And even besides that element, there were still so many dangerous ones. What if that shooting platform had squashed me into the ceiling? It had been going fast enough to do that. What if the brakes had failed?
What if that heavy dryer cylinder had clamped down in the wrong place and crushed me instead of drying me?
What if those maze walls had shot upward at the wrong time?
The more I thought about it, the more disturbed I felt. There must have been a thousand little pieces that went into running that screening. It might have only taken one of them to fail, and my life could have been lost. At the very least I could have been badly injured.
It all suddenly felt very, very real—not just a simulation.
And Anna had been more than willing to put me through it.
And was now acting like it was no big deal.
I remained staring at her, and my disbelief finally seemed to get on her nerves. Her expression hardened and she folded her arms.
“What?” she asked. “Did you think a job in outreach was going to be easy? Do you think working out there in the Old World is rainbows and unicorns? It’s not. And if I’m going to take you on as my mentee, I need to be sure you’re up for the job.” There was a bite to her last words, and suddenly the atmosphere in the small room grew tense.
Frankly, I didn’t want to have anything to do with this woman after this, and I was starting to see truth in Hayden’s warning. My instincts were telling me to stay away from her.
The way she spoke about the Old World scared me, too, and made me even more nervous about what my future career would entail.
But fear wasn’t something I could afford to give in to right now. Nor did I have the luxury of listening to my instincts.
My parents, for all I knew, were dying.
“No, Anna, I’m sorry,” I managed, even as the words tasted bitter on my tongue.
“I understand you need to check what I’m made of, and I understand that a job in outreach won’t be easy. I know times are tough out there, and, while I admit I don’t really know how bad the situation is outside of our small jungle world, I’m willing to work hard to train to help get people out of difficult situations. It’s just… I’ve just been in shock… is all. I wasn’t expecting what you threw at me.”
There was a pause in which she gave me a long look, her face a passive mask. And then a smile returned to her lips, warming her expression. “Apology accepted,” she said. “I understand you’re still a bit shaken.”
“So, what was the meaning of the modules?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “I think I understand the first two: testing reflexes and quick thinking under pressure, but what about the last two? Those really confused me.”
“What did you find confusing about them?” she wondered, leaning back in her seat and giving me a considering look.
I frowned, frankly confused by her question. I would have thought that would have been obvious. “Well, I guess, first, did I make the right choice in the maze? Was I supposed to go after the adults?”
There was a pause, as though she were considering her next words carefully. “At this point,” she replied after a moment, “I would say there was no right or wrong answer to that. I was curious to see which you would pick.”
“I see,” I murmured, though I was confused by her choice of words.At this point?What was that supposed to mean? Either I’d made the right choice or I hadn’t, surely. Whatever the case, I moved on. “I guess I just wondered why I was shown the death of the child at the end.”And also why she looked like my little sister, I wanted to add, but given that I hadn’t been able to get close enough to make out her exact features, I didn’t want to accuse Anna of burning a likeness ofmy sister. It felt like I was already walking on eggshells with her.
“For every decision you make on the field, there will be a consequence, good or bad,” she replied solemnly, “and sometimes you will see disturbing things. You need to be able to handle it. Along with the fact that you can’t always saveeveryone, and sometimes tough choices must be made. Choices that may not always even seem right at the time.”
“Okay,” I murmured. “And then, there’s that last simulation. It felt like I had no control over the outcome. I wasn’t sure how I could have saved the guy, without going up to him and forcing him out of that boat. He wouldn’t listen to reason!”
A small smile peeled across Anna’s lips, and she took another pause, though this one seemed almost indulgent, as though she were enjoying keeping me waiting for her answer. “You’re right that was more meant for the purposes of… spectating,” she replied. “There may come a time during your menteeship when I will refer back to it. But for now, I’d just like you to think about it. Keep it at the back of your mind.”
“O-Okay,” I said, frowning and feeling no less confused than when I’d asked the question.
“Are those all the questions you have about the pre-screening?” Anna asked.
I sighed, considering, and then nodded. “I guess so.”
She smiled. “Okay. Well, then, now that we’ve established you passed my test, I suppose you’ll want to talk about your parents, and how I said I would help you get them off the islet ASAP if you passed the screening…”
“Yes,” I replied, relieved she’d brought up the subject. It was about time we started talking about them when they were the whole point of all of this.
“So, you currently have under 2,000 coins in your account and you need at least 5,000 to your name to get your parentstransferred over to Beauchamp Hospital,” Anna said, her tone turning businesslike as she leaned forward in her seat.
