The barbecue was already in full swing out the back of the main building by the time Stacey got back.
"Welcome back, Stacey."
"I'm glad you're back with us."
Various members of the production crew welcomed Stacey back warmly.
"Oh, Big Boss, I could kiss you!" Mindy flew over to give Stacey a hug and looked up at the taller Mr Huo.
"I'll accept the thanks but not the kiss," Mr Huo held a hand up to prevent Mindy from coming anywhere near him. He used Stacey as a shield, pushing her into Mindy. "Bring her to eat."
"Mwah, Boss," Mindy sent him an air kiss and took Stacey by the arm, leading her away. "Goodness, Stacey, you gave us all a fright. We all freaked out when word got out that you'd been chased away by Marvel. Aaron came to tell us and we staged a protest. It was a good thing Big Boss had arrived by then and Loafer had already run after you so that we wouldn't lose you. We lobbied hard and then Big Boss went out to fetch you himself. We only needed to show him a few choice shots that we'd taken of you today and he raced off, saying he couldn't lose such a good seedling. It also probably helped that you'd lost yourself on the ring road. Not that you could get lost on a ring road."
"I feel so stupid," Stacey covered her face, wanting to explain but feeling too ashamed to say much. What kind of an idiot couldn't tell when they were walking in circles? Maybe she was just too tired and upset. Yes. That was what it was. "I thought I'd even left the cameraman behind but then there he was."
"I admit," Mindy said with a crooked smile, "that is embarrassing, but I'm so glad you're back. Tonton and I went shopping for some clothes and things for you earlier. Most of the other kids at least brought their own inner wear and we wanted you to have a bit more individuality than just the plain uniforms that you'll wear during the massed training sessions. Can you believe it? You're the only one who literally only brought yourself. We got some cute stuff and casual wear from the the clothing brands sponsoring the program. Tonton is sure you're going to love them. I got you your pyjamas and under clothes, in case you're wondering. You can go check it out later. The ladies were surprised when you never turned up in their room earlier and argued with Marvel when they heard he'd chased you away. Even Orlan who doesn't have a great opinion of you seemed concerned about your safety. He'd never admit it though. It's not his style. Keeps all his real feelings close to his chest, that one. Don't expect to ever get an apology from him. Or Marvel. I recommend you just do your best to stay out of Marvel's way. At least until he calms down. The Big Boss literally cut him down to size by cutting his pay and transferred the guardianship to himself. That's an awesome victory on your part if you ask me. I'm so jealous. Big Boss is your guardian now. He always takes good care of his people."
"I don't want to get on Marvel's bad side though," Stacey said, letting herself be sat at a table. "I don't want to get on anyone's bad side."
"I wouldn't worry. Marvel doesn't keep grudges. He's a huge sucker for talent. He'll come round. Once he sees how amazing you are, he'll start greeting you with a smile again. You sit there and get started on these test papers," Mindy said, pulling a stack of papers over from where they had been sitting next to the wall and thrust a pen into Stacey's hand. Orlan was sitting on the other side of the table. "Orlan is keeping an eye on you so that you can't cheat, although I don't know what you would cheat with. He'll keep people away until you're done. I'll bring you some food so that you can eat as you go if you want. I'd let you do this after dinner but I want you to have some time to make friends and mingle. Take your time. No rush. We're not timing you or anything."
Stacey sighed at the stack of papers. Orlan nodded at her and signalled for her to start. He was eating a salad with grilled chicken breast while he watched. The smell made Stacey's stomach growl.
Stacey opened the first booklet. It was a math booklet. Not too hard. She felt that she would do reasonably well for most of the questions… until the questions got harder and harder. Stacey hadn't thought that she was this bad at maths. She hadn't learnt some of this stuff. High school math had been a few years ago now and this seemed harder than what she remembered. In the end, she left five of the pages at the back of the booklet blank. She couldn't even make head or tails of the later worded questions or what she was meant to do. Quartics and finding the area of bell curve graphs had her scratching her memory. Never mind these matrices, conversions of base numbers and logarithms.
The next booklet was science. It covered several general areas of science, including chemistry, physics and biology. There were even some questions on anatomy or that seemed very technical or medical. She had never heard of some of the theories or equations mentioned. She'd heard about gravity and time relativity but calculating it? How was she meant to know the processes by which the chemical elements could be obtained when given a random sample? Not to mention, she'd forgotten everything about equilibrium equations. What neutrotransmitters were inhibiters of a particular cell membrane protein? How should she know?
Gritting her teeth, Stacey just did what she could. These weren't all high school questions at all. Surely they were testing her with university level knowledge here? Did they have a misunderstanding of her potential ability? Were they expecting her to turn out to be a genius when she'd told them she didn't remember ever going to school?
Next was an English test. Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and essay writing. She could do that. No sweat. They just used slightly different vocabulary from what she was used to.
Then there was a booklet in Tadpole script. Both the pictogram and cuneiform scripts. Seeing as Stacey couldn't even read, not to mention understand it, she just flipped through it and then put it to one side.
Next came geography and history. Stacey made a face. She managed to answer a few of the simple geography questions about types of rocks and land formations, but that was it. As for history, it had Tadpole script scattered through the majority of it such that Stacey decided to just forget it. All the keywords were in Tadpole and she had no idea about any of the important people or places mentioned.
Finally, there was a booklet that seemed to be filled with various types of brain teaser like puzzles, shapes and patterns. It was filled with logic type questions, a smattering of ethics and what looked like professional interaction type questions. Questions ranged through a huge range of topics and seemed more like an aptitude test than anything else. Stacey wasn't that great at this kind of stuff but she did her best if the questions were in English. She skipped the Tadpole questions.
On one page of this booklet, Stacey was asked to translate or flip shapes. On other pages were number patterns, illusions and a series of questions that seemed to test her inductive and deductive reasoning. Some of the questions really hurt Stacey's brain. Her mind was already in overdrive. Much more and her brain might end up completely scrambled.
There was a section that asked her to draw and shade things in. Stacey left this to last. It was far more relaxing than all those other questions. She did a drawing of some people eating at another table when asked to draw something she could see. For another question, she drew the wood grain of the table in front of her. She shaded in a picture pattern to show the light coming from a specific direction and played spot the difference.
While she drew, she nibbled on a sausage lathered with sauce in a salad bun. The bread didn't seem to be made with wheat. It was interesting and different but Stacey didn't have the time to pay attention to it. Every now and then, she took a sip of what tasted like watered down cordial, the flavour of which she couldn't place. Not that it mattered. She wanted to get all these tests done and out of the way.
When she put her pen down with a big sigh of relief, Stacey realised that the mentors and some of the staff were already poring over her booklets and correcting them. Stacey stretched her neck and arms. That was when she discovered that she still had a plate of food that had been left by her elbow that she hadn't even noticed. It was cold but Stacey gnawed on what looked and tasted like a lamb chop happily, while she observed what else was going on in the dining hall.