Dr. Nassif was standing by the window of her office, tapping her foot impatiently and checking her watch from time to time. She was waiting for Alex D.

After her recent talk with the newest student, she had no doubts as to the extent of his intelligence. What was even more surprising to her was the fact that he had actually managed to perform exceptionally by Tarsus standards. Truth to be told, all of Alex's professors had remarked that he had 'exceeded expectations', though in light of the student himself, the standardized value of his performance was not all that remarkable. But, Tarsus scaled students on relative performance, and this massive screwup in the system just had to be fielded till they could weed out the inconsistencies in the system. And so, Dr. Nassif occupied her mind with plans to eliminate the stagnancy of the Tarsus system, tapping away a tune she had heard in her youth on the floor, while the object of her distaste stood metres away, entranced by yet another tune.

Alex D was, in fact, standing in the elevator, cheerily humming along to the elevator music. The elevator had, unsurprisingly, landed on this floor almost immediately after Alex had stepped into it, as is wont of technology of the future, but Alex found himself mysteriously attracted to the tune being played by the speakers. The last six minutes had seen our hero occupying himself with making up words to sing along to the tune, but he had been unsuccessful in conjuring up something worth singing. He stood there, transfixed, humming along, letting his eyes wander the ceiling, looking for the source of this wondrous music.

A noise from outside the elevator caught his attention. He could hear a slight tapping, precisely to the tune of the elevator music, and he was overcome with delight to have discovered someone with a similar passion for such an unpublicized art. He crept along the corridor, his back to the left side, staring up at the massive, projected videos of DNA molecular structures and skull cross sections, humming louder as he proceeded along the corridor. A toothy grin had appeared on his face as he realized that the sound was coming from behind the window on the wall behind him. He had just passed the door.

Leila Nassif was tapping to a tune she couldn't remember, still considering possible methods of eliminating inefficiencies from the Tarsus system, when she heard someone humming to the tune she was tapping to. She quickly put this anomaly in the back of her mind to rest on pleasant thoughts of the Tarsus Machine, fully engineered for the new age of man, a streamlined locomotive purposed to the speedy education of children, into adults, eventually. Naturally, this lack of awareness may be attributed the blame for the enormous shock she received when Alex D, with a toothy grin on his face, pounced in front of window, spread eagle, humming the tune from the elevator.

Alex D, too, was suitably surprised at the presence of the good doctor, and muttered a hasty imprecation under his breath after wiping off the smile that dominated his face. Suffice to say that Dr. Nassif's reaction was hardly expected, and likewise unwelcome, as she leapt back in what suspiciously seemed like horror, colliding with the corner of a table, which subsequently caused her head to crash against the railing barring off a raised part of the lab.

"Oh, crap, doctor Nassif, my bad, I'm so sorry for...", apologized Alex hastily.

"Just... just get up, Alex. I've had enough surprises to last me quite some time, thank you very much." replied Dr. Nassif icily, "What took you so long to get down from the apartment level?"

Alex was caught. He didn't know how to respond. Suddenly, he remembered the astonishing incident up on the apartment level.

"Did you know that someone stole one of the vases up there? Shocking, I know."

"...What?", asked Dr. Nassif.

"Err.. well.. a man was killed! By an explosion from the vents!" replied Alex, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Oh... well, it's nothing to worry about, nothing at all. You can simply ignore it, it's common practice around here." Dr. Nassif said a bit too quickly.

"Common practice? Well, that's a relief. I mean, it would be a shock if people died with no warning, but at least I get to know that it happens on a regular basis here.", responded Alex with not a trace of sarcasm.

".. Er, well, anyways-", Dr. Nassif was cut off from replying to that ludriciously stupid statement by a message from yet another idiot, Director Stan Carnegie.

"Dr...Nassif.", said Stan, in a low, seductive voice.

"Okay, cut the bullshit Stan, what's going on?", said Leila in a no-nonsense manner.

"Uh, well.. one of the guards has turned up dead.", replied Stan hesistantly.

"Dead? was it from... an explosion?", at the last word, Dr. Nassif threw a glance in Alex's direction, who looked on the conversation with wide-eyed innocence.

"No," replied Stan sorrowfully, "It was lung cancer. I've notified the relevant authorities, who may or may not tell the family, that's not my business. In the meantime, I'm pushing us up to Code Fuschia, and I'm ordering a standdown of all cigarette vendors on campus."

"Well, that's... that's bad to know, Stan, but at least we're not in any immediate danger." responded Leila, visible relieved.

"Damn right we are! Second hand smoke-" but Stan was cut off by a tremor more powerful than any of it's predecessors.

"Err, I have to go now, Leila, bye!", with that, Stan logged off his holocomm terminal.

Alex looked from the holocomm, to Dr. Nassif, to the holocomm again. And then back to Dr. Nassif.

"You know, I've always said that second hand smoke-"

"Okay, Alex, just go away, acquaint yourself with the other shi- I mean students- and whatever. I have to go now." Dr Nassif ran off to an exit at the back of her office, away from poor, confused Alex.

Well, Alex thought to himself, at least there was no risk of him dying from lung cancer. He walked on past the corridor of flashing lights, and found a vending machine on his left, this time advertising the delicious MontyBites candy bars that Alex had so recently resisted. His already sweaty forehead became yet again covered in perspiration as he and the machine engaged in a contest of will. Eventually, Alex could not stand up to the ferocious temptation of the machine, and viciously punched it, causing it to malfunction, and earning him severe pain in the knuckles of his left hand. MontyBites poured forth from the carapace of the machine, adding substantially to the pathetic whimpering coming from Alex as he clutched his hand.

"Um, hello? Is anyone there?" spoke a voice to his right that seemed suited to excesses of cheerfulness.

Oh no, thought Alex, a chick. Gotta stay cool. Immediately, his whimpering disappeared, and he leaned in what he assumed was a casual manner against the ruined wreck of the vending machine, smiling towards what he believed was the direction of the voice.

An attractive, blonde youth turned the corner. Dressed in all-black Nomex with patches of lighter material on her limbs, she looked the definition of femme fatale, a notion dispelled by simply talking to her. She was Klara Sparks.

"Um, why are you smiling down the stairs?", she asked tentatively.

"What..? Oh, crap, that's where you were." Alex repositioned his pose and his smile to face Klara, and spoke in his most confident voice. He intended to win her over immediately.

"How's it goin', babe?", he said in a deep voice.

"Umm, well, I just wanted to know, where was that whimpering coming from? I like to make people happy, so very happy, and I don't like whimpering, because whimpering is bad, bad!". Her speech was fast paced, ending in a un upward inflection of ferocity, and Alex felt slightly unhinged at talking to her.

"That was just... the janitor, yeah."

"Mr. Francis?"

"Precisely. So... you new around these parts?"

"I was transferred here two weeks ago! Klara Sparks is the name, and helping people is my game! See, it rhymes! I'm so happy!"

"That's great to know, babe. My name's Alex D... D for demigod. Or demagogue. Or something."

"It's great to meet you, Alex Something! Were you just transferred?"

"You could say that. I just came in from..." Alex thought about this to himself. Where had he transferred from...? Oh, of course. "Waco, Texas."

"Really? Because the apartment roster says we just got two new recruits from Chicago!"

"OH, right, yeah. I'm from Chicago. My mistake."

"God, you must be so sad! I mean, the whole city being wiped out and everything! How do you feel?"

"Well, to be honest, Chicago was...", Alex noticed the bright look on Klara's face, and decided to veer away from his intended exposition, "Chicago was great, yeah. Lots of stuff to do. Pequods, Mmm. Great place."

"It must be so horrible for you! Was your family from there?"

"My foster parents."

"That's just so bad!"

"Not really. My foster dad used to beat me. He used to come home every day pissed off. And my foster mom was an alcoholic. She used to rip out the power line for the ironing board and whip me with it."

"I... see."

"So, Klarissa-" "Klara" "Right, Kandy, where are you from?"

"Well, my family's from Lower Seattle, which is just a great dandy of a place! "

"Wait, if you were transferred here two weeks ago, which Tarsus did you go to before that? I thought Tarsus centers were only in enclaves."

"Oh, sure, you can remember me using one word, but not my name." Klara immediately regretted using that remark, and withdrew it quickly with, "Sorry! Sorry! My therapist tells me just to breathe in deeply and count to ten. I'm so happy!" She rounded off the conversation with another exclamation of her joy, at which point Alex excused himself to look into the adjoining room, which was actually a running track which looked down upon a basketball course. Alex noticed someone attired like him running around, and assumed that was the last candidate to meet. Something about the son of God popped into his mind and, just as quickly, disappeared.

Alex didn't need to initiate conversation with this student, who was running quite slowly.

"So, they let the Chicago transfers out of their cages. I'm Leo Jankowski, you might now me from my numerous, massively publicized adventures. They made a video game company just to make games FROM those adventures."

"Yeah," Alex replied, deadpan, "That operation to retrieve the cat from the tree was pure genius. I don't know anyone else who would have thought of using military hardware to shoot a cat out. Pure novelty."

"It was, wasn't it?" said Leo. "So, what did you come to me for? Do you want a blessing or something?"

"Just came to talk. Did you know about a guard getting killed? Said it was from lung cancer, but I could have sworn I saw an exp-"

"Probably just a drill. If there was any real trouble, they'd notify me immediately. Ever heard the name Leo Jankowski in Chicago? I'm the one with the perfect special ops rating."

"Right, the perfect zero. They told us that that was the first time someone ever got that perfect a nil on the special ops programs."

"Well... it was a higher-course exam."

"We're Tarsus grads. It doesn't get higher course than that. And they told us what the procedure was. You had to sneak behind a blind man listening to heavy metal on earphones. How do you fail something like that?"

"I... tried to take his wallet. Those blind men, they're really tough on the physical, you know." Leo replied, as a sort of face-saver.

"The man was naked. They did that to make sure you didn't try to pull off a pickpocket job."

"Okay, look Chicago-"

"Chicago?" replied Alex incredulously.

"Here in Seattle, we have a way of doing things. You don't question me, and I don't go out of my way to take your wallet-"

"Just try it."

"Okay, whatever. I'm pretty sure you didn't come to insult me. What are you here for?"

"That guard I was talking about? He's dead, I'm sure of it. Though I'm not particularily sure how..."

"Better look again. They did the same thing to me during summer recon. I got a perfect score because I kept my head."

"No, you did-"

But Alex's statement was interrupted by a massive explosion that knocked out the power to the rec area's lights.

Dr. Nassif's face immediately appeared in the upper left corner of Alex's vision, but due to his lack of awareness as to the presence of the infolink, he was suitably distressed as he flailed his limbs in that general direction, running around maniacally, much to the amusement of Jankowski.

"Alex! ALEX! This is an infolink. I am not a ghost.", said a visible surprised Leila Nassif in Alex's infolink.

"Oh. Thank god. Good to see you, doctor." replied Alex, breathing deeply.

"You're pretty underequipped, so I suggest you go downstairs, to the equipment locker. There's some, well, equipment there for you."

"Okay. I'll be sure to, ma'am."

"Leila out."

Alex quickly proceeded down the stairs he had smiled at earlier, noticing that both Leo and Klara had wondered into the elevator corridor and were simply milling about, and he quickly turned a corner to avoid sliding into the wall. He ran past a soda machine, which he regarded with a grimace, and into a basketball court. An explosion occurred at the far end by the basketball trolley, which sent them flying in all directions, much to the irritation of Alex, who was pelted by several balls which he was sure should not have shot in his general direction.

Catching one of these balls, Alex looked up at a hoop, and it seemed to him that time had slowed down. Yes, he thought, now he would atone for his horrendous performance at basketball. Yes, now he would become a star. In his current slow motion state, he jumped high into the air, shooting the ball towards the hoop. As he stared at the ball with an expression of astonishment, a voice from the side distracted him.

"Hey, you, basketball rookie, over here!" shouted a female voice.

"What the fu-" Alex thought in midair, but his surprise quickly turned to pain as the ball rebounded towards his suspended genitals, and he rocketed backward towards the center of the course, clutching his injured goods and moaning about the impossible nature of that happening twice.

"Okay, look, rookie.", Alex turned his head ever so slightly to look at the source of the voice. It was a female SSC guard, almost exactly similar to the male one he had met eariler save for the complexion of the skin and the voice.

"What... what is it, SSC girl?"

"Go get your equipment from the locker. I can't risk one of you getting shot out here."

"Yes ma'am." Alex croaked, still feeling the pain from his recent misfortune. He entered the locker room as the SSC guard took up position at the room's entrance, her Mako pistol withdrawn, and he attempted to navigate the confines of the room. It took him the better part of a minute, but he finally found the lockers. Two of four were unlocked. He opened his locker, or what he assumed was his locker on account of the relative cornucopia of equipment within, and took a pistol, a stun baton, and two ammo clips, the last of which caused him to squeal in joy. He also found a multitool, which he used to unlock the locker to his right, for it contained an ammo clip and a packet of soyfood. He had at last found a viable alternative to chocolate, and voraciously ate the contents of the packet. Once done, he opened the other unlocked locker to find a medkit, which he took, were he to need it. He didn't particularily understand how to apply it, owing to his lack of concentration during First Aid courses, but he was confident he could discover some way to use it.

Now Alex, sufficiently provided for, slowly approached the entrance of the locker room, where he found the SSC guard fidgeting with the safety of her gun.

"Where have you been? You know what, never mind, there's one of those religious terrorists outside in the basketball court. There's no reason for me to drag a rookie into a firefight."

Alex was suddenly faced with choices. Actually, he was faced with four succinct choices, which surprised him. If only conversation had been this easy, he thought to himself.

"There's no need for violence," said Alex, "I'll just sneak by undetected while you distract him."

"That sounds like a good idea," voiced the guard, "Alright... on 3. 1... 2... 3...", and at that, both Alex and the guard rushed out of the locker room, Alex dodging behind the pillar to his left, the guard firing in the direction of the other exit, combining expletive with projectile to make a veritable offensive that any religious zealot would find difficult going.

Alex slowly made progress, sneaking from cover to cover, avoiding the temptation to pick up a ball and throw it at the SSC guard, until he finally reached the second last column from the exit to the stairs and found the Order seeker hiding behind it, muttering prayers to himself. Alex was in luck, for the seeker had not noticed him. Quickly, Alex retrieved his medkit, and jumped on the seeker, hitting it with all the force he could muster. The seeker was not used to such a hail of fire and hurt, and having his morale thus shattered by this onslaught, immediately surrendered himself to his attacker. Alex, of course, was not satisfied, and continued to beat the seeker with the broad side of the medkit.

The SSC guard approached the two, one beating the other furiously with a medkit, the other prostrate upon the floor, weeping. Forever confounded by this event, the SSC guard managed to handcuff the seeker. She was about to instruct Alex on what in his inventory to use to hit, but she stopped short after looking in his eyes - there was a smoldering fire within, and she had no intention of arousing his ire.

For his part, Alex still felt the adrenaline come to him. He had tasted blood, although actually drawn none due to the conspiciously pacifist approach he had just used. He looked up at the SSC guard, acknowledged her action with a brief nod, and proceeded down the corridor and up the stairs post haste. He entered the elevator corridor to see Billie Adams rush into the office of Dr. Nassif. He quickly tried to enter the office, but Billie cut him off by locking the door.

"Billie, what are you-"

"No time to explain Alex. All I can tell you is that Tarsus is turning their back on you."

"Really? How?"

"They're using us as test subjects. That's what Dr. Nassif had in her files. We're not students, we're guinea pigs. Finding out I've been used like that, I don't have a problem breaking my oath to them."

"How do you know all this?"

"The Order contacted me in Chicago. They warned me of the scientific experiments being conducted by Tarsus on us."

"What does the Order have to do with all of this?"

"The Order believe in natural balance. They don't see how living this life, a life where your actions are secretly manipulated by a lab with a hidden agenda, can ever help one achieve naturally balance."

"Okay... didn't you say you couldn't explain any of this?"

"Are you going to spend all day pondering my words? Or are you going to get out of here?"

"It's kind of difficult to do that, what with you locking the only way out."

"Go up to your room. There's a big hole in the bathroom, which leads to the secret lab. You can get out from there."

"Okay, fine, thanks. By the way, Billie?"

"Yes, Alex?"

"It's really great to see you've found religion. It's a great change from all that murder and satanic gumbo."

"Uh huh. Did you know that you have a medkit in your hand?"

"Yes I do."

Billie, refusing to acknowledge that with words, simply rolled her eyes upwards and proceeded to run to the door Dr. Nassif had earlier used to leave the office. That left Alex all alone. He turned to his left, facing the elevator, a look of joy blossoming on his face at the thought of more time to spend listening to the music within. He slowly walked in, entered the same code he had recieved from Billie up in the apartments, and the elevator doors closed, taking him to the apartments, or so he suspected. He slowly settled in for the ride, and began to hum to the elevator tunes...