LWAZI
Any idea of what's going to happen to you?
JUNIOR
Why should anything happen to me?
LWAZI
You are the only American left around here...
JUNIOR
SO?!
LWAZI
Don't you fear they might send you away too?
JUNIOR
Haha! No way!
Replied Junior. That thought hadn't actually crossed his mind.
JUNIOR
But thanks for making me worry!
LWAZI
My pleasure...
They were lazily sitting in the small living room inside their compound. The place was housing twelve people, but it was much too small for so many.
Junior shut his eyes to rest, but was immediately interrupted by Paaye, the candidate from Nigeria.
PAAYE
Well done Junior!
JUNIOR
What have I done?
PAAYE
Alright! Your also quick with words!
JUNIOR
Am I?
PAAYE
Yeah! Well done with your jump!
JUNIOR
Yes... The jump...
PAAYE
Yeah! Well done!
JUNIOR
Thanks...
PAAYE
Yeah! I already jumped but they told me you went off like that, quickly after Irina. Brave man!
LWAZI
Crazy man!
JUNIOR
Foolish man?
A sudden whiff of cold air coming from the door announced the arrival of a guest.
R-328
Everybody!
Exclaimed R-328 as he entered the building. Everybody was killing time anyway, so they quickly assembled in front of the clone.
R-328
So... first things first... Regarding the accident involving the Russian candidate and the U.S. delegation...
Junior took a deep breath...
R-328
X-466 and I have conferred with Konos and decided how to proceed.
...and promptly forgot to exhale.
R-328
We couldn't find any hard evidence supporting Junior's claims, but regardless of that, something definitely did happen...
R-328 furtively looked at Junior.
R-328
We feel that such a breach of trust from the U.S. delegation is unacceptable and should bring about the exclusion of the entire U.S. contingent, candidate included.
"Is this it?" he thought, still holding his breath in.
R-328
However...
"However?"
R-328
The circumstances surrounding this incident cannot be ignored. It is likely that the people responsible for the attempt on Irina's life have already been evacuated and, given his actions in that instance, we have decided that no consequence shall befall U.S. Candidate John Junior Space.
Paaye and Lwazi both patted Junior on his back, which forced him to finally breath out.
R-328
You are free to continue participating in this selection, Junior.
Junior laughed nervously.
R-328
Moving on, you should be accustomed to the base by now. If you aren't, by the end of this test, twenty weeks from now, every inch of this place will be all too familiar to you. We will be monitoring you from the other buildings and we will be giving you supplies and tasks every now and then, but apart from that, you will be on your own.
He cleared his throat before continuing.
R-328
From tomorrow on, whether you want it or not, you are going to be a team, and you are going to have to rely on each other in order to pass this test. So be very careful... Confinement, isolation from the outside, lack of personal space will soon start to eat at you, and your success vastly depends on how you are mentally able to overcome such difficulties. Take it from someone who has lived this way his entire life. IT'S HARD WORK. So hard I expect many of you won't be able to cope.
R-328 stopped talking, and gave each of them a meaningful long look.
R-328
So anyway... have fun!
And after that heavy speech, the clone finished with a smile.
