- Academy

Thanks to the power of the engines installed in the large ship, the journey was extremely quick. Gus had chatted idly with Claire for a few, minutes, before the screens once again illuminated the room in another colour than deep blue.

In the time they had talked, Gus learned a fair amount about Claire. She had travelled to London from the United Nations of North and Central America two years ago with her older brother, who was taking a job in the central government of Earth. While there, she decided she wanted to go to military school, and so she found herself on the shuttle to the station.

Conversely, Gus had revealed fairly little about himself. He explained that his father had done some research work years ago, and that they had not spoken for years after a particularly nasty disagreement between the two, but he avoided sharing any details. Details would lead to her understanding who his father was, and that was something he did not want, considering just what his father had done. It was one thing for an officer of the academy to know, one who would likely look into Gus's background eventually, and an entirely separate thing for his fellow students to know.

Replacing the colour on the screens was the face of the old woman who had previously spoken back in London. This time, she addressed the new cohort with a pre recorded message.

"Allow me to firstly welcome you all once again, to the Earthen Military Academy, funded by Solus Supplies!"

Applause broke out from a handful of the people in the shuttle, but were quickly silenced by deathly stares from the others who remained silent.

"When the shuttle docks, doors to the starboard side will open," the recording continued. "Immediately exit the shuttle, drop off your bags in the baskets outside, and line up in the ten marked lines in an orderly fashion. You will then receive additional instructions at that point."

As the recording finished, the shuttle shook from the force of docking with the station, before abruptly stopping. Shortly after, the monitors inside the shuttle powered down, leaving the inside of the shuttle in darkness. Gus heard murmurs from people throughout the shuttle, as people who had never left their planet before began to fear that something had gone wrong.

"What's happening?" Claire asked. "Any ideas?"

"They're probably just sorting out the airlock," Gus said reassuringly. "The doors will open soon enough."

Moments later, Gus was proven right. With a loud whirring sound, the starboard doors of the shuttle opened upwards and revealed five identical passages. Following the orders given to them by the recorded message, the cohort quickly filtered through the passages onto the station that housed the academy. As promised, they found ten long lanes waiting for them. Each was separated from the others by a large wall that blocked all vision through it.

Without picking one in particular Gus filtered into the fifth lane, his choice decided by the automatic motion of his feet rather than rational thought. Thanks to the fact that he had chosen a seat on the far side of the shuttle, he was one of the first people into the lanes, and consequently stood at the front of his line.

Here, he could easily see the space ahead of him. Or at least, he could theoretically see the space in front of him. In reality, that space was submerged in an all consuming darkness, the type that sends a shiver down your spine and reminds you of childlike fears of monsters in your room. His path forward was blocked by a chest high barrier.

"So, what do you think this is going to be?" Claire asked him. She had followed him into the lane in an attempt to stick close to the only person she had any notion of knowing in this place. "Some kind of test? Like an entrance exam?"

Gus nodded his head in agreement. It was completely reasonable to expect the academy to have an exam to turn away those who were completely unacceptable for the academy. Remembering Jet's words earlier, Gus questioned if the exams were going to be any more intrusive than an exam would usually be. The addition of the walls between the lanes also added another layer of suspicion to the situation. If they merely wanted to separate the cohort into ten groups, there were a multitude of ways that they could do that. Even if it was absolutely necessary for them to be split into lanes, then that could have just as effectively been achieved by the use of ropes or something similar. They did not need to have massive walls to block them off.

'Unless they don't want us seeing who is next to us.'

When he considered the possibilities, that seemed the most likely. This was almost certainly an entrance exam of some kind, just like Claire had said. Considering it was a military academy, the exam would likely consist of some display of skills and abilities, and what better way to do that than to have the prospective candidates face off against each other. As he thought this, he lamented the fact that he had not taken some more time on the shuttle to try and figure out what exactly his system was, and how he could use it.

The only flaw in this theory was, why ten? If their goal was to force candidates to face off against each other in an exam of combat, why make lanes at all, let alone ten lanes? Why not just randomly assign each individual an opponent using some sort of AI system, and then not reveal the identities of each person's opponent until the time came where they were to battle?

"Maybe it's a t-" Claire began. She was swiftly cut off by a klaxon sounding all around the room. On the cue of the klaxon, lights blinked on in the space ahead, and the barrier dropped. Revealed by the appearance of light, screens delivered a simple message: Forward.

Further behind the screens stood doorways. There were ten in total, and each one stood opposite one of the lanes.

As the first in his line, Gus stepped forward, his stomach writhing with nerves. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the barrier, the barrier reappeared, preventing any of the people in his line from stepping forward with him. Now that there were people on the other side of the barriers, the message on the screens changed.

They now ordered the people who had stepped forward into the rooms. Gus, along with the nine others who had stepped up with him, timidly walked up and entered the rooms, like small, scared animals.

Inside these rooms was yet another screen, this time accompanied with a device that hung down from the ceiling. Just like the screens prior, the screen in this room displayed a simple command: Put on the headset.

As he approached, Gus noticed that the headset was similar to a full coverage helmet worn by soldiers in pictures he had seen, helmets that covered the entirety of the person's head. The only difference was that this one did not have anything at the back of the head, save for a strap designed to hold the helmet in place on the user's head.

Grabbing the helmet with his hands, Gus turned it over and studied it thoroughly. Only once satisfied with the condition of the helmet did he put it on. He was unsure what he was searching for as he looked at it, but he was confident nothing adverse would happen once it was on.

Upon placing the helmet over his face and tightening the strap, Gus felt small pricks on the surface of his face. Immediately after he felt the sensation, a red number popped up in front of his face.

[8/10]

'Eight divided by ten? Is this some sort of maths test?'

[9/10]

'It changed? Is it some kind of counter, maybe a timer?'

Gus remained motionless, anticipating a change to ten out of ten, but nothing was happening. The number remained unmoving on the screen for at least a minute or two, maybe more. Confused, Gus was tempted to remove the helmet and study the room, but before he had a chance, the number finally changed.

[10/10]

[3]

[2]

[1]

Before he could see the number change to zero, Gus's consciousness was seemingly absorbed by darkness.