A Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Short Stories - Special ...

Any earlier nerves that Jeff had about the test resurfaced once again. Chill, it’s not
a standardized school test, he thought as he received his materials.
Hannah was still speaking as Jeff tried to calm down. He noticed that she smiled
too much. She was excited and enthusiastic about this product. She was seriously getting
on his nerves. Before he even made the conscious decision, his hand sprang into the air.
“Oh…Yes?” She smiled, all teeth and very little gums.
Jeff scrambled for something meaningful to say, some question in relation to what
Hanna had been talking about. “Can I go to the bathroom?” It wasn’t what he had been
searching for, but it served its purpose in not making him look completely stupid in a
room full of strangers.
“Of course you can. It’s at the end of the hall. Hurry back. We need you to sign a
few forms before the testing can begin.”
End of the hall. End of the hall. I had no idea the hall would be so long, Jeff
thought as he walked down the long passage. He sighed when he finally reached it and
stepped inside. It wasn’t until he felt that unmistakable elongated stretch of his stomach
that he realized he had made a mistake. He had stepped into a teletube, not the bathroom,
and in the blink of an eye, he found himself in a completely different part of the building.
There weren’t many people around. In fact, there weren’t any as far as Jeff could
tell. He wondered where security was (were they on a break?) and why no one had passed
in the hallways as he walked around. He decided that the area must have been the
basement, which might explain why he hadn’t seen anyone if it was a place that was
rarely visited
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