It Starts

"The belt's most valuable aspect as a tool," scolded Alpha, "is holding your pants up."

The crimson color was just reaching Kristen's ears as Alpha's eyes fell on the knot she'd tied in her belt after the buckle had broken back in the dorm. She had hurriedly liberated herself of some of the unnecessary equipment and made it to the crossroads just before the last student straggled in.

The last student had been Maurice. He was only a second year, but because his father was the guild supervisor, he was getting to run the trial early. Kristen felt only a bit of self-pity before Alpha's sarcasm chastised Maurice instead.

"Hazeus," Kristen thought, "Maurice is wearing an orange vest for gods' sake. Who could possibly get close to a respectable bit of game like that?"

But today, Alpha had no large interest in correcting mistakes, only in giving out final orders. He liked calling them 'last rights'.

"Discoveries are to be presented no later than next Solar-full. Complete with documentation."

Maurice leaned over and nudged Benjamin, who was a fourth year like Kristen. "When's the next Solar-full?"

"Can't really tell," said Ben, adjusting his binoculars, which were strapped to his head semi-permanently. He wasn't adjusting the focus, just pushing the glasses further up on his nose.

Alpha began handing out the collapsible cylinders for the students' specimens. After Ben respectfully received his in turn, he continued, "That could be Mercury or Venus occluding the last bit of the white hole this morning, or it may be Mars. If it is, I would give us less than a globe-side day before nightfall. Then it matters how large the object is that passes by—"

"Nevermind," said Maurice, extending his tube and looking into it. "Howm'I gonna fit a dragon in here?"

"—the antikathereon device could tell us precisely how much time we have, but I think they won't let one of those through customs for another hundred years!" Ben finished. This time he was adjusting his focus to judge Maurice's reaction.

Maurice was too close to the lenses for it to help. "I said, 'Nevermind!'" He put a hand over the end of Ben's glasses and turned to Kristen.

"Well," said Ben, seeing only darkness, "I withdraw my previous conclusion… We're buggered."

Maurice yanked the binoculars back and forth, letting Ben know that the end had not yet come.

"You don't need the whole beast, Maurice. Just a sample," Kristen said.

"I'm not daft, Kristen! Just sayin' I'm not coming back here with less than a taxidermy. I plan on joining the guild. Why would anyone settle for a sketch?"

Ben's magnified lashes flicked at the ends of the binoculars like some cartoon character's. "Well," said Ben recovering, "some of them took this as an elective."

Kristen considered this. She wondered what the students who chose not to specialize were going to do to make a living. Guess, there's all the night shift jobs, like trash collecting and outhouse pumping. But, why would they need to learn math? Or language arts for that matter? Though, over here, Language Arts involved a bit more paint. And Spelling had a tad bit more to do with conjuration. No, she felt much more confident in a trade. Besides, she'd heard that there were vampires to deal with at night, not to mention the Rogues.

That wide world waited to be explored in depth, just beyond the horizon of this final exam.