Categories > Original > Sci-Fi > Basic Aptitude
chapter one
0 reviewsIn a not so distant future no one is allowed to be smarter then the government. Everyone must take a test when they turn thirteen and those who pass, fail.
0Unrated
My name is Chandra St James, I'm fourteen years old and on the run from the government. My crime? I'm smart, smarter then anyone in power and thats not allowed.
About twenty years ago, the government realized that kids were smart, a lot smarter then they should be and they started getting afraid. They were afraid that these coming up super genuises will try to run and rule the world. So they came up with a test, the Basic Aptitude Placement Test, or BAPT. When you turned thirteen you were required to take it. The thing about this test is, if you scored to high, you were considered a threat to the powers that be and you were eliminated.
Parents were told right away what might happen, to be ready for the ringing of the phone, of the voice on the other end. The one that tells you that your child was to smart, that they had to die.
But kids weren't told anything, as far as we knew, the BAPT was just a test. One that would place us in our future jobs.
Oh there were rumors that people had gone into the little room and never came out, a few times a super smart kid would disappear. But our teachers told us that they were taken to a better place, that their futures were secure.
So it was with only a little fear that I went to take the test that day. The only fear I had was that I would end up in a dead end job. But the test proved amazingly easy, little did I know that would be the problem.
After I took the test, they made me sit in a small white room while they graded it. Finally a young woman came in.
"Chandra St James?" She asked and I nodded.
"You are a very clever girl," she said. "Unfortunately that is the problem."
"I don't understand," I said softly and she smiled.
"You placed the highest I've ever seen, higher then anyone," she said.
"But that's good isn't it?" I asked and she laughed.
"No, I'm afraid it isn't," she said, then a door opened and two large men came into the room.
"What's going on?"I screamed as one of them grabbed me and dragged me out of my chair.
The woman regarded me calmly.
"I feel bad for your parents," she said, "to lose such a brilliant daughter. But I'm afriad we can't have anyone smarter then the president, or anyone else in the government. Chandra St James, I'm afraid you'll have to be eliminated."
As if those words were a cue, the two men began to drag me out of the room as I kicked and screamed. They took me into another room, this one looking like a large arena.
I was strapped to a table and something was injected into my arm.
As the room began to get blurry, I faintly heard a crash, but before I could comprehend the sound, everything went black.
About twenty years ago, the government realized that kids were smart, a lot smarter then they should be and they started getting afraid. They were afraid that these coming up super genuises will try to run and rule the world. So they came up with a test, the Basic Aptitude Placement Test, or BAPT. When you turned thirteen you were required to take it. The thing about this test is, if you scored to high, you were considered a threat to the powers that be and you were eliminated.
Parents were told right away what might happen, to be ready for the ringing of the phone, of the voice on the other end. The one that tells you that your child was to smart, that they had to die.
But kids weren't told anything, as far as we knew, the BAPT was just a test. One that would place us in our future jobs.
Oh there were rumors that people had gone into the little room and never came out, a few times a super smart kid would disappear. But our teachers told us that they were taken to a better place, that their futures were secure.
So it was with only a little fear that I went to take the test that day. The only fear I had was that I would end up in a dead end job. But the test proved amazingly easy, little did I know that would be the problem.
After I took the test, they made me sit in a small white room while they graded it. Finally a young woman came in.
"Chandra St James?" She asked and I nodded.
"You are a very clever girl," she said. "Unfortunately that is the problem."
"I don't understand," I said softly and she smiled.
"You placed the highest I've ever seen, higher then anyone," she said.
"But that's good isn't it?" I asked and she laughed.
"No, I'm afraid it isn't," she said, then a door opened and two large men came into the room.
"What's going on?"I screamed as one of them grabbed me and dragged me out of my chair.
The woman regarded me calmly.
"I feel bad for your parents," she said, "to lose such a brilliant daughter. But I'm afriad we can't have anyone smarter then the president, or anyone else in the government. Chandra St James, I'm afraid you'll have to be eliminated."
As if those words were a cue, the two men began to drag me out of the room as I kicked and screamed. They took me into another room, this one looking like a large arena.
I was strapped to a table and something was injected into my arm.
As the room began to get blurry, I faintly heard a crash, but before I could comprehend the sound, everything went black.
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