Atlas Read Online Free PDF Page B

road, and what looked like residential housing complete with hedges and gated white picket fences. It was the kind of sprawling suburbia I'd seen on Net vids set in the UC.
    "Welcome to the Military Entrance Processing Station of New San Antonio," a PPA said by the entrance. "Please store any backpacks or aReals in the marked compartments then proceed to the scanning stations."
    Alejandro, Tahoe and I had only the clothes we wore, so we headed straight for the full body scanners. Ahead of us, the alarm went off for one person and two PPAs escorted him outside. I overheard a few people whispering nearby. Apparently he'd failed the breathalyzer portion of the scan.
    "Please exhale," a friendly female voice intoned when I stood inside the glass compartment. I did. "Thank you. You may proceed." The glass slid aside and I walked through.
    Beyond the scanners there were long rows of seats, with different kiosks spaced at intervals, and uniformed robots moving to and fro. The whole place had the feel of an airport terminal.
    A support robot moved between us, pointing out the kiosks of the different branches. "Navy here. Marine Corps here. Air Force here. Army here."
    "So, which branch, hombres ?" Alejandro said.
    I didn't really know which one to pick. As much as I hated to admit it, I hadn't really thought this far ahead. I'd adopted the whole 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it' mindset, I guess because I never thought I'd actually make it here. Up until now, this was all just some distant, unachievable dream, but here I was, living that dream. I had this vague notion about joining a special forces division, and that's about it.
    A girl halfway through one of the lines caught my eye. Long blonde hair, tanned skin, cute as hell.
    "Navy." I said, and headed for her line.
    I waited with Alejandro and Tahoe as the line slowly moved forward, hoping the girl would look back.
    She didn't.
    Some of the conversational threads I overheard in line:
    "I didn't have a choice. My parents moved here when I was fifteen."
    "They drafted me when I tried to board the plane home. How was I supposed to know I'd overstayed my visa?"
    "Me?" This from a white dude. "I just wanted to get the hell out of dodge."
    The girl I had my eye on reached the front of the line, exchanged a few words with the robot attendant, then moved off toward a side hall. Before vanishing from view, she finally looked back. She caught my eye and glanced down demurely.
    Definitely hot.
    The moments passed. Tahoe, Alejandro and I neared the front of the line.
    "Guys, what do you think about the Marines?" I said, having second thoughts. Probably wasn't the best idea to base my branch choice on some girl I'd seen in line.
    Tahoe shrugged. "Same difference to me. They still get to go into space."
    "No no no," one of the people in front of me said. "If you want to go into space, you join the Navy, not the Marines. We're the ones who control the ships, bro."
    Tahoe pursed his lips. "He does have a point."
    I shrugged. "All right. Navy it is."
    When I reached the front of the line the metal-faced attendant informed me that new reading material had been installed in my embedded Id.
    "How am I supposed to read it without an aReal?" I said.
    "You will be given access to an aReal," the robot said. "Enter Room #2 down the hall on your right. Fill the seats sequentially from the front."
    "Don't I get a name tag or something?"
    "Enter Room #2 down the hall on your right," the robot repeated, in the exact tone as before. "Fill the seats sequentially from the front." Damn robotic detachment.
    I walked down the hall and eventually found a large auditorium with enough capacity to seat a thousand people. About a quarter of the spaces were occupied, filled from the front on down so that there were no empty seats.
    I picked out Ms. Tanned Cutey right away. She was looking back at me—must have been watching the entrance the whole time—and when I met her eyes she smiled coyly and looked away.