Anna and Beth set out in one of the skimmers to cover the ninety-five miles from Nampa to Seever Dome that night, surrounded by about twenty-five other girls. The boys rode in separate skimmers; there were four of them all together, meaning about a hundred Chosen were making the trip. A bountiful harvest from Nampa! The rest of the Chosen girls in her skimmer were celebrating; whooping as the Dome with its illuminated buildings and transport runs came closer into view, talking excitedly with friends, or just lost in their own happy thoughts. The emotional noise in Anna’s head ran the gamut of feelings, making it hard for her own thoughts to get through—and that wasn’t even taking into account the strongest empathic source, Beth, who sat next to her.
Beth clutched Anna’s hand tightly and tried to keep from crying. Anna knew that if Beth lost control, she’d be sobbing. As it is, only a few whimpers escaped her lips.
Anna tried to turn off the emotional battering and think. Only partially successful, she sighed and resigned herself to a kind of white noise of feelings.
She had known the psych test was going to be tough for Logan. He had a strong independent streak and a mouth that sometimes ran well ahead of his brain. Usually it just made him lovable or sporny, but in a serious situation like the psych test, she could see how he could slip up with a trained examiner. She wanted to be angry with him, for Beth’s sake, but she knew her brother too well. He wouldn’t fit into a regimented military environment, and she’d been kidding herself that he would pass all the tests.
The best they could do was hope that Beth finished her program requirements as soon as possible. One thing Anna did know was that Logan was sincere in saying he’d wait for her.
And now it’s my job to get her back to him. I promised.
She wondered what the future would bring for her in that glistening bubble. Already, she missed her family and friends who hadn’t made the cut. The only other times she’d spent away from home were on overnights at friends’ houses and a couple of solo survival-style treks as part of a school course. She’d never been ninety-five miles from home.
The skimmer floated on smoothly into the night as possibilities whirled in Anna’s mind.