After stuffing myself with food, I felt much better.

It’s good to ache sometimes, anyways. It’s a way of your body telling you that you’re working hard!

Anyway, this was pretty much my routine. I’d hop from class to class, with some cafetaria and infirmary visits along the way.

Before long, a year had passed, and the thirteen of us who remained stood before the officer.

“Congratulations on graduating, agents. You are the result of a year’s worth of intense training. As you’ve seen from your Life:Life systems, you’ve been getting your fair share of pay and benefits — you’ll be able to use them once you leave this training facility.

“But, there is still one thing left to do before our time together is over. Come, step on this platform with me.”

Eh?

The thirteen of us looked at each other. We hadn’t noticed a platform of any kind, before. Not sure of what to do, everyone looked at me.

Acting time!

I confidently strode forward until I was just about face to face with the officer.

“J, you’re not on the platform yet. It’s behind me.”

“...Ah.”

As soon as everyone was on the platform, it rose out of the ground, towards the ceiling. At the same time, the ceiling opened up, to show another rooftop.

But this one was see-through.

And that was a big problem, see, as all of us could instantly tell.

We weren’t on Earth!

All of us could feel something else, too. We felt… light!

The officer spoke up. “As you can see, we’re not on Earth, but Mars. This is the task you will have before you’re allowed to return to Earth. As you can feel, the gravity on Mars is much lower than that of Earth. The strength of gravity on Earth can be expressed as acceleration, at 9.807 meters per second squared. On Mars, it’s only 3.711 meters per second squared. 

He grinned, and we all instinctively recoiled. Over the past year, we’d learned the hard way that the drill sergeant's grin was a harbinger of bad things to come.

“This here, is your final test. One of adaptability. Down below, we’d been using artificial means to match the gravity you experienced to that of Earth’s. However, here on the surface, the gravity is much lower. You’ll have to adapt to it — and quickly. Each of you will be given an energy pistol. Don’t worry, none of them are lethal, but they pack enough of a punch to knock you out of commission for your return back to Earth.” The drill sergeant explained.

His grin grew even wider as he continued. “Now, there are two options. You can choose to fight, as a group of thirteen, against those who graduated last year. As you may recall, you’re our third class of operatives. Last year’s was our second, and only eight survived last year’s training. We’ve brought them back, except one who is currently completing a task. If you win, you’ll all receive a raise of twenty percent.”

As he spoke, a second platform rose from below, revealing seven figures. Just their shapes were rather interesting. There were two petite females, a rather short and stocky male, three tall and fit males, and one giant who towered above the rest.

“Or… you can choose to fight as a group of twelve against last year’s graduates, with J put on a third team. If you win, you’ll all receive a raise of forty percent, as well as VVIP status for a year. The caveat is that if you choose this option, J will wear a suit that amplifies electric energy. In other words, if he’s defeated, he will die. If he wins, he will get double the paycheck.

“So. You have five minutes to choose. Get to it. J, come over here.”

The officer walked, or rather, hopped to a point equidistant from the other trainees and last year’s graduates.

“Surprised, J?”

I shook my head. “Not really. From the moment you chose to single me out at the start of training, I figured something would be coming. I actually expected something to happen much sooner, actually.”

He nodded. “Good. What do you think your team will choose?”

I frowned. “You gave them quite the incentive, as well as a substantial advantage in numbers. There’s almost no reason for them not to choose to betray me, so I believe they will.”

The officer grunted. “Good. What’s your plan, then?”

“I don’t know, if I’m being honest. You said that they’d have to defeat me as well as last year’s graduates, right? I think I’m going to try and ally with the graduates.”

“It’s difficult to form relationships with foreign parties.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

After five minutes, the drill sergeant shouted for attention. “Alright, times up! What’s your decision?”

The physically strongest of our group of trainees, a twenty-four year old by the name of Joshua, stood forward.

“Sir, we would like to compete against Jim, as well as last year’s graduates.”

“You’re sure.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright then. Get suited and meet back in five. You’ll see your starting positions.”

It was the result I’d expected, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t hurt by the team’s decision. After all, we’d spent an entire year living and braving hell together.

It’d felt like we’d established some bonds — but their decision clearly showed how weak those bonds had been.

Broken, just for some money.

Maybe that was the lesson C Systems was trying to teach us, here. I’d noticed about half a year in, that most of the stranger lessons and trainings we’d suffered through held some underlying message about the finer points of human interaction.

Was this another one?

Path updated.

I followed the magic blue line on the ground to a locker room, where I found a full combat suit. This one, though, was colored bright red. Most likely the modified suit that the drill sergeant had spoken of.

Seeing it, I sighed.

…

A few minutes later, my team, last year’s graduates, and I stood in a triangular formation. Each party was about a hundred yards from the others. As we waited, walls and other objects rose from beneath the floor, making the field of battle similar to a maze.

Cover.

And a great deal of it, too. Given that I was at ground level, I couldn’t see exactly how much cover there was on the field, but from what I’d seen, there was a lot.

Most importantly, though, was that there were several layers of defense between me and both teams, and neither had sight of me.

C Systems hadn’t forsaken me, after all.