It was a difficult idea to grasp. Dad sat down with Eli a few days into first grade to tell him about it.

“Eli, c’mere,” Dad said from the couch, a cigarette hanging from between his lips, a usual. He beckoned with a free hand, the other occupied with balancing a fat folder on his knee.

Eli did come over, but only after a moment’s pause. He had homework due for the next day—real homework, like Asher had. He had been keeping up with it well, and all without Asher’s help. Without anyone’s help, actually. He was sure to tell Miss Harris that every morning when he came in with the stack of neat worksheets. But if Dad was going to interrupt his daily holovision marathon to show Eli the folder, it must be important. So he abandoned his worksheets and went to his father’s side. He stood by the couch’s arm.

“See this,” Dad said. “It’s from The Tower. You know where that is?”

Dad pointed to the address stamped in black ink on the folder’s corner. His fingers were shaking.

“It’s on Capitol Island,” Eli said.

“Good,” Dad said. “You know who they are, right?”

“Yeah… they’re the government.”

“Kind of,” Dad said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re in charge of the war, too. Technically.”

Eli’s eyes widened. “Did they draft you?”

“No. They didn’t draft me. This is an official acceptance packet from the Tower’s Space Travel and Research Division. You know them, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well I applied to them a few months ago in response to their request for a test subject on a new project they’re working on. They say it could change the face of the whole war. Anyway, I was sure a million people had already applied, maybe more, but, uh, I guess my hacking habit got a bit ahead of me. I was on a site no one should have been on. They came after me at first. That’s why we had to go live at grandma’s for a bit last year...”

Eli tilted his head. “Shouldn’t you be telling Asher this, too?”

“This doesn’t concern him,” Dad said. “At least not yet. Listen, I got this packet yesterday and they said that because I somehow managed to hack such a secure site without causing them damage, they would consider my application. They reviewed it and accepted you.”

A pause.

“They accepted… me?” Eli asked.

“Yes,” Dad said. “They were looking for males below the age of eight, so I put your name down. And they accepted you.”

“For what?”

“For this.”

Dad finally flipped the folder open. The first page was a title page—white space with only a few words in the same black print: ‘TOWER ST&R: EXOSKELETON SOLDIER PROJECT. SUBJECT EYES ONLY.’

Dad flipped that page over and revealed the second one, which was a basic but technical drawing of a man with metal armor—except in the drawing he was see-through, and the armor seemed to be growing out of him, like it was part of his body. It was slender and form-fitting, almost giving him the appearance of an android.

There were brace-like attachments on the outside of all his limbs, with drills that went straight through and connected both sides. The chest, back and shoulders were connected in much the same way, except they merged around the throat. White ribbing marked the outside of the larger plating. A helmet sprouted from the throat armor. It wrapped around the figure’s head on both sides. The helmet, too, had drilled spars of metal leading from the outside into the skull. Deep into the head.

Eli leaned forward and gazed upon the drawing.

“It looks like a metal suit… sort of,” he said.

“Yes,” Dad said. “It’s an exoskeleton. You know, like bugs have. It’s not just armor, it’s a way to make a soldier impenetrable, but also mobile. They had a lot of other ways to describe it. I wasn’t really listening. But it’s a great idea and they have all the funding they need to go ahead with it. They even mentioned the World Net was involved. It’s going to change the war. And they picked you to become this guy.”

Dad tapped the faceless man inside the tornado of metal pieces.

Eli looked at it for a while, then at Dad. “Why did you sign me up?”

Dad laughed. “Because… this is an amazing opportunity, Eli. You have the chance to be a part of actual history here. I mean, they picked you out of all the other people they could have picked. Why wouldn’t you want to?”

“Will I have to go away?”

“Yes, but it’s okay,” Dad said. “You’re going to a place called… uh… well, I forget what it’s called, but it’s a lab and a school, so you can keep learning while you’re there. They cover all the living costs. They cover everything, actually. And then after you’re done with the initial stages, you go to a battle station for official training. And they continue you’re schooling there, too.”

Eli’s mouth fell open. “A battle station? In space?”

“Yes in space. To train to be in the army. That’s what this is all about. Haven’t you been listening?”

“B-but…. What if I don’t want to join?”

“You’re going to. You’ve already been accepted, and they don’t allow people to back out once the document’s been signed.”

“I didn’t sign anything.”

“You’re six. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“What about Asher?”

“What about him? He won’t care either way. You guys fight all the time, it’ll be good for you to be apart for a while.”

“But I don’t want to leave home. I… I just started school.”

Dad frowned. “You don’t have an option, Eli. They’ve already issued the first payment. You’re going to go whether you like it or not. If you do this for us, you’ll never have to worry about being hungry or cold again, and you’ll be taking very good care of Asher and me. You’ll be providing for us.”

Silence hit Eli like a brick. Dad pressed his lips together. His fingers were still shaking a little, this time as he ran his thumb over a number on the folder’s inside cover. Eli saw a dollar sign. There were many, many zeroes.

Eli looked at the couch. It was battered, hardly more than one giant spring with some cloth stretched over it. The living room walls were peeling and the roof was patched. The carpet was stained, and his own shoes, now that he looked at them, were ready to fall apart. They had been ready to fall apart for weeks.

When he looked up at Dad again, he could see the bags under his eyes and the thinness of his face, the way his cheekbones stood out under his eyes like two polished shelves. His eyes were bloodshot.

He thought about Asher’s worn shoes, and the bags under Asher’s eyes and the way Asher’s freckles seemed to pull tight over his own cheekbones like the couch fabric over the springs. They did fight a lot. Asher fought physically at school all the time, too—the adults said for no reason, but Eli had been spared more bully’s beatings than he could count because of Asher.

Dad was waiting.

Eli swallowed. “Okay.”

“Yes?” Dad sat straighter, facial muscles relaxing. “Good. I mean, yes. Very good, Eli. I’m proud of you, son. You’re doing the right thing. Your whole future is locked in now. Makes you feel pretty secure, right? Never have to worry about a thing. Your mom would be proud of you.”

Dad laughed—a short, mirthful laugh. He looked down and rubbed his fingers over the number again before he snapped the folder shut.

“You can look over this thing tonight, if you want. Don’t worry about your homework. You probably won’t have to do any more idiotic worksheets again in your life. Who knows what they’ll teach you in military school? Maybe something worthwhile, huh? Nothing you could get in this town. We won’t even live here for much longer. God, Eli, I’m so proud of you.”

He stood up and patted Eli on the shoulder. Then he shoved the folder against Eli’s chest until he took it. Dad slipped past him with the words ‘gotta make a phone call’ on his lips. He thumped up the stairs to his bedroom and disappeared. Eli stood there for a moment, feeling the folder’s weight straining against his arms. Dad’s muffled voice erupted upstairs, barky and light. Eli moved to the couch.

He opened the cover again and stared at the faceless man. He didn’t seem bothered by all the metal bits poking into him. Inside his head. Eli flipped to the next page. This one had some more information. It read like a dry book report outline:

Subject: Elijah Nathan Gleicher

Age: 6

Citizen number: #5780345

Referral: Dr. Lila Dhawan and Dr. Roger M. Harman.

Accommodations and preparations accounted for.

Parental consent: Yes. Signed David Gliecher.

Eli chewed on his lower lip. He glanced first at the succession of zeroes on the inside cover, then at the Tower seal from Capitol Island, and then the sub-seal that said ST&R with a little drawing of a spaceship by it. Then he looked back to the zeroes. He sighed.

“Yes.”