The Fun Begins

"And that's the last of em', before the first floor or second, as such as you prefer" Peter said quite exhausted.

The trio had been walking for some time, exploring parts of the ground floor together. They had visited rooms like the waiting room, the departure room, the visiting floor, the staff room and of course, entrance of 'authorized personnel only' rooms. Peter had also tried to strike a conversation with some of the young female attendants, but failed woefully. As for Jim and Akira, they were not just interested in that.

Jim had also tried to use the use the opportunity to ask some few questions about the Academy. And though Peter claimed he knew little, Jim thought he knew more comparably to the others.

"What do you know of the Academy tech?" Jim had asked.

He tried to fit the puzzles of all the words he had been hearing of the tech, which was nothing more than something and that thing, and had come up with the name Academy technology.

"Wow!" Peter exclaimed. He paused before saying else to drink of the bottle water he had picked up along the way, of which Jim had done the same.

"You're one of the select few I know who have come so close to figuring out the name." he commended. "However, I only know little about it. And if you're going to ask me any questions about anything else, my info is limited."

"Just get on with answering the question" Akira cut in.

Peter decided to sit on the chair besides him and continue with his explanation.

One thing about the ground floor, was that even though there were numerous wide walkways, and few counters, there were seats everywhere, arranged in cubic blocks of twelve seats.

"Just listen to that" Peter instructed.

Jim too his eyes off Peter, towards the direction Peter had pointed towards.

There was a woman who was involved in a serious argument, whilst some individuals in suit were trying to usher her out of sight and hearing.

'Breaking of decorum is punishable by the law' Jim observed.

The lady was shouting furiously and without one knowing the root of the matter, the situation would seem funny. Even though Jim could not hear clearly as the place quite far, he could could make out some few words. And proceeding to look with his eyes, he figured some words out.

"...the other side... side..give..side"

"I think that's enough" Peter said drawing Jim's attention back to himself. "I don't believe you can make anything out of what is being said over there, but if you did, you'll probably hear words like "the other side'. In fact, that's probably the only thing you'll hear." he expressed with a serious face.

"Now, I don't know the cause of problem" he continued, "but this issue happens every time. Hence, I understand what's going on. She's.." referring to the woman involved in the argument, "She's comparing the Academy with the other side."

"The rebels" Jim added.

"Yes. And the yardstick as an instrument for her comparison, is what they offer. I for one thinks the Academy is better, but sadly, not everyone shares my view. The reason for that is because many believe the Academy focuses more on war than peace offering."

"And by peace offering, you mean.."

"I mean agriculture, industrialization, commercialization, and the likes." Peter listed. "And like I was saying, one of the products of 'focusing on war' , is the Aca-tech"

Peter stood from his chair and reached out to Jim as a tour guide. "Let's resume our tour."

Jim got up and followed Peter's lead. ' I ought to give him the respect of a tour guide.'

The two resumed their walk, while Peter continued explaining about the Aca-tech, it's advantages, disadvantages, saying that it helped war times, the thing many are uncomfortable with. Though he failed to explain how one gets it or rather, how it gets on one, and his explanation also failed to detail accurately the reason for people's agitation apart from 'war stuff', he proceeded to explain some other things like 'the quarters for guys like them' which was the institution.

"How did you know all these things?" Jim asked.

"I've been here long enough to know what is there to know." That was Peter's response.

As they progressed, they reached a junction that very much resembled a Y junction. At the intersection point were people that densely populated it.

Peter and Jim made their way around the gathered people, and while Peter was taking the lead, Jim reasoned out that they were both heading for a particular individual.

"It seems he wants to add one more to the group." Akira voiced out.

The two headed towards the direction of the young lad and in no time, they had reached him. The lad in particular was very busy picking his nose, so much that he did not notice two individuals headed straight for him.

"That won't work. Believe me, I've been there before." Peter informed to the hearing of the lad.

'Certainly some sense of humor' Jim thought.

The lad dropped his hands and nodded as if he understood that Peter insinuated that whatever was in his nose would be a lot harder to get out by just picking alone.

"Come rookie, and I'll make you fishers of..." Peter joked making a demonstration of picking his own nose.

"I'm Jeff Bawa" the lad introduced himself.

Obviously, he had nothing to do and was badly in need of a tour. Hence, readily accepted one.

"Jeff.." Peter replied, "This is my friend Jim and if you would kindly join us, I'll gladly show you all you need to do as a rookie"

"Who am I to say no?" Jeff shrugged. With that, he had joined the group of three on their little tour.

"The place seems rather inactive" Jeff observed as they walked on.

"You mean the immigration centre?" Jim asked.

That only attracted a laugh from Peter who was paying attention to them. " These guys" he laughed. "The entire Immigration Centre cannot be inactive." he explained. "Depending on the time, all floors become inactive one after the other. And since it's.."

07:19 Pm

19:19 Pm

"Since it's some minutes past seven, the ground floor is becoming inactive. By half past eight, it'll become completely inactive. And that's why you've not been able to get yourself the admission forms, here on the ground floor."

"What are admission forms" Jim asked.

"Ah! You ask too much questions. You'll get to know soon enough, on the top floor." Peter replied.

"And why did the guide not inform us?" Jeff asked referring to the Academy Navigation guide in their devices.

"That's because you did not bother to look." Peter replied.

"Right!" Jim added. "I was tired of it even though I did not know how or why."

"Yeah. That's because the Academy is the definition of annoying to us." Peter chipped in.

"Speak for yourself" said Jeff. "Besides how long have you been here to know this." Jeff asked.

"Long enough to know all these."

"Let's get going then" Jim suggested.

"Yeah! But there's one more place I want to show you before we head over to the second floor." Peter said.

The trio began walking just again, both Jim and Jeff following closely behind their your guide; Peter, while Akira had long fallen out, no one knowing when. After moments of walking, they had reached a section of the ground floor which was not populated at all.

There was no door or anything of the sort, but a wide square opening. The inside was very wide, and it had stark resemblance to a museum. But on closer look, everything inside was made of stone. While most of the people inside were snapping pictures and running their hands over the artifacts which appeared in all sizes, three fellows were walking about grossly engages in discussion.

"What are these?" Jeff asked clearly mesmerized.

As for Jim, he too was mesmerized, but mostly lost in thought. The artifacts stirred up a strange reaction in him. One that made him glory in strength he didn't have, while his heart beated rapidly which was strange.

"It's the same way I felt the first time I came here" Peter said bluntly on noticing the reaction of both his companions. "The images are made of stone, one you must have noticed" he said running his hands over a tall dark stoned structure of a tank.

"The artifacts or images form a scene in front of your very own eyes, telling the story of a war, defeat and victory, the war still going on, chaos, order, and the strength of the warring soldiers and expectant spectators."

Peter kept silent to allow the other two have their fill and allow for the restoration of decorum his explanation had disrupted.

There were stone structure of tanks, soldiers standing tall, others wrestling with another, structures of fire, collapsed structures and one specific one made of red stone. This one was a soldier with a weapon in his hands, in a background that seemed to look red in colour. There were glowing splinters also made out of red stones and structures that displayed little emissions of fire. All these flashed before Jim's eyes as the image breathed the imagery of destruction.

"Let's get out of here!" Jim alerted. The sick feeling in his stomach grew worse and his heart wasn't slowing down either.

Peter's reaction showed he wasn't too surprised, and Jeff's, showed he had no objections. The trio had unanimously agreed to Jim's suggestion and had had gotten out moments later.

"Where are we headed now? Tour guide whose name I didn't get" Jeff asked.

""Since we can't really tour the entire ground floor, that's if you want to tour the second and so on, and don't want to die from exhaustion, I thought it'll be best to go up." Peter replied pointing towards the top floor, demarcated from the ground one by thick glass.

"Follow me."

Peter led his companions to the location of the elevator and the three of them rode in all the way to the second floor. Once they had gotten out, they stepped away from the elevator.

"It seems like none of us are a victim of the fear of heights." Jeff observed.

"Or more accurately, Claustrophobia." Peter added.

"What now?" Jim asked. "Another tour? My legs are killing me"

The look on the face of Jeff agreed with Jim's statement and so was the one on Peter's.

"No" Peter took the initiative of answering. "Here in this floor, the fun begins. Let's play a game" he suggested pointing in the distance.

The duo followed their tour guide's lead to a place where people were gathered.

"What game?"

"Let's play poker." Peter said.

"No. Let's play pool." Suggested Jeff.

There were no objections, so it was decided upon. On closer look, the place they were headed seemed to be a game centre.

"Where are the officials?" Jim asked referring to the attendants he saw on the floor below.

"You ask too much" replied Peter. "For now, let's have fun." he concluded with a grin.