by Mark Wandrey
Exactly one hour later, intensely loud music flooded the room. Minu knew it was an hour because she’d lain awake counting the seconds through chattering teeth. While she wasn’t sure the first ambush occurred an hour after the lights went out, it was reasonable to assume so. The music blared for about five minutes, then went silent. An hour later, powerful strobe lights filled the barracks. Minu opened her eyes for a moment then drifted back to sleep.
Throughout the night, the interruptions continued every hour, on the hour. Minu only woke up once more when the Chosen detonated a series of stink bombs. When the lights came on in the morning, the Chosen announced that breakfast was in ten minutes. Minu was one of the very few who didn’t look like the walking dead. If this was the worst the Chosen could do, she was confident she would pass.
“We should take everything to breakfast,” Cherise suggested.
“You really think so?” Minu asked.
“Absolutely.” Cherise yawned widely and stretched. “After last night, do you trust anyone?”
“You have a point.” They quickly assembled a pair of backpacks and divided the tent pieces, along with the other goods they’d received, between them. Minu turned to suggest the boys do the same, but she saw they were already doing it. After they built and filled the backpacks, they had just enough time to use the restroom and jog down the hall. Several of the other candidates noticed the new backpacks they carried. Their reactions varied from indifference to confusion and amusement. Some looked worried. A few others also wore backpacks.
“Where did you get the backpack?” one boy asked Minu.
“Remember that piece of fabric and the cord the uniforms were wrapped in?”
“Sure.”
“There’s your answer.” She trotted on leaving him looking stunned. By now, they were mixing with kids from the other barracks and she took careful note of how many wore backpacks. The number was shockingly small.
“You’re looking at the winners,” Aaron whispered in her ear, noticing the same thing.
“Don’t curse us,” she snarled back. Her mother was superstitious, and Minu was embarrassed to admit she was, too. Still, Aaron might have a point.
The furniture in the hall consisted of simple tables and equally simple stools. A bare plate and plastic cup, along with cheaply-designed eating utensils wrapped in a paper napkin, sat at each place.
“Not as many seats as people,” Cherise said. She was correct. Minu spotted a group of seats in the far corner and made for them as quickly as possible. Her friends followed her lead. Pip beat another boy to the last seat by seconds. The boy looked as though he was considering removing the much smaller Pip from the seat when he noticed four other sets of narrowed eyes watching him. He moved on.
A minute later, Chosen began moving through the room handing out drags to anyone not seated. One boy tried hiding under a table, so the Chosen unceremoniously hauled him out and clamped a drag on his ankle. Those who laughed at the spectacle received a drag, as well. It was amazing that some of the kids still hadn’t learned to keep their mouths shut. Minu glanced around. She couldn’t see any candidates who didn’t have at least one drag.
The room buzzed with subdued conversation. Minu surveyed the surroundings. The room was unchanged from the day before, except for the addition of a double door where Second Among the Chosen Jacob had previously stood. The podium and low stands were gone. The ten Chosen, having given out the drags, lined up by the doors through which they’d entered. As Minu watched, they closed those doors behind the last of the candidates.
“Damn, I’m hungry,” Pip said, picking up his plate and studying it. “I wonder when the food will arrive?”
Minu looked at the Chosen again, then at the new double doors. Her group sat in one corner with the doors only a few meters away. The room was beginning to quiet down as more heads turned to look expectantly at the Chosen, who were staring off into space.
“Do you smell anything?” she asked her friends.
“I know I don’t smell any damn food,” Pip mumbled.
“Me neither,” Gregg said. Aaron and Cherise nodded in agreement.
“That’s because there isn’t any food,” Minu said. “Notice the new door? The Chosen locked the ones we entered through, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to open them from this side.” She picked up her plastic tableware and quickly slipped it into her backpack. After a moment’s confusion, the others did the same. “Carefully,” she said as a kid nearby watched with mild curiosity, “it’s quite a way to the new door through this crowd.”
“You figure the food is through that door?” Cherise asked.
“I figure we’re going to have to get out of here in a hurry.” The Chosen moved together, and Minu saw they wore backpacks like hers. They also wore the ubiquitous utility belts stuffed with drags and miscellaneous equipment. As one, they took leather pouches from those belts.
“Let’s go now,” Pip urged.
“No,” she hissed, “patience first.”
“Your instincts have been good so far,” Aaron nodded, “we’ll follow your lead.” There were more head bobs, and Minu smiled slightly. She hoped their trust wasn’t misplaced.
One of the doors opened, and Dram stepped in. The door lock snapped audibly as it engaged behind him. He immediately addressed the candidates. “Welcome to Day Two of the Trials. You will see that some of your brethren decided not to join us today. That is, of course, their right and yours. Let’s move on.”
“Now,” Minu said and stood up. She didn’t run for the door. Instead, she strolled leisurely in that direction. Those that noticed her included all the Chosen. Dram’s big smile was the only reaction.
“Going somewhere?” he asked from across the hall.
“You bet,” she said, continuing to walk toward the door. For a split second, she thought she’d made a terrible error. Then, she saw what the other Chosen were doing. Their backs were to the room, and while Dram was talking, they were pulling on gas masks. The ones who’d already donned their masks were removing metallic canisters from their belts.
Around Minu, many of the candidates were looking back and forth between her and Dram. Some were laughing or shaking their heads, figuring she’d messed up. Minu noticed those candidates who were wearing packs were up and heading for the door, like she and her friends. Those farthest from the door weren’t walking, they were running.
“Where’s the food?” someone yelled, and a couple hundred voices echoed the question.
“Who said we were going to feed you?” Dram laughed and took a step back. He pulled his own gas mask over his face as the ten Chosen stepped forward and threw the gas canisters.
Minu sprinted and reached the door first, throwing her arm against the release bar and her shoulder against the door itself. She’d offered a silent prayer that the Chosen hadn’t barred the door. Thankfully, it burst open, and she and her team were suddenly outside in the bright sunlight. Back inside, the shouts and complaints of the other candidates turned to cries of panic and fear. The grenades poured out huge gouts of acrid, black gas. Those with the foresight to head for the door quickly exited behind Minu’s team, barely managing to avoid the gas. Those that tumbled out after them didn’t look so good. They were rubbing their raw, red eyes, and most had mucus pouring from their noses. They were all yelling in pain. Behind them, almost a thousand kids tried to cram through one set of double doors, which was only a couple of meters wide.
Dram appeared around the corner of the building, having exited on the far side. He held a gas cylinder under one arm and wore a look of calm concern on his face. “You bugs will learn to suspect something is wrong, especially when there’s a preponderance of evidence, or you won’t be Chosen. Aliens often do unpredictable things; their psychology is different from ours. Some of them are mean and deceitful, even down right sadistic. You can’t demand humanity from a five-meter-long snake.
“The gas is non-fatal, though about now, some of you might wish it was. You
can wash it off with water. So, you have three choices. You can wait one or two hours for the effects to wear off on their own. You can walk to the nearest water source, which is about a kilometer up that trail. Or you can get water from me.”
“We can just ask you for water?” one of the gagging kids asked. The crowd grew as the assembly hall emptied. Minu backed away from the gas wafting through the open doors. Chosen helped the last few out; the effects of the gas had left them temporarily unable to walk.
“There is one minor detail. If you want water from me, you have to quit.” The candidates responded with howls of anger and outrage. It looked as though some were mad enough to rush him. The drill was well-practiced; those in charge knew what the reaction would be. The Chosen dropped off their charges and moved to flank Dram, easing the growing unrest. In moments, dozens of candidates walked or crawled forward to quit and get water. Others lay on the ground, crying out in despair at the unfairness of it all. And still other jogged up the trail Dram pointed out, careening off trees and bushes as they ran.
“What about us?” Minu asked the nearest Chosen. The man turned to look at Minu and her group of friends. Including those that had followed her out the door before the grenades exploded, there were less than fifty.
“Pretty clueless group we have here,” the man said and glanced at the crowd of afflicted candidates. “In my class, almost half made it out the door before the first grenade went off.” Minu remained silent and waited. “You’ve passed this test, congratulations. The next test takes place at a concrete and metal shelter five kilometers east of here. The shelter is on top of a small ridge that’s visible for several kilometers in all directions. The time limit for this trial is four hours, which means it’s over at noon.”
While he was talking, Minu glanced up at the sky; it was early enough in the day, and she remembered enough about the compound’s layout, to know which direction was east. The trail Dram indicated was in the opposite direction.
“Any restrictions?” Gregg asked. The Chosen just crossed his arms and stared at them.
“Can we help the others?” one of the kids outside of Minu’s group asked.
“I’ll only add that resources are limited. Knowing when to cooperate is part of the Trials, as you should have noticed by now. Almost anything goes. You can use any resources and any means to complete the tasks before you. There’s no such thing as cheating, but there are limits. You cannot intentionally harm another bug, or a Chosen, except in self-defense. You cannot steal from a citizen, and you cannot enter a private residence, not that there are any nearby. That’s all the information you’ll get from any of us.”
Minu turned and ran for a nearly overgrown trail that headed east, opposite where most of the others were heading. Her friends quickly fell in behind her.
Gregg ran to catch up to her. “Why the hurry?” he huffed. “We have four hours for five kilometers. We can easily walk that.”
“You weren’t listening to the rest, were you? He said we can’t steal from private citizens, he didn’t say anything about each other. It’s each man for himself, and we’re better equipped than most. We’re going to be targets once those losers get it together in the next hour or so.”
“It’ll take less than that with water only an hour away.”
“There is no water down that trail,” Minu said as she settled into an easy running pace. “The only things in that direction are the landing field and a cliff.”
“Damn! Don’t they tell the truth about anything?”
“No, and that’s why I only believe one thing that Chosen said: we have to get to that shelter in four hours. The rest doesn’t matter.”
The run was exhilarating. Minu hadn’t known how much she’d missed running. She leaned forward as the ground flowed by and the trees shot past. Her lungs expanded and emptied with powerful breaths, and her muscles gratefully exerted themselves.
“Minu!” A voice behind her intruded on her meditation. She glanced over her shoulder. Aaron, Cherise, and Gregg were keeping up with her, though she could see they had to work hard to do so. Pip, though, was already ten paces behind and quickly falling further back. His gait was inefficient; he swung his arms too wide and pumped his knees too high. He gasped for breath, causing his eyes to bug out, and the veins on his neck stood up. Reluctantly, Minu stopped. Cherise was trying to pace Pip and offer him encouragement, but she looked concerned.
“What’s wrong with you?” Cherise asked Pip as he staggered up to them and nearly fell over. Gregg grabbed an arm and kept him on his feet. “I know I’m an above average runner, but we’ve barely started.” Cherise was almost as in-shape as Minu.
“I…I’m…not…in…very…good…shape,” Pip managed to gasp between huffs of breath.
Minu shook her head. “How did you intend to pass the Trials?”
“Brains…over…brawn.” The others laughed, but Minu could tell he was serious. Pip looked crestfallen. “I really didn’t think…I’d have to run a marathon.”
“You read, don’t you?” Gregg asked. Pip nodded his head, breathing rather than speaking. “You didn’t read any of the books on the Trials?”
“That might have been a good idea,” Minu agreed.
“Didn’t have time,” Pip complained, “there was too much other material.”
“Should we leave him behind?” Aaron asked. Gregg looked down, Pip looked worried, and Cherise watched Minu.
“He’s at least partially right,” Minu said, “there’s more to the Trials than muscles.” Pip looked relieved, if only for a moment. “But you might wish we’d left you behind before this is over. Now, run with us.” She turned and continued up the trail at a slower pace. In a moment, the sound of footfalls behind her confirmed they were following.
Pip didn’t so much run with them, as they carried him. After the first kilometer, Pip began staggering along the trail. After the second kilometer, they began carrying him, two at a time, hands under his arms. The sun was high in the sky when they topped the second rise and found a river rolling through the valley below. Pip’s sharp eyes caught the glint of a small structure nestled in the trees on the other side.
“Are those flood waters?” Aaron asked with a catch in his voice. There was nothing like this in the near desert where he grew up.
“No, no flooding here,” Pip said, as he swayed on his feet. His face was flushed and sweat poured off him.
“How can you be so sure?” Minu wanted to know.
“L-look at the trees. No broadleaf, no conifers. This is an ancient forest of huge fern trees that used to cover the planet. They’re great at holding their niches if nothing knocks them down. If floods, fires, landslides, or similar events destroy or move the fern trees, the plant life we brought from Earth moves in.”
“So this is what the planet looked like hundreds of years ago?” Cherise asked.
“As far as the eye can see.”
Gregg and Aaron massaged their legs during the brief break. It was the first time in a while that Minu remembered they wore drags. Her left leg, where she wore her only drag, was slightly sore, and it suddenly made sense. Drags, they drag you down!
“How do we get across?” Pip asked.
“We swim,” Minu said matter-of-factly, as she scanned the river to gage the swiftness of the current. Slowly, she turned to look at Pip with growing concern. “You can swim, can’t you?”
“Yes!” he barked, exasperated. “Do you think I’d be stupid enough to take the Trials if I couldn’t swim?”
Cherise opened her mouth, but Minu’s stern look brought her up short, so she just shrugged. They gave Pip a few more minutes to catch his breath, and when Minu decided it was time, they made their way down the hill toward the river.
As they crossed the water, Minu realized Pip wasn’t the one she needed to worry about. Halfway across she heard a gurgling gasp, and she looked over her shoulder. The water was barely a meter deep but very swift. Even though Aaron was about the same height as Minu, the
current tossed him around, and he couldn’t keep his feet.
“Just swim,” she admonished him. He dropped into a ragged dog paddle, but the water was too rough and kept washing over his head. A wave hit him in the face, and he popped up, choking on water.
“What have I gotten myself into?” she asked silently and turned around. By the time she managed to drag him from the water, he’d half drowned. Cherise and Gregg were trying not to stare, but Pip wasn’t feeling as charitable.
“You were worried about me swimming?!”
“Give him a break,” Minu said, patting a grateful and exhausted Aaron on the back, “he’s from a very dry place.”
“And I’m not?” Cherise asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.
“I can swim a bit,” Aaron managed between fits of coughing up water. “It’s enough most of the time.”
The shelter didn’t fit the Chosen’s description at all. The walls were ceramic concrete, a material manufactured on some distant Concordian world and shipped in containers with pre-made forms. The concrete was ready to pour, and it hardened in minutes. The shelter wasn’t on a hill, either. Instead, it nestled down next to the river. As Minu and her group approached, a Chosen who was sitting by the door stood to meet them.
“Congratulations,” he said with a smile, “you’ve done well.”
“Thank you, sir!” Minu said after a celebratory cheer. “Are we here first?”
“You’re the second group to arrive,” he told her and looked over his shoulder. Standing in the doorway was the absolute last person on the planet she expected to see.
“What took you so long, Daughter of the First?” asked Ivan Malovich, sporting a devilish grin on his pointy face.
* * * * *
Chapter 7
Julast 6th, 514 AE
Frontier Space, Unknown Star System
More than two weeks of constant escape and evasion took their toll on Chriso’s squad of Chosen. The planet they were on was only nearly Bellatrix normal. Considerably higher than normal traces of chlorine and methane were an unwelcome surprise. According to their instruments, the levels weren’t lethal in the short term, but concentrations would build up over longer periods of time. To be safe, Chriso ordered them to use metabolic filters, which consumed power, the one thing they were running out of.