Solitude

[DrTrollinski]

"Please be quiet." The voice interrupted as Kit spoke - It literally interrupted him. Alex wanted to laugh, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he let the interview process get explained, sitting there in silence. "The interviews will begin now. From this point onward, you are expected to follow what we call 'House Rules' - I, the overseer, will appoint them to you now. You may not share the questions asked to you with other interviewees - this will result in penalization as it will taint the overall results of the social experiment. You will be interviewed one a time in the door to your right." It said.


Indeed, to the right there was a door. A black wooden one.


"That room is soundproof. When your name is called, go inside and sit down, and await the beginning of the interview. You are not allowed to leave the room until the interview is complete. Please do not ask any questions until the end of the interview - Please answer all questions asked to you in full detail. Do not attempt to touch or tamper with any of the technology seen in the room."





There was suddenly a long silence, and left everyone looking around.


"First interviewee. Cross, Alex."





All eyes on Alex right there. He slowly rose up and took a deep breath, brushing himself down and walking towards the door. He went and opened it up, only to see a desk against the wall at the back. "Please close the door and sit, Alex."





Okay, creepy.


He closed the door over and then sat down at the desk - Soundproof indeed. Soon enough, he heard the same voice coming from a speaker in front of him.


"Welcome to your interview, Alex. How was your journey here?"





"Shit." He chuckled. "Too hot."


"I assume that California treats you better?"





"Too right."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You've defined yourself as quite the party animal."





He laughed, "I think it's gonna' go okay. I've met some good people so far, and although it's been a little difficult to get used to, I think I'll be alright here once my body's adapted to the temperature." He said. "It's... Not too bad, I guess. I don't have any concerns." He said, looking into the camera that was on the wall beside the small speaker.


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"





".. They..." He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe they were angry. They didn't say that they were. They said that they were happy to wait for when I came home, but... I don't really believe it." He said, shrugging. "I trust them, though, or at least I try to. I hope that they can trust me in return." He said.


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"





"The only thing I'm honestly scared of about this is just being here for the first few days. Like I said, new environment, a lot going on, away from family... I suppose I'm scared of the homesickness." He explained.


"What about in general?"





"In general... I have a phobia of needles, and pointed shit, you know?" He said. "Never liked needles. Throw up and pass out whenever one gets too close to me." He said. "It's... A lot of work to get me near one, I'll say that." He chuckled.


"What are your current opinions on other people?"





"I like Levi and Nali. I don't know anyone else. Out of all of them, Levi seems the most genuine. Good guy. Mark seems smart, and I hate to say it, but..." He leaned forward to the camera a little bit. "Jessica's a bit of a slut, in my eyes." He said, then leaned back.


There was a long silence.


"Any questions, Alex?"





Alex thought for a moment, "Why are there cameras, like, everywhere?" He asked.


There was a long silence.


"For the benefit of the experiment. You may leave now, Alex."





Okay. He wasn't going to question that any further. He walked out, and upon seeing everyone else, he took a deep breath and smiled, nodding as he walked over and rejoined Levi in the seat beside him.


"Kosla, Nali."





Second one up.


Alex turned to Levi and grinned, holding up a hand. "Passed the interview. High five." He said.


Excessive high-fives, remember?

 

[Jupiter]

There had been silence outside as the interview for Alex went on. Everyone wanted to know what was being asked, who's turn it was next, when would they be able to explore this massive house that they were living in for a year? When would they be able to get started and get to know each other? Everyone wanted to begin, it would seem, but they had to wait. Just a little while longer...


When Alex came out, Levi grinned at him and gladly returned the high five. He didn't ask about the questions, because he knew he couldn't. He wanted to, very badly, but he didn't want to get kicked out or do anything wrong, you know? If he did that now, then this whole thing would be for nothing, and he would have to leave, be homeless, and even more in debt than he was before.


Nali stood cautiously and smiled down at the two of them before entering the room and shutting the door behind her.


"Welcome to your interview, Nali. How was your journey here?"


Nali shrugged her shoulders but then realised she would probably have to speak to the camera rather than make body gestures. "It was okay. I've been on better journeys."


"Do you travel a lot?"





"I go to India at least once a year."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You seem like a girl who likes to help others."





"I think that... I think that this should be interesting. And fun. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and having a good time, of course helping out here and there. I should uh... I should imagine that all of this will go pretty well? Yeah." She shuffled around on her seat and let out a nervous laugh.


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"





"They uh... They aren't very impressed or supportive. They'd rather me be doing something else, something more productive and studious, or getting married and having kids. You know, that kind of thing. I shouldn't be wasting my time with this."


"Do you think this is a waste of time?"





"Not at all."


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"





"I... I want things to go well, so I suppose that I'm really afraid of people not liking me or... Or me not being able to help someone if they need it. I suppose I'm afraid of being alone in this in a way. A year is a long time." That nervous laugh once again.


"What about in general?"





"In general? Oh... Um... That's easy actually. Dolls. Ventriloquist dummies, wax figures, porcelain and antique dolls, baby dolls, puppets..." She frowned. "Anything that looks remotely like a little human needs to stay out of my line of sight, they're just terrifying."


"What are your current opinions on other people?"





"Well, I like Alex and Levi. They seem pretty friendly, but I haven't spoken much to the others. I mean, one guy seems a little annoying, another seems uh... Interesting. I don't know the names of anyone really. There's that girl who was sat near me on the bus, she seemed pretty quiet. I hope that I can get to know them all, but for now I'm happy with my progress."


"Any questions, Nali?"


She thought for a moment, silent, and then spoke. "Um, when will we have access to phones and things?"


"In due time. Goodbye, Nali."





Creepy. Anyway, with that she stood up and made her way out of the room before going and sitting back down in her original space.


The next name was then called.


"Briggs, Jessica."





Nali turned back to Levi and Alex. "This is all quite interesting, isn't it? I don't know what's going to happen or what to expect, but... It best be good seen as we are here for a year."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Kicked out? Ha, fat chance of that.


He looked at Nali as she was called up and sighed, watching her leave as he did so. That was all very nerve-racking, really, and he thought it was going to be a lot more stressful than that, but it wasn't. The nerves had gotten to him already, though, so he turned to Levi and said one thing. "After that, I need to pee again." And that was it, he simply chuckled once he'd said that and leaned his head back against the wall behind his chair, closing his eyes. Why was he called up first? This couldn't have been going in alphabetical order - I mean, Kosla? Probably everyone here had a name that came before K, so, he was wondering - Was it random, or was it planned?


He waited quietly, wishing he could have his phone back to listen to music, but he couldn't. He wanted to text his brother to tell him that he'd done his interview, but that was probably against the rules, hence why they didn't have their phones. This was a social experiment. If they had their phones, it must have tainted their results, surely? He looked over at Mark who was just sat there with his arms crossed while he stared at one of the water displays in the wall. He was waiting, thinking - Alex wanted to get inside the guy's head, because he seemed to know what he was talking about. Perhaps he could help them figure all of this shit out if they ever got confused or curious about something. He seemed to be a whiz at technology, psychology, and every other type of 'ology' out there.


When Nali returned, he smiled at her and held up a hand for a high five from her, too. "Well done." He chuckled, and when she sat back down and spoke to them both, he simply shrugged. ".. I sure hope it's good. Even if it isn't, I don't think we have much of a choice, do we?" He chuckled.


Briggs, Jessica.





Yep. It wasn't alphabetical.


Jessica got up and strutted off to the room, slamming the door behind her before sitting down in the seat.


"Welcome to your interview, Jessica. How was your journey?"





"Awful. I was sat next to some nerd playing Sudoku for three hours." She said. Mark slept for most of it. She was just exaggerating.


"Do you not like math-based activities, Jessica?"





"God no! Why would I? That's a waste of time."


"Mark seems smart."





"That doesn't mean shit. What do I even call you, anyway?" She asked. Wait. This voice knew who she was talking about?


"You just broke a rule, Jessica. You're not allowed to ask questions yet."





"Sorry."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You've made yourself seem like the popular girl."





"That's because I am. I've always been popular, and I'm more than certain that I can win over anyone in here with ease."


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"





"They wanted me to move out, so, they didn't care."


"Do you care? Do you want to be here?"





"It's better than being with them."


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"





"Not at all. I'm certain that I'm going to do excellent, better than anyone else."


"This is not a contest, Jessica."





"Well, it is to me." She replied, bitterly.


"What are you afraid of in general?"





"Spiders." She said. "Other than that... There's not much that can phase me."


"What are your current opinions on other people?"





"I don't like that... Girl, guy? I don't know." She said.


"And why is that?"





"Because I'm not comfortable around people like that." She looked away from the camera. "I thought Mark was okay, but he's boring. Alex... Alex is kinda' cute, though, and Kit is okay, too." She said. "Most of the guys are... Aside from, Mark and... The other one. That... Is a guy, right?"


"Yes, Jessica."





She nodded sheepishly. Well, that was that cleared up - She could have been less of a dick about it, though.


"Any other questions?"





"What can I call you?"


"Beta."





"Beta?" She furrowed her brow. "Can I tell the others that?" She asked.


"Yes. You may leave now."





She walked out of the room and rejoined everyone. "Robot guy said we could call him Beta." She said, simply, not even sparing any of them a look as she settled herself down on her previous chair again. Alex wasn't so fond of her, not at all.


"Wallace, Kit."

 

[Jupiter]

Nali laughed slightly as she watched Jessica go inside the interview room. "It's all quite creepy, you know what I mean? This talking robot thing is creepy but it hasn't even said anything creepy yet. Hopefully it doesn't talk to us all the time." She laughed slightly and looked at Levi, who was clearly about to speak.


"Creepy or not, we gotta live with it for a year. We have to live with all of this for a year..." He sighed and looked around him. He didn't know if he could deal with annoying boy or smart guy for a year, or that girl who just seemed to talk nonstop and acted like she was ten times better than everyone else. He didn't know the other two, the quiet girl, and the girl who was... She looked kind of normal. Probably the most normal one in this place, but he bet that when she opened her trap there's be something about her that was different. It seemed a running trend.


For the duration of the wait, Levi wouldn't look at the glass, behind it being a waterfall. He just wouldn't look at it, he was pretending it didn't exist. Kit was happily chewing on his candy which he somehow still hadn't exhausted the supply of yet, and Lana was happily sat looking around with a small smile on her face.


And then Jessica returned.


Beta...


A creepy name for a creepy voice. Made sense with the robot thing though, didn't it?


"Wallace, Kit."





Ah, yes, it was his turn now! He got up quickly and walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. It was a small room, but it wasn't too small so he managed to be okay while he was in there. If it had been any smaller, Kit would have started freaking out.


"Welcome to your interview, Kit. How was your journey?"


While inspecting all of the equipment, Kit grinned and spoke. "Eh, it was alright. Played a lot of angry birds. And ate a lot of candy."


"Do you like candy, Kit?"





"Hell yes I do."


"I understand that you were late because of it."





"Well, I wasn't gonna sacrifice the last time I might see candy for a bus that could wait twenty minutes, man."


"You will get candy again you know."





"Oh? Well that's alright then."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You've made yourself seem like the joker type."





"It's gonna be fun! I'm gonna make sure that everyone laughs all the time, it'll be great. I am a joker, always have been always will be, just... Sometimes gotta tone it down, but I know that."


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"


"Oh, they... I don't care what they think anyways, don't even know if they know. I don't like them." He messed with his shirt sleeve and looked down.


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"


"Just uh, you know. Not getting along with people. I have to live with them for a year so it would be nice if we could have a good time rather than argue."


"What are you afraid of in general?"





"Small rooms! Make me feel like I'm buried alive and I can't breathe. Because of this, you should put me in the biggest room in the house!"


"It does not work that way Kit. What are your opinions on the other people so far?"





"I get the feeling that the uh, the smart guy doesn't like me. I like that blonde girl, the cute one, and the guy at the back of the bus is okay but..."


"But?"





"There's one person I'm not sure about. If they're a guy or a girl. I'll ask later."


"Make sure you don't offend them. Any other questions?"


"Uh... Yeah I suppose. Do we get meals cooked for us?"


"No. You cook those yourselves."





"Oh right."


"You may leave now Kit."





"Okay! Thanks!"


Kit stood up and walked from the room, going to sit back where he was sat before, he luggage in front of him and his candy on his chair waiting for him.


"Edwards, Mark."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Mark smiled and slowly rose up to his feet, looking over everyone. Alex smiled at the guy and nodded to him, "Good luck, man." He said, and Mark smiled - Nice of him to say that, don't you think.


"Ah, thank you, Alex." He said, then walked in through the door and closed it over once he'd entered - He walked to the desk and sat down at it, looking directly into the camera with an arched eyebrow. There was a long silence for a good while before anyone said a word. "Beta?" Mark called out.


"Welcome to your interview, Mark. How was your journey here?"





"Mediocre." He said. "Aside from the fact that it was late, I'd say it was okay."


"Do you travel a lot?"





"Not since I finished college."


"You're only nineteen, Mark."





"Your point being?" He smiled into the camera. Okay, robot, or whatever the fuck you were, Mark was going to outplay you here, he was sure of it. If they knew that he'd already been and gone to college, why was it trying to outplay him on that? Was it just in the algorithm?


Heck, was this even a computer.


"Are you an AI?"


"You're breaking a rule, Mark. No questions."





"Go ahead, then."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You're obviously the smarter one, looking at your educational record. The best in the Under 10's chess club in Elementary School, picked up computer coding and psychology when you were eleven and studied that on a personal level that for three years before going to Baltimore's School for Gifted Children at the age of fourteen, the regular enrollment age. At the age of sixteen, you were already in college and studying human psychology."





Mark was slightly unnerved by the fact that it knew all of this. He hadn't said anything about Chess Club, but hey, that was a small thing and he didn't think much of it at the time. He just answered the question.


"Everything you've said is true." He said. "I studied that because I knew how. I was always intelligent, from a young age." He said.


"Do you think it's possible to be born intelligent, Mark?"





"No." He said, shaking his head. "Intelligent people are made, not born."


"What makes you say that, Mark?"





Mark just stared into the camera and tilted his head up a little in disapproval. "No comment." He grumbled.


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"





"Why did you change the subject?"


"Stop breaking rules, Mark."





"They were happy. My mother was thrilled, step-father was moderately okay with it - Mother was proud, father was slightly, but not as much as she was. Happy to see me leaving home so early. When I get the money, I do not intend to go back."


"And why is that?"





"No comment."


"Are you fearful for anything in this experiment?"





"I'm rather afraid of when your programming is going to come across a bug and malfunction. Other than that, I'm okay."


"That isn't going to be happening, Mark."





"We'll see."


"What are you afraid of in general?"





"I don't see why that's relevant."


"We need to take consideration for your needs to ensure you live in a comfortable environment and the experiment is not tainted."





"Darkness." He said.


"It's strange to see someone of your intelligence be afraid of something so meaningless."





"You have no say in that." He said. "You're nothing but a script, or a person behind a screen writing some sort of fucked up text-to-speech program."


"What are your opinions of people so far?"


"I don't know. I haven't been given the chance to study them well enough. Jessica is... Different. She doesn't care about her image to other people and likes to be in control, I know that much already. Alex seems okay. He seems very... Lively. Possesses a positive leadership trait, but other than that... I'd say his leadership is Laisse Faire." He said. "He'll let people do things their way." He added on finally, then leaned back in his seat.


"Do you have any other questions?"





"Yes." He said. "How many people have you asked the same questions as me?" He asked, and there was a long silence.


"You may leave now, Mark."





Mark laughed a little and stood up, walking to the door and tugging at the handle. It didn't open. It was locked. People on the other side could probably see the door shaking, of course - Was the door locked the whole time that they were sat in there? Mark wasn't going to be speaking a word of this to anyone when he got out, but he was the only one who didn't trust the robot even in the slightest, I think.


"Sorry. I forgot to unlock the door, Mark." Beta said, and the door finally pulled open as Mark tugged on it again, giving the camera an evil look as he walked out.


"Elks, Lana."

 

[Jupiter]

Lana stood up when it was her turn to go inside the room. God, she was slightly nervous, I mean, of course, there was nothing bad going on in there and everyone came out alive but she didn't know what to expect, and that scared her quite a bit. She just didn't know what Beta was going to ask her, she didn't know if they were going to be personal questions or anything. But, I mean, no one came out of the room seeming shaken up...


Apart from Mark. He didn't seem able to get out, and that creeped her out slightly more.


Anyway, she entered the room after her name had been called and shut the door behind her, before sitting and tossing her hair over her shoulder.


"Okay... Beta. Hit me."


"Welcome to your interview, Lana. How was your journey here?"


"It was... I slept. I don't know if anything happened but I had a pretty nice dream about a beach."


"Do you like the beach, Lana?"


"I love it, but I never get to go."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You don't seem to have established yourself quite yet in the eyes of others. But I know that you're quite a bubbly girl."


"Um... I think everything is going to go okay. I'll hopefully make a lot of friends, you know? Be able to... Be noticed. Liked. Hopefully people will think that I'm okay, and hopefully they will seem okay to me too." She let out a yawn.


"Tired, Lana?"


"You know it, Beta."


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"


"Oh, my dad was all for it. He said, Lana, I didn't raise a wuss. Go out there and have fun, make a difference." She grinned widely and shrugged.


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"





"Not really no, I mean there's nothing to be afraid of, is there? As long as there's no conflicts caused then we're basically just eight young people living together for a year and having fun, you know?"


"What are you afraid of in general?"


"God, heights. Simple as that. It was awful on the plane over."


"I would ask if you had opinions on others, but you slept all the way, didn't you?"


"Yeah, I haven't met anyone other than Kit. He gave me candy."


"You should never accept candy from strangers."


"Sorry mom."


"I am not your mom. I am Beta. Any other questions?"


"Do we have a curfew?"


"No, Lana. You are free to stay up as late as you would like. Goodbye, Lana."





"See ya, Beta!" Lana smiled widely before hopping away from the chair and exiting the room, which was unlocked when she reached the door, and she went and sat back down where she was before, but this time there was no candy waiting for her. Kit had eaten it all while he had been waiting.


"Jenkins, Carly."





Levi supposed this was a great way to learn names.

 

[DrTrollinski]

When Carly had her name called out, she froze up on the seat she was sat on and just slowly glanced over everyone. When Alex saw her legs tuck up on the seat, he could assume that she wasn't going to move.


"Jenkins... Carly..."





Beta sounded friendly but pissed off at the same time. Was that even possible? I guess it was.


"Carly." Alex called out. "Go on, it's fine, honestly, it's just simple questions." He said.


"You just broke a rule, Alex."





Alex gulped and looked up at the camera, then around the rest of the room. "Just trying to make this easier, that's all." He said, simply. "My apologies." He said, then looked back to Carly, whom of which was looking at him with wide eyes. In her eyes, she'd gotten him in trouble - She figured that if he got in too much trouble, he'd get kicked out. She didn't know anything about his brothers, but she thought he seemed like a nice guy. Alex's feeble attempt to comfort her had worked a little bit, but, she was still torn up inside about all of this. She just wanted to go home, even more than Alex did.


"Sorry." She choked out to him, then quickly hopped up and sped off into the room. Alex looked at Levi and sighed before leaning back in his chair, taking a long deep breath as he did so. She quickly closed the door over and rushed to the seat, dropping into it instantly and nervously looking around. She didn't like the fact that it was just her sitting against the wall, but she was happy that there were no people in here.


"Welcome to your interview, Carly."





She let out a little cry. Hearing the voice so suddenly scared her.


"Are you scared, Carly?"





"Y-y-yes, I'm scared." She sniffled, lifting her legs up onto the chair and hugging her knees to her chest.


"Why are you scared?"


"I wanna' go home..." She whimpered, bowing her head to hide it in her knees.


"I can't let you do that, Carly. You know I can't."


She nodded.


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You've made it more than evident that you're the shy girl here in the group."





"It's not gonna' be good." She sniffled, wiping her eyes and finally looking back up at the camera.


"And why is that?"


"Because... I just... I don't fit in with anyone else - I'm not gonna' last on this thing, you don't get it... I'll be sent home, because I'm useless."


There was a long silence.


"How did your family react to you winning the spot?"


"I don't know." She shrugged. "My mom was... Happy, really happy. My dad was, too."


"Any siblings?"


"I have an older brother... I don't see him anymore." She looked down at the table.


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"


"I'm scared of everyone." She said. "And I don't like open spaces, so being in a desert, is... Horrible." She said, hugging her knees even tighter.


"What about in general?"


"Like I said... Open spaces, and... And... Crowds, groups of people."


"So you really don't fit in right now, do you?" Beta asked.


"Nuh-uh." She said, shaking her head again.


"What are your opinions on the others?"





".. Lana and Alex seem nice." She said, still looking away from the camera.


"Do you have any questions for me?"


".. What happens if I don't do well here? Do I get sent home?"


"No. You stay here for the full year. This is only a social experiment, and you were one of the ones hand-picked for it - Just be yourself, Carly."





"What if--.. What if I want to go home?"


"You can't. You're not allowed to leave until the first day of September, in the year 2016."





She got up and abruptly ran to the door, tugging at it, but it wouldn't open. She started to cry immediately when she realized she was locked in here. She started pounding the door with her hands, but they couldn't hear her. They could only see the door shaking wildly from outside.


"Beta, let me out! I want to go home! Open the door, please!" She begged, tears streaming down her cheeks, but Beta was just silent. She started to hyperventilate right there and then, but not giving up on the tugging and pulling of the door. "Please let me go! Please!" She screamed, and just when you thought she was about to pass out, the door flew open as she pulled on it and she went flying back onto the floor. With a cry, she got up and immediately dashed right out of the door, only to fall against the nearest wall and curl up into a ball at the bottom of it. She buried her face in her knees and continued to sob.


Beta hadn't said a word.


Alex looked between Levi and Carly for a minute before quickly hopping up and walking over to crouch down in front of her, ".. Carly?" He called out, but she instantly retracted herself away from him and against the wall even more.


"Don't!" She cried, her whole body quivering. "Please just leave me alone!" She sobbed to him, and Alex quickly backed away and retook his seat down beside Levi.


"Valentine, Levi."





Carly let out another loud cry when she heard Beta speak - What had happened to her in that interview room?


Alex patted Levi on the shoulder and gulped once. "Good luck, man." He whispered.

 

[Jupiter]

When Carly flew out of the room, all eyes were on her. Levi was confused, and slightly afraid. He was going to be the last person in that room, and after seeing everyone else's reactions to it... He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in there. I mean, Mark had shook the door, and Carly had practically thrown herself out of the room in a fit of... Of something.


"Valentine, Levi."





Oh, god. This was it. It was his turn... He gulped and looked at Alex before standing up and making his way to the door, which was still open from when Carly had thrown herself out of it. He shut it behind him and slowly took a seat, taking a moment to shuffle around and get comfortable.


"Welcome to your interview, Levi. How was your journey here?"


He gulped and then shrugged his shoulders before sighing. "The plane ride sucked. The bus ride was warm and uncomfortable but considering I managed to sleep through an hour of it ... It was okay enough."


"Question one - How do you think this is going to go for you? You seem to have made quite the impression on many of the other residents."


"Didn't expect any less, mate." Levi thought for a moment before sighing. "I can only be pessimistic. I mean, you know, it's gonna be okay with some people involved, like Alex and Nali, but it's not going to be okay with the others, I don't think. I never think things are going to be okay with people."


"And why is that?"


"You tell me."


"Do people often not accept you, Levi?"


"I wouldn't be here if they did."


"How did your family react to you winning a spot?"


"I don't have any family."


"Are you fearful for anything in the experiment?"


"No, and yes. I mean, I'm not worried about other people, that's just an annoying side effect. I'm worried about... Other things."


"Like what, Levi?"





"I don't know yet. It's just a feeling I get of... General worry."


"What are your other fears, Levi? Your general fears?"





"If I tell you, will you try and use them against me?"


"You have broken a rule, Levi. You are not allowed to ask questions yet."





"Sorry."


"What about general fears?"





"Water. I'm scared of water." He let out a small sigh.


"What are your opinions on the others?"


"Alex is brilliant. Nali is too. They seem like wonderful people... Kit seems like an annoying c*nt, and so does Jessica. Mark annoys me with his facts and information but I might he able to overlook that depending on the frequency. And... Lana is unknown territory. Carly is... Weird. I should really get to know them more before you ask my opinions on them though, Beta. It's not fair to make assumptions about people, is it? They could all be good people. After a flight everyone acts a little differently."


"Do you like to see the good in people?"





"Not really. I just don't like to judge people before I know them, based on an impression."


"Very mature. Do you have any questions for me?"





"I... I need this medication, will it come up with the rest of the supplies each month or do I need to put it on a list?"


"It's okay Levi. Your hormone treatments are on the list and will be sent each month."





Levi smiled slightly. "Thanks, Beta. May I go?"


"You are free to leave."





Smiling slightly, Levi stood up and exited the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked over to his luggage, stood in front of Alex and Nali, but did not take a seat. Instead, he smiled at them. "I wonder what happens now that all of this is done?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

Once Levi came out, Alex held up two hands for a double high-five and smiled at him once he’d sat back down. “Good game. You’re alive.” He said, but then, Levi asked the question of what they were going to do next now that the interviews were out of the way. Alex was wondering the same thing, and he did vaguely remember ‘Beta’ talking about it before they went in for the interviews, but he didn’t go into detail. Alex found it funny how they referred to Beta as a person. What if it wasn’t a person and was just a few lines of code? It was probably the latter, but Alex didn’t want to assume.


“Man, I don’t even know. Maybe we should just wait?”


“You’re not the one in charge here, Alex.”


“I never said I was.” He chuckled, looking around. He was still wondering where the source of the voice was located.


“Allow me to explain what will happen from now – You will be given half an hour to settle in. Upstairs, you will find four bedrooms, complete with two beds, an en suite bathroom, a bookshelf, two nightstands, one beside each bed; you will also find a desk and chair. During this half an hour, you will get the chance to unpack, and bond with your assigned roommates, of which will be told to you now.” Beta said. “These are fixed and will not be changed for the duration of the year. You have been put together based on matches on your profile – I won’t be telling you what those are, though.”


Alex looked at Levi and sighed – What did they have in common?


“All rooms are numbered, one-to-four.” Beta said. “Roommates go as followed… Levi, Alex.”


Alex looked at Levi for just a moment but looked away thereafter, but held up a hand at his side for a high-five yet again.


“Jessica, Kit. Mark, Lana. Carly, Nali.” Beta finished off. “These set groups are not changeable. Unauthorized rearrangement will result in a form of punishment – Room numbers, as followed. Alex and Levi – Room 1. Jessica and Kit – Room 2. Mark and Lana – Room 3, and Carly and Nali – Room 4. In the nightstands you will find something of a surprise. Enjoy them, a compliment from myself.”


Alex was happy with how this was going so far.


“You may go now.”


Carly didn’t move.


Alex looked at Levi and smiled at him, “Well, dude. This is great, right?” He asked, chuckling.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi sat down and looked up, where he was looking was a confusing thing for him because the house seemed to have speakers everywhere, he couldn't pinpoint Beta's voice, and it wasn't like there was a person that he could look at instead. But he just looked up, focusing on the ceiling, for some odd reason.


So, half an hour to settle in and unpack.


And he was paired with Alex. You know, honestly, he couldn't really have asked for a better roommate. If he had been paired with Nali it would have been the same, but he was glad that he was paired with someone that he vaguely knew, and was at least a good guy, you know? If he had been paired with Kit or Jessica he would have been complaining. At least the two of them got paired together.


"This is great. You wanna head upstairs, mate? We should get unpacking if we only have half an hour. Probably won't get through it all unless I shove it in a drawer, but I can make a start at least." He grinned at him slightly and pushed himself up to his feet, grabbing his luggage. He hated how there were stairs for this, that he had to drag his luggage up, but he had managed it in New Orleans, so he could manage it here. I mean, it was heavy, but Levi wasn't exactly the weakest person.


He dragged his suitcase to the stairs, Alex with him, and then began the difficult task of getting his luggage upstairs. He thought maybe he should try and help Alex with his, but he reckoned if he could handle it then Alex could handle it too, better, even.


Once he got up the stairs, he walked along the hall until he found room number one. A black door with a silver number on it. Hm. He looked at Alex for a moment before pushing the room open, and walking inside.


-


Downstairs, Kit had stood up and pulled his luggage up with him (it was a very large backpack, so he pulled it onto his back despite his weight) and walked over to Jessica. "Well then, Jessica, looks like you and I are roommates." Was he secretly thrilled about this? Yes. Yes he was. "Want me to help you upstairs with your luggage?"


Lana wasn't so sure on her roommate assignment. I mean, she didn't know anything about Mark other than he knew what kind if door the front door of the house was, what it would be useful for. And he had quoted some guy that she didn't know. But she didn't know anything other than that on account of constantly being asleep in the way over. Either way, these rooms were unchangeable, so she had to get to know him for the next year. And like him, too, because otherwise she would be having to share a room with someone she hated.


She stood up then and pulled her luggage along with her until she was stood in front of him. What did she say? Oh, she just... Had to be herself.


"Mark! Hi, you're my roommate, I mean you know that, Beta announced it, but, you know. Hi anyway. Do you want to head upstairs together?" She smiled down at him. Obviously she wasn't stood so close that she was breathing down his neck but she was still stood looking at him.


Nali... Was indifferent to this roommate choice. She didn't know what was wrong with Carly, but she made it her mission to find out what it was, and to make her feel more comfortable around the others. So she walked over to where she was sat, and smiled at her. "Carly..." She spoke in a soft voice. "I'm Nali, are you okay? Would you be happier going upstairs or would you like to stay down here for a little while? If there's anything that's upset you... I'm a good listener."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"You bet I do. Roomie." He joked, picking up his bags. He slung the guitar case over his shoulder and dragged his suitcase along the ground and eventually got to the top of the stairs, grinning as he did so. As they got to door number one, he chuckled as Levi pushed the door open and followed him right after as he walked in. He looked around thereafter, and of course, there was a dresser as well. He spoke out in an absent-minded fashion and was quite surprised with what he heard. "Looks like Beta forgot the dressers in the rooms - I was worried about that." He said.


"I'm sorry, Alex."





"Oh, shit. What, you can--.. Oh, damn, you can talk in here, too?" He asked.


"How else are you going to wake up in the morning?"





"Ugggghhhh..." Alex groaned, shoving his bags over towards the dresser and collapsing onto the nearest single bed. Oh, they were comfy. Like. Really comfy. He was quite happy with this if you ask me. Still, Beta was their own personal alarm clock? He was gonna' be like a mother in the mornings, not leaving their room until they got their lazy asses out of bed. It didn't look like sleeping in was going to be an option here anymore.


"House Announcement: For those that have not yet arrived at their rooms, you also have a dresser for your clothes. Please share the space accordingly. Thank you."





Jesus. It was like being in a mental asylum. Announcements, and a creepy voice that always seemed to be in your head. It was clear to Alex now that Beta had something all over the house - microphones in every room. Even the bathroom maybe? He hoped not, that would be strange. He got up from the bed and went and took a look at the bathroom - It was okay. Shower, toilet, sink, radiator with towels, medicine cabinet, mirror... All the usual shit, really.


He walked back out and over to the dresser where he unzipped his suitcase and started to pull out his neatly-folded polo shirts. He only had a couple of sweaters - I mean, they were in the middle of the desert. They weren't going to be getting cold anytime soon, were they? He had some swimming trunks in there, too, a couple of pairs, as well as some suit pants and a nice pinstripe smart shirt just in case it was ever needed. Oh, and several pairs of shoes - Sneakers primarily, but a single pair of loafers, some slippers, PJ's, a bathrobe, all the good stuff.


He started to unload it all, keeping it all folded. "This is quite cozy, ain't it?" He chuckled.


--


"How kind." Jessica said, gently nudging her luggage towards him with her foot. She had just found object number one. "That'd be wonderful of you, Kit. I'm sure you can manage it, right?" She said, scanning over his body. Not bad, she supposed. Definitely better than what she'd seen in the past. "Do you remember our room number, Kit? A girl like me isn't good at navigation. Sorry for any... Inconvenience." She smiled simply at him - How quickly could she make him fall for her? Hm... She didn't know, unless she'd already done it. It was just time to wait and see how it all played out.


Carly quickly looked up from her knees at Nali - there was no need to be rude to her. ".. I..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. Carly looked a lot younger than she was - poor girl looked like she was no older than fifteen, especially with all the tears running down her cheeks. "I need... I want to go upstairs now." She nodded and reached out, plucking her luggage from beside her chair and pulling it to her side, sniffling and wiping her nose as she hopped up from the floor and looked down at the ground. "Can you lead the way?" She asked.


Mark looked at Lana and smiled, "Indeed." He said, simply picking up his suitcase and taking a deep breath. "Ladies first, Lana." He smiled at her. Polite, for sure - He wasn't all bad. Not all brains and knowledge, as you can see. It took a few things to bring out his social personality - I suppose her friendly attitude was what brought it out in him this time. He didn't like rudeness or unfriendly people.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi did not like the sound of Beta waking him up in the morning, not at all, he liked to sleep in and didn't really want Beta to have to wake him up, I mean, what if, as well, it was only him who didn't wake up and Levi was personally singled out by Beta? That would be embarrassing, wouldn't it? If everyone else had to listen to Beta try and wake him up? God... That wouldn't be fun.


Still, though. He would have to cope with it considering he had to live here for a year with absolutely no way of going home early unless he died. Or was seriously injured. But he wasn't sure that they would even let him go home if that happened, and even how he would be seriously injured in a place like this. He didn't think there would be anything that could seriously injure him here.


Levi picked up his suitcase and put it on the bed, unzipping it and opening it so that his clothes were on show. One of the things that was on the top of his suitcase was a red box, which Levi immediately picked up and took over to his bedside table. When he opened his bedside table...


Was that an iPod?


Levi shoved in his box and picked it up. It was an old generation iPod with only musical capablities, and maybe a few odd games like snake or Tetris. Plugged into it were earphones, and, when Levi turned the iPod over, he saw his initials, LV, engraved in the back.


"Alex. Alex, we have iPods." He grinned widely and showed it to him. "In the drawer! Check in the drawer!"


He looked back down at it again, and then turned it on and began to scroll through the music that was on offer to him. It seemed rather personal, because... Well, it was all dance music. Electronic music.


Vitalic, The Prodigy, Andy Hunter, dDamage, Turboweekend...


"Oh, you beauty..."


-


"Room two. Yeah, room two." Kit grinned widely and, because he had his own luggage on his back, he pulled her luggage along to the stairs. Though it was difficult, he managed to get both sets of luggage upstairs, and he pulled them along, past room one which still had the door open, and then to room two. He kicked the door open with his hand after opening it with his elbow, and made his way over to one of the beds, placing down Jessica's luggage and then his own on the opposite bed.


Nali smiled at Carly and nodded her head once, before rising up to her feet. "Of course, come on." She smiled again and then made her way over to her luggage, before dragging it along upstairs and then across the hallway and to the room number 4. She opened the door for Carly and herself, and made sure that Carly was inside first before going inside herself and putting her luggage down.


Lana smiled and, with her luggage, made her way up the stairs and along, stopping in front of room three and then pushing the door open, before going inside and looking around at her surroundings. It seemed fairly pleasant, very... Comfortable. "Which bed would you like, Mark? I'm not fussed myself."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Alex was happily tucking his neatly folded stuff up into the dresser when he heard what Levi said. iPods? That sounded off, but let's say that he happily stopped packing his clothes so that he could dash over to his nightstand and throw the drawer open. He looked into the drawer at the iPod that had been placed in there and grinned, reaching down and plucking that and the standard white Apple earphones from it. He flicked the iPod on and began to look through some of the stuff that was one there. One of his favorite phone games, Tetris, and nice music. Good, good music - A mix of country and rock and anything in between those two genres. He loved it.


"Oh, dude, this is the best thing ever." He laughed and continued to scroll through all of the stuff on there. A large library. This must have been one of the older generations of iPods, because it was a little slow, but it was perfect for general use. He hadn't even seen the back yard yet. He wanted to take a look soon, to be honest. He was starting to wonder how things were going to work around here - Any mosquito nets? Heck, was it even possible to have mosquitoes this far out when there wasn't any life out here? Didn't they breed near places that had at least some life that they could feed from?


I don't know. I'm not some sort of scientist.


Alex didn't know either, so I guess that left them rather stumped, didn't it?


"This is fuckin' cool." He laughed, dropping down onto his bed and resting his head on his pillow as he flicked through all of the songs again. "That's cool. Really cool. Thanks, Beta." He said. He suddenly realized that he'd just lowered himself to thanking a robot of some kind.


"You're welcome, Alex."





Alex hopped up and made his way back over to the suitcase and began to unpack things again. "Levi, man, you might want to start making a move before we run outta' time, you know?" He smiled at him and went back to unpacking his clothes again. He may have slept for a while on the journey, but he was more than certain that he had heatstroke of some sort, because he felt a little bit unwell, and he was exhausted and sweaty.


While their bodies took two weeks to adapt... They wouldn't be sleeping well.


--


"This is nice." Jessica said as she went and sat down on the bed nearest the window after she moved the suitcase off of it, smiling at Kit as she lied down on the bed and rolled onto her side. "Do you think there's gonna' be anything fun to do around here?" She asked. "Right now... I really don't want to unpack, but we don't really have a choice, do we?" She smiled a little and shrugged at him, shuffling around into a sitting position before unbuttoning the top button of her shirt - Oh dear. She was more exposed now, but hey... "It's hot in here." She said, sighing. "We are not gonna' be able to sleep properly for... Like, ever here. It'll take soooooooo long for us to get used to the temperature." She said.


--


She followed Nali up the stairs and into the room before sitting down on the nearest bed, the one that wasn't near the window. She sat there and looked down, but then reached into her nightstand incredibly nervously and looked at the iPod, smiling weakly as she pulled it out and flicked it on. She went to the music and nodded slowly - Great. Her type of music. She didn't say anything about it, though.


"Are we going to unpack?" She asked.


--


"The one near the window." Mark said simply, then walked over and placed the suitcase down on the bed. He looked at the lamps on the nightstands and nodded once to himself. That was reassuring. "I have a phobia... Of the dark. I know it sounds crazy, but... That's me." He said, slowly kicking his legs up onto the bed and lying down, his feet balanced nicely on top of the suitcase and his head rested on the pillows. "Moonlight would be of some comfort if you'd rather have the lamps off at night, but if you don't mind, I'd rather leave the lamp on. Bad things happen if I get left alone in the dark. Always have since..." He paused and gulped once.


"A long time ago." He said, after thinking for a few moments. He couldn't tell her what happened. He never could.


One day, though, he'd have to tell everyone.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi scrolled through his music for a while until Alex said that he should probably start making a move on his suitcase, and so he nodded his head and tossed the iPod to the side before standing up and then grabbing his clothes, neatly folded, and then putting them inside the drawer. He reckoned that he might have to leave some things in his suitcase, maybe, but he didn't mind. I mean, he had a lot of clothes... It was just, you know, a thing that he did. Anyway, he pulled out shirts of different patterns and things, and then stuffed them into a drawer, but made sure that they were neat.


Shoes went by the door for him, or at least, they did at first until he realised how many pairs that he had, and then he resorted to storing his shoes under his bed instead. Sneakers, docs, boots, and what the American's referred to as 'sandals', but Australian's referred to as 'thongs'. He literally never wore those, though, so he didn't even know why he had brought 'em, but he kept them under the bed anyway.


His suitcase went down pretty quickly, and Levi tried to conserve as much space as possible, not wanting to hog all of the dresser. Eventually, though, he got to personal items, things that he didn't want to leave at home, considering he couldn't pay his rent and so the flat didn't belong to him anymore. He'd had to bring a lot of stuff that he wouldn't really have thought of bringing, aside from furniture of course, no, he sold that.


One of the first personal items that he brought out of his suitcase was obviously the box that he had placed in his bedside table (which now had other things in it, such as sunglasses, bracelets, necklaces, badges, that kind of thing), but the second was a photo frame, which he slowed down his unpacking to look at. In the picture was a group of friends, at a music festival in Australia, bright lights flashing all around. There were six people in the photograph with grins on their faces, and Levi was one of them, hair a bright blue colour, throwing a peace sign and mocking a pout. He smiled, and then placed that down on his bedside table, before picking up some hair products and taking that so he could put it in the medicine cabinet (which he was delighted to find already held some of his hormone treatment tablets, so he didn't have to worry about that considering he hadn't brought enough with him to last through till tomorrow morning, he had had to use the last up on the plane).


-


Kit looked at Jessica and smiled slightly, but he couldn't help but keep glancing at her now slightly more exposed chest. Eventually he just turned away and opened up his suitcase, beginning to move things of his into the drawer. "I'm sure there's gonna be loads'a fun stuff to do around here. We haven't seen the entire house yet, there's probably a lot of cool stuff to do, you know? We should look around later, have a look at some of the things." He didn't know that there was going to be some weird kind of guided tour in less that half an hour, but, you know. He turned around and looked at her again, a small smile on his face, but again, he couldn't help but look at her shirt. Get yourself together Kit! Can't you see that she's playing you!


-


Lana smiled at Mark and placed her suitcase down on the other bed, before unzipping it and beginning to look around for places she could put her stuff. She turned and looked at him, though, when he spoke about the dark. "Hmm? Oh, that's fine, don't worry about it. If it helps you sleep better, go ahead, it'd be cruel if I stopped you." She smiled at him and nodded her head. "We should figure out who gets what dresser space, I don't want to take up your room."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Alex also took out a couple of personal items from his bag, too - He had a couple of framed photos - One of his whole family together, mom and dad (his dad looked so much like him it was hard to tell them apart, aside from the complexion of course), and I've already explained how his two brothers are spitting images, so that doesn't really matter anymore. This one was a picture of them as a family, just a proper photo-shoot, you know? It was a nice environment by the living room fireplace, even though that wasn't used that much at all due to the fact that this was in California.


The second one was a smaller one of him and what must have been his eldest brother, arm in arm - they looked younger than they were now. Alex was probably... I don't know. Seventeen or eighteen or so, so obviously his younger brother looked a lot younger than he would have now. The third one was a picture of him and both of his brothers, and that one was recent, easily within a couple of years of where they were now. He smiled at them all once he'd put them down and took deep breath, but was taken off guard as he heard Beta speak to him. Oh shit, that scared him quite a bit.


"Who are they, Alex?" Beta asked.





"My parents and my little brothers." He said.


"You never mentioned them in your interview, Alex."





"You just broke a rule, Beta." He smiled.


Beta didn't respond.


Alex slowly looked over at Levi and then looked around the room. A light smile came to his lips, but he couldn't help but bite his bottom one. He hoped he hadn't pissed off Beta, because he knew that this robot figure was the one that had the most power in this household. They couldn't stop that, could they? Still, though, he kept on unpacking his stuff, allowing Levi to get on with it, too. He didn't want to interrupt him, seeing as they were both on limited time to get all this done.


As he looked around the room, he noticed how there was a little tiny camera in each corner. Hm. Privacy invasion much? I guess so, but he was trying not to think about that, because that was rather unnerving. It was all for a social experiment, and they could just get changed in the bathroom if they wanted to, couldn't they? Yep. But then again, there were a couple of cameras in each one there, too, so they couldn't avoid the invasion. Wherever they went, they were being watched.


--


"Maybe there is, Kit." She smiled and laid back on her bed again. "I'm gonna' unpack later. I really don't want to do it right now. I'm used to the heat seeing as I'm from Florida, but this feels so much worse." She groaned and wiped her forehead. "Where are you from?" She asked, softly, then took a look around and very briefly out of the window at the roaring desert sun. Ugh, she didn't want to go out there, and she was really praying that there was something they could do to cool them down, like a pool, or something. She was in for a treat in two senses, I guess, seeing as Kit was from Miami in Florida, the same state she came from.


--


Mark looked at her and smiled, "Thank you. I'd like to have the top drawers, but if you'd rather have those, I don't mind having the bottom ones." He said as he unzipped his suitcase and looked inside. All folded efficiently, and in a way where he could easily fit everything in without making too much of a mess of it all. It all fit in nicely, and all space was utilized perfectly, so he had his books and everything else that he may have needed. There was also a few pens in there that he could make use of in one way or another, so that was always good.


--


After another five minutes, giving most of them roughly enough time to unpack most of their stuff (thankfully Alex and Carly managed to get it all done) and put it away, they were given one thing from someone that they hadn't heard from since Alex had supposedly pissed them off. Beta.


"House announcement: Please come downstairs to the landing and stay in a group. A guided tour is going to commence." Beta said.





That was all well and happy, but how was this going to be guided tour if Beta wasn't even a physical being? Was there someone else in here that was going to show them around, or was Beta going to be talking them through it. It was a little bit hard to tell, but after going to the bathroom again, Alex was pretty much ready to get a move on when he heard the announcement go off, so when it was done, he looked across at Levi and stood up from sitting on his bed, stretching his back as he did so.


"Well. Let's go. This is certainly a nice surprise, isn't it?" He chuckled.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi looked up when he heard Beta speak to Alex, and he looked over at him and the pictures of his family and smiled slightly. It was quite cute that he had them with him so close like that. Having a family photograph could comfort you wonderfully if you were away from home for a long time. Levi knew that, in some ways, but he didn't have any family that he wanted to keep close and comfort him, so he didn't exactly get those photos out and keep them around his house. He kept photos of his friends around, but only that one at the festival was out so far.


"I think you pissed him off, mate." Levi laughed slightly and then shrugged his shoulders before going back to his unpacking.


Eventually, he finished it, now with another two photos on his bedside table. One of him (with red hair this time) with a guy, the two of them back to back and holding their hands up like guns, and then the other a picture of... Well. It was of Levi, but it wasn't really of Levi so much as the centre of the picture was a ginger cat that was sat in his lap, looking at the camera. So, you couldn't see anything above Levi's chest, but still. The cat. Heroin. Funny name for a cat, and there was really no story, but it was still Levi's old cat, and he missed him.


-


"I'm from Florida too! No way!" Kit grinned at her and turned back to his bag, unpacking some things. He wanted to get some done, but eventually he just sat down and talked to Jessica instead, not getting anything else done.


In the other room, Lana was happy to give Mark the top drawers, and she herself settled for the bottom ones and started to put her things neatly away. She liked Mark so far, he seemed intelligent, but he also seemed friendly and pleasant enough to talk to. She just kind of hoped that there would be nothing bad about him in the sense that she hoped he didn't end up having a bad quality.


-


When the house tour was called, it was okay for people such as Levi and Nali, who had finished unpacking all of their stuff with time to spare, but for Lana and Kit, they still had stuff left to unpack. Kit had more stuff to unpack than Lana, but he hadn't been unpacking at all, she had just been unpacking slowly.


A guided tour, though? How was that going to work?


Levi looked up at Alex. He had been looking through his iPod again, one earphone in, giving things a bit of a test listen, but he was more than willing to go on the tour instead. In fact, he was pretty desperate to go and see what the place had to offer.


"Eh, moderate surprise. The only thing that can make it a nice surprise is, say, if there was perhaps a pizzeria just outside on the garden. I really want pizza right now." He shrugged his shoulders and then laughed slightly before pushing himself up to his feet and then making his way to through the door and out onto the landing. Nali was already there with Carly, and Lana was just heading out of her room. As usual, Kit was late, still talking to Jessica. It wouldn't be hard to get him to move, though, really.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Mark was following right behind Lana as they walked down. At least he'd found someone who was nice. He didn't think she was exactly very... Intelligent. But his idea of intelligent was genius level, so you can't exactly get on his level too easily, which is a shame. He didn't look down on people unless they were completely retarded. Like Jessica, for example. He really didn't like her. He thought she was stupid, obnoxious, and unnecessarily friendly. She was too nice to any male interactions she had, and Mark didn't like that, he thought that that was 'some right tacky bullshit', but hey. He'd put that across to you in a much more intelligent manner, obviously, but for now, let's just wait and see how it goes, shall we?


Alex had walked with Levi down to the landing, where they had been met with by the others - soon enough, Jessica wasn't far to follow behind them, and of course Kit was following her around, so once they got to the landing (with Carly standing as far away from everyone as she could manage), Beta began to speak to them. "Good afternoon everyone. For those of you that have either forgotten or don't know me already, I am Beta. I will be presenting you the house today - Please do not try and outsmart me. I can see you all right now, and there's not much that will change that, so please stick together as a group at all times." Beta said.





Alex looked at Levi and shrugged.


"Please proceed to the foyer and face the stairs."





So, as the group went back down into the foyer and looked around again, Beta began talking once more as soon as they were all in place.


"Make a move down the hallway to your left." Beta said, once they'd all cooperated with that order, they were met with a wide room with two doors on the far left side, and a large sliding door that opened up to go out into the back yard - that had blinds that could be pulled over the windows at night, thankfully. "Here is the living room, complete with a wall-mounted 72" TV, one large leather couch, and three leather armchairs. A coffee table rests in the center. To the south of the room, you can see the half-bathroom, of which is on the immediate left of the exit of the hallway. Please proceed to the back of the room to the two doors." Beta said - Of course, Alex walked forward and hoped that the rest of the group would follow - as they walked through the living room, they also saw several fully-loaded bookcases as well as an electronic fireplace, which I can only assume that Beta forgot to mention.


The first door they got a chance to open was the leisure room - It had easels inside for painting, some nice artwork, a desk, and bookcases. It was more of a quiet room in here, evidently, and it had a rather cool and friendly design to it. "This is the leisure room. You may come here during your free time whenever you please to use the facilities at any time. This is a quiet room for low-volume chatting and no music - please do not violate these rules."


Once they opened the second door, they saw a gym room, complete with all the necessary equipment. "Here is the personal gym. At the back there is a cupboard that contains clothes to match all of your sizes. All of them are labelled one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight to match your room number."





Following that, they were lead right through to the kitchen, of which had a very similar layout to the other room with the half-bathroom being on the immediate right of the hallway as opposed to the left. The dining room and kitchen was really something, though.

​

"This is the kitchen and dining room. All compartments within the cupboards and the fridge have your room numbers on individual ones - Each room has its own set of pans, plates, kitchen utensils, and cutlery, and each room also gets its own food, although this can be shared with other rooms if permission is given. Washing dishes will be your room's responsibility - If you leave dishes behind, others will know, as all are engraved with your room number for easy identification. Please note that attempting to remove or damage these engravings will result in punishment, and replacement costs will be deducted from your overall payment at the end of the year. Please do not vandalize other rooms' possessions here. The cameras will know."





"This is fucking cool." Alex said as he looked over the kitchen in amazement.

​

 

[Jupiter]

As they were guided along, down the stairs, looking around at the living room, the leisure room, and the gym room, Levi paid close attention to everything that was on offer. TV, easels, books... Levi wasn't so bothered about the gym equipment. I mean, he wasn't exactly the strongest guy out there but he wasn't the weakest, he just really didn't like gyms. But then again, that was because every time he went to a gym in Australia people got confused if he went into the male changing rooms. Since then, he hadn't really gone to a gym. He liked to run, sometimes, though, and he supposed that here... Everyone was going to get used to him, and he had his own changing room, upstairs.


He supposed he could always use the treadmills in here, if he was feeling up for it.


He used to be a relatively sporty person, in the roller derby team in his hometown, but he had left the team. He kind of regretted it though, considering he loved to skate. He didn't know it yet, but when he checked it out tomorrow, he would find roller-skates waiting for him, and boy, would he be abusing them.


Through to the kitchen they went, and Levi honestly couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it all. It all seemed a little bit difficult to understand, all the rules, and why they had to have their own pans and things, but he supposed that it made it easier in terms of washing up and using each others equipment. The food thing, though, he didn't understand that, but he didn't mind, he knew he could probably come to terms with it very quickly.


He looked at Alex and grinned, but he didn't say anything.


"Are there any set meal times or can we eat whenever, Beta?" Kit asked, suddenly, inspecting the kitchen surface. Oh, he loved to cook. And he was amazing at it. You wouldn't believe it by looking at him, but he just loved it, and he was ready to cook up a storm.


'No, Kit, there are no set meal times. You may eat whenever you please, as long as you clean up after yourself.'

 

[DrTrollinski]

"This is incredible." Alex said as he looked over it all. "What's the point in sharing food though, Beta?" He asked, and he can't say that he liked the answer he got, but he'd have to put up with it. I mean, it wouldn't be too hard of a rule to follow, right?


"Because, Alex, you get one shipment of food each month, of which consists of enough to house you with all the same ingredients. If you run out of food, you must wait until the following delivery date." Beta explained. "The purpose of dividing the food to rooms is so that the other rooms cannot take the food accidentally, which, if done, could easily render one room at a failure." Beta said.





"So... If we run out of food, we still don't get any until next month?"


"That is correct."





"What if we all run out of food?"


"The human body can survive longer than a month on purely water, providing that you limit physical activity."





"So... You're going to starve us?"


"I'm not going to starve anyone, Alex. You just need to make the food last." Beta said.





Alex couldn't exactly say he was fond of that rule, but in a way, he appreciated it. It'd be helpful for when they went to college and needed to preserve their food, right? Something like that, I'm sure. He wasn't so sure about potentially having to starve for half a month, though. Was that actually a possibility? Would that actually happen? He sure hoped not, but hey, what could you do?


"Please proceed to the yard."





So, with that, they did indeed go to the back yard, and what they saw was nice. It was a long stretch of pure green grass, even if the fence did ruin it a little bit. It was all an emerald green, though, trimmed short, with a shed right at the bottom. Directly from either exits, there were some pathways that lead down to other things - the first thing, in the top-center, was a large hot tub that was big enough to hold all eight at once. Down from that by ten feet or so was a large swimming pool, surrounded by wooden lounging chairs that could be used for sunbathing. Just down from there was some water sprinklers our on the lawn, of which shot quite high and quite far - that meant that, well, if they ever got too hot, they could run down and stand under those for a while.


Fun times, right?


"Wow." Alex said as he gazed over all of it. It was a lot of water, but the pathways and some of the parts around there were untouched, and there was a nice little spot untouched by water for sunbathing down at the end of the garden near the shed.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi listened carefully to what Beta had to say about the food. What? He had to what? Essentially, ration it? Because if they ran out then they had to starve... Oh, classy. Wonderful and classy. He didn't say anything to complain though, because he wouldn't be able to say anything that changed the way that the experiment worked. No matter what, they had to share food, and they had to make it last so that no one starved while they were here. That wouldn't be good at all, would it? God... Levi hoped that he and Alex could at least eat sensibly so that they could avoid that whole drama.


Please proceed to the yard.


Great, time to go outside in the heat. It may have been at the very least six pm, but the sun was still out to play, and it was still very fucking warm. Levi rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and sighed as he walked outside, looking down at the ground and not concentrating on what was around him. And then, when Alex spoke, saying wow, Levi looked up.


And he froze.


Water.


It wasn't even like there was just a small pool that Levi could avoid, there was a massive one, and a hot tub, and sprinklers... And he just couldn't handle even coming close to it. He looked at Alex and then back at the water, and took a step back, shaking his head slowly and then turning again, turning his back on it. He wanted to go inside. What would Beta do if he went inside? What could he physically do to him? Nothing. He was a robot voice, and behind him was water, and Levi turned and looked at it again for a moment before letting out a small, choked voice.


"Beta. Beta, I need to go inside now. Please." He couldn't even look at the water.


'You may go inside, Levi.'


Immediately he turned and half-ran from where he had been stood in the yard and straight inside to the kitchen, and he leaned against the counter and buried his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. It was okay. He had to keep telling himself that it was okay.


Nali and Lana had both been enjoying the view with grins on their faces, but both had been concerned when Levi just ran off like that. They didn't go after him, but... Well. They didn't know him well enough to consider it. I mean, it would be a kind thing to do, but they just thought that maybe it would be something he could get through alone. They didn't say anything about it though, thankfully.


But Kit wasn't as sensitive as they were.


"What's up with her?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Jesus, Kit. Him." Alex said. "Him... Okay?" He added, sighing to himself as he ran a hand through his hair, then looked around again.


"He's right, Kit." Beta said.





"Thank you, Beta." He said. "Also... Can you turn off any of the sprinklers in this place?" He asked, he was curious to how much power this thing had over them. Could he manipulate them at all? I suppose his question was answered when the sudden sound of silence hit the air as the sprinklers turned off, and the hot tub started to bubble and heat up crazily - It was going to the point where the water was literally flying out all over the patio it was on, and eventually, it simmered down to nothing at all. Alex watched it all unfold, then watched the sprinklers come on once again.


"Does that answer your question, Alex?" Beta asked.





"Perfectly." He gulped quietly. Okay, that was scary. What if Beta decided to turn off the main water supply and just kill them all off? With the electric fence, how would they get out without their bodies going into a state of shock from the current? Obviously it wouldn't do that straight away, but, with enough shocking, you would indeed fall unconscious in one way or another. That was one of the things that could happen with a stungun, you know? "May I go inside?"


"We have more of the tour to continue, Alex."





"I know, but--"


"But if you must."





Alex looked over everyone. "Thanks, I guess." He said, awkwardly turning around and going back in through the doors to the kitchen/dining area, where he saw Levi leaning onto the kitchen counter. He walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," He said. "I know it's probably none of my business, but I just wanted to come in and check on you. Is everything okay?" He asked. "You just looked a bit freaked out, that's all, so I was just makin' sure you're alright, you know what I mean?" He asked, smiling weakly down at him.


--


"Everyone head down the yard. You can take a nice look at the anti-snake mechanisms."





Carly shot a look up at everyone else, as did Jessica.


Fucking snakes?! Jesus Christ. No one liked snakes. Thank fuck there was some sort of anti-snake system here, or no one would be spending time in the garden, would they? Definitely not, especially if one of the said snakes decided to slither into the pool and chill out there for a while, you know what I mean? How suckish would that be? Pretty horrible, right? I imagine so.

 

[Jupiter]

Kit looked at Alex and sighed, holding a hand up in defence and then shrugging his shoulders. "My bad. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Except it would, very often. Kit just wasn't going to be able to grasp the fact that though Levi was a little bit different, he was still a guy, he was going to be that asshole. But, not even like, that asshole who said it in a mean way. Just that asshole who asked questions that he really should have thought about first.


When all of them realised just how much power Beta had, they were all a little creeped out, I think. It showed just how weak and vulnerable they themselves actually were in this scenario. They couldn't outsmart Beta, and they couldn't overpower him. Their lives were in a robots hands, and that was it. For one year, they would have to deal with this. It wasn't going to be bad, though, they didn't think.


They'd get used to it.


-


Inside, Levi was still leaning against the counter and taking deep breaths as he heard someone else enter, and he moved his hand away from his eyes and looked at Alex before sighing. It wasn't a negative sigh, or a sigh that basically said to everyone around 'fuck off', it was just a normal, slightly fed up sigh. He nodded his head, though, and smiled slightly.


"I'm fine, Alex. Seriously. I'm just... Don't tell anyone, I mean... In fact, they probably already know but I'm terrified of water. I- I can't deal with it. Looking at it, being near it... Being in it is the worst part. I can't cope. I can't swim, I can't even stand the rain. I mean... I'll drink it, I'll shower, but... If I'm drinking it then it's gotta be done quickly and if I shower it has to be boiling hot water and it has to be done practically 'in-out', and..." He sighed. "I guess I should have thought of this when I signed up. There was inevitably going to be a pool involved."


He pushed away from the counter and shrugged his shoulders at Alex. "I'm just scared of it, okay?" He sighed again and then smiled. "I'll just not go outside, it's fine."


-


Kit didn't like snakes. Nali didn't like snakes either. But Lana?


Oh, Lana loved snakes. She had pet snakes when she was a kid, three of them, but none of them lasted very long because her father kept making her get rid of them. It was a shame, she loved them. Obviously she wasn't going to try and keep any as a pet here, she would probably not even see one considering there was an anti snake mechanism, but still.


She gladly walked forward and along the yard, looking around with a grin on her face.


"Snakes are disgusting..." Nali muttered under her breath to Carly, but Lana heard her.


"They're really not! They're actually pretty cool, did you know that their scales are made of the same thing our fingernails are made out of? How cool!" She grinned widely, but Nali just shook her head at her.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He looked at Levi and smiled a little, "Oh, dude, I get you. I'm like that with needles - I've always had a big thing about it. My parents reckon it was from a bad experience I had when I was about three or four. I had to go for a blood test, and they couldn't get any blood from me, so they went in four or five times - Traumatized me, apparently I had nightmares for about three weeks after that." He sighed. "Mentally scarred me, they reckon. Now, if you come near me with... A needle, kebab skewer, sometimes even a kitchen knife... I'll just sort of lock up and avoid you for ten or fifteen minutes." He laughed. "If you actually try and put a needle in me, believe me, you'll end up with a broken nose. I remember that happened one time when I was about thirteen - Hit the doctor right in the face as soon as he came near me with a needle, and I ran straight out of the room and burst into tears. My dad near enough had to carry me out of there." He laughed and shook his head.


"It's all good, man. And you don't have to avoid going outside. The patio just outside the door, as well as some of the grass, is nowhere near the water. Beta can turn off sprinklers, too. If you ever wanted to take a walk against the fence and down past the pool, he could just turn those off and you could get to the bottom of the yard to sunbathe, or something." He chuckled. "Ah, well, we all have our fears, right?" He smiled at him and took a deep breath, then walked over to the fridge and pulled it open, peeking inside at the drawer with the metal label '1' - It was an industrial fridge, and it had been modified so there was enough room for a month's worth of food. There was a nice selection of meat, veg, and packaged goods that needed the refrigerator, and then he opened up a few of the cupboards, all of which had certain things in them - There were canned goods, dry goods, snacks, spices, all kinds of things.


"Well... On the upside, looks like we've got some great food choices going on. We've got a dozen spices, snacks, canned goods... Fridge has got cheeses, butter, milk - Lovely stuff, man." He said, closing the cupboards again.


--


"Snakes are fascinating creatures." Mark backed Lana up. "They don't smell through their nose, either. Their split tongue is used to smell and taste chemical compositions in the air - they know what to avoid and what smells alright just through tasting the air. You wouldn't think it was possible, would you?" He smiled a little. "Their eyes also don't move, and they have no eyelids. They have no sense of hearing, and the only way they can actually hear things is by feeling the vibrations in the ground. That's evolution at its finest, there. If we're deaf, I don't see many of us looking for vibrations in the ground." He laughed a little and put his hands in his pockets.


"I like lizards, too." He said, simply. "If we could see a few of those around here, I wouldn't mind. I find them to be quite... Peaceful." He said, simply, then shrugged. Mhm... Peaceful lizards. Lizards are awesome.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi laughed slightly and nodded his head, glad that Alex didn't make fun of him for his fear of water. As long as he didn't try to use it to his advantage, they would be all set to be great friends. He knew someone like that, once. When he was in Australia, a 'friend' who hung out with him a lot ended up threatening Levi, literally just by holding a glass of water over his head and demanding he give him as much money as he had on him. He had felt pathetic when he actually have over the contents of his wallet without any real danger.


Normal people could have just let the guy pour water over them and then never spoken to him again, but not poor, petrified Levi. Nope, he had to chicken out and be afraid when there was damn nothing to be afraid of. I mean, he had his reasons to be afraid, not that he would be telling anyone any time soon, especially not on the first day of knowing everyone. He'd prefer to keep his past kind of private.


"I'll keep that in mind. I mean, I like the outdoors, really, and I don't want to have to spend a year inside my house, but you know. If he can turn the sprinkler off then that's great, I might try it." He shrugged his shoulders, and then smiled. "You think it's weird that we already consider Beta as a he? I think it is. I mean I know it's a male voice and all, but it could just as easily be a woman working that voice. It's creepy to even think about someone working the voice." He laughed slightly, and then shrugged before going over to one of the stools and sitting down on them.


"You know, I'm fucking starving. Do you think we have to make food tonight?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.


-


"See!" Lana laughed slightly and gestured to Mark. "The man knows what he's talking about. Snakes are cool, and so are lizards, they're nothing to be afraid of. I mean, even poisonous ones aren't necessarily out to get you." She shrugged her shoulders, and Kit sighed.


"Yeah, but they're creepy. You ever think about how they just have no hands or feet? Like they just don't. Imagine it." He shook his head slowly, and then let out a mock shiver. "You'd be unable to do anything. It's just... Imagine."


Lana looked at him for a moment. "I don't have to." Simple as that.


Kit and Nali looked at her, confused, but they couldn't figure out what she meant.


It was silent for a moment, but then...


"So how about the pool, huh? Isn't it sweet? I wonder how deep it is..." Lana walked away to the edge of the pool and dipped her finger in to see how warm it was. Right then and there, she just wanted to rip her clothes of and collapse in it, or just go in fully clothed. It was cool, but not ice cold, and she could feel the effect it had on her body temperature just by dipping one single finger in. Oh, she needed this pool. Needed it bad.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I really fucking hope not." Alex said. "I've done enough cooking for my brothers over the years. As soon as I got out of school, my parents were thrilled because I was someone who could babysit for them." He chuckled, "They saved a lot of money on babysitting, I tell you. Me and the little guys had fun, though. Most nights, we cooked our own pizzas. Always made a BBQ chicken one, and they loved it. That's my favorite food right there, I tell you." He chuckled. "I can cook up some mean dishes, though, because we didn't have that every night. I can make curry, chili, enchiladas, lasagna, spaghetti, soup, cookies, cakes, ribs, burritos... You name it, and I probably have some sort of variation of the dish. Providing it's American." He chuckled and looked around again.


He walked over and got a class from the '1' cupboard and filled it with water, quickly drinking it down and then rinsing it out, using a dish cloth to dry it off before placing it back in the cupboard, chuckling to himself. "There, I'm getting good at this 'wash your own shit up' thing." He laughed.


--


Mark instantly knew what she meant. Come on, he was smart enough to realize what she was saying. He didn't comment on it, though, because he knew that would be awkward. He didn't want to do anything like that, so he let it settle in the back of his mind for a while. He'd ask about it later on when no one had managed to figure it out. He was about to speak up about the pool, but Beta interrupted them.


"There's no time for chatter." Beta said. "Please, proceed to the living room." He demanded.


Mark looked over everyone. "We've been there already, but let's go take a look, shall we?" He asked, smiling.


--


Back in the kitchen, Beta interrupted Alex and Levi.


"Levi, Alex - To the living room." Beta said.





Alex sighed and pushed himself away from the counter, gently patting Levi on the shoulder. "Let's go see what he's got for us." He said, simply, then walked through to the living room and walked inside, but gasped when he saw what was there. Balloons. Dozens of them. They were all floating, and they all had the little weights tied to the string so that they didn't go right up to the ceiling.


"Okay. Levi. I'm scared. This is getting really fucking creepy." He said, looking right at him. "How did these balloons get here?"


"That is a secret, Alex." Beta replied.





Alex gulped. This was making him slightly uncomfortable, enough to make him freeze on the spot. Beta couldn't have done this... But if it wasn't Beta, then... Who was it?