3106 AD - Aergia System

The young and old bustled around the Square. From all five habitable planets that comprised the Aergia system, those recruits had gathered to take the most important test of their life. This was far from unique to this corner of the Milky Way. All across the local bubble, recruits were being tested simultaneously, and onlookers watched the proceedings on thousands and thousands of screens. The exam was a big event. It's notoriously known how unpredictable performance testings can be. Especially those from the Academy. Nobody knew what could happen next.

The recruits stood on stage at the head of the rectangular square. Nothing changed in this custom for five hundred years. Although examined outside in a specially built arena, the public insisted the preliminary engagement and ceremony to be held at the Festival Square.

Anara Maxima was one of those recruits, standing before the cheering crowd. Speech after speech, the flash of reporters' cameras blinded her. The young woman lifted her chin and crossed her arms below her back. Excitement drove a tingle to her fingertips. Her dark brown hair tied neatly into a high ponytail. Not a strand would get in her way today, she vowed to herself.

She spent endless hours studying each record of all the exams from the last few years, working out a pattern until the information stuck. It was almost impossible to fail.

About ninety-five percent of the exams were less about skill and more about moral issues and how much the prospective soldier internalized the academy's codex. Anara possessed both: excellent combative skills and knowledge of every single paragraph in the rulebook. Even at this moment, she was mentally reciting the code to herself.

Rule 12(b): The good of the community shall prevail over the good of the individual.

Her plans were way bigger than the province which made up the Aergia system. Until now, Anara rarely allowed herself to daydream about her future. However, as she stood on stage with all the other recruits and millions of people turning their gazes onto her, she could not manage to think of anything else but the capital—Rome, the political and economic center of the galaxy, the cradle of humanity—There she could help so many more people! She just has to get there. She has to get to Rome! This exam was the only obstacle standing in her way.

An announcement for a group picture sounded over a drone. The recruits scooted closer together. It stank of sweat. Their sterile uniforms were specifically made to withstand the exams and to be odorless, but their stench reminded Anara of burnt plastic. She suppressed a gag reflex. The taken photo flashed along the wide screens attached to the surrounding of the building shaped like a glass dome. Anara saw herself, amid a sea of grinning morons.

"How are you going to help the people if you don't take your job seriously? Am I the only one who really wants all this?" No one heard her speak.

They left the platform and were met by reporters at the foot of the stairs. Most of them gathered around Anara. One of the best students of her year, she already was a celebrity. The golden child, as they called her, answered all questions succinctly. Anara had prepared not only for the exams but also for this. The many recordings and interviews throughout the past years ran vividly through her head, like a blockbuster movie. And Anara sat in the front row, reciting the words of last year's winners.

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Soon her patience ran thin and she had no answers left. Instinctively she did the only thing that came to her mind; shrugging her shoulders and disappearing into the crowd. Anara slipped through the rows and asked one of the drivers to take her to the arena. Her number was three so she would be one of the first to enter the ring. She had to be prepared.

The car stopped when they arrived. Anara got out and looked up at the structure in front of her. It was shaped like a coliseum with hundreds and hundreds of entrances, towering high before her as if it scratched the sky itself. Anara craned her neck to see where the red stone of the monument met the azure.

She wondered if the test was like the one twenty-three years ago, where the contestants fought each other. The arena from that year looked almost identical. In preparation for this scenario, Anara observed her classmates continuously for the past few months. None of them posed any real threat. But then again, what was the purpose? Was it about sparing one's opponent or something more? In the exam held twenty-three years ago, there was none, most unusually. It was merely a matter of skill.

One by one, the other recruits arrived. There was still an hour to go before the exam began, and Anara gradually realized she possibly underestimated her classmates. Their stupid grins washed off their faces. In its place was the same still expression she wore. The young recruits analyzed the venue, their comrades-in-arms, possible opponents and allies. Few spoke, and if others did, it was only deliberately and in hushed voices. The seriousness of the situation made itself known, towering over those present like the Coliseum over the flat plains landscape of the planet.

This would be the beginning, Anara promised herself, the beginning of something big.

Along with the recruits, teachers and the audience were now arriving. The latter streamed through the many entrances into the interior of the coliseum. While they took their places, the teachers led the recruits to underground changing rooms. Each possessed a locker with their name in silver letters on it. With thousands of examinees, it took Anara half an hour to find hers. She opened it and found another uniform. She didn't question it any more than her fellow examinees, because even thinking about it would cost her too much energy. Energy she needed for the exam.

A young woman entered. The hologram of an A.I. Her long white dress sat like a second skin on her first, white and marble-like. She had white hair tied into an updo, white lips, white eyelashes, and light gray eyes. Anara heard before that the Senate established this design of appearance hundreds of years ago to keep A.I's outwardly distinguishable from humans. Whether this was true or not, it's a smart decision.

The A.I introduced herself as the overseer of the Coliseum and called out the first numbers. 1 and 2 were two petite girls. They exchanged hesitant glances and followed the lady out of the room. About half an hour later, the attendant appeared again. Anara stood already in the doorway.

"Number 3," the colorless figure announced, "and number 4. Follow me."

Number 4 was a man of tall stature. In a battle of brute force, he would win. But he was slow. Anara could use this to her advantage as long as she was wary of his strength. Otherwise ... She cleared her throat. There was no need to think about an otherwise.

The A.I led the two recruits out of the room and back into daylight. Along the huge coliseum lay rows of spectators, a grandstand where examiners sat, and a battlefield in the middle. The crowd cheered as Anara stepped out of the darkness of the archway. Sand muffled her footsteps. An AI's voice echoed through the sky, directing her to walk to the center of the plaza. Once there, Anara squinted her eyes and recognized the examiners. She knew each of them.

"Anara Maxima," the A.I's voice announced, "may the exam begin."