttle and another six here, more than enough to prepare¡­ and yet, you were all sorely unprepared. What? Too busy rubbing each other¡¯s heads?¡±

    Unable to hold their breaths any longer, people around her started gasping for air, some even kneeling down to breathe better.

    Va¡¯Letty pressed her lips together and said in a disgusted voice, ¡°You see this? It¡¯s just¡­ Ugh. It¡¯s only been two minutes and thirty-six seconds. The shortest submitted breath time amongst all of you is over six minutes¡­ this is all lack of preparation. Lack of situational awareness. You must be ready at all times¡­ Next time it might not just be about holding your breaths. That is my lesson for today. If you can at least put that through your heads then maybe, just maybe, you won¡¯t be an embarrassment to the human species.¡±

    Va¡¯Letty then crossed her arms, frowned and simply waited for everyone else to run out of breath. Leigh ran out of breath moments after Arthur did, and keeled over like many others, gasping for air. Va¡¯Letty wasn¡¯t looking at anyone in particular, but her disgusted glare ate at Leigh¡¯s insides, making her feel like crap, literal crap.

    Refuse.

    Unworthy to scrape the heels of her instructor¡¯s feet.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Va¡¯Letty said. ¡°We done then? Three minutes, ten seconds¡­ pathetic.¡±

    No one dared to speak.

    ¡°Stand up straight, for shit¡¯s sake.¡±

    Leigh whipped herself back in place along with everyone else.

    ¡°Blank Slate,¡± Va¡¯Letty suddenly announced. ¡°Line up.¡±

    Leigh¡¯s eyes widened, not ready for the sudden reshuffling of the positions into an alphabetical order of their names.

    ¡°FIVE!¡± Va¡¯Letty shouted in warning.

    Leigh scrambled to her place, which unexpectedly wasn¡¯t in the back anymore, not even in the back half. She was a McMann.

    ¡°FOUR!¡±

    Leigh sprinted to the fifth place of her line.

    ¡°THREE!¡±

    A couple lines ahead of her were Nathan and Monique. Monique gave Leigh a cold look when she noticed her while Nathan offered a surprisingly warm smile upon noticing Leigh¡¯s arrival. The guy was a saint, she¡¯d been a bitch to him and he still treated her with human decency.

    ¡°TWO!¡±

    Nathan¡¯s head swiveled back towards the front and everyone else also fell into place.

    ¡°Good¡­¡± Va¡¯Letty said. ¡°Do you feel good?¡± She offered them a smile and Leigh found herself smiling back in relief, they had finally measured up to the demanding standards.

    ¡°Well, to be honest with you,¡± Va¡¯Letty said, ¡°I really don¡¯t know why. The furthest distance any of you had to move was 8m, this shouldn¡¯t have taken more than two seconds and when you take into account that I only started counting to get your lazy asses moving¡­ Well, you do the math.¡±

    No one even dared to look in Va¡¯Letty¡¯s general direction.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, you¡¯ll have plenty of chances to redeem yourself.¡± the short supervisor said, surveying them slowly, ¡°You have already been introduced to the first. Your TrueSuit Initiation Procedures. Take those as seriously as you can. I see at least some of you are succeeding at that¡­¡± Va¡¯Letty nodded at Monique, Nathan and Charlie.

    Nathan was at 0.00013%.

    Charlie was at 0.00011%.

    Monique¡¯s rate was private, but the fact that Va¡¯Letty had nodded to her first had Leigh wondering if the girl¡¯s rate was even better than Nathan¡¯s. Leigh was at 0.00007%, if Monique really was better, probably 0.000014%, then Leigh¡¯s rate was at literally half of the girl¡¯s performance. The thought didn¡¯t sit well with Leigh, especially considering her upcoming ¡®fight¡¯. She just hoped that the TrueSuit performance didn¡¯t have some kind of impact on that as well.

    ¡°As for the rest of you¡­¡± Va¡¯Letty continued, ¡°I hope for your sakes that you start taking this more seriously. As I have already said, it¡¯s no time for fun and games,¡± the woman said looking between Leigh and Shi¡¯estna. Leigh jumped inside her skin when she noticed herself being singled out. She hadn¡¯t done anything! Was she really being punished for a stupid contest she hadn¡¯t even started? If anyone, it should be Charlie being singled out, but the asshole had been singled out for something else completely! She¡¯d never been so irritated by another person¡¯s existence before. Leigh didn¡¯t back down from Va¡¯Letty¡¯s condemning stare but mentally, she cast a death wish in Charlie¡¯s direction and hoped he choked on his own spit.

    ¡°The second line of testing will take place your Initial Evaluation in-CIM wherein your baseline Skill points shall be determined,¡± Va¡¯Letty said, completely dismissing Leigh. ¡°Remember that from here on out you have a completely clean slate. From now on your Skills will only be determined by your performance in the Evals, and this is the only time in which your performance won¡¯t be negatively impacted by your mistakes. This is when we find out what you can do, not what you can¡¯t. That we will find out soon enough, at which point those shortcomings will be addressed. For now though, you are strongly encouraged to perform to the best of your abilities¡­ without any restrictions. Know this, capitalize on it, but don¡¯t come to expect it.¡±

    There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed her words. What was going to be expected of them? And what were they going to do with only fifty CIMs and one-hundred of them? Were they going to fight for them first?

    Ignoring their uncertain glances, Va¡¯Letty went on, ¡°As for the third form of evaluation¡­¡± she said, slowly looking at the trash around the room, ¡°You are not yet fit to touch it. Your current performance is less than exemplary and before I can hand it to you with a clean conscience, I need to see significant improvement on all counts. In fact, I refuse to give it to any who do not finish the Initial Eval in the allotted time.¡±

    Nodding with determination, she then suddenly and simply said, ¡°Go,¡± catching every single person off-guard.

    This time they didn¡¯t wait around for her to ask a second time, going by what Va¡¯Letty had said the Initial Eval was going to take place. They would have to fight for the fifty spots. The thought must have occurred to all of them simultaneously, but before they could act on it the room transformed around them.

    The floor around their standing formation dissolved, leaving a circular platform 100m in diameter and revealing the half-sphere below them, identical to the ceiling above.

    The platform itself morphed into a sphere, generating its own gravity centre so that Selects stood at the ¡®bottom¡¯ without falling off; ¡®down¡¯ was now the center of the sphere. Leigh got a clear view of the newly-revealed area and was relieved to see an extra fifty dull, black CIMs; fighting wouldn¡¯t be necessary.

    Six cylindrical poles shot out of the walls and intersected the sphere at perpendicular angles, narrowly avoiding the Selects who had to jump out of the way. The poles divided the room like axes of a three-dimensional graph, the centre sphere being point (0,0,0).

    WIthout further prompint the Selects quickly dispatched themselves towards the six different paths leading to the CIMs. By design or not, the one hundred of them split into nearly identical groups that ran along the poles. They, like the sphere, had a shifted center of gravity located at their centers. This allowed them to run along all sides of the 5m diameter pole towards the dome¡¯s outer walls.

    Leigh and Arthur somehow ended up in the same group and sprinted with all their might alongside all the others. She still wasn¡¯t quite sure how she was going to climb, or jump 150m, and racked her brain to come up with a solution before hitting the wall, she didn¡¯t. Without the appropriate gear, the height would be deadly.

    ¡°Come on, come on, come on!¡± Va¡¯Letty said, clapping her hands in ¡®encouragement¡¯, suddenly a huge grin on her face. ¡°Did I forget to mention this is a group exercise? The groups will be determined by the time it takes you to get in-CIM. I don¡¯t need to tell you about the advantages the first groups will get, do I?¡±

    Leigh stiffened at the thought of being in the last group. This Initial Eval was all about proving herself to the other Selects and if Leigh to do that, she couldn¡¯t have even more handicaps stacked against her. At the very least she had to beat the Shi¡¯estna in the stupid ¡®fight¡¯ Charlie had set up. She needed to succeed in getting good baseline Skill points; it was the only way she would both get Shi¡¯estna off her back and potentially reduce the overall resentment directed at her. She had to give herself a chance with the Tent leaders before it was too late. When they were selected , she would be at their mercy and she needed to stay on-planet for the second semester. Off-planet was not an option.

    The eighteen Selects all reached the dome¡¯s wall almost simultaneously. Panting, Leigh was considering her options, up or down, when one of the Selects walked around the cylindrical pole. Leigh¡¯s eyes widened as she only now considered the potential implications of gravity on the task ahead of her. Would she have to climb up to reach the CIMs on either side? Was going down not an option?

    A scream from the other side of the sphere had her turning just in time to watch as one of the Selects fell the entire 147.5m, answering her questions for her. Even from the distance, Leigh heard the impact his body made when it collided with the ground. A hollow, but simultaneously wet crunch. She thought for sure he¡¯d be dead, but a moment later there were screams of torture. Apparently their new and improved nanite-pumped bodies could take the 150m fall and survive, but Leigh didn¡¯t see anyone else following the first guy¡¯s example.

    ¡°Be happy the Quill let us use their gravity technology,¡± Va¡¯Letty reminded them. ¡°Climbing would take a lot longer.¡±

    Leigh gaped at the woman¡¯s insensitive comment. Apparently they were going to be falling both ways. The guy hadn¡¯t died, but going by his agonized screams he wasn¡¯t enjoying the nanite reconstructive progress either.

    ¡°Not that they actually tell us how it works¡­¡± Arthur mumbled beside her, completely disregarding the injured guy as well.

    Was she the only one that cared about the traumatizing screams echoing through the hollow sphere?

    ¡°How the Cog are we supposed to get down there¡­ without breaking all of the bones in our body, that is.¡± one of the guys next to her, Lo¡¯Brurn¡ª, asked nonchalantly.

    Apparently she was.

    It was time she stopped caring and got her head put on straight. Everyone else was only out for themselves, it was high time she do the same. Shaking her head, Leigh once more renewed her conviction to beat Shi¡¯estna into the ground. Leigh liked to think of herself as a pacifist, but she was sick and tired of the girl¡¯s unexplained antics.The girl was only going to be Leigh¡¯s first hurdle though. Leigh had to surpass her to get what she really wanted. And if the recent Initiation Procedure had taught Leigh anything, it was how useful it could be to have a clear image of goal in mind. Shi¡¯estna¡¯s face under her boot seemed like a good place to start.

    Before that though, she had to figure out how to climb down a 147.7 meter drop.

    Without ending up in a wet pile of goo that is.

 Chapter 13:

    Rosette: [LOOK AT CHARLIE. HE¡¯S FIGURED SOMETHING OUT.]

    One of the girls on their platform announced and seventeen heads swiveled in the direction mentioned. Leigh¡¯s CHIP magnified the view, showing Charlie Delta¡¯s controlled descent of the deadly 150m close up. Her jaw was slack with astonishment, not understanding how the guy was managing to climb down the wall so smoothly, as if there were handholds to help him. Then, Leigh saw it. His hands and feet weren¡¯t relying on handholds at all, they were sinking into the thick metal wall as if it were made of putty. His skin shined with a silvery sheen every time his limbs dug in with a dull, heavy thud.

    She¡¯d seen the sheen on his skin before, both on the shuttle and when he was showing off to a group of girls, it was his Suit. It had to be. He must have already figured out how to use the EMs to reinforce his body somehow. It was the only explanation she could think of for how his body was harder than the ship¡¯s surface. The fallen boy¡¯s splattered self was proof enough that the nanites alone were not enough to account for it. Looking through the potential Initiation Procedure Guide paths they were given, Leigh tried to backtrack into the Guide Charlie chose. Her brow furrowed in irritation when she realized that it was probably the same one she had chosen: Internal EM Manipulation. It should have made her happy to have a tried and proved strategy at her disposal, but this was Charlie Delta, so it didn¡¯t.

    Leigh quickly tried to command her EMs to do the same. Not sure of how to visualize having steely, hard limbs, Leigh tried to link her EMs tightly next to each other in a layer over her skin. It seemed like a good enough idea, but she was never able to maintain the links for long. She would lose concentration, or the command of a single EMs and things would snowball from there. She tried again with nanite assistance, but had even less success. Charlie was already that far ahead of her with his IP rate, and he wasn¡¯t the only one.

    Ramesh: [LOOK AT MONIQUE.]

    Leigh went through various further attempts to mimic Charlie¡¯s procedure as she looked at the girl in question. Monique was at one of the closer pole junctions. And unlike Charlie, who was brutally smashing his way down the sides of the walls, Monique was gracefully descending with a thin rope she was manifesting out of thin air. Leigh watched with awe as the rope flowed into the palms of the girl¡¯s hands like silvery water, before solidifying and allowing her to slide down as smoothly as a spider on her web. The technique she was using to make the rope was so different from the path Leigh had chosen for the Integration Procedure that Leigh couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how she was doing it. The only certainty was that Monique¡¯s rope was completely made up of EMs as well. She must have chosen one of the External Manipulation options.

    Instead of going for the first layer of black CIMs, Monique went straight for the second Colosseum step, 300 meters down. In seconds she traversed the distance and was standing right next to one of the dull, black objectives. Leigh watched with bated breath as the girl approached the hovering orb. Out of the one hundred Selects present, she was the first to reach out and touch one. The moment she did, the orb reached right back and stuck to her like taffy. Leigh could only gasp in shock when Monique was pulled into the CIM, disappearing from sight. It would have been unsettling had it not been for the notification that popped up.

    [INITIAL EVALUATION TENT ASSIGNMENTS:

    TENT1: 1/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT2: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT3: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT4: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT5: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT6: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT7: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT8: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT9: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    TENT10: 0/10 SLOTS FILLED

    ]

    Seconds later Charlie reached his orb a level higher and did the same, and moments after that Leigh¡¯s eyes searched out Nathan at one of the other platforms. She found him just in time to watch him nonchalantly jump off his cylindrical walkway. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight. She wondered if he intended to go down the hard way like the first guy and some of the others were doing, but then Nathan flawlessly flipped in the air so his feet were pointed downward as he fell. His free-fall lasted for what felt like forever, but then small zaps of blue light bolted out from his feet and he paused momentarily, mid-air. Leigh¡¯s eyes bulged at the feat. It was like the zaps she¡¯d seen at the tips of his fingers in the shuttle, only magnified a hundredfold. It was definitely EMs manipulation of some sort. It too had to be External in some way, or was he using EM Collection in some alternate way?

    Nathan teetered a bit mid-air as he fell the last couple of meters, it was obvious he hadn¡¯t had the chance to practice yet, but he made it to the ground safely. Like Monique, he didn¡¯t go for the first layer of orbs, but instead for the third. Leigh didn¡¯t watch his second or third jump as closely, instead having her CHIP monitor the rest of his descent and the exact orb he and the other Selects chose. The information might come in useful later.

    While Monique, Charlie and Nathan progressed, the other Selects hadn¡¯t been standing still either. One of the girl¡¯s in Leigh¡¯s group, Rosette, tried to mimic Monique, but instead of gracefully gliding down a sturdily spun rope, hers failed and she landed in a similar heap as the first bag of bones. Unlike the guy, she was ¡®lucky¡¯ enough to partially land on one of the orbs; it surprisingly absorbed part of her fall. The limbs that didn¡¯t directly contact the CIM though, experienced the same wet crunch they¡¯d first witnessed though. It was also accompanied by an agonized scream, but unlike the first, it was quickly suffocated the moment the orb¡¯s tar-like substance swallowed her whole. Although in obvious pain, Rosette was amongst the first to make it to an orb.

    On seeing this, dozens of others went for it, directly jumping into the orbs they could aim for from the cylindrical walkways they stood on. From the distance they looked like a bunch of ants jumping to their deaths, and close up it looked like a regular aerial deployment¡­ without the parachutes. Most of the jumpers made the jump they aimed for, landing directly into the orb that engulfed them like a ball of gelatinous oil, but a few missed their marks by a hair and crumbled beside the CIMs in pain. Either way, those that were decisive enough were in the modules before most of the others, including Charlie and Nathan.

    ¡°Tick-Tock ya slowpokes,¡± Va¡¯Letty reminded the remaining Selects of her presence in the middle of the dome. She sauntered around the central spherical platform with her hands behind her back, without a care in the world, completely unsympathetic to the dozen or so agonized screams tearing through the air. ¡°Every second longer you take to get in the CIM, just means the other Tents will have that much of an advantage over you.¡±

    After the first forty orbs were taken, people didn¡¯t take chances anymore. Jumping for the second layer, 300m away was a completely different story and none of them knew if they could survive it, even with their modified bodies. Instead, they went for the other methods, trying to cooperate with each other to find a viable solution. Leigh checked the Tent slots and was shocked to see that half of them had already been filled, and the sixth one was half way there.

    Ramesh: [WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER.]

    Sierra-Di: [HE¡¯S RIGHT, THERE¡¯S NO WAY ANY OF US WILL MAKE IT DOWN ON OUR OWN.]

    Depending on where they stood around the cylindrical pole, some of the group looked at the top half of the dome, and some looked down, but the view was the same, a massive drop of at least 150 meters.

    Lo¡¯Brurn: [IN ONE PIECE YOU MEAN.]

    The ongoing screams of the multiple fallen Selects still reverberated through the dome.

    Micha: [ANY SUGGESTIONS? I DIDN¡¯T BRING A LADDER OR A ROPE WITH ME. DID YOU?]

    Sierra-Di: [I¡¯M PRETTY SURE MONIQUE LAKUR DIDN¡¯T EITHER.]

    Forgetting her resolution to stay invisible, Leigh spoke up.

    Leigh: [IT¡¯S THE EMS. IT¡¯S GOTTA BE WHAT THEY¡¯RE USING. WE HAVE TO USE WHAT WE¡¯VE LEARNED IN MANIPULATION SO FAR TO GET US DOWN.]

    Ramesh: [LIKE CHARLIE, YOU MEAN? I DON¡¯T THINK THOSE HANDHOLDS WILL WORK FOR EVERYONE THOUGH. THEY DISAPPEARED RIGHT AFTER HE TOOK HIS HANDS OUT OF THEM.]

    Leigh: [I THINK IT DEPENDS ON THE GUIDE PATH YOU CHOSE. AND THIS IS ONLY A THEORY, BUT I THINK HE CHOSE INTERNAL MANIPULATION, SO IF YOU DIDN¡¯T CHOOSE THAT AS WELL, YOU¡¯LL PROBABLY HAVE TO FIND A DIFFERENT WAY TO GET DOWN. FOR THOSE OF US THAT DID THOUGH, IT DOES SEEM LIKE THE MOST STRAIGHTFORWARD WAY DOWN.]

    Leigh hated to be relying on the guy¡¯s idea, but coming up with her own out of sheer stubbornness would just eat up her time.

    Lo¡¯Brurn: [LUCKILY I DID. SO WHAT NOW? FROM THE VIDS I TOOK, IT SEEMS LIKE HE FOCUSES ALL THE EMS IN THE TIPS OF HIS FINGERS AND TOES TO MAKE THEM SINK INTO THE WALL.]

    Micha: [THAT¡¯S ALL NICE AND ALL, BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US WHO DIDN¡¯T?]

    Arthur: [YOU¡¯LL JUST HAVE TO COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT WAY TO GET DOWN¡­ OR WAIT FOR ME. I THINK I ALMOST GOT IT.]

    Leigh: [ALMOST GOT WHAT?]

    Arthur didn¡¯t answer; he was already lost in whatever it was he was working on. Leigh rolled her eyes at how helpful he was being.

    Lo¡¯Brurn: [I CAN PROBABLY MANAGE TAKING ONE PERSON DOWN WITH ME¡­ I JUST HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW THAT DELTA-COG GOT HIS FRIGGIN NANITES SO CONCENTRATED¡­]

    Leigh: [I THINK YOU¡¯LL HAVE MORE CHANCES IF YOU DETACH THE NANITES FIRST. I THINK THEY HAVE LIMITED USES, I DON¡¯T THINK YOU¡¯RE ABLE TO CHANGE THEIR PROPERTIES WHEN ATTACHED TO THE NANITES¡­ BUT I¡¯M NOT SURE EITHER¡­]

    Lo¡¯Brurn: [SO¡­ WHAT? I DETACH THEM AND THEN JUST FORCE THEM ALL INTO MY HAND?]

    Leigh: [WELL I THINK WE HAVE TO CONTROL¡­]

    Wait. Why did she have to control them? She was hours if not days away from having that kind of control over her EMs. She¡¯d never get them to cooperate the way she wanted to for the skin-strengthening idea she had. Lo¡¯Brurn was right, and if she checked Charlie¡¯s vids, it¡¯s what he had done as well. He¡¯d concentrated on one limb at a time. She gave it a try and forced all the EMs she could, all finesse aside, into her right hand. A similar sheen appeared under her skin, but instead of silvery blue, it was silvery purple. Trying it out, she knelt and prepared herself mentally to punch into the ground. If it didn¡¯t work, it was going to hurt like a mothercoger.

    Breathing out and not giving herself time to think about it, she went all in, eyes closed. Instead of the hard surface she¡¯d expected to encounter, she punched into something akin to clay. Opening her eyes slowly she looked down to see that it had worked; her hand was wrist deep into the ship¡¯s metallic substance. She looked up jubilantly at Lo¡¯Brurn. The big guy was excited about her success and wanted pointers from her, but it was then that she noticed a couple of others on the platform shooting her nasty looks. She hadn¡¯t been hiding in the shadows like she should have, she¡¯d been too preoccupied with the mission. Sighing, Leigh figured it was too late to stop now and walked Lo¡¯Brurn through what she¡¯d done. With a height of 2.28m he was one of the tallest guys there, but if she¡¯d expected him to be a pure meathead she would have been proven wrong in the fifteen seconds it took him to replicate her findings. He and two others in their group were punching the ground with the same success not twenty seconds after she¡¯d achieved it. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    They quickly paired up with other Selects on the platform and started climbing down. In the end the big guy ended up taking two of the smaller Selects that were left in their group. Other than Leigh and Arthur, there were only three additional Selects left from the original eighteen. Some had taken the initial plunge, but most had waited too long like her, wanting to get more information before committing to a drop that high. That lack of decisiveness was already costing her. Leigh tried to wake Arthur from his stupor, but he was too far gone. For a moment, she almost stayed back to help him if he needed, but her time was running out, seven of the Tents were now full, and he was a Ranker; he knew what he was doing. If worse came to worst she could always climb back up to help him.

    Leigh offered to take one of the remaining Selects down, but they all refused. Although some were willing to listen to her helping instructions, none of them were comfortable enough to be that associated with her. Gritting her teeth, Leigh tried not to hate Shi¡¯estna SaTafan more than she already did. This was her fault. Leigh couldn¡¯t blame her Rank because across the room Aru¡¯bal was climbing down a left-behind EMs rope along with seven other Selects. None of them were shunning her.

    Part of her noticed that the rope was directly above where the first Select had fallen, but she didn¡¯t have enough time to investigate it any further, other than to notice that said Select and his screams were no longer present. Someone must have gotten around to helping him; she doubted he¡¯d already healed up enough to make it to the nearest CIM on his own, but she didn¡¯t have time to find out who. She had her own performance to worry about.

    After leaving Arthur to his own devices, Leigh punched into the wall with all her strength and began her descent. Ten meters in she realized she was going about it the wrong way and decreased the amount of force she was using. Instead of relying on her physical body, she had to learn to rely on the EMs. Focusing on the particles instead, she imagined her arm as a piston, blowing all of the nanites in one big push at her command. The change in strategy increased her pace significantly and she was soon overtaking Lo¡¯Brurn and the others who had the added cargo to deal with.

    Around the dome there were many other Selects scaling the walls with Charlie¡¯s brutish method. Including whoever had left the rope behind, a few others had even managed to successfully replicate Monique¡¯s more elegant strategy, though none were kind or able enough to leave a rope behind for others to use. Many of the Selects from other platforms were now running toward the forgotten rope, but they would have to figure out their own way down after the first step. What really surprised Leigh though, were those that came up with completely new and innovative ways of descending. There was a parachute guy and a glide-suit girl, she reminded Leigh of the final SIM she¡¯d completed just a little over a day ago. Had it really only just happened? It already felt like a lifetime ago.

    Leigh made it to the first step without a hitch, but when she started going down the second step, someone slid by her, hands and feet attached to the walls like magnets slippery enough to allow for a controlled descent. She suspected that the Select had also chosen the Internal EM Manipulation guide, but Leigh didn¡¯t have time to wonder how he¡¯d implemented it right then. Instead, she tried to take in some of the other methods being used. One girl stuck her hand into the wall and literally cut her way down, as if her hand were a hooked blade. One guy jumped off, but instead of landing in a heap at the bottom, his body expanded like a puffer-fish, taking all of the impact. Leigh couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how he had pulled that off, or what Guide Path he¡¯d chosen. His IP rate was also private, so she couldn¡¯t compare herself to him. A lot of the other techniques were similar in nature, just implemented slightly differently.

    One of the Selects for example must have been trying to do replicate Nathan¡¯s technique, but instead of a controlled blast, it ended with a massive reverberating boom that threw him completely off course and slammed him into the side of the wall. On on hand, he made it down to the third level safely, but on the other, he wasn¡¯t nearly as ¡®in-one-piece¡¯ as he¡¯d probably hoped for.

    By the time Leigh made it to the second level, all the capsules on her side were already full. Running to the three available capsules on the other side of the dome would have been a waste of time, the damn rope was helping everyone down quickly and they would be full before she got there. Sighing, she surrendered herself to one final descent. She was halfway down, when Arthur messaged her in private.

    ¡°Hey, you didn¡¯t wait for me. I told you I had it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that was over a minute ago.¡±

    ¡°Barely. Only sixty four seconds.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look if you need help getting down¡­¡±

    Leigh looked up at the walkway. Over three hundred meters away it looked like a tiny little band. As much as the guy was growing on her, she really didn¡¯t want to have to climb it all again.

    ¡°Actually,¡± he said as a corridor suddenly appeared in the wall next to her, ¡°I was going to offer you that.¡±

    Leigh¡¯s eyes bulged when she saw the same type of corridor she¡¯d seen Va¡¯Letty come in through, though slightly narrower.

    ¡°I was trying to hack the whole program,¡± he began, standing half a meter from where she was hanging on the wall, ¡°but then I realized it would take too long. So instead I used the readings I got from when the Supervisor came in, to reverse engineer¡ª¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± Leigh said, jumping into the narrow metallic corridor with him, ¡°tell me about it later when there aren¡¯t only four slots available in the ninth Tent.¡±

    Arthur¡¯s expression was almost petulant, but he sighed and agreed. Leigh wasn¡¯t surprised to find that none of the other Selects had waited on the platform for him. His single sentence announcement wasn¡¯t what you would call confidence-inspiring. It was just him and her in the dimly-lit corridor and he quickly configured the corridor to bend around the exterior of the main ship sphere and bring them back in a level lower.

    ¡°When I have more time to tinker with this later,¡± Arthur explained, as they ran down the winding corridor, still not being able to contain himself, ¡°I¡¯m going to be able to change the ship¡¯s structure in the same way we¡¯ve always been able to program energy-matter. The only difference is the properties that this substance possesses. It will allow us to do so much more than just physically alter¡ª¡±

    ¡°Arthur!¡± Leigh reminded him when the corridor re-opened at the third level, exactly in line with the next row of orbs, ¡°only two more CIM slots let¡¯s go! If we don¡¯t get in now, we¡¯ll have to wait for all the stragglers of the last Tent. Do you really want to have to, one: wait on them and two: have your first Skill evaluation depend on them?¡±

    Arthur blinked, as if finally coming back to his senses.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± he said blankly, ¡°right.¡±

    It was like he¡¯d momentarily forgotten why they were there or why he¡¯d even hacked into the ship in the first place. Not that it wasn¡¯t impressive as Cog, but¡­ there¡¯s a time and place for everything. Leigh pushed him toward the nearest CIM and headed for another.

    ¡°Look, there she goes, riding on other people¡¯s coattails again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the first exercise and she¡¯s already taking the easy way out.¡±

    Social was suddenly pinging her all over the place again. Leigh rolled her eyes and sprinted for the black orb, not twenty meters away. How did they find time to trash-talk her when they were among the very last to make it into a CIM. Didn¡¯t they have more important things to worry about?

    ¡°Cog, I really hope I don¡¯t end up in the same group CIM as her.¡±

    ¡°Then you should have reached a CIM earlier,¡± someone said dryly, completely cutting off the conversation.

    Leigh didn¡¯t have time to find out who¡¯d stood up for her as she ran straight into the globby orb. She only had a moment to hope that it was as gelatinous as the other Selects had made it look.

    It was.

    The orb surrounded her like cool gelatin and everything went black.

    [YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TO TENT10.]

    Cog.

    The wait for the final nine Selects was only thirty nine seconds, but it felt like a life-time. Each second stretched endlessly in the CIM¡¯s black nothingness. It was a second lost to her that the other nine Tents had. Leigh tapped her finger anxiously, relieved she didn¡¯t need to control the gesture in the private darkness of her orb. The cool, fresh-smelling comfort did nothing to assuage her anxiety. Had Arthur made it into Tent9? Who else was going to be in the Tent with her.

    Leigh didn¡¯t have to wonder long.

    [YOUR INITIAL EVALUATION HAS BEGUN.]

    The sensory void she¡¯d been experiencing was immediately replaced by the hard seat of another shuttle as she found herself in the familiar five-on-five seating arrangement. She was surprised to find Jade Unita directly opposite of her, but more relieved to see that Shi¡¯estna wasn¡¯t next to the Space-girl this time. Heaving a sigh of relief that she¡¯d at least been spared that much, she took a look around to catalog the rest of her Tent. Arthur wasn¡¯t in it.

    Silence reigned in the shuttle as the other nine Selects did the same, taking inventory of their surrounding. There were no viewports this time, instead there were only two massive screens showcasing one of the overplayed UEF adverts. Heroic music, clashing colors and orderly comportment were supposed to advertise all that was good about the United Earth Force. Leigh¡¯d seen similar adverts a thousand times.

    [MISSION PARAMETERS:

    LOCATION: SECTOR 42271, SOLAR SYSTEM 65, MAJOR PLANET 6, MAJOR MOON 2

    TENT OBJECTIVE:  SECURE SECTOR A2 IN QUADRANT 137. SET UP COMMUNICATION ARRAY BEFORE THE LUNAR DAY IS OVER.

    TIME TO LUNAR NIGHT: 79 HOURS: 55 MINUTES : 23 SECONDS

    ]

    [WARNING: IF YOU DIE IN-CIM YOU WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE INITIAL EVALUATION AND FORCED TO WATCH UNTIL YOUR TENT COMPLETES OR FAILS ITS MISSION. INTERACTION WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE.]

    The mission sounded simple enough, but Leigh was sure there would be some kind of catch, there always was. She looked around carefully while the uplifting advert tune deafened the shuttle for what felt like minutes, but was only ten seconds. Then, the shuttle suddenly started rattling. Leigh¡¯s stomach clenched in revolt, she hadn¡¯t wanted to be right about this one. She had a bad feeling about this, but just as suddenly as it had began, the turbulence stopped. The Selects looked at each other, but before someone could voice the communal thought aloud, the turbulence was back, and worse. It kept picking up in strength, until Leigh knew with unfortunate certainty where it was headed. She clenched all the muscles in her body, tightened the harness around her, and advised her Tent-mates to do the same. Everyone, but Jade, shuffled to get ready for what they also suspected was coming. The girl simply glanced around calmly, already secure in her own harness.

    Jade: [TORREN, YOUR BOTTOM STRAP IS LOOSE.]

    The girl¡¯s voice was stoic, but clear, in Tent chat. The turbulence had picked up to a teeth-jittering shake until a sudden boom banged them around with a vehemence. That hadn¡¯t felt right. A second hadn¡¯t gone by before the merry tune was replaced with urgent alarms blaring for attention, flashing lights vying for action and warning notifications popping up left and right.

    [NAVIGATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE.]

    [MANUAL FLIGHT SYSTEMS ENGAGING¡­ ]

    Dialu: [DOES ANYONE KNOW MANUAL!?]

    [¡­NOT LOCATED.]

    Everything inside Leigh screamed for her to panic, but she knew it for what it was, a gimmick; the Academy had added the overbearing sensory stimuli on purpose to get them out of sorts. This was not the time to freak out. They were probably about to crash land and there was nothing they could do about it.

    Jade: [LOOKS LIKE IT WON¡¯T MATTER.]

    Jade said calmly, as if reading Leigh¡¯s thoughts. How the girl could maintain her cool composure at a time like this, she didn¡¯t know. Thoughts raced through Leigh¡¯s mind as she tried to account for every possibility. She didn¡¯t have the luxury of failing, or dieing for that matter. She had to do all that was in her power to stay alive. The CIM had barely started, if she died now her baseline Skills would all be zero, Shi¡¯estna would win and she would never be able to undo the negative impression the girl and Charlie had forced upon her.

    A loud crash broke into her thoughts like a premonition-come-true and suddenly she was sailing through the air.

    Alone.

    And falling.

    Had she banged her head and passed out?

    [EMERGENCY CAPSULE 8 RELEASED.]

    [EMERGENCY PARACHUTE DISABLED.]

    [TIME UNTIL IMPACT: 11 SECONDS.]

    Leigh glanced around, rattled. Not even sure what to process first. She was in a synthetic glass emergency capsule, falling through the air at terminal velocity. The gravity on this moon was 1.8 times that of Earth and the atmosphere was less dense; Leigh was falling a lot faster than she wanted to.

    She didn¡¯t want to be falling at all, but not having a choice in the matter, she tried to catch her bearings. Her head was throbbing, she really must have hit it somewhere. Her hand went up of its own accord and came back with streaks of blood. Not good.

    [7 SECONDS.]

    Why did it feel like her life was always on a countdown?

    Leigh looked down at where she was expected to land. Water. As far as she could see, there was only water. Her head flared with pain and Leigh cringed, breathing rapidly to take a deep breath, readying for impact. She might need to put Va¡¯Letty¡¯s lessons to use sooner than she¡¯d expected, or wanted, to.

 Chapter 14:

    The emergency capsule plummeted to the foreign moon. Leigh braced for impact just in time.

    [ONE SECOND.]

    Her lungs were at full capacity just in case of a suit malfunction. Luckily, that wasn¡¯t the case. The collision jarred every bone in her body, but the only additional wound she received was a small gash over her left wrist. It didn¡¯t hurt, not when compared to her head. Her vision blurred from the pain and the wailing alarms only increased in urgency. Her temple throbbed, but the situation didn¡¯t give her time to recover.

    [HULL BREACH DETECTED.]

    [VITAL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS FAILING.]

    [IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY EVACUATION RECOMMENDED.]

    [SHUTTLE BUOYANCY FAILING.]

    Leigh cringed as water started to fill the compact capsule. It was a slow trickle at first, but it quickly picked up in speed, urging Leigh to unharness herself with trembling fingers. The throb in her head was insistent, but Leigh tried not to let it mess with her concentration. She pumped herself with just enough painkillers to numb the pain, but not enough to slow her down.

    She checked her suit for damage and had the nanites fill in the small patch over her left wrist. She¡¯d deal with wound under it later.

    The airtight headgear, at least, had not failed. Leigh didn¡¯t want to breathe in the moon¡¯s air before she was sure it wasn¡¯t toxic, and she had no idea what kind or organisms lived in its oceans.

    The dripping water filling the capsule had soon turned into small rivulets of icy cold water. The level had already reached her calf. Counting her breaths, Leigh methodically set out to control her breathing as she surveyed the capsule, simultaneously replaying the last five minutes of her CHIP. This was no time to lose composure.

    Their shuttle had hit something, or something had hit them and it had broken into pieces. There were shots of other Selects being launched in every direction with the auto-deployed emergency capsules that enveloped them like bubbles of metal and synthetic glass. She watched her fall while using her CHIP to interact with the capsule. She needed supplies, rations and¡­ the mission.

    Leigh read over the mission parameters again just as the final seconds of her fall replayed in her CHIP. The communication array. It was their job to set up a communication array, but how were they going to do that now without their shuttle and the necessary parts and components? As if sensing her question, her CHIP asked:

    [DO YOU WISH DETACH RT48-COMMUNICATION ARRAY BUILDING BLOCK 3?]

    [YES | NO]

    ¡°Yes!¡± Leigh urged frantically, aloud. The cold water was reaching her thighs and the capsule was sinking. They were already five meters underwater and she didn¡¯t know how deep the ocean was. She had to get out. Fast.

    [RT-48 CABB 3 DEPLOYED.]

    A small icon appeared on the edge of her visor. The block was floating up to the surface. At least its buoyancy seemed unaffected. With its separation from the capsule though, the metallic cage only sank faster into the unknown depths of the ocean. Leigh cast out a short-range, low-frequency scouting beacon. It would pay to err on the side of caution, she probably shouldn¡¯t go around advertising her location. She still didn¡¯t know what had shot them down.

    Trudging through the now waist high water cascading in through growing rivers, Leigh spared the capsule a last look before diving for the exit hatch. At least she¡¯d been lucky enough for the hatch to be located at the bottom of the capsule. She had already sunk eleven more meters. For a normal human body, exiting at the current depth would mean death. Her suit and nanites would be the only thing keeping her alive, but she couldn¡¯t be sure for how long that would hold true. Even they were not infallible to high enough water pressures. She had to get out before it was too late, and if she¡¯d have to wait for the water to fill the capsule, she probably wouldn¡¯t make it.

    Leigh counted her blessings and released the hatch. Pulling herself through, she gripped the sides of the capsule to pull herself around the exterior of it to the top where she launched herself upwards. Only then did she spare its sinking shape a final glance, watching as it fell into the dark unexplored depths of the moon¡¯s cold ocean. The capsule sank faster and faster as Leigh kicked her legs, urging herself in the opposite direction, to the surface. The capsule¡¯s lights flickered and then went out completely.

    Breathing steadily, she looked up at the bright surface. She kicked her legs as quickly as she allowed herself to. Any more and she would be tiring herself out unnecessarily. Her oxygenation levels looked good and the beacon came back with its results. The ocean floor was more than 57m deep, but Leigh couldn¡¯t know how deep unless she increased its magnitude. She wasn¡¯t willing to risk that yet. She heaved a sigh of relief, she¡¯d done the right thing to exit the capsule when she did. It meant that she missed on some potential capsule salvages, but she didn¡¯t have time to dwell on it now. The building block, at least, was secure.

    As Leigh steadily made her way up, she kept an eye on the block that had already made it to the surface. A strong wind at the surface had managed to carry it over a dozen meters away, she kicked her legs a little faster. Using her CHIP¡¯s footage she tried to triangulate the other Selects¡¯ locations. Unfortunately, most of the data was visual in nature. She hadn¡¯t specifically configured the CHIP to keep track of her Tent¡¯s positions yet. Stupid. It had been very stupid of her.

    Giving herself a 10% margin of error, Leigh calculated a potential landing radius of 100km for eight of them There were two that had separated a few seconds earlier and could potentially be as far out as 120 or 130km. Leigh sighed. They only had seventy nine hours to do the mission, and part of it would need to be wasted in assembling her Tent again. She couldn¡¯t complete the mission without them, even if she wanted to. She only had one of the ten building blocks.

    Leigh opened the shuttle¡¯s schematics, and sure enough, each Select had been deployed with one part of the Communication Array. Ironically though, without an active communication array, she couldn¡¯t contact the other members without alerting everyone on the moon. Leigh breached the surface of the ocean¡¯s waves and the wind knocked waves into her headgear, dunking her right back into the water. The wind was a lot stronger than she¡¯d anticipated. Looking around, she found the direction in which the block was floating and swam after it. It had traveled a ridiculous 42m in the time it took her to swim the last 5m to the surface. Its flotation might still be working, but its automatic connection to her CHIP wasn¡¯t. She¡¯d have to physically find it to activate its propulsion system.

    With a steady stroke, Leigh considered her next steps. Retrieving the sunken capsule was impossible, so she stopped monitoring its progress to the inky depths of the unknown moon. Instead she reverted some of her attention back to the Suit Initiation Procedure. Who knows, if she¡¯d progressed further already, she might have more options at her disposal, like flying maybe? It sure as hell would have been easier than treading these perilous waves that cheerfully bashed into her, smashing her back and forth, hindering her progress a lot more often than helping it. Without any other supplies available, she¡¯d need more of its functions unlocked as soon as possible.

    Then, she looked through the CHIPs records until she found the last Select sighting in the crash. After retrieving the block, the first order of business would be to gather all of the Tent in one place, and the best place to start with that was finding the one closest to her. It was Torren, the kid with the loose strap in the shuttle. Previously ranked 879. Leigh didn¡¯t want to immediately check his Rank, but it was an automatic tick she couldn¡¯t seem to shake. She Leigh justified it by telling herself that knowing her partners¡¯ strengths was more important.

    Going by that information, and assuming East was where the sun rose, the guy was five to fifteen kilometers to her southwest. Leigh swam northwest until she reached the block. There, she removed the manual back-up link, if the landing hadn¡¯t smashed so many of the capsule¡¯s functions to bits, she would have been able to access directly through through her CHIP. The little link-up cube of nanitized metal flowed into a bracelet that clamped around her injured left wrist. She winced at the painful reminder, and then shoved the thought aside for later.

    Having secured her building block, Leigh allowed herself to heave a small sigh of relief. Then, she changed her swimming direction to the southwest, directly against the wind, towards Torren. He had landed closer to land than she had. If she went for the shortest route to land herself, she¡¯d save herself about 4-6% of the distance, but she considered it worthwhile. It was possible that Torren had encountered similar or even worse difficulties than she had. He might need help, but it was also a lot safer to proceed as a duo. If she¡¯d been closer to land she would have either waited him out or swam toward him. It increased their chances of success in the unknown setting. It also made locating each other easier. The longer it took them to get together, the further wind, time and distance could get in the way. Leigh could get to land 50km from where he did, instead of the maximum 15km of separation they were currently experiencing.

    Ascertaining herself that she¡¯d made the right decision to seek him out first, instead of land. Leigh picked up her pace. The strong gusts made progress a lot more difficult than they had to be. Leigh reigned her emotions in. Everything was seemingly going against her, but she didn¡¯t have time to pout over it. Without the wind, the 2-by-1m block would have managed to propel itself by itself. Instead, she helped the block along by pushing it a bit. The only upside was that its buoyancy helped conserve a fraction of the energy it was taking to move it forward.

    With controlled breaths, Leigh resumed her swim and found the rhythm best suited for her, the block, the wind and the waves crashing over them. Every 100m or so she would send out a low frequency scanning beacon, trying to locate the other Select. She stabilized her swimming¡¯s heart rate at 80% of its maximum strenuous potential, there was no point in tiring herself out too early. There were still over 79 hours left on the mission.

    Leigh didn¡¯t want to resort to direct communication until she got closer, but after swimming for five kilometers with still no sight of him on her beacon, Leigh took the chance for a very low frequency ping. She hoped the guy was smart enough to have all his receiving channels open and searching, otherwise they were doomed. After a minute, there was still no response. Leigh tried again, and still nothing.

    Kicking her legs at a relentless, but manageable pace, Leigh continued to ping him while directing her EMs through CHIP-led exercises. After climbing the walls by forcing the EMs particles into her limbs, she¡¯d had some kind of breakthrough, now the CHIP led her through a series of ever-growing challenges to control the discovery. It shouldn¡¯t take every EMs in her body to make her skin strong enough to pierce metal. In fact, with the number of EMs available to her, she should be able to do it with less than 1%. At first, the challenges weren¡¯t very difficult, requiring her to direct a couple dozen and then hundred EMs to link together at a certain location in her body. When she got the hang of how to form an unbreakable EM particle link, things got easier. After almost half an hour though, the exercises escalated leading her to link the particles in increasingly complex patterns.

    Leigh was reaching the outskirts of the area she¡¯d delineated as Torren¡¯s potential landing zone when she decided to risk a little short-range communication. The frequency would be a lot more detectable than the pings she was sending out, but if Torren was anywhere in a one kilometer radius, he was guaranteed to receive her message.

    ¡°Torren,¡± she said calmly, ¡°report if able.¡±

    Thirty seconds passed, but nothing. Leigh groaned in annoyance. Why was she even bothering? The guy had probably already started making his way to shore. The better tactic would be for them to meet up first and then proceed as a team. She didn¡¯t doubt that he¡¯d also managed to roughly triangulate her position, but perhaps he was one of the ¡®fraud¡¯ haters. She¡¯d already completely given up on his reply another half an hour after that. She still sent out low-frequency pings, just in case, but she was doing it for protocol more than anything. If anything, it might get her points in the Evaluation somehow. She was considering how to contact and reach out to the others, when she heard it.

    ¡°HELP!¡±, an agitated voice bellowed through all open communication channels, of all frequencies, ¡°SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP ME!¡±

    It was Torren, and because of his loud cries for help, she was able to clearly place him, not 560m from her own location. The guy kept screaming, announcing their location to everyone that was willing to hear. Leigh shuddered at the possible implications, but immediately sent him a low-range message in response.

    ¡°Torren,¡± she said in a clipped tone, not even bothering to hide her irritation, ¡°it¡¯s me. Leigh. I¡¯m in your Tent. I¡¯m coming, what¡¯s the problem? You need to stop screaming. You¡¯re advertising our location to everyone!¡±

    He replied immediately.

    ¡°McMann,¡± he said, ¡°there are squids! They¡¯re everywhere. Get me out of here! They¡¯re taking me down!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going as fast as I can!¡± Leigh picked up her pace, the guy was frantic. ¡°Three minutes. Hold out for three minutes!¡±

    Leigh swam as fast as her body would let her, still pushing her building block along. She meant to help the guy, but the block was more important than even Torren. Without it, her Tent would not be able to complete its mission. It did however, impede her quick progress. Speed was of the essence, but the crashing waves and heavy block made it impossible to gain any. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    That¡¯s when it happened. Something inside her clicked, and she knew what to do. It was almost as if the EMs particles inside her were talking to her, begging for her to put them to use. Not completely sure how she intended to use them to gain speed, she established a strong link to each one and then¡­ listened to them. They surged forward like a wave inside her body, matching those that surrounded her. In synch with her strokes, they then retreated and surged again. The movement of EMs particles within her changed her center of gravity somehow and from then on she didn¡¯t have to worry about the clashing waves anymore. Every time a wave tried to capsize her to the right, the particles would wash to the left and keep her on course, toward Torren.

    Being careful, but still needing more information about what she would be facing, Leigh sent out a higher resolution scan, targeting the area straight in front of her, where Torren was. Her eyes bulged at the results, but she forced herself to keep swimming. There were three big masses encircling what she assumed was Torren¡¯s capsule. By the looks of the low-definition image, they were completely surrounding him. The capsule¡¯s frame was strong, but the masses were enormous. With enough time and pressure, the squids, or whatever they were, were bound to get in.

    ¡°Torren,¡± Leigh addressing Torren in the lowest detectable frequency she could, ¡°talk to me.¡±

    She tried sounding as calm and professional as possible, hoping it would incite the same reaction from Torren. Without a clear state of mind he would be useless at best and a hindrance at worst.

    ¡°I landed and as I was about to get out,¡± he said in a breathless, but somewhat more calm voice, ¡°I was suddenly surrounded by these¡­ things. Initially there were a lot of them. Over a dozen at least, their tentacles made it hard to get an exact count, but then they had some kind of skirmish and the rest left. Only these three stayed behind, and are now attacking my capsule. It¡¯s cracking under the pressure¡­ It¡¯s starting to flood, but I think I¡¯ll be condensed matter long before that becomes an issue¡­¡±

    ¡°How long?¡± Leigh asked, breathing heavily under her pushed exertion.

    ¡°Five minutes if I¡¯m lucky,¡± he said, ¡°probably less.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so what¡¯s the plan?¡± Leigh asked. ¡°We have to get you out. Do you have anything we can use as a weapon? Do they have any weaknesses?¡±

    ¡°No weapons,¡± he said, ¡°their weakness is the base of their tentacles. From the skirmish earlier, I saw that they always aim for the base of each other¡¯s tentacles. The rest of their body is covered in some kind of thick skin. From the way it¡¯s taking apart the capsule¡­ I¡¯d say it¡¯s tougher than nanite enforced steel.¡±

    ¡°Cog,¡± Leigh said, still swimming.

    She only had one hundred meters left to go, and she thought she caught sight of some long appendage in the distance, swinging in the air before coming back to the ocean with a big splash. It looks like she¡¯d found Torren and his offenders in time, but she still had no clue how to get to him.

    ¡°Look,¡± Leigh said, commanding the block to stay as close to her as possible, ¡°the only weapons we have are ourselves and the Suits. What can you do so far?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d been going for the Internal Manipulation route,¡± he said, sounding a bit calmer, ¡°but after getting in this situation I switched to external. There was no way I was going to progress enough to pose a physical threat to these guys, not soon enough anyways.¡±

    ¡°Did you manage to unlock anything useful?¡± Leigh asked hopefully.

    ¡°I think so¡­ but I can¡¯t try it out unless I get out of the capsule alive¡­ and it doesn¡¯t look like I can. The hatch is completely unusable.¡±

    ¡°I think I can get you out of the capsule,¡± Leigh said, thinking of how she¡¯d progressed with the EMs particle links, she was already able to make her skin ten times stronger than she had for the ship-wall-climb. ¡°I just need to get through the tentacles¡­ without dying.

    Leigh approached the tentacles carefully, trying to make as little movement as possible. She hoped that they would lose their menacing feel close-up, they didn¡¯t. Biting her lip in thought, Leigh realized that going on a head-on fight would be inadvisable. Instead, she needed to distract them somehow.

    ¡°You think you can get out of the capsule on your own, if I lure them away?¡±

    ¡°¡­ No,¡± Torren said. ¡°I just tried. Using Internal Manipulation, I can only bend the nanometal slightly. I could probably do it with enough time, but I don¡¯t think we have that. They¡¯re very fast once they get going.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Leigh said, discarding the plan that had started forming in her mind.

    Now, how could she distract the tentacles without being the focus of distraction herself? The only other thing at her disposal was the building block and that¡­ Leigh¡¯s spine tingled with apprehension when she looked at it.

    ¡°Whats the float status of your capsule?¡± Leigh asked, daring to hope.

    ¡°Nonexistent, they¡¯ve destroyed everything¡­¡± there was a slight pause before he added in a somber tone, ¡°including the fourth building block.¡±

    ¡°They what!?!¡±

    ¡°By the time I tried to deploy it, it was already too late. The tentacles had already crumbled it to pieces.¡±

    ¡°And you tell me this¡­ now?¡±

    ¡°I was afraid you might not come otherwise¡­¡± he said, somewhat guiltily.

    Leigh sighed. She wasn¡¯t sure if he was right about the statement or not, but she wasn¡¯t going to spend time thinking about it now. She needed him. From what he said there were more of the tentacles around, and he¡¯d already come up with a potential solution. She had nothing.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Leigh said, bringing them back to task, ¡°I¡¯m going to use a portion of my building block¡¯s floats along with its propulsion system to bait them away¡­ Any suggestions as to how I can do that?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Blood. I think they¡¯re attracted to blood.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Of course they are.¡±

    Less than a minute later, Leigh had carefully increased the wound on her wrist to draw out 500ml of blood. Using a patch of her nanosuit she made a little pouch to contain it. Her suit automatically repaired itself and was once again airtight. Linking some of the nanites in her body with EMs particles, she programmed them to substitute the blood functions in her body until she¡¯d regenerated enough. She then detached four of the five floats from the building block. With most of the floats gone, the buoyance ratio was completely messed up and instead of staying on the surface, the block was slowly sinking about 1m every ten seconds. It was risky. If the final float malfunctioned, they¡¯d be down two building blocks instead of one, but it was necessary. They would just have to be quick about it.

    ¡°Any idea how far away they have to be to sense the blood?¡± Leigh asked.

    ¡°No, but maybe another 50m out from where you are? I want to give us as much time as possible.¡±

    Leigh agreed with him and set everything up. Maintaining the link to the propulsion device, she commanded it to go in the same direction as the wind. She hoped the added speed would give them a little more time to get Torren out. On the opposite end of the capsule Leigh asked Torren if he was ready.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, no longer able to keep the urgency from his voice.

    ¡°Go!¡± Leigh said and opened a small fissure into the blood bag. With the help of the wind, the propulsion device was already sailing away at full speed. Leigh too started approaching the capsule as much as she dared, monitoring the tentacles. Twenty seconds, then forty passed and still nothing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think¡ª¡± Leigh began, but was cut short by the one of the tentacle¡¯s sudden movement.

    One moment it was wrapped around the capsule like a vice, the other it was whirling away in the direction of the distraction. Before she could even worry about the other two, they too were hot on the first one¡¯s tails. Leigh dropped all her covert attempts and swam full-speed at Torren.

    ¡°Try the hatch!¡± Leigh said, almost upon him.

    ¡°I am!¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Leigh said, it had been worth a try, ¡°then get out of the way.¡±

    ¡°And where exactly is¡ª¡±

    Leigh sent the vast majority of her EMs to her right arm, reinforcing it with was many tight EMs links as she could currently command. Lifting it up she punched into the capsule. She¡¯d automatically braced herself for some pain, or at least some resistance, but her arm went through the metal hull like water. Leigh face banged loudly against the capsule¡¯s exterior.

    ¡°What the!¡± Torren complained from the inside.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Leigh said, quickly adjusting herself and tearing a hole into the capsule¡¯s mangled hull.

    Torren was scrunched inside the remainder of the water-logged capsule. He looked at her appearance with a mixture of fright and anger.

    ¡°You almost punched my brains out!¡±

    ¡°I said I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said as she helped him out of the sinking capsule, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be quite so¡­ fragile.¡±

    Torren gave her a sideways look, but said nothing else. They didn¡¯t have time for it.

    ¡°It¡¯s that way,¡± Leigh said, jumping into the waves. It had already sank eight meters, and if she didn¡¯t get to it before the tentacles returned, they¡¯d never be able to recover it again.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Torren said, ¡°make sure your nanosuit insulation is working. I¡¯m going to try something when they get back, so maintain a bit of distance¡­¡±

    Leigh didn¡¯t question him. If he thought he could do it, he probably could. Instead she dove for the now eleven meter deep building block. She struggled to reach it, and by the time she got it, they were already fifteen meters under water. With adrenaline rushing through her veins, Leigh grabbed hold of it and swam to the surface. On the way there she saw the tentacles return, but before she could worry whether or not Torren would really be able to take them on, there was a bluish light that flashed in the dark waters. It was accompanied by a slight tingling sensation Leigh felt around her body. The tentacles stopped dead in their tracks.

    ¡°What was¡­ that?¡±

    ¡°External EMs Manipulation.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Leigh said, slightly envious.

    ¡°Yeah, I felt the same way about yours,¡± he said, suddenly affable after the big threat was gone, ¡°but we¡¯ll unlock it soon enough.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Leigh said, agreeing with him, this was just the beginning, ¡°but hey¡­¡± she added.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    ¡°You going to help me schlugg this block to shore or what?¡±

    He reached her and grabbed one side sheepishly. Combining their findings they decided on a course and started swimming.

    ¡°And ahmmm¡­¡± he added in the same tone, ¡°thanks for coming to save me. I know you didn¡¯t have to¡­ since my block broke and all¡­¡±

    Leigh looked at his contrite expression, came to a decision, and joked, ¡°It¡¯s not really like you gave me a choice¡­¡±

    He looked at her in horror and she just grinned. An uncertain expression clouded his features for a moment longer, but then he just smiled back and said, ¡°Thanks anyway¡­ and¡­ sorry for all the things I was saying about you in¡­ back then.¡±

    Leigh raised her eyebrows in surprise. So he had been one of the ¡®anti-frauds¡¯.

    ¡°I was afraid you¡¯d ignore me because of it¡­ which is why I went for broadband¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Leigh said, forgiving him. She¡¯d reduce her enemies wherever she could,¡°but yeah,¡± she added, ¡°that was stupid.¡±

    He nodded, but continued, ¡°Hopefully none of the other Tents picked up on it.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Leigh asked, confused, ¡°what other Tents? Isn¡¯t our mission to just set up the Communication Array? This isn¡¯t a combat CIM¡­ is it? Shouldn¡¯t they have their own CIM?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah¡­ but I¡¯m pretty sure we were shot down by one of the other Tents.¡±

    ¡°How come?¡±

    ¡°I tracked down the source of our mid-air collision,¡± he said, ¡°it was an EMs arrow.¡±

    ¡°An arrow?!¡±

    He nodded, and Leigh didn¡¯t know what to say. What was there to say? They would have to get the rest of the Tent together before they came up with a plan. By themselves, the two of them wouldn¡¯t be able to do much of anything. Especially when others were already about shooting deadly arrows that could bring down shuttles. All the two of them had was a heavy burdening block, and what was a puzzle piece without its puzzle?

    After they shared any other information they¡¯d gathered over the last hour, they focused on getting to shore. It took them a minute to figure out a rhythm that worked well for them both, but after it did, silence reigned. It wasn¡¯t however, uncomfortable. They were just both busy with their IPs and other than a rough estimate of the whereabouts of the other teammates, they had nothing to go on.

    They were attacked twice more by the tentacle beasts, but Torren dispatched them with ease. Leigh was glad she¡¯d gone after the guy, she probably wouldn¡¯t have lasted to shore without him. In the end, it took them seven hours of relentless swimming against the angry waves. Finally though, they reached the pebbly beach and walked ashore, dragging the building block number three behind them. Leigh and Torren were both in peak physical condition, they had to be, but after seven hours of relentless exercise they couldn¡¯t do much else other than pant for a minute.

    ¡°Now,¡± Leigh said, gasping for air, ¡°now we just need to find the others and figure out what we¡¯re going to do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Torren said doubtfully, it was obvious he was thinking about the block he¡¯d lost.

    Leigh almost didn¡¯t say anything, it wasn¡¯t her duty to cheer up the guy who had talked Cog about her behind her back -she had time to review his Social entries on the swim-, but in the end she couldn¡¯t help it. She might still be slightly bitter, but he¡¯d apologized and if she refused to work with anyone that had bad mouthed her before, she¡¯d be alone for the duration of the Academy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Leigh said carefully, not wanting to hurt the guy¡¯s pride, ¡°it¡¯s going to work out.¡±

    He gave her an annoyed glance, and she already regretted her decision. Why couldn¡¯t she just have left him alone?

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± he said, ¡°and how do you suggest we do that? We won¡¯t be able to complete the array with all the pieces. And if you went over the schematics¡­ you know that building block number four was one of the most indispensable pieces. Without it, we might be able to receive transmissions, but we won¡¯t be making any of our own.¡±

    Leigh had read the schematics, and so she knew he was right. Her breathing had finally stabilized though, and she would be Cogged if she would let a small detail like that hold them back.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say,¡± Leigh said with a smile, ¡°that there were other Tents on this moon?¡±

    ¡°At least one¡­¡± he said.

    ¡°What do you think the chances are they have the same mission as us?¡±

    ¡°Why doe¡ª¡± he paused and considered her suggestive words for a moment, before his eyes widened and he exclaimed, ¡°OH!¡±

    His head whipped around to look at her with what she thought was newfound respect.

 Chapter 15:

    Sweat pooled inside Leigh¡¯s suit as she and Torren dragged the building block behind them. They¡¯d decided on a course of action, heading to the highest point in a 150km radius, and hoped that the others would think similarly. Every now and then they would send out low-frequency pings, hoping to run across one of the other Selects in their Tent. They¡¯d already been walking for over six hours, but they were only about half way there. The lack of the propulsion device and floats were now severely hindering their progress.

    The devices were meant into transform to on-land transportation as well, and without it they were struggling to bear the block¡¯s significant weight. If it hadn¡¯t been for their newly modified bodies and the fact that both of them, at least for a while, had focused on increasing their Internal Manipulation skills, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to even lift it off the ground. The practice allowed them to focus the EMs particles to strengthen their bodies, like they had during their swim.

    ¡°Just forty-two more kilometers to go,¡± Torren said with sarcastic cheer.

    ¡°This is when it¡¯s going to get hard,¡± Leigh said, noticing the definitive landscape changes.

    So far, they¡¯d been going over rocky and practically barren hills, with only a couple shrubs and dry grass here and there. Now though, the shrubs were giving way to larger vegetation. Unlike Earth¡¯s plants, they had a slightly blue tinge to their leaves.

    ¡°Well,¡± said Torren, ¡°maybe not.¡±

    Leigh turned to watch as he laid down his side of the block and looked around. She did the same and caught on to his plan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it,¡± Leigh said.

    It was easier said than done. It took another hour and a half for the vegetation to become sturdy and big enough to bear the weight of the building block, but from then on they were able to fashion a travois. At first they took turns to rest their tired muscles, but eventually went back to carrying it together, each holding one arm of the frame as it dragged on the ground behind them.

    From then on their trip was pretty uneventful. Unlike in the water, they did not come across any large predators; they didn¡¯t come across anything at all. They were only 7km away from their destination when one of their low frequency pings finally got a response. A short exchange of coded pings later and they¡¯d established a short-range communication channel with three of the other Selects.

    ¡°Thomas, Shi¡¯Lanu and I got together early on,¡± Xavier informed them, ¡°we landed pretty close together¡­¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Shi¡¯Lanu added, ¡°Talia was eliminated on impact.¡±

    ¡°Her building block too,¡± Xavier added, ¡°we tried to salvage what we could, but there was very little salvageable material left when we got to her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s actually the reason we were able to meet so soon after the crash,¡± Thomas added.

    ¡°And then we heard some dumb-ass Select from our group shouting for help on all channels¡­¡± Shi¡¯Lanu said.

    ¡°Well,¡± Xavier said, ¡°if it doesn¡¯t cause us trouble somehow, it¡¯s actually helping the whole Tent get together quickly. There are three other equally high points in the region, this is just the closest one to the signal.¡±

    ¡°Still,¡± the girl insisted.

    Torren didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°How about we meet up at the top?¡± Leigh asked, changing the subject. ¡°We¡¯re about 7km out. We¡¯ll be there in a little over an hour.¡±

    ¡°What? Why?¡± Shi¡¯Lanu asked, ¡°We¡¯re like 8km away and we will still reach it before you.¡±

    ¡°We¡­ ran into some complications,¡± Leigh said, ¡°we are kind of short any propulsion system.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± Thomas said, ¡°you guys have been lugging that all the way here?¡±

    ¡°Send me your coordinates,¡± Xavier said simply, cutting the other two squabblers off, ¡°we¡¯ll meet up with you guys as soon as possible. We can engineer a carrying system for the five blocks with the three of our carriers¡­¡±

    ¡°Four blocks,¡± Torren said quietly, ¡°mine was also destroyed during landing.¡±

    ¡°How are you alive then?¡± Thomas asked.

    ¡°Not important,¡± Xavier said, ¡°we can discuss this in person. Let¡¯s limit clogging the frequencies as much as possible. It will only increase our chances of being detected.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Leigh said, and resumed their hike up the growingly steeper hill.

    It wasn¡¯t five minutes later that the three Selects reached them at a leisurely jog. Leigh hated them a little. Inside her suit, she was almost dying from the clamminess. After over seventeen hours of strenuous physical exercise, carrying the block alongside her, even the high-tech suit couldn¡¯t completely annul the feeling of sticky exhaustion.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Thomas said with a whistle, ¡°you weren¡¯t kidding. This is basically stone age material right here. I don¡¯t know how you guys are still¡ª¡±

    ¡°What do you think,¡± Xavier asked Shi¡¯Lanu, not paying Thomas any mind as the other boy kept talking, ¡°can you do it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I think so,¡± Shi¡¯Lanu said, ¡°give me five minutes.¡±

    Three minutes of Xavier¡¯s stoic watchfulness, Thomas¡¯ incessant questions and Shi¡¯Lanu¡¯s tinkering later, they had a functioning platform of sorts with the four same-sized blocks stacked on top of each other. Thomas took over pushing duty.

    ¡°Why me?¡± he asked petulantly as the other three set out ahead of him.

    ¡°Because we have to put up with your yappin¡¯,¡± Xavier said in a dry tone.

    Leigh¡¯s eyes widened. Xavier had reminded her of Arthur a little in his get-down-to-business attitude, she hadn¡¯t expected him to even acknowledge Thomas¡¯ behavior unless it actively got in the way of their objective. Then again, they had landed over seventeen hours ago. Leigh¡¯d only been with the new group for a couple of minutes, but she could see how one might grow tired of Thomas¡¯ talkative nature.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Thomas said dramatically, ¡°how you wound me, Sir.¡±

    Surprisingly though, he didn¡¯t offer any further objections after that. Instead, he went back to filling their ears with questions and comments about what they¡¯d seen. Leigh listened with half a ear, some of what he said about the landscape they¡¯d encountered could be useful later on, but most of her attention was directed at Xavier. She was relieved to see that both of the new male additions didn¡¯t show any immediate outward disapproval toward her. The girl was a different story. Instead of actively attacking Leigh though, she thankfully chose quiet indifference.

    And so, Xavier and Leigh led the pack, both exchanging all of the knowledge they¡¯d come across so far. As they spoke, Leigh was finally able to re-direct most of her attention to practicing her EMs manipulation. She continuously moved them around her body, tracing them until she was aware of every single particle at all times. She¡¯d repeat each given exercise until she could do it without effort with all of the EMs available to her. By forcing herself, she was able to then increase the speed at which she manipulated. It also allowed her to increase the number of different manipulations she could perform at once. At first, it had been hard to even form a single simple chain-link, the simplest  way to increase her body¡¯s physical defense, but now she could do those without much thought throughout her body. She¡¯d set up a permanent defensive EMs link using the least amount of particles as she could. The rest she kept using to further her IP progress.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    With practice came ease and she was soon performing two, three and then five types of manipulations all at once. Each one allowed her to change a certain aspect of her physical body. She could make it stronger, smaller, bigger, stretchier, she could change the texture, and as the number of manipulations increased, the manipulation possibilities seemed endless. Her completion rate skyrocketed to 0.98% and she was finally about to break the one percent mark; she expected to do it before reaching the top of the hill. Her rate of growth had increased exponentially after the first swim. It was a turning point for her. She¡¯d been trying to grasp the particles scientifically, but the more she¡¯d tried that avenue, the worse she¡¯d done. Instead, she¡¯d finally been able to develop the ¡®feel¡¯ for it. It came slowly over time after the swim, and only after she¡¯d managed to completely manipulate and track every single particle in her body was she confident about it. It had been a foreign concept to Leigh, more magic than science, but she was growing more accustomed to it.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been lucky not to have run into any alien lifeform,¡± Xavier said, probably also working on his IP simultaneously ¡°we came from the same direction as you guys. It was pretty much the same rocky barrenness.¡±

    ¡°I wonder if the others have been as lucky,¡± Torren said, somewhat abjectedly; his block loss was still weighing on him.

    ¡°One can hope,¡± Leigh said, ¡°as for alien life forms though¡­ Torren. Show him.¡±

    Torren shared his finding about the EMs arrow with the rest of the group. Thomas and Shi¡¯Lanu were both surprised, but Xavier merely nodded. He didn¡¯t seem surprised.

    ¡°Did you already know about it?¡± Leigh asked, wondering if he had any additional footage or information on the event.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure¡­¡± he said, ¡°but I had my suspicions.¡±

    Leigh nodded, and they were pinged by another of the Selects, Bon-Hwa Kim.

    Bon was already waiting at the top of the hill, hidden in a roughly constructed fort. It was made of small black stones, the same kind that had become increasingly predominant up the last five kilometers of the hill. He had two blocks with him, and seemed relieved to not be alone anymore.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d gone to the right hill,¡± he said, ¡°Unita said it was this one though, so it¡¯s where I¡¯ve been waiting for the last ten hours.¡±

    ¡°I presume this¡­ fort is your construct then?¡± Leigh asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said proudly, ¡°I¡¯ve been playing around with the EMs particles and thought I might as well put it to use on something productive.¡±

    Leigh couldn¡¯t exactly see what he meant, but there were more important things to discuss first.

    ¡°You said Jade Unita sent you here?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Bon said, ¡°she found me about two hours after the crash and pawned off her block, telling me to come wait at this hill. After the broadcast, it¡¯s where we thought the rest of you would come.¡±

    Leigh patted Torren¡¯s back, the guy was still reeling from his failure. At first she hadn¡¯t understood why he was being so affected by the mistakes that had led them to where they were, but after almost an entire day¡¯s worth of hours in the boy¡¯s company, she realized that he just wasn¡¯t used to failure of any kind. He didn¡¯t know how to deal with it. And being surrounded by a bunch of geniuses who were completely aware of how stupid a move he¡¯d pulled, wasn¡¯t helping his state of mind either. She felt a little bad, but in the back of her mind she also saw it as an opportunity to use him as her pawn; she continued to reassure him.

    ¡°See?¡± she said in a low voice only he could hear, ¡°Your transmission actually turned out to be a good thing in the end¡­¡±

    Torren pursed his lips in an unconvinced half-smile, but Leigh left it at that.

    ¡°That means we are still missing Vine and Lo¡¯Korven,¡± Xavier said, counting off the two missing Selects.

    ¡°What about Fashenna?¡± Bon asked.

    ¡°Dead,¡± three of them responded in unison.

    ¡°D-dead?¡± Bon asked, ¡°but what are we going to do about her block? Without it we won¡¯t be able to complete the Communication Array¡­ did the block make it or does that mean we¡¯re disqualified?¡±

    ¡°Not¡­ necessarily,¡± Leigh said, ¡°I think I have a way for us to make it.¡±

    Xavier looked at her suspiciously.

    ¡°Are you thinking about going after their blocks?¡± he asked.

    ¡°¡­ Sorta,¡± Leigh said.

    ¡°What do you mean¡­ sorta?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get everyone on the same page, and then I¡¯ll tell you all at the same time.¡±

    Bon gave her a sharp look, and Leigh almost thought he was going to ask why they should be listening to her of all people. The fact that Xavier and Torren were so obviously unaffected by her status kept him from voicing his opinions though. Even Shi¡¯Lanu seemed less averse to her than she had half an hour ago. Leigh was fascinated by the domino effect that peer pressure could have even on these supposed Academy geniuses. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts and started relaying to Bon all that she¡¯d already shared with Xavier, who then proceeded to do the same. It took them five minutes to have all six of them on the same page.

    ¡°So there¡¯s another Tent on this moon?¡± Bon asked, surprised.

    ¡°We believe so,¡± Xavier said.

    ¡°And that¡¯s how I think we might still be able to complete the Array,¡± Leigh said.

    Xavier frowned.

    ¡°Wait, are you saying what I think you¡¯re saying?¡± Thomas asked with excitement, he¡¯d been the most annoyed about the other Tent¡¯s behavior towards them, ¡°Are we going to go steal their blocks? Hell, yes! It¡¯s payback time! We¡¯ll show them what happens when you mess with Tent Te¡ª¡±

    ¡°Actually¡­¡± Leigh said, holding up a hand to cut him off, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°No?¡± Shi¡¯Lanu asked.

    Xavier crossed his arms, raised an expectant eyebrow, but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Well,¡± Leigh explained, ¡°if there¡¯s one more Tent on the moon¡­ What are the chances there are more?¡±

    A moment of silence followed as everyone digested the information.

    ¡°Can any of you go back through your records, and see if you have anything that might indicate¡ª¡±

    Most of them nodded as they went through their CHIPs memories, looking through the time in question. Leigh had already looked through her own to no avail, but did so again, just in case. Ten minutes later, they had all shared their records with one another, each combing through everyone else¡¯s data with a fine tooth comb¡­ but nothing.

    ¡°Maybe there aren¡¯t any other Tents on this moon,¡± Shi¡¯Lanu offered, ¡°maybe it¡¯s like a two Tent per CIM deal.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t really make sense,¡± Xavier said, ¡°if it were a two per CIM thing, then it would be a combat-geared CIM. But I think what happened here was different. It was just another Tent getting greedy.¡±

    ¡°All the more reason we should give them some payback,¡± Thomas said gleefully, ¡°Why don¡¯t we just go after them? We already triangulated the location that arrow came from. Their base can¡¯t be that far off.¡±

    ¡°If they have a working shuttle,¡± Leigh said, ¡°it can. But that¡¯s not the major issue.¡±

    ¡°What is it then?¡± Bon asked.

    ¡°The fact that they¡¯re expecting us,¡± Jade Unita said, showing up out of nowhere, making all of them jump in surprise. How had they not sensed her arrival?

    ¡°So what if they¡¯re expecting us?¡± Thomas asked.

    Jade glanced at him, but didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°We lose the element of surprise,¡± Leigh said, ¡°and going by the fact that we have no working shuttle with whatever supplies were on it, as well as one missing Tent member¡­ we are at a serious disadvantage.¡±

    ¡°If we do not have the element of surprise. We will lose,¡± Jade said simply.

    Xavier nodded, ¡°How are we going to find another Tent, disable it, get the blocks we need, bring them back here and assemble the Array in the sixty one hours we have left. I assume you have a plan,¡± he said expectantly.

    He was looking at Leigh, but it was Jade who answered.

    ¡°Here are the coordinates to the nearest Tent¡¯s location,¡± she said simply before sharing both a set of coordinates and reconnaissance images of the location in question. It was a hill 202.3km away. Six heads turned to her in surprise, but she didn¡¯t comment. Instead, she looked at Leigh expectantly.

    Frowning in confusion Leigh said, ¡°Er¡­ I guess we should come up with some kind of strategy while we wait for the other two to show up?¡±

    ¡°If they show up,¡± Shi¡¯Lanu said morbidly.

    ¡°They will be here in twenty-seven minutes,¡± Jade said, "they''re bloody, but alive."

    Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at the new arrival again. She had a distinct way of making everyone there feel quite incompetent by comparison.