"Mercy me!" said Kelly. "So am I. Let's go to lunch, Matt."
II ELIMINATION PROCESS
MATTES INSTBUCTIONS told him to mess at table 147, East Refectory. A map on the back of the sheet showed where East Refectory was; unfortunately he did not know where Matt was-he had gotten turned around in the course of the morning's rat race. He ran into no one at first but august personages in the midnight black of officers of the Patrol and he could not bring himself to stop one of them.
Eventually he got oriented by working back to the rotunda and starting over, but it made him about ten minutes late. He walked down an endless line of tables, searching for number 147 and feeling very conspicuous. He was quite pink by the time he located it.
There was a cadet at the head of the table; the others wore the coveralls of candidates. The cadet looked up and said, "Sit down, mister-over there on the right. Why are you late?"
Matt gulped. "I got lost, sir."
Someone tittered. The cadet sent a cold glance down the table. "You. You with the silly horse laugh-what's your name?"
"Uh, Schultz, sir."
"Mister Schultz, there is nothing funny about an honest answer. Have you never been lost?"
"Why- Well, uh, once or twice, maybe."
"Hm ... I shall be interested in seeing your work in astrogation, if you get that far." The cadet turned back to Matt. "Aren't you hungry? What's your name?"
"Yes, sir. Matthew Dodson, sir." Matt looked hurriedly at the controls in front of him, decided against soup, and punched the "entree," "dessert," and "milk" buttons. The cadet was still watching him as the table served him.
"I am Cadet Sabbatello. Don't you like soup, Mr. Dodson?"
"Yes, sir, but I was in a hurry."
"There's no hurry. Soup is good for you." Cadet Sabbatello stretched an arm and punched Mart's "soup" button. "Besides, it gives the chef a chance to clean up the galley." The cadet turned away, to Mart's relief. He ate heartily. The soup was excellent, but the rest of the meal seemed dull compared with what he had been used to at home.
He kept his ears open. One remark of the cadet stuck in his memory. "Mr. van Zook, in the Patrol we never ask a man where he is from. It is all right for Mr. Romolus to volunteer that he comes from Manila; it is incorrect for you to ask him."
The afternoon was jammed with tests; intelligence, muscular control, reflex, reaction time, sensory response. Others required him to do two or more things at once. Some seemed downright silly. Matt did the best he could.
He found himself at one point entering a room containing nothing but a large, fixed chair. A loudspeaker addressed him: "Strap yourself into the chair. The grips on the arms of the chair control a spot of light on the wall. When the lights go out, you will see a lighted circle. Center your spot of light in the circle and keep it centered."
Matt strapped himself down. A bright spot of light appeared on the wall in front of him. He found that the control in his right hand moved the spot up and down, while the one in his left hand moved it from side to side. "Easy!" Matt told himself. "I wish they would start."
The lights in the room went out; the lighted target circle bobbed slowly up and down. He found it not too difficult to bring his spot of light into the circle and match the bobbing motion.
Then his chair turned upside down.
When he recovered from his surprise at finding himself hanging head down in the dark, he saw that the spot of light had drifted away from the circle. Frantically he brought them together, swung past and had to correct.
The chair swung one way, the circle another, and a loud explosion took place at his left ear. The chair bucked and teetered; a jolt of electricity convulsed his hands and he lost j the circle entirely.
Matt began to get sore. He forced his spot back to the circle and nailed it. "Gotcha!" ;
Smoke poured through the room, making him cough, ' watering his eyes, and veiling the target. He squinted and; hung on grimly, intent only on hanging onto that pesky circle of light-through more explosions, screaming painful) noise, flashing lights, wind in his eyes, and endless, crazy emotions of his chair. '
Suddenly the room lights flared up, and the mechanical 1 voice said: "Test completed. Carry out your next assignment."
Once he was given a handful of beans and a small bottle, and was told to sit down and place the bottle at a mark on ;,-the floor and locate in his mind the exact position of the ; bottle. Then he was to close his eyes and drop the beans one at a time into the bottle-if possible.
He could tell from the sound that he was not making many hits, but he was mortified to find, when he opened his eyes, that only one bean rested in the bottle.
He hid the bottom of his bottle in his fist and queued up at the examiner's desk. Several of those lined up had a goodly number of beans in their bottles, although he noted two with no beans at all. Presently he handed his bottle to the examiner. "Dodson, Matthew, sir. One bean."
The examiner noted it without comment. Matt blurted out, "Excuse me, sir- but what's to keep a person from cheating by peeking?"
The examiner smiled. "Nothing at all. Go on to your next test."
Matt left, grumbling. It did not occur to him that he might not know what was being tested.
Late in the day he was ushered into a cubbyhole containing a chair, a gadget mounted on a desk, pencil and paper, and framed directions.
"If any score from a previous test," Matt read, "appears in the window marked SCORE, return the starting lever to the position marked NEUTRAL to clear the board for your test."
Matt found the window labeled "SCORE"; it had a score showing in it-"37." Well, he thought, that gives me a mark to shoot at. He decided not to clear the board until he had read the instructions.
"After the test starts," he read, "a score of T will result each time you press the lefthand button except as otherwise provided here below. Press the lefthand button whenever the red light appears provided the green light is not lighted as well except that no button should be pressed when the righthand gate is open unless all lights are out. If the right-hand gate is open and the lefthand gate is closed, no score will result from pressing any button, but the lefthand button must nevertheless be pressed under these circumstances if all other conditions permit a button to be pressed before any score may be made in succeeding phases of the test. To put out the green light, press the righthand button. If the lefthand gate is not closed, no button may be pressed. If the lefthand gate is closed while the red light is lighted, do not press the lefthand button if the green light is out unless the righthand gate is open. To start the test move the starting lever from neutral all the way to the right. The test runs for two minutes from the time you move the starting lever to the right. Study these instructions, then select your own time for commencing the test. You are not permitted to ask questions of the examiner, so be sure that you understand the instructions. Make as high a score as possible."
"Whew!" said Matt.
Still, the test looked simple-one lever, two pushbuttons, two colored lights, two little gates. Once he mastered the instructions, it would be as easy as flying a kite, and a durn sight simpler than flying a copter!-Matt had had his copter license since he was twelve. He got to work.
First, he told himself, there seems to be just two ways to make a score, one with the red light on and one with both lights out and one gate open.
Now for the other instructions- Let's see, if the lefthand gate is not closed- no, if the lefthand gate is closed-he stopped and read them over again.
Some minutes later he had sixteen possible positions of gates and conditions of lights listed. He checked them against the instructions, Seeking scoring combinations. When he was through he stared at the result, then checked everything over again.
After rechecking he stared at the paper, whistled tunelessly, and scratched his head. Then he picked up the paper, left the booth, and went to the examiner.