"Move along, people! Nothing to see here."
Cat wasn't expecting a warm welcome to her new room in the underground training facility, but what she saw wasn't what she wanted to happen on her first day of life. Hundreds of noisy smeets were swarmed around a single room down the lengthy hallway. Lights flickered on and off as a bulky robot sped its way down the hall, crashing into the walls. The smeets separated, and the robot stopped in front of the scene.
"Nothing's wrong! Just an accident." Cat stood on the tip of her toes to look over the crowd. A rather angry-looking Irken was standing in the doorway of the room, green eyes glaring over the audience. The robot had a smooth, metallic surface, and hovered just a few feet above the ground, white smoke billowing out from its bottom.
"He just had a little accident and killed himself." A small stretcher extended from the robot. The torn and battered Irken was reveled to the crowd, its antennae crooked, uniform burnt.
"Yeah. WHATEVER." The robot shrugged off the incident, lifted up the Irken, and sped back down the hall.
"Okay you little things, time for you all to go home now..." The green-eyed Irken, who turned out to be female, began to shoo the smeets away from the scene.
"Urm." Cat cautiously tugged on the female's red uniform. "Is this room 402?"
The Irken lowered an eye and looked down. "Yeah. And why do you ask?"
"Well...I think I'm supposed to be living here." Cat looked down at her cloak. The Irken female scratched her head.
"Huh! Well, I guess you're the smeet I was supposed to be waiting for. I thought it was that other guy...Miyuki would have had my head."
"Miyuki?" Cat felt the Irken grab her wrist and pull her into the room, the door clossing behind them with an electronic whirr. The room was small, even for a smeet, and had a embedded ceiling bulb that emitted a proficient amount of light. A small bed with red sheets sat on its side against a wall, along with a giant stuffed animal that resembled a troubled eggplant.
"Yeah! Miyuki, our Tallest. You do know about our Tallest, don't you?"
Cat remained silent. "Oh, well, I guess I'll have to tell you all about that stuff. But first, introduction! My name is Sam." She took Cat's hand and shook it vigorously. "What's yours?"
"Cat."
"Cat? That's a weird name. But I'm only eleven, and I haven't heard a lot of good names. I've already finished my training. I'm kind of a handy-person-thingy. I fix stuff that's broken. I don't exactly get to do too much, but I hope to do something important in the future...Like research and design military equipment or something." She pulled down the bed so that it was level with the floor.
"So anyway, Miyuki picked a bunch of young Irkens to help the newborns with their training. She even said she might even up-rank us if we do really well." She fell back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling dreamily.
"What are these things for?" Cat followed Sam's lead and fell back onto the soft sheets. Slowly, she curled up, and glanced over at her guide.
"They're resting units. Irkens don't have to sleep, but its just here in case of an emergency." She pointed to the wall opposite of the bed. "You're not exactly old enough to be sending transmissions to other people, but you can receive them. The computer can help you with that. COMPUTER!"
"What?" The computer's irritated voice filled the small room.
"Show Cat that presentation...THING."
"Smeet Training Orientation activated." A large screen fell from the top of the ceiling and flickered to life. The bold letters Training Orientation scrolled across the screen.
"Newborn Irkens are to train for their first two years of life in order for the Control Brains to make a decision on what kind of position they'll have in the empire. After the two years, the Irken will continue their training for their position." Two large, floating Irkens with dozens of eyes appeared onto the screen. "The Control Brains are Irkens who are bred to make important decisions for Irkens."
The picture faded away, and was replaced with the scene of a large chamber filled with bustling Irkens. "The newborn is to spend a week in the Brain Numbing Chamber, were they're filled with the necessary knowledge for their next step in training." The image of a small, happy smeet popped up. "The information is sent through their pack, and through an open passage to a brain membrane." Mechanical arms grabbed the smeet, which began to scream. It strapped it to a wall, and pulled off its pak. The arms entered their back, and shot through the back of its head.
Sam looked over at Cat, who's eyes were wide in horror.
"After the week is over, the smeet will undergo a virtual test that will ultimately decide whether they can begin their official two-year training. Snacks are available in every training area." A happy Irken waved a candy bar before the screen went black.
Sam grinned. "Well, I guess I'll meet you tomorrow so that you can go to the Brain Numbing Chamber. Try to get yourself aquainted with someone before I come back. See ya!" She hopped off the bed and headed out of the room.
"Okay...But--" The door shut, and all was silent.
"You never told me what a Tallest was..."