Captain Lena Wood

Chapter 1

"Next." The nurse, in a white dress who's in front of the line says.

There is a long line of 18 year old kids waiting to be inspected. I'm next. "Next." The lady says again.

I'm nervous about this. I'm not like any of the other kids here. Most of them are alien-like people. Some have big eyes and ears. Some are super short and have green skin. Some just simply have pointy ears and three fingers. Me, I'm 100 percent human.

I follow the lady down a long, white, empty hallway. There are doors with numbers above them. I look into the rooms and there are doctors and children on the bench in front of them, to see if they qualify. One girl walks by me, with a nurse in front of her. She has long black hair, pointy ears, and she's short but not too short. She looks to be about 5'1". She looks sad and disappointed. I think she was rejected.

The nurse stops in front of room E27. She opens the door and gestures for me to go in. I do. She closes the door behind me and I just stand there. Afraid of what to do next.

The doctor is finishing up the notes from the previous patient. He's about mid-age and he has short brown hair, that is spiked up on his head. He looks human until I look at his arms and legs. He has three of each. He says still writing, "Well, aren't you going to sit down?"

I slowly walk over to the bench, climb up, and sit down. I wonder if he's going to ask what species I am. What do I tell him? Martian? Yeah, that'll work. What about my eyes? I wear glasses, but right now I'm wearing contacts. I guess that's a good thing. Maybe he won't know. I hope. "What is your name?" The doctor asks.

"Lena Wood." I say back to him.

"How old are you?"

"15, sir."

I am three years younger than the requirements but I don't understand why they would want me so young.

The doctor writes that down in his notes. "Do you have any family?"

Why would he ask such a question? I answer "None, sir."

"Where were you born?"

"Here, on this planet sir."

I move my hair over my ears to make sure he can't see them. "What species are you?" he asks.

Great! He asked that question. That's what I was worried about. "Martian sir."

He writes that down on his clipboard. Then he calls someone on his phone. Is he calling the OSPD, Outer Space Police Department? Did he find out I was lying? What are they going to do to me? Take me away and kill me? I hope not.

The same nurse from before opens the door and addresses me to walk out. Thank you. I say to myself. He didn't call the cops. He just called the nurse.

I get off the bench and walk out the door. I follow the nurse further down the creepy hallway. She opens another door, on the left, and there's another doctor. He's sitting in his doctor's chair and typing at is computer. His skin is blue and he has ridges on his head. I'm guessing that it's his hair. I've also noticed that all of that doctors are wearing a white lab coat. What's up with all of this white?

The nurse closes the door and the doctor says in a lizard-like voice, "Stand over there, by the scanner."

He points to the machine. I walk over to it and stand next to it. This machine is supposed to check your vitals and see if they function normally.

The doctor gets out of his chair and walks towards me. He positions me in front of the machine. He places the head brace around my head and he steps away. He presses a button, on the side of the machine, and it starts to move.

It spins around my head several times. After it finishes the scan, the doctor removes the brace and he moves me over to the bed. I lay down on the cold, metal bed. The doctor puts metal bars over my body, to prevent me from moving. He says, "Close your eyes."

I close them and he puts a cloth or something over my eyes. Then the machine starts to move. I feel the vibrations on the bed. The machine scans me up and down, to check the rest of my body.

When the machine finishes, the doctor takes off the mask and undoes all of the bars. I get up, fix my hair, and wait. He also calls someone on the phone. After a few seconds, the nurse comes in and I follow her.

Why aren't we turning around? I ask myself. We keep walking down the hallway. We end up in another waiting room. She says, not looking up from her clip board, "Just wait here and the Sorter will place you where you belong shortly."

She walks away. I look around and see all of the different children. I find a seat in the corner. I sit there and wait.

~

Hours later, after every 18 year old on the planet has been checked, accepted or rejected, the Sorter comes in the room with a clip board. He's very tall, has short blonde hair, and a long tail. Weird. He looks young. He looks to be in his early to mid 20s. He must be the new Sorter.

He flips through his papers and starts calling out names. There are three sorting groups. They are Fortis, for the brave, Et Ipsum, for the smart, and Et Iuvat, for the helpful. Leaders are rare. Leaders have all of these qualities. There hasn't been a new leader for 20 years.

I don't understand why they have these groups, when everyone does the same tests and takes the same classes. I know about this because of school. We would study this and go watch an assembly every year. I also never looked forward to this, but everyone has to do it.

The Sorter begins to go down the list of names. After about 30 minutes, he finally gets to my name. "Lena Wood." he says.

I get up and everyone watches me walk up to him. I stop in front of him and he hands me a small piece of paper. I grab it and walk back to my seat. Once I sit down, I unfold the piece of paper. I'm shocked to read what it says. It says, in his cursive handwriting, Fortis.