Death As We Know It

CINQ: LE PANNEAU

The room had an abnormally large, high free-standing roof and walls that seemed to stretch for miles. All in the same dull shade of blue on our identification cards that we had used to gain entry to the convention hall that the showcase was being held in.

Maybe showcase was a bit too kind a word for whatever the four of us had gotten ourselves into. It was more of a commune. Science and maths nerds gathered together to see who would be crowned the coveted elite for the year, until they were forgotten again, as if they had never existed in the first place.

Ahmet and Journ stood together, silently surveying the room with a coldly detached air. This wasn't their first time here together, but it would be there last, with Ahmet being in his third year of college. He and I were leaving next May. Or well, I was anyway. Ahmet was doing this sort of program where you do college and medical school in about six or seven years, so he would technically still be a student of the school, but he wouldn't be attending the classes.

Yevan and I stood detached from everyone else, gazing around the room in poorly-disguised wonder. Hundreds, if not thousands of chairs had been set up along the area of the room, providing a seat for every one of the aforementioned science and maths nerds. A special seating area for the students who had entered had been set to the side of the stage, so we all had a clear view of those who had the potential to ruin our chances. Some of the other competitors (a better word for them) looked as if they were expecting to win by default. A few looked as if they didn't know what they had gotten themselves into.

The presentations began without much fanfare. Everyone took their seats, and the first project was set up. It was a new, more convenient form of SOS signaling.

"As you can see," Said the person with the microphone, whose card that he had hung as a lanyard around his neck identified as Liam Miller. "The canister is designed to fit into any pocket or bag, making it easy to bring anywhere that poses a potential threat to your safety." He pressed a button on the side of the cylindrical device. It was some sort of high pitched whine, before emitting dozens of balls of light, which Liam then controlled by waving the device around in the direction he wanted them to zoom in. One flew directly past my face, nearly blinding me.

"They're incredibly bright, and impossible to ignore. Plus, they're solar paneled, with a backup battery, meaning that they'll never run out. From now on, you can rest easy knowing that wherever you're stranded, wherever in the world, you will be found. Thank you."

He took a quick bow and gathered his things, before stepping off of the stage and sitting a row behind us in a chair marked YALE. He shot me a grin when he noticed me looking, his face red and slightly shimmering with nervous sweat, his blond hair tousled.

I watched the next few contestants pass by, none really sticking out to me all that much. I realised that it was just as well that Estella hadn't won for NEC, she would've been completely alienated from these academic projects, but maybe that was a good thing. As the other contestants fumbled their words and dropped note cards, Ahmet leaned in and whispered to me,

"The only real competition is Yale," I glanced back at Liam Miller. "The others don't hold a candle to us."

The crowd and panel seemed to prefer projects and inventions that had a use, that had the ability to help people, rather than a new biodegradable confetti. (Thank you, Sherri Tomelson, Next.)

Finally, after what seemed like hours (and probably was), the last contestant set to go before us stepped off of the stage, muttering thanks all the while, and it was our turn.

My body felt as if it was made of lead as I ascended the steps to the stage, but I wasn't nervous. The four of us had planned this out as soon as we got the letter, drawing on Ahmet and Journ's knowledge of the venue and stage to plan where everyone would be at any given moment. Only Ahmet and I would be on the stage for the beginning, and I saw him on the opposite side of the dais, waiting. I took the microphone, and cleared my throat.