Qualify (85 page)

“Once inside the first cavern, you will exit the shuttle. Each Candidate will be provided with a hoverboard, a single weapon of your Quadrant, a flashlight, two flares, and a small pack containing food and water for one day. Control of your final points will also be released to you, to be used at your own discretion. From that moment on, you will act both as an individual and as a team. To transfer points, you initiate the transfer—press and hold your token and the other person’s, and speak the number of points to be moved. It is one-way only, you cannot take points from others, only receive them if they are given.

“Your task for the Finals is simple. You have approximately 33.3 hours to cross the distance of 1,000 miles underneath the ocean floor, on hoverboards, which is achievable if you are going at the minimum rate of 30 miles an hour—”

“Oh, good grief!” a Candidate exclaims. “That’s insane!”

But Radra continues, ignoring the outburst. “Every half hour, the locks and floodgates activate, starting a new ‘lockout wave’—removing water from the next chamber in the sequence and flooding the chamber you are presently in. At that time the gates between the two adjacent chambers are open, allowing passage from one to the other, while the water drains. You must time your movement so that you are always
ahead of the floodgates
, because if they close with you inside, the chamber will flood and you will drown—”

“Oh no, oh no!” There are more outbursts of protest from everywhere in the shuttle.

“The floodgates are marked with four-color beacons, and your ID tokens will be scanned as you pass each one. It is recommended you stay close to your team members and work together. For each team with the most surviving members, you will get a cumulative score that will figure in the formula that determines your final Qualification standing. Therefore, it is in your best interest to keep other members of your team
alive
.

“Next instruction—once you have reached the last of the cavern chambers, which happens to be the central hub underneath Ancient Atlantis, you will need to rise to the surface through a wide tunnel carved out of an underwater mountain. The original tunnel opening is unfortunately many feet underwater. But we have retrofitted it so that it extends to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is the last leg of your journey. You will go through the opening and rise to the transport shuttles that will await you.

“The final difficulty you will encounter will be in that major central hub cavern. That’s because
every single team
of Candidates from all the countries around the world will be converging into the same cavern. And the final sprint race for Qualification spots will happen there. Remember—only
one half of you
will Qualify. That means that you must move as fast as you can in those final minutes and fight for your place on the shuttles.

“Even if you arrive at the shuttle early enough, you will still be scanned at the entrance and allowed entry only if you have sufficient points—a minimum of 100 individual points plus a minimum average number for your entire team—the higher, the better. This team average number will include missing or dead members whose points will be subtracted as negatives and will bring down the team average. As soon as the last shuttle is filled to capacity, the doors will close and anyone not onboard will not Qualify. Which means that, a day from now, at eight PM exactly, the shuttles depart Earth.”

Pilot Radra pauses and then Pilot Ekit takes over. “Candidates!” he says. “Here is where I need to explain your team roles. All the Sections have been divided into four teams, A, B, C, and D, in order of achievement, as measured by points. And this determines your time of entry into the cavern system. Everyone on this shuttle is in team C. This means that you get to go in third in your Section. The first team A has an hour advantage over every one of the rest of you. Then comes team B with a half-hour advantage, then you, then team D that will go in half an hour behind you. Once we set you down in the entrance chamber, you will wait your turn.”

“But that’s unfair!” a girl in front of me says. “Even if we move as fast as we can, those other teams will still get to the central hub ahead of us, so what chance do we even have?”

“It’s true, you will be in a later floodgate ‘lockout wave’ than teams A and B.” Ekit acknowledges the girl’s statement. “However once you’re in the central hub, you will be surprised how much time you can make up in the struggle to advance to the surface.”

“This sounds absolutely horrendous,” another girl says. “What if we fall off the hoverboard, or get hurt, or get stuck in some awful dark tunnel?”

“Then you die,” Ekit says. “Sorry.”

“Oh, wow. . . .” The girl is rendered speechless.

A few seconds pass and Radra speaks again. “We are now about to return to Earth at your designated entry point. Everyone, brace for transitional gravity.”

And in the same instant we start to fall. . . .

I close my eyes and keep my head turned straight ahead as vertigo renders me close to passing out. Fortunately it lasts only a few minutes. The sensation of falling ends, and then the shuttle hull seems to absorb and then resonate with a heavy impact that sends the hull lights flying even more rapidly. Meanwhile, the sensation of motion is changed,
thickened
somehow. . . .

“We have now submerged underneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off-shore between Jacksonville, Florida and the former location of your long-flooded ancient Florida Keys,” Radra announces.

And for about a minute more we move at a vague angle through what we have been just told is the thickness of water, until the shuttle lurches sideways then slightly up, and finally comes to a hover stop. The golden threads of light stop pulsing around the hull walls, and the musical hum fades into dead silence.

We sit, frozen in our seats, breathing faintly.

Pilot Radra gives us a moment to recover and then speaks again. “It is now nine-thirty AM Eastern, local time. We have lost two hours due to time zone transition from Colorado Mountain time. However, it has been accounted for—the exact starting times at all international points around the Atlantic have been synchronized. You all have 34 hours to complete the task. The clock starts now.”

“This is a tough moment of decision, Candidates.” Pilot Ekit speaks to us, as he disengages his seat harness. “It’s the point of no return. As soon as you step outside into the network entrance cavern, you will have formally agreed to proceed with the Finals competition. You forfeit your lives and your choice in the matter. However—right now is the time to Self-Disqualify. If you genuinely feel that you are unable to compete in this Final Test, it is not a reflection on you. You have the right to give up. Simply remove your ID token and press the recessed button on the back. Then, remain in your seats and wait. You will be returned back to the National Qualification Center and discharged to go home. There is no shame in it. But please note that you
may not
Self-Disqualify once you step off the shuttle. Unlike the Semi-Finals, we have no means of rescuing you from the middle of the tunnel system once its sequence is activated, so if you get in trouble, you will not survive.”

He pauses, and the silence in the shuttle is overwhelming.

It occurs to me,
everyone here, including me, is considering this option . . . considering whether to give up now or proceed into living hell
.

So easy to just give up.

Press a button and go home.

I shudder, taking a deep breath. And then I think of Mom and Dad, and the asteroid flying through space on its way to burn us alive.

I’ve come this far, and I simply cannot give up now. Besides, Gracie and Gordie and George might need me in this thing. Not to mention, Logan, and Laronda and the rest of my friends. After all, we are a team.

. . . 
You matter to him, Lark
 . . .

And
he
might need me.

I blink, and then begin to unbuckle and get up, together with the rest of the Candidates who make the choice to keep going.

L
aronda and I both stand, and we move toward the hatch exit, where the line is forming and the two Atlantean Pilots are handing out our gear and hoverboards.

“I’m so gonna regret this,” Laronda mutters.

“I already regret this,” I reply with an exhalation of breath.

Curious, I glance around at the shuttle to see if anyone stayed behind.

Sure enough, there are at least three people I can see, sitting motionless in their seats. One young boy is crying. Another girl looks like she is in shock. Their ID tokens are no longer lit.

One boy gives me a glance of despair as I pass by him and his lifeless token.

They have chosen
, I think.
It’s their free choice, to die here on Earth, with their families, later. At least they don’t have to go through the nightmare Finals now.

A fair choice.

And then I turn my back on them and share a look of sorrow with Laronda.

Moments later we’re at the doors, and receive our hoverboards and supplies.

“One Yellow Quadrant net weapon, one hoverboard,” Pilot Radra tells me. “Flashlight, flares, and food are in the backpack. Good luck, Candidate—may you Qualify.”

I nod silently, receive my stuff, and go down the shuttle stairs after Laronda.

Cold, musty, damp air hits us. We emerge into a place for which I have no words.

First, eerie, greenish-blue light, a general glow, and twilight.

When they said huge cavern, they meant it! Holy lord, this is immense!

The Candidates crowding ahead of us stand on a slippery cavern floor with smooth water-eroded rock formations jutting out all around us. The cavern is at least three hundred feet across, likely more, because the chamber is segmented into lesser ones in all directions, and the ceiling overhead is covered with descending stalactites hanging like icicles of ancient sediment.

The floor of the cavern ends about fifty feet behind us, and there is an expanse of lapping ocean water. The large transport shuttle hovers partially over the water and over the floor, since there is really no place for it to set down, even if it had to—good thing it does not.

Since we are apparently well underneath the ocean, the light does not shine from the water which appears black as ink. The only source of light in the cavern is the plasma lights on the underbelly of the shuttle. They are the ones creating the eerie glow and casting shadows.

No, I take that back. . . . As I glance directly ahead, the cavern wall reveals a row of four-color light beacons, six in total, spaced three feet apart. They appear to be attached to the walls, but if you observe closer, they are actually installed in a horizontal line to the bottom half of a vertical lift-gate.

“Attention, Team USA, Fourteen-C!” Pilot Ekit says loudly, using a voice amplifier, as he stands at the shuttle doors. His voice sends up immense echoes that resound in the cavern. “On my count, I am now activating the tunnel gate system! Water will begin to flow out as soon as the gate opens, so get up on your hoverboards
now
or prepare to be drenched if you’re still standing on the ground. As soon as the gate opening is of sufficient height to allow you through, do not waste time and enter the tunnel. Fly as fast as you safely can, until you see the next row of six beacons. That would be your next floodgate. Wait for it to open, then repeat.”

As we scramble to voice-key our hoverboards, Pilot Radra’s disembodied voice sounds from the amplifier, since she is still inside the shuttle. “Please be aware there is no other light inside the tunnel system, except for the beacons to mark each gate. Use your flashlights wisely. Also, do not get distracted by any seeming detours, and stick to the main tunnel. Yes, there are off-shoots, and you do
not
want to take them, because they are not a part of the main system. Always stick to the biggest tunnel and cavern.”

“Finally,” Ekit says, “if you must rest or stop, do it only when you get to the next closed floodgate. That’s the only place you can be certain you are not losing precious time. Rest and eat as you wait for that floodgate to open, in the few minutes you earned by moving fast.”

Pilot Ekit ends and then disappears into the shuttle. The rung ladder retracts and the hatch closes behind him.

Sickening tension starts the pulse racing in my temples. I sit down on my hoverboard, straddling it, and quickly open my backpack to find the flashlight. Everyone else is also feverishly rummaging through theirs. . . .

A disembodied voice sounds through the amplifier, echoing through the cavern. “And now, good luck, Candidates! The next shuttle carrying Team D is waiting to enter after us, so we must vacate the cavern. Beginning gate sequence count now . . .
One
 . . .
Two
 . . .
Three
.”

And suddenly a low rush of water comes from ahead of us, as the horizontal lift-gate parts and the top portion starts rising slowly, with a dull sound of rock grinding against rock.

Black churning water enters the cavern and in seconds the floor is covered. We are all hovering, and those of us with feet dangling low, feel the spray against our legs. . . .