A Student with a bright future. (ExoJ5)

The Federation might not be the most popular government in the history of the world, due to it's authoritarian stranglehold on public decent and all, but it had achieved something that no other government had achieved...total global peace.

There was still crime, there is no way to truly eradicate people looking for easy solutions to daily life problems after all. And there were still issues with corruption and political infighting. But with their ability and willingness to obliterate any riots or public displays of unhappiness there weren't many people willing to call out injustice or oppression.

And while free-speech might be a thing of the past, along with free-market economy, there was a new system of favoritism that came to the forefront. Raw potential.

The government no longer cared about your family history or heritage, children were tested for potential and families were relocated into communities based on their mental and menial abilities. If you were deemed intelligent, you were educated. If you were deemed athletic, you were trained for military and public service. If you had no apparent talents, you were cast aside and left to live among the lower working class.

Art and music didn't escape the algorithms and AIs were dedicated to creation of new multimedia allowing for the Federation to maintain complete control over new forms entertainment and expression.

Your family fell into the intellectual middle class, and you were their pride and joy. While they were smart you managed to elevate their status by being the smartest member of your family. Smart enough to escape the life of librarian, you would receive the highest of higher educations. Your education would literally be "Out of this world" and take place on the very prestigious ExoJ5.

As excited as you were to be the first member of your family to live in space you were also nervous. You would be going to a place where you knew nobody. You would be tested again once there and assigned a curriculum that you might not have any prior earned knowledge about. And if anything happened to you up there you would lose everything and no one would ever know what happened to you.

The endless possibilities kept running though your mind as your shuttle docked in orbit above the earth. You were glad that you heeded the advice to fly into space the first time on an empty stomach. No telling how well you would have kept down the contents of your stomach as nervous as you were.

Your restraints released and you fell into line with the rest of the passengers who were arriving. Most of them looked like students, but not all of them. The adults in the passengers had maintained a strict silence the entire launch and flight. You and your peers had been too nervous to object, and so you all had complied.