The best of cutting edge technology had been administered to help Alto recover from his injury meaning that he had recovered a considerable portion of his health in days. Still he chose not to leave his room, he could not hope to face Amy, he would surely die from shame. On the day they had arrived in the research facility the results of the days testing was announced at the end of the day. Because they were broadcast on the loudspeakers he was able to pick up on them.
"These are the mech trainee evaluation results."
"First place, Amy with a 100% passing grade and an exceptional aptitude for mech piloting."
"Second place, Kram with a 85% passing grade and a high aptitude for mech piloting."
"Third place, Lobo With a 83% passing grade and a high aptitude for mech piloting."
The news went on and on and from the sound of it no one had failed with the least of them getting a passing grade of 48% which was below average or a pass but there was no way the facility would let off a genote because of this. Genotes did not come in swarms and for their backwater side of the vast universe they cherished the genotes even more.
Lying there bedridden on the bed Alto waited, his ears growing to hear the news. His name would be mentioned right? On second thought why would they mention his name. He must have been the only genote in world to ever lose his ability to pilot a mech and be reduced to a damn greasy mechanic.
The speakers that was once dead now roared back to life as the announced spoke in an uncertain voice. "Um- uh. Alright this time we have a sudden change as one of the genotes has been assigned to another department. Due to certain reasons and decisions from the officer, the candidate will now become a cadet under engineering engineering department. That is Alto."
Alto cursed under his breath, "God kill me now." He had a bit relief in the fact that they hadn't mentioned his score. But he spoke too soon.
"With a passing grade of 1% and no aptitude to pilot a mech. He has set himself aside from the crowd, clearly."
With that the short entrance ceremony ended. Alto despite not being there had died from embarrassment. What would be on the thoughts of the other genotes? He honestly did not care but he never liked being the subject for ridicule. He could almost hear Jeans proud snort. He covered himself in his blanket hoping he would just pull it off a moment later and wake up in another solar system. There was no way he could ever show his face before them anytime soon and to think they would be staying under the same facility grounds. Meeting tmw was inevitable and so was his shame. So he spent the first few days coming up with excuses not to leave the room but the patience of officer Shirley had long since expired on him.
Alto walked down the hallways with retrofitted light, the weight of his legs almost dragging him down as he made his way to the mech studio he was instructed to. The man in uniform who escorted him did not seem to care about him or whether he was following or not. A few minutes passed and he was before the huge steel door that reflected a silver shine. On reaching it the officer placed his id card on the card scanner that was fitted at the corner of the door.
A few seconds passed and then the door gave a chime like that of an elevator, Alto expected the door to slide open either left or right but it opened in a way he never anticipated. The door shattered like pieces of glass and was devoured by a huge space of swirling black and white mist, ignited with billions of twinkling light dancing in it's waves. It looked like a vortex of some kind, it even made Alto's mood change in an instant as he gasped.
"What's that?" He could not suppress himself from asking.
Alto could not help but think if this was the so called teleportation devices he had heard of, if so why did he need to go through a portal to see the mech designing studio. He wondered if things would not be as bad as he hoped.