Chapter 3: Round 2
Again, Satoshi found himself in the big room with the two-way mirror. Although early in the morning, no one seemed tired. Quite the opposite. Everyone seemed wide awake, anxious or excited, or perhaps both. Whoever makes it through the next round gets food. Satoshi thought, trying not to think about the last time someone gave him food. At the same time, Satoshi was suspicious of anyone who would give them food for nothing in return but a few hours of their time. It felt unnatural.
Click, click, click. Satoshi heard the familiar sound of Gale’s heels. Satoshi turned to face the direction she was walking from. Like yesterday, her hair was brushed, her face looked smooth, healthy, and well rested. Satoshi felt less irritated by her appearance. It seemed like everyone from Bitconica was well-nourished, if not downright healthy. Satoshi tried to suppress any hope that maybe that could be him too. They’re offering a very dangerous thing. There’s almost nothing these people, myself included, wouldn’t do to be fed every day and sleep safely every night.
“Welcome back,” Gale said with a smile. “Today, we begin with round 2. However, I feel we should inform you that last night after the first round, some of the remaining applicants became violent. There were a few fatalities as a result. We disqualified anyone who took part in the altercation. At Bitonica, we will not tolerate acts of violence against each other. This is a company of unity. If anyone in here thinks this will be a problem, we invite you to leave now.” Gale’s smile faltered only momentarily when she spoke. Of course there was more death. You’re offering security, and everyone in this room is a threat to one another. Everyone looked around but no one moved. If anyone was going to kill, they just wouldn’t do it near Bitonica. It’s not like Bitonica would know whether anyone failed to return or why. “Now, let’s talk about round 2. We are going to show you a short presentation as an introduction to computers. After the presentation, we will hand everyone a test that asks about the presentation and questions about the application of the concepts. That will conclude the first part of round 2. The top 100 scores will be taken for the second part of round 2. At that point, each of you will be divided into teams. We will show you another short presentation. Afterwards, you and your group will compete against the other teams to test your ability to apply the concepts you’ve learned in real life. The remaining top 3 teams will move on to tomorrow’s qualification round. Tomorrow will conclude the application process. But we’ll discuss that more once round 2 is complete,” Gale explained. Certainly vague with the information, thought Satoshi. “Now then, if you will please follow the security guards into the next room, we will begin the presentation.”
The presentation was anything but short. Satoshi managed to stay engaged for the first hour, at the second hour, his eyes began wandering around the room to look at the other applicants surrounding him. During the third hour, any residual adrenaline from the morning was gone, and began feeling drowsy. He did his best to listen about computer basics: turning the computer on, turning it off, turning a monitor on, finding the right programs, and typing. By the end of the presentation, Satoshi was practically drooling on himself. When the lights were turned back on, Satoshi woke with a start. Well this can’t be good. Satoshi was certain that he hadn’t paid enough attention to take a test on whatever the video showed, since he’d stopped paying attention so early on.
The applicants were led to yet another room with long tables and chairs. They were instructed to fill every other chair, probably to deter cheating. They were told that each test had 100 questions, and each test had randomized questions in a random order, another method to deter cheating. They would have 90 minutes to complete the test, less than one minute to answer each question. They were told to answer each question the best they could and to guess on the questions where they weren’t sure. When they completed the test, they were to flip their answers over and someone would pick them up.
“Begin,” commanded Gale. Satoshi looked over the first question, “True or False, to use the internet, a computer must be connected to a router that has an internet connection.” True. Satoshi answered. He remembered hearing something from the presentation with those words. Question 2: “ethernet” is a piece of networking technology that allows a person to access the internet from anywhere at anytime, without attachment to a cord.” False. The questions became harder as the test progressed. When time was called, Satoshi had only finished three-fourths of the test, and guessed on the rest of the questions. Well, I guess that’s it. What a waste of time. Satoshi was certain that he would never make it to the next half of the round. As he looked around, it appeared that everyone felt that way too.
The results came back quickly, Satoshi guessed Bitonica had a machine for that too.
“Thank you for your patience.” Gale said, smiling as always. “I will call out the names of those who qualified from this room. Those who do not make it, we thank you for your time and encourage you to apply again if a need ever arises. A security member will escort you out individually.” After yesterday’s fiasco, I’m sure they’re nervous about a riot erupting, Satoshi thought grimly. He wasn’t much of a fighter, and in a confined space like this, he probably wouldn’t make it long during a full out blood-bath. Gale began calling out names, and each name was not Satoshi’s. “Louise Carmichael, Michael Young, Benjamin Wells . . . that is the end of the list. Thank you again, for all those . . .” Satoshi stopped listening, as he guessed, his name wasn’t called. He was disqualified and that was it. Suddenly, a man stood up from the center of the crowd.
“No! This isn’t right! You’re sending us back out there to die!” Everyone turned to face him. The smile on Gale’s face disappeared.
“Sir, I know you’re upset, but this is how the workplace is conducted . . .” The man charged at her. He pulled out a hand-made knife from what looked like a piece of window, wrapped with cloth. He lunged, missing Gale narrowly as a security guard pushed her out of the way. The man scrambled again. Gun shots rang out as the security guards pulled pistols from the holsters. A fog of some sort of gas began leaking through the room. Satoshi coughed as it hit him, it stung his eyes and throat. He could barely breathe. Could barely see. Satoshi covered his mouth with his shirt and sank low to the ground where the gas was thinner. He could still hear gunshots, screams, and shouts. The room grew quiet. Bodies, who were not the man’s lay on the ground. They weren’t moving. Those still standing didn’t move either. “Everyone, please remain calm. We are going to escort you to another room.” Gale announced, her hair disheveled, her eyes wide with panic.
“After today’s events, Bitonica has decided that we will be changing the application process. Rest assured, we will still be selecting applicants, but we see we have misjudged the situation.” Gale tried to regain her smile. Each person was escorted to another room by a separate guard. As Satoshi left, he saw the man who started the chaos; his body was pouring blood from the gunshots, his eyes open as if still clinging to life, but the light was gone. “Tragically, during the prior events, many of our would-be remaining applicants lost their lives. We will be replacing their spot with the next highest scoring applicants. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask everyone to remain calm.” The room roared with fear and excitement. No one thought about the bodies lying lifeless in the next room. There was more important things to think about. There was a renewed sense of hope that they had made it to the next round. “The new qualifying applicants are . . .” Gale read of the names. “Finally, Satoshi Nakamoto.” Satoshi could hardly believe the words he heard. From tragedy, Satoshi received the best news he’d had in a long time. Smiles spread across the room from the applicants who now had a chance at qualifying. One man’s tragedy is another man’s fortune. Satoshi thought matter-of-factly.
For a long time to come, that would be the last time Satoshi would think about the deaths that gave him his great fortune.
To be continued . . .