The X Pathogen

Chapter Two

The test moderator glanced up when Ash entered the room, "name?" he grunted.
"Ash Dantier."
"Age group?"
"Fifteen year-olds."
"Okay..." the moderator pressed a few buttons on his reampad, then asked, "and species?"
"Human."
"Really? Never seen a pureblood human before, figured you guys were all dead by now"
Ash grimaced. The X pathogen had wiped out most humans two hundred years ago, and there were very few survivors. Which meant they heard stuff like that a lot.
"Not all of us," Ash said, trying to sound friendly through gritted teeth.
"Guess not," he squinted at his reampad, "okay you're number 257, go ahead and sit down, we'll get started in a few minutes."
Ash sat down with a sigh of relief. There wouldn't be any conversation allowed between applicants, so they were safe from any more questions for at least a few hours.
One by one, the other kids trickled in and took their seats. Once everyone was ready, the moderator stood up and began reading the rules.
"Today you will be taking the Galactic Security Agency's entrance exam for the cadet training program. The test is made up of three sections; standard and galactic language, math and science, and GSA protocol. The third section will only determine the experience you have before entering the cadet program, and will not affect your chances of getting in. Once time ends, you must put down your stylus and stop working. If you finish a section early you cannot work on previous sections or move on to the next section, but you may check your answers for the given section. Only approved reampads are permitted during this exam, if you do not own a reampad, one should have been provided for you when you registered at the door," the moderator looked up from his reampad, "any questions?"
A girl in the back of the room raised her hand, "how long do we have for each section?"
"Two hours each, anything else?"
When no one raised their hand, the moderator nodded and pressed a button on his desk. A screen displayed a two hour timer, casting an orange glow around the desk. "You may begin," the moderator sat down and began scrolling on his reampad as the applicants began the test.
Ash looked down at the first question and groaned. The question asked them to translate the phrase "akthes shurkirki kuy tr'ricur."
Languages were Ash's strong suit, but ta'ardruken was their weakness. It was difficult to read, and even harder to speak.
Ash nibbled the end of their stylus anxiously. After a few minutes, they hesitantly scribbled 'may the sun shine bright,' and hoped that their answer was close enough to get at least partial credit.
To their relief, the rest of the language section was made up of languages Ash knew well enough to be able to have at least a vague idea of what the answer was.
Two hours later, the timer hit zero and the moderator stood up, "okay, that's time."
A few applicants groaned in disappointment, the boy sitting behind Ash grumbled, "I didn't even get to finish."
The moderator shook his head, "alright, alright that's enough. This test is supposed to be hard, y'know. Next section is math and science, get ready."
He reset the timer and the applicants regained their composure. The second the timer started back up, Ash was writing furiously. Math was easy, it was the science they were worried about. To their relief, most of the science wound up being chemistry, which was almost entirely math based anyway.
Before they knew it, the final section on GSA policy had begun. This section was notoriously difficult for anyone who hadn't had access to GSA tutors. Ash, on the other hand, felt pretty confident about this section.
Question one asked, 'what is the minimum amount of time an agent must have spent as a cadet?'
'That's easy, three years."

The next question, 'who becomes acting chairman in the event that the chairman is unable to fulfill their duties'
'The commander currently in charge of headquarters.'

'In the Grydarian crisis, which current regent prevented full scale war?'
'Regent Kyradine.'

'In what scenario is it permissible for an agent to physically attack another agent?'
Ash was momentarily taken aback, their tutor hadn't talked about this one. 'Why would an agent ever hurt another agent? That doesn't make any sense,' they wondered. They simply wrote, 'in an emergency,' which was a long shot at best, but better than leaving it blank.
Two years of GSA education paid off on the rest of the test. Ash was able to get through the remaining questions with little difficulty.
When the test was finally over, Ash leaned back in their chair, relieved. The other applicants' faces were a mix of exhaustion, pride, and disappointment. Their results wouldn't be released until after the piloting and combat exams, but Ash could tell a few applicants knew they'd already failed.