About forty days later, after a round of peer review, and the subsequent edit requests, Lokath finally receives the e-journal issue in which the paper Aqqar and Killanaus both contributed to is published. Which prompts him to send an email to Killa, along with the citation. And, of course, the green light is given to him to submit his applications.

At the same time, he must double-check his own rec for any mention of research results, and then edit accordingly, which is why he hasn't sent it yet. He's aiming high, he feels like what he did during the 20-day voyage sets him apart from a lot of other would-be class-2 abductors.

So once again, Killanaus meets with Qinlei in the biology commons, now that he received confirmation that the paper is published:

"Woohoo! I got published!" Killa jumps for joy when looking at the paper in front of her. "That, even though I contributed to the data collection and analysis more than I did the final write-up. In the actual paper, all that remains of what I wrote were the limitations, venues for further research and how the abduction regulations play into these things! How a single off-season internship could make me feel like regulations strangle the profession!"

"What do you mean, regulations strangle the profession?" Qinlei asks him.

"For research abduction, repealing what is called the Stoneship Files Act was demanded since it came into force, because it greatly limits the design of experimental protocols! You can't even monitor for short-term side effects!"

"Really?" Qinlei's skin turns grey.

"So much so that limitations based upon the inability to hold the test subjects for longer periods is a telltale sign that data was collected via abduction!"

"And non-research abductors then?"

"Non-research abductors feel like research abductors shouldn't be allowed to do what they do, but also feel like a degree in biology or related fields is too much to ask, and only a few biology prereqs are really needed to function as an abductor!"

I guess, time to add the citation in my resume. And to adjust the personal statement, on which I spent weeks, based on the paper being published, Killanaus starts checking against these documents. I asked the Abduction and Society instructor, I asked Lokath to go over the personal statement, but I didn't actually press "Submit" until then.

He realizes that there really isn't a whole lot of changes to make to the personal statement, but, once he's satisfied, he can finally submit his first application.

But before then, he checks against the cost of attendance at his first choice, the University of Lamozud, on the other side of the world. And, of course, financial aid.

"University of Lamozud? Why apply there, beyond your troubles at home?"

"As a CPS abductor, I can always do addiction work, which allows me to use my toxicology research background. And this is precisely why I picked Lamozud as a first choice: they're the best at addiction in youth protection!"

Especially when he starts filling out a form for financial aid consideration. One section is for a supplemental essay, not to exceed five hundred words, about a key issue in the abduction profession, and solutions.

Joy: I could write about potential abductees' lack of knowledge of the social, political and economic environment and how class-2 abductors would benefit from such knowledge. And how biology undergraduate programs tend to cater to either healthcare professionals or research, he starts writing another essay in hopes that it will help him fund his graduate education. The Arectaris Fellowship.

Said essay catches Majuro's eyes as he returns from his population genetics course:

"What's that?" Majuro asks him.

"A scholarship essay. It's about how our biology educations offer inadequate training for certain jobs where a biology background could be of use. I chose to focus on class-two abduction, but surely law students from a bio background suffer from similar pitfalls..." Killanaus sighs.

"I used my two electives on courses I feel are relevant to the study and practice of the law. In some respects, I feel like biology could help me once in law school, but I'm at a disadvantage in others!"

"The critical thinking aspect, no problem. However, in law, or in abduction, at least the way this essay deals with it, you don't want to be siloed!"

Killa... by now he must have realized that some of us can have trouble writing stuff such as essays, Majuro starts thinking about comments he could make towards Killa's scholarship essay. Especially as he discusses overhauling some of the first-year graduate courses of non-research abductors to ensure that the sociopolitical and socioeconomic bases are covered before they can do field placements.

"Are you sure some would-be abductors are that clueless about the sociopolitical and socio-economic environment, to the point they would find it difficult to function as an abductor?" Majuro asks him.

"It matters most for those abductors who want to work in social services. Such in law enforcement or youth protection!" Killa then finalizes his essay for the Arectaris Fellowship.

Qinlei informs him of what's happening to her. "Now that I'm done with my personal statement, I need to apply broadly, so I need to watch my budget! However, for scholar degree programs, they usually reject you if they can't fund you!"

"Good to know that you don't need to worry about paying for grad school! I very much do!" Killa's skin turns grey then.

What if I can't pay for the license? Everything I worked so hard for in the past 3 years will come to a screeching halt! I won't let a stupid essay prevent me from getting scholarship money! Killa starts lamenting his situation.

Once he feels sufficiently confident in the essay, he returns home to do his homework, as well as submit his application. After all, he doesn't want other people to access his banking information in public.

"Finally, I'm officially submitting my grad school application! Fingers crossed that I'll get in, and hopefully with funding!"

Once he finishes the application process, and submits the application, he can finally rest some, having applied well before the early deadline.

------------------

Meanwhile, at the University of Lamozud, the abduction programs admissions committee chair, in her office in a flower-shaped building, begins sorting through the applications for their class-2 license program. First by desired concentration and then by interests in it.

It seems like most applicants to the youth protection concentration want to work with a specific life stage, so I'll just ship off these files to early and late childhood development experts on the committee. But Killanaus, on the other hand, seems to be agnostic to the life stage. I may as well ship his file off to our pharmacology guy based on his past experience of abduction, the department chair then sends the file to the pharmacology expert on the committee.

Speaking of whom, that person isn't the best-versed in the admissions practices of class-2 abduction programs, since he primarily dealt with class-1 candidates. When that file arrives in his possession, and he starts reading the resume:

"Most people who have experience working as an abductor in undergrad want to earn class-one licenses. He got a paper published just a few days before the app's submission date?" The pharmacology prof's skin turns purple as the prof's attention turns to the transcript. "I'd take him without reservation as a scholarly student, but it's not often that a student of that caliber actually wants to earn a class-two license! He did well in cell signaling, as well as biochemistry courses and bioethics, so there's that!"

So he wants to abduct youth to take them off drugs? His past experiences, while toxicology-based, don't seem to suggest that he has a genuine interest in addiction, only that he feels like it's an excuse for abducting people. But perhaps his experience as an orderly is more telling than at first glance, the pharmacology prof seems to skim through the reading of Killa's personal statement. Most abductors are motivated by the work outside of abductions; he breathes abductions.

Then comes the turn to read the recs. The program asked for two, so Killa picked Lokath and his boss as an orderly.

Unsurprisingly, they spoke about different aspects of what makes him a good future abductor. Whereas Lokath talked about how Killa was his best off-season undergraduate student in his professorial career as far as abduction skills are concerned, along with critical thinking skills and how that played into his research contributions, Killa's boss as an orderly instead emphasized empathy and organization.

Because that professor doesn't sit on the committee for the Arectaris Fellowship, and the file contains an essay for it, he forwards the file to a professor on that committee, with preliminary remarks: as far as I'm concerned, he's in. Either he gets the Arectaris Fellowship or he gets some other form of merit aid.

That other professor gets to his file at night since she spent much of the day in a developmental biology lab with grad students. Until she gets to the final part, the scholarship essay, it proceeds mostly as it had with the first committee member.

"Finally, someone who wants to earn a class-two abduction license and is actually motivated by doing the abductions themselves! A lot of class-two prospective licensees would be better off studying criminal justice, social work, or attending a police academy!" She comments on Killanaus' essay about reforms to abduction.

His essay raises an interesting question: would a criminal justice or social work undergraduate program provide the biological background required to succeed as a police or youth protection abductor respectively? What biology they cover is much more applied than what a biology or related field would provide, the early childhood biology prof muses. He claims that the biological knowledge these abductors need is much more applied than what a typical biology department will teach!

It's clear that this professor thinks highly enough of Killa to make him in the running for the Arectaris fellowship. And, of course, putting him in the admit pile. But then both professors report back to the committee chair, and with a complete spreadsheet of where today's batch of applicants stacks up to each other, by concentration.

By the end of the week, the admissions committee chair holds a meeting with the members specific to the class-2 program: a pharmacologist and a toxicologist, both representing policing, as well as an early and a late childhood biologist, both representing youth protection.

The five faculty members are in a conference room lined with microscope pictures. Since the pharmacologist is the least experienced in admissions work for class-2 programs, he asks some questions to the others:

"It's my first time serving on the admissions committee for the class-two program, I would like to know how many students we should admit..." the pharmacologist asks the chair.

"We need to pace ourselves. We don't want all our spots gone by the end of this season, so those we are on the fence about, we might defer them, or reject them outright if there are serious deficiencies. Remember that we have fifteen spots for each, but at this point, about twice as many acceptances should be issued for the year!" the chair answers him.

"Also, background checks will be requested for all successful applicants once this meeting ends" the early childhood biologist, who also read Killa's file, adds.

"Let's begin this meeting with those whose reviewers both recommend they be admitted. There aren't that many early bird applicants in that category to begin with, so we'll start with the policing ones!"

Each application material is shown one by one on the screen, for each applicant. Now they are more deliberate in choosing who to admit, but for the most part, the admits are confirmed unanimously. When, after an hour, Killanaus' turn comes, near the middle of the youth protection pack:

"Killanaus is currently taking early childhood development, yet what he wants out of abduction is clearly more of a late childhood issue!" the late childhood biologist points out. "Normally, would-be abductors wanting to work with late childhood take a course on it by this point, and he has yet to take one!"

"Does his university require early childhood development as a prerequisite to take late childhood development? Some universities proceed that way..." the pharmacologist sighs. "Maybe it's his university's policies!"

"He had a paper published last week!" the toxicologist remarks. "He had solid results for one off-season in the lab, twenty days of which were spent abducting test subjects; why does he want to pursue youth protection?"

"It seems like his experience of research abduction soured him on that area, and it's even clearer if you read his Arectaris Fellowship essay!" the early childhood biologist exclaims.

"I might have taken him on as a scholarly student, but he doesn't have the inclination!" the pharmacologist retorts.

The other four are bewildered by the scope of the issues Killanaus talks about in his essay. Excessive siloing resulting in an inadequate non-biology background for social service abductors, but only a passing mention to cumulative licensing.

After they discuss the essay, the five move on to the recs, which appear to push the late childhood biologist towards accepting him to the university. When decision time arrives for Killa's file:

"For those who want to admit him, please raise your hands!" the committee's chair instructs fellow faculty.

By now it's a unanimous choice, but the more unpleasant part of serving on that committee is about to begin for everyone. Especially when they quarrel much more fiercely to determine who to defer and who to accept nonetheless.

Once the session ends, five acceptances each are kept for both concentrations of the class-2 abduction license program. And, of course, the committee chair orders background checks for all ten admits of this round.

Fingers crossed that they don't have criminal records! Even though some feel that we are the dark side of biology, the AAA requires us to have background checks performed on every admit to license-granting programs! The committee chair muses as she then holds another meeting with the Arectaris Fellowship committee.

However, because the third member of that committee is an exozoologist instead, and hence deals in class-3 licensing, that prof is given access to Killanaus' file. For that prof, reviewing that file takes a few minutes, but since no other admit applied for it, it becomes a formality.