Broken

Chapter 18

Even though the hallway we entered was well lit, it still some how felt like I was walking towards my doom. A little melodramatic? Perhaps. But, the whimsy was a way to distract myself as the anxiety that I had thought was dissipating, started to rear it's head once again.

I wasn't the only nervous one either. Though I did use <Honesty> on the two men now walking before me, it wasn't really needed to see just how anxious they were as well. However, theirs was due to this being their first assessment. They both were level one, and next to no muscle mass or awareness that would naturally come to anyone who had spent even a few days leveling in an instance. 

"No need to be so on edge." Stated the woman leading us. She looked over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly, clearly accustom to dealing with people new to this process. "The assessment is painless and very fast, I assure you. None of your critical personal information is made public, so you need not concern yourself over that either."

I would hardly say that. How was telling the world that I was a Depraved not leaking 'critical personal information'? Don't get me wrong, I knew that there were many reasons behind it. Not to mention, though the government has adapted this technology, it is still something created by the system. There was only so much control they had over it.

It didn't mean I had to like it, however.

First one man was guided into a room, then the other. It seemed that the woman's assurances didn't do overly much to ease their minds, as both looked like they may be sick. At least I could say that I was a little more composed then that. Well, then again, I hadn't eaten anything since the instance yesterday, so I didn't really have anything in me to throw up either. Besides, after the events of the Selection, this hardly felt intimidating. It was nothing more than an inconvenient annoyance that could- and likely would- lead to many other inconvenient annoyances.

"And this is the room you will use." Said the woman, stepping aside so that I could enter. "Laura and Supervisor Nelson will be your examiners, and will answer any questions you may have."

I entered the room as she prompted, a little confused. The last time I came here there was only one examiner, and she had only introduced one for each of the other men...

Beyond the unremarkable door was a room that, if it weren't for the nine foot black crystal in the center, would also look quite unremarkable. The walls were painted a neutral grey, and the floors were a generic tile seen in just about any government building. Other than the crystal, the only other thing in the room was a fairly large terminal that I could see had several touch screens and lights. Standing before that terminal were two people.

One was a young woman about my own age, with plain hair and features wearing a business suit under a lab coat. the man also looked unremarkable at first, till he turned when the door shut and I saw the large scar bisecting his face. It didn't look so much like a monster had tried to gouge his eyes out, but rather that something had attempted to cut the man in half. The wound started about half way down his forehead, straight down the center of his nose, bisecting his lips. I had no way of knowing if it traveled farther down, due to the suit getting in the way.

"Mr. Nelson, this is-" The escorting woman looked down at her clipboard before continuing. "- Miss Ahf- um... Owf."

I sighed, taking pity on the woman trying to get her mind around the Gaelic name. "EE-fa." I annunciated. Sounding out my name was second nature to me at this point. "I am Aoife Brogan."

"Yes, sorry. Mr. Nelson, this is Aoife Brogan, here for a reassessment. Miss Brogan, this is Supervisor Nelson. It is common practice to have two examiners present for reassessment, however, Mr. Nelson his here also to train Ms. Laura. I will leave you to their care."