"It's around a one in six chance. At least one of us should be assigned to be a lab rat. Even if we're not chosen, someone else is going to have to live through that hell." *** The unofficial citizen Will has spent the better part of fourteen years training for his BEDL exams, a series of test that will determine his career in the Brutarian Empire. He hopes to be assigned to the Brutarian Legion as he knows it is his best chance at one day buying property and enjoying the full rights of an official citizen. But to find a place among the Brutarian Empire's soldiers, he has to prove himself to the Judges. Will has resolved that nothing will keep him from proving his worth to the judges, not even the care center's rules. More than anything, Will dreads being assigned to be a lab rat. He knows all too well that being a lab rat would inevitably cost him his sanity and eventually his life.