[ WP ] In order to to unlock your DNA and have children you must first pass a test .

Today was the day. As I walked up to the steps of the clinic and the largely featureless building loomed over me I began to get a little nervous. Two years ago at 18 I ’ d passed my driving test and I hadn ’ t felt nearly as nervous as I was now. Of course, the government ’ s decision to bring in the Birthing Test was controversial when it was proposed over 150 years ago. They argued that it was needed because of the huge population boom. Major cities had become one huge metropolis a long time ago. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, we needed more places for people to live and we now had buildings that stretched over 1000 meters into the sky. This kind of growth couldn ’ t be sustained and so the overpopulation argument that the government gave, although it may not have been the real reason they introduced the Birthing Test, was a valid one. The real reason they introduced the Birthing Test was because they did n't want stupid people breeding and I for one agreed with them. You can ’ t have idiots and people with ailments or afflictions breeding. It ’ s not fair to the future of our race. We must ensure that only the strongest people are allowed to have children because one day an invasion will come and when it does we will need to be strong to defeat the Avlonians. 
 
 The test had multiple stages. The first stage was a general knowledge written test. I wasn ’ t really nervous about this part because it was apparently quite easy. It was basically an idiot-filter so I should have no trouble passing this stage. Then there would be an interview with an assessor. I ’ d obtained my degree in Space Travel and Logistics and I ’ d done well so I wasn ’ t really worried about this stage either. It was supposedly an informal interview to assess what your personality was like and to gather more information on your background. It was Stage 3 that made me nervous. Before you could begin your test you had to sign a disclaimer stating that you would tell nobody what Stage 3 involved. It was probably just some other type of testing but it still made me nervous. Why was there so much secrecy surrounding it? I knew plenty of people that had passed their Birthing Test first time and not one had ever spoken about Stage 3. Whatever it was it was definitely meant to be kept a secret. 
 
 I walked through the doorshield, through the disinfecting beam and up to the reception desk. The lady scanned the chip in my arm that contained all of my basic information and told me to take a seat and somebody would be with me soon. I looked around the room at the other candidates. I could tell just by looking at some of them that they wouldn ’ t pass. The man sat opposite me had a lazy eye. I don ’ t even know why he bothered applying unless he was some kind of genius, which I doubted, because he was reading Heat Magazine. I picked up National Geographic and got comfortable. 

