The Name Game

Discovery

The hallways were long and brightly lit. The industrial lighting vibrated softly, reverberating in the heavy air. 

All one hundred of the Selected had spent the previous night in long, dormitory style rooms, lined with twenty five beds on each side.

It hadn't taken her long to discover how the identification system worked. The first number, in her case Forty-One, was her personal identity. In the institute, the number was who she was. When the Authoritative would address her, which they often did in an overly condescending way, it was with the number Forty-One. When the other Selected addressed her, it was with the number Forty-One.

She had also discovered that identification numbers between One and Fifty were girls. The numbers between Fifty-One and One Hundred were boys.

And it was the numbers between One and Fifty that were called in for testing that morning at breakfast. As a result, all of the girls were sitting in a small room with exactly fifty chairs - precision was very prominent in the facility -  waiting to begin their first tests.

Forty-One was nervous. The very thought of glimpsing her future left her heart beating in rapid fury. It just seemed so wrong, so extraordinary. But not extraordinary as in remarkable or fantastic, extraordinary as in unusual, as in...extraterrestrial.

"Hello? Are you listening?"

Forty-One looked over at her new friend, Seventeen.

"Um....yeah?"

"Liar," Seventeen accused, but her tone was joking. "I was just asking you what you think the tests will be like. I mean, I know we're seeing our futures and all, but beyond that."

"I have no idea," Forty-One answered, trying to hide her unease.

Seventeen looked at her for a moment before asking, "Are you nervous?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I am."

Forty-One smiled. At least she wasn't the only one.

"Then yes, I'm nervous." She paused, not knowing exactly the right words to continue. "It just...doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just. I feel like there's something more out there besides..." she trailed off.

"Besides what?"

"Besides this facility. Besides these walls."

"Well, duh, silly. There is. The elite society. The thing that's like, really important right now. It's why we're doing all these tests."

Forty-One shook her head in frustration. Seventeen just didn't understand.

"More than that."

"What more could there be out there? A-"

"Ahem."

Seventeen stopped mid-thought. A male Authoritative stood in the doorway with a clipboard in hand for the seventeenth time that morning. The girls were being called out one at a time, following the numerical order of their identification codes.

Forty-One sighed softly, already knowing the number he came for this time.

"Seventeen?" he called.

"Yep. That's me," she answered, holding up her hand to reveal the still-fresh tattoo.

"Please follow me. Your testing will begin shortly."

Seventeen stood up and followed the man to a side exit, turning around to give Forty-One a reassuring wink before stepping into a long hallway.

.....

The room cleared quickly. Forty-One, being one of the highest numbers, was one of the last to be called out.

"Forty-One."

Surprisingly, she was relieved to be called. The anxiety has steadily been building in her stomach ever since Seventeen had left. She was at the point where she'd do anything to make it recede.

She lifted her wrist to show the man her numbers and turned towards the same door all of the other girls had left by. Her heart fell, however, when the man shook his head. What had she done wrong to receive different treatment than the rest?

"Left hallway, please."

His command was not directed at her. It was directed at the room. In response, a door that had been hidden in the seams of the wall slid open.

Forty-One couldn't hear anything but the sound of her heart beating against her ears as she followed the man down the hallway.