Chapter 4: (2) - Hunter Island
After about an hour of waiting in line, Alexandre finally passed into the small building and reached the intake station desk.
A middle-aged man with a computer tablet and a stack of paperwork in front of him looked emotionlessly into Alexandre's face. "Last name, first name, date of birth, city of birth." His words came quickly and tonelessly, without even sounding as though he were asking a question, as though he were speaking to a computer instead of to a human being.
Alexandre replied in an equally efficient tone. "Hauteville, Alexandre; May 19, 2011; Chicago, Illinois."
The clerk's fingers moved with lightning speed to input the data into his tablet, then demanded, "Identification, genome survey."
Alexandre handed over his New York ID card and a USB drive containing his government-mandated genome survey. The clerk inserted both of these into a small computer unit, which beeped after a moment, indicating that no emergency problems had been detected.
The clerk returned these items to Alexandre, then took one of the sheets from the stack of paperwork at his side. He wrote on the top and bottom portions for several moments, then tore it down the middle and pushed the bottom half toward Alexandre. "Everything is in order. You are candidate number 23,332. Here is your ticket. Next!"
The sharp way he called for the next prospective student was the only emotion he'd shown throughout the entire exchange.
Alexandre took his ticket and stepped through the doorway at the other end of the building. Now that he was outside again, he found a crowded shuttle boat waiting to shuttle him and all other approved candidates to another location.
As he got on board this boat, Alexandre felt an intense sense of anxiety and stress from those around him. It was quite understandable, since Hunter Academy famously only accepted a maximum of 4,000 candidates per year... and very often didn't even reach this limit.