The lights blinked on, waking me abruptly. I sat up, regretting my decision to sleep in my bed tonight instead of on the roof, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and waiting as Sallis shouted instructions at us.

“Get up now. Kids 10606 through 10690 get a bag from the pile and pack your things. You have ten minutes until the bus leaves and if you're not outside by then I’m throwing you out anyway. The rest of you get up and do your tests.”

Sallis dropped a worn box of what I guessed were bioplastic bags in the doorway before leaving, the door clunking shut after her.

The clock above the door lazily blinked 05:45 and I looked around, confused. It was earlier than she normally woke us. I looked at the other kids, some also seemed confused but some were already walking towards the box with a look of resignation their faces. One girl, 10657, started crying gently. 10612 grabbed her arm and shook her roughly.

“Get it together. You knew this would happen. It’s intake day today. You're 11, you’ve been here long enough.”

Intake day. It happened every year around this time. It’s the day when kids volunteer or get signed up to join the military. It was either the Guardians, the Interplanetary Army or the Space Corps, you don’t know which one you’ll get until you show up. Only the kids who do really well in the testing get Space Corps, the quickest and ones with the most potential, Sallis used to tell us as she sneered down at us. Sallis normally signed up everyone over ten unless they did really well in their testing and the orphanage thought they might have the potential to get signed up for the Space Corps, they pay extra for kids, I didn’t know why. I guess it gives orphanages more incentive to keep people for longer, to give them a better chance at avoiding the Guardians. I’d managed to avoid intake last year but I guessed my scores were getting worse or Sallis just couldn’t bother to keep me any longer.

I climbed out of my bed and did a quick mental calculation of the numbers she had called. No one under 10 had been signed this year, that’s better than last year at least.

Hopefully, it means that the interplanetary wars and unrest is starting to settle down. I thought as I quickly got dressed and shoved my only belongings (two spare sets of underwear) into the bag.

I left the dorm room where most the girls slept and walked through the orphanage I’d lived in all of my life. Or the Junior Training Facility as it was officially called. It was an orphanage. They just called it that to make it seem more official. It’s really just a holding space for kids until they’re old enough to join the military.

Grubby fingerprints streaked the off-white walls and the once carpeted floors were worn down from use. Compared to my school, the orphanage wasn’t great. The doors and windows never closed properly so it was always either too cold or too hot and we barely got enough food but it was all I’d ever known.

I’d been left at the hospital when I was born and shipped here not long after. That was quite common now, I think like thirty percent of this planet’s population are orphans too. We get taken in by the orphanages and either lived there until we are eighteen and then set free into the world or we get “voluntarily” signed up to the military before then. I don’t know anyone who actually made it to eighteen in an orphanage though. The oldest person at my orphanage was thirteen and they were signed up at the same time I was. They mostly signed us up before then or kids would get sick of how they were treated so sign up themselves because surely it couldn’t be worse. The youngest you could be signed up is nine so I’d done pretty well to make it to eleven. Apparently, before nine, you don’t have the brains to learn how to fight or fly or follow orders properly so there’s no point in them accepting us because we won’t be able to be useful. Or at least, that’s what Sallis used to say.

I reached the front of the building where a big grey bus waited for us, its electric engine idling silently. Reddish dust streaked the side of it, showing that it had come from outside of the city where the buildings gave way to endless rolling sand dunes.

“Alright, sit anywhere and be quiet whilst I scan you all.” Sallis gestured to get on the bus, impatient to be rid of us.

I sat at the back of the bus so that I could see everyone else, anxiety starting to build in my chest as I thought about where I would be going.

Will it be the Interplanetary Army? Or maybe the Guardians? Or the Space Corps could be fun? I’d like to see the other planets so anything but the Guardians I’ll be happy with. They're just stuck on this planet but I guess sometimes they get to travel. They mostly work for the Council who don’t travel or send them to other planets too often, I don’t think. The IA are stuck fighting in the war so they need the most people but I don’t want to do that. Space Corps would be good but barely anyone gets into it. I’ve done okay on my testing but I don’t know if that’ll be good enough.

Sallis walked along the rows, scanning our wrist monitors and scowling when she noticed a few stragglers running onto the bus at the last minute. She raised her hand to smack them on the back of their heads as they passed but stopped when the bus driver cleared his throat pointedly, his eyes narrowed at her hand whilst his own strayed to the baton on his belt.

“That’s all of them.” She told the bus driver before walking off the bus and back into the facility without a backwards glance, shutting the door hard behind her.

I should feel something. I thought as I watched the facility get smaller through the window.

I lived there for 11 years and I’ll probably never see it or her again. But I didn't feel anything, only a twinge of anxiety for the future in my stomach. I dug my nails into my palms until the sharp pain distracted me from my fear.

“Please stay seated, the Army training facility is about an hour away and from there we’ll go by the Guardian’s centre before taking the cruiser over to the Space Corps base.” The bus driver announced over the speakers.

I stared in wonder out of the window as the streets rolled past. I only left the facility to go to school, we weren’t allowed to leave otherwise so this was all new and a little bit intimidating for me. I watched the electric cars speeding along the highways much quicker than the school bus ever went and drank in the sights of people walking down the street.

“Look at that!” A kid whispered, pointing at the sky where a ship could just about be seen through the clouds.

I pushed my face against the window, trying to see more, watching its journey with fascination.

We were told in school that interplanetary travel was fairly common now but we never got to see ships from the orphanage that often. I sometimes saw them at night when I was on the roof but that was pretty rare. I watched it until it disappeared from sight, dreaming of flying that high above the world.

Would it be smooth? Going through the atmosphere? Or is it actually bumpy like all of those films say? I thought, straining to see more ships and allowing myself to dream, just once, of being on one. Maybe even piloting one.

I shook my head to clear the thought.

Don’t wish too much, you’ll just be disappointed.

“Okay, when I call your number please exit the bus, I’ll scan your wrists then you can follow the solider into the facility. Number 10606, 10608…” His voice droned on, listing about 20 kids but thankfully not myself.

Okay, I thought, not the army. I’ll be a Guardian or in the Space Corps. Hopefully not the Guardians though.

Once the last kid had left the bus, the bus driver boarded again and spoke.

“Alright, it’s a little bit longer to the Guardian’s centre. We should be there in about 3 hours.”

I looked back at the children who were now walking through the heavy looking gate of the army facility as we pulled away. I didn’t know any of them very well, friendships were discouraged in the orphanage. We were only allowed to talk whilst at school, once we returned to the orphanage we could only speak when directly addressed by Sallis or one of the other equally cruel caretakers.

I wonder what the new place will be like. Maybe I’ll be able to make some friends. I thought wistfully but it didn’t seem very likely.

I looked around the bus, most of the other kids were staring out the windows or asleep.

That’s a good idea, I don't know how busy we will be once we get to wherever. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep as well.

I must have managed to drift off because I was jolted awake when the bus stopped once more.

“This is the Guardian’s centre. You know the drill by now: get off the bus when I call your number. 10607, 10623, 10624…” The bus driver called, skipping over my number once more.

My heart thumped in excitement.

Space Corps. I thought with a small smile. That was what I wanted but I didn’t think I would really be chosen.

Sallis said each year they select the smallest number of kids to join them. Only the ones who they think will do well and then the army or the Guardians take the rest.

Anxiety hit me again and I bit my lip. What if they’d just forgotten about me and I was actually meant to be in the Guardians?

I looked around the bus. Only about 10 kids remained. Surely I wouldn’t be called now?

The bus driver got on the bus again and picked up a large cool box from under the front seat.

“Okay, it’s another 3 hours to the Space Corps base, we’ll be taking the cruiser over the ocean and it’s not too long a journey once we touch down on the other side. I have breakfast and a drink for each of you.” The bus driver walked down the bus handing us each a bag from the box.

I opened it. There was bioplastic wrapped sandwiches, water, a bag of wheat crisps and an apple.

Is that a real apple? I thought excitedly as I picked it up and sniffed it deeply.

The smell was not what I expected. It didn’t smell like the apple drink we had at school, it smelled less sweet. I didn’t think I’d ever had real fruit before. At the orphanage, we mostly had reconstituted mush. It’s made of the parts of fruit and vegetables that no one else wanted, so it was the easiest and cheapest food that still provided enough energy that most of us survived. Not all of us but as long as the death count wasn’t too high no one cared.

I couldn't help myself. I bit into the apple immediately, almost laughing as the juices ran down my face and dripped onto my shirt. It was delicious. Sweet and tangy like one of the sweets I stole from Sallis that time. I ate it quickly, dropping the core back into the bag to be composted later and looked up just in time to catch the bus driver watching us eat in the mirror with a small smile.

Suspicion flared through me immediately.

Why is he smiling? Is the food drugged?

I looked around again but no other children seemed to have noticed his glance. They didn’t seem drowsy or anything yet. I anxiously clenched my hands around the bag, unsure if I had the confidence or stupidity to do what I was about to do. I slipped off the seat before I could talk myself out of it.

“Urm… excuse me?” I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.

“What is it, kid?” The bus driver barely took his eyes off the road to look at me.

He didn’t seem angry. His voice was almost kind.

“I saw you watching us eat.” It came out like an accusation.

Up close the bus driver looks younger than I thought. Maybe in his late teens. His dark hair was buzzed short and he was wearing the same Space Corps uniform I’d seen on the screens.

He laughed, the sound startling me.

“I was a draft. I remember what it was like to eat real food for the first time.”

“You’re one of us?”

“Yeah, I was at Sallis’ place about seven years ago. Stowed away on the bus and snuck out once we got to the base.” He paused whilst pulling onto a smaller side road. “They knew what happened as soon as they scanned my wrist and offered to send me back but I’d already seen enough of the place. I wanted to stay. You’ll see what I mean. Now go eat your sandwich, you’re not meant to be talking to me whilst I’m driving.”

I walked back to my seat confused, ignoring the stares from the other kids. I understood why they were staring, I had done something risky and potentially dangerous. Talking to an adult, and a solider no less, without being spoken to first could get your food rations taken away for 3 days back at Sallis’. I tried to understand what the driver had said but I couldn’t understand why he would want to stay at the Space Corps base if he had the option not to, I always thought military bases were as bad as orphanages, if not worse. They always told us that. Sallis always said she was preparing us for life on the base when she was punishing us.

I did trust him though. The fury in his voice when he spoke about Sallis was enough proof for me.

I finished the sandwich quickly, marvelling in the flavours and textures of real food before falling asleep once more.