This bus seems like a good sign."I'm sorry," Gasper says. "This is a test. I don't think I should help you."
"Did anybody tell you not to help me?" the man says desperately. "They only said I had to make it, they didn't say I had to do it on my own."
"I'm sorry," Gasper says. He walks quickly away, reaching the far side of the field with eight minutes to spare. There is no cop here to greet him. He sits down to wait.
A few minutes later, the man with the injured ankle walks up to Gasper. "I tried to give you a chance to come back for me," he says. "But I guess you were determined not to help."
"You mean you're part of the test?" Gasper exclaims.
"Yes," the man nods. "I admire your honesty," he says, "but unfortunately, cooperation is going to be more important to Omega than passing tests. Follow me."
The man leads Gasper to a nearby bus.
That's pretty extended for a game over. And it's not even over...Gasper climbs onto the bus. "Did I make it?" he asks.
"Afraid not," the cop says. "But don't fret; this bus isn't so bad, either. At least you had the guts to try."
Other cops bring men and women to the bus in groups of one to four over the next hour. When it is loaded, one of the cops hops in the driver's seat and says, "You folks are probably luckier than them colonists anyway. They're going to a strange new world with who-knows-what in it. His Lordship is going to give all of you jobs."
The cop drives the would-be colonists four hours through the desert. Just after dusk, he pulls into a well-lit compound set at the base of a mountain. "More folks for the workcamp," he says to the guard at the gate. The guard smiles wickedly. "That's what you folks get for trying to be something you aren't. Now we've got you, and everybody thinks you're on Omega."
The would-be colonists are assigned bunks in a common barracks. The next day, they are taken to their new jobs. Gasper is assigned the task of putting the firing pin into a model AR-25 assault rifle. He works at this job for the next ten years. He finally dies with two hundred others in a massive riot/escape attempt.
Salt in the wound...Eventually, Gasper's death is noticed and, somewhere deep within the Heckman Administrative Complex, clear down on Two Level, a magnetic computer relay shuffles a few electrons. It is duly noted that Gasper's family, which occupies the three-room flat designated Gradapt 47-2023, now has only three working members. Up on Twenty-One Level, a laser-printer automatically prints an eviction order, and the clerk sends a copy to Green Sector Security Headquarters.
A few hours later, four cops bust into Gradapt 47-2023 and inform the occupants that since the Newlin family has failed to meet its work quota, the family must move into the Municipal dormitories. Although Gasper's mother asks for a few hours to gather their things, the cops say they cannot comply. They have a heavy schedule today; they must evict another ten families before the shift ends.
I'm pretty disappointed - both of the tests are kind of pointless binary game over/continues; I guess it reinforces the arbitrary/harsh nature of the world. I think a better plan would have been to have failing either test come with a Morale penalty when your later troops hear that you can't follow simple instructions/are a selfish a-hole. Not that morale has ever come up so far.
So, let's proceed as if we'd passed the test.
Gasper takes the man's arm and wraps it around his shoulder. The two of them hobble to the edge of the field in just under seven minutes, allowing them both plenty of time. When they reach the far side, Gasper is amazed to see no security cop.
The man with the injured ankle stands upright. "Good job," he says. "On Omega, you'll need to help each other with even the simplest tasks in order to survive." The man points to a river about a half-mile distant. "There's your next test. Take your time walking down there. From here on out, the tests are simply endurance tests, so you'll need to be rested when you start. Good luck."
Gasper walks down to the river slowly. When he arrives, two cops there stick him in a cage and dunk him in the river repeatedly. After twenty minutes of this, they let him out. "Well, you're still alive," one says. "I guess that means you pass."
"Thanks," Gasper chokes, spitting out some of the water he swallowed. He doesn't understand the purpose of this test—and the cops certainly don't explain—but he assumes there must be some reason behind it. The guards point toward a building in the distance. "The last test is in that building, and then you'll go directly to medical processing."
By the time Gasper walks the mile to the building, he has forced the water out of his stomach and lungs. When he enters the building, a pair of technicians strap him into a large cylinder and spin it rapidly for ten minutes. When it stops and the technicians unstrap him, Gasper is so dizzy that he collapses.
"Come on," a technician says, "get up."
Gasper tries, but is unable to keep his legs beneath his body. The technician reaches down and gives him a guiding hand.
"Mary!" her co-worker says, "you know we're not supposed to help them."
"This is a stupid test anyway," she says. "Even on Omega they'll never be stuck in a soup can and spun like a top. And this guy's just too cute to send to the work camp."
"Thanks," Gasper mumbles as he finally regains his feet. "Well, I guess he would have gotten up on his own, anyway," Mary's co-worker admits. "Go into the room labeled Medical Processing," she says. "They'll prepare you for the journey."
"Then I've passed the tests?" Gasper asks.
"Thanks to your sweetheart," the technician says.
"Thanks," Gasper mumbles to Mary.
"Think nothing of it," Mary says. "Just plant an acre of flowers on the new world for me."
"I will," Gasper says. He turns and enters the room marked Medical Processing. A nurse immediately instructs him to remove his shirt. Gasper does so, and she uses an air-hypo on his right arm. Gasper winces. "Inoculations," she says, as if excusing the injury. She points to the first of a long line of hydro-gurneys. "Take off your pants and lie down," she orders.
Gasper does as instructed. A different nurse uses another air-hypo on his left arm. His thinking grows difficult and fuzzy almost immediately. "What's happening?" he screams. The nurse leans over him. Her teeth are bared in a grotesque smile and her face seems elongated and unnatural. "C-o-l-d-s-l-e-e-e-e-e-e-p," she says. Gasper closes his eyes and feels as if he is falling from a very great height.
In his dream, the ground gives way like a feather bed when Gasper strikes it. He has fallen over a hundred miles, expecting to die when he hits the ground. Instead, the earth swallows him, burying him in deep folds of warmth.
The folds begin to squeeze and Gasper chokes. Suddenly, the sun shines hot and bright directly into his eyes.
"This one's coming around," a gruff voice says.
Gasper coughs violently and feels something shoot from his mouth. His lungs burn with the raw sensation of breathing normally again. He blinks several times, then stares up into a penlight.
"How do you feel?" someone asks.
"Terrible," Gasper says. "What happened?"
"You're on Omega," the man answers.
"Omega?" Gasper asks.
"The planet you came to colonize," the man says matter-of-factly.
Gasper's memory returns in a flood. "But that was supposed to take five years!" he exclaims.
"It's been five years and four months," the man says as he unstraps Gasper. "Be careful when you get up—you'll be a little weak at first."
Gasper sits up. He sees that he is in a room perhaps an acre in size. Hundreds—maybe thousands—of gurneys fill the room. He focuses on the nearest gurney. Although the occupant's color has returned to normal, he remains motionless, his eyes vacantly staring at the ceiling.
"What happened to him?" Gasper asks. The man—Gasper thinks of him as Doc—pulls the motionless man's sheet back. Four puncture wounds run in a row down the left side of his chest. "Rebels," Doc says. "They had a terrible battle in here. Spraying assault rifles everywhere. Almost got you too," Doc adds, pointing at a line of bullet holes in Gasper's gurney.
Gasper stands up, feels dizzy, and collapses. He tries to stand again, but his legs feel like spaghetti. Doc helps him back onto the gurney. "Didn't you have the centrifuge test?" he asks.
"Yes," Gasper answers. "I failed, but they covered for me."
Doc reaches into his black bag and withdraws a syringe.
"Well, you're here now, and we've got work to do. I'll give you a shot—it'll help you keep your feet for the next few hours. Get a good night's sleep, and you'll be okay in the morning."
"Thanks," Gasper says.
"It's a good thing we didn't crash-land worse than we did," Doc says. "If I wasn't around to give you a shot, you'd be no better than a jellyfish trying to walk upright. That's why they have the centrifuge test."
"We crash-landed?" Gasper asks, alarmed.
"Yep. Rebels screwed up the braking system. This planet's got two main land masses: North Continent and East Continent. We're somewhere on the east side of East. Heck of a fix."
Gasper tries to stand and finds that his legs will support him. "What should I do?" he asks Doc.
Doc nods toward the hatch leading outside. "Go out there and see what needs doing."
Gasper leaves the ship and joins thousands of others standing outside on Omega in flimsy coveralls. The ship rests on a vast plain of tundra, cut here and there by steep-sided, deep ravines. Several miles distant, a single copse of trees rises from the barren landscape. The temperature is just below freezing, he estimates.
"Why don't we go get some cold-weather clothes?" he asks the group.
A burly man nods toward a member of the ship's security team. "They won't let us at the ship's stores," he says. "It seems a contingent from the planet was supposed to meet us at our landing site with supplies ..."
"But we didn't land at the right place," adds another man. His voice carries a bitter edge.
"We'll freeze out here!" Gasper says.
"That isn't the captain's problem," replies the bitter man. "He got us here; that's all he had to do."
A woman interrupts from the back of the crowd. "I say we take what we need!" She pushes her way through the crowd. She has waist-length black hair and wears an eye patch over her right eye.
"Tita!" Gasper whispers. If she recognizes him, she gives no sign.
"Don't be a fool," the burly man interrupts. "They'd gun us down like rats. What can we fight with? I say we talk to the captain and get enough provisions to send out a search party."
• Gasper tells the others that Tita is a rebel, thus exposing the fact that she is at least partially responsible for their predicament.
• What Tita says makes sense, whether or not she's a rebel.