Ch. 9

The woman watched the group, eyes judging and measuring each of them to some scale Evan didn't know and hadn't been aware of until just now. Quietly, everyone found a place on one of the bench seats, all facing the woman. Once they were all seated, she nodded.

"Good. Now that I have your attention, let's get this over with. So, obviously, you've all been picked because you're semi-bright. Semi, bright. The rest of that intelligence is going to be tested over the next few weeks. We're going to measure if you actually are smart, or if you were able to just skate by on just guess work." She frowned, "Which happens more than the rest of my, colleagues, would like to admit."

Evan glanced sideways and caught Rosie's eye. They both knew a couple kids that just guessed through testing, none had lasted that long. Or if they had, they stayed plugged into pictages for all of their courses.

"So, after we figure if you guessed or are actually smart, then we're going to be testing where you might fit into the FEC. I'm sure your tour guides went over the different departments, S&T, T&T, and CVR based areas. And if your guide was smart, they probably mentioned that T&T will be limited to travel only pretty soon. Since you're already here, I don't mind telling you that most of the upper levels of the FEC already have homes based on Prox. There are also a couple politicians that live up there too." The tone of her vice made it clear she found the politicians at least partially annoying.

"So to start off we have an old fashioned paper test." She pulled a sheaf of papers from her lab coat breast pocket. "Don't make too many mistakes on this." She passed out a couple papers to each of the group as she walked back to the door. "Get as many right as you can, and we'll see where you can go from there. Someone will be back in about an hour." She nodded at them, leaving the room.

"What, so they just expect us to sit here again? Fuck them!" The guy that had banged on the door complained.

"If you don't want to take the test, fine. Just don't make it impossible for those of us that actually give a shit." The green eyed guy said, looking only at his test and making now and then with an eStylus.

"Whatever." The first guy threw his eStylus on the table, getting up to go back to the corner he had been standing in before. There he pulled his hood over his head, bunkering down and falling asleep.

Evan raised his eyebrows at Rosie, who just shook her head. They both knew an underlord's kid when they saw one. Lacking any care about FEC regulations and only wanting to be back out on the streets where they knew they had some sort of pull. They would have that same big head for long enough that once everyone else came to expect it, they would disappear. Sometimes their body might show up, but more often than not the kids wouldn't be seen again. Those had been the people permanently labeled as 'idiot' in Johnathan Elis' book.

About an hour into the way too normal test questions the doors in the back clattered and a harried guy in a lab coat came bustling in.

"So you guys done yet? Well, I guess it doesn't matter, I just need the papers anyway." He started collecting the packets when he noticed the guy sleeping in the corner. "Um, did he finish?"

"No." Green eyes said as he handed his packet over. "Just decided not to take the test."

"Ah." The presumable scientist looked slightly disappointed, then suddenly had a light bulb moment. "Oh. Oh shit. Ah, um. I'll be right back." He turned to leave, then remembered something and walked backwards as he continued to speak "Don't, don't keep answering the questions if you didn't finish. The eStylus' will change color now that the time limits up. I'll be back." He turned back around and ran out the door.

Lynny glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping guy. "Hope the nap was worth it."

"Prob not." Rosie clacked her papers on the table as if she were trying to get them even.

"Think they'll kill him or something?" Lynny raised an eyebrow conspiratorially.

"Not outright. They want to keep the appearance of helping us, ya know?" Evan said.

Out came Lynny's half grin "True true."

"Um, it's right, he's right, right in here." The three of them looked to the doors as the harried scientist came back in, pushing old fashioned glasses back up his nose. Behind him were two CVR agents, almost blending into the rest of the building with their all white uniforms.

The agents didn't bother with the scientists' babbling when they came in. They simply saw the kid asleep on the ground, picked him up by the armpits, one on either side, and left. Just as the doors closed behind them they could hear the guys' sleep muddled voice just beginning to protest against being woken up.

Poor bastard doesn't even know what's gonna happen to him. Evans thoughts ran in both support and condemnation of the kid as he turned his pack over to the scientist.

"Okay, so um, if I have everyone's test packets just follow me. I'll be showing where you will be sleeping while you're here. Oh, you are gonna have roommates. You'll see who it is when we get there. So, um, if you'll follow me?"

Evan shrugged and stood up, following Rosie and Lynny as the group left the room they had been in since they arrived. He paused a bit though, looking back at the corner where the guy had been sleeping, making a note to make sure not to sleep…or do anything really at the wrong time. If Johnathan Elis had taught him anything, it was to know when being a sheep was okay, and when it was a necessity of survival.