Chapter 2

Jane and Robert were both quiet as they drove to the testing center the next morning. The previous night’s conversation had given them both plenty to think about, and Robert had struggled to shut off his mind and sleep.

They pull into the center a few minutes later, check in on the tablet at the front desk, and find seats to wait.

“I didn’t expect it to be this busy already.” Robert says.

“Just wait til the end of the testing period.” Jane says. “I bet a ton of people end up waiting until the last minute.”

Their names are eventually called, and they are quickly swabbed and moved to a secondary waiting room to await their results.

“They are taking this seriously.” Jane says, nodding at the exit door, which has a guard on it.

“They probably don’t want anyone bolting if they get unexpectedly bad results.” Robert says. “Although this isn’t exactly a diverse group.”

“That’s to be expected.” Jane says. “Would you show up for testing day 1 if you were a minority? Or would you hide in your home and try to enjoy the last few days of freedom? Or try to run away maybe, if you had somewhere to go?”

As names were called, people would come up and get a new state issued ID card. Robert noticed the cards were in different colors, and one man started crying loudly as he was handed a red card, and was told to go through a different door back into the building. He was clearly in shock, and the guard had to approach and order him again to go through the door. The man’s wife was speaking quickly to the attendant, clearly trying to understand what was happening. She begins to argue with her, and the security guard has to escort her out the door.

“Fuck.” Robert whispers to Jane. “I don’t think I would survive if they just took you from me like that.”

“Not going to happen.” Jane says. “We wouldn’t be here today if we hadn’t already tested. Remember to keep your composure, honey. We don’t need any negative attention in here.”

A few minutes pass, with Robert watching the interactions. “The ID cards appear to be color coded.” He tells Jane. “Any idea what the colors mean?”

“It didn’t say anything on the BAA site, but we’ll have to ask when we get our results.” Jane says. “Most people seem to be getting white and yellow, right?”

“That’s what I’ve noticed.” Robert says. “The guy that got pulled back got a red card, and I noticed one woman getting a green card.”

The interior door opens, and a guard walks in leading a short dark haired woman.

“Sit here please.” He tells her, and goes to talk to the other guard, pointing at her. The other guard nods, and then he walks back past the woman, and through the interior door.

Robert leans over to Jane, and whispers. “Hispanic?”

“Hard to tell with her head down, but probably. Why else would the guards be paying special attention to her?” Jane asks.

Just then, the woman looks up and scans the room, noticing almost everyone staring at her.

Jane whispers to Robert “She could be an option. She’s kind of cute.”

“If you like the ‘Might knife you in your sleep’ kind of girl.” Robert replies.

“She’s just nervous and scared. You can hardly blame her for that.” Jane says, squeezing his leg.

“I don’t blame her for anything, but that doesn’t make me want to trust her enough to bring her into our home.” Robert says. “Besides, we can’t just latch onto the first person you see. We also have to be careful to find people that can get along with both of us, and not draw unwanted government attention to our house by doing anything stupid. That’s the last thing we need.”

“It was just an idea, honey.” Jane says somewhat defensively. “We can just drop it.”

Robert’s name was called next, and he noticed the attendant was holding out a green card, along with some paperwork.

“Congratulations!” She says. “You got the jackpot.”

“What?” Robert asks. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what the color codes mean.”

“You scored 100%, so you get a green card. White card is 99-99.9, Yellow is 95-98.9, and below that is Red, which means getting detained. Each card has different rights and responsibilities, so make sure to read the documents before leaving. If you have questions, you can come up and ask, or go to the website on the paperwork. Good luck.” The attendant says, seeming genuinely happy for him, which makes him feel rather disconcerted.

“What did she say?” Jane asks as he sits down.

Robert starts to summarize the conversation, about to hand over the paperwork so she can read it, when Jane’s name is called.

He watches her walk up, but can’t see what color she is getting. He decides to read the paperwork while he waits, but doesn’t get far before Jane plops down next to him.

“I got green!” She says, a little more loudly than was necessary, clearly excited.

“I’m still not sure I understand what that means.” Robert replies quietly, uncomfortable with the fact that most of the waiting room, including the young Hispanic woman, are now staring at both of them.

“I asked the attendant, and she asked us to read the green paper before we leave, and to come ask her if we have questions.” Jane says. “It sounded like she expected us to have questions.”

Robert and Jane grab their copy, and begin reading.

“Is this saying we can just walk up to a woman we think will be a red card, and claim her as our property?” Jane asks.

“Keep reading.” Robert says. “It sounds like we can claim two, because we are both green cards. See down here: If a husband and wife are both green cards, the husband may use the wife’s green card slip to claim a second concubine. We need to read all of this before we leave, I wasn’t expecting this to be this real this fast.”

“I’m glad we discussed the possibility of taking two women last night.” Jane says. “What do you think of that girl? I think she’s cute, in sort of a tomboy way.”

“You are getting way too caught up in this.” Robert replies. “First I agreed to one girl, then two, after we take two weeks to assess the situation. Now you want to bring a girl home with us, right now. What’s next, buy a set of triplets at an auction and have 5 extra women in the house?”

“Keep reading, honey. It doesn’t sound like this is optional. On the next page it says: Green cards who don’t make claims will get assigned women, starting on auction day. We definitely don’t want some rando assigned to us. We could end up with someone that is an awful fit. We are going to have to use the claims before that happens, to make sure we get someone compatible for both of us”. Jane says, much to Robert’s chagrin.

“Ok, that’s it. I need to read the rest of this thing now, and find out what other traps are in this.” Robert says, already beginning to read with much more urgency.