Trials

Chapter 2

The air was thick with heat and humidity, the kind that made you feel like you had a blow-dryer on your face constantly and made my black tank top stick to my skin the minute I stepped outside. My Mother and I were in the car on our way to my monthly testing for RINS. It was customary for everyone to take exams once a month. The government wanted to ensure that people were cured as quickly as possible with RINS spreading as quickly as it was. I overheard a news story once while I was supposed to be sleeping that almost all the Purlieus region was wiped out and the Bellatoria region was down to the West coast only. Mom was taking a holo-call from a client while I perused the latest article on emerging nanochip technologies. We approached the building quicker than I expected, and my Mother seamlessly transferred her call to her holo on her jack. She was very good at her job and even doctor’s appointments wouldn’t get in the way of that.

The Testing Facilities exterior did nothing to make you feel more comfortable. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The large seamless glass rectangle was all sharp angles. The sun gleamed off the surface, creating blinding light, so you couldn’t look at the building for too long. The holo sign above the main entrance read “Testing Facility – Dr. Fuchai” in bold crimson letters, the only color in an otherwise bleak concrete and glass building. Once inside, my Mother and I stepped up to the concrete desk to check in. The AI politely greeted us and asked for our names. Mother waved her hand at me in annoyance, silently pleading for me to take care of this. I finished the business of signing in and motioned my mother over to the waiting metal chairs in 6 neat rows. Everything in Aurum was thought out with efficiency in mind.

Her call with her client was getting increasingly hostile and the people around us were starting to stare. I nestled into a book on the mechanics of a fusion engine preparing for a rather long wait to see Dr. Fuchai and trying to hide my embarrassment at my mother’s complete lack of concern for her surrounding environments. With all the distraction, I couldn’t focus on the book in front of me and my mind started to wander to the impending test. No matter how many times I received this mandatory monthly test, I couldn’t shake the anxiety that bubbled up each time. RINS was horrific, and no one took it lightly. The outbreak of RINS happened so quickly that people barely had time to react, it was an international epidemic nearly overnight…new forms of RINS were being discovered on a steady basis. Statistically, it was on the rise to a level that would kill the human race within a few centuries. I looked up from my book and studied my Mom for a moment, the way she couldn’t wait to get to her point while someone else was talking and the glint in her eye when she proved them wrong which was unmistakable to me. She loved a good competition and had an uncanny ability to always look put together. She had the dimensions of a ballerina with long thin legs and almost no curves. Her clothes were always wrinkle free and perfectly neutral, they mostly consisted of suits in various shades of black, white, beige. Her big weekend rebellion was khaki-colored Capri pants. Her auburn hair was always styled in a chin-length bob with a blunt fringe that hit just above her eyebrows with nary a hair out of place and her light green eyes blazed with fierceness at all times. She was not a risk-taker in any part of her life. I wasn’t sure how my dad and Mom fit together sometimes. He was a very different kind of successful person and, in my mind, they were like oil and water, but somehow, it worked for them.

A red-haired nurse with crisp white scrubs that were slightly too tight over her round stomach opened the door and called me in.

“Luella Hoster come this way please. I am Nurse Yuki, I will be conducting your scan today.” She led me down a brightly lit hallway with concrete walls and steel exam room doors. “How are you today honey?”, she said as she readied the machine for my scan and pulled out the foul-smelling and tasting drink I would be required to choke down before the scan.

“I’m well, thank you.” I said with a practiced tone that was born of repetition. My Mother was trailing behind us into the exam room screaming at whomever was on the phone that it was impossible to have the product ready for that launch date. The red-haired nurse looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

The nurse was looking down at her jack, presumably at my chart, as she said, “I just need to take your vitals and weight. Please undress fully, drink all of this, and step on the platform for a full scan.”

I hate this part; I feel so vulnerable standing in front of someone I don’t know with no clothes on. Although my mother has me on Metriplex, which simulates exercise and keeps me in peak physical condition and I routinely strength train, I can’t help but feel awkward standing up here on the freezing cold platform butt naked.

“OK Miss Hoster, you may step down now and get dressed. The doctor will be in shortly.” Nurse Yuki said as she typed on her forearm noting my vitals.

“Oh, thank Heilah! I mean…thank you.” I sputtered.

Nurse Yuki gave me a bit of a smirk and turned to leave the room. My Mother has finally finished her call, and she is clearly fuming about the outcome of it, so I keep quiet.

“Luella, do you think you can handle this visit with the doctor on your own? I really need to go next door and get a coffee. I have to change the entire schedule for the presentation tomorrow, and it’s going to require me staying up most of the night.” my mother said with an exasperated look.

“Of course, Mother, I’m 17, so I think I can handle a routine checkup with you next door.” I rolled my eyes for dramatic effect, and she gave me a loud sigh in return.

“OK, no need for your sarcasm Luella. I’ll be right back.” As she turned away, I saw her shoulders tense from real stress, and I felt a twinge of guilt about my bratty comment.

Dr. Fuchai came in shortly after my mother’s departure. He looked distracted, and a bit disheveled. Looking at some charts on his jack, as if he was behind schedule. He stopped for a moment to look up at me from his swivel chair. “Luella Hoster, pleasure to see you again. How are you feeling?” he said in a rushed, clipped tone of voice.

“I feel fine. I'm strength training regularly and taking my Metriplex. I haven’t had a cold in months so, yep, I’m good.” I said with a lazy smile.

Dr. Fuchai looks around as if he is just noticing his surroundings for the first time. “Where is your Mother Luella?”

I'm sure it's nothing. I'm sure it's just elevated blood sugar, or a cold. I managed to squeak out, “she ran next door to get a coffee. I told her I could handle the appointment alone,” Usually, Dr. Fuchai comes in and says 'you look perfect. I’ll see you in 3 months.' My stomach starts to do tiny flip-flops and dizziness takes over.

“I am not accustomed to providing these details without a parent or guardian present.” He opens the door and calls out. “Nurse Yuki, can you join us in here.” The red-haired nurse reappears at the door and stands tentatively behind Dr. Fuchai. He explains that my mother is not here, and he would like a witness present. Nurse Yuki looks puzzled for a moment and then her eyes glaze with the beginnings of tears. That's when the dizziness started to overtake me.