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“Is that her?”
Oliver turned to the dark-haired girl next to him.
“Janelle, d’you think that’s her? She doesn’t seem so bad. All this time I been so worried about the Tests that I just figured all Structors was scary like Edd, the Structor who taught us when we were little, remember that? But really, this lady doesn’t seem so-yeouch!”
He rubbed his arm, sidling away from the sharp pinch Janelle had just given him.
“Hey Janelle, that’s gonna bruise! It’s gonna be there for days, you know how bad bruises show up on my skin! Why’d you have to go an’ pinch me like that?”
“Because you won’t shut up! I’m trying to listen,” the little girl whispered between clenched teeth. She turned pointedly back to the redheaded woman who was coming toward their little group. Oliver grumbled and, still rubbing his arm, also settled down to listen.
“Hello children, my name is Molly. Welcome to the Instructors’ Guild! Now, I know you’re all probably nervous about being here, but I promise that as long as you try and do your very best, you’ll be just fine. Let’s get you all settled in, and then we can talk about the week to come over some dinner.”
The word “dinner” was music to Oliver’s ears. It seemed like days since the bread and cheese his mother had given him for breakfast before he boarded the oxcart with the other Smiths’ children. He’d waited as long as he could before pulling it out of his pocket and eating it, but that had been hours ago. He was famished.
“Hey Oliver, come on!” Janelle shouted, gesturing imperiously for her best friend to hurry up.
Oliver snapped out of his reverie and ran to catch up with the others. He and the other boys were shown to their dormitory, a long room lined with beds along the walls. The girls continued down the hall, to end up in a dormitory on the other side of the building. At the foot of each bed was a trunk, where the boys could stow their belongings during their two-week stay at the Hall. Being the youngest (and by far the smallest) of a large family, Oliver didn’t have much in the way of personal possessions. Just a couple of linen shirts, some linen pants and the sturdy leather apron that all Smiths owned to protect them from the hot metal they worked with. He also had the pair of boots he was wearing, a pair of soft suede shoes for indoors, and a small guitar that his oldest brother had made for him. He carefully stowed his shoes and pants, wrapped the guitar in the shirts to protect it, and then turned to survey his surroundings.
The other boys were all his age, around nine or ten, and of varying sizes and backgrounds. Oliver noted with disappointment that, even here, he was still the smallest. He wished Janelle could be here with him, but there was really no way she could stay in the boys’ hall, and he certainly didn’t want to sleep in the girls’ hall. He brushed his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes and straightened his shirt. He didn’t need Janelle to protect him. He could do this.
Janelle. The charming, strong-willed little brunette had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. She was strikingly beautiful for a girl so young, with wide, dark eyes, olive skin, and a bow-shaped little mouth. It always seemed to Oliver that she was out of place in the rough, dirty Smith Guildhall, but she’d always managed just fine. She could charm just about any adult into doing exactly as she wanted, and had won enough play yard scuffles to secure the leadership of the other Smiths’ children as well. The other boys in the Hall knew that if they ever picked a fight with Oliver (who made a tempting target, with his slight build, fine blonde hair, pale skin and nervous temperament) they would have to answer to Janelle. Oliver hadn’t been beat up in months.
But now, Janelle was on the other side of the building (might as well be the other side of the planet) and he was left to fend for himself. He had always known that his best friend couldn’t be with him during the Tests, but somehow, he’d hoped that she’d be there right up until he took them.
Of course, the Tests weren’t the frightening trial everyone made them out to be. Oliver knew that. All they did was see where a kid’s natural talents and abilities were, and make sure he got put in the right Guild, or with the Admin or Keepers, if that’s where he belonged. Since the last Disaster two generations ago, the Tests had become extremely important in making sure that everyone’s skills were put to the best use to benefit the entire community.
Edd, the Structor who had taught Oliver and the other Smith children the basics of Hexeven’s founding, early history, and current socio-political system (a term Oliver still didn’t entirely understand), had explained that originally, Hexeven (X7B35 to the planet’s original colonists) had not had any human life. People had come to the planet five generations ago from the original Earth, seeking release from crowded conditions, exorbitant prices for even basic resources, and the caustic atmosphere and polluted water supply. The 100,000 volunteers, ranging from scientists, laborers, administrators, soldiers, craftsmen, doctors and others, loaded the largest, most advanced starcraft to date and set a course for the newly identified X7B35, an Earth-type planet that had just been cleared for colonization, despite its distance from the mother planet.
The colonists brought with them sperm and eggs, as well as embryos held in stasis, of every Earth species that had demonstrated an ability to adapt to new planets. Cows, chickens, and several varieties of fish had made the cut, though turkeys were abandoned as too unintelligent to adapt, and pigs were crossed off the list for the damage hog farms tended to do to the surrounding environment. Horses and oxen, too, had joined the host of colonist species for use as beasts of burden and modes of transportation. Dogs and cats had been included as well, both for their emotional appeal and their uses as protectors and exterminators. As the planet already had a complement of indigenous insects, bacterial life, reptilian and small mammal life, and large sea creatures, none of these were brought.
Animals had not been the only cargo, of course. The colonists had also brought a healthy supply of plant seeds and seedlings, in order to ensure a well-rounded food supply and a balanced ecology. Because there were relatively few large life-forms on X7B35, environmental experts had recommended bringing a significant number of trees and other oxygen-emitters to maintain the atmospheric balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide after such an influx of creatures all exhaling CO2 at a rate far too high for the planet’s natural vegetation to manage. While some of the more delicate plant varieties, like rice and garlic, had not made the transition successfully, the new hardwood forests and wheat and cornfields, as well as any number of household vegetable gardens, were as healthy (if not healthier) as any back on Earth.
Everything went quite well for the colonists. They quickly settled into their new home, establishing farms and workshops to produce the food and goods the population would need, and starting X7B35’s first native generation, both animal and human. Unfortunately, about ten years into the endeavor, a terrible earthquake struck the burgeoning settlement, killing a third of its population instantly. A mad scramble had ensued to find a new location in which to settle, one that was both on solid bedrock (thus avoiding another quake) and had a deep enough soil layer to support farming. A couple of hard, famine-stricken years passed, but life continued. Another ten years or so passed, and the population of X7B35 (or Hexeven, as the population had begun calling their adopted home) settled in to re-establish the pastoral life they had started at their original settlement. Unfortunately, this second settlement had everyone living together, and this proved disastrous. A series of plagues swept the colony, each followed by a famine because there had been no one to work in the fields.
Now, two generations after the final plague and famine, Hexeven had recovered and was prospering once more. Thanks to the population requirement, every adult over the age of 25 had contributed at least once to the next generation, and all individuals were placed in organizations that allowed them to make the best use of their skills and natural abilities to the benefit of the entire society. The Tests, administered by the Instructors’ Guild when a child was approximately ten years of age, resulted in an apprenticeship to a Guild (the organizations of skilled craftsmen and professionals), the Admin (the organization responsible for the administration and health of Hexeven’s society) or the Keepers (the police force entrusted with keeping the peace).
Which, of course, was why Oliver found himself standing in a room full of unfamiliar faces with all he owned in the world tucked in a tiny chest at the foot of his temporary bed. He swallowed nervously, and then turned determinedly to the boy at the bed next to his.
“Hi there, I’m Oliver. I’m from the Smiths, how about you?” Addressing the strange boy was the bravest thing Oliver had done in weeks, and he waited anxiously for a response, hoping that he hadn’t just earned himself ridicule, rather than a friend.
His companion, a tall stocky boy with a freckled nose and wide, friendly face, eyed Oliver doubtfully. “Name’s Hanlon, from the Horsemasters’ Guild. You don’t look like any Smith I ever seen. Aren’t Smiths supposed to be big and tough?”
Oliver laughed nervously. “Even small guys can be Smiths. We do the delicate stuff, like jewelry and filigree for blades. Besides, aren’t Horsemasters supposed to be small and light for riding?” Inwardly, he winced. Smooth Oliver, smooth, he thought to himself.
Hanlon looked like he was about to take offense, but then his face broke into a grin. “Fair enough, Smith. Come on, I’ll introduce you to the boys from my cart. We all met on the ride over. Hey guys, come meet Oliver, of the Smiths!”
Oliver sighed in relief as Hanlon grabbed his new friend by the arm and pulled him over to a knot of four boys, who turned to greet the new arrivals. “Oliver, this is Jimmy, his parents are both Keepers.” Oliver nodded to the dark, curly-haired youth, who smiled and waved. “And these guys here are Bennett and Eben, from the Admin. They’re twins, obviously, but good luck figuring out who is who. They’ve been fooling us all day.”
Two boys with the darkest skin Oliver had ever seen smirked to each other and then turned back to the newcomer.
“Pleased to-“
“-meet you!”
“When you get to know us-“
“-we’re really easy to tell apart!”
“Yeah, for instance, Benny there is the quiet one-“
”And my brother Benny is the outgoing one!”
Oliver shook his head to clear it. The two bounced their sentences back and forth so often it was hard to tell from where each statement came. He suspected that he’d grow used to that with time. Hanlon just grinned. “Yeah, the Bennys are a lot to take in at first, but they’re hilarious. They drive grownups positively batty! Now then, this last fella is Kyle. He seems nice enough, but nobody’s heard him talk yet. We figure he’ll get around to it eventually.” He indicated a silent boy with jet-black hair who smiled and nodded to Oliver.
Oliver addressed the group: “Well, it’s nice to meet you all. I was worried I wouldn’t meet anyone while I was here.” He paused, then suggested a little timidly, “Now, I don’t mean to be the walking stomach in the room, but if we’re all done introducing ourselves, can we move our little party to the dining room? I’m starving!”
Hanlon laughed and clapped him on the back, not noticing when Oliver winced and staggered forward slightly. “My thoughts exactly. Lead on, Smith!”
The boys trouped down the hall, following their noses to the smells of grilled meat, roasted vegetables, baking bread, and other delectable odors that wafted on the evening air. When they arrived, they found that the hall was only about a third full, and that the long tables had each been set with plates, utensils, and a veritable feast. They quickly selected a table, sat down on the benches, and proceeded to load their plates with slices of beef, roasted terin (a celery-flavored tuber) in a mild broth, and thick pieces of warm bread. There was even a big crock of butter to spread on the bread, undeniably a luxury item. This was indeed a feast! The boys began to tuck in, reloading their plates several times. They paused only briefly, so that Oliver could introduce Janelle around when she arrived before she too loaded up and began to eat.
As the dessert course (fresh guarus and strawberries with cream) arrived, a lanky young man of perhaps twenty sat down next to Oliver’s group. He smiled affably at them, seemingly oblivious to their surprise and suspicion of suddenly being joined by an adult. “Hey everyone, I’m Michael. You all seem like you’ve already formed up a group of sorts, so why don’t we make it official? You can be my supervisory section for the next two weeks.”
The children all looked at each other, confused. Hanlon finally spoke up. “Um, sir? What’s a supervisory section? And, meaning no disrespect, sir, but who are you anyway?”
Their new tablemate laughed. “Please, stop with the ‘sir’ business. Michael is just fine. I’m a Structor, though I suppose I don’t look it. And your supervisory section is the group you’ll be spending your time with while you’re here. We try to break you into smaller groups so that we can keep track of you, make sure you get the attention you’ll need during Testing, and so you can make new friends. Each section has an adult supervisor, for obvious reasons. So how about it? Be my section for this Testing session? You’re certainly free to choose another supervisor if you prefer, but I will point out that the others are older than I am, and can be awful sticks sometimes.”
The children moved to the end of the table to discuss, leaving Michael to finish his dessert and try to look like he wasn’t listening. “I think this sounds like a good plan. We’ve all gotten along so far, right? And Michael does seem pretty nice,” Oliver piped up.
“Okay by me, only, what about the girl? Girls can be trouble,” Jimmy said, pointedly not looking in Janelle’s direction.
“Shows what you know. Girls can be handy. Adults always feel soft towards ‘em, treat them special. I think having a girl is a good idea,” Hanlon argued.
“Ahem,” Janelle coughed pointedly, joining the conversation. “I am right here, you know. And I’ll have you know that I am pretty good at manipulating adults, as your freckly friend there said. And besides, I’m the best fighter of the kids at the Smith Hall. Oliver can vouch for that.”
Oliver nodded quickly. “Oh yeah, Janelle’s tough. She’s the only reason I haven’t been pummeled by now, being small as I am. She’s my best friend, I’ll definitely vouch for her.”
The other boys turned to Jimmy, who shrugged. “Well, if Oliver says she’s all right, I’ll take that. It’s only two weeks, I guess.”
With that settled, the children quickly agreed that forming a section, with Michael as their leader, was a good plan. They returned to the table, where Michael was enjoying a mug of bismus, a hot, spiced beverage favored by many adults in the Guilds.
Janelle spoke first. “Well Michael, we’ve decided to be your section, if that’s still okay with you.” She smiled winningly, a smile Michael returned.
“Glad to hear it! From here on out, you’ll be known as the Green Section, and you report to me every morning at breakfast. Now then, what questions can I answer for you about Testing? You all must be dying of curiosity by now!”
The children all began talking at once. “How many tests we gotta take?” “Is this like tests in school, ‘cause I was never good at those.” “How long are they?” “What do we have to do?” “Are the tests hard?” “Do they hurt?” “What happens after the tests?” “Is my momma gonna know my scores?”
Michael jokingly shielded himself with his hands from their barrage of questions. “Woah, woah! Okay, everybody sit down. I see we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. First of all, no, the tests don’t hurt, but yes, some of them are hard. The purpose of these tests, if you remember from what the Structors who visited you when you were younger told you, is simply to see what you’re good at and what you’re not. Then, based on your scores, we recommend a placement for you in the Admin, the Keepers, or one of the Guilds. So if you’re really fast and strong, but you’re not very good at writing, then maybe you should be a Keeper. Or if you like to talk and write, but hate math, then maybe the Admin is for you. You can’t score badly on these tests, guys. You just have to try your best at all of them, and hopefully then we can find a place for you that best suits you. Does that make sense?”
The children all looked around at each other, then back at Michael, nodding slowly.
“Okay then. Some of the tests you’ll be taking. There’s one that’s a lot like the tests you took in school. It’s got history, geography, math, reading, that kind of stuff. Some questions are multiple choice, some true/false, and some ask you to write a sentence or two. It usually takes awhile to do, so we give you a whole day on that one, with breaks in between sections. Another test we give is a physical one, to see how fast you can run, how strong you are, how coordinated. We’ll test you for how well you can communicate, both writing and talking, as well as listening. We’ll do a couple of different tests to see how well you work with your hands, and one to see if you’re good with things like colors and shapes. Let’s see, what else? Oh, there’s one to test musical ability, too.”
At this point Oliver jumped in. “Wait, music? There isn’t a Music Guild, though. And how do you test music, anyway?”
“A very good question,” Michael replied. “First, I want to point out that while there isn’t a Music Guild, that doesn’t mean there won’t ever be one. There are a lot of people, Structors especially, who think a Music Guild would be an excellent addition to the Guild system. We’re working on trying to get one set up, but it’s slow going. For now, we test you for musical ability for two reasons. One, if you’re good at recognizing and repeating rhythmic patterns, then you’re probably good at manipulating other patterns, which means you’re probably good at math and science. The other is if you’re talented at the expressive side of music, you just might make a good Structor, because we use a lot of music when we teach.
“There are several things we do to test you for musical ability. One is to drum out rhythms on a drum or something and ask you to clap them back. Another is to play a series of notes and have you sing them back. We also might have you sing a few lines of a song, or play an instrument if you already know how.”
“But what happens if we get a placement we don’t like? Are we stuck with it?” Jimmy asked.
“Well, what we would ask you to do in a situation like that is to at least try your new placement. Be an apprentice for a couple months or so and see how it goes. If you still think you belong somewhere else, you are certainly welcome to come back here for a different assignment. Actually, that’s a common thing to do. We don’t always get it right on the first try, especially because we test so young. Sometimes your interests change, or you’re unusually good at writing at age ten, but never get any better. We would never ask that you stay in a field you hate, or that you’re just not good at, for the rest of your life.”
He clapped his hands at this point. “All right, I think that’s enough questions for one night. Go on back to your rooms, testing begins tomorrow. Meet me here at…oh, say, three hours past dawn for breakfast, and I’ll let you know what tests you’ll be taking and where to report.”
“Wait, you mean, you don’t know what test is tomorrow?” Janelle asked, looking a little worried.
“No, no,” Michael replied quickly. “See, we only have so many testers, so rather than give one test to all the children here at once, it’s easier to divide you into smaller groups and have you taking different tests at the same time so that all the testers are working at once. Does that make sense?”
Janelle thought it over. “No, but I guess as long as someone thinks it’s a good idea, I can go along.”
Michael chuckled. “Well, whatever works. Good night guys, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
The children all returned to their dormitories, chattering excitedly.
“Janelle, it’s her! That’s her, right? She’s got envelopes in her hand. Do you suppose those are our placements? Oh, I’m so nervous, I don’t know what to do! What if we get separated, huh? What then? And what if they made some horrible mistake and I hafta go apprentice someplace I hate for two months before I can change? That would be awful! OW!”
Oliver rubbed his arm and scooted away from his friend. “Nelle, why do you always have to pinch?”
She returned his gaze calmly. “Because you always talk too much! Would you please just calm down? I’m sure we’ll be put where we belong.”
Oliver couldn’t help fidgeting, but he did stop chattering. The last two weeks had flown by, and all he could remember was a confused blur of questions, writing, music notes and physical exertion. More exertion than he might have preferred, actually. And now, everyone had convened in the dining hall, waiting nervously for Molly to tell them their fates, which currently rested in a pile of sealed envelopes to her left. When she was sure that all were present, she rose and began handing stacks of envelopes to the section leaders, who in turn would distribute them to their waiting charges.
Michael approached Oliver and his friends, grinning broadly. “Well guys, the moment of truth. How you feeling?”
They all smiled nervously, never taking their eyes off of the seven sealed pieces of paper he held. Finally, he took pity on them and handed them out. The children ripped the envelopes open and began reading furiously.
Hanlon finished first. “A Smith! Hey Oliver, lookit! I’m to be a Smith!”
Janelle joined in then. “Hey, me too! Oh, my poppa will be so proud, I’m the only one of my sibs to apprentice Smith.”
Oliver, his envelope momentarily forgotten, joined his friends in their celebration. He was glad to hear about Janelle, especially, because he knew she hadn’t wanted to leave their childhood home.
The Bennys chimed in next. “Keeper! I’m to be a—“
“Keeper! Me too!”
The twins jumped up and down with excitement, both for their placements and because they wouldn’t be separated.
“Hey Jimmy!” someone hollered. “What’d you get?”
“Admin,” he said, grinning. “I’m an Admin!”
“Uh oh, we’re all in for it now!” “Yeah, better look out, Jimmy’s gonna be running things!” the others shouted jocularly. Jimmy just smiled and shook his head, rereading his assignment again as if to reassure himself that it was real.
Hanlon turned to Kyle. “Okay Kyle, fess up. Where does a kid who doesn’t talk get placed?”
Kyle smiled and handed the bigger boy his assignment.
“Ho ho! Our Kyle has been hiding from us, you guys! He’s to be in the Chemists’ Guild! You gotta have real smarts to do that. Who’d have figured!”
The others crowded around Kyle to congratulate him. The small boy blushed, and then raised his hands for silence. He cleared his throat. “My friends, I want you to know that just because I do not engage in verbal discourse, preferring instead to listen and observe, that does not mean that I do not hold you all in the very highest regard. The past two weeks have been a real pleasure, not the least because I had the opportunity to have such wonderful people in my section! I do hope we can keep in contact after we go our separate ways.”
The stunned children stood staring at him for a minute, and then burst into hoots, hollers, and backslapping for his unexpected oration. “I knew it! I knew he could talk!” Hanlon shouted, laughing.
When the furor over Kyle’s surprise speech had calmed down, Michael turned to Oliver. “And can we expect to find you, young Oliver?”
Oliver smiled, nervousness and excitement warring on his face. “Structor. I’m to stay here and become a Structor!”
Michael smiled and thumped him on the back. “Not just Structor. I saw your scores. You’ll be trained heavily in music as well, and moved to the Music Guild when we get that set up. You’ll be a music Structor in the new Guild. How does that sound?”
Oliver just sighed happily, and turned to follow his friends, who had begun to make their way to a corner of the room so they could celebrate out of the way of the other sections, some of whom hadn’t gotten their results yet.
A music Structor, eh? Learning and teaching music, traveling all over Hexeven, meeting new people and doing something really important with his life? He could live with that. He could more than live with that.
Hanlon and Janelle grabbed him by the arms, propelling him to join the others. The children celebrated well into the evening. In the morning all would go their separate ways to begin new lives, but for tonight, they were having fun, they were happy, and they were together. They could ask for no more than that.