I don't remember anything after that, only a blur filled by words and people. A paper with words on it, a pen. Filling in a bubble next to Law Enforcement. They told me I would be good at it.  I find myself at a long metal building the next morning with a few of other recruits. Everyone around me looks dazed, and I feel the same way. What exactly happened? A lady dressed in a uniform comes forward. I try furiously to clear the fog from my mind. It slides away slowly. I force it by focusing on the details like the uniform, deep red with black stripes on the shoulders. A zipper runs down the front and she wears tight black pants. She notices me looking.

"Nara 4819?"

"Yes, Ma'am?"

She walks through a doorway and stands out of sight. "What color is the zipper on my shirt?"

I think quickly. This is a test, I know it. "A lighter red than your shirt, ma'am. Why do you ask?"

She steps back into sight, smiling. She looks like a hawk who has spied a tasty morsel of food. "Very good, young Nara. I will take you as my apprentice. You're sharper than you look." She looks at the other recruits, three of them. "All of you, listen! From now on you will eat, sleep, drink and breathe the law. And if you do, you will become the law. You will obey the law and enforce the law. You will honor the law and keep the law. Is that clear?" She roars. We all step back. She curls her lip a little. "No backbone, these young recruits. I said, is that clear?" We flinch, but refuse to back down this time.

She nods to three other police around her. I notice they have no stripes on their shoulders, it must be a sign of rank. "George, Cleme, and Rus, take one apprentice and report to your training master at once. Miss 4819, come with me." They salute and turn to the other recruits, and the lady whisks off.

I follow her down a hallway. Everything is built the same way it was in the branches: metal floors and concrete walls. Here they have no foam boards for the ceiling. The ceiling is a smooth, long mirror, probably for checking ahead.

She stops at an office and lets me in. For some reason, I've always hated the small boxes people call offices. She comes in and locks the door. "Sit down in that chair. You and I have a lot to talk about." Nervously, I sit on the chair in question. What did she mean, "we have a lot to talk about'?

She paces around to the other side of a desk, and again I am reminded of a predator prowling around its prey. She sits, but I notice she doesn't relax, she's always on alert.

"Nara 4819, what is the fastest time for anyone to complete the Mending? No, not just from this week's bunch, but since it began?"

I rack my brains. I can't think of anything.

She looks at me pointedly, a small frown creeping over her lips. "For your information, it is 4:59:68.42: four hours, fifty-nine minutes, and sixty-eight point forty-two seconds. Sound familiar?"

I began to shake my head, when it dawned on me. "That's my time. Wait... That was the fastest any-"

"Yes. So you see, Nara, that means one of three things: you cheated, you have amazing luck, or you are very skilled. However, I can see that it wasn't luck, but as for the other two options, we can't tell."

"I didn't cheat!" I shout. "How on earth would I do that?"

"Nara, your time is almost three full hours faster than the old record. Explain. How exactly are you here? Why? How did you sabotage the system?"