The man in front of her looked to be in his thirties. He had jet-black hair with a fringe that covered one eye. He constantly scooped it away from his face, but the hair wasted no time returning to its position. His eyes looked weak and there were red circles around his puffy eyelids. His complexion looked like he’d not seen the daylight for a long time. Despite this, he seemed eager to complete the course.
Martin thought he remembered seeing him before, but didn’t know where. A moment passed before he remembered; it was the young man who was standing beside the man mountain. His father had called out to Rogers to express his anger the day before, when Rogers was addressing the migrants after they arrived at the officers’ mess.
The young man took off and completed the course in good time, even though he fell a few times. Carrol was next. She was shaking and had her eyes closed. Martin’s excitement and hopes for a win quickly evaporated. All eyes were on her as the group waited for her to start.
Carrol’s hands trembled from fear. She drew in a shuddering breath and walked closer to the first challenge, which was a shallow hurdle that she needed to jump. As she leapt, her knees buckled and her legs got caught. She fell, landing hard on her back, and took the hurdle down with her. She blacked out for a second; when she regained consciousness, she heard a few people laughing. Some people were cheering her on, while others were angry and shouting at her. ‘Boo! She couldn’t even make it past the first hurdle!’ shouted one person from the crowd.
Martin looked at the other group; its last member had just completed the course and a massive roar erupted from both sides. He was very upset. ‘Look what you’ve done! You’re so stupid!’ he yelled at Carrol, who was still sitting where she’d fallen. ‘I can’t believe you did this. How hard is it to jump one simple hurdle?’
Carrol started crying. Her lips quivered and she was so ashamed that she covered her face with both hands.
Rogers went to Martin and whispered, ‘That’s enough. We don’t allow bullying and intimidation here.’
Martin stepped back from him, furious.
Rogers asked the girl, ‘Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?’ Carrol didn’t say a word; she just shook her head to indicate no. Rogers held out his hand and pulled her up to her feet. ‘Please, remind me of your name again,’ Rogers asked.
‘We won!’ shouted Koi, giving Chris a high-five. A few others from The Sun team were also rejoicing. Monica, Morgan and Martin stood gloomily, watching as the winning team rejoiced and gloated.
All Carrol could hear were Martin’s words: ‘You’re so stupid!’ She was quiet for a moment before answering Rogers. ‘My name is Carrol. Carrol Spoff,’ she said softly, looking at the ground.
‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Rogers asked again. She nodded. ‘Why didn’t you say something? We don’t want you to do anything you don’t like to do.’
Carrol looked up at his face and quickly looked away. She started to cry; she rubbed her eyes and continued to sniffle.
‘The game is over, people! Thank you all for participating,’ Rogers shouted, still facing Carrol. Some players looked at Carrol and whispered to each other. Mr Stevens, walked over to join Carrol and Rogers, and was consoling her. Martin remembered his name during the introduction time in the hall. Mr Stevens was a middle-aged man with a boyish look; his hair was still black and he looked very smart.
The migrants started departing. Some went straight to the canteen for lunch; others returned to their rooms to wash off the mud and sweat. Martin’s group went to get their lunch; when they arrived, Martin was still upset about the game.
‘Man, come on, it’s over. We won fair and square. Quit being angry,’ said Chris.
Morgan was also frustrated. ‘Can you believe our luck? I was sure it was a clear win but it slipped right out of our hands,’ he said miserably. He picked up his sandwich and opened his mouth as though he was going to take a bite, then he stopped. Gazing into space, he said, ‘Of all the people who could’ve been on our team, we ended up with her. Just can’t believe we wasted over three and a half hours.’
‘Guys, it’s just a game,’ Monica said.
‘Well, it wasn’t fair. Had it not been for that girl, we would have won fair and square,’ Martin protested.
‘But that’s what it’s all about, taking the rough with the smooth. That’s what happens in games,’ Koi said.
‘I don’t want to talk about it anymore,’ said Martin. Everyone was quiet for a while.
‘When we leave here, I want to go for a walk around the forest,’ Morgan said. ‘It caught my eye this morning. It looks dense – who knows what’s in there?’
‘What do you mean? Like trees? It’s a forest, what else do you think will be in there besides leaves, grass and animal shit?’ Chris asked.
At the mention of animals, Martin’s eyes came alive. ‘Yeah, we should check it out,’ he said.
At that moment, Rogers walked into the canteen with Carrol. She kept her gaze steadily on the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone. She and Rogers sat at a table behind the group.
Martin glanced over his shoulder at them and said to his friends, ‘Let’s go check out the forest.’ He jumped to his feet. His eyes rested on the couple that he’d heard discussing sport the day before. He couldn’t remember seeing them on the field during the competition. He would have liked to know how well the woman had done. She must have done well, otherwise I would have noticed her, like everyone noticed Carrol today, he concluded. Seeing them reminded him of how the man had reassured the woman that it didn’t matter who won or lost as long as they were having fun.
Glancing again at Carrol, he felt a bit sorry for her. She’d said that she didn’t want to embarrass herself or her house and he realised she must have felt embarrassed for herself and for their group. She reminded him a little of Carlan, his sister.
‘Come on,’ he said, edging towards the door, looking back once again at Rogers and Carrol.
CHAPTER 5
THE FOREST EXPERIENCE
Martin and his friends walked to the edge of the undergrowth and followed an unmarked path into the forest. Martin and Morgan walked in front. Morgan used his hand to push aside the branches that blocked their path. Koi was in the middle and Chris and Monica trailed behind. Chris had his hand around her neck and she happily rested her head on his shoulder.
Martin saw a strong stick lying among some dried leaves and stepped away from the path. Chris, Koi and Monica stopped, wondering why he’d stepped away. Martin picked up the stick and, returning to the path, used it to beat aside the long grass until there was three meters of flat swathe ahead of them.
After a while, Koi spoke. ‘Guys, I’m pretty sure we’ve been walking for over two hours,’ he said.
‘I don’t think so – I’d say about forty-five minutes max. Chris, you have a watch. What time did we leave?’ asked Morgan, still forging ahead without looking back.
‘Yeah, Koi is right. It’s been one hour fifty-five minutes, to be precise,’ Chris replied, glancing casually at his wrist.
Hearing that, panic set in. Monica came to an abrupt halt, causing Chris to stop. ‘We have to go back,’ she said, moving from under Chris’s arm. She drew a slow breath before looking up at the tall trees, which swayed from side to side as the wind passed through them. She looked back where they’d come from; the camp was nowhere in sight. She remembered Chris mentioning animal shit and she started peering around.
‘What are you looking for?’ Martin asked.
‘Nothing,’ she replied. ‘Well, I was looking for animals. I remembered Chris mentioning animal shit, so I figured…’ She stopped and breathed hesitantly. ‘Guys, it's getting scary. I was wondering where the animals might be hiding, waiting to attack us.’
‘I'm really enjoying this. It doesn’t look scary at all,’ said Martin, beaming with excitement. ‘Why did you say it’s getting scary? What did you see?’ He turned to face her.
They all stopped. Koi said nothi
ng; he was frightened of the forest too, but didn’t want to say anything in case Martin responded with something sarcastic.
‘I haven’t seen anything yet but, if we continue, we might run into some wild animal, and then what? We can’t defend ourselves without any weapons,’ Monica said, unrelenting.
‘I doubt there are any dangerous animals in this forest. We would’ve seen them by now. Believe me, it's safe here,’ Martin said reassuringly.
‘What do you know about the forest?’ Monica asked.
He didn’t respond; he could tell from their faces that panic had set in. The silence became alarming, which made him think that his friends had taken a moment to contemplate their situation and what might ensue if they ran into any danger. Their confused faces were a giveaway to their emotions.
Morgan piped up, ‘The reason we’ve not seen any animals is because the small ones hide when they hear noise. But the big ones will attack if necessary,’ he said, his macho attitude trying to dispel the growing fear in his voice.
‘That’s it. I’m leaving,’ Monica said, turning and walking back a little. She sidestepped to avoid the branch of a prickly bush, then she pushed aside a spiky, dark green plant at eye level. She stood still for a moment, listening. She heard Chris’s voice.
‘Monica, please wait,’ he said.
She turned her head slightly and caught a glimpse of something.
She screamed before she realised it was the branch she’d just pushed away, which was still shaking slightly. She composed herself and walked back to take Chris’s arm.
‘What? What did you see?’ Morgan asked, walking back to the place where she’d screamed.
Koi followed, tiptoeing and peering into corners. Martin followed him.
‘Guys, let’s get out of this place. It’s spooky. Besides, who knows if we can find our way back to the camp now that we are so far out?’ Monica was still holding tightly onto Chris’s arm. Martin could tell that Chris wanted to please her but he did not want to appear weak. That’s why he’d turned to follow her but stopped abruptly.
‘How hard can it be? We’ll just walk back the same way we came in,’ Martin said.
‘She’s right,’ argued Morgan. ‘We have to start heading back. I don’t want my obituary to say, “Four young men and a girl got lost in the woods, never to be seen again”.’
‘Quit talking like that, man. I’m serious. We have to leave now,’ Monica pleaded.
‘All right, let’s go,’ Martin said.
They started walking back, maintaining the same configuration. After wandering through the forest for some time, Chris checked his watch. He could barely tell the time as it was beginning to get dark. ‘We’ve been walking for an hour and thirty minutes. Clearly, we’re lost,’ he said, looking disturbed.
He moved closer to Monica, towering over her protectively, as if he could safeguard her by being close to her. Monica tilted her face to look at him. Martin could tell from her unsettled eyes that she knew Chris would not really be able to protect her if push came to shove. Chris had never shown strength against anything, let alone wild animals. However, by the way she relaxed into his arm, she seemed to accept his gesture. Watching them, Martin concluded that it was the thought that counted in a relationship.
‘I’m sure we’re on the right track. I saw this trunk on the way out,’ Martin said, pointing at a half-rotted log on the ground. He saw the expressions on their faces; they all seemed sure they had lost their way but nobody said anything.
Suddenly, Koi, bleated, ‘We’ve heard that so many times, but you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.’
‘I definitely know what I saw; this trunk was on the left side and now it's on the right, which indicates to me we are going in the right direction,’ Martin explained, without looking at Koi.
‘It’s becoming annoying hearing you say we are on the right track when we’ve clearly been going around in a circle,’ Koi said. ‘Honestly, I could chew my hand off if I hear that one more time.’
‘Koi, that’s it,’ shouted Martin irritably. He stopped abruptly, as did the others. ‘Since you're so clever, why don’t you lead the way?’
Koi didn’t move. ‘No thanks. At least I didn’t claim to know the way.’
‘Man, come on, let’s keep moving. It’s getting very dark; we haven’t got time for an argument,’ Morgan said.
Without saying anything else Martin marched on fearlessly, taking a stab in the dark, hoping to stumble on the right route. They continued walking for a few more minutes.
‘Look, I am pretty sure we’ve just been here,’ Chris said, pointing at the path they were on.
Hearing that, fear enveloped them though they tried not to panic. They turned back to try different directions. Martin continued to reassure them that he’d finally found the right track this time around. Nobody bothered to dispute his claim; they all looked very tired, with confused and scared faces.
Monica shouted, ‘Guys, look – the camp light!’ She pointed. They followed the light and eventually returned to the camp, emerging from a completely different place than they’d started from.
‘Thank goodness we’re back. I’m never going back in there, even if you pay me.’ Monica sighed with relief.
‘Monica, it wasn’t that bad. We found a way back, didn’t we? And nothing happened,’ Martin said. The rest of the boys said nothing.
‘Yeah, it’s lucky I saw the camp light. What if I hadn’t? Who knows where we’d have ended up? And that’s if we weren’t dinner for wild animals.’ Monica sounded exhausted. ‘I’m so tired, I don’t even want to eat. I’m going straight to bed.’ She walked into Stallion House.
The boys headed for the canteen. They grabbed a few sandwiches to go and returned to Stallion House. Completely worn out from the sporting activities and the endless walk in the forest, they headed straight to their room and rested.
*
The next morning, Martin was the first to rise. He hurried down to the reception to check the notice board for the day's activities. When he opened the door and re-entered the bedroom, the other boys woke up.
‘Man, where have you been?’ Morgan asked in a croaky voice.
‘Guys, we have to get ready now and leave for breakfast,’ Martin said.
‘What’s the hurry?’ Koi asked, looking worn out.
‘Well, to begin with, I went downstairs to check what we are doing today from the notice board. Guess what I found out?’ he asked.
‘What?’ Morgan asked.
‘I’m talking about our activity today.’
‘Oh, you didn’t need to go downstairs, we could have looked it up in the handbook,’ said Koi, rubbing his hand vigorously over his face.
‘What time is it?’ Morgan asked with a yawn as he sat up on his bed.
‘It’s quarter to eight and we are supposed to meet Rogers at about nine o’clock. The notice said everyone from Stallion House has to assemble in front of the space simulation hall,’ Martin explained.
‘Oh yeah,’ Koi said, his face lighting up instantly. ‘I remember seeing that on the canteen notice board yesterday during lunch. I’m really looking forward to that.’
‘Yeah, I can’t wait to go inside that room; everything looked cool from outside,’ Morgan said.
‘Wait, before you start getting all excited, we sure have a busy day ahead of us. We have an activity after lunch. At about 4pm, we are to gather in the purpose-built street. I don’t know why, but it says we will be performing a drill,’ Martin continued.
Martin and Morgan both looked at each other, completely confused.
‘What’s a drill? And why do we need it?’ Morgan asked.
‘Don’t you know what a drill is?’ asked Koi. ‘Firemen have a fire drill; public establishments have fire drills in case of fire emergencies. Airline stewards have safety drills in case an accident occurs. Basically, it's just a practice on how to stay safe or exit from a potentially dangerous situation.’
‘I think I k
now what you mean; we used to do it in school,’ Morgan said. ‘When the emergency bell rang, we all had to leave through the emergency exit and assemble on the lawn.’
‘There you go, that’s it,’ affirmed Koi.
They soon got ready and left the room. Chris and Monica were waiting in the reception hall. They all left for breakfast and, at about nine, everyone from Stallion House gathered in front of a multi-storey building with glass walls.
Rogers walked up to them, full of exuberance. He stood in front of the milling crowd. Clearing his throat and grasping a microphone, he spoke and every noise ceased. ‘Today’s activity is a fun and exciting one. Realistically, this is very important for your safety in your new country: Mars. This exercise is vital and must be mastered in order to save your own lives and those of others. As you know, the whole idea for the training in this camp is to build relationships, teamwork and community spirit. This is not a test of strength; rather, it’s to awaken your survival instincts.’
When he said that, most people looked at each other with empathy. Some people moved closer to their friends or to people standing alone to show solidarity.
‘Right. Without wasting any more of your time, let’s enter the simulation room and begin our training.’
Inside the simulation room, Rogers continued his instructions. ‘The first thing to address is, what is a simulation? It’s the imitation of the operation of a real-world or system. The act of simulating something first requires that a model be developed. For the purpose of what we are doing, Mars’ natural weather system is our model. We have called these magnificent twin glass towers our space simulators. They were made to replicate some of the weather conditions you will experience on Mars.’
Martin and his friends were pumped up on adrenaline. He looked around; there were some unhappy, scared faces among the crowd – but he just wanted to get started after seeing the awesome machines in front of them.
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