Here's what I have so far:
Chapter 1 The Birthday
Three days until the end of the Krypteia
“Happy Birthday!” Jessika exclaimed while giving her brother an exaggerated hug from behind followed by an equally unwelcomed kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, sis” grumbled her twin brother Jayce. “Did you know that they once considered your 18th birthday the year you became a ‘man’?” Jessika asked trying to sound coy. Jayce rolled his eyes at the emphasis in her voice. It was only 8AM and she was already out to goad him. “Yes” he replied annoyed. Jessika open the refrigerator while acting like she hadn’t heard him. “Isn’t that funny? They thought that it was just some magical number or something. You hit 18 and that was it!” She had her head buried in the door looking intently for something. “Jess, give it a break. It is my birthday after all.” Jessika made an excited noise and emerged from the fridge with a sausage. “What? I’m just making conversation,” Jessika said amused with herself while she got a knife out of a drawer.
“Jessika…,” their mother frowned as she entered the kitchen, “stop giving your brother a hard time. You know this is stressful for the boys. Besides, they are technically men at 18 even today.” “No they aren’t,” Jessika replied quickly with a scowl. Catherine sighed and ignored her. Jessika laid the sausage out on a cutting board and began to slice it. “I’m not really trying to give him a hard time,” she said, “I just want him to know it’s ok if it doesn’t work out.” Jessika punctuated her sentence with loud chop of sausage. “Most guys don’t make it, obviously. It’s really not the end of the world if he fails,” she said casually with another loud chop. Jayce recognized the repeated mantra of his instructors in her voice. Indeed, the majority of his classmates would not pass this first of four yearly Krypteias. Logically one shouldn’t be afraid of it. You either pass or you do not, either result just being how it was, but Jayce found as he got closer to the fated day that he grew more terrified. He dare not let his sister see it, however.
“Stop trying to make him nervous. Besides, he’s going to do just fine. He’s already aced the intellect battery,” their mother said with her usual optimism. Jayce traced the rim of his empty cup while recalling the events of last week. After 5 full days in the processor, he certainly didn’t feel like he had passed. But, the results came in and he had done well - really well. The news had made Catherine beam with pride the entire weekend, but somehow it gave Jayce no relief. You couldn’t prepare for the second stage of the Krypteia, but it stressed Jayce out far more than the battery ever did. It could be worse, he reminded himself. Many of his classmates already knew they were done.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jessika said dismissively, “but no one really cares about that.” Catherine gave her daughter an exasperated look, “You should care about that! It’s very important. You’re 18 today as well so act like it! You could have done a bit better on your battery!”. “Obviously that whole 18 thing doesn’t apply to girls either,” Jayce quipped. Jessika flicked a piece of sausage at him. “Whatever, I passed,” Jessika said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s going to do fine,” their mother reassured. She looked at Jayce with a confident smile, “He’s got it in him. He can do it.” Jayce forced a smile back at his mother. He wished he could believe her, but he knew it was going to be close.
“Now, it is your birthdays, you are both 18, and I think we should do something extra special.” Catherine walked across the kitchen to retrieve a plain envelope on her desk. She held it up in front of them while barely able to contain the excitement in her voice. “Tonight, we are all going to…” She pulled three large tickets out of the envelope and put them in a fan on the table. They were made with a heavy stock paper and outlined with gold foil edges. Across the face was a strange arrangement of holograms and antiquated ink prints. Jayce had never seen a paper ticket before. Jessika’s eyes went wide as she realized what her mom had. “... the New Seattle Coliseum!” Catherine exclaimed. “Mom…” Jayce said stunned. Tickets to a show were notoriously expensive. “Who is the Ammissarius?” Jessika asked practically screaming, “Oh my god whooo?!”. Catherine’s eyes sparkled while she tested her daughter’s limited patience before finally revealing the answer, “Jason Roughes.” Jessika squealed with delight. Jayce gave his sister a funny look. “But he’s so old,” he said. Jessika looked at her brother with contempt. “Shut up. He’s the best.” Jessika’s favorite Ammissarius was no secret. A poster of Jason Roughes hung in her bedroom, though he was probably 20 years younger in that poster. “He is quite something,” Catherine said softly. Jayce stared at the tickets on the table. He knew this was a big deal; he had never been to a show before. Sure, they had watched them on the net, but to see one in person was an unusual treat. Yet, Jayce didn’t feel excited about it. It was just another aspect of modern society that bewildered him, and would soon test him.
Chapter 2 Advancing the Human Condition
Two days until the end of the Krypteia
Jayce was having a hard time concentrating. Even though history was usually one of his favorite subjects, this material had all been covered before. Most likely this was all being reviewed because of the Krypteia. They want to make sure we all remember why they are going to butcher us, Jayce thought to himself.
“Now, who can tell us approximately when did the species begin to separate?” asked Professor Norland, his eyes gazing about his half-asleep class. He found is unsuspecting target. “Gage!” Gage reacted to his name with a startle. “Uh, around the latter half of the 21st century, Professor.” “Very good, and Jessika what was the primary instrument of this event?” “Mass availability and encouragement of birth control in the upper classes”, Jessika said in a monotone voice as if imitating a teaching projection. They had all heard this many times before. “Good, good. Ok kids, that’s all our time today. I know this is a stressful time for a lot of you. Trust me, I went through it too. Just remember why we’re doing it - you’re advancing the human race! You know the lesson history has taught us all.” “Yeah”, Gage quipped under his breath to Jayce, “we learned evolution is a bitch. I bet that D2 clown wasn’t so chipper when it was his turn.” Gage was referring to Professor Norland’s classification. A D2 clearly indicated that Norland had not passed. Every male received one during each Krypteia. More specifically, it was an EC or Endowment Classification. The EC was only one of a number of physical criteria used to create your total Krypteia Evaluation Score, but no one ever cared about that. Everyone could see how tall you were or how symmetrical your face was. Your EC is what everyone discretely cared about, and not having a sufficient EC would fail you outright. In two days, Gage and Jayce would have one themselves.
Jayce, Gage, and Jessika went out to the sallyport where their group normally hung out. Colton and his girlfriend Lexie were already there chatting quietly to themselves. “If I have to endure one more review about the Fall, or the War, or any of this genetic apocalypse bullshit that they’ve been cramming down our throats since Year 1…”, fumed Gage. “Tell me about it,” agreed Colton angrily. Lexie put her hand on his thigh in hopes of calming him. The guys were clearly stressed out. “Lex, you going to be ok?” asked Jessika. Lexie took a deep breath. Everyone knew she was at risk of failing on height. “We checked last night and I’m right on the limit. So..” she said nervously. “You got it, I know you do!” Jessika cheered. “What about you, Jayce?” Colton asked. Everyone knew he was asking about EC. All three of the boys were obvious passing candidates in all other criteria. Jayce shuffled his feet. “Well, according to those templates Roy gave us I should make it, but you know those are based on the old numbers”, Jayce said. Colton nodded, “yeah, it’s going to be close for me.” “Me too,” said Jayce. “I know you’ll past. Trust me!” Lexie said to her boyfriend while giving him a peck. “And so will you!” came the cheery voice of Eva from behind them. Jayce nearly fell at the sound of her voice. “Hey!!” Jessika exclaimed while hugging Eva. The fact that his sister was close friends with the widely acknowledged hottest girl in the school was always difficult for Jayce. Whenever Eva was around he couldn’t think straight. “Jayce is going to pass easily. I can tell! I’ve got a great feeling about it!” Eva beamed at Jayce, who couldn’t really manage a reply other than “uh”. “Oh stop torturing him”, Jessika said annoyed. “He’s going to be great!”, Eva insisted, “Now, everyone stop being so dreary for a moment because we’ve got something important to discuss. Jessicakes and I have been putting together the most awesome post-Krypteia party the world has ever seen. It’s going to be at my place this Friday after everyone finishes. We’re going to put all this behind us and celebrate!” Jessika and Lexie gave cheers while the boys remained mute. “Oh come on, stud,” Eva poked Jayce in the chest, “it’s going to be a blast!” “Did you call my name, baby?” came the voice of Jax, Eva’s boyfriend. Jayce looked at him with envy. Jax Springer, the senior, the senior with an A7 classification. A7. It thundered through Jayce’s mind. He was the biggest guy in the school and Eva would have it no other way. “Hey! I was just telling them about the party!” she exclaimed. Jax gave Jayce a suspicious look. “Seems like these guys are ready for a drink now”, he said. The group laughed, Jayce couldn’t help but agree with him.
Submitted February 08, 2017 at 11:23AM by voxl11 http://ift.tt/2kpSa4i dirtypenpals
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