by Linn Schwab
She looked in apprehension at the other girls around her, hoping for even the slightest hint of reassurance. But they all appeared to be every bit as anxious as she was, and not one of them possessed the courage to let out even a tiny whimper.
The women continued to work their way through the pack, each of them taking one girl at a time, then returning a few minutes later for another. The column of girls continued to dwindle until Robin was left sitting exposed along the front. Inevitably — almost mercifully — one of the women approached her and held out her hand. Her thoughts still reeling with uncertainty, Robin reached for the woman’s hand, then stood up and followed her out of the room.
“What’s your name?” the woman asked, leading her into the corridor.
Robin swallowed and forced herself to speak. “Robin Starling,” she answered.
“That’s a pretty name. How do you like the academy, Robin?”
Robin glanced around herself, feeling helpless and uneasy about her surroundings. The academy was nothing at all like the nursery. Instead of bright, open, airy walkways, the corridors here were closed in and stuffy. In place of flowers and potted plants, the walls were lined with technical charts and diagrams. There were no honeybee images on the ceilings for her to follow — only a jumble of numbers and letters, arranged in obscure and confusing patterns. Summing up her feelings about the academy, she meekly responded with, “I’m scared.”
The woman smiled at her in understanding. “Don’t worry, Robin, that’s perfectly normal. Change is always a little bit frightening.”
Robin sensed the woman was trying to reassure her. She could tell by the warmth that was present in her smile, and the soothing tone of voice she was using. But the words she had chosen somehow seemed less than convincing. The darkened assembly room had been more than just “a little bit frightening.”
“You’re going to be taking a few tests today. Do you think you’re up to that, Robin?”
“I guess so.”
The woman held a door open for her. “Good. Step inside here now, and we’ll go ahead and get you started.”
Robin peered in through the open doorway. She saw a small room containing a table and two chairs, and another door on one of the side walls. There was some kind of mechanical device on the table. She had no idea what purpose it served, but for some reason it didn’t look very inviting. She took a few cautious steps inside the room, keeping a safe distance between herself and the table. The woman followed right behind her, and pulled the door shut with a jarring slam.
When the door collided with its frame, a deep percussive sound echoed through the room. The walls had an almost tomblike quality which gave Robin the feeling of being tightly sealed in. She had a sense that she could scream at the top of her lungs, and no one on the other side of that door would ever hear her.
“Have a seat, Robin,” the woman told her. She pointed to one of the chairs by the table. Robin followed her instructions, eyeing the mechanical device with apprehension. Part of the device consisted of a short length of pipe which appeared to be severed and hinged at its midpoint. One end of the pipe was held in place by a bracket. The other was fastened to a mechanical arm. The device rested on one edge of the table, and was partially concealed by a thick metal shield. As Robin sat down in her designated chair, the shield fell in line with the seam of her right shoulder. Through a small window at the center of the shield, she had a clear view of the far end of the pipe.
“Now, Robin,” the woman continued as she down in the seat opposite her, “have you ever had any broken bones?” She kept her eyes fixed on a clipboard as she spoke.
Robin eyed the pipe with concern. “No,” she said, moving her head from side to side.
The woman seemed satisfied with her answer and made a quick notation on the clipboard. She smiled at Robin and cheerfully informed her, “Okay, Robin. We’re going to break your right arm.”
Robin’s eyes flashed open in terror. Her hands began to tremble with fear. She may not have suffered any broken bones before, but it didn’t seem like it would be a very pleasant experience.
“Let met show you how this works,” the woman said. She stood up and walked to the side of the table, then positioned her left forearm so it was parallel with the pipe’s exterior. She reached across the table with her right hand and rested her finger on a bright red button. “You slip your forearm in through the front end of this pipe,” she explained. “See how the pipe is broken in the middle?”
Robin nodded.
She continued, “When I press down on this button over here, the back part of the pipe bends down toward the floor.” She pressed the button. The rear section of the pipe snapped downward, locking in place at a ninety degree angle. Robin flinched. The machine’s action was so violent that it shook the entire frame of the table. The woman then pulled up on the pipe, returning it to its original position. She looked at Robin and tried to encourage her. “Now,” she said, “can you slide your arm in here for me?”
With her entire body shaking now, Robin lifted her right hand toward the pipe. She was terrified beyond anything she’d ever experienced. But in her carefully fostered world, nurtured and crafted by her years in the nursery, there was no such thing as disobedience. She was just doing what the woman asked her to do, without the slightest thought of voicing a protest. Her hand somehow found its way inside the opening. She slid her forearm into the device until her fingers emerged from the far end of the pipe.
“Alright,” the woman said, “now I want you to put your head on the other side of the screen and look through the little window, okay?”
Robin did what the woman asked her to do.
“Can you see your hand now?”
She nodded.
“Okay, we’re ready then. First, I’m going to apply just a little bit of pressure.” She turned a dial on the tabletop. The end of the pipe began to descend. Robin felt it pulling down on her arm. It hurt, but it wasn’t broken yet. She began to hyperventilate now, in anticipation of the agony that would soon wrack her body. Tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Why is she doing this to me? she fretted.
“Ready?” the woman prompted. She placed her finger on the button again. Robin clenched her left hand on the tabletop and tightened every muscle in her body. She stared through the little window in terror. The woman observed her reaction for a moment, then pressed her finger down on the button. The pipe snapped violently downward again. Robin flinched. She heard a horrendous bone–snapping sound, and her forearm suddenly appeared bent in the middle.
Robin winced. It was nauseating to see her arm bent at such an angle. Her eyes fluttered for a few seconds, and she found herself feeling weak and woozy. She teetered on the very edge of consciousness, still waiting for the intensity of the pain to catch up with her. The woman continued to watch her in silence, making occasional notes on her clipboard. After a moment, the pressure on her arm subsided. The pipe had been reset again.
“Okay, Robin, you can take your arm out now.”
Robin carefully grasped her right elbow and nursed her arm back out of the pipe.
“Take a few seconds now to catch your breath,” the woman told her. Robin forced herself to take deeper breaths. To her surprise, any real sense of pain had yet to materialize. She suspected it was just a delayed reaction, like she sometimes experienced with cuts and scrapes. The woman seemed to scrutinize her every action. “Can you stand up?” she asked after a few moments. Robin struggled to get to her feet without making use of either of her arms. The woman watched with great interest as Robin fought to maintain her balance. “The door on your right leads to the infirmary,” she said. “Go on inside, and someone will take care of you.”
Robin started to move toward the door, gingerly supporting her right arm as she walked. After a few steps, she stopped and turned around, and looked up at the woman in surprise and confusion. “My arm isn’t broken,” she said, concerned that she might have done something wrong.
The woman responded with a comforting smile. “Of course not, Robin. It was only a test.”
Robin continued to look at her in silence, but the woman offered no further explanation. After a few seconds, she walked over to Robin and gently ushered her through the side door. As the door to the infirmary closed behind her, Robin studied her forearm in wonder. She was stunned and thoroughly mystified. She’d clearly just seen her arm broken in half, yet now it felt just as solid as ever.
“Oh good!” someone nearby exclaimed. Robin finally looked up from her arm. A woman wearing a doctor’s uniform came scrambling across the floor in her direction. “I need your help!” the doctor insisted. She grabbed Robin’s arm and pulled her deeper inside the room. Another woman was lying there on a cot, shivering and perspiring profusely. “I need you to stay here and watch her for me. I have to run and get some medicine for her.” Without even waiting for Robin’s response, the doctor dashed out through one of the exits.
Robin watched her disappear through the doorway, then turned her attention to the patient on the cot. The woman’s eyes were closed and she seemed to be moaning in great discomfort. Robin swallowed and looked at her in sympathy. She didn’t know the slightest thing about medicine. What did the doctor expect her to do? Why did she seem to think Robin’s presence would make a difference?
Memories from the nursery began to flash through her mind. She’d been ill several times during her stay there, and she recalled how the nurses had cared for her then. Now, as she gazed at the suffering woman, she felt a strong urge to try and ease her discomfort.
After studying the woman in silence for a moment, she took a few tentative steps toward the cot. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something seemed to be guiding her actions. As Robin sat down on the side of the cot, the woman’s eyes flashed open in panic. She looked up at Robin and trembled in fear. Robin was convinced she could sense what the woman was feeling. It was the same feeling she’d experienced in the darkened assembly room.
“Shhhh…” Robin whispered to her, reaching forward to touch the woman’s face. A few delicate caresses seemed to calm her. After a moment, her eyelids drifted shut and she seemed to surrender herself to Robin’s care. Robin reached down and grasped one of her hands, and tried to offer what little comfort she could. A few more quiet seconds passed by, and then the woman suddenly sat up, leaned out of the cot and got to her feet. Robin watched in complete astonishment as she stretched and calmly wiped the moisture from her face. The doctor then stepped back into the room and handed a clipboard to the sick woman.
“Robin Starling?” the woman asked, after taking a preliminary glance at the clipboard. Perplexed by the woman’s rapid recovery, Robin simply nodded in response.
“We’re running behind schedule,” the doctor insisted. “The process is taking too long today. Do we need to run her through the rest of the tests?”
The sick woman looked at Robin and made a quick judgement based on her perceptions. “No,” she replied in answer to the doctor. “I think she’s going to do just fine.”
“Very well,” the doctor said. “Step out into the hallway, Robin, and join the other girls in the room to your left.”
Robin lifted herself up from the cot and moved apprehensively toward the exit. She glanced back over her shoulder at the women and saw them discussing something on the clipboard, speaking in terms and phrases she didn’t understand. As she approached the door that led into the hallway, she eyed its handle with unease and suspicion. What’s going to happen now? she wondered. Her mind was struggling to make sense of things. Broken arms that weren’t broken. Sick women who weren’t sick. What kind of tests are these? What are they going to do to me next?
Placing her hand against the door’s surface, Robin pushed it open a crack. It seemed safe. She leaned out and peered along the length of the hallway. There was another room not too far off to her left, where a dozen or more other girls were sitting together on the floor. Robin scurried into the corridor and immediately began to move in that direction. She gazed at the other girls sitting in the room and hoped this wasn’t just a trick of some kind. She had no idea what they were doing in there; she just desperately wanted to be with them.
The girls looked up at Robin as she entered the room. They remained silent, watching her movements as she searched for a suitable spot on the floor. When she sat down, they seemed to lose interest in her and refocused their attentions elsewhere.
Robin looked around herself. There wasn’t much to see in here. There was a desk with some chairs at the front of the room, but other than that it was pretty much empty. Two uniformed women were leaning against the desk, talking to a young girl who was standing in front of them. Robin watched as they questioned the girl, but she was focused on their actions more than what they were saying. After a moment, one of the women stood up and led the young girl out of the room. A short time later, another woman entered the room and leaned back against the front of the desk. One of the women called out a name, and another girl stood up and stepped forward. They questioned the girl for a couple of minutes, and then she too was led from the room. The procedure repeated itself for the next girl, and then yet another girl was called forward. Robin decided after watching for a while that they would eventually call out her name as well.
A few more girls entered the room after Robin and took their places on the floor with the others. As Robin watched one of them step around her, she caught a glimpse of a window with an outside view. She could tell by the deep blue color of the sky that it was already getting dark outside. Suddenly, she became aware of the fact that her eyes were beginning to feel a little heavy. They didn’t even give us a nap today, she realized. We always got naps at the nursery. She began to wonder if girls weren’t allowed to sleep at the academy — if maybe they were only supposed to sleep when they were little, and when they grew up they had to stay awake all the time.
Something startled her, interrupting her thoughts. Someone in the room had just called out her name.
“Robin Starling?” one of the women at the desk repeated. Robin got up and slowly made her way forward. She stopped a few paces away from the women and looked up at both of them in unease.
“Robin?” the woman asked again.
Robin swallowed and nodded.
“Congratulations, Robin,” the woman continued. “It’s been decided that you should be a captain.” She waited to see how Robin would respond.
Robin was confused by the woman’s choice of words. Congratulations Robin? What does that mean? Is she telling me to do something?
The woman could clearly see that she was puzzled. “Do you know what a captain is, Robin?” she asked.
Robin pursed her lips and slowly shook her head.
“Well,” she explained, “a captain is a person who makes decisions for a group. Someone who directs the actions of others as they try to achieve a common goal together. Now, all the girls at the academy are divided into little groups of seven. We call these little groups ‘training squads,’ and each one of these squads has its very own captain. So what I’m trying to tell you, Robin, is that you’re going to be in charge of the other girls in your squad.”
Robin’s eyes opened a little wider. I have a squad? she thought in bewilderment. One of the women seemed to sense what she was thinking. She stood up and held her hand out to Robin. “Come with me, Robin,” she suggested invitingly. “I’ll take you to them. They’re already waiting for you.”
Robin reached up and took the woman’s hand, and the two of them stepped out through the doorway together.
“It’s nice to meet you, Robin,” the woman said as she led her along a length of empty corridor. “My name is Dawn. I’m one of the instructors here at the academy.”
Robin glanced around herself anxiously, fearing this was just another test of some kind. Where is she taking me to? she wondered. It concerned her that there was no one else in sight.
“Tomorrow we’ll set your squad up with a class schedule
,” Dawn explained. “Right now, there are just a few more things I need to show you. See that big opening down at the end of the hall?” she asked, pointing directly ahead of them. Robin looked in the direction she was pointing. “That’s the cafeteria.” She continued to lead Robin around the building, showing her where various rooms were located. “These sunken rooms are student lounges,” she explained as they passed a low open area filled with round tables and chairs. “There’s one of these at every corner of the main hall. Do you remember the room where they turned off the lights?”
Robin nodded.
“That’s the assembly room. When your squad gets called to assembly, that’s the room that you’re supposed to report to.”
Eventually she led Robin to a crescent–shaped room filled with hundreds of young girls and more beds than she could count. “This is your sleeping quarters,” she explained. Robin’s eyes quickly scanned the room. It didn’t look anything like her old room at the nursery. It was so long she couldn’t see either end, and the entire outer wall seemed to be made up of windows. The inner wall was dotted with clusters of beds, arranged in little horseshoe shaped alcoves. Each of the clusters contained seven beds — enough to accommodate one full squad.
The room was already buzzing with chatter as the other young girls became acquainted with their squad mates. Where is my squad? Robin wondered in concern. Have they already made friends without me?
“This way, Robin,” Dawn said to her. She led her along the outer wall. After a few paces, she wheeled to the right and steered Robin into one of the alcoves. Six other girls were waiting for her there — each of them sitting quietly on one of the beds.
“This is your captain, girls,” Dawn announced. She ushered Robin closer to them. “You only have a few minutes left,” she told them. “The lights are going to be going out pretty soon, so I suggest you take this time to get to know each other.” She smiled and gave Robin a gentle nudge on the back. Robin sensed that Dawn was prodding her to speak, but she didn’t have a clue as to what she should say.
