The Test

Today.

Today is the day of the Test, the one that will determine if I am to be an Officer.

I've been training hard for years, learning about weapons and law enforcement.

Today is when it all pays off.

Rai Faelyn,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to participate in the Test to determine if you are eligible for the prestigious occupation of Officer. The Test will take about one hour. There is no preparation necessary and no specifications on dress.

We will see you at the Gate at 0249 times on the fourth of this timelength.

Good luck.

The Officers

To be honest, I was terrified as I lay in my bed that morning. And rightfully so.

I dressed in comfortable clothes, nothing special. I could barely eat a sus bar and take a few sips of water. But I wanted to be ready for the Test.

Would it be written? My knowledge of politics? Maybe a physical with target shooting? I didn't know.

I left my dwell and walked down the Main to the Gate.

The Gate was a huge patterned construction of barbed wire and mech locks. It was the only opening in the massive Fence that surrounded our large Electri City. I was there at 0238 times, way too early. I bounced on the balls of my feet, staring out beyond the fence at the scrubby desert. They say that dangerous people were out there, but none of the Citizens had ever actually seen them. They said the Officers protected us from them.

The sleek black Officer auto glided up to the gate and out stepped a tall woman. She was wearing normal Officer wear, a black suit with a black tie and shirt. The Officers only wore black to show the corruption that they took care of to protect us.

But she was beautiful. Not in a cute youthing way, but a cold beauty that if you touched her to see if she was real she would kill you with her own perfectly sculpted hands.

"Rai Faelyn?" she asked in a voice that would freeze water.

I nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Come with me."

She walked back to her auto. I quickly followed, getting into the back. The interior was completely black and the windows were blacked out from the inside. It felt like sitting in a shadow.

The Officers' autos were eerily silent, and you could barely feel them move beneath you. It was sort of like floating without gravity.

There was a complete absence of noise in the auto as I stared at the back of the Officer's head, which was the only thing that broke the sleek darkness of the interior. It probably only took a few minutes to reach our unknown destination but it felt like an hour full of overthinking and surreality.

The auto stopped, which I felt from a slight twitch in the floor, but nothing else.

"We've arrived," the severe Officer said. I wondered if all Officers were like this. I had never actually met one personally.

We exited the vehicle into a clean, white room, the end of a very long hallway that we must have driven down. I couldn't see the end of it and where we were just looked like a dead end.

"Now what?" I asked. She just stared at me.

I looked around again, noticing nothing different, and when I looked back at her she was holding a gun.