She waited in the terminal lounge, clutching her backpack with both arms. Her gaze was glued to the orange carpet. Ten minutes remained until they began boarding her section of the space transport. Ten minutes until she was caught and thrown out.She risked a quick look around. The other passengers looked as downtrodden and desperate as she did, but their faces lacked her terror. How she envied them. When their names were called and they stepped, one by one, into the testing machine, they had nothing to fear. They would pass through, board the transport, and begin their journey to a new life on the moon.
The testing machine. She didn’t want to look at it. Just a clear-sided elevator. Step inside, the doors closed, it dropped out of sight one floor – they didn’t want the rest of the passengers disturbed by either the test itself or any negative outcomes – and then MSR test activated. If the passenger passed, the elevator rose, the opposite doors opened, and they walked out onto the boarding ramp, free to immigrate. If they failed, the elevator rose without them.
She pulled the backpack more tightly to her chest. She would fail.
MSR stood for Magic Stimuli Response. It was designed to trigger a manifestation of power from magic-sensitive test subjects.
She was magic-sensitive.
A video screen blurred to life nearby. An ad touting the exciting benefits of life on the moon began playing, the blue logo of the corporate government prominently displayed in a corner. She would have rolled her eyes, if she wasn’t so scared. There wasn’t a person left on the planet who hadn’t seen that ad so many times they had it memorized. Everyone knew it was immigrate to the moon, or stay down here and die a slow death.
Her parents had succumbed to illness four weeks ago. Her little brother had passed before them. That was the reality of their poisoned, dying world. Devastated, alone, she’d tried to survive, but she was too young to work, and her parents had left her nothing. Nothing except a small stash of money for a ticket to the moon. Start over, they’d urged. An uncle lived there. He was her only remaining family, and he was expecting her. He’d transferred her more money for the ticket, when the prices had hiked, and she had taken it, desperate to join him and start over.
The boarding cycle began. The first people queued up and began entering the testing chamber.
She swallowed. She would never make it to her uncle because she would never make it out of that machine. It would expose her as magic-sensitive, and they would kick her back out on the street. No magic-sensitives were allowed on the moon. Magic was an aberration, and they intended to keep it out.
“What do you think the moon will be like?”
She jumped at the man’s voice next to her.
“Easy, little deer!” he said. He was older than she was, but not by much. His hair was caught in a ponytail, and he carried a single bag. “They say the domes aren’t as lush as the ad shows, but it’s pretty close.”
She mumbled a response and wished he would go away.
“Look up, not down,” he said, softly. “Don’t give them reason to suspect you.”
Her gaze turned sharply to him.
He smiled. “It’s not as bad as you’re imagining.”
“What isn’t?”
“The test.”
She froze and said nothing.
“It’s designed to startle you, that’s all. It scares you, and your magic will activate automatically to save you. That’s how it works.”
“I have no magic,” she mumbled.
“Of course not. None of us do. What magic-sensitive person would be stupid enough to try to get off world?” She heard the bitterness in his voice and studied his face again. He looked no different from anyone else, but where she was terrified, he merely looked determined. She hadn’t met many other magic-sensitive people. How did he do that? He went on, “They keep your ticket money, you know. If they detect you. It’s not like they refund it so you can go back to whatever cheap hole you used to live in. They keep it.”
Her shoulders slumped. She was giving up everything for a chance at a future that was doomed from the outset.
“Family?” he asked.
“Gone, here. I have an uncle on the moon. He’s waiting for me. He’s sent me a couple communications, told me he’s got a room ready, and what the schools are like there.” Her lip trembled, and she clenched her jaw to steady emotions. “I guess I’ll never see that.”
He sat beside her in silence a long time, and she tried to draw strength from him. Finally, he blew out a breath and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Lara.”
He reached in a pocket and handed her something. It was small and metallic. “Take this,” he said. “Hide it in your pocket and don’t let anyone see it.”
She stuffed it in her jacket pocket.
“Now, hold your head up high, and stop worrying. You’ll be seated on the transport shortly, and your uncle will be waiting to greet you.”
“I don’t…”
“It’s a counter-spell. It stops your magic from activating. As long as that’s on your person, you have nothing to worry about from their test. Do you understand? You’re going to make it. You’re going to start again.”
“But you—”
He waved a hand, dismissively. “I can try again later.”
The loud speaker blared her name: “Lara Remin, approach the gate.”
Her heart hammered.
“Go,” he said. “You’ve got an uncle. You have family. I don’t have anyone waiting up there.”
“If I see you again…” she said.
“You won’t.”
The loud speaker called again, “Lara Remin, last call.”
He smiled confidently at her, squeezed her hand, and she hurried towards the gate, the gift of life safe in her pocket.