Proof That You are Human

Proof That You are Human Chapter 2

Kongpob stumbled out of practicals almost dead from stress, sickness, and hunger into a gray threat of rain. Four hours of sheer hell and only because the time limit had been reached for the assignment, not that it had been completed. He had been assigned to create a usable device that could be used by a crisis management team to alleviate crowd congestion. They were to work in assigned pairs for the scenario, and could only use the items that were in the room they were assigned and to top it off, could not have interactions between teams unless given instructions that said otherwise.

It almost seemed too easy, until the rest of the bomb was dropped, figuratively and literally for their scenario. The crowd congestion was because a nearby hospital was under a bomb scare and the person responsible was still in the area. Families were to have heard via social media outlets that were not gagged fast enough and had started panicking. The device they were to create had to big enough to be effective, but small enough to be transported by usual means of transportation. As they were engineers, they had to use those skills to create the device.

Kongpob and his partner, P'Yin had been assigned room 208, a small storage room with various items ranging from electronics to hardware. Everything had been going well at first. They systematically did an inventory and started brainstorming ideas until they had one that seemed suitable, and had even gotten so far as to work on trying to assemble it. They were a well- oiled machine, despite never working together before, and the handicap of Kongpob's illness was offset by P'Yin's ambition to be the furthest in development, if not have a working prototype.

There was a knock on the door signaling their fifteen minute break an hour into the practicals. It also indicated an upped ante in the crisis. P'Yin brought back the new information after checking in with their supervisors. It seems that during the time Kongpob and P'Yin had been working, the scenario had changed. The culprit had been caught, and the bomb had been located. It was the last sentence on the paper that made both of them nervous. They were to flip a coin to decide who would be affected by the information in the sealed envelope and they were to react accordingly while still working on the initial problem. They only had three hours left to complete if possible.

P'Yin drew the bad luck of the flipped coin. Upon opening the envelope, both had frozen in horror at the single sentence contained inside. "You have a child in the ward with the bomb." Ten words and the practicals scenario became a nightmare. The rest of the time, they had to work with that addition while P'Yin did what any parent would have done – panicked.

Instantaneously, their well-oiled machine fell apart. By the end of hour 3, Kongpob's medicine had worn off, so he was feeling the pressure building in his body from being sick and hungry because he had not eaten much this morning. They both had headaches and they were emotionally drained and stressed to the point of breaking. Normally practicals required a finished product, but completion was not a major requirement for this one because of the severity of the crisis scenario. They had been under constant surveillance, so their efforts would be considered rather than a finished product. Only two teams had created anything resembling a working device, while the rest ranged from partially complete to incomplete. This practical made a trip to hell look like a vacation.

P'Yin had at some point, actually fallen prey to the worst thing in a practical by believing the scenario was real, and as such the panic became a real attack. Kongpob had to spend as much effort trying to keep on task as he did consoling his partner while trying not to let his own illness consume him. The last 15 minutes were sheer torture simply because neither one of them could concentrate. They had something that could work, but in the end, were unable to complete the task.