The Coordinate

Chapter 4: First Test Phase

Busy chatter filled the halls of the facility. People around her conversed with each other. There too many voices in various volumes all over the place, that even her footsteps were drowned by them. She made her way to the left side of the massive building, following the holomap projected from her hands. Individuals and groups of other students were doing as she did, looking at the holograms on their hands and following the directions. Each capability test for each career was handled in different rooms, so it was unavoidable that one would be separated from their friend groups. 

Her steps were heavy, her chest pumping, and air was hard to take in. Sweat dripped from her temple and her neck as she tried to recall everything she had studied and learned about. She now hated hearing what Jordan said to her last night... about the 0.7% passing rate. She knew becoming a spacer was not an easy task. In the world, there were only 112 registered spacers.

That was 112 out of twenty-nine billion people, even if one were to assume that only 0.7% of the world's population wanted to be a spacer, that was roughly two hundred million people. It was a rough career, but one that was funded generously by the NWIC and even has the honor of being looked over by the Dr. Raven, the smartest man in the world, himself. If Jordan, her, Rori, everyone that passed the Selection, and literally everyone in this facility was the 1% of the world, then being a spacer required someone to be the 1% of the 1%.

Winter didn't know if she was one of that, or if she could even get close. Jordan most probably, but goddamn it, how desperately she wanted to become it.

Finally, she arrived at the cosmo career sector, where other people entered and stood beside the entrances. She scanned the different doors largely separated with each other, reading their respective careers. 

 Aero space Engineer... Astrobotany... Astronaut...Astronomy... Spacial Borers... Spacer! There, on the far left. She walked to the door, then stopped and inhaled deep. She fixed her hair, fixed the folds of her uniform, and drew circles on her palm with her fingers and eating it.

She took one more deep breath before taking out the coin from her pocket and sliding it into the door slot. With a satisfied beep, the door parted before her, and she retrieved the coin afterwards. 

The room wasn't a room at all, more like a mall's atrium. The walls were laden with lots of panels, tech, wires, and simulation modules. Many people stayed in rows of glass pods, blankly looking on the holograms projected from their palm. Other pods were empty, though their doors were open, as if they were just used recently. 

She walked around, observing what it was she needed to do. She soon found a vacant pod with an unopened door, and contemplated whether she should enter it or not.

Would getting in so start the test? What if this wasn't actually a part of the test and was just a waiting lounge of some sort? Wait, waiting lounges don't have these kinds of pods.

"You're supposed to get in the pod," a voice with a foreign accent said. Winter looked around and found a blonde, blue-eyed, human girl inside a pod just across the one she picked.

"Er..."

The woman was scanning her it seemed, from the shoes she's wearing to her uniform to her hair.

"Hmm, you don't look like spacer material."

Winter almost furrowed her brows, "Ex...cuse me?"

"Ah, forgive me. I was telling you to get in the pod. It scans you to let it see if your body structure fits the minimum requirement to become a spacer. See the other pods with their doors open?" the girl said, pointing to the pods Winter had already seen before.

Winter nodded,

"They were used by people who were deemed unfit to become a spacer, and if the pods don't accept you, you don't get to take the test."

"They're already going to start eliminating people without even starting?" Winter replied.

"What can we do? It's a prerequisite. Being a spacer is a rougher walk of life than a marine or a weapon carrier. Can't have unconditioned people risking their lives for nothing, can we?"

Winter gulped. She had already heard of other spacers never returning. Out of the 231 spacers that had been launched for a mission, 171 spacers were the only ones to return, and only 99 of them were still active now.

Truly, it was a dangerous job, where returning home could mean countless years had passed, and that your friends and families could have already died. Yes, she knew well about this, and t'was the reason why she never made any other friends or interacted with the few family that she had left, except Jordan and Rori, of course, which she didn't need to worry about too much.

"Hey," started Winter, "When will the test start?"

"The room will be locked at 2:30, of which, everyone should have already scanned themselves in the pod. Anyone who fails to do so is already disqualified for the remainder of this year's series." the woman said. "And it's 2:21, so you better hurry."

Winter gulped. "Thanks."

She opened the pod's door and got in. Blue light flashed on her eyes, but it wasn't painful or intense. The light slowly lowered from her head to her feet. Her lungs stood still, her heart beating fast. God didn't exist, but that fact didn't stop her from praying to some force out there to just let qualify...

The blue light disappeared, and a panel stand ejected from floor. It had three buttons, one in the center, and two on the left and right with arrows glowing on it, and a slot where she assumed the coin should go in.

She retrieved the coin from her pocket and placed it in. The panel suddenly projected a hologram. It was a list of her basic bodily information, like blood type, genetic conditions, ancestry ties, and other things she couldn't care less about with checks and exs. She assumed the checks meant that part about her was qualified, and the exes meant it wasn't.

She tapped the button pointing right, and this time, it was a list of more information like fat composition, platelet numbers, immune system strength, cell growth speed, synapse speed, and other things, all of which had mostly checks. She smiled. Perhaps that was a good thing.

She tapped the button again, but it no longer worked. Instead, she pressed the button in the center. The hologram changed into a green light, and with the sentence, 'Qualified: You may wait for the proctor.'

She exhaled, and pumped her fist in the air, "Yes!"

"Oh, you got greenlit? Seems like I've judged wrong. Sorry about that," the blonde girl said across her.

Winter nodded at her kindly, then tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.She tried opening it again, but it wouldn't.

"Err..."

"The message said read wait for the proctor, didn't it? I assume we're not allowed to leave the pod to confirm who passed the test much quicker. Don't worry, you can do all kinds of things while you wait. That guy over there has been waiting since 11 o' clock. And I've been waiting since 9."

"I see. Thanks."

"What school are you from? That button on your uniform tells me you're from America, but you don't look American."

"Protostar Academy, Alaska."

"Oh, that snowy, northern place. I'm from Germany. Sorensschule School, Stuttgart. My name's Kara."

Winter nodded.

"Hey, come on. Trying to spark a conversation here. Why do you have to be so standoffish?"

Winter pursed her lips and gave her a nervous smile. The door she came from opened again, but this time, a novasapien came in, dressed in a full spacer tightsuits. His horns were filed down, glowing a faint scarlet. He walked to the center of the room, where everyone in every single pod can see him. He scanned the room before taking a deep breath. 

"Congratulations to the 56 of you who passed this year's Selection, and even more so for matching the NWIC approved standards." He pointed to himself, "I'm Potoo Kastellar, an active spacer.  I'm sure most, if not all of you weren't aware that there was a prerequisite, and you all may think that's unfair. Believe me I was also shocked when I first started, but this is the very core of what it is to be a spacer--to expect the unexpected. I believe that phrase is commonly mouthed among influencers and teachers." He cleared his throat. "As a spacer, your missions will vary, but generally speaking, it is to venture to the cosmos and find anything of use, then come back to Earth. Be it an asteroid belt full of resources, intelligent life, habitable planets, or microplanets rich of core materia. In a spacer ship, you will work alone or with another spacer. You will have to make use of the resources given to you, and make sure to survive no matter what. This is a dangerous profession, and I commend all of you for wanting to take such a role regardless of your reasons. For unlike astronauts or any shuttles that require a crew, you will be alone with your partner, and your minds will be connected to the ship. Everything you feel, think, and want to do, the ship will react and move accordingly. It will take a toll on your mental and physical health if you're not careful, and times may have changed on Earth for when you eventually return just like what happened to me and the very first spacer, Osprey Phoenix, who have found life in another planet, and came back after 60 years. 

The door on the pod suddenly opened.

"In any case, you can still change your mind right now. It is not too late to take up another capability test and walk another path in life. If any of you have second thoughts, you may leave. If not, close the door of your own volition."

Creaking sounds followed by bangs reverberated throughout the room. Winter quickly closed the door. Her mind was already made up years ago.

She looked around the room and found nobody exiting their pods. Guess their decision was just as firm as hers was.

"Good," he said, clapping his hands. The wall mounting the simulation modules was suddenly raised into the ceiling into the ground.

A droning sound came from above her. She looked up and saw the devices slowly being lowered. She caught it with her hands, turning it around and feeling it. It was black and smelled like metal fresh from the factories. There were wires lodged inside the helmet and a glass overlaying the eyes.

"Now, without a moment to waste, let's begin the first phase of testing; Drift Compatibility. Put the simulation modules on and find out how your mind can handle the strain of being connected to a spacer ship. I will now leave you to it."

Winter did as instructed, putting the headpiece on her head. With a flick of a switch on top of the device, a sea of blackness consumed her senses. Her head heated up, her stomach started to churn, and her head started to spin. She steeled herself, forcing her hands away from the helm to remove it. Air was barely reaching her lungs, and with every breath she took, the air became thinner and thinner. Her arms became weak, starting to droop down like wet noodles. Her legs crumpled beneath her, and her head banged onto the glass wall of the pod.

She removed the simulation module from her head with the remaining strength of her fingers and started controlling her breathing. It was as if her stamina was being sapped from her body.

Two taps came from behind her, and she turned around to see the proctor eyeing her. "Fail, huh?"

Winter panned her gaze around the room. There were some who still remained calm and collected with the headpieces on, including that German girl across her, while others were gasping for air and trembled on the floor of their pods just like her.

The proctor then cleared her throat, "Remember people, drift compatibility is how well you and the ship is able to merge. It scrambles your brain and rewires parts of it to make you and the ship become one. Its mastery is the difference between a spacer that's able to accomplish his mission and a spacer lost in vast depths of space. You have until 4 o' clock to be able to accomplish this. Try again or give up. The choice is yours."

Winter clenched her jaw and forced her hands to move, putting the helmet again.

She did so over and over again, taking small breaks in between putting the device on. Hours passed like minutes. She had only one thing in her mind, and it was louder than the pain, stronger than the spinning and nausea, and that was that she must make it. She needed to pass this phase. She won't forgive herself if she-

"Enough." the proctor announced, "To the 21 that passed the first phase, congratulations.  I will  see you tomorrow. To the rest, do not be dissuaded by trying other capability tests. You can have a future in space, if you so  desire to. You are all dismissed."

The proctor left the room, and one by one, with air pumps and sighs of relief, the chosen few left the room while the failures like her took a moment...

"Hey," that blonde girl called again, "Sorry about that. Don't blame yourself. This profession just isn't for anyone."

"I know." Winter replied bitterly, sitting on the pod with her arms around her knees, "I know that better than anyone,"

"Well, like the proctor said, don't be dissuaded, there are other space related jobs that-"

"Please," Winter glared at her, "Stop talking to me."

The girl recoiled, "W-well, okay..." she said, then walked away.

Winter took a deep breath, wondering what now. Surely she  can try again, right? She can just talk to the proctor tomorrow and ask for another chance. Maybe through determination and persistence she can move that guy's heart and allow her another chance? What if-

"Winter," a familiar voice said, "Your test's over right? Come on, get out of your pod. I'm here to pick you up." it was Jordan. Winter turned to him, he was wearing a subtle smile, like he was  happy or relieved of something.

Her blood boiled, her fingers balled into a fist. She knew damn well why he was relieved.

"Go away. How did you even know my test already ended?"

"I was waiting outside for two hours. I've already finished two first phase tests and passed both."

"Don't show off when I'm upset, you incorrigible a*s. I said go away."

"You're dizzy and nauseated,  aren't you? You can't go back to your room easily like that."

"Go away, Jordan."

"Hey, come on. I mean, you can always take up safer professions, you-"

"Listen to me and go away!" Winter shouted.

Gazes from all over burned at her skin and her periphery caught curious, surprised faces turning to her, but she didn't care.

She wasn't stopping here. She couldn't... she shouldn't....

The ground suddenly rumbled, intensifying with every second. 

"Alert!" a speaker blared, echoing throughout the walls, "Unknown phenomenon detected. Commencing safety protocol. Advisors and staffs, please guide the students to the lower levels of the ship."