Lord of Dreams (Atlas #1)

#3. UNWANTED KNOWLEDGE

 Control herself it's a test for our minds to catch our natural talent. You know, logical thinking, check our leadership skills, can occur even plain math test if they believe that this is your future. But I never heard of a physical test, which is quite strange, because all the time we are fighting with the Southern Continent on the ground, and from what I was taught, the more troops to the fight, the better.

"Turn around," I heard the voice belongs to a woman. Didn't even notice when we got there.

It was quite a large room, having perhaps fifteen to fifteen feet. I stood in a circle of light, so everything around me was dark, I didn't see exactly where we were, or how the room looked. I stood on a strange platform. Bet it was made of titanium, and in the middle was a circular light that illuminated me and the face of a woman who spoke to me. She was a black woman, probably an immigrant from Africa, now rare type of beauty in the New America. Her face was stern, dark brown eyes and black hair worn in a high bun.

"Relax. One of my assistants will give you glasses made from the highest quality materials. Quite expensive, so I would advise not to drop them. "

"What I have further to do with them?"

"Simply put, and they will do anything for you."

I saw hands that slowly issuing from the darkness. I grabbed the glasses, which were on the hands of a man, but I didn't put them yet. I looked again at the woman managing my Control. I almost stepped back a few steps when I looked into her eyes-they were horrible. Literally all red with green dots on the inside, imitating pupils. I wanted to throw up.

As soon as I can, I wore glasses, not wanting to have to look at this terrible sight. There were numbers that began to swirl in front of me faster and faster.

Suddenly there was a dark, monstrous, taping to me from all sides, its tentacles touched me everywhere, face, abdomen, legs, I felt that they wanted to come also under my clothes. It was getting hot, I was getting heavier breathing, heart beat two times faster than it should.

 In theory, I'm not threatened. Could occur at some imaginary class at the blackboard, chalk in hand, if it turned out that after years of observation in mind that this is just my talent.

 But I had the impression that the whole procedure of introducing me to the programs lasted for a long time.

In the end it started to get colder. After a while came to me the other stimuli. I heard chatter of people in a foreign language for me, which meant that either I'm located in South America or I was placed in the simulation, which showed the days when this place existed, which meant that I can't talk with anyone, I'm reliant on my own. As usual. At the end of the partially returned my sight, but I had to wait a while until all the darkness disappears and see the place where I found.

The first thing I saw a building built from everything they could, without windows, but with holes in the walls. All around me there were plenty. On the ground lay a lot of garbage, and the stench of decay I couldn't feel anything else. Everywhere there have a lot of sounds. Conversations in Chinese and Arabic, as far as I knew, the sound of the river, splashing, laughter, screams, music, horn, hitting the walls of the barracks. The head ached me from those same few seconds that I spent here. It was a complete inverse of our world, full of peace and quiet.

I didn't have a clearly defined task. I was prepared that I'll show up in the projection and  I'll know what I have to do, without wasting unnecessary time searching for classes discovering talent. Somewhat surprised me with his lack of it. I have to clean up? Silence the residents? This has to be my talent? Quick cleaning? I wanted to laugh, but something said to me that I should be quiet at the moment, gave up and only observe the enormous amount collected in this place people, dirty, forever distorted, crippled, people marked by war, children soiled with blood, with torn clothes. People of different nationalities, but perhaps the most to exhibit a group of Arabs were. I walked, clean, with precisely matched to suit your body, is fully operational, in the sea of people who want to take everything that I had in the moment. My job hasn't seemed to be very colorful, but I clenched teeth and I went in search of answers.