secret-project/Cutting_room_floor.md

Chapter II -- The New Cyber Kids

'So, I'm standing there like an utter idiot, and all of a sudden the
syringe flies across the room and into my shoulder!' Adir was telling
several of his new coursemates, all huddled excitedly.

'Into your *shoulder?*' Karin asked with silent awe. She always spoke
silently.

'Still have a nasty mark,' he answered, 'Look'. He lowered the thick
green uniform to reveal a blackened old bruise. 'This is where it went
in', he gestured just below the neck.

'And I though I had it bad', said Dennis. 'I still think I had it bad.
Bastards wouldn't let me out for a smoke. We sat there for hours'.

'Well, you got in front of me in line. You have the bigger Personal
Number.'

'That's Time Length!' Sharon excitedly pitched in. 'Nothing's more
important!'

Adir found the whole concept of 'Time Length' *incredibly* stupid.

'Alright, line up', Shani said from the now open classroom door, just
enough for them to hear. Adir has yet to decide his stance on the whole
constant shouting business, now that's it's over with.

They lined up in front of the classroom, all fourty two of them.

'One minute to attention', Shani said coldly. 'Look nice for the Course
Commander'.

'ONE MINUTE TO ATTENTION!' bellowed Roi. Well, maybe not entirely over
with.

After much more than a minute, the CC showed up.

'Alright, alright', he chuckled. 'Come on, get inside'.

It was 11AM and Adir was fiercly struggling to stay awake. The CC was
vigoursly instructing them on Operating System Internals, and Adir
realised that for the first time in all these months he is in real
jepoardy of dozing off. He stood up -- joining most of his coursemates
at this point.

Much to his surprise, Re'em nudged his shoulder. He had fallen asleep.

Adir suddenly felt a wave of despair. What else is he supposed to do?

'Could I go?' he suddenly blurted out to the CC.

The CC stopped mid-sentence, and everyone turned their fragile attention
to him. The officer was so surprised he did not even seem about to scold
him.

'Go?' he asked, frowning with puzzlement.

'Yea'.

Silence fell, and eventually Adir realised the CC was expecting him to
say something else.

'Pee, I mean'.

Yotam did not expect this from Adir, who had never piped up before.

'Be a bit more professional next time, please', he said, and gestured at
the door. Adir fuddled out with elation.

'The key,' Yotam added.

'Here man', mumbled Bar and tossed the keys at him. They hit his face
and fell to his hands.

The heavy metal door closed behind him. He stood at the small, empty
space outside, overlooking the muddy nothing with the few benches in
between. Everyone was still studying.

He took a deep, exhausted breath. He felt the warm sun on his uniform.
He stretched lazily, feeling some strength returning.

Adir rounded the small classroom towards the restrooms, very slowly,
humming to himself.

He inserted the key in the door -- to his surprise, it was unlocked.

A tall, red headed coursee opened the door. Behind him was another
squat, dark haired soldier.

'What?' he demanded.

Adir saw his stripithings. Black and white. These must be the new Cyber
coursees.

Asocial as he was, even Adir picked up on the long lasting rivalry
between the Computer Systems Infastructure Managers and the Cyber
Security Defense Specialists. He could not understand why -- they do
pretty much the same thing -- but this was a fact of this place,
inherited one course cycle at a time. He did not buy into it, though. He
would treat this person with utmost respect.

'Pee', he answered diplomatically.

The Cyberer sighed.

'Don't make a mess', he reprimanded. 'We clean this up later'.

'Everyone cleans this up later', he said. The Cyberer looked at him as
one might a deranged, fuming chimpanzee.

He 'ugh'd and left.

By the time he got back around the classroom, everyone was outside. How
long has it been?

Naturally, he went to his desk for his three minutes of intense sleep.

When he sat down in front of the computer, however, he did something
else -- and was not quite sure why.

'I don't understand why you would act like this', Commander Dan told
him. 'You've been a good soldier so far. Where is this coming from?'

Adir was vaguely aware of the situation. They were sitting around one of
the tables outside, after Dan pulled him out from class. He suddenly
felt cold.

Adir did not answer, because he genuinly did not know what this is
about. Why can't he hold on to thoughts lately?

Dan did that thing where he sits and stares until Adir blurts something
out to break the silence. Every single soldier ever trained for command
used this tactic liberally, certain all the enlisted would break under
their steely gaze.

It never worked on Adir, and he quite liked seeing confusion creeping up
their faces.

Dan was a bit proud for that, though. 'You skipped out on the CC's
lesson,' he continued, 'And now you write this nonsense on the course
forum. You're one of the better soldiers here. Why?'

Adir's poem burst out from the nothing, and he was supremely proud of
it. It read thus:

The New Cyberers / Pooshellu

The Man Bar hands me the key,

Methinks to meself, make water I shall

And just when the hand reaches out for the trousers

Into the room enter the new Cyberees.

The first's eyes fall to my stripthings

Purple is great, yet he did not see it thus

His nose rising just shy of his brows

'What, do you have a bathroom key too?' he asks

The restrooms are for all coursees, says I

Yet Cybereeno remains unimpressed

*Do me a favor, he begs with a look of plea*

Don't thrash the bathroom

Wer'e cleaning them later.

'I thought it was funny', he stated.

'And you came here to laugh?', Dan inquired.

He stared Adir down again. Adir mulled the question over.

'I know things are difficult', Dan finally gave out, 'But get a grip.
You've been given a great privelege. Act like it'. He left.

The others were just pouring out, and as soon as Dan was out of sight
many they flocked to Adir.