Colors flicked across the screen as Tess ran the newborn through the scan. She herself was an eight, and she hoped the same for the child. She had seen too many three's today, too many newborns who were destined to live a life of miserable, but necessary, work. Typically, the scan took only around five minutes to complete, and a microchip was created that Tess would insert into the child's arm, and then she would send them back to the mother with instructions on when to take her to the next appointment, and a file with instructions to download onto her tablet. Tess watched five minutes pass on the clock, then five minutes again.
She frowned and stared at the monitor. The child's brain was projected onto it, with colors flashing rapidly across it. The colors moved too quickly, and the test was running too long. Tess sighed and reached to dial her supervisor, the only nine in the entire hospital. Right as her finger reached the button, the monitor went blank and the machine the newborn was in stopped whirring. The green triangle of their government, the Illuminati, flashed up on the screen. Tess hurried out of her observation room and into the room with the machine, and opened the door, removing the infant. She cried and squirmed, and Tess hushed her as she went back to the observation room. She placed the baby in her crib and turned back to the monitor. The triangle disappeared. She reentered the infant's identification number and date of birth. The screen froze again and Tess groaned. After about thirty seconds, it flicked back on and flashed a number, then went back to the triangle with the eye inside it again. Tess blinked, she could have sworn the number was an eleven. She shook her head, no one could get elevens. She tapped her fingers against her desk, and stared at the monitor in frustration. She had never had technical difficulties with the machines before, and she had done this job nonstop every day for ten years. The monitor remained frozen on the Illuminati sign. She groaned in frustration and glared at the monitor. Suddenly, it flashed on again, and the score eleven hovered on the screen, and though it flickered, didn't black out. Tess's heart pounded as she stared at the computer monitor, and the ominous number it showed. Her mind races as she considered the options. She could turn the child in, and know that she was responsible for her death; or break the law and forge an identity for the newborn. Her eyes flicked to her window. The hospital was completely still outside her door, not a person in sight. Tess took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts. She turned and inspected the baby whose brain she had just scanned. Her eyes were a deep brown, and they gazed up at her calmly. She hadn't cried at all throughout the whole time Tess had been examining her, and it seemed unnatural.This baby could do amazing things. I can't let the Illuminati take her, Tess decided. Her hands began moving across the keyboard as soon as she made her decision. She deleted the information from the child's identity and corrupted the file. Her fingers flew across the keys as she created a fake ID from scratch. She slowed when she was asked to enter the intelligence ranking. Every newborn had its intelligence ranked from one to ten at birth, and that ranking would determine their jobs in life. One's were the least naturally intelligent, and they were assigned brutal labor jobs and were given small homes with no luxuries. The higher the number, the more intelligent a person was. People with higher intelligence rankings had jobs that required more thinking, and they were rewarded with luxuries from the government; cars, televisions, and anything else they wanted. The smartest person to ever live was a ten. His name was Appolo Pierce, and he was the leader of the Illuminati,their elitist government. The child Tess had just ranked was an eleven, an unheard of number. A number that would earn her an execution, the Illuminati didn't want anyone who could ever threaten them to exist in society. Tess kept this in mind and pressed the "9" key under intelligence ranking, and hit enter.As the microchip for the baby printed, Tess realized what she had done. She suddenly felt dizzy and leaned against the wall for support. I just broke the law. I just forged a person's identity. My boss is going to find out. Tess felt the world spin around her, there was no way to reverse what she had just done. The microchip was printed, the identity and fake score sent. I'll tell them the machine glitched, there wasn't even person in there. Yes. Tess grew less sick as she thought out her plan. If I tell them it was a glitch, they won't question it. The upper ranks of the hospital would have no reason to question her, she had never lied before. No one ever lied, there was no reason to. Follow the laws, do your job, and the Illuminati gives you what you need. There was no reason to lie to the organization that kept you alive. Then why did I?Tess numbly grabbed the fake identification microchip and shot it into the infant's arm. She studied the girl, and even as she pulled the needle out, the baby didn't flinch. She just gazed up with wide, intelligent brown eyes that seemed to know exactly what had just happened. Tess swallowed, she hoped the baby wouldn't remember her face, and that this was the last she would ever hear of the child. She shouldn't have been foolish enough to think such a thing.
