The Optimum Project

Chapter 22

The assessment

A lot of the questions were multiple choice, some were just common sense while others required more thought. I solved them as best I could and when I was done pressed the finish button at the bottom of the page, Resetting my tablet to phone size and stuffing it in my pocket. I glanced around and noticed that almost everyone else was still taking the test, I guess my background helped me out a bit.

I sat around for the next hour, waiting for everyone finishing up; basing on the occasional glance from other kids, they did not like the fact that I was done so easily. After everyone was done, Pix stood up from his computer at the front and said,"well, I'm glad to see everyone finished within the class period, it gives me general idea, along with the test, of how much you know." He looked at the students stopping briefly at me before continuing. "Now, on this screen here," he gestured to an area next to his desk and a holo-board appeared next to him, "your grades on the test will appear, along with your current class ranking; know this, you need a class rank of 25 or higher to graduate to more advanced engineering courses. Meanwhile the rest of you will be placed in positions more suited towards your aptitude, is that under stood?" He nodded in approval as he got a chorus of 'yes sirs' from everyone, "ok then, here are you scores."
What I saw totally blew me away.

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I was at the top of the board.
Well, not the top, but I was the second in my class; outranked only by Sarah, who had scored two points more than me. Pix clapped his hands and rubbed them together together after everyone had gotten a good look at the board, "so, now that you know your ranking in this class I'll give you a quick rundown on what we'll be doing in here, what happens if you pass, and what happens if you fail." He gave everyone a serious look as he finished, which gave me the feeling it wouldn't end too well for anyone who failed. He continued after a moment, "we will cover a lot of ground in the next six months, most will be extremely taxing mentally, while your combat classes will wear you out physically." He paused for a moment, as if hunting for his train of thought, "most of what we do will be on civilian grade tech, old navigation computers, old warp engines, even a entry level plasma cannon." I smiled at the excited murmurs that ran through the crowd, I had worked on plasma cannons on civilian fighters once; my father had gotten too sick to travel and we needed a new source of income until he could get his feet under him, those things are a piece of cake.

Pix had by now moved on in his explanation of the class saying, "Now, there are particular criteria for passing this class," he thought for a moment and cocked his head to the side, "actually, there are multiple criteria, depending on the ones you meet decides your next class, so if your an advanced student, you might skip 2nd level engineering and go straight to ship construction 101." Ship construction 101 sounded awesome, I imagined building fighters so amazing the alliance named me chief Engineer master, which was the head engineer of the whole alliance, I absolutely had to get into that class. "However if you fail," he said this in a slightly ominous way, "you will be demoted and put in a basic class, such as infantry training, or fighter analysis." I heard groans and pix laughed, "that's it for today kiddos! Go think on you future!"