Republic of Omisha

Chapter 25: Liam

  Liam Nelson began his work at six, just like every other day. He is a busy man that does not like to be disturbed.

When Eliza knocks on his office door he's surprised that someone is there to see him before seven in the morning, but he isn't surprised that it's her.

She has proven to be meddlesome and strong-willed. He can tell that she has a bright future ahead of her and he wants her to be on his side. If she isn't he'll have to eliminate her as a threat because he knows that it is in her blood to be rebellious.

"Yes, my dear," he says his his calculated way.

She stops in front of his desk. Her face serious. "I need to talk to you."

He signals her to speak. She clears her throat before she begins. She relaxes her shoulders and softens her gaze to look more casual, but it doesn't fool him. She's scared. "There is a problem in my history class." It almost sounds like a question.

"Oh." He replies flatly without lifting an eyebrow.

"Um... so we're learning about the history of the trials and..." Her voice trails off.

"Yes, and what's the 'problem'?"

"I feel like there is an inconsistency with the reasoning behind the trials." Again, sounding like a question.

This is an intriguing accusation. He raises his eyebrows and inquires further. "And what might that be?"

She takes a trembling breath. "So... the class teaches that the games are a sort of 'population control' but it doesn't' add up."

"What doesn't?" He folds his hands on his desk in front of him.

"For starters, if it's suppose to keep the population in check it eliminates so few people each with only two trials a year that it hardly makes a dent in the population. Secondly, it you want to keep the amount of people down, you wouldn't be killing kids and teens..."

It was clear that she didn't want to explain more on that thought. She would sound cold and calculated if she did. Liam Nelson admires the fact that she did put thought into it. She is a logical thinker and would make a treasured asset to him. That is why he is willingly going to give her the information that she is about to request.

"So you want to know the 'real' reason behind the trials." It wasn't a question. He knows where she was going with this.

Eliza tries to hide her surprise. She nods. "Why do we have it?"

"To select students for the boarding school."

"Then, why don't you just give everyone a written exam?"

"If we were to do that the student could study. We are looking for certain traits in our students. If they were tested with an exam, they could contemplate their answer. We are looking for students with certain instincts. For this kind of test studying and think things through thoroughly is cheating."

"What are you looking for? In the students."

"We need students who are cunning and ambitious." The deceivers come to mind. "We also need students that are athletic." The runners. "And of course, what is possible the most valuable trait, adaptability." The hidders. The are more than just scared kids. They take in their surroundings and adjust to survive.

"But the way kids get to the second trial is random?"

"Honestly, we don't want to kill off most of the population looking for a small number of kids, and to come up with another, safer way to test them would not be very diligent."

He watch her thinking deeply. She was trying to decide if she believed him, or she was trying to figure out why he was telling her this so freely. Maybe both.

She chose her next question carefully. "Why are the boarding schools so important?"

He can't help, but grin. There it is. That was the question that he had been waiting for. That was the question that would bring a loaded answer.

He cleared his throat and began his lengthy explanation. "In 2392 we discovered that our world is on the brink of a natural disaster. The plates in the earth are shifting. As many people were relocated from the dangerous land that we could. Many didn't make it. Soon our country will no longer be safe either. We are doing research and are able to fortify a handful of series, but we have a tough decision to make. Who will live and who will we let die? The trials are a test. They kids are placed in a harsh environment with a threat on their lives hanging over them. The kids that win express certain traits that we are needed in a society. They are moved to the safest places, which are where we built the boarding schools and the court house." (Elderly are in the weakest towns, no lose right?) "The rebels plan is to expose us for being selective for the survivors to repopulate our world and when everyone is aware of the catastrophe their thought is that they can work together and somehow create more stable towns. We didn't tell the people because we tried to look into that, but the probability of success is low so we thought that it is in the people's best interest to keep this information classified."

"But all of the students are?"

"Are either courageous, intellectual, or have integrity. They all care about self-preservation. That's the key they each just go about it in a different way. You, Eliza, are exceptionally special. You won with cleverness. That's different from the rest. That's why I think that you will make a great leader one day."