After a few minutes of testing the tech expert announced the result to the officer. "His speed is 4, power 6, physique E, body shut optimization at 2%. Overall statistics is below pass. At this rate he barely average a normal human, even an athlete would top him."
Alto's eyes widened as he spoke in a ghastly voice, his whole world crumbling around him. "A fail? I can't fail, I have the X gene, I've been training since I awakened." Failing was not an option not when Kram was in the mix. If he failed he could not help but think that his life would be meaningless, his friendship with Amy the only person who cared about him would be over. "You have to understand I can't fail."
The tech expert did not spare a him a moment's glance instead seeing him as a waste of time. Officer Shirley gritted his teeth and looked at Alto's eyes for a while and found conviction in them. "Let's see how he does well in a light mech." He spoke words that Alto's ears were unprepared for.
The tech expert coughed. "But sir with these ratings, I don't think that's advisable."
Officer Shirley hissed. "Bring up the simulation of a seventh generation light mech, if he can pilot it even for a few seconds we will know if he truly has the x gene or not."
In that moment Alto was unsure of what to say or do, what did he mean by that? He had the x gene so what was going on. In the next few minutes the holographic projection of a mech appeared, its design was humanoid and unknown to Alto he was told to walk towards it, it looked was similar to humans but looking a bit more well put together. As he approached it it opened up and he stepped into it causing it to shut and fit around his body. Despite being an holographic projection the mech was realistic, heavy and functional. He stayed within and waited for the countdown for the mech activation to reach zero.
3... 2... 1...
Alto's head exploded with pain in they instant, billions of neurons fired into his head causing his brain to expand in his skull to the state where it would burst open at any moment. He let out a loud scream as he started to bleed from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth. He could hear muffled speech and see the tech expert panicking before he blacked out.
By the time he had woken up Alto was on a soft bed hooked up to a computer, his body was devoid of colour and weak. Next to him was officer Shirley standing and looking out the window before him. A moment later their eyes met but there was no shared speech between them, Alto dreaded the words he would hear till Officer Shirley spoke it.
"You have no aptitude for the x gene, we have these rare cases where genotes who awaken the gene early on fail to develop it and in turn it regress. Unfortunately this is one of those rare cases." The officers word was cold and hollow carrying no compassion with it.
With that Alto's world came crashing down all round him, had he tried to reach too high? What was life always unforgiving.
The officer continued to speak. "You not one of the chosen kid."
Alto tried to swallow his tears as he spoke. "I guess every one passed then."
The officer nodded. "They have all be transported to the training facility to begin their mech pilot journey."
"Then, it's over for me." Alto trembled at the fact that Kram had beat him after he had put up such an act, now Amy was beyond his reach. Tears started to form in his eyes as he spoke to the officer. "Please kill me now, I would rather die than to go back to the orphanage. I can't stand the shame."
In the small percentage of people that became genotes Alto had fallen into the even rarer number of people that managed to fall out of the category again. He felt no reason to live on.
Officer Shirley looked down at him for a few minutes before turning to look out of the window to the cockpit where Mechs were loaded into the shuttles there. He knew how much it was to dream to become a mech pilot. After all he also started with the same aspirations though his origins were much different. Taking pity on the young boy he spoke in his usual cold tone. "I can't give you hope of being a mech pilot in future but I saw your files, in the whole group you excelled at the theory aspects of mechs. There's still one shot for you kid, give up on your dream and die a failure or adapt to the cards fate has dealt you with and become a mech designer. But I promise you that's just as hard a task as this planet has only once produced a mech designer."
Alto's eyes went wide. Now why on earth would he want to build mechs and never get to pilot them, mech designers were nothing but background characters and he wanted to be the hero of the story, the feeling that he would get to build the mech Kram would use made him almost throw up. But he was too broken to speak or move.
"Becoming a mech designer is a long shot but you could also join the engineering field. You won't pilot mechs but it's better than returning back to your hell. Think about it." Being left with those few words to pick up the pieces of his life Alto did not know if he was being pitied or mocked but this was not the life he dreamed of.