“This is the Mess Hall, which has five restaurants present, some you might recognize…”
A teen boy yelled out, “Oh, cool, you have Julio’s Tacos! I love that place.”
“Yes, BADGE felt that the Mess Hall should have a familiar feel and taste for all the people who pass through the station regularly.”
A middle-aged woman stuck her hand up and asked, “How long will this take?”
“The tour will be over shortly. The testing range is being set up right now.”
“No, I mean this testing and assessment process.”
Chase stopped and said, “As you know, International Law requires all people who develop morphon based abilities must come here to be assessed and tested. The test and assessment normally take a day. After that, one of the BADGE officials will meet with you about your results and offer you the choice of how to proceed.”
“What options will you give us?” the woman asked.
A young man said, “I heard they throw you in prison if you don’t accept the job of a hero in one of the leagues.”
Another woman cried out, “I don’t want to fight crime!”
Chase held up her hands. “This is not the time or place to discuss this matter. I can tell you that prison is not an option. Don’t be worried. This is for your benefit and safety. Now, come with me. Next we will look into the arboretum, my favorite place on this station.” She led them away from the tables for the nearest doors to the arboretum.
Nova pressed his key card into a door sensor and walked into the theater on the station. Right now, only EB sat in the front row of seats with a cell phone two inches from his nose as he furiously tapped buttons.
“Computer, set screen for assessment,” Nova calmly ordered.
The movie screen slid up slowly, revealing a thick pane of transparent metal that was almost as clear as air. On the other side was a large room with a few training robots standing in the corners and several devices hanging down from the ceiling.
“Yes! Level five hundred!” EB yelled and then continued playing on his phone.
Nova sat next to him and casually asked, “Has Chase given you the report on class size?”
EB didn’t answer as he kept playing on the phone.
“EB!”
“Oh, hey, bud, when did you get here?” EB looked up, blinking a few times.
“Just now. I told you not to play games while on duty.”
EB held up the phone, “But, this isn’t just a game player, this is my new Ren Phone. Cool, isn’t it? I got the Nebula Five before anyone else. Latest and greatest! This thing has an awesome camera and the most memory space of any phone. I’ve already downloaded five of my favorite games. I would’ve downloaded the City Superheroes, but the company sold out and the new owners just sunset it. What jerks! I had like two thousand hours of playtime in that. Five accounts, and was top level on all the boards. I think I’ll give that developer a big basket of exploding eggs next week when… oh, uh... what did you ask me?”
Nova’s eye had been twitching for a long enough time for EB to finally get the point. “Has Chase given us a class size?”
“Oh, yeah, she said there are eleven people here for assessment.”
Arx walked in from a different door and sat down. He had a bucket of popcorn in his hands. “Didn’t we just test seven new people three days ago?”
Nova nodded, “Yes. That makes almost thirty this month alone.”
“Odd.” Arx crunched through a handful of popcorn.
Dr. Henderson sat down near Nova and said, “Not so odd with what we’ve been finding out.”
“Have you got results back already?” Nova asked.
She said, “Not comprehensive results from all the air and soil samples. But, I can already tell you that there is a strange spike in morphon levels across the planet.”
“Is that dangerous?” Arx asked.
“Not really. They aren’t that high, just higher than normal. I can’t positively say that this is why more people are showing up with abilities, but it makes some sense.”
Arx blurted out, “You have the 5!”
“What are you talking about?” Nova asked.
EB held up his phone. “Yup, the Nebula Five. Got it the second it went on sale. Pays to be the Easter Bunny.”
Arx pulled out his, “I still have the 4. Wow, what kind of upgrades does this one have? I heard the camera has… um… sorry.” He saw red in Nova’s one good eye.
Chase walked the team of people into the theater room and lined them up in front of the window. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Director Nova, head of BADGE. Dr. Henderson, chief science and medical officer of BADGE. Arx, leader of ATLAS, and EB, head consultant.”
There were several flashes from phones as some of the teens took pictures.
A girl said, “This is so cool. THE Director Nova and the Easter Bunny in the same room. This is going on my PictoGram right now. This is going viral.”
Director Nova stood and said, “Today, we will assess your morphonic abilities. Don’t be nervous, you aren’t being graded, just showing us what you can do. The process will move forward tomorrow with results of the tests and then we will lay our potential opportunities for you. BADGE is pleased to say this is a painless process. Enjoy your stay with us.”
Arx asked, “questions?”
A girl jumped up and asked Nova, “Can I get a selfie with you?”
“No.”
EB hopped up, “Cool idea!” He snapped a picture with his phone of him and Nova. “Aw, you’re glaring again. You take terrible pictures.”
“SIT DOWN!” His outburst scared the guests. “Sorry about that. He gets easily distracted. Now, please, take a seat and we will test you one at a time.”
Chase looked at a computer tablet. “Mike Johnson, please, head through that door into the next room and show us what abilities you have.”
A twenty something guy got up and walked to the front of the theater where a heavy metal door led into the large room on the other side.
Nova pressed a button on the arm of his chair. “Proceed, using anything in the room necessary for your demonstration.”
“Uh, sir, my power can be…”
“Don’t worry. The room dampens the effects, so you’re unlikely to hurt yourself and you cannot hurt us. Just relax and show me what you can do.”
“Okay.” His tone was worried.
He held out his arms and a gust of wind spun out from his body and continued spinning, taking up several of the robots with it, spiraling them in the air. However, as the air blasted out from him, it took his clothes with it and he was now standing in a tornado of items, completely naked.
“GAH! Stop!” EB covered his eyes, as did several people in the room.
Dr. Henderson pressed a button on her seat and a jumpsuit fell down from a slot in the testing room. “Please, put on that jumpsuit.” The doctor then said to the crowd, “If your power will strip you naked or cause you any physical harm to perform, let us know now.”
“Is he dressed yet?” EB asked, his paws still covering his face.
“Yes.” Arx replied, while scribbling notes onto a computer tablet.
Nova pressed the button. “Thank you. You may return to the theater.”
Chase stood to call the next person, but a buzzer sounded and Gar’s voice came over the comm. “Director Nova, we’re receiving an alert from the planet. You might want to come up here.”
“On my way.” Nova stood, “Arx, Doctor, continue without me. I’ll be in Operations.”
Nova stepped out of the left into the Operations center of the station. The Robots minding the computers ignored his presence, but Gar smiled and waved at him from the front of the room.
“Report,” Nova stated the moment he approached.
Gar pointed to the screens. “We started getting these reports moments ago. Lots of them across the planet, in fact.”
Nova looked at the video feeds from major cities. Large metallic spheres hovered in the air. They were as large as a hot-air balloon, but more round and seemingly not tethered to anything.
“What are they?”
Gar said, “We don’t know. It’s not possible to scan them. We’re getting reports from cities all over the world.”
Nova spent a long moment examining the images. “I don’t like this.”
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