The Contestant

vii

“When you say they never last very long…?”

“This a Room dear, not a room. You came from Carlotta’s Room?”

Mave nodded. “She was very nice.”

“Yes, she can be. You should be aware that we aren’t being taped at the moment either. We can speak freely here.”

“But you just said that this was a Room. I don’t understand.’

“We’re all prisoners in one way or another. We’re the lucky ones. Carlotta sits in her Room and I sit in mine. We talk to people all day every day. There are so many house guests that we lose track of time.”

“But there can only be thirteen house guests at a time.” Mave said.

Sharlene took one look at her and laughed, a big belly roll that came from her toes to be released. The entire time, not a drop of tea spilled. The laughter stopped as quickly as it started and she took a sip of her tea quietly. “You don’t watch reality television, do you dear?”

Mave shook her head. “I read a lot. I don’t have television at home, but I do watch it on my SAED. I’m usually working too much to watch television.” She blushed, even though she knew that each citizen was required by law to watch a certain amount per day. Most of it was propaganda, so she could leave her SAED device on at prescribed times and read a book instead. It was what had landed her in this mess in the first place. They had installed camera’s on the new SAED devices.

They just forgot to mention that, as well as taking great pictures and video, their SAED device came complete with a two way camera. They could see everyone. She had not been watching. It was deemed okay to knit, sew, eat, copulate and masturbate while watching a scheduled program, but you still had to watch. Mave had gotten away with it for a while. That was okay. There were worse things. She wondered if she was about to experience them.

“It’s all right, dear. It doesn’t matter now in any case. The thing is, each room is different. Sometimes you will have a part to play; sometimes it will be something that can harm you. You must maintain the character you’ve established in the other Rooms, the ones on the way here. You must make the public love you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Mave nodded. “Carlotta mentioned that I had the will to last.”

Regarding her with a raised eyebrow, she lifted up her SAED device and read the screen. Mave figured that it was her file. Her suspicions were confirmed when the older woman looked up with a smile. “You will have to work together with others sometimes. They vary how they do it or how they set the rooms up ahead of time. Some of the rooms will require you to come into interaction with other people. You are not to communicate to them beyond the usual idle chit chat to get the task done. Do you understand?

“I got landed in here for those books, too.” She said. “But I don’t care. The story was worth it, you know?” Sharlene took a sip of tea and put down her cup. “In that case, why don’t we drink to something?”

She waved a hand and the tea disappeared to be replaced by two tumblers of a light brown liquid. Sharlene raised hers as Mave raised her own. “Cheers,”

Mave took a sip and the liquid warmed her all the way through. “What did you mean, about you being a prisoner?”

“All of us who work in these Rooms are prisoners, just not like you. We’ve all fought in Rooms and survived. We caught the Guiding House of Light’s eyes, you know? So they plucked us out of the game and put us in our separate Rooms. It’s not a bad way to live, really.” She motioned around them with her glass. “We do not age. I have been here so long that they allow me my creature comforts.”