Video Game Recruiting (Corporate Marines Book 1) (19 page)

After the screen clicked off, the president came back on. “Everyone, please submit a vote on this considering the feed you have and how you feel. Be aware that this is to get a feel for opinion, not a deciding vote.”

The screen clicked off and there was silence while everyone reviewed and decided. I stayed quietly at the side of the room and no one was ushering me out.

While I waited, I kept reading the subject’s analysis. It struck me how similar some parts of the analysis were to Tina’s. None of the gaming data on reflexes or situational awareness were there.

Character comparison was. Protective of the family; some disagreement with his father, but he tried. The devastation after his family was killed in the fire. The cheap housing that had been put up right after the invasion had been reinforced and partially rebuilt, but it had only ever been meant to hold people for a short time. Now it was used for our society’s marginal population. If you didn’t have money, there you went.

He had been bullied as a child. It happened, but it fell within normal parameters and it was done by better-off kids making fun of a slower, poor kid. Some of the information didn’t seem right, though. It was too pat and he didn’t come across as slow.

I pulled the footage of his arrest on my pad and watched. This was unmodified and raw data. It was also cut. News feeds did not cut halfway into an arrest. They liked to show the suspected criminal being put into the carrier. The footage had been shortened.

Someone had not modified it but had cut the most popular part out. I played it back; he was being brought down the stairs with officers on both sides. He was not resisting. He was talking, though, and I could just hear it. “Yes, they’re dead. I’m glad they’re dead.” He started sobbing here but he was still trying to say something. Unfortunately, it was unintelligible. I tapped my pad and the program cleared up and increased the volume. He only said one word: “they.”

He wasn’t screaming it or carrying on. He had been saying something in the same way that he had earlier. But it was cut off and nowhere was there footage of his being shoved into the carrier. Just images of the four dead. They were the preppy, positive and always cheerful kids in the school. I had gone to school, though. A few of the biggest scumbags that I had ever met were like that. Most were…

The buzzing sound killed my concentration and I silenced my pad and put it in my pouch.

The president’s screen lit up. “Opinion is closely divided, but we appear to have a weighing one way. Mr. Labaron, you have not left the room. I have a question for you if you feel up to evaluating something of this level?”

That was a challenge and I had to take it. I stepped into the viewing area. “Yes, sir, I’ll gladly make an attempt.”

The president chuckled and I kept a straight face while looking at the green screen. “Very good, Mr. Labaron. What is your impression of the subject that we are looking at today? Keep or get rid of him as a potential liability? Any rationale is also appreciated.”

Breathing shallowly through my nose, I paused, then said it. “I would recommend keeping the subject. He was only tested after being arrested. His evaluation after arrest is very similar in several of the areas that are relevant to call sign Seven. It would be better to get a test of the other criteria that the Corporation uses regularly, but he has never gamed. I choose this because I understand what he did, but something is wrong. The footage of his arrest is cut short. I would run him through additional tests and if he does fit the criteria, I would take him under close supervision.”

I stopped and stepped back, taking a deep breath. I may well have just destroyed any chance for future promotion, but when I thought back to it, I didn’t really care. I was doing a job I liked and I was good at it. I could stay here.

The president’s screen flashed on again but the volume was off. Our VP was sitting at the conference table and looked up and then down to his pad. Whatever they were discussing was going through implants, which was strange. The informal rule was that meetings were verbal. Implant use was considered unacceptable, as it removed elements of human contact and could be coloured by emotion. Or at least I had heard that.

The president’s voice came out again suddenly. “Everyone, we would like to thank you for your presentations. We appreciate the input from each of you, and so you are aware, we do this in case we missed something in the cold pages of the reports we review. The actual decision on what would happen was made after the budget was announced for the year. You deserve to know what this means. The budget is decreased this year by an estimated 1.5 percent. Certain operations will not be cut and several, in fact, are growing. For the recruiting branch, the overall cut will be 2 percent. Within the departments that presented today, the cut will be approximately 1.15 percent. Recruiting is a critical element of the Corporation and for Earth’s future survival. The simulation evaluation system, or video games, costs a great deal of money. But it also brings in almost as much money as it takes to run it. The results are worthwhile. We must, after all, take the long view.”

The president’s voice seemed to change and then he continued. “After reviewing the additional data provided on the subject, I would like to see another vote on the suitability of the subject.” He only paused for a second before continuing. “All votes are in. It is unanimous: the subject will be further evaluated and then loaded on the next available training course. This meeting is over.”

The screens all died and I was just standing there soaked in sweat. The pad in my pouch vibrated gently. I pulled it out and read the message there from the senior VP of recruiting and training. Someone who was several layers above me had messaged me, personally attaching me as a blind copy to a briefing message. “Call sign Seven will be staying Earth-side to continue recovery. Seven will likely never recover enough to achieve the standard for deployment again. Seven will continue training in the hopes that she will be able to deploy in future. Until that time, Seven is seconded to the evaluation and training department and will stay at the training facility out of Canada for hands-on evaluation of possible candidates loaded on courses. Seven will also be available to act as an evaluator for future sim gaming. Reality and effectiveness must be focused on. Seven will be treated as an external auditor for most of this training and will be treated as a Level 8 contractor. Seven may institute contact with family and friend as deemed necessary.”

I could see Seven, or Tina. I wondered if she wanted to see me still.

After the meeting wrapped up, I went down to my office and submitted some additional forms and data that had been completed.

I was actually called into my boss’s office for a conversation. It seemed that higher was very happy with how the department had been turned around. We were starting to show higher returns through the algorithms, which in the long term was excellent news. As long as I could handle the workload with my staff, I would be sent up to Canada to work with the new contractor.

I assured her that it was not a problem and we would be doing amazing things within months.

I was back in my office within the hour with a dozen different smaller projects on my plate. I talked to Ken and made sure that they weren’t carrying my workload while I was in Canada, and then was out the door to the airport after a quick stop at my room.

I flew back to Canada, leaving on a late-night flight that departed after midnight.

I had to catch my connector again and I was back on base through security by eight in the morning. Thankfully I had been able to catch some sleep in the plane on the way up. Isaiah met me at the entrance and chatted with me on the ride down. He headed off on his own way after we reached the bottom. I took a deep breath and relaxed. I was going to see if this could be my new home.

I went for a walk down to the medical section to see if Tina was recuperating and if she was up to some conversation.

I
stopped talking and looked at them. The schematic and news files were up on the screen, ignored. I checked my internal clock. I’d been talking for a long time.

“So to wrap this up for you. I have given you all the information that I have and some educated guesses on other points. The search has been modified and we are getting more and better recruits. Everyone going through the system, as long as they make it past the first phase of training, has a place in the Corporation. Remember, the Corporation takes the long view. Also, before you ask, the Corporation could run a hundred Marines through at a time. It would then be bankrupt. The cost for the recruiting, training and outfitting of qualified Marines is a fortune. We will be able to do this successfully in the future as production is growing slightly faster than recruiting and will continue to do so in the future.”

Their instructor snapped her fingers and the candidates were on their feet ready to move. I could see how far they had come and how much further they still had to go.

“All right, dinner is now. We are going to run some additional sim training tonight. Check your implants as the schedule has been updated. Move.”

They were up and out the door. No running, but moving with a speed and agility that was breathtaking.

She came down the stairs and stopped next to me. She reached out with her implants and turned the podium off. I still had a lot of jealousy towards her set of full implants and the ease with which she used them, but she had earned them.

She leaned over so she was inches away and looked me dead in the eye with that slight glare she always had. “You talk too much. Giving them too many unnecessary details that will only confuse most of them.”

I smiled. “I agree with the AI assessment, though. I think this will be good for them and expand their worldview.”

“Well, if the AI said so. It is smarter than you are, anyway.”

The she struck as fast as a snake, kissing me full on the mouth. She pulled me close and put her arms around me squeezing hard.

Then she stopped and stepped back, really smiling at me now. “I’ll see you for dinner tonight after I get the AI programmed, okay, Tim?”

All I could manage was, “Yes, dear.”

She kissed me on the cheek, turned around and moved off. I knew her so well and could see the bounce in her step that others would miss.

I was glad she was Earth-bound now. But I knew if they called, she would go in a second.

END

Coming Soon in the
Corporate Marines Series Book 2:
Welcome To The Marines

Sam Slate was just a kid living in The Project with what little family he had. He did the best he could in school. Through a nasty twist of fate Sam lost his family and ended up in jail facing a death penalty.

His only option is to accept a position in Marine training and pass.

EXCERPT BOOK 2

The mad professor and the full crew walk on after we sit down. I have a chance to look around and I realize that there are fewer of us than the first time we were here. I can’t tell how many have disappeared, but there are definitely not as many of us.

Our first course of studying is over and it was brutal. Seven days a week with constant studying. I know I have been able to get six hours of sleep a night, but I’m guessing from the nodding heads around the auditorium that not everyone has been sleeping that much.

When you add in the physical training every morning before breakfast and then the classes and studying and pressure to do well on tests, we’re under a lot of strain. I’m not sure we can even take another week of this.

I don’t know how I am still here, unless they missed me when they tried to collect me. I’ve been studying as much as possible and asking questions in class but a lot of the high-end theory has proven to be too much for me. My grades off the quizzes and tests have been terrible. I’m not sure what a pass is in this course, but I doubt that 50 percent would cut it. I haven’t been getting grades much higher than that and I feel confident that they are looking for scores well over the nineties.

So I can’t figure out why I’m still here, but maybe this is going to be the big meeting where they announced who is carrying on to the next phase of training and some of us are shamed in public because we’ve done so poorly.

I’m ready for it. As the professor and his group comes onto the stage I find myself staring at the three figures that come in at the end. I haven’t seen any sign of them on the course and I have no clue why, unless we’re too new for whatever training they run.

The professor smiles and gestures. The lights immediately dim down, leaving the stage as the focus for us all. The quiet murmuring of people talking stops immediately and everyone focuses on him.

He begins. “Good evening, everyone! You are done your first phase of training, which was a primary focus on the hard sciences. Or should I say impossible?” He giggles at his own joke, which I find creepy.

“But now you need to move on to the next phase. So for the next stage, you are going to be covering a great deal more history and planning. There will also be a bit more physical fitness training as the nannites in your system are just hitting the optimum saturation point. You are likely...” He pauses at the noise coming from us and the whispers from one of the gym teachers.

He looks around with a baffled air and then tries to carry on but we are getting louder. We have nannites in our systems? I have little robots inside me rebuilding me, maybe wiping out memories, maybe rebuilding how I think!? How much of me is gone? Am I even thinking like I used to? Why have they done this? Are they going to make us cyborgs or use us as experiments?

The woman’s voice snaps out. “Quiet. Sit down. You will wait.” I just sit there watching her. She had never spoken to us before, not till now. The leader of the three figures has a warm voice that I can hear the warning growl in. She has walked forward and is standing at the front of the stage in the centre. She looks like she is ready to leap off into the audience on whoever continues making noise. She radiates aggression. We all quiet down and sit there staring at her.

To be continued in

Welcome To The Marines

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