4 The Chair Never Lies

A sharp prick of electricity stung Jenira in the back as she sat ramrod straight in the chair. She winced but didn't cry out and did her best to control her facial expressions. "Even if it's low don't look sad, even if it's low don't look sad, even if it's low..." She repeated to herself over and over hoping to ensure her brother wouldn't be embarrassed because of her if she got a low score.

The metallic hum of the chair cycled up again and the light blue shone brightly again before once again fading to a violet color. "805," it said as the color died and the chair shut off. Jenira's face twisted as though she was trying to translate a foreign language before her eyes bulged and she gasped. A huge grin appeared on her face and she quickly undid the belt around her waist before running to hug her brother and friends. Chiron's face was agape before he quickly pulled his jaw closed and "hmmm" ed to himself. "Not what I was expecting," he thought and then asked her the question he already knew the answer to. "Ms. Marrow do you want me to write down your sco..."

"YES!" Jenira shouted then quickly covered her mouth and responded again, "I would like that Mr. Chiron thank you."

"Of course," Chiron nodded before slightly frowning to himself as he again thought over how he could not have noticed another one of his students was far more exceptional than Isabel whom he had thought to be his most excellent student by a large margin. "I'll have to reread how potential scores are calculated. Jenira never showed exceptional talent in anything and she's now the highest score in the class..." Chiron scratched his chin before looking back down to his list. With only four students left he called up the last person, who was not from Jayce's friend group. Micu and Ralnas almost spat blood from realizing that somehow the three of them had ended last. Jayce slumped in his seat and ran his hands through his hair playing with it while trying to distract himself from thinking about the chair too much.

The light flashed again and then the robotic voice spat out the words, " 695". A groan escaped the boy who had gone up and he trudged back to his friends who encouraged him to find a good lower level team and build himself up like that girl Chiron had talked about earlier. He seemed to brighten and sat down to scattered claps from the rest of the class.

Chiron asked if he wanted to record his score to which the boy shook his head no. Chiron nodded understanding and then read over the last three names on his sheet, "Wait aren't these three close friends? Oh, they must be stressed out that I did this on purpose aren't they." He glanced at the three who looked like they had just seen the sky fall and laughed before announcing the next name.

"Mister Marrow, will you please take a seat for us?"

Ralnas squeezed his sister's hand before standing up and sitting in the chair. He was lightly sweating and it made him even more nervous if people noticed he was sweating so he was profusely trying to wipe his forehead with his sleeve. "Mister Marrow, relax. It's just a scan, you don't die if the score isn't high." Chiron tried to chime in to calm his student.

Ralnas forced a smile and then stared into the eyes of his friends while he was strapped into the chair. Finally, the belt was looped around his waist and he took a deep breath expecting the shock to come at any moment. Just as he was beginning to think it was never going to come and started to relax a sudden jolt of electricity stabbed him in the back and he jumped in the seat. He smiled as he had reacted just like his sister and slightly blushed from embarrassment. The light blue light again faded to dark blue and then violet. A rumbling in the machine made the whine of the voice seem even more high pitched than last time. "800" it sputtered and shut off.

The two assistants raised their eyebrows at each other as they reread the score listed on the control console of the chair. It indeed did say 800. A low whistle escaped one's lips and he patted Ralnas on the back.

Ralnas was still reeling from the fact he was a lower score than his sister. Which initially made him bristle with jealously before realizing how high his score was already. Mentally rebuking himself for letting his sibling rivalry get in the way of him enjoying such a high score he lifted his head as the belt was undone around his waist and he jumped up and celebrated with his friends as they danced a merry jig holding Jenira and Ralnas tightly.

Chiron quickly walked over to the two assistants, "Why did you whistle at his and not his sisters?" Isn't her score higher?" Chiron was more than a little confused by their actions. He noticed a few of his students also eyeing the assistants with curiosity.

"Well turns out the machine had to work harder to determine his score than his sisters, didn't you hear that whine it made? That means his potential has a lot of factors that could make it soar far higher than it is currently, he just hasn't fully explored the extent of his possibilities." The assistant said.

"So what, you're saying that his score could improve more than it is right now? But that's normal a lot of students have the ability to improve their potential, it's because they're so young." Chiron was starting to get annoyed with assistants.

"Yeah but that kid could go up maybe a hundred points, and you and I both know that the difference between a 530 going to a 630 and an 800 going to 900 is the difference between climbing a hill and scaling a mountain. Look he's got a bright future is all we're saying." The assistant shrugged his shoulders but Chiron could tell there was more to the story than what he had been told. He resolved to become an expert in how this chair worked before next years evaluation.

"Micu would you please take a seat?" Chiron turned back to the class.

Jayce almost fell apart. "I'm last!?" He felt like crying. This was definitely a punishment for all those jokes he had played on Mr. Chiron. He felt like crawling on his hands and knees to his desk and begging forgiveness. A dark aura surrounded Jayce and it seemed like even the sun wasn't sure it should be shining on Jayce right now.

Micu was watching Jayce's reaction and had to stifle a laugh at how overdramatic his friend was being. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and confidently stepped into the chair. After watching the assistants do this routine 14 times Micu confidently helped them put all the monitoring devices on his body before strapping the belt in himself. He pulled himself tight against the back of the chair so that the chair would only make the closest muscles contract and braced himself to learn his fate.

The assistants flipped the switch and the chair hummed and everyone sat forward in anticipation. Micu was regarded as second to only Isabel and quite a few students had made bets about what his potential score was going to be during lunch. The machine made a whirring sound and the humming seemed more strained than it had with Ralnas. Micu raised his eyebrows as he felt not one but two electric shocks hit his back. He didn't remember anyone else getting more than one shock. At last, the humming ended and the robotic voice uttered its verdict on Micu's potential, "900".

Chiron almost fell out of his chair hearing this. Ralnas spit out the sip of water he had just taken and gazed at his friend with a mix of jealousy and admiration. Jayce was mentally crying from stress and didn't seem to even be aware his friend had just set a new school record. The class erupted in cheers as people clapped and stared with a tinge of being starstruck in their eyes.

The assistants scratched their heads before checking the lights on the top of the chair. "What's wrong?" Chiron watched them fidget with the chair.

"Well, the light blue light? It never came on. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't think it was supposed to do that..." The two assistants continued pressing buttons and testing the chair to ensure everything was working as expected.

Chiron watched them with intrigue as the class around him swirled in fits of ecstasy. People were gossiping about Micu and glancing over to watch him while others directly ran up to him.

"Micu don't forget me when you make it big!"

"Micu can I come to visit your house when you're rich?"

Jenira pulled Micu out of the swarm and the four friends huddled in a circle. Each had a straight face but after glancing at Jayce cracks started to appear and finally broke as they all laughed and hugged each other. Tears of joy flowed down Jenira's, Ralnas', and Micu's faces as they couldn't believe their luck. Three of the four already had elite scores and one was even a new school record. They danced like their pants were on fire and held each other close as their joy infected every corner of the room.

The assistants satisfied that the chair had properly worked and that Micu's score really was 900 nodded at Chiron for the last student to take the test.

"Mister Jayce Good, your turn" Chiron said with more than a little bit of teasing in his voice.