Chapter 21 #3
“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 of my 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 save everyone, 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 parents transferred over to Beauchamp Hospital,” Anna said, her tone turning businesslike as she leaned forward in her seat.
I nodded.
“Right. Well, as I have decided that you are among the most promising of our new settlers—based on your youth, the results of the screening, and your general work ethic since your arrival here—I can officially declare you as my new mentee. And, as your mentor, I am willing to invest in you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I’ll cover the surplus from my personal funds so you can get your parents transferred immediately.”
I almost dropped the food resting on my lap. “Oh, wow. Anna… Thank you. That would mean the world to me. Immediately meaning, immediately immediately?”
She nodded. “Yes. We can go to the bank on Level 31 directly from here, and we’ll set things up.
I will deposit the money into a trust and assign your name to it along with mine.
We will sign a contract that states the money is yours to utilize as needed, provided you don’t change your mind about being my mentee, of course.
If that happened, then the money would revert to my account.
I’m sure you understand there needs to be some safeguard for me there. ”
“I understand,” I replied, nodding slowly. I mean, I supposed it was reasonable.
There was something, however, that bugged me about her proposal, now that my initial spike of elation had dipped.
I hesitated, thinking through my next words carefully.
“I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful, but you really seem to be taking this mentorship seriously.
Putting me through this pre-screening, investing time and now personal funds. I’m just wondering why?”
What’s in it for you? I wanted to add, but didn’t want to come off as rude.
Putting down her own money was just one step too far for me to believe that this was all for “the greater good” of Fairwell and its outreach mission.
This was going above and beyond her call of duty.
She knew about my parents’ dire situation, yes, but she and I were hardly close.
I didn’t believe this was just a random act of charity, not when personal funds were involved.
She had to have some personal stake in my recruitment.
Maybe some kind of incentive from the government for scouting and cultivating new managers?
She smiled. “You’re right that I’ll be investing a lot in you. And yes, you’re right to suspect there’s something in it for me.” She paused, eyeing my unfinished waffles. “If you’ve rested enough now, how about we walk and talk?”
“Okay,” I replied, wrapping the waffles up in the foil and putting them back in the bag.
I rose to my feet.
“Oh, and before we leave.” Anna picked up her black suitcase which had been sitting beneath her desk and set it on her lap.
She opened it and pulled out a blue uniform.
“This is for you. You’re probably a bit damp, so perhaps change now, before we leave.
There’s a bathroom through the door at the back there.
” She pointed to a door off to the side of the room that I hadn’t noticed.
“Okay, thanks,” I said, frowning slightly as I accepted the uniform from her.
I was grateful for a dry set of clothes, but her choice of color struck me as odd.
Blue was for the outreach department, and yet, she hadn’t even known I would be joining the outreach department until after I completed the pre-screening…
right? Unless she’d just been that confident I would pass.
Maybe I was reading too much into it.
I locked myself in the small bathroom and changed quickly. When I reentered the control room, Anna stood by the door holding my phone and backpack.
“Thanks,” I said, taking them from her and stuffing the cloth snack bag and my old uniform into my backpack.
We proceeded out of the room, and Anna closed the door behind us with a sharp click. We walked along the small corridor and back out into the main hallway.
“This way,” Anna said, gesturing to our left. “We need to take an elevator to Level 31.”
“Okay,” I said, increasing my pace to keep up with her broad strides. “So, you were saying?”
“Yes, I was saying that there is something in it for me. You recall I mentioned that for me to help you gain a leg up on the career ladder here at Fairwell, you will need to go through an induction process.”
I nodded.
“Well, the induction’s official name is the GICFF—General Induction Course for Founders of the Future—a bit of a mouthful, I know. So, let’s just call it ‘the Course’.”
She paused to smile and nod in greeting at a brunette in a dark red uniform who walked past us, then returned her focus to our conversation.
“The Course’s purpose is dual,” she went on. “Not only does it provide an opportunity for our brightest and most promising settlers to fast-track their careers, but it also serves as a kind of test for Fairwell’s current managers, including Heads of Operations like myself.”
“Oh. How so?”
“There is an old saying we have here at Fairwell: A great leader is known by how well he can replicate himself—or she, as the case may be.
Over the next few days, each manager participating in the test will have selected a mentee from our settler population, and our challenge will be to train you to complete the Course.
If you perform well, then we will receive kickbacks in the form of bonuses and promotions in our own careers.
“All participating settlers will also receive immediate monetary bonuses, by the way, in addition to expanded career opportunities—assuming they successfully complete the Course. So, you see, the GICFF benefits everyone all around.”
“So, I would receive a bonus too?” I asked.
She nodded. “Mhmm.”
“How much?”
“That will depend on where you place on the leaderboard, hon, though I’m not sure of the exact amounts yet.
They’re pretty generous, though, from what I’ve heard—we’re talking four to five figures.
The scoreboard leader will receive the most, of course, second and third place less, while the rest I believe will also receive coins for participation.
But, in any case, you needn’t worry.” She flashed me a conspiratorial wink. “I intend for us to be at the top.”
I swallowed, my nerves tightening. And how will we get there?
“What does this Course involve exactly?” I asked.
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t have exact details,” she replied with a sigh. “The GICFF is a fairly new initiative and details are kept secret for obvious reasons.”
We reached a set of brown elevator doors, and she pushed the button on the wall beside them. They opened and we stepped inside.
“What I can tell you, however, is this…” She pressed the button labeled 31, then reached into her bag and pulled out her tablet when the elevator started to rise. She tapped at the screen several times, before presenting it to me.
I found myself looking at a photograph of…
an island. Yet, it didn’t look like any island I’d seen around Fairwell.
This one was surrounded by a great, dark metal wall—so high that even though the photograph had been taken from a raised angle, I still couldn’t see over it.
The only clue I really had to go on about the place was that it was an artificial island, as the shores were too even and without rocks.
“What is this?” I asked, my voice fainter.
“That’s Old World Isle,” Anna replied. “An artificial island created and owned by Fairwell, about fifty miles out in the ocean. It was constructed specifically for training purposes and it is where the Course will be held.”
“Old World Isle,” I repeated uncertainly, still staring at the picture. “What’s on it? What’s behind the wall?”
“I’ve told you as much as I’m able to at this point,” Anna replied.
A silence followed. Even the sounds of the elevator seemed to fade out in my ears as I stared at her.
“That’s all you can tell me?”
She nodded. “Yup. We’re both in this blind to a certain extent, at the moment. But don’t worry. I’ll ensure you are prepared.” Something hard then glinted in her eyes, and her lips twitched, before pressing together in a firm line.
“How will you make sure I'm prepared when you yourself don’t know what to expect?” I managed.
She cast me a considering look. “I…” she began, then pursed her lips again and smiled. “You’ll just have to see.”
The elevator doors pinged open a second later, and Anna strode out onto Level 31.
I stumbled out behind her, struggling to keep up as she picked up speed.
Neither of us said a word for several minutes, until we reached the end of the curving hallway and stepped through a set of double doors that led us back into the reception area.
She strode right across it, past the main desk, and toward another set of doors on the opposite side of the large, oval room.
“The Course will be challenging,” Anna went on, her tone turning thoughtful as she pushed the doors open for us.
“That much I can tell you. It requires much of the organizers’ time and thought in set-up and preparation, which is one reason why, so far, we’ve only been holding it once every three months.
The initiative is still sort of in testing, though, and we plan to increase that in the future, to open the opportunity to more people. ”
Three months.
My brain stalled on the words and I barely registered the sentence that followed them.
Was the Course what Hayden did to fast-track his earnings?
A coldness settled into my stomach as we strode through a new, wide hallway. The painted gray wall to our right gave way to clear glass, behind which extended a large hall lined with counters and small crowds of people waiting behind them.
Anna stopped in front of a revolving doorway leading into the hall. Engraved into the glass above the doorway was the word “FairBank”.
“And we’re here,” Anna announced as we stopped in front of the doorway.
“I’ll see if we can’t get a priority appointment with a clerk to speed up the contract.
” She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
“Ah, Jeanine,” she said half a minute later.
“Hi, yes—Anna here. Can you make time to see me now? I’d really appreciate it.
I’m just outside. Excellent. Thanks so much. ”
She cut the call and gave me a bright smile, excitement gleaming in her eyes that I simply could not share, despite what I knew this meeting would mean for my parents.
I tried to focus on them only as she led me through to an office at the back, and a gray-haired woman in a stiff off-white suit greeted us.
I tried to convince myself that this was all for the best, as Anna negotiated the funds transfer, and Jeanine pushed a piece of paper in front of me whose numerous clauses not only sealed my fate to Anna for the foreseeable future but also bound me to confidentiality.
I tried to shut off the alarm bells ringing in my ears as I signed it.
But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was doing something terribly wrong.
Even when Anna and I left the bank to arrange for my parents’ immediate transfer and I saw their puffed faces light up as they were carried out on enclosed stretchers, I could barely muster a smile back for them.
Because, even as I watched them being loaded into the aircraft that would take them to Beauchamp Hospital, Hayden’s warning echoed in my ears:
“Promise me you’ll trust your gut, not just her words.”
I’d finally gotten my parents out of that horrid place, which felt like a significant milestone.
But I wasn’t sure what I’d just gotten myself into.
For that matter, I still wasn’t sure what we had all gotten ourselves into.