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leaders are now free to focus on specific goals. They seek to build prosperity, peace, and safety for our people.
    “Those who sought to build our prosperity formed the Financial Management Agency. Their goal is to secure for us a life filled with all the comforts and riches any man, woman or child could wish for.
    “Those who wish to promote peace created the National and International Relations Agency and work toward maintaining peace both within our nation, between the citizens of Astrax and the Amiga, and between our representatives and those of neighboring countries.
    “And those who wished to defend our nation from attack by terrorists who fight to return the world to the way it was before the Great Decimation formed the National Defense Agency. Today, you must choose between one of the three.” He motions to the three tables with the bowls and the people standing behind them. “Your blood will mix with the blood of your brothers and sisters, to create a new family.”
    He then calls out the first name.
    It’s mine.
    Lucky me.
    This isn’t what I expected. I hadn’t anticipated this kind of choice. This is so much more complicated than yes or no. It isn’t a decision between two options. It’s a decision between four. My heart thumps against my breastbone. My hands tremble. I curl my fingers and squeeze, hoping to still them. I step up to him. My eyes jump from one bowl to the other. Which do I value most? Peace? Prosperity? Safety? I value all those things. How can I choose? How?
    I don’t want to pick. I want someone to tell me which group I belong in.
    No, I want to go home. I want to go back to Sam and forget about all of this.
    “Each agency contributes to our present and future,” the man explains. “Each one is important. Without the Financial Management Agency, the FMA, we would not have medicine, communications systems, and transportation systems we have today. Without the National and International Relations Agency, the NIRA, we would not have access to healthy, natural food, grown by our rural citizens, as well as imported goods from our neighbors to the south and west. And without the National Defense Agency, the NDA, we would have no hope of ever being free of the danger of attack from extremist terrorist groups.”
    A heavy silence falls over us.
    “And, of course, there is the fourth option,” he adds. “You can walk out that door and return to your family.”
    I lock my knees and try to stand still, but my body is trembling. Sweat drips down the side of my face. I can feel everyone standing behind me. They’re all waiting for me to make a choice. But I don’t know what to do. I have never been so terrified. Why am I here? Why do I have to make this decision?
    Whispers tug my nerves tighter. I unfurl my fingers and rub my sweaty palms down my legs. The man’s gaze finds mine. “Choose wisely,” he says.
    Choose wisely. What choice is the wise one?
    First, I must decide if I will stay or go, which was the one decision I had been prepared to make. I don’t want to stay. Going home would be easy. It would be safe. It’s what I want. My life will continue as it has, as I had always planned. I will marry Sam. We will have children and work all of our days, growing food, caring for animals, raising our children. It will be a peaceful but difficult life. It would be a good life. Yes, it would be a good choice.
    Good, but selfish. And cowardly. And predictable.
    I don’t want any of those. Especially not predictable.
    I’m staying.
    So, next, there is the choice between the three agencies.
    It’s easy to eliminate the FMA. As much as I respect our need for medicine, communication, and transportation, and wish to find ways to expand those things out of Middleton, I don’t value those needs above peace or safety. So I turn to the remaining two tables. If I choose the NIRA, I would work toward fostering a stronger relationship between our human citizens and the Amiga first. That would be