My First Test
"Alright... now... starting from the main interface, one can access several basic control screens, including" Ron lay on his back in the top bunk, studying, or appearing to be studying to his roommate below. "... visual options, the settings and volume interface, language options, and... and..."
Ron's eyes snapped open, and looked carefully around himself. Focusing on a small textbook at the foot of his bed, he slowly moved one of his bare feet over to grab it.
"And?" came his friend's voice below him.
Ron's toes continued in their attempt to grasp the book, while he continued babbling on.
"And... other user options such as, but not including... ah, that is to say... what I mean is..."
His toes finally grabbed the book, and with a swift upwards jerk of his foot, sent it flying into his hands. He flipped to the page he had looked at so many times before and said with relief,
"Manufacture description, notes on the datapad production, and..."
"Dammit Ron, I said no textbook this time!" Groaned his roommate below. His roommate, Malcus, swung his legs out of the bed and slowly walked over to the small refrigerator he owned. Pulling out a beer, he shook his head and said,
"How do you expect to pass the test if you can't even remember what the basic screens are?"
"I know them; I just don't have it memorized... I mean, it's different when I actually have the datapad in front of me... it just all comes to me then."
"Yeah well, tell that to your score sheet." Malcus replied.
He looked outside the small window of the large barracks that they were housing in. Outside dozens of troopers were all heading to their next class. A buzzer rang, faint but still audible, which caused Ron to jump out of bed. He pulled on a shirt and grabbed his testing materials before heading towards the door. Before he left, he turned back to Malcus.
"What do you think Mal?" he said. "Am I ready?"
"As ready as you'll ever be." Malcus sighed. "Maybe you'll be lucky and the professor will give you an oral exam. You're one of the best Com Techies I've ever seen strait out of basic. I mean... You're the only guy I know who can get as many beers as he wants out of the machine outside using trap-doors (1). All the other guys just get busted. You got something man."
"Well thanks Malcus." said Ron.
"But you're dumb as hell." said Malcus. "Once you do get a trap-door to work on the machine, you tell everyone how you did it and why you did it and then you end up getting busted by some guy you told. You'll get punished, restricted, and yelled at until you promise not to do it again, whereas you are released; and you program another trap-door, and you tell everyone, and you get caught. You learn from your mistakes, but you never care for the consenquences... you just care about trying to get away with it again."
Ron shrugged and said, "Well this one I made..."
Malcus groaned and waved him off. "Just go, kid. Good luck."
"Alright then." replied Ron rather sheepishly.
***
Ron exited the barracks and joined the crowd of young troopers like himself headed towards the class rooms. He looked at a few faces, some panicked, some uncaring, and some that were buried deep into a book. That reminded Ron to pull out his own book. Every minute of studying gives five minutes of confident testing... or at least that's what Malcus told him.
Ron continued reading and walking until he finally came to his room. Its door was the same as all the others, a seven foot tall door which was fixed in a cramped hallway. Ron forced himself through the other students, and with a swift pull of the door knob, entered the room.
Upon entering he was blinded by the light that rushed into his eyes. The room was massive, with a clear dome over head, and a cascading floor filled with rows of student pews that lead all the way down to the center, amphitheater style. At the bottom was the instructor, an old vet by the name of SSgt. Shracken. Of course, Ron did not see any of this until his eyes grew adjusted to the light... but that was not before he was noticed by Shracken.
"Mr. Goron I presume." came the harsh, whispering voice of Shracken. Ron was surprised that such an unaudible voice could be projected so loudly, until he recalled that nearly all the instructors were equipped with personal microphones.
"I ah, yes sir. But the name is Ron-Goron... no last name sir."
"Your seat, Mr. Goron." replied Shracken. Ron followed the trace of his pointer, which indentified his seat, in the very front. Ron walked down the rows until he got to his seat, whereas he submitted himself to the class.
"So that I can watch you." sneered Shracken. Ron groaned. His reputation as the Beer machine slicer didn't help him here.
Shracken then turned to the rest of the assembly and said, "Now where were we? Ahh yes... the test procedure." he chucked and sat down in his swiveled chair, before continuing. "Your test is simple. In order to pass, you must demonstrate that you not only know these instruments inside and out... but you must program them to perform a specific task. The former is easily done by any student... but the latter... well, that part is more difficult. If you paid attention..." here he glared at several individuals, "then it is an easy feat."
Some student's sighed, other's panicked. The style of testing today was not written, but instead it was a live test. Some preferred that style, others dreaded it. Ron didn't know what to think. He knew he was capable of it... but it all depended on what he had to install to pass the test.
Shracken pointed to a table covered with used datapads. "All of you are assigned a datapad. You must plug in your datapad into the main interface, which will connect you to the projector, and to my own datapad. When your turn comes, I will select your datapad, and your screen will be projected onto the wall for the observation of the entire room. You will have two minutes to answer my questions, and as long as you need to program your datapad... until you make a mistake. If at any time you make a mistake during the second trial... you will fail the test... and you must return on another date to retake it."
The students lined up and received their datapads. As soon as they all logged in, Shracken began.
"Aardos!" he scowled. "You are the first to be tested." Shracken leaned back and opened a large textbook.
"Datapads are complex devices which can be connected to nearly any form of cyber instrument. They are the essential piece of equipment for any Communications Technician." Here he paused. "Which is why this is what the test will be on."
Shracken closed the textbook with one hand and chucked it behind him. Ignoring the collision that followed his action, he said,
"Define what the "Basic Script" is used for."
Aardos answered this, and all the other questions in the time period, whereas Shracken said,
"Good, good. Now show me how to write your own "Basic Script" command."
Aardos looked at Shracken quizzically before saying, "That's... that's a higher level ability... I won't be able to do that for weeks."
"If you paid attention," sneered Shracken. "I showed you how to write your own, very simple basic script command."
"I... I can't do it." said Aardos.
"Then you've failed." said Shracken. "Bak-Forgona, you're next!"
This proceeded with the entire class. All the students were dumbstruck. Yes... technically since it was the last chapter in the assigned text-book, it was legally testable... but no instructor ever did so... it was cruel to ask first level students to have such knowledge. Even Ron was unsure that he could comply. He knew how to manipulate different scripts... but to create his own... that was both tedious and unnecessary, because the only basic codes that were needed were already made.
Soon the professor worked his way to the "G" section of the class. The trooper before him just failed, and Shracken then called out,
"Goron!"
Ron answered all the questions... although he was hesitant on some of them. Shracken was at least satisfied thus far. But when Shracken told him to begin programming, the system blanked out.
"Dammit." Shracken said. "I told them to fix our damn connection." he turned to the computer panel in the back of the room. "One minute." he called out to the remainder of the class.
Two hours later nearly everyone had left. The only people in the room were either those members of the class who had fallen asleep, or those members of the class who were patient enough to stay. Ron was among those patient enough to stay. But while he waited, he pulled out his textbook and found the chapter which instructed him on how to write his own basic script command. After successfully doing this, he exited his pew row and walked up to Shracken in the back of the room.
By now Shracken was swearing and sweating profusely. Everywhere there were manuals and papers scattered. Ron patiently waited until Shracken stopped working temporarily before he said,
"I've done it, sir."
"Done what?" panted Shracken as he leafed through yet another manual.
"I made my own command." replied Ron.
"And I'll bet you looked it up too didn't you?" said Shracken.
"Well... yes sir... I did." admitted Ron.
"I thought so." said Shracken. "They all do." He turned back to the computer panel and shook his head. "It's gotta work, the way to do it is so simple! Why can't I remember?"
Ron asked, "Do what, sir?"
"I've lost the link from the building's main computer... without access to the main computer, I have no power... no information... no test... nothing."
Ron looked at the computer, before saying, "May I try sir?"
Shracken replied. "If I can't do it, I can promise you that you can't Goron. Hacking the vending machines is one thing, reestablishing a connection is another."
"Just a chance sir." pleaded Ron.
"Fine, have a go. You're not going to do it." said Shracken.
Ron immediately set to work, and in ten minutes reported that he had re-established the link.
"What?" Shracken cried as he hastily shoved Ron aside to inspect the computer terminal. Sure enough, the link was back, and the power to the rest of the terminals in the class room were up and running.
"Ron... stay in the classroom... I'll be back." Shracken said.
Ron got a seat in the classroom and waited... again. It was simple enough, all he had to do was use a few bypass codes to get the the main terminal. The only reason why Shracken couldn't re-establish the connection was because he didn't know how to access the main terminal, which was protected by several passwords.
Shracken returned within the hour. He took a seat next to Ron and said,
"Mr. Goron." he started. "I just went to my own instructors... and they are rather alarmed that you knew how to bypass those security codes." He twitched a little, but continued. "And regardless of your passing the exam or not... they feel that your demonstration today was enough to pass you..."
Ron's eyes widened with this statement. That would mean that he would be the only one who had passed the test that day...
"You are very lucky, you know." Shracken said. "That the computer's connection failed. But you must also be wary that you must never attempt to do this thing again. The highest of authorities has been notified, and they are currently constructing a more secure system to protect our computer system in the future." Shracken sighed and got up from the seat.
"By the way..." Shracken said. "How did you come across those bypass codes?"
Ron grinned. "Trap-dooring the vending machines is much more complex than you thought SSgt. Shracken."
