"Best we eat these and savor it, we may not have food as delicious as this once we become explorers." Josh advised. Eating slower than me and Oliver who are wolfing down the food.
As we finished our last bites, Josh too was finishing up, somehow at a slower pace he managed to finish it just as we did.
"So far what task do you guys want to have? Not sure if we can choose but hey, just wanna know." Oliver asks us.
"I guess a guard won't be too hard." Josh replied.
"Hope you did some lifting before we got here, Josh don't want to be rude but you look skin and bones like us, except you're thinner." Oliver mocked Josh.
"Being thin has an advantage, at least i don't have to stop and take deep breaths every couple seconds when running Oliver, gotta work on your cardio."
"Hey, that was before." Oliver sighed, "What about you Edmund, what do you want to be?"
So far i didn't think of what place i want to have. Never though of having a specialty in the group, just going along with everything.
"Don't know." I replied to them, unsure of what task i can even do in the exploration group.
"Well if the commander will hand out the tasks themselves, we'll see what your job would be."
"Oliv you didn't say what task you would do," Josh interrupted.
"A supplier, atleast my weight can be an advantage, i can carry more equipment than us. Unlike you." Oliver playfully jabs at Josh's arm.
The bell rings, the arms go down to get the empty trays and we head back to the medical classroom.
Back inside and on our seats from before, the screen now showed gear, supposedly the gear for climbing. 2 devices that looked like axes.
Everyone sat down in their seats and the teacher emerged, prepared to speak.
"On your explorations, you are sure to face mountains or higher areas. Where one wrong step may spell death. When you return you may find a smaller satchel containing ropes, locks, and 2 of these." The teacher points at the picture.
"These are called climbing picks, back when we first started off they were called ice picks. But due to the lack of snow or ice found. Rumored to only reside above the clouds, they were repurposed to latch onto dirt, rock, and mud. All that must be done to use this," The teacher takes out a dirt pick.
"Grip it firmly and hit it into the dirt, you will learn more next week since we'll start using the equipment." The picture changes into a hole, a hole in the open field of dirt.
"We got more and more reports of these types of holes. After being examined, the holes will slowly consume anything that falls into it. It may look like a puddle of mud in the whole. But stepping inside, it's almost impossible to escape. The only way to escape from it is brute force, if you're lucky enough to only have your leg or a small part of your body fall into the hole. It is unknown to what makes these holes. But at all costs avoid them, and document on your findings in the mapping systems given to you."
A new picture went onto the screen, a blurry picture. I can faintly make out a group of explorers, but most of the picture was consumed by brown.
"This is a picture taken from an exploration group undergoing a dirt storm. Not only is cold an issue but heavy winds like this can form, they will blind you and potentially make you move away from your group. In an event this happens, the group commander will take out a pole like this," Pulling out a pole the teacher has no problem in holding it, looking to be 3 times his height. After showing it, the pole emits a very bright green light, even from here i can see it, shining so light even partially illuminating the entire massive room. After shining it for a few seconds, the teacher promptly shuts the light off. And retracted it down, now the pole reached to his hip.
"Apologies if i hurt any of your eyes. But once a dirt storm occurs, the leader will use this pole, all explorers must stay close to this pole. The main thing to do is to stay as close as possible, huddle together if you must, but you need to stay close to the green light to prevent getting lost. But in the event you get lost, the dirt storm may hinder the tracker, though it will still have a chance to work under the storm's conditions."
New picture on screen, what appears to be something dropping everywhere.
"Before, water used to fall from the sky but now. A toxic liquid called acid falls from the sky. In the early days these rains would cause detrimental damage to our city, but through time it no longer became an issue but even something people would look at to relax. Now the acid rain itself is no longer an issue with our improved technology the attire you will all wear have resistance against this, it is still advised that whenever an acid rain begins, to either begin moving faster or seek shelter."
"Lastly, we'll discuss rationing. It is advised that you take sips from the water and food capsules sparingly when you feel hungry and thirsty. It is likely that you will be assigned to a long range expedition exploration group opposed to an expansion group. In this case, rationing must be taken into consideration as you will be far from the city, and you won't be harvesting any food and water from the brown lands. Again take sips from your canisters sparingly when you feel hunger and thirst, once you feel they are satisfied then stop sipping from the tubes to conserve supply. Suppliers will carry more capsules in case you ran out of capsules in your own backpacks."
The bell rings out after the explanation, concluding the lesson.
"Alright, you can find the lessons you learned in the tablets given. That ends our medical class today, these lessons will help or even save your lives so hopefully you listened attentively. See you next week where you will interact with the equipment given. Please bring the bags you received next week as you will need it for each class.
The class ended for today, we exited through the door.
Chatter began while we walked.
"Well it's time for dinner, wonder what we get." Oliver pondered.
Sitting on the tables, we awaited dinner. The tray went down, on it is a steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, and rice. It came with a spoon fork and knife.
The meals in this place seem only fit for the higher ranked members of our society, but it does suit us for the risk were about to take after the training. Taste, delicious as ever. Josh took spoonfuls on his tray while me and Oliver ate it, quickly downing each spoon and fork of food.
"You guys seriously need to slow down on eating, like what the teacher said. You gotta ration your food, even if were not in an exploration yet. Starting now can help." Josh advised while we ate. Unsure if Oliver even heard him or he's too busy on eating. Guess i can take Josh's advice, better to savor the food and start eating slower, to practice rationing. I slowed down on eating, now eating spoonfuls slower than Oliver who shows no signs of stopping.
"Atleast Edmund listens to my advice." Josh commented.
Oliver finishes his meal before us, quietly burping after.
"Sorry I'll just wait till you two are done." Oliver said.
A few minutes after he finished. Josh and I finished our own trays, feeling more satisfied after eating than before. The trays went up, students began walking out to their quarters through the door. The city outside the building was dark, streetlights down below illuminated the whole street with some lights next to the rails of trains up in the air.
Back in the room, i take out my tablet, on it is the medical lessons from earlier with the lessons of survival yesterday. At the foot of my bed, a pair of the dirt picks the teacher mentioned with a satchel lying on top of them, looking inside, it's a red black striped rope with some locks inside. Viewing the schedule, tomorrow is navigation, wonder what we will learn there. Josh switches off the lights, we all started to doze off. Awaiting the next day for our next class.
"Not only will we walk through the brown lands but climb as well? You know what, maybe Josh does have an advantage there as well. Hope i can handle the extra weight while climbing simultaneously." Oliver commented. Josh laughed a little after the comment.
Closing my eyes, the day ends, tomorrow will be a new day for us to learn of a new subject. A day closer to us becoming explorers.