I ordered the test from the library like my mom had suggested. I needed the entire lunch hour to do the test, so I had to wait until Thursday. That meant I had time to ask around the biology department.
Nervously, I approached my second Genetics II teacher. Everyone loved him, myself included, so I thought that'd be a good place to start.
"Mr. Hicks, do you know any good careers involving genetics?" I asked. I figured as straight and direct as possible was the way to go.
He looked at me, confused. "Careers? You shouldn't need to worry about that," he said. "The city decides all that for you."
I racked my brain for something to say. "Yeah, um, I'm doing a report on careers," I said. Not that farfetched. The city studies students talked about their strange projects all the time.
"Well, there are all different kinds of researchers. There are genetic engineers and genetic designers. With minimal extra knowledge, choices include peacekeepers, wardens…" as Mr. Hicks went on about all the marvelous things you could do with a genetics background, I typed them all down for reference. Tomorrow, I had plans to read up on what each job entailed. I just hoped that the wardens didn't think I was studying or some garbage like that.
"Does that help you out for your report, Amery?" Mr. Hicks asked. He sent me a book titled "Advancing in the Field of Genetics."
"Thank you. Yes, this is very helpful," I said, glancing at my eyescreen to make sure my notes were all set.
"Have a great day," Mr. Hicks said. The lunch bell went off and it was time to get to Physics II. Boring. But I didn't pay much attention there anymore.
As Ms. Sanders lulled me to sleep about universal laws that governed the universe based on particles I couldn't see, I read through Mr. Hicks's list of careers. Important stuff.
I had grabbed a document from the library that described what people could do in Itex. Most of it wasn't interesting, but it was interesting that they were pushing the envelope in the field of recombinant organism technology. They constantly needed more geneticists, more lab hands.
I'd always wanted a recombinant pet, and they did allow us to have one, but Dad was against glow-in-dark bunnies or super loyal cats and such. If I could join Itex's pioneering genetics labs, I could be part of a future.
I was getting so excited about my own research that Ms. Sanders must have thought I had a quantum mechanics epiphany. "Amery, would you like to tell us what the mass of a Higgs-Boson is?"
I stared back blankly. There was no way I could find the weight of that particle in time to satisfy her. Was it on the board? On the shared Mind-Sphere forum?
"I… I don't know," I stammered. Ms. Sanders sighed heavily.
"You must make it a habit to pay more attention," she said. "Tracie, would you enlighten us?"
I returned to reading the Itex doc, making notes, and highlighting directly on the Mind-Sphere. I had a plan. A real action plan for the future. The only thing left was that Itex exam.
Thursday at lunch, I grabbed my best stylus and headed to the library. The final test day. The one thing that would prove or disprove my efforts. Really, I logically knew this wasn't as important as I was making it, but it still filled me with dread.
Question after question I bubbled, about shapes and sequences, theories and experiments. I worked through the entire exam without once feeling it was too hard or unrealistic. I was sure I got some things wrong, but it wasn't impossible. It was very feasible. The world of Itex was achievable.
I submitted the recombinant DNA research job application a week before the deadline. I was getting somewhere. Maybe, I could have a real tangible future.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
