The ghost system

11 Military college entrance

Rhys finally set foot on the 190th floor. Although this floor did not give him a complete sense of relief, it still felt much better than the clinical floors where the Eugenics offices were situated. There was just a slimy darkness to eugenics that he could never feel comfortable getting close to.

Rhys looked around the large room and was surprised to find that he was the only registree there. He had expected to find at least a couple of people registering for the program as well, but no, it was just him. The room was completely empty besides a middle-aged man who was seated behind a large metal desk. Rhys walked forward to the desk and stood right in front of the man, waiting for him to talk.

Stern eyes looked up at Rhys, slowly looking over the young man before finally speaking.

"What is your reason for visiting the military tower today?" The man croaked out.

"I've come to enrol into the college program," Rhys replied promptly, clenching his fists nervously as he said the words.

"Very well," the man touched something on his keyboard and caused the top of the desk to change colour. It transformed from silvery steel to a clear glass-like surface. "Place both of your hands flat on the desk." The man yawned out the words as he rubbed his eyes as if trying to stay awake.

Rhys did as the man said then watched as a blue light scanned his handprints. After one full scan, the scanner turned green and dinged positively as if to announce that the scan was a success, he had been identified. All of Rhys's personal information was displayed on the glass panel beside his hands.

•Name: Rhys Anson

•Age: 16

•Core ability: RESTRICTED INFORMATION

•Guardian: Roger Anson (Deceased)

•Occupation: Military College Student (first year)

"Restricted Information...?" Rhys murmured in confusion.

His biometric identification had never displayed this before. His core ability had always been listed as 'coreless'. And changing this identification information was not easy. For Rhys, the process of changing this information would take several weeks, and yet somebody had changed it in less than a day. The stern bearded face of the general who had rescued him from the black portal suddenly popped into Rhys's mind. That man had held an authoritative air about him, not to mention the all-black military uniform he had worn, that old man must have been someone with a lot of authority, perhaps enough to have Rhy's information changed at will.

"Any problems?" The bored man behind the desk asked.

"No, none."

It was done. Rhys had been registered. He let out a breath and tried to come to terms with how he felt about that.

"Continue through the first portal on the left." The man said as his personal information disappeared and the scanner dissolved back into the desk.

Rhys tugged on the duffle bag strap over his shoulders and jogged to the portal on the far left. After Rhys stepped through the portal he found himself in a completely different room. It was a much smaller room that could better be described as a cubicle. Just above his head, a little TV screen popped out which was running an instructional video on what to do next. The woman in the video was pretty with a bright smile that showed off her pristine teeth. With a soothing but cheerful voice, she instructed Rhys through the recording.

Rhys copied her actions exactly. He changed into a set of grey cargo pants, a grey t-shirt, grey socks and sneakers that were dispensed to him from a mini-portal. He placed his most valuable possession, his gold card, into a small mechanical safe that was dispensed to him through the same portal. He then pushed his safe and duffle bag through another portal, exactly as instructed by video tutorial.