Chapter 17: Chapter V13: Adult Entrance Processing Station

Chapter V13: Adult Entrance Processing Station

Jack and the rest of the passengers stood in front of the station with their personal belongings in their hands. Surprisingly, Jack was the only one with enough items on hand to warrant using two hands. He had his watch, ID, wallet, pepper spray, hand sanitizer, headphones, pack of bandaids, tape, and a phone… And a keychain of an eroge girl that he tried to hide between his palms.

The rest of the passengers had their IDs or wallets and maybe some random nick nacks but none of them had a phone which surprised Jack.

Soon a man walked up with a cart and began handing the examinees trays with their names to place their items in. Jack placed his items in the tray while a soldier raised an eyebrow at the hentai image that he was trying to bury.

The soldier smirked before quickly glancing left and right and flashing something out of his breast pocket. It was the image of the same H-girl. The soldier smiled and nodded at Jack with a sense of brotherhood forming between the two before he helped to obscure Jack's belongings and carted them off to the side. 

"I'm gonna call you up here one by one by name. When I call you, you will say here, and then egress to the exit on my left. Does everyone understand?" The officer said once all the items were collected. Before anyone could respond he immediately began calling out names. "Anthony Kline Delanie."

Standing there Jac waited while people in front of him were called out one by one. It appeared that the officer was going alphabetically through a list by the first name, so soon it would be his turn.

"Ivan Elroy Petroff."

"Here sir!" Ivan barked, excitedly getting out of line as, he turned to Jack and gave him a thumbs up.

"You got this brotha!"

"Thanks," Jack reflexively replied, deep in thought.

"Move it Mr. Petroff! We don't have all day!" The officer barked causing Ivan to scramble off the platform, nearly dropping his hat.

"Jack Zhe, Crosby!" The man continued, calling Jack's name. But he was too distracted by the screen in front of him to respond.

The blue swirl was back, and so were the colors. It wasn't so glaringly bright as previously, but like a soft warm glow that radiated off various things and people. Jack could see a soft glow emitting from everyone around him, including himself. It was a little jarring but maybe this was indeed a sign of him Awakening. He was beginning to get nervous at the prospect.

"Jack Zhe, Crosby?"

"Uh here sir!" Jack replied, snapping out of his thoughts as the colors disappeared again.

"Move it, don't waste my time."

Jack quickly moved, exiting the platform, where he was directed to a small enclosure to enter a full body scanner.

After getting scanned for any potential items, patted down by a soldier, and being passed through the security checkpoint, Jack was instructed to join the line of people that was forming in front of a closed door

"Funny running into you again, you come here often?" Ivan joked upon eyeing Jack approaching causing the latter to roll his eyes. "You know funny story-"

Jack audibly sighed, shutting off his mind as Ivan began to talk about his life history, dreams, and plans for the future. A sudden smirk appeared on Jack's face when he imagined Ivan not managing to awaken and being crushed, but as the thought emerged, so too did the guilt, causing Jack to frown.

"What up brotha? You ok?"

"Uh.. yea, just thinking about stuff."

"Ah, nervous? Yea me too, my sister always said I tended to ramble on a lot when I feel nervous or excited, she said our momma used to do it too right before she had her accident and broke her knee because she was talking too much to notice the pothole in the street, which funny story, my buddy Kyle and I we woul-

And like that, Jack stopped paying attention. Allowing his eyes to glaze over as he stood patiently for the other examinees to line up behind him. Despite the man's word vomiting, Ivan was right about one thing, Jack was nervous.

In fact, he was having chills just thinking about the future, he wasn't showing it but internally Jack wanted to run. But between the security checkpoint, not knowing how to operate a tram, and needing to get past a dozen guards, he knew he wouldn't get far.

After what felt like an eternity, Jack was woken from his stupor by someone tapping him on the shoulder and pointing him forward. The line ahead of him had begun disappearing behind a door with Ivan beckoning for Jack to come with him.

"Oh! Sorry!" Jack apologized to the woman behind him before hastily trying to catch up to the rest of the group. As Jack neared the room, cool air crashed into him, immediately making his teeth chatter. The room they were entering was a large white holding room, with white tiles devoid of any chairs or furniture and a big erase board at the front.

Looking at the size of the room it could easily hold up to a hundred or more people, not that it needed to now, seeing as there were only about ten people in total with Jack's testing group. A moment later a female soldier entered the room holding an intellipad.

"Ladies follow me please," The woman said, beckoning the women to her, leaving only Jack and five other men alone with two soldiers in the white room.

"Sigh, and here I thought we'd get a nice show," Ivan said, causing one of the other guys in the group to smirk. Jack was confused by what he meant by it but his confusion was soon cleared up when a man in uniform walked in and ordered the gathered men to strip.

Jack stood jaw agape, as the remaining dudes in the room began stripping down to their underwear and the guards began collecting their cloths

"Shy?" Ivan asked, taking off his shirt to reveal a tone and muscular body that made Jack feel immediately self-conscious. But besides the man's tone body, what really made Jack gawk at the man was the scars on the man's back, that stretched all the way to his shoulders, almost as if he'd been whipped viciously.

"I'm flattered but I don't swing that way brotha," Ivan smirked. Gritting his teeth Jack began undressing as well, despite being uncomfortable he didn't want to be the only one not half-naked in the room.

After about ten or so minutes of shivering, a man in a lab coat appeared that Jack thought looked vaguely familiar.

"Alright gentlemen, I'm Doctor Anders, I'll be doing your awakening exam today." The man introduced himself before ordering everyone to begin lining up.

They did as they were told as he began inspecting them one by one, ordering each man to touch their toes, perform a sit-up and a push-up while he jotted something down on his clipboard.

When he got to Ivan, the man squinted a bit at the man's injuries and began circling him like a hawk.

"Extensive scar tissue, mind telling me what caused this, uh," He took a glance at his clipboard. "Mr. Petroff?"

"I'm lower level doc, well not for much longer," Ivan answered with a smirk. Doctor Anders nodded as if he already had a gist of where the man got his injuries from.

"Alright, same as the rest lad, touch toes, sit up, and then a push up"

"You got it doc."

After he was done the examiner simply nodded before walking towards Jack where he paused for a moment before flipping through several papers on his clipboard.

"Jack, Zhe Crosby?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"You know you look very familiar to a child with the same name I knew."

And then Jack realized why he recognized the man. He was one of the medics that had helped treat Jac during the Elysium massacre, just older with wrinkles and gray hair.

Jack failed to hide the look of recognition that crept across his face.

"We'll look at that, how are you doing lad?" The doctor beamed at Jack's reaction.

"I've… I've been ok sir."

"Oh, drop the sir stuff, I'm not that old and I'm not in the guard anymore, just a civilian contractor now. Anyway, same as the rest, touch your toes, sit up, and then do a push-up." Doctor Anders instructed, looking at his watch before waiting patiently for Jac to follow instructions.

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Jack didn't have much of a problem touching his toes or doing a sit-up, but doing the push-up took some time, resulting in one of the guys in the room snickering at Jack.

"Alright, all good," The Doctor said, writing something down before continuing on.

After everyone in the lineup had done their physical tests, the doctor went one by one examining each man further and touching them before directing them to wait outside a nearby door where everyone had to wait to enter one by one.

"Why is it so cold," Jack whined as he clutched his groin and waited.  The temperature of the room made his nuts feel as if they were about to shrivel off and die.

"They say it's so that diseases have a lesser chance to spread and it's easier to sterilize everything," Ivan answered, despite it being obvious that Jack wasn't looking for an answer and just whining.

"Bit of an odd thing to know about."

"Really? I didn't think so, always good to be informed brother, I once picked up an article that spoke abou-" Ivan was about to begin, but luckily he was cut off by the doctor calling him into the room.

"Well, catch you on the flippity flip Jacko," Ivan said, bidding farewell to Jack as he entered the room. At this point Jack was feeling apathetic to everything, no matter what went down he had finally come to terms with being Awakened. That he'd be hounded all his life, and that he'd have to go through some unpleasantries, he was ready for it. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself.

When it was Jack's turn to enter the room, he gritted his jaw a few times and braced himself for whatever was to come.

Walking through the doorway Jack was greeted by a giant metallic pod-like machine with multiple technicians standing around various screens and terminals that were all connected to the pod.

"Right this way Mr. Crosby." Doctor Anders said, indicating for Jack to step into the machine. If this was the pod to test if he was awakening, then James had overexaggerated the wait time.

Following the direction, Jack took a step forward, then another, and another until he began ascending the stairs leading into the pod where he laid down. The bed was cool to the touch., colder than the room that he had left but weirdly dry as well.

"Alrighty, Mr. Crosby, just lie down and take a deep breath then breathe regularly," a technician at the side instructed as they began closing the pod's glass covering. After a few seconds, the machine was sealed with a loud whooshing sound as the air was pressurized.

Jack took a deep breath. The interior of the pod began to light up, with lights rapidly flashing around Jac in a circular pattern until they began to spin so quickly it made Jack dizzy..

"If you're feeling dizzy from the lights, that's normal, just close your eyes and try to relax." A voice called out from a speaker above Jack. "You're going to feel a pulling sensation soon, we just need you to remain calm, and try not to panic."

Jack once again did what he was told, or at least tried to. He could feel a tugging sensation but it wasn't quite what the urgency in the technician's voice made it out to seem. The feeling was like something tickling him and softly tugging at him than it was pulling.

After some time of this, Jack was beginning to get worried and bored. He had been in the pod far longer than the other examinees. Opening His eyes, he could see that the machine had stopped.

"Uhm, hello? Is everything alright?" Jack called out.

"Not to worry Mr. Crosby, just a little blip, we're running the test again, so just sit tight." A voice called out as the machine began to whirl to life again. Jack repeated the process again, taking a deep breath. This time however he didn't feel the tugging or tickling sensation at all.

Soon the machine quieted down with the capsule opening and Jack being told to exit the machine.

"So, is that it?" Jack asked, his whole body shivering as he exited the tube.

"Yerp that's it. Doctor Anders will be waiting for you in the room next over."

"Oh ok," Jack replied as he made his way to a nearby door that the technician beckoned him towards before opening the entrance to the white room and calling for another testy.

Upon entering the office, Jack was greeted by Doctor Anders who sat at a desk and motioned for the young man to join him.

"Mr. Crosy, pleasure seeing you again, would you mind having a seat?"

"Yes, sir."

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Angelica Crosby would you?"

"Ah, she's my uh, adopted sister, sir" Jack replied nervously, his anxiety beginning to escalate as he waited for the man to tell him his results.

"Must be hard living with a woman of that caliber."

"It can be sir."

"Doctor or Anders is fine, Sir makes me feel old. Now, enough with the chit chat let's get to business. I'm sure you're eager to know if you awakened," Doctor Anders said before a screen next to him came to life and he began reading it. Jac had an urge to jump over the table to view the results, with all the clicking and scrolling the man was doing, it was making Jac's anxiety skyrocket.

"Well, this is disappointing." he muttered finally.

"What is?" Jack said, his heart leaping in his throat.

"Ah, my apologies, a little unprofessional of me, but considering your history I would have liked it if you had become an Awakened."

Wait what? Jack meant to say outloud but could only sit there gawking as he looked at the Doctor with his mouth ajar.

"Wait, are you saying I'm not an Awakened?!" Jack nearly half yelled after recovering from the shock, causing the Doctor to purse his lips.

"Yes, unfortunately, the results show that you are in fact not an Awakened. I'm truly sorry Mr. Crosby."

"But… But that's… Are you sure?!" Jack blurted out in confusion. Doctor Anders took his glasses off before responding to Jack's outburst.

"Ah, yes. I know that society oftentimes glamorizes the life of the Awaken, but you must know that it is exceedingly rare for one to be an Awakened. In a population of one hundred million, there are only about a thousand or so Awakened city-wide. There's no shame in living a good, wholesome life as a regular human. In fact, your sist-"

"No! You're not understanding Doc!" Jack interrupted, now that the cat was out of the bag he might as well go all the way and try to resolve a problem that'd been plaguing him. "I keep seeing things like colors, boxes, and nightmares so real it feels like I'm reliving the incident. I often wake up in a panic, my heart racing as I try to catch my breath. Almost every day of this! It's got to be something right?"

"Oh."

"Right?"

"Ah. Ah, I supposed that would make sense, considering the circumstances of how we first met." The doctor said scratching his beard.

"It does?"

"Yes lad, but I think you are confusing something. What you have arent symptoms indicative of Awakening but rather… well, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Your file shows the scotoma, but like I said the machine- "

"What? No Doc, I don-"

"There's no shame in acknowledging that you have a mental illness young man. In fact, I can direct you t-"

"Doctor Anders!" Jack yelled, trying to get the man to stop dismissing him. It was irksome, Jack didn't know why he was blurting this stuff out or trying so hard to convince the man he was an Awakened when doing so would go against his life plan. Yet here he was trying to tell a doctor that he was in fact the thing he didn't want to be. Maybe he just wanted an answer to his visual hallucinations.

The doctor seemed to ponder something for a moment as he stared at the young man's eyes, his expression slowly beginning to change to that of saddened empathy.

"I'm sorry son, but your test, It's negative."

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