Logic Puzzle Exam

The next three days felt like an eternity for Jayce. It didn't help that he had to spend two entire days cleaning his dorm room. Every time he thought he had done enough to consider his room clean the house monitor would inspect his room and find a whole new area that Jayce had missed. He grumbled to himself the whole time. "When I make more money than everyone here I'll just hire a billion maids and then everyone will congratulate me on how clean my room is."

Ralnas had moved out the day after registration and had been sleeping over at Micu's house along with Jenira. They constantly sent him text messages teasing him, asking how long it can possibly take to clean one half of a dorm room. Jayce by the second day was a broken man. His mom finally stopped by and they managed to get his side of the room clean enough for the house monitor to sign them off as checked out.

He spent the next day in the intense study of last years capability exam, the test, the winners, who went to which teams, what each team looked for in its recruits. Jayce spent so much time studying his mom knocked on his door to make sure he was okay. That night he asked his mom to make his favorite meal from when he was a boy, chicken tenders and mac n cheese. He forced himself to sleep this time knowing that he would need to be well rested for tomorrows competition. Any possible disadvantage weighed on Jayce's mind and he slept deeply without a single dream daring to disturb his slumber.

The next day he decided to go early to watch the other competitors trying out the logic puzzle. He shot a quick message to his friends letting them know he was heading over early before boarding the train with the free ticket provided to exam competitors again. The train was far quieter this time compared to the last time he had gone to major hub one. He leaned next to the window and tuned out the conductor bots voice as he watched last years highlights on his watch's projected screen.

Jayce felt ready, he knew this was his chance to make his dreams come true. Armed with the quiet confidence of someone who had nothing to lose Jayce exited the train and headed for the reserved competitor seating. After showing his ID card he turned the corner and noticed that Micu was already sitting in a dark corner watching the other teams compete as well.

"Hey Micu, I thought you would still be at your house with Jen and Ral?" Jayce asked him as he climbed the stairs to join him. Micu glanced down at him and smiled, "Nah, you know I never can sleep on big days. Remember when we had that big shooting test and I didn't sleep well for the whole week before it? Well, this is pretty similar to that." He put down the notebook he had been typing onto and gestured for Jayce to join him.

Jayce chuckled under his breath, "Yeah I do remember that. And then you scored higher than me even though I was sure you were going to fall asleep in the simulator." He sat down next to Micu and turned to face the large screen that was showing the various teams that were currently competing. "So, how does it work?"

Micu picked his notebook back up and then pointed to the team being shown in the bottom right. "As far as I can tell it's a time-limited competition. Every puzzle you solve increases the difficulty of the next puzzle and the more you solve the higher your score. These are some of the first teams to try it out and the highest score I've seen is nine." Jayce grinned confidently, "Nine? We can solve nine puzzles in... hey, how much time do we have to solve the puzzles again?"

Micu laughed. "Jayce if anyone ever gets you to actually read the instructions for something I advise you to marry that person. We have two hours total to solve as many puzzles as we can." He turned his notebook back on. "Unfortunately, while all the puzzles have similar problems to be solved they aren't exact copies of each other so we can't watch the others compete and come up with a strategy that will allow us to breeze through the puzzles we've seen before."

Jayce nodded and then he also turned his full attention to watching the other teams compete. The two sat there watching for almost two hours barely speaking a word besides to point out various ideas that they saw teams try. It was another 30 minutes before the other two in their group showed up.

Ralnas seemed to be an anxious mood and Jenira was doing her best to calm him down as they scanned the crowd looking for Micu and Jayce. They finally found them, but the other two were still too engrossed in the competition to notice their friends arrive. In fact, they weren't even aware that they were there until they were about to sit down next to them. Jayce jumped slightly, "Oh hey guys didn't see you there." Micu also seemed momentarily surprised before regaining his composure. "So how long before we have to check in?"

Ralnas checked his watch, "Uh like 20 minutes?" The other two nodded and pointed to the team that was being shown in the middle of the screen. "They've almost beaten the record of nine. They're on the tenth puzzle and have seven minutes before times up."

Ralnas and Jenira turned excitedly to watch. A team of four of those tall, bird-like aliens was desperately racing around a maze trying to find the way out. Their caws were laced with frantic energy as they glided through the labyrinth searching for an exit. Ralnas watched with nervous energy, even though he wanted to be first more than anything. In his heart, he was still a huge fanboy and teams like this often appeared in elite teams line-ups further down the road.

As time ticked on the caws became more frenzied and they took to flapping their thin wings with all their might chasing the exit. The timer hit zero and a loud buzzer sounded across all screens. The simulations all dissolved into nothing and the teams that did well high fived each other while the teams that struggled put arms around one another and walked somberly out of the room.

"All teams competing in the next scheduled event please report to the registration kiosks." A feminine voice announced to the teams gathered in the spectator area.

Jayce stood and turned to his friends, "Today we seize our destiny, let's risk it all and hope that we find our fortune together."

Ralnas nodded determinedly while Micu and Jenira glanced at each other before laughing. "Jayce you always try and make thing so dramatic. Let's just go win the damn thing." Micu smiled at his friend. Jayce felt the wind had been taken from his sails somewhat but he nodded and the four descended the stairs towards the kiosk that was scanning IDs.

Approaching the robot Jenira held up her ID to be scanned before the robot's metallic voice chirped, "Welcome team "Chiron's Chosen" are all four of your team members here? If so please scan your IDs now. If they are not then please do not enter until all members have arrived."

The other three stepped forward and scanned their IDs. The metallic voice chirped again, "Thank you, all members accounted for. Please enter door seven. Your team will have ten minutes to relax before the competition starts. The clock is located at the dead center of the room. Good luck, there are no special rules for this competition."

A door to their right suddenly illuminated in the shape of a seven and the four entered. Micu and Jayce trembling with anticipation, Jenira and Ralnas with nerves. The four entered a starch white room. At the top of the room was a floating clock with two hours displayed.

Jayce kneeled down and whispered under his breath, "This one's for you dad, watch me impress you." He clenched his fist and stood up ready for whatever may come.

Micu and Ralnas did their overly complicated handshake which actually involved pretty much every part of their body before bumping chests. "OH YEAH!" They shouted in unison. Jenira was sitting cross-legged mumbling under her breath, "Please don't let anyone get hurt tonight." Before she made a spider symbol in front of herself with her fingers.

Suddenly a gong sounded and the feminine voice sounded again. "Competitors this is your 30-second warning. Prepare for the first exam. Good luck to you all."

The white walls faded to look like grey stone and the room shifted to the inside of a medieval castle.

A piece of parchment descended from the ceiling and it landed in Micu's hands. "Your only goal in each room is to find the door that leads to the next one. There is always a door. All members of the party must exit through the door for the room to be counted as cleared. If you are stuck you may request assistance from the room AI but this will cost you 15 minutes each time you use it. All inherent abilities are allowed. In case there is a dispute with any of the rules the clock will be stopped and a judge will be teleported to your room." Micu read aloud as clearly as he could. He turned to Jayce, " Did you get that?" Jayce rolled his eyes. "You know I pay attention when there's competition to be won Micu."

The clock in the ceiling turned red. "Five! Four! Three! Two! ONE!" They were teleported to the opposite side of a majestic courtroom. There was a throne in front of them about thirty meters away and lavish tapestries hanging from the walls. Behind them was a huge stained glass panel that gave the whole room a rose-colored tint. Jayce and Micu instantly started sprinting towards the throne. "C'mon you two, this one is pretty basic. Just a test of our agility!"

As they ran the room began to collapse below them. Jenira jumped off the stone she had been standing on before watching it fall into the depths below them. She charged after her brother who was already doing his best to catch up to Micu and Jayce. "You couldn't have warned us the floor falls apart before it started to fall apart!?!" Ralnas shouted in front of him.

Jayce half turned and grinned, "Well the first room is always similar but they change the settings that it appears in. Sorry!" He dashed past the throne and pulled a particularly large tapestry from the wall revealing a large door. "Hurry everyone through here!"

Micu was already standing next to him waving the Marrow siblings forward. Jenira almost lost her footing on a particularly strangely shaped stone but corrected herself in a flash. Ralnas hesitated seeing his sister almost fall before she zoomed past him. "Come on slow poke!" She shouted as she brushed past him. Ralnas grimaced and then slid into the door just after his sister. Once they were inside Jayce and Micu ducked into the door quickly.

The room suddenly changed to a gaping chasm before them with a narrow staircase on the sides leading down further than they could see the bottom of. Ralnas caught his breath and turned to Jayce, "No seriously a heads up would have been appreciated." Jayce laughed and then patted his back. "You looked kinda nervous. So I made sure that all your nerves were extinguished in one go. Now we're in top condition." Ralnas eyed his friend warily.

Jenira then piped up, "I guess studying the rooms for two hours did pay off huh?" Micu nodded, "Yeah but even if you fall the room only resets you at the start. It might've saved us a minute or two but it's not a huge deal. The next rooms are all unique so our advantage is pretty much gone."

Ralnas edged to the edge of the ledge they were standing on. He looked down and gulped, "Well I am guessing the door is at the bottom of this huge hole isn't it?"

The other three held on to each other and peered off the edge with him. "Yeah, I guess it's time to test our ability to not fall to our deaths..." Jayce muttered.