[ wp ] It 's 2138 , and at the age of 21 everyone can select just one super power granted by the government . Now 21 , You go to your local courthouse to select your superpower and discover in the records , one power everyone has completely overlooked .

It has been overlooked because it is invisible. There are halls and halls of records, each with thousands of tomes, each with pages upon pages, listing all the powers. But in the middle of one of the lists there is a blank space. 
 
 What could this power, written invisibly and unreadable by mortal eyes, possibly be? you wonder. 
 
 As you stare at the blank space, wracking your brains, wanting, needing to know what this mysterious power, written invisibly, is, you start to feel agitated. It could be the greatest of all possible powers, but written down invisibly, so that no one would ever have the opportunity to read it. It could be some power which, once the incoming generations knew it was available, would change the course of history, perhaps much for the better. This unreadable power, whatever it is, had been written invisibly for a reason. You ponder what that reason might be, until it finally hits you. 
 
 Aha! It's been kept invisible as a test. Its very invisibility constitutes a test to and for humanity! Because in order for its secrets to be revealed, one heroic person, one heroic 21 year old, would have to give up his or her opportunity to choose among all the various powers in the world, all those which would be in his or her best interest, that would lead to him or her having a wonderful and exceptional life, immortality, invisibility, super strength, super intelligence, et cetera, in order to do the right thing, for the sake of humanity. 
 
 You confidently decide to do the right thing, for the sake of humanity. You will be the true altruist, the one who brings salvation to humanity by unveiling the mystery hidden in the blank space where is written, invisibly, the greatest of all powers, beyond all human imagination. 
 
 You walk to the front desk of the government building, striding, knowing the sacrifice you are about to make is for the good of humanity, for the sake of the species itself. As you walk you imagine the headlines, the newscasts, praising your selflessness. You imagine the book that will be written about what you are about to do. You imagine the book-based films that will follow. And you imagine, thousands of years from now, when humanity is much changed, for the better, because of the great power you unearthed for all posterity, families sitting around tables, praising you and speaking your name with reverence, saying that your name will echo through eternity. 
 
 At the front desk you look square in the bureaucrat's eye, and you say: 
 
 `` It is my 21st birthday.'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' she says, smiling. `` What power do you choose? And remember, once you have chosen, your choice is irrevocable. So, be sure you choose well.'' 
 
 `` I choose to have the power to read invisible writing,'' you say. 
 
 `` Curious,'' she says. `` Very curious. They say the power chooses the person. But I never thought in all my days someone would... Very well. If you're sure... then the power is all yours.'' 
 
 You rush back to the records room, weaving through the isles to the section where you first found the blank space, the space filled with the hallowed power but writ invisibly. You pull the great tome down from the shelf. You flip to the page where you know it is. And there, on that page, where the blank space had been, now you see it, filled in, just as you suspected. And you read it, first in your head, and then out loud: 
 
 `` Power 218949: The power to read invisible writing.'' 
 
 
 
 
 

