Fixer 13

  Chapter 7: Theoretical TechElecMech

  In 2046, they held a lottery—filled with promise and hope. The winners would be permitted to live in one of the newly-designed biomes. Their progeny would travel to new worlds, spreading humankind throughout the galaxy. Those left behind on Earth would work to save humankind; work to build and maintain the biome ships; and work to find new planets with various degrees of suitability. They would work to alter the very genetic structure of the biome dwellers to enable them to survive and prosper on the newly found planets.

  Their classes continued for three months. Exams were coming up very soon, and it was made crystal clear by each of their instructors that passing would require a perfect score. In order to pass, they must get every question right. The students studied during every waking moment to ensure that they passed.

  Jayne hadn’t spent much time with Joseph after their first morning of forced company. His arrow no longer followed hers. He was older, and he spent time with the students who were of the same age. Jayne was the youngest by far, and the others all ignored her. That didn’t bother her because she knew that she couldn’t waste time socializing if she was to pass this test. Everything she was learning now was much more difficult than her lessons from nursery school and they seemed to cover the material at an incredible speed. Each new concept followed the last at a machine gun pace. If they wanted Jayne to be perfect then she would be perfect. She would not wash out!

  Jayne stood at her door, pressing her thumb to her VID screen, and pointing it at the door. It opened silently, and she stepped inside.

  “Welcome home, Thirteen,” said Lucky softly. “To celebrate the end of your classes, I have prepared your favorite dinner.”

  “No time to celebrate. I’ll celebrate when they tell me I’ve passed this exam,” she said.

  “No problem. You will eat, and I will help you study. I have a rather large database of possible exam questions.”

  “Lucky, I need to be perfect. Do you have any idea how hard it will be to get every question perfectly right?” asked Jayne.

  “You do not have to be perfect. No one has ever received a perfect score on any TechElecMech exam. The instructors just say that to scare you into doing your absolute best,” said Lucky.

  “What score do I have to get to pass?” she asked, surprised that the programming allowed for such a revelation.

  “I don’t know the precise score required for a passing grade,” replied Lucky.

  “That’s just peachy! If I don’t know what I need to pass, I’ll have to aim for perfect anyway!” she exclaimed. She wrapped her hands and arms around her head. “Oh crap! I know I’m going to fail.”

  “Stop! Eat! Study!” commanded Lucky.

  Jayne sat at the table and ate and studied until she fell asleep. She must have stumbled into bed at some point because she woke up refreshed and ready the next morning.

  “It’s now or never,” she said to herself as she washed, dressed, ate and finally left her quarters.

  The exam was supposed to take three hours but Jayne finished it in two. She knew she had done her best. She didn’t have any idea if she had answered any of the tricky questions correctly. She sat and scanned the room, looking at her classmates who were still working busily. She didn’t want to leave first and draw attention to herself. Instead she sat and tried to imagine what the practical part of the apprenticeship would be like.

  She expected that she would now get to go places and fix and install equipment. Maybe she would even work inside one of the biomes. She might even meet an omie. Two other students got up and left the room. She looked around and noticed that Joseph seemed to be reading through the exam with a puzzled look on his face. She was about to try to get his attention when he quickly looked down at his VID. Deciding not to worry about him, she got up and headed back to her living quarters.

  The exam results would be classified. No one would ever know who got what score. If you passed, they would send you to practical TechElecMech; if you failed, you would simply have to follow your arrow out of the HUB and back to wherever it was you started, never to be heard from again. Jayne sighed and lay down on her bed.

  “Are you feeling well?” asked Lucky.

  “I’m fine. Say, Lucky, can I ask you about something strange that happened to me on the first day I was here?” she asked.

  “I suppose. What do you want to ask?” Lucky replied.

  “On the first morning, I was led to this odd room and a boy was required to follow me wherever I went,” she said.

  “Why would a boy be required to follow you?” Lucky asked.

  “I was hoping you would know,” Jayne said. “Anyway, that’s not the strangest part. I was directed to this large room with lots of people in it. There must have been a sound dampening device because you could only hear the people closest to you. I was directed to a table where I played cards and then to what I’d call the bean bag shoot, where I and others were the targets.”

  “Were you hurt?” asked Lucky, sounding concerned. “I don’t remember you returning to the room with injuries. I would have noticed and reported it if you were hurt in any way.”

  “I wasn’t hurt, but others were. Nothing hit me. I was able to avoid the bean bags,” she paused and reconsidered. “No, it was more than that. I knew where the bean bags were going to land before they were shot. In the end I even let one hit me. I wanted to leave and they said I could leave when one of the flying bean bags hit me. So I let it. Then I left.”

  “You must have been hurt if one hit you. You told me you were not hurt. Where were you hurt? Has your injury healed properly? Please let me see where it hit you. There might be some damage you cannot detect. I have a subcutaneous scanner, but you will need to stand over it. Please report to the flashing green circle in the corner, and I will scan for long term damage,” Lucky babbled.

  “Stop!” said Jayne, annoyed. A green circle began to pulse in the corner of the room. “I stuck out the toe of my work boot and that’s where it hit. As you know, my work boots have steel toes. It didn’t hurt me. I was just wondering if you knew what that was all about? Do you have any idea why some boy would have to follow me around and then wait outside while I did these things?”

  “I am sorry, Jayne, but I have no information about any of this,” replied Lucky.

  A beeping sound came from the walls, startling Jayne.

  “Your exam has been scored. Do you want me to read the message to you?” asked Lucky.

  “Oh, crap! No. Yes. No!” said Jayne. She put her hands over her ears. “Yes!”

  “You won’t be able to hear me if you continue to hold your hands over your ears,” stated Lucky.

  “Just tell me!” cried Jayne.

  “Pass,” said Lucky.

  Jayne let out a sigh. “Thank the heavens.”

  “There is a footnote message. Do you want me to read it?” asked Lucky.

  Jayne nodded her head in affirmation.

  “It says, ‘Always wear the Silver Star’.”

  Jayne’s eyes grew large. She had not worn the star pendant when she went to write the exam. She felt as if she would somehow do better without it. Jayne walked over to her bed and opened up the music box. She lifted out the silver star that she found on her first day. She put the chain around her neck, lay on the bed, and fell into a troubled sleep.