"She passed. You were right; she's brilliant. She didn't test as high as Wiggin or that Bean kid, but her scores are pretty high up there."

"When are they bringing her into space?"

"Neal is going to get her later today. Huh…"

"What?"

"Is it just me or is it a bit odd that we're now some of our former teacher's bosses? I mean, we're still in school and they're asking us for advice on who to bring up into space."

"Yeah, it's a bit odd. Still, if we lived on Earth, adults would tell us to shut our mouths if we tried to advise them. Here, they not only accept that we're geniuses, they also ask for our assistance."

"Nice to feel needed."

"Yeah. I'll see you around; I've got more geniuses to find."

"Nyx." She sat up in her top bunk. Oh. It was just Makayla. Makayla was only four, but she was already smarter than the average nine year old, which was why she had gotten a monitor, like the one Nyx had had for about two years now. Normally Makayla smiled constantly, but she looked scared. Something was up.

"What's wrong, Kayla?" She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"There's a man from the I.F. here. The mom and dad persons are talking to him in the living room. I heard them mention your name."

Nyx sat up straight, not remotely sleepy anymore. That probably meant they wanted to take her to Battle School. Finally they had decided she was their ideal candidate. Suddenly Kayla burst into tears.

"Nyx, you can't go! I don't want you to go!" She cried, flinging her arms around her older sister. The two of them were close, as there was only a year and a half in between them. "Paige already is gone; I don't want you to leave too to become a space cadet!" Nyx hugged her back starting to cry.

"Kayla, stop crying. You're making me cry. Maybe the I.F. will want you too and I'll be able to see you in a year or two. You're just as brilliant as Paige and I. I think they're going to want you too."

"A year or two! That seems like forever (which is all relative)! And anyway, I bet they try to keep siblings as far apart as possible. It probably keeps them too attached." She was probably right, which caused both of them to start sobbing.

The door opened. It was their mother and her face was tear streaked. "Yes, I am definitely going to Battle School," Nyx thought. "There's no other reason the mom person would have been crying."

"Nyx, come here. I need you to meet someone. You can come too, Makayla." She added. The two girls climbed down from the top bunk and Nyx took Kayla's hand and followed her mother out of their room and downstairs, still in her nightgown. Even though she accepted the idea that she was going to Battle School, it still scared her. She wouldn't see her family for a very long time, "Although," She mused. "I might get used to that. That's a bit scary. I might even forget about them, an even scarier idea."

The girls' father was standing in the living room with a man from the I.F. They had been talking but had stopped when Nyx and Makayla entered.

"Nyx, Makayla, sit down," Said their father. They sat down on the couch, Kayla still scared that she would lose her sister, Nyx nervous about going to Battle School. "Girls, this is Captain Neal. Captain Neal, my daughters."

"Hello. As I've already told your parents, Nyx has been accepted to Battle School." Said Neal.

"I already knew that. Kayla told me you were here and I knew immediately why you were here." She said, looking directly at him.

"Not surprising. I would tell you if Makayla had passed also, but I don't know her results and if I did, she wouldn't be going to Battle School for another year. Now, if everyone would excuse us, I would like to talk to Nyx about whether or not she wants to go."

"You mean our daughter might be able to stay with us?" Said her mother, looking slightly happier.

"Probably not. Now please." Nyx's mother picked up Kayla, who had been sitting stubbornly on the couch like she was refusing to move from Nyx's side, and walked out. Her father ruffled her auburn hair and left.

"Whether or not I want to go, huh? Do you really expect me to believe that I have a choice in this matter? You must have seen my scores; you should know that while I am barely six, I think like an adult. I know that I'm going to Battle School whether or not I want to because the I.F. needs another Mazer Rackham. I don't think that's me, but I am not in the military so I think differently than you lot do."

"You do have a choice-" She rolled her eyes at him. "But it's not what you think it is. You have the choice to go to Battle School and be iced because you were an apathetic soldier or you can go to Battle School and be a great commander and maybe get to command a piece of the Fleet when you're older."

"Some choice. That's not really a choice, that's a threat."

"Take it as you will. We still prefer volunteers. So what's your answer?"

"I'm going. I highly doubt I will ever be in a command position because I don't trust you to tell the truth, but I'm still going."

He smiled. "Good choice. Now, you can go and say goodbye to your family. Unless Makayla makes it, you won't see any of them for a long time." She stood up and walked out of the room.

"You're going, right?" Kayla said.

"Yeah. The ba- I mean idiot, didn't really give me a choice. But it doesn't matter; I'd go even if he gave me a choice. You know why I'm going cause you're going to go for the same reason. I'll see you in a year or so." She hugged Kayla and tried to keep herself from crying. Kayla cried again and hugged her back. "Bye Mom." She forced herself to smile, which only made her mother burst into tears. "Crud," she thought, as her mother hugged and kissed her. "I made her cry."

"Nyx, you behave yourself and come back a great leader." Said her father. He picked her up and swung her around, then put her back on the ground and kissed her.

"Come on, Nyx, it's time to leave." Said Neal, opening the front door for her. She walked out and he followed behind her out to the car. Another man from the I.F., who had been standing outside, opened a door to the backseat for her and Nyx climbed in. The I.F. man sat down in the other seat in the back and shut the door. Neal climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Nyx waved to her family, who had come outside, as Neal pulled out of their driveway and drove to where she supposed was the airport.

"Space cadet," She thought. "That's what Paige would call me. And not in a nice way either." Paige was brilliant and had passed the tests to get into Battle School so long ago that her first visit home, before she went to Command School, was when she was sixteen and Nyx had been four.

"Kayla probably doesn't remember her, which might be good. Paige is nice but gets very cynical and sarcastic if you get her on the subject of the military. I wonder what happened to her that made her hate the I.F. so much. The only bad thing they've done to me is lie and adults have been doing that to me for years. But my elder sister has already been through Battle School, so she knows way more about it then I do. Maybe I should have gone with the first option." But somewhere in her nature there was aggression and the will to fight. She knew that. She had passed. Paige had it, but one day would use it against the I.F. Maybe Nyx would join her in that fight. Who knew?

"Nyx, we're going to the doctor's. We're going to have your monitor removed. We don't need it anymore. The doctor will explain more about it when we get there." Said Neal, turning on the highway.

"After that, we're going to the airport, then wherever the shuttle is being launched?"

"Correct."

"How many other kids will be in my launch group?"

"I don't know. But almost all of them are boys. There are three other girls besides you."

"Now that's odd," Nyx thought. "His eyes broke contact with mine in the mirror for a second when he said there were three other girls. Something's up."