Chapter 4 The Beginning Part 3

Our Sanctuary

The Valley

Chapter 1: The Beginning Part 3

I told him, "I grew up on a farm just outside a small town." I noticed that Janet was listening to the two of us talking, and now I wondered what she thought of me. I did not look like Greg, who you could tell was into computers. As we got to the dorm, we went up to our rooms.

Janet said, "I will be back after you get settled in, then I can show you around and talk some more with us individually." As we unpacked, Scott asked Greg the same questions that he had asked me, but I did not think Scott liked the answers he got, as he did not keep talking with him about them. Janet showed up, and we were shown around and then taken to do some tests. Janet said they were just some IQ tests; they needed to know where we would fit in.

We went into a classroom, and ten other people were there to do the same tests. As I sat down, they explained how long we had to do the test, and we did not have to worry if we could not finish the tests; they only marked us on what we did. When they told us to begin, I opened up the test and looked at it; it looked almost the same as the one I had done online. I picked up my pencil and began doing it, and as I went through it, I noticed that there were a few more questions that were there to fool us. I kept on going, and as I got to the end of it, I looked up and noticed that I still had about twenty minutes left. They did not tell us anything if we finished early, so I looked back at some of the trick questions, and after I quit looking at them, I noticed that I still had about five minutes to wait. I put my pencil down, which rolled off the desk and onto the floor. Everyone heard it hit the floor, and I saw Janet looking at me. I smiled and reached down to pick it up. I decided to hold onto it now. I did not need it to fall on the floor again. I looked at the clock and waited, and when Janet said, "that our time was up." I picked up my paper and stood up. Janet smiled and said, "I will be around to pick up the papers, and we were to wait here for our next test."

As they gave out this test, they explained that this was just a simple test to see what we would do in certain situations, and we were to write down a paragraph or two to answer each question. They explained there were no right or wrong answers, and we could elaborate on any of the answers that we wanted to. They explained we had three hours to do the test and if we finished early, we could bring it up to the front desk and go out for a coffee, but we had to be back in the room at the end of the three hours when the next test was supposed to start. They said to begin, and when I opened up the first page, I noticed that the first question was on survival and what we would do in the event of any disaster. I started to answer it by saying that if I were here at the University and depending on the disaster, I would make my way back home where I knew everyone and where to go to be safe. I elaborated as best as I could, saying I would make sure I had enough to survive the trip, and then I went on to the next question. The next question asked what my plans were and how I could use my education to help people in trouble or need a safe place. Well, this one through me for a loop. I thought about it for a minute, wondering if this is part of the first question. I started to answer it, stating what I wanted to do, and if there were a disaster, I would do certain things to help anyone else.

All these questions seemed to be wanting specific answers based on planning and taking actions. It was like they were trying to pick my brains to get useful information. I kept writing down things that I thought would be good and elaborated on some of the details that I wanted to. When I finished this test, there was not much time left, and more than half of the people had gone out to get a coffee. As time ended, I handed my paper to Janet, who wrote the time down when I finished the test. I saw her opening up my paper and start to read one of my answers. When everyone got back into the classroom, another man came in, introducing himself. Joseph was his name, and he was not much older than me. Joseph handed out packages and told us not to open them right yet. Joseph was going to explain what he wanted each of us to do with them. Joseph said that Janet was also going to hand out a different package and that we were going into groups of three people for her separate exercise.

Joseph now told us, "we were to use the information in his package and formulate a plan on taking our education and earning money for us to live. We were to show all of our work." Joseph said, "We could look at the package he gave us for a couple of minutes while Janet went to get her packages and decided who was in which group." I opened my package up and saw that it was a business plan, they explained it all in the letters that came with it, and it also stated that the University wanted its students to set a goal for what they wanted to do once they had graduated. This package would help the University to get us a job if needed.

Janet came back into class and asked us, "please put away the package we were looking at; we could work on them later." Janet said, "I am now going to break you up into teams to help solve some problems. Each team would have a different problem so that there would be no competing for information, and each team member would write down their input into the solving of the problem."

In my group, I had Greg and Jeff, and we were to solve how to get water for a village of a hundred or more people. Our package had a location that had a lake and a river nearby. The village did not have any power or water in it. The water was the main goal of our group. As we broke off into our groups, they let us know that dinner was at five o'clock, and we were to be at the dorms to head out to eat.

As we sat down to talk about our problem, I drew up a little map of what the area might look like with the lake and the river. The other two said, "we could assume that the river could have a pipe to run the water to the village because there was no electricity."

I said, "we could design a wheel that would lift the water to a basin to run downhill towards the village, and the water would turn the wheel." I thought that was a good idea, or we could use solar or wind power to run a pump to move the water to the village.