Saving The Mission, page 16
part #1 of The Race to Space Series
After they left, Ross turned to Samantha. She cursed David for drawing attention to her, making the group realise her existence. “So what about you?”
Samantha picked her head up. “What about me?” She hoped to give off the impression that she did not want to talk, hoping that it would draw Ross’s attention to some other poor soul for grilling.
“Well who are you and what do you do? Jeez, I feel like I’m the presenter on a game show! Who are you and where do you come from?” Ross laughed and a couple of others laughed with him.
Samantha did not like the way this conversation was already going. She paused, weighing up for a response. She decided to lie because she couldn't stand being looked at in the same way that Mike had looked at her earlier. “I’m an administration assistant at a law firm.”
Ross nodded and gave her a disinterested look, giving the impression that he was disappointed. Samantha wondered if he would have been, had she spoke the truth. “Well good. The sudoku must have been challenging!”
Samantha looked at him and snapped. “Only as challenging as it must be for you to not judge others before you know them.”
“Jeez, I was only trying to…” Before he could finish the sentence, Scott came through again to call the next person through. Samantha had never been so relieved to see someone in her life. “Miles Flagton.” When Scott left, the others spoke amongst themselves. In the first few words she had spoken, she had alienated herself from the group. She stared out of the window, looking at the grounds surrounding them, wishing for the day to be over before it had even truly begun.
After Bethany was called through, Samantha only had to wait a short amount of time until Scott re-appeared. She knew she was next and was bracing herself for whatever lay ahead. She had already made her way towards the doors when she was summoned.“Samantha Harrington.” She followed Scott blindly out of the hallway, and as they walked in silence, Samantha wondered why Bethany’s time appeared to have been so short. She wondered if Bethany had either completed the challenge quickly or failed it quickly. As she walked through the doors into a large room, she surveyed her surroundings. On the walls hung several impressive tapestries and the ceiling was in a dome shape which had window panes at the top to let light in. Samantha looked into the centre of the room and was immediately drawn to the contraption in front of her. She said out loud, “what the hell is that?”
15.
Samantha stared, wide-eyed, into the middle of the room. She could not take her eyes from it. She heard Scott’s voice which snapped her out of her blank stare of confusion. “Miss Harrington, your form?” She turned to him and handed him her form. She was watched as he scanned it through carefully. Without looking up he asked, “so you are not on any blood pressure medication?”
In reality, Samantha was on a light dose of blood pressure medication but thought it was probably not a concern, it was only a small dose after all. “No.” She lied.
Scott continued scanning the form. “You haven’t had a drink in the last twenty-four hours?”
“No.” She lied. She thought it was probably out of her system anyway.
Scott put her form on a pile on the table behind him. As he twisted, she noticed two other people were in the room with them. Before she had a chance to look at them properly, Scott twisted around to face her, blocking her view of the people behind. “Samantha, in front of you is a machine that will spin you around and upside down for exactly one minute. You will be strapped in but have no control of where it will take you. In that minute, I will be asking you questions of general knowledge. Each question you get wrong will increase the speed of the device. This test is designed to assess your ability to think and calculate under extreme physical pressure. We have an expert in this field standing by to assess you and a doctor just in case. If you want the challenge to be stopped at any time or start to feel unwell, simply say “stop” and we will stop the machine but you will automatically fail. Is that understood?”Samantha nodded and confirmed she was happy to proceed. The reply was simple. “Good. Let's get you in.”
Samantha made her way across to the contraption in the middle of the room. She noted that it was a circle shape with metal wire protecting the outer edge. Samantha thought that it looked almost like the ball in which motorcycles ride inside at fairgrounds, usually called something cheesy like “circle of death”. Stood in front of it now, Samantha thought that the name was apt. Through the wiring, she saw a seat in the middle with seatbelts either side. She crawled into the gap in the wiring and sat on the seat. She could see her surroundings but each was in segments, like how a fly sees its surroundings. She strapped herself in by pulling the seatbelts across her middle and over the top as if she was about to go on a rollercoaster.
One of the men who Samantha recognised was in the hall at the start, came to check the strapping. Samantha looked into his piercing blue eyes and felt at ease. Her heartbeat quickened, she wasn’t sure if this was the nerves of what was ahead or another feeling. A feeling she didn’t expect, a feeling she had not felt since Ryan. She felt her face flush and looked away. She watched as his soft hands tested the strapping around her. Samantha told herself to get a grip. Her seatbelts were pulled, moving her body slightly towards his. He looked at her and she felt her heartbeat quickened. “Are you ready?”
Samantha whispered, “I think so.”
He nodded and moved close to her ear “Just focus on the questions, it will help to distract your mind.” He smiled and Samantha nodded. Samantha felt the feeling of attraction flow through her. She instinctively looked down, no ring on his hand. She watched as he looked in her direction and smiled. Samantha cursed herself for being so transparent. He walked away. She had even forgotten to ask who he was. Samantha tried to focus, telling herself that she would not stand a chance with a man like that anyway.
In the background, she heard Scott ask in a low voice, “what did you say?” She heard the man with the blonde hair reply, “hold tight” and laugh. Scott replied “As long as that was all Brady, anything else could jeopardise the programme. No advantage for girls you like.”
Samantha thought Brady, she’ll have to remember that. She wasn’t sure if that was a first name or surname, she assumed the latter. As she was wondering about who he was, she felt the chair start to swing. It started to move forwards and backwards. Samantha instantly recalled the horrible memories of being on a pirate ship as a child but knew this would be much worse. Scott shouted, “we will start in 5,4,3,2,1 go.”
Samantha felt the first loop and her stomach lurched. Scott was stood near the cage and she could hear his voice bellowing over the creaking of the machine. “What is the capital of Sweden?”
Samantha could feel the sick rising from her stomach already but swallowed and thought about the question, recalling Brady’s advise. Samantha recalled that one of her friends had moved there for University. She tried to remember, but the memory was twirling around her. The answer came. “Stockholm.”
“What is 20 x 210?” She quickly tried to do the maths in her head but with the room spinning her sense of rational thought was fading.
“4200” She had gone upside down at least five times already.
“What is sodium chloride otherwise more commonly known as?” Samantha paused. The nausea was starting to overcome her. Her focus was shifting to the feeling that she was going to be sick. She said the first word that came into her head. She no longer cared if the answers were correct, she wanted this to be over. “Salt.”
The room was spinning fast and Samantha could feel her consciousness fading. “What falls quicker, an apple, a grapefruit or do they fall at the same speed?” Samantha could no longer think. She swallowed the sick in her mouth “The grapefruit?”
She heard Scott billow “Incorrect. If I had 88 pieces of silver and I gave half to my friend, half of the remaining to his friend and then 20 to my neighbour. How many do I have left?” Samantha tried to think, she halved 88 in her mind to get 44.
She halved it again to get 22. As she was calculating, the machine spun her in a full loop around the room and she could hold it in no more she was sick all over the floor. She could only see blackness but heard a sweet familiar voice say “stop the machine!”
Samantha through the blackness shouted “NO!” She thought about the puzzle again and replied through the acidic taste in her mouth “2.”
“20 seconds remaining.” Samantha breathed hard, she was just over halfway through. “What does the C in the equation E=MC squared stand for?”
Samantha replied “pass!” Physics was not her strong suit, even with two feet on the ground. She cursed, she would have known the other two.
“If I was travelling at 20mph down a road for 30 miles and set off at 12pm, what time would I arrive?” Samantha tried to think, but her ability to concentrate had passed. She could no longer recall the first part of the question and guessed. “1:30pm.” She was surprised not to hear Scott’s bellowing voice telling her she was wrong again.
“What planet was recently de-classified?”
Samantha shouted, “Pluto!”
Scott immediately replied. “Why?” Samantha thought about the question but all she could see were the walls spinning. “I don’t know, it wasn’t big enough” She could not think logically anymore.
“Finally Samantha, tell me your name and date of birth.” Samantha's eyes were closed and she managed to utter the word “Sam” and then the blackness consumed her.
When she awoke, there was a man in a white coat, who she hoped was the doctor, kneeling over her, fanning her and giving her smelling salts. She was lay down on the floor near the wall. Samantha had no recollection of anyone getting her out of the machine and moving her. She looked around her but she moved her head too quickly and immediately threw up again. The doctor turned to Scott and Brady and said “she will be OK but that was too close. Next time listen to me when I say she has had enough.”
Her vision was still blurry and everything around her spinning. She was starting to hear her surroundings again but they sounded faint and distant as if she were on the outside looking in. She could hear a faint voice. “What is the point in having me here if you are going to ignore me? You could have done some permanent damage. She clearly wasn’t prepared for this.”
Samantha sat up and through her lips, which were covered in vomit uttered, “you’re wrong.” She put her palms on the floor and tried to stand but although her brain commanded the action, her legs would not respond. She gave up trying and immediately relaxed her body against the wall.
Scott walked over to her. “The doctor will escort you out.” She felt two hands underneath each armpit as they hoisted her to her feet. She started to feel her legs again and could now put her weight on them. She slowly put one foot in front of the other. She was pleased for the assistance, she thought without it, she would have slumped to the floor again.
She tried to lift her head up but the effort was too great. She looked at the floor and saw each of her strides, it looked as though her feet might trip her up. Samantha needed to know what happened and how she had done, to know if it was all worth it. In a slurred voice, that sounded like she had drank ten pints, she said, “how did I do?”
With all the effort she could muster, she raised her head and looked in Scott’s direct. His shape was fading in and out and he seemed to be in several places at the same time. Samantha had never experienced anything like it, she felt like she couldn’t control her own body, that all her senses were merged into one. Scott looked at her, Samantha couldn’t make out his facial expression but even across the room, she could sense his distaste. She saw his shape turn and walk away, ready to call in another candidate for the unsuspecting torture that lay ahead.
Samantha was escorted out of the room and was put in a chair outside. She looked around at the two men who escorted her. Her vision was slowly returning to normal and she saw the doctor walk back into the room. The man she now recognised as Brady handed her a glass of water. She grabbed the cold glass and felt the warmth of his fingers as they briefly touched. Samantha felt like an electric charge had passed through them both. She looked up at him and saw his smiling face, his complexion was immaculate and slightly tanned. “Next time, listen to me or you will do some serious damage to yourself.”
He turned to walk away. She grabbed his arm which was trailing behind him and pulled him towards her. Samantha could tell he was caught off balance by the movement as his upper body jerked towards her. “How did I do?”
He looked away and said “about average. You blacked out after most though, that’s something.” He released her grip and walked away. Samantha looked at the wooden floor and each indent in the wood seemed to be in a swirl pattern than made her feel even dizzier. She was starting to feel more like her normal self, the cold water had helped.
Eventually, someone in a green jacket came to get Samantha and escorted her into a gymnasium where people were sitting on the floor. Samantha immediately felt more relaxed as everyone in that room was looking various shades of green to completely pale. She sat down on the outer edge, nearest the door and David approached her. She could feel the floor move under his every step. “You can always tell the ones who have just done the test.”
She continued to stare at her water and replied, “How did you do?”
David slid his back down the wall and sat next to her groaning about his knees as he did so. “Not great. I couldn't last, so had to get out. Even then, I was on the old grandad setting because of my blood pressure. I could only imagine how it was for you younger and fitter ones!”
Samantha smiled at him “Well I vomited twice and they called it off, saying I couldn’t handle it, so I’m not much better!”
David laughed. “What the hell was it for anyway, what are they recruiting for? This is no ordinary TV show if it is a TV show at all. I doubt Countdown recruits guests like this!”
Samantha replied, “I have no idea.” She looked at her water and knew he was right, there was something else going on, something big. to go to this level of testing people to the limits but couldn’t possibly imagine what that could be.
16.
There was a general background noise of various people talking at once. Samantha and David were happy just to sit down not speaking and compose themselves. Samantha noted that many people did not look fazed at all by the challenge they had just undertaken, looking perfectly normal. The thought did not fill Samantha with much confidence, she already believed she had failed or at the very least got a very low mark. Her thoughts occasionally drifted to that moment with Brady, where their fingers briefly touched. She dismissed the idea from her mind, he was cold almost dismissive of her and she knew nothing about him. Not what he did or even his first name. The only thing she could tell was, in those few minutes he spoke to her, that he had a soft American accent.
Samantha watched as the last few candidates walked through, each looking as ill as the last. She was pleased to note that Ross had also looked very dizzy and green when he came through. In the last group, she saw Mike come through. He was immediately surrounded by people asking him how it went. Samantha noted that he didn’t look fazed at all. She wondered why. He never saw her looking but David did. “Friend of yours?”
She replied, “not exactly.” She watched on with a twinge of jealousy, she wasn’t sure if it was because he had instantly made so many friends, or because he never noticed her. She tried not to care.
After everyone had taken the test, the hall was silent as Scott entered. He strolled in a commanding manner into in the middle of the floor and addressed everyone through continually twisting to see everyone. “Well done everyone that was the first test complete. For those of you who had brought lunch with you, this was confiscated off you at the entrance. We will now be bringing around lunch. We will break for fifteen minutes and then the first group can follow me to the next test.”
Scott then left through a different door towards the end of the gymnasium. David turned to Samantha and said “about time! It best be as good as my cheese and pickle sandwich I had brought!” Samantha could hear the echo of sentiments across the room, the mumbling of “about time” and “I’m starving.”
Samantha watched as professionally dressed catering staff brought each person around their lunch. The staff wore green waistcoats and trousers, white shirts and green hair nets; each looked in their mid-fifties. They brought out a trolley and Samantha watched as each person was given a white cardboard package. Samantha could hear a disgruntled rumble while the packages were being given out. They were given out regardless, with each person opening theirs showing a disgusted look on their face.
A man in his late thirties, wearing joggers and trainers with long black hair tied in a ponytail stood up. “This is outrageous you can’t feed us this. I’m pretty sure most of us have been sick and I know that in order for our bodies to recover, we need proper nutrition”. The woman in the hairnet stood and watched him as if she was watching her own television show. Her expression was emotionless. She turned and wheeled her trolley out of the room.
That show of defiance had an effect on the group, they rallied together. When the group was left on their own, there were murmurs of “yeah” and “you tell them.” The man in the joggers carried on. “Most of you might be too afraid to speak up, but I’m not going to be treated like crap because of a TV show.” There was a hushed silence as Scott returned, walking in with the catering staff by his side. The man in the joggers carried on unaware, despite everyone’s anxious glances towards the door. “We have rights you know. Dignity sure as hell has gone out of the window, but we have the right to be fed properly and catered for, otherwise we could sue them.”
“I hear you are not happy with the food?” Scott bellowed. His voice echoed off the gymnasium walls and it sounded to Samantha as if he was standing right next to her, shouting in her ear.
