The Expansion

The appointment day

My expectation heightened when I heard on the news that the aerospace team had worked out a solution to release the carbon dioxide trapped beneath the ocean and that the hope had flared up for a rise in the Earth temperature and the possibility of life out there.
I told myself that the time was ripe for going on the expedition!
As Noah had promised, the Aerospace Company called on the volunteers willing to go on a no-return expedition and meeting the requirements to register.
There came the registration day. It was 10 in the morning. First I made a coffee, then I calmly entered the site. The moment I saw the number of applicants, I got conscious of the ignorance I'd been living in. As many as 11,543 applicants had been registered in the first two hours. It made my hands and feet shiver. I skipped Terms and Conditions. Hardly had I filled the registration form before this notification appeared on the screen: “Dear volunteers! This course has no capacity left. Thank you for your attention.”
A total of 12,000 had registered! A state of confusion overwhelmed me. I felt somebody was pulling my leg. I closed the screen and entered the site several times, but the Registration key was disabled. The damn message kept flashing. I felt I'd been the most idiot and miserable guy in the world. I burst into tears inadvertently and moaned loudly. The biggest joy in my life had been lost and my hopes had been dashed. I couldn't lay the blame at the door of anybody except for me. Complacency had landed me in trouble. I couldn't do anything. The wish to go on the Earth expedition would fade away. By any means, traveling to Earth would be beyond possibility with so many applicants on the waiting list. I thought if half of those 12,000 applicants failed to pass the primary test and 3,000 applicants changed their mind, 3,000 applicants would remain. It would have taken a year to take them to Earth had they been sent even on a train!
I lay on my bed and put my pillow on my head. I began to insult myself and cry loudly.
I can't remember how many days had elapsed. I'd become really crazy. I didn't leave my room for a few days with the curtains drawn day and night. I would repeat constantly “What should I do?” Thomas came to visit me several times; being in the dumps, I didn't answer the door. I was frail because I hadn't eaten anything for several days. I emptied up the fridge and cabinets. Although I was filled with distress, I went to the supermarket. On the way to the supermarket, I didn't care whether I would come across with my friends. I took a few biscuits, a packet of cigarettes and a box of beer. When I was on the line to make a payment, the cashier was talking to a person in front of me. “Have you heard the news,” he asked. “Of the 12,000 volunteers, 10,000 did not meet the requirements and had registered with wrong information,” he added.
He went on to say, “Venus is not still a bad place, so you don't need to tell lie in order to depart it.” “The Earth expedition is a research project. Not everybody is entitled to go on it. It requires a competent person. I know what is going on. Some people rushed to register without initially obtaining enough information. They might have said let us give it a try, if we found that it would be a bad place, we wouldn't go there.”
I didn't wait by the time this interesting conversation came to an end. I left the stuff behind and sprinted to the house. I had a tingling feeling and shed tears. In the zenith of hopelessness, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It was true and many applicants didn't have the requirements. I visited the site again and read the conditions. It contained roughly 200 questions and a lot of terms and conditions. Generally, those who didn't have a medical and dental record, were neither thin nor fat, and were in the habit of physical exercise, among other things, were authorized to apply. They said the registration form would be enabled from the other week and that the people who entered wrong information would be fined.
I landed on the floor and closed my eyes following days of concern. All my discomfort disappeared in a flash of light.
When I took the situation under my control, I got to realize that I'd made more trouble than it was worth. I indulged myself with a lot of nutrient food.
On the registration day, I think I was the first person to open the site. I kept looking at the number indicating the number of applicants. Their number did not defy logic. It was interesting that many people like me were eager to travel to Earth.
A few days later, I received an email. They asked me to send them the certificates and documents to verify the information I'd given them on the registration day. I’ve already made the documents ready. My mental and physical conditions were excellent. I was ready for any tough challenges. This new chance had rejuvenated me. I didn’t want to lose it.
A few days passed before I received an invitation letter from the company. I had to cope with a lot of stress, but I practiced a lot to increase my focus.
The appointed day arrived and I went to the designated place with utmost determination. I got surprised for the second time. Hundreds of people were standing at a hall. If you were unaware as to why they'd been gathering out there, you'd have thought it was an international sporting event. Some people were standing in a group and some others, like me, were standing alone. Perhaps if I'd had some friends out there, we could have improved the morale of one another.
All the people present seemed to be in excellent conditions. I decided to be self-confident and make my best effort to achieve my goal.
I asked a guy at the counter what was going on. They had apparently come from every corner of Venus. The test was to be carried out in 5 days. The date and time of the test were not the same for all applicants. The number of volunteers didn't exceed 5,000. I wished the test would be so hard that all volunteers would fail. My dream would most probably come true. I wished everybody failed in order for me to enter the company easily. The fact that I was among the last people to register for the program kept bothering me. I didn’t want to enter a profession with doubt and uncertainty. Incertitude made me nervous.
It took a few hours before they announced that the first stage is IQ and general knowledge test.
It was good news for me since I had already taken an IQ test and I knew I would do well. But I was a little worried about general knowledge.
We all entered a new hall. A system was assigned to each applicant based on the Applicant ID. Anxious as I was, I tried to calm myself down by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
IQ was the first test. Some questions really confused me, yet I managed to do the test well. When I started to answer general knowledge questions, the situation changed for the better. There was a wide variety of questions. It was to my benefit because I had been the jack of all hammers after experiencing three different jobs and studying two different major at university.
My family and friends used to blame me for my lack of willingness to continue my career or education. I'd never considered the possibility for deriving benefit from this, and this was my trump card then. The questions ranged from engineering and technology to sociology and sports. The chance came my way since the questions were neither too simple nor too specialized. As though the questions had been tailored exactly to me. Not everybody at the age of 21 had information over so many things though. When I was taking the test, I told myself, “If someone can answer these questions as well as I do, they probably have the same lifestyle like mine, and it’s a good idea I will have some crazy friends like me on the expedition. I hope these kind of people are small in number!”
I was in with a chance of sitting a test like that. I could predict that some classes would be popped up from the following day to make applicants ready for the test of the Earth expedition! I smiled and tried to focus on the questions in the remaining time in order not to make a mistake. The test was over and they announced that we could see the results on the screen. Those whose score was higher than 70% could stay in the hall and the others had to leave it.
It took some 30 minutes to get to know my result. My heart was strongly pounding. There was a commotion at the hall. I got perplexed when I saw my result. I didn’t know whether I should be glad or sad. My result was exactly 70. Then, I didn't know a person who had obtained 70% should stay at the hall or leave. Again, they announced over the speaker that the failed applicants should leave the hall. I didn't leave my chair. “I won't move at all,” I said. All applicants sitting around me left while complaining. A few minutes passed before they completely left the hall. I kept turning my head around to see how many applicants remained at the hall. I feared that someone would come and expel me for gaining 70%. Several desks away, one person was sitting with a contemptuous look. I took the plunge and asked him what percent he had managed to obtain.
“84%,” he said loudly.
My jaw dropped open. “How crazy he is,” I said. I feared that he would ask me about my result and disgrace me. Fortunately, he didn't ask so. He didn't seem to care about anyone other than himself. I turned down my head and sat. As much as I could count, 52 applicants were still at the hall. I assumed that 250 applicants would remain if 50 people passed the test in each following 5 days. I got anxious again. I'd been lucky. I had no idea what other tests they might set.
A woman entered the hall. She gave each remaining applicant a sheet and wrote something on it. She wrote 38 on a sheet and said, “You should take turns entering the room at the end of the hall, according to the number I gave you.” I sew everybody would go and wait behind the door of the room, so did I. One person opened the door and said, “Number 6 please.” Nobody had any idea what would be waiting for us in the room. I desired to make friends with someone, but nobody felt like speaking. Those going inside the room would not return to tell the others what had happened. They entered the room one by one.
I waited until the called my number: “Number 38.”
I went in. It resembled a doctor's office with so many strange devices. A woman wearing a white uniform came to me. She held a document bearing my name. She opened it and I saw the printed copy of my medical records that I had sent them.
She asked me to enter the changing room, put on a single-use garment, and lie in the bed. I guessed I should undergo medical tests for the verification of my documents.
I changed my clothes and lay in the bed. Attached to the bed was a large device. When I lay in the bed, it entered the device. I felt dizzy and my whole body was so cold, yet I closed my eyes and tried not to think about anything. After being inside the device for about five minutes, the bed slid out. The doctor gave me two plastic tubes and asked me to take the samples specified on them. One tube read “Urine” and the other “Sperm”. Under such a stressful condition, I made the samples ready by any means. I put on my clothes. The woman came back and said I could go and I would receive my result by email a week later.
I was really exhausted. I couldn't do anything at that part of the process. I just hoped that I wouldn’t have any special problem. I kept my tablet on day and night from the moment I reached my by the time I received the email. Even, at night, when I was sleeping, I kept waking up several times to control my email. When I was asleep and awake, I imagined the scenarios that I might face and made myself ready for any answer the company might send, although I just expected to receive approval from the company. I had bought several packet of cigarettes and boxes of beer and some appetizers; after all, I needed them if I failed to receive their approval! I put my purchase on the floor in front of the treadmill. I couldn't do anything but doing exercise and thinking.