Aries (#Wattys2018)

Chapter Four

  They drove for about five minutes, until the scenery passing by changed from the countryside to tall glass buildings and steel skyscrapers.  Azah and Zahi gaped wide-mouthed through the window; neither of them had ever been to central before.
  The closer they got to the Spiral Building, the more extravagant the structures became.  Some were made completely of stained glass, the sunlight reflecting off of the patterns and sending a rainbow glow all over the place.  Some were perfect spheres with holes in the middle like giant donuts, or shaped like the frame of a triangular prism.  Still others had different rooms and parts of the building sticking out at random places, making them seem very unstable.
  Finally, they reached the heart of the city.  They caught flashes of Lake Pronus between the tall buildings to the right, while glass domes serving as offices for credit card and telephone companies sat to the left.  People in the streets stopped and stared when they passed, and at first Azah and Zahi couldn't figure out what they were looking at.
  'What are those people pointing at?' Zahi asked the car at large.
  'They're pointing at us.' the driver responded, a hint of a smile showing on her face.  'The flags on the hood let them know we're a government escort.'
  'Hey, hey,' Zahi grinned, leaning in between the two front seats, 'That makes us pretty important, huh?'
  Azah rolled her eyes.  That guy was always so excitable ...
  Suddenly, they made a sharp right into an area where the lake made a sudden dip back into itself, and the buildings cleared to reveal a giant block of blue glass.
  The two guards got out of the car and held the doors open for them.  Zahi was on the side closer to the Spiral Building, and Azah heard him gasp when he saw it.
  She quickly got out and ducked around the side of the car trunk to see, and then she gasped too.
  'Oh my god.' Zahi whispered.  'It's actually a spiral ...'
  The Spiral Building had to be the largest one in Dexamic; the diametre was easily five times the size of their school (former school, Azah had to remind herself).  It was shaped like three long snakes intertwined and stuck together, half made of aquamarine glass and half of chiffon brick. Even when Azah craned her neck back as far as she could, it was difficult to see the top, which ended in a point that glinted in the sunlight.  It sent a towering shadow over the surrounding land and water.
  Their guards seemed to be enjoying their awe.
  'Maybe you'll get to stand in the top of it someday.' one of the men said.
  'Wow.' Zahi breathed as they walked closer to the front doors.  'Does the president live here?'
  'Of course not!' the other man laughed.  'His place is way fancier than this.  But he's visiting central at the moment, to watch the entrance exams.'
  Azah suddenly realized that they hadn't actually been told much about what these 'entrance exams' were.  But before she could ask, they were in the main hall, and had a couple dozen pairs of eyeballs focused on them.
  'Guess we're kind of late.' the driver muttered in the silence of the hall.  'Go stand over there.' 
  She directed them over to two empty spots in the rows of children, and she and the two men disappeared as though they'd never been there at all.
   The two twelve year olds took their places, uncomfortably aware of how loudly their footfalls echoed in the giant glass room.  Twenty two other candidates stood in pairs, in four rows of six.  A person wearing the uniform gas mask of a NUR soldier stood at the front, and Azah had a fleeting moment of panic in which she thought he was the same man who had given them their KIA results - the one she had been warned about - but he had been much taller than this one, and with a deeper voice.
  'Hello.' he said, and everyone's attention was redirected to the front.  Azah noticed that he had a plain silver chain attached to his wrist, and wondered if someone had given it to him as a gift.
  'Each one of you has been chosen to be an Afghan Representative candidate from your respective district schools.  This is a great honour.  Only two of you will pass the entrance exams, and the rest will be sent back to your homes.'
  The people around her straightened up.  They were all sure that they would be the ones to pass.  But that was the problem; they couldn't all be right.
  'The Afghan Representatives will be decided by Jalil Kaar V himself exactly four days from now.  Over the next three days you will all be put through three tasks testing your endurance, logical and critical thinking, and talent on the battlefield.'
  'Wait, battlefield?' a girl near the front exclaimed.  'We were told this was a desk job!'
  'Critical thinking.  You should assume that people are lying to you.' the NUR soldier drawled.  'Are you done, or should I have you thrown out of the running?'
  The girl opened her mouth to continue arguing, but he continued before she could make a sound.
  'Candidates with the lowest scores will be eliminated at the end of each day and escorted back home.  All twenty four of you get your own quarters to sleep in between exams.  Are there any questions?'
  A boy to the left of Azah and Zahi put his hand up.
  'Yeah, if you get become AR, what do you have to do?'
  The soldier gave him a once over. 
  'I don't think you'll have to worry about that.'
 
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