I gasped in the dark. The floor hummed and I curled my fingers into fists as the screen on the wall began to glow.
"Don't forget to keep your eyes on the monitor and your feet in place." The attendant's voice was back again, and just as quickly it was gone.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a flicker of movement. With a flutter of its delicate wings, a butterfly landed in the centre of the screen.
Zooming closer, the image became less a wing and more a honeycomb of color, its individual cells undulating from blushing crimson to earthy ochre, regal indigo to bottle green. As the pattern repeated itself, faster and faster, sparks flew behind my eyes and notes began to play, in time with the rhythm of changing hues.
The music wasn't coming from a speaker within the giant egg; no, it bloomed and flowed inside me, like the colors were teasing notes out from a dark hiding place deep inside my brain. Six months had passed since I began seeing music, and now I was hearing color, too.
What's happening to me?
My heart beat fast as the melody began to play with greater intensity, notes dancing, soaring, diving and building to a crescendo as a kaleidoscope of color swirled onscreen.
Then, with a click, the monitor shut off, plunging the egg back into darkness, cutting my brain-song off at its melodic knees.
"Thank you for your patience. The scan's over now and everything went just fine." The attendant's voice scraped against my tender brain and I placed sweaty palms over my ears to try and dull the sound. "In a second I'm going to lift the lights and open the doors so you can move on to the next station."
Warm light spread through the compartment and the panels on either side of the egg made a whooshing sound as they came to life. Opening up, they revealed the line of students moving through the stations along the corridor.
Blinking, I shook my head and stepped out of the compartment.
Stepping back in line, I spotted Gracie across the hall. Her brow was furrowed, a stark contrast to her usual wide smile. I wondered what she'd seen inside the egg to make her frown.
"Over here, please." A third attendant called me over, her birdlike features complimented by a cap of cloud-white hair and bright blue eyes. She sat at a small table beside an interactive kiosk. Another student was standing in front of the booth's monitor, their left hand resting flat on a ledge beneath the screen. Before I could take a closer look, the woman waved at me to sit down.
"Hi there, I'm June. Can I see your wristband please?"
Raising my wrist as I'd done twice before, I let June pass a device over the band until it beeped. Turning the gadget over to read its screen, she paused for a minute before resting her eyes on me.
"Ok, dear," she smiled warmly. "Before heading to the kiosk, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Please sit down."
"Ok?" I settled into the seat in front of her and clasped my clammy hands together.
"Not to worry — there's no right or wrong answer. The questions just help us get to know you better by telling us what's important to you. Is that okay?"
"I guess." Shifting in my seat, I looked down at my lap as June lifted a tablet and stylus from the table.
"Good! Onto our first question, then. Is there a situation in which you would you ever steal?"
My head jolted up, and I looked into June's piercing blue eyes as my eyebrows knitted together.
"What? No, of course not."
"Please don't take offence to the question, it's simply a moral dilemma to gauge your belief system." June smiled, showing a row of tiny white teeth, like a string of pearls.
"Okay," I worked to smooth my expression, not wanting to offend her.
"Moving on now, would you ever steal if a friend asked you to?"
"No." The answer was simple enough; I'd never stolen anything in my life.
"Would you steal if it meant you'd save the life of someone you love?" June tilted her head expectantly.
I sat back in my chair and gnawed at my lip. "I mean ... if someone I loved would die otherwise ..."
"So you're saying you would steal?" Her fingers rapped lightly against the table-top.
I sighed. "In that case I would steal, but not because I wanted to do it."
"Okay, that answer will do." June tapped her stylus against the tablet a few times and I rubbed my palms together as I waited for her to stop.
"Now, I'll describe a scenario and I'd like you to share which action you'd be most likely to take given the choices at hand." June paused for a second to swipe at her tablet, like she was carefully following a script.
"Imagine you have arrived in a hospital waiting room. Around you, there are four individuals needing assistance. The first is a nurse who suddenly drops her case files all over the floor; the second is a gentleman wearing a cast who slips and falls on the freshly mopped floor; the third is a crying child; the fourth is an elderly woman walking very slowly with a cane as she tries to find a seat. Who do you help first?"
Hm. I rolled the options around in my brain. The nurse can pick up her own files. The gentleman with the cast would probably have a hard time getting off the floor on his own. The child needs help, but leaving them to cry for another minute likely won't change their scenario. And the elderly woman doesn't seem in distress.
"I'd help the man in the cast first."
June tilted her head again, peering at me from across the table. "And why did you choose him?"
"Because his situation seems most urgent.
The nurse is capable of cleaning up her own mess and she's likely too distracted to notice him. The child would take a few minutes to soothe, but the man needs immediate help. And the elderly woman is moving slow but she isn't in distress."
"Mm-hm." June's response was non-committal.
Should I have picked someone else? Whatever, June. I was getting tired of her questions already.
"The final question has multiple parts. Please answer yes or no based on how the statements relate to you." Tablet and stylus at the ready, June cleared her throat.
"Do you love your parents?"
What kind of question is that? "Of course," I blurted.
"Yes or no, please."
"Yes." Pressing my lips together, I let air slowly escape through my nostrils to avoid a full-on sigh.
"Do you enjoy new experiences?"
"Yes."
"Do you look forward to your Mendel experience?"
I blinked. "Yes."
"Will you support your friends in their Mendel experience, even when you don't understand the methods used to help fulfill their destiny?"
What does that even mean? "Yes."
"Will you trust your mentors during your own PACK training, even when you don't understand their methods to help fulfill your destiny?"
Are we almost done? "Yes."
Adding a few last taps to her tablet, June looked up, beaming. "Well done!" Pushing her chair away from the table she stood, spry on her feet, and pointed to the kiosk. The student who had been standing there must have moved inside the Great Hall.
"Come on over and I'll activate the monitor. Good for you; you're almost finished!"
Sneaking a nonchalant look across the corridor, I spied Gracie still answering questions from a June of her own. I hoped we'd finish up soon; I couldn't wait to trade notes with her.
"Well? Are you coming?"
Nodding quickly, I followed June's fuzzy white halo as she stepped up to the kiosk, pulled a small key from her pocket, and used it to turn on the monitor.
***
Marin's having an eventful introduction to Meta, and the day hasn't officially started yet, huh? How would you feel if you were in her shoes? Would love to hear your thoughts and please remember to vote!