The Ranch

Trial Committee (1)

Tih undergoes a weightless feeling as he falls down the cliff. The wind rushes past him, blowing his curly brown hair into a mess.

Usually, Tih would be able to easily jump back up the cliff and would not fall so far, but his body is still sluggish from month of rest. Tih meets up with some trees at the bottom of his free fall. Kai and the others can't see what happened after Tih disappeared into the trees.

Using the cliff face and a nearby tree, Tih jumps between the two, slowly reducing his momentum. He side jumps the cliff and rolls on the ground, eliminating the last of the momentum.

In perfect condition, Tih stands up to observe his new surroundings. He ended up in relatively flat area with some rocks and trees here and there, but it's mostly sparse. There are smooth walls of rock on three sides of the rectangular area with the length of two football fields. If Tih fell from the left wall, then the right side it about the same height and the wall in front is about thirty to forty feet shorter. The side behind him is an open space and another cliff that's drops off. Falling from that cliff would lead to imminent death, because there's nothing to reduce the impact of the fall like the tree Tih used.

Tih starts wandering around, admiring the perfectly shaped and flat area. There seems to be a pattern with where each tree, rock, and bush are placed. Everything is separated by a equal or more distance. There's no visible way to get out of this area, but Tih doesn't seem to mind as he continues to explore the newly discovered land.

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I'm in meeting room three of the central command station. A boardroom table separates the people around me. These Instructors sitting among me were the ones selected to create, regulate, and grade the Trials for this year.

I wonder if it's my good luck or bad luck to be chosen alongside the infamous Instructor Felix himself. Though, he seems to have gotten the most bad luck out of all of us. First, he lost at picking straws and had to monitor the newbies' first trials in person. Then, he was selected for Trial committee. Looks like he got on someone's bad side. But, the person in question is indifferent to the matter...

I also heard that something happened with one of the newbies at the train station, but rumors about him never go into detail. Most people that saw the scene in person are to scared to spread them, of course some things still end up getting around.

Hngg, I also unlucky pulled a short straw and ended up in this committee. It's not that this job is especially troublesome or anything, but it doesn't pay well and there aren't any chances to gain achievements for promotions either.

Sigh, I guess I'll be stuck here for a year. I can only blame my bad luck. Although no one came here by choice, that doesn't mean we'll be lazy when it comes to our job. It's not a job anyone wants, but it's an important one.

We've just wrapped up the newbies' second trial. Today's agenda includes pairing up to grade the trials. I feel bad for whoever's paired with Instructor Fe- and I shouldn't have even thought about it.

My bad luck continues as I sit next to Instructor Felix to watch the trials on the holographic screen. Two hours of grading pass by and we haven't spoken a word to each other. Usually, a pair compromises on a grade they think is best.

After watching each video, I state my opinion on the skills and faults of the newbie before offering a potential grade. Instructor Felix only nods at all of my choices. I hesitated the first couple times before entering them in to the system. This has continued for two hours without a word of refute from him.

There's not much complexity in the newbie trials and therefore, not anything we need to spend time on to analyze. It often occurs in the older islanders' trials though, members of that committee arguing about grades.

After a couple more hours we stop. We're moving the rest tomorrow because there's something else to do today. We get to watch a few instructors' trials.

Over time, we like to distance the date of the trials for each batch, so they won't be able to guess and plan ahead. So, there's around two to four trials today. It's our job to plan, create, and judge the trial. Its also one of the perks of this job. Watching the trials is like watching a sporting event, which is one of the reasons we get so riled up when talking about their grades. The older the trial taker is, the more difficult the trial itself is, which makes it all the more interesting.

Today's batch is #1483. There's only around twenty people still left in that batch of soldiers. There are two trials to grade today. We watch the first one without much arguing. Member compliment other members for their "ingenious" ideas that were included in the test. We finish after about an hour, with a grade that everyone can accept.

Then we move on to the last person for today. Their ID information and picture come on screen.