Waking up today should have felt different. After all today is the day everything changes. Following the graduation ceremony, the trial will begin. Which is going to be my first step to becoming a true member of society. By the end of the trial I'm going to be assigned to a planet depending on the career I am given. As I sit up on my bed, I take a good look at my dorm, I realize my roommate's things are already gone which means I should hurry up and get dressed before I'm late.
bzzzzt.
My arm vibrates and I notice that I've gotten a message on my telecom.
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Senior Schedule 5/21/2128
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First bell: 0730
Breakfast ceremony: 0815
Graduation ceremony: 1430
Spaceport departure: 1600-2000
Group A: 1600
Group B: 1700
Group C: 1800
Group D: 1900
Group E: 2000
20 students plus some staff will be on each nova for a group. Decisions of what students will be in what group is based on rank.
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I look at the time and damn I must be a slow reader because now I'm definitely late for the meeting. I can still make it on time if I use the shortcut tunnels, I just have to get to the entrance without any of the guards noticing. I've memorized their routes so it shouldn't be too hard. I change out of what I was wearing into some dark clothes and tie my hair back. The last thing I see as I close the oval wooden door to my dorm is the glowing numbers in military time 0400.
The hallway dimly lit with its usual grey hue is filled with a complete silence, nearly quiet enough to hear a pin drop. If you listened close enough you would hear the humming of electricity that powers the AI system guard. Each building for each grade with its own amazing AI guard. One that doesn't sleep and is always listening, always watching. If you got caught by the AI system you wouldn't know but it would send out an alert to her. The Headmistress, leader of the highest esteem. No one really knows what happens to you if she gets an alert from the guard tagged with your number because its never happened. I've seen things though, in the shadows of the night here at the academy. As I pass through the hallway, and the twists and turns of the academy I get to high ground and use the hover boots I'm wearing to not make a sound. The AI system can only watch what it hears, and it won't hear me if I'm not walking on the ground. When I get to the garden I climb to the roof through the opening in the ceiling. That's when I hear the struggle. Hushed but there, nonetheless.
Dose her and put on her the gurney.
I watch from the roof to see a girl being put on a stretcher right outside of residence hall 11. I don't watch for long just to be safe, but it hits me, what did she do? I move across the roof of the buildings and get to the tunnel opening covered by shrubs for camouflage in the last garden room that is separate from the buildings entirely.
bzzzzt.
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You're late.
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I look at the message and head through the tunnel making sure to cover it with shrubbery. This is going to be last the meeting we have as a group before everything changes. So, it better be a damn good one.