It had only been an hour, since she left home, so her brothers and sister would be deep in their VR pods. Where they continued their education. They would be using Tutor, until about lunchtime. After that, the rest of the day would be their's, to do what they wish. She knew her mother would be still doing the house chores, while her father would be outback, seeing to the family garden plot.

Natalie charged back to the house. Stopping at the front gate, a smile, still on her face. She looked at the house she grew up in. It was one of six on the street, each house sitting on a large plot of land. Both her parents, had worked hard, to get the house. Combining their pooled resources, once they received permission to have children.

Her family home, was a large two storey building. The garden out the front was a mix of herb and a flower patch. Each plant had a use, nothing was just for decoration. No one wasted land anymore, almost everyone grew their own vegetables. The main garden, behind the house, is where Natalie found her father. He was trimming back the edge of the tiny patch of grass, that was permitted to stay as lawn.

"Dad!" She called running up to him. "I passed, I did it , I passed!"

Her father looked up in surprise, her sudden appearance startling him. Slowly huge grin was forming, as relief flooded his mind at his daughter's news.

"That's wonderful, Honey " he said holding his arms out to her, Natalie rushed into her fathers arms and hugged him. Still bubbling, with joyful relief.

He set her back on her feet, looking down at his small daughter. The relief was starting to be replaced by concern. What was she doing home? If she had passed, there should have been extra meetings until lunch. As the teachers sorted out her schedule, for her home schooling, in the new VR pod. Which had arrived, only twenty minutes ago, it was sitting in Natalie's bedroom, where her bed use to be.

"Natalie tell me what happened," he asked. "Start at the beginning, don't leave anything out."

Natalie's smile grew bigger, as she related, what had happened that morning. She soon became aware of her father's face, going still and quiet, the happiness fading, as he listened to her.

"Dad? What's wrong? " she asked. "I thought you would be happy I passed. I don't have to go back for another three years of schooling, I'm a young adult now."

"I am happy Honey, now we have a lot to do. We must go inside and tell your mother the good news." He quickly said. "Run along, tell her, I just have to get the basket of veggies, she asked me to pick for her."

"Alright, Dad." Natalie turned and skipped happily into the house.

Her father stood and watched her. It was obvious that Natalie hadn't really listened to the teachers. The full impact of what they had said to her, hadn't sunk in yet. He picked up the basket, he had left by the shed and went inside.

When he came in, it was to see his wife hugging their daughter. Her face lined with sorrow, that she was trying to hide, so that she didn't alarm the girl in her arms. She look at him, her eyes holding a question, he knew he couldn't answer just yet. So he shook his head at her slightly.

Forcing a smile onto his face, he called to Natalie. He had to distract her, so her mother would have a chance, to pull herself together.

"Come, help me with these veggies, Miss Adult." He called to her jovially. "We need to get things ready, it's your Birthday, we have a lot to celebrate!"

Natalie laughed, together they washed and sorted the vegetables into the processor. Which chopped, cooked or boiled them, then they placed them into the cold storage unit for later. Some of the vegetables, Natalie place into the refrigerator, they would be using them for lunch.

"Now Natalie, It's time you went upstairs, your pod has arrived. While I appreciate the help. I'm having a hard time believing, that you had forgotten about that!" Her mother said while laughing. "You need to go, register it as your own, it won't have much on it, just yet, that will come with time."

Natalie had frozen at her mother's words, she had indeed forgotten about the VR pod. That every teenager received at fourteen. It would be her most important tool, for her future. She would work from it, play the VR games in it. In fact, all her entertainment would be, in that pod.

She would be logged in at night, while her body slept, doing the small maintenance jobs, that will be assigned to her by the local network. Jacking into the countless robots, monitoring them, to make sure everything was running smoothly around the city.

After a full night at social works, the mornings would be for her own needs. Unlike her brothers and sister, she would have all the daytime to herself. Her siblings would work on their careers until lunchtime. Which was the official end of day, for everyone of all stations.

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Natalie realised, for the first time, the how different her life would be from her siblings. They still had advanced schooling, tailored to their specific needs. Yes, she had passed, but not enough to warrant further expenditure, from the government education pool.

The only item she would ever get from them was her pod. Which had been calibrated to her biometrics, gradually over the years. Until her body and mind, was strong enough, to handle the rigours of the VR worlds.

She would not be allowed to have children, that was a privilege not a right. If she wanted a family of her own, she would have to work much harder, than any of her siblings. Just to get on the listing for them.

She also would not be allowed to emigrate, to any of the colonies. Or work on any of the ship's, that left the planet daily. She would be planet bound, until she passed her next evaluation at eighteen. Then they would tell her, if she had worked hard enough, to warrant any of the other privileges such as that.

Natalie had been staring at the floor, as all this went though her mind. Slowly, she looked up finding the worried faces of her parents. Who had just watched helplessly, as their little girl, finally realise the gravity of her situation.

"It's all right Mum, Dad," she said while fighting to keep control. "Countless others are same as me, they manage, I will too. But right now I have to go see my new pod !"

Quickly, she spun around trying to hide, how much the sudden knowledge had shaken her and ran up the stairs. Her mind in turmoil, she had know about all this, it had been taught to her. Now it was real she was average, nothing special an ordinary girl, in an extraordinary family of geniuses. Just how had this happened?

Her parents watched her run from them, they didn't know what to do. With all their vaunted intellect, they were stumped, how could they help their youngest child cope? Wordlessly, they returned to preparing for Natalie's birthday party, which would take place that afternoon.

Natalie opened the door to her room, looking at the large silver and black pod, sitting in the middle of her floor. A small sliver of excitement shivered down her back, refusing to be pushed away. She approached the pod, running her hand down its smooth cool casing. Then placed her hand on the biometric reader, in the middle. She winced a little, as it pricked her hand, to get blood and tissue samples. They would be used to identify her to the pod, effectively making it hers. No one else would ever be able to use it.

Once it had registered her as its operator, the pod raised it's lid, to allow her access. Natalie used a small amount of seal and heal, on the tiny cut on her palm. Then climbed into her pod, the lid coming down and enclosing her completely.

"Activate," she ordered using the starting procedure she had been taught, the pod humming softly as it started up.

"Proceed with registration and check list." She relaxed back, as the pod grew darker around her, silently slipping her into the sleep trance needed, to operate the machine.

Natalie found herself in a enormous white room, she looked around, other teens from her age group where logging in. They would be the people she would interact with, some would be friends. They would all share triumphs and failures, form groups from small to large, a new community and she was part of it.

She started to explore, somewhere in here would be her virtual place, a room all her own. She would be able to decorate it, also from it, she would get the notices for her network schedule. But first she would have to find it, there would be no clues. Each person would have a different way of finding their place.

Natalie turned and walked aimlessly around just watching, as others did the same. When someone found theirs, they would go still, then with small flash of light they would disappear. Later a door would be visible, with that persons name above it, and their main hub would have been made.

Natalie moved a bit further into the room, looking around, she noticed a shimmer in the air near her. It was like a rainbow in the form of a waterfall, but only a few millimeters thick. She approached it, moving to the side a bit more. Watching as the rainbow widened, until it was the size of a door. Smiling, she walked closer to it there was the usual flash. She found herself standing ordinary looking blank room, neither to small or large. It contained a desk and a bulletin board, she walked to the board and read the note attached to it.

Welcome Natalie, I am pod789 your registration is complete. Please designate a name for me,?remember the name you assign is the one needed to open up the pod to enter or exit. Please just speak my name aloud, voice metrics will be registered for security, say my name three times.

"Your name is, Sam." She said clearly. "Sam , Sam, Sam."

"Thank you, that is a nice name I am pleased." Sam replied.

Natalie looked around again, the room was plain, duller then she thought it would be.

"Sam how do I make this place better ?" She asked.

"You will have to earn points from your work of a nighttime, and save them up to use on your virtual room." said Sam. "but you do have some from your years at school. The training work you did while learning."

"How do I use them?" She asked.

"Chose from the catalog on the desk. What you would like to purchase, then say confirm, out loud." Sam replied.

Natalie walked over to the desk sitting down, she opened the catalog. The first thing in it, was a bunch of different doors. They were the doors that she had seen appearing outside her virtual room. The catalog showed her the prices of the doors and her spend limit. She looked until she found one that was half dark wood, the rest a glittering rainbow crystal. It would use fully half her points, but she liked it.

After placing it in her cart, she then looked at wall papers. It didn't take long, to settle on one that looked like a forest. With tall dark trees dappled in sunlight, with her desk in the middle it was a striking combination. That left her with a small amount of points. Just enough to get the sound of birds singing, with the soft sighing of a breeze, blowing though the forest.

"Perfect." She smiled in satisfaction as she looked around the virtual space, it now looked bigger then before. "Confirm."

She sat back into her chair, it was time to think. Natalie knew her parents were worried, about how she would cope. She decided she would do her best to accept her lot in life. There wasn't time right now, but tomorrow, she would start to search for things she could do. Something she could work at, in her own time, during the day to improve her chances. Nodding to herself in determination, she would make better options for herself. Natalie was willing to work very hard for it too.

"Log out please Sam." She called, it was almost lunchtime, time to have her birthday and tonight would be her first night at real work.