Chapter 11
Meeting The Shark
I slam the fifth book on the table and pack my bags in a haste. “Five books done, five more to go. Not a bad start to my week.”
I proceed past the library and toward the Meaning Building.
The building is shaped like a giant question mark.
I have no clue what to expect. I drive my feet forward toward the circular entrance.
Upon touching the door’s handle, my feet slip, and I fall.
Grabbing onto the floor, I realize that I’m sliding down a dark tunnel!
Eyes darting all around me, I try to stay alert.
Before I can grip the slide, my butt crashes down on a foamy floor.
I stand up.
I am alone in an empty room—and a single gun lies in front of me on a small table.
I tiptoe closer, my eyes darting all around in dread. Fingers twitching, I propel my hands forward to grab the gun. I tighten my grip to stop the tremor of my hands. This is my first time holding a gun.
I hear an echoing voice that sounds a lot like Beatrice.
“It looks legitimate. But it is not. That’s what this test is about. You will be asked a series of questions about morality and meaning. For every question, you have to shoot down the virtual figure in front of you to signify A or B or C (all of the above).”
A wall-like computer screen appears before me, then wraps itself all around me, caving me inside itself.
“Test begins now.”
My feet slip, and I am gliding through an illuminating path inside the computer. I flinch due to the blinding brightness around me. I have to open my eyes. In the same second I think this, my feet stumble on the icy ground.
I look around to see nothing but ice. Shivers run through my spine. The tips of my fingers are going numb as a gust of cold wind pierces my skin. Looking down, I am now wearing a white pant suit. I feel my face and realize I have a mask on. How on earth did that happen in two seconds?
Before I can look up, the ice beneath me begins to break.
I shove the gun inside the pocket of my jumpsuit, jumping to the side to avoid falling into the opening, which resembles a cave.
Crashing beneath me in a burst of tidal explosion, the ocean floods the cave.
Suddenly, sweat emanates from my clammy hands and heat rushes through the hairs on my skin.
The temperature just changed. What on earth is happening?
Beside me, I see a boat. I leap in and begin to paddle. That’s when I hear her.
“Save me! Save me!”
I look back to see a child. Her golden skin is glowing. I am confused by this. Is this my sister when she was young? She is in the water holding onto a somersaulted, broken boat. One of her hands slip. She is heading toward the mouth of what seems to be a great white shark.
Instantly, my eyes widen.
I jerk forward in fear, but in the same moment, I see a caramel-colored woman’s hand holding onto her.
The woman pushes herself up and grabs one of the child’s hands as they are flooding down the ocean, propelled by the strong current.
They are closing in from behind. I can try to reach for one of them and bring them up to my boat, but there is no way I can save them both in time before the current washes them away.
“I know what you’re thinking,” a voice whispers to me. “But saving either one of them in this rush of a current would be virtually impossible. No pun intended. And in fact, it would cause your boat to capsize. Here are your options:
A – Do nothing.
B – Try to reach for one of them and potentially capsize.
C – Shoot the twenty-foot shark and let them both die drowning.
D – Do anything to pass the test.
E – Eliminate their pain by shooting them both, giving them a quick death.”
Panic surges through me. All these options are completely inhumane, and D is simply unhelpful—do anything to pass the test, gee, thanks. They see the shark! Their screams intensify. Fear pulses through my veins, propelling me to act on instinct.
I choose D, for Down. Like in the Chemistry Test.
I find the boat’s anchor and throw it in the water; it sinks to the bottom.
I stand on one side of the boat, trying to capsize it.
It finally flips, and I crash into the water, grabbing the anchor rope.
I swim up, holding onto my boat and waving at them with my other hand.
With that hand, I snag the child and pull her hands to cling tightly onto the daggerboard as the woman holds on to the other side.
I try to flip the boat back upright by leaning outward, but it does not work. I try to pull on the line beneath the railing, but it does not work. I try to hold onto the daggerboard, but it is impossible to do alone.
I swim underneath the boat to try to pull the jib sheets out.
Water pressure squashing my face, I pull the rope of the anchor out from the ground, calling out, “Help! Pull the daggerboard!”
I don’t even know why I am talking to them. Why did I do that? This isn’t reality. But it works. The woman helps me flip the boat back up.
My eyes turn with a smile, but my face turns to dread when Ciaro randomly appears, standing inside the boat in front of me.
What. In. The. World.
But this isn’t real?
Ciaro stares at me with a menacing glare. What on earth! Before I can think, she shoves me, fighting to push me off.
“No!” I shout.
I thought this wasn’t real. What’s happening?
“What are you doing? Stop!” I shout at her.
“You’re in my mind! Get out!” she screams incessantly.
“What?” How?
How is it possible that both our tests are intertwining? This isn’t real, right? That’s when I realize. This could be real.
My world. I am gonna die. I will not be pushed off by this girl. But if we keep fighting, we will throw this boat overboard. The child is now shaking and crying, curled up in the corner, terrified.
“Ciaro, stop!” I shout at her.
“Get out of my mind!” She slams me with a paddle.
I catch it, grabbing the gun from my jumpsuit and pointing it at her.
Her eyes widen. “Are you gonna shoot me?”
My hands shake, panicking. The shark is heading straight toward us! Its mouth, gaping open.
I know what to do. I shoot my hands as I jump out of the boat and into the water. Yes, I shoot my hands with my virtual gun.
The shark smells my blood and diverges in its tracks, heading toward me while the mother and child drive off to safety.
Enclosed in the mouth of the shark, terror stabs my heart, and I gasp in shock. Before I can blink, my vision turns to black, and I see nothing but darkness.
I’m dead—virtually.
But I am still alive. In real life.
Beep… Beep.
The test ends. Frantic, I scan my body to see I’m unharmed. That felt so real. Why did I even do that? How did Ciaro force herself on my boat? What if that was real? I don’t know if I can trust myself. If I keep moving like this, I’m gonna get myself killed. In real life.
Alone in the dark room, I see the small table appear with the gun in place. Then the table transfigures itself into a kiosk.
This is the final portion of this test.
“You have ten hours to answer ten thousand questions.” Ten thousand questions in ten hours? That isn’t possible. I’m certainly not going to be able to get through all of them. “You may begin,” the automated voice rasps.
I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that I just killed myself to save others. Virtual or not, I cannot have blood on my hands. The things I did should not even be possible. I have to push for more to see what I’m capable of doing. This venture has given me a new mission—Test the Tests.
The questions begin rotating around me. My hands race to respond.
“Save a child or save a government?” the Beatrice-sounding voice asks.
“Save them equally, according to the rules of the government.”
“Religion or Meaning?”
Again I select C and write meaningful religion.
“The Commons or The Common People.” C again, The Commons for The Common People.
This test continues asking me hundreds of questions. Do these questions ever end? My hands shiver and my legs quiver. I don’t know how I’m gonna keep doing this. I am beyond exhausted.
Ten hours later, I step out the door and slam into something.
It is Patron De Londe.
I recognize him from the pictures on Zia’s wall.
Dread consumes my chest. There is an aura to his presence, an eerie cloud.
I don’t know what the rules of seeing him are.
I am terrified of his red-green eyes that look all too familiar to the Commons dragon reptile; My body is growing icy cold, from my numb lips to the soles of my feet.
“Shantavia—Isn’t it?”
“Yes si- Patron De Londe.”
“You recognize me. That’s good. Do you also recognize anything else about me? About my voice? Have we ever spoken to each other before?”
This is a trick question. I take a moment.
“You have spoken to me in everything that I have learned here at The Commons. That it is your vision coming to fruition—yours and Satri DeVeechi’s vision.”
“Right. You’re very smart.”
“Just a simple Commoner.”
“Simple Commoners don’t do what you just did in that test. Why did you do that?”
“I just… instinct?”
“Instinct?”
“No, not instinct. I mean, I was willing to do anything to pass the test and please The Commons, to please you.”
“Do you know how my parents died?”
I shake my head, not daring to respond.
“In the war, a very long time ago. They begged me to kill them. They were in so much pain. So much… anguish. Suffering.” He smiles. Why is he smiling? “I ended both their misery. I enjoyed it, in fact.”
What on earth.
“I enjoy ending misery. Hence, The Commons. No need for wars, no need for silly disputes, you understand that, don’t you, Gaski?
I swallow my words, nodding instantly. Gaski? That’s what the dragon reptile called me.
“Good to know. Let’s keep it that way.”
He starts to walk away, but my mind drifts, remembering his words about the war.
The last war. 100 years ago. I faintly remember this.
My grandparents said it was inconceivable—well, their parents told them, my great-grandparents.
And after that, The Commons swooped in to save society from something so tragic ever happening again; to train world leaders who would be worthy to rule the world.
They said after the war, some socially constructed categories were also done away with, as well as many other changes in society that I’d need a history book for—at least, that’s what my grandparents said. But… why is he telling me this?
Just as he is about to walk by me, he stops and turns gently. “And by the way, what are you saying?”
“I… um… Sir?”
“Your hair, what are you saying with it? And why are you so obnoxious with it?”
“Um, I’m sorry, it’s um… my hai—”
“Well fix it. Take it out from its natural habitat in the wild and tame it. Put it in a zoo or something. Straighten it! Straighten everything about yourself. If you are ever to be selected by me for an upgrade, you not only have to be, but you have to look like Common Property. Am I clear?”
Dread mixed with infuriation twists in my gut, but I tighten my jaw to suppress the shiver running through my veins.
“Crystal clear.”
“Mmm, crystal, crystals. You also did great in your Chemistry Test with the diamond crystals, interesting. Interesting indeed.” He points at me as though pondering a tantalizing thought while touching his lips.
I stand, uncomfortable, while he continues to smile with a patronizing smirk, then he begins to leave, walking slowly, his feet making no sound.
I stand, shock-stricken, frozen in time, lost for words on what just happened.
Why the heck did Patron De Londe find me, stop me, talk to me, half compliment, and half insult me?
What in the world have I done?