"Up, up, up!" yells Miss Megalla, her voice has a certain robotic twang to it, as if she were speaking through a fan.

Sheepishly, Nila awakes abruptly from her deep sleep and throws open her curtains, secretly glaring at her instructor through blurry vision. Despite the fuzziness, Nila can tell she's clearly not yelling through a fan, but a white, shiny megaphone.

'Those things still exist?'

Nila rubs her eyes in an attempt to wake up and as she looks around she sees people's lamps being turned on, one by one around the circular room. Apparently, everyone else isn't much of a fun of Miss Megalla's tactics as groans and complaints echo around the sleeping quarters. Just about everyone is unwilling to get out of bed so early. Nila looks over at Dylan's bed on the other side of the room, just in time to see him jolt up and accidentally hit his head against the top of his bed. Nila laughs and Dylan throws Nila an "It's not funny" expression her way.

"You've all got five minutes to get ready! Meet me by the doors once you're done!" the instructor yells one last time into her megaphone. With that, Miss Megalla walks off and to her student's enlightenment, takes the megaphone with her.

Everyone is then sent in a frantic hurry to get ready in time and they gather their stuff from their bags and rush to the bathroom. Everyone's bags have been placed in the centre of the room and Nila gets off her bed to find hers. All the bags are black with an electronic tag with the owner's name on it locked onto the opening so no one else can touch other people's belongings. She finally finds her bag and swiftly types in the passcode. The tag unlocks and she's able to grab her toiletries.

The bathroom is fortunately big enough to fit about twelve people, with multiple spacious showers, polished black marble benches, and sinks for people to hog. Nila marvels at how big the bathroom is compared to the one in her dorm room and then finds herself realizing where she is and the gravity of her situation. If she wins, which she has to, then she is really leaving Mars, and her friends and family, for good. Au Revior, ciao, sayounara. Her mind wanders to her parents and how much she will miss them when she leaves. She really has to start talking to them again somehow. Nila blinks a few times before looking beside her to see another girl, short and petite with tanned skin and light golden hair in a messy bun with a grumpy look on her face – she has been waiting to move past Nila this whole time.

"Oh! Sorry..." Nila blubbers apologetically and moves out of the way.

Nila quickly steps into a shower and undresses, dropping her clothes down a chute in the wall which quickly closes. She relishes in the relaxation of the hot water on her skin. Sadly, her shower can only last about a minute and she turns the water off. There's a ding sound and Nila turns to her left to open a slot in the shower wall to see a new, fresh set of clothing. Inside are the usual black top and leggings.

Once Nila's all dressed she walks over to a mirror and grabs out her brush to rake it through her atrociously knotty hair and decides to put it up in a miniature pony tail today. Nila smiles once it's done and starts to brush her teeth.

Nila walks out of the bathroom and puts her things back into her bag. There's a big crowd forming at the doors and Miss Megalla is making an announcement.

"From now on, training will be a little bit different than before. It will be based more on your intelligence rather than your physical abilities. As you can see, we've still got a training area that you can use in your free time," The instructor pauses and points to the centre of the room where all the equipment is. "But now, we want to see how good you are at solving problems and thinking clearly in stressful situations. We will be heading up to the Tower for this, so everybody needs to stick together and be sensible!" Excitement explodes in the room. The Tower? It's the most high-tech and important place on Mars. Plus it has the most important people working there. Oh! And how could she forget? The OMCC building is right next to it, perhaps she might see Chloe?

Nila is already halfway out the door when Miss Megalla stops her.

"Nila, could you please do me a favour and put these files in my office? It's down that corridor, then two turns to the right and the second last door. Don't worry, the door has my name on it." Asks Miss Megalla and Nila smiles and nods in return, taking the files of her instructor.

"Thanks, dear," Miss Megalla passes Nila her office door keys. "When you're done just take the elevator above ground and head to the Tower immediately, okay?"

"Yes, Miss."

Miss Megalla smiles and walks away to lead the rest of the class to The Tower, meanwhile Nila sets off to find her office down the long white hallway. As she progresses, she passing numerous doors that lead to who knows where, Nila's footsteps quicken. Hairs stand to attention on the back of her neck. There is something unnerving about being alone and in the restricted areas of the TED centre; especially when she reaches the door to the staff member's room which is no longer left ajar as it was in Skye's video. Nila's gaze extends further down the hallway and the memory of the guard running down it towards Skye flashes in her head. Although irrational, seeing how she has permission to be here right now, Nila wastes no time in quickly opening the door, stepping inside, and closing it just as quickly.

A huff of air escapes the girl's lips and she turns on her heels to take a look around her surroundings. Miss Megalla's desk sits situated on the right hand side of the dimly-lit room, with Mr Devlon's on the other. The window shades are pulled down, allowing only smidgets of Mars' butterscotch sky to peek through – giving the room an orange tint. As expected, Mr Devlon's desk is as clean as could be, each ornamental decoration such as a few framed photographs, certificates, tissues and a paper weight sculpture all in their own designated place. Miss Megalla's in juxtaposition, has electronic files, paper documents as well as a mirror, eyelash curler and foundation pad lay scattered chaotically on the desks' top. The glass bottle of alcohol is still where she had placed it in the video, except now it is empty.

Nila dawdles over to the desk and places the files down, however, just as she is about to walk away, one of the documents flicker and an attatchement projects into the air. Nila squints to get a better look, and curiously steps closer. As it loads, she realizes it's a video; Miss Megalla stands holding her Holo at arms length in what appears to be this office. Nila presses play.

"N, please listen. This video is meant for you, but you must delete this before you leave. I beg of you, stop what you are doing and let yourself fail the second round. You have been in the program from the start, I...I'm fond of you. I've watched you grow just a lil' thing to the young woman you are now. I don't want this on my conscience. And I – it's not like I don't value your friends, Dylan is safe anyway. But I can only meddle with the board so much before I find myself in danger. That's what I meant." The woman's dark eyes widen and flicker to the door. "I have to go. Please, don't take what I am saying lightly." Miss Megalla brings a hand to the Holo's camera lens and the video stops.

Nila lets out an exasperated sigh, tilting her head upwards. Her lips begin to tremble and heat makes its way into her face. She tries her best not to cry. The video scares her to no end but no matter how scary the circumstances might be, she has to pull through. She knows too much.

"I'm sorry Miss Megalla," she whispers, deleting the video like she was told and places the file on the desk. "But I can't have whatever is you're scared of happening on my conscience either."

If anything, the video has made her more determined in her mission.

"Going up," says a cheery, robot voice that seems to be coming from the speakers.

Nila looks around the shiny metal box as it transports her up to the Tower. Nila awkwardly shifts her weight as she stands in the corner of the elevator which has four other people in it. They're all grumpy-looking adults and none of them says a word to each other during the ride up. So, Nila quietly and nervously whistles under her breath to some lame elevator music playing in the background.

"You have reached your destination, have a wonderful day," says the robotic lady in a sing-song voice.

The doors finally open and everyone starts to depart. Once Nila steps out, she's greeted with a spectacular sight. The Tower stands highly and proudly over everything else on Mars. Its walls are glossy white, made from the toughest material known to man called Andursite, which was discovered underground in Mars a couple thousand years ago. The material sparkles under the gleam of Mars' two suns. The gleaming Andursite that makes up the Tower sticks out beautifully, more than anything else against the butterscoth sky of Mars. One of Mars' suns can just be faintly seen in the background.

Nila strolls by the OMCC centre but unfortunately, Chloe is nowhere to be found. When Nila reaches the Tower's front doors, she's greeted by two guards.

"ID, please?" asks a husky and hoarse voice.

Nila nods and pulls out her training ID card from her back pocket, extending it in front of her for the guard to see.

"Nila Weathers, you're one of the twenty? Go on in."

The guard opens the doors and as Nila walks in she glances back to be met with the gaze of both of the guards' eyes on her back. Nila looks away then back over her shoulder to see they've returned to the stone-faced, still-as-a-statute guards they are usually – their eyes back on the stairs that grandly lead up to the Tower. Nila walks away, not sure if she should feel intimidated or frightened. Nila shrugs it off and follows signs showing the words 'Draw Candidates' in bold, holographic letters that gratefully help her navigate her way through the maze of offices and stairwells.

The front entrance has a receptionist sitting at a fancy desk to the right and a waiting room to the left. The signs tell her to walk up a stairwell to the fifth floor. The white staircase winds around and around like a whirlpool and Nila spies into the other floors as she passes them, looking through the clear, glass windows. She sees people on high-tech computers, doing work, talking and putting files away. She finally reaches the fifth floor and walks through the door. The signs then point to walk down a hallway.

"I won't, you can't make me!"

"You're going to quit and that's final, young man!"

A heated argument can be heard from around the corner of the hallway Nila finds herself in now and immediately recognizes Dylan's voice.

Nila turns the corner to find Dylan and his father shouting at each other, accusing fingers, curse words and all. It seems that she's just so happened to have walked in on the worst of it too, as Dylan's father has an arm raised as if to hit her friend.

Nila gasps and they both turn to see who the intruder is. Dylan's father runs the same hand he had raised through his dark, rich brown hair and fixes his navy coloured suit.

He clears his throat, "I'm your father and you'll do as I say, Dylan Rodgers."

With that, the second in command walks away without turning back. Nila lets a few moments pass before trying to make conversation. After his father is far out of sight, Nila slowly makes her way over.

"Dylan...are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just-" he stops.

"It's okay, what happened?"

Dylan sighs and begins to tell Nila about the argument.

The two find themselves sitting on a long bench in the middle of the room, straddling it so they're sitting face to face to each other.

"It's funny," Nila giggles. "Your father is on your back ordering you not to go while my mother tells me that I'm nothing unless I do go."

"Nila..." Dylan starts softly, tilting his head.

"What? It helps if I joke about it.."

"Sorry, you're right. You can do what you want, it's just, I don't know...' The boy sighs, shrugs and then gives Nila a small, sincere smile. Nila awkwardly returns one back. She isn't very good at showing it but she appreciates this more than he knows. It's nice having someone who can relate to experiencing something that not a lot of lucky people do. They divulge into a prolonged silence until Nila clears her throat.

"Um, about the Draw, have you considered it might be better if you stayed?"

Dylan looks up with a confused expression. "Why would I?"

"Well, with all the warning signs..."

"Dylan!"

Nila and Dylan swivel their heads to the right to see Anna and Chloe rushing over.

"I got your text. What was your Dad on about?" Anna inquires, marching over and throwing her hands in the air.

"He says that going to Earth is dangerous."

"Dangerous?!" Chloe and Anna say in unison.

Apparently, Chloe and her mother had to check up on some technical difficulties happening with a machine that Nila, Dylan and Anna will be using for their training.

"He doesn't want me to go..."

"That's absurd! Going to Earth is the best possible thing for a person to do!" Anna speaks up. She accidentally locks eyes with Nila and rolls her eyes out of it.

It's a bit awkward sitting and talking altogether since she and Anna had that fight. But here they are. Nila and Anna are sitting on opposite sides and aren't acknowledging one another at all. That isn't much of a surprise to Nila though, if anything she's grown accustomed to it now.

"Well, of course it's dangerous! The deal is that you fight against and protect the people from any mutations from the radiation, maintain order and then become a citizen of Earth in return! But you've all been trained for that," says Chloe, informed as usual.

"Exactly, so what's to be so uptight about?" says Anna.

"No idea, but my father has been against training from my very first lesson. It's only now that he's acting up."

"Yeah, strange," Nila eventually adds some input to the conversation, lost in thought. A tinge of sarcasm in her voice.