You, your friends and your son sit in a room in your class-8 apartment in Dolzhsky, where you have been evacuated to. It is under siege by Kolechia in the west and the Federation of Vertex in the east, a breakaway state that originated in the Altan region of your shattered country. In the dim light of the candle, you dimly recalled a time when you hoped this to happen.

It was a misty cold winter's day when a message arrived. You hastily rushed to open the envelope.

The letter was from the Arstotzkan Ministry of Labour. It read,

Dear Worker,

Congratulations! We have just finished the October 1982 Labour Lottery. You and your family will be selected to work in the town of East Grestin. You will be the worker. We will be arranging a Class-8 dwelling near your workplace. Please report to the Ministry of Labour Nirsk Headquarters on or before 1 November 1982, and we will arrange transport to East Grestin. The rest of the details will be given to you by the Ministry of Admission.

Glory to Arstotzka.

Yours Sincerely,

(Unintelligible text)

Christopher Smith, Secretary of the M.O.L.

You carefully scrutinized the letter. Seeing the seal of the M.O.L. on the yellow paper that all government letters are printed on, you have decided it is real.

1 November 1982, 04:30

You wake up your family. In the dim blue light of the dawn, you take your suitcases with you.

"I see that you are on time," said an officer," Come, you can keep your luggage in the van. I believe that the person who registered you didn't brief you for your job, yes?"

"She didn't."

"Ok. Well, so, we are going to open a border checkpoint. I believe that is on the news. You will be the officer. The opening of the checkpoint will be on 28 November. During this month, we will train and prepare you."

Before you know it, your short talk with the officer is over. He waves at the driver, and the engine starts.

Slowly, you closed your eyes as the van sped down the poorly paved road. Arstotzka has never had decent infrastructure, you thought.

19:45.

"Wake up, inspector,"

"Wake up, please, inspector, you have arrived in East Grestin."

"Ah, finally," a voice said as you groggily raised your eyelids, "Good evening. I am M. Vonel. Just call me Vonel as we will be working together very soon."

Your memory starts failing. The next thing you remember is that you got changed, and then you went onto the bed and fell asleep.

To be continued...