Mission Spongecury

5: Alex

The monitor shows it's time for my conversation, I will finally get to hear I will get the task in politics. I walk into the office knowing I will get the best news I ever received.

"Alex, welcome, take place", the cyborg says.

I take place on the chair set up for this conversation.

The cyborg starts with telling how I scored on the exams, "Alex, you did the exam incredibly well, maybe better than everyone else. That's a big surprise, normally you score just sufficient or insufficient on tests. You made especially the parts about politics and history well."

After I heard the cyborg telling that, I'm only more sure I will get the task I want.

The cyborg continues, "But when we looked at your answer to the last question, we discovered something. As you know, or better said, as you do not know, the last question was an open question."

What is he talking about? It was always said the exam consists of multiple choice questions only. How is it possible there was an open question?

The cyborg says, "When we looked at your answer, it said: 'ERROR, not programmed to answer open questions.'. I and my colleagues, the other cyborg, see this as evidence you have a talent for hacking which also allowed you to do the exam really well."

Oh no, they discovered it, why didn't my smartphone receive a notification that something went wrong?

But they discovered it, does this mean I won't get the task in politics? Which task will I get now? Cleaning?

The cyborg tells me, "As you are probably thinking, this means you won't get a task in politics, the task you would usually get with these results. We decided you will be part of the inventing team."

This doesn't make any sense at all! They really put me in the inventors team, that is for nerds, I'm not a nerd and I will never be one! I pick up the laptop which was used to show my results and without thinking I throw it in the direction of the cyborg's head. The cyborg falls onto the ground. I would expect the cyborg to be stronger than that, probably it was an older model.

I walk to the cyborg, on the side of his head there is a big damage, a deep fracture. The cyborg has a self-healing ability, he stands up again and the fracture immediately seems to be less bad, it looks like someone lasered it.

Right now, I really hope the walls are soundproof, so nobody will have heard the bang. But I think that isn't the case, the offices are quite old.

What if everyone starts talking about it, gossiping, I wouldn't be able to handle that.

The cyborg says, "Alex, what you just did is not acceptable and will not be tolerated, you will be punished. When the meeting tomorrow ends, a colleague will take you to the cells, you will spend the whole week there. You will keep the task of being an inventor, but when something similar happens, you will get another task, the task of cleaning. Or worse, you will have to spend the rest of your life in prison."

What did I do! I can't truly go to the cells for one week and be imprisoned. I didn't even know there are cells on the vehicle, they are probably never used.

What will others think when they discover I have to go to the cells? What will happen to my reputation?

The cyborg says, "This was the conversation, do you have any questions?"

I ask, "Is there any chance I will still get a task in politics?"

"No, nobody gets that chance, and you especially won't after what you just did. I hope you realise you would have to spend years or your whole life in the cells if you made worse destructions, Be happy you still got the task of being an inventor."

How will I ever be happy with that? What does the robot think? I rush out of the office. A friend, Nick, comes to meet me.

He says, "Yo bro, that was a loud bang, did you cause that?"

He can't be serious, that means probably everyone heard that, I'm in trouble, big trouble!

I shout, "Leave me alone!"

I run to my room. On my way, two girls see me, they start whispering. Or better said, they start gossiping, a bit too loud. I hear one of them say, "He's the one causing that bang, right?"

The other one says, "He has probably got the task og cleaner."

I hear them laugh after that. Apparently the gossiping already started when I was still in the office. I only didn't know it would be this bad, they think I will be a cleaner, my life is terrible.

I really hope not everyone thinks that. I also hope nobody knows I have to go to the cells, that would be disastrous.

As soon as I'm in my room, I close the door and close it. Nobody may see me like this, it would make the gossiping worse. And what if others discover I have to go to the cells? They will be disgusted by me.

Is there even information about the cells? I pick up my iPad and search for the cells in the list of locations. I immediately get a search result.

I open it and find lots of information. There are pictures, it looks older than the offices. I also see how long cell punishments are based on what you did, luckily my crime is nothing compared to others. You can get lifelong if you commit murder or try to crash the vehicle.

Scrolling down, I notice something different, a list noting all the prisoners. There are no names yet, but probably my name will be there. Luckily the duration of imprisonment is also noted, so others will at least know I didn't kill anybody.

Somebody knocks on my door and shouts, "Alex, you can not lock yourself up in your room! Open the door bro!"

That's Nick, but does he seriously think I will open the door for him, in his dreams!

I shout, "Just go away!"

"Why would I, I'm your best friend!"

"I just want time for myself, you will discover why soon enough."

I hear footsteps leaving, I'm happy he listened when I asked him to leave.

I wish I don't have to go to the meeting tomorrow morning. Everybody will see me and will gossip about me. But I will have to go, let's hope it's less bad than I expect.