Project Overworld

'So, how are the new recruits doing today?' Keith wondered while connecting back into the game. He could not really take care other projects while monitoring this recruitment session, and he was getting pretty annoyed by it.

The fact was, he needed to be there to maintain the illusion that this fake base was his actual home. Fortunately, he brought some of his machines as well as a personnal computer for the occasion so he could continue to refine some of his recent designs.

It has been a full week since the the candidates started building that rocket. For the first days, they were pretty innoncent and motivated by this new challenge. However, as time went by, their true nature started to show up. Leyla obviously took the lead since she was the most proefficient with building rockets, but not everyone in the group enjoyed this hierarchy.

In no time, conflicts started to appear here and there, changing the person in lead a several times. Leyla did her job really well, sometimes bringing out a violent behaviour and pretending to be obedient other times around.

Since Keith had decided to be an observant of the situation so the contestants may show off their personnalities without him being around and put pressure onto them, he has had to enforce his will onto the poor girl. She had just joined Spacol but was forced to take care of new recruits by herself.

Although, she confided to him by the end of the first week that she found this whole situation quite funny to be part of. Reassured, Keith decided to continue the test as is.

Thanks to the first week of hosting such an experiment, Keith definitively removed two more candidates off his list.

Regarding the reasonning behind the rejection of these two, named 'Drekster' and 'Janestill' respectively, they had shown unbefitting behaviours during the first week they have been part of the group.

Drekster was one of the most toxic person he had seen in Project Overworld, not hesitating to take the lead off of Leyla even though he was clearly behind in terms of knowledge regarding rockets. According to this him, he 'Legitimately had to take the lead because Leyla could not assume the role of a leader.'

There has not been a lot of arguments given regarding this accusation, but Keith knew he was a bit mysoginist because he was not as rude towards the other male candidates. He could only congratulate himself to have organized another event with the preselected candidates, so he could observe such behavior beforhand.

As for Janestill, she was not really accomplishing anything for the team. She did build quite an interesting rocket during the second phase of the recruitment event, but she has not contributed a lot in the elaboration of this group project.

Actually, she has been a lot more concerned about her social medias, taking pictures of the base while everyone else was supposedly looking away. However, this behaviour did not slip away from Leyla's watch and she reported this situation over to Keith. This kind of demeanor was prohibitive for him, as he explicitely said several times during the guided tour that one should not take pictures of this edifice nor talk about it to anyone else.

'Three contenders left.' He announced for himself. 'What a pity...' He concluded. The two unbefitting candidates would have to stay until the end, even though Keith was already certain they would not be part of Spacol's members. Hopefully, this would force other types of behaviours to come out of the last three.

Only, he did not know how long it would be until 'Janestill' accidentaly revealed the position of their base to her followers. In any case, he had prepared some backup plans for that particular reason.

Actually, he was quite surprised that the other candidates did not try to show off on the forums or other social medias. However, they could clearly have talked about it to their friends without him being informed, so he was not really sure what to expect from them yet.

The rest of the second week went pretty much the same way the first did. Drekster was still doing a ruckus over the fact that he was the most qualified to lead this team while the others tried their best to build that rocket in the alloted time.

Another candidate was removed from the list as the pressure of the incoming deadline impacted his composure a lot more than it should have. Before knowing it, Drekster and this short-tempered candidate argued all day long over the other's contribution to the team.

'Two remaining.' Keith breathed out. Despite the constant arguing of two of their comrades, the efforts of Leyla to put pressure onto them and the uselessness of Janestill, they managed to keep their cool and continue with the rocket contruction, in the end.

Keith was quite pleased about it. By taking into account Leyla, this whole event has brought to his attention three really interesting engineers, both in terms of personality and in efficiency.

As for this masquerade, it was time for Keith to make his entrance again.

- "Well, well... How did you fare on your own for so long?" He asked the group.

Drekster was the first to reply : "We did manage to make a rocket, where shall we test it?"

He obviously did not know what he was talking about since the rocket lacked a bit of electronics and a few others parts to be able to fly correcly. However, the others did not dare to go against him.

Eventually, not wanting for this situation to go any longer, one of the candidates still in Keith's list opened their mouth and proclaimed : "I'm sorry, but we may have failed you. I don't think the rocket could even reach a few miles of altitude in its current state. We've had a bit of an organizational problem and if you would give us another chance we might still be able to do it." He said while trying not to offend anybody.

Drekster gave him a frightful gaze while Keith had its back turned. However, the later what was happening and instead asked for the last contendent in the competition : "And you, what do you think about the work you've done so far?"

She replied immediately : "What Jim explained was true. I think we could have done better in the alloted time and actually accomplish what you asked us to do. However, we've had a bit of a hard time accommodating to each other's way of working and our hierachy was not clearly established."

- "And..." Keith continued. "... Could you not have worked without hierachy? You are all on the same page, trying to prove yourselves in front of me to get a job into my company. I don't really care about your little fights over leadership, I want results."

Keith looked around the assembly, staring at each of them in turn. Janestill fled his gaze, Drekster supported it, Leyla gave him and understanding gaze in return and the last candidate who had not manifested himself seemed assaulted by such treatment.

- "Such a pity." Keith breathed out. "However, although you did not pass this test, I'm willing to take two people from your group into my company. While you were working on that rocket, I've been keeping an eye over you." He explained while turning towards Janestill. "Janestill, I'm sorry but you did not respect the rules of this place. Remember, no pictures." He smiled ironically.

- "Drekster, just like I told Xena over here, leadship was not the reason you needed to show yourself for in this competition. Spacol doesn't have place for another leader anyways." The man clearly got triggered by what Keith had told him but kept his mouth shut as he knew quite well how he handled opposition.

- "And finally, you." He turned towards the last candidate who was eliminated due to his behaviour. "I don't even remember your name, but I don't really want to know it. Sorry, but you could not handle the pressure of this competition and you were eliminated due to your behaviour in front of the rest of the group."

The man indignated himself : "What is that bullshit?! I've clearly shown my worth in the construction of the rocket! Please reconsider!"

Keith gave him a gaze full of meaning and simply replied : "Exactly what I was saying."

The man started to approach him but Keith took out a rifle from his inventory and pointed it at the dissident. This stopped him immediately in his tracks and the candidate backed off, resignated.

Keith motioned Leyla to come forwards before declaring : "You all got to know Leyla pretty well during these two weeks, but this has actually been just an act. She has had the job to test you throughout this whole test and she reported to me all that was being said and done around here." He explained. "Xena and Jim369, you should give your thanks to her because she has been defending you all this time. If it was only me, I don't think you would have been able to make it into Spacol." He lied to the two candidates so their bonds with Leyla would be strengthened. Actually, even if Leyla did not defend them, he would still have chosen them to be part of his company.

With that being said, Keith gave his farewell to the other competitors before giving them a final warning : "Oh and by the way, no need for you to come back around here anymore. This base was only temporary and by the time you gathered your friends, there would be nothing left of this place. Don't sweat over this matter too much, though, you still were able to make it to the third, hidden phase of this competition. I really did consider hiring all of you, but your behaviour should be what you'd need to focus on in the future." He explained.

Afterwards, he took out his truck from an hidden place behind a nearby mountain before gathering his new recruits. He made sure the others candidates would not be following them from a distance and took a took a roundabout path to his base, just in case.

'Not too shabby. These two weeks have been quite profitable, in the end.' He thought while considering the experience he got out of it. 'Let's start working towards more important matters now!'