There was a long pause, then a girl leaned over a safety railing from the middle balcony of building five and waved to the Ranger with the loudspeaker Skills. He pointed to her, and she said something Danielle couldn’t quite hear. The Ranger chuckled and repeated, “She says, Let’s start with something simple and easy to agree to: No killing people inside the camp.”

  A boy across the road exclaimed, and the Ranger raised an eyebrow. “The question was, Why shouldn’t we?” he reported. While he didn’t add any words, his tone of voice spoke volumes about his opinion of the question.

  A number of shouts burst out, but the ranger raised his hands and they died down. “One person answers, Because we were just told not to leave dead bodies in town,” he reported dryly. “Another response was an insult to the questioner’s intelligence. A third person answers, because we’re going to have enough things trying to kill us without killing each other. A fourth person responds, because I don’t want to live next to murderers. Let the record show that most Citizens of Firmitatem also don’t want to live next to murderers. Just throwing that in there on the government’s behalf. Do please remember to raise your hands instead of talking over each other.”

  A girl on the corner of the top balcony of building five waved, and the Ranger frowned. “Questioner asks, Isn’t the whole point of Sending us out here to let us kill each other off until the right number of us are left? I’m also going to answer that one on behalf of the government: No, the point is not to kill people off. There is no rule saying a certain number of you have to die before the others can go back. I know they don’t talk about this enough, Inside, but Sending is all about mana. Teenagers are at a difficult time for mana balance; your bodies are starting to make more mana, but you don’t have as many System Traits and Skills to use it up. You absorb some of it, but you also release some of it. It’s part of the reason why most teens need to go to boarding schools – it gets that extra mana generation out of the regular neighborhoods.

  “Anyway, when they say you have to get to level 10 before you can come back, the real reason is that there’s a trait you can take at level 10 that lets you control your unabsorbed mana. It’s called ‘Aura Control.’ They also require you to make a token, but that’s not what it’s about. Aura Control is automatically unlocked for everyone at base level 10, so if you can get there, they’ll have you take Aura Control and make the special advancement token, and you can go back Inside if you can still stand being indoors all the time. Some of us find we don’t care so much for ceilings, and join the Rangers instead, but at least we can visit Inside. The point is, it’s not about people dying, it’s about people learning Aura Control. If all twelve hundred thirty-eight of you learn Aura Control, then all twelve hundred thirty eight of you can go back in. Next speaker?”

  The Ranger looked around, and pointed to an angry-looking boy in the sunken walkway of building 3. He listened with another frown, then said, “Commenter says, I’m actually glad to hear that there’s no hard limit on how many of us can come back, but a no killing rule still limits how fast we can get the mana for level 10. I don’t care about being Outside and I don’t even want a status full of Outside Skills, I just want to get Inside as fast as possible, and I don’t see why I should give up the chance to get the mana from some Lost Boy that is doomed to die anyway, just to let some wild animals have it. Wait to be called on. Your guides should have mentioned this: Lost Boys aren’t actually doomed to die. We don’t see people with that as an active Career past the first year, because people find more useful Careers pretty fast out here. There are actually plenty of Returned citizens back Inside with Lost Boy or Lost Girl as an inactive Career though.

  “Moving on, I heard a commenter somewhere in that direction,” the Ranger gestured towards building five, “say something like, The rule isn’t even about killing in general, it’s just about not killing inside the camp. She asks the assembled, is it really too much to ask that you at least take your murder spree out in the woods.”

  “Hand on building 3, floor 3,” another Ranger called out.

  The Ranger facilitating the discussion turned and pointed towards the furthest visible corner of building three. The boy spoke, and the Ranger said, “This commenter says, The problem with the plain ‘no murder in camp’ rule is that it doesn’t say anything about what happens if someone breaks it. I say the first rule should be, don’t do anything that gives you an Outlaw tag in camp, and the second rule should be, if someone does trigger the outlaw tag in camp, they make themselves fair game for any person or group of people that can take them.”

  “I call on whoever just asked with the word ‘please’ – I’m not seeing you yet but go ahead – ” The Ranger turned toward building seven as someone spoke. “Question is, how are we supposed to know if an Outlaw tag came from something that happened inside camp or outside, and what happens if we see someone commit a murder inside the camp but then they run into the woods or hide in their rooms for three days and the tag expires?”

  “Commenter who says he has an answer, go ahead.” There was a pause as a voice spoke from building three again. “OK, commenter says, If you commit murder outside the camp, stay the expletive out for three days; and if you miss a known camp-murderer and you can’t find him for three days, then get three days of water-boiling wood and whatever food you get and warn your roomates what you’re going to do and why, and plan to stay in for three days when you catch him. A few days in your room is a fair price to ask for that kind of justice.”

  “As an aside to the various people mocking me for not saying the expletive, the System pays attention to language, and I don’t care to contribute to teaching it to take that concept lightly. I do not want to see the day when Skills can appear with that theme. Your opinions are your own, but language provably does affect both your interface and the System around you, and I recommend you choose your language with that in mind. Moving on, girl near the bottom of building one, go ahead.”

  The Ranger paused to listen; for once, Danielle could clearly hear the comment as well. The Ranger repeated it with slightly different tones, making it sound just a bit less hostile and sarcastic. “Commenter says, It might be a good idea to inform more than just your roommates if you think you need to commit a justice killing that will get you an Outlaw tag anyway. Boy in building one, I see you, go ahead.”

  “Commenter says, It should also be a rule that you can’t keep dead stuff or rotten stuff in your Room, just like you’re not allowed to leave it lying around camp, so if you have to hole up for three days you can’t just drag in a carcass and call that your food.” Danielle noted that the Ranger smoothed the delivery a bit again, and just said room instead of dorm room, like the boy had. She supposed it was just a slip of the tongue, though; they had, after all, been living in dorms before this, and while the Rooms weren’t exactly dorms, it was similar enough. The Ranger was just correcting a minor slip, from his point of view. Probably.

  While she was thinking, the Ranger had called on someone else. “Question is, Wait, did we even agree to this stay inside after killing thing? Commenter down the row from him says, We should back up and decide on how we even agree to stuff. Is this even a democracy? Should we be picking a king? Several commenters are saying things like No kings, that’s crazy. Someone I didn’t see asks me to say, Are we sure we want a strict democracy, though, where we all vote and the minority is out of luck? I hear a couple people asking, Do we all have to vote on every little thing? Please quiet down and slow down.”

  The Ranger pointed again. “Top floor of one, go ahead.” He paused, then repeated, “The suggestion is, We should make an organization with levels, like how Firmitatem has cities and cities have districts. Ours could be buildings and floors. Then the building councils can worry about who can plant their seeds in which part of the grass, and each floor can have a representative on the camp council, and the camp council doesn’t tell the buildings what they can do with their grassy spots. Speaking as myself, I can set that up for you if you want; and I can set up a vote of all the Firmitatem Exiles in this camp to ratify that plan.”

  The Ranger paused as a wave of low-voiced conversation swelled among the buildings. He let them talk for a while, and apparently cancelled his Skill to speak quietly to the other Rangers nearby, who had been cleaning up and packing away the breakfast supplies while he handled the discussion. After that conversation ended, he took a slow look all around, turning in place to scan all four buildings and the crowd of girls from building six, and spoke up with his Skill-enhanced voice again.

  “OK, you’ve had a few minutes to discuss it, so now we’re going to propose a starting charter for a vote. It’s pretty basic, but I’m picking up a feeling that this group doesn’t know each other very well, and especially doesn’t know what you want the camp to be, yet. I was reminded just now that if you’d been two or three years older, you’d have gone through mock government exercises as part of your civics classes, but since that didn’t happen, this is coming at you with even less mental preparation than usual. Which is saying something. The people that run the Sending program have a lot to answer for, and never more than now.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Here’s the charter we’re proposing. The Government of Firmitatem offers a subdivision charter to the town of Camp Constanza, consisting of all residents of the eight buildings designated The Rooms at Camp Constanza. The geographic area of each district of the town shall consist of one building in The Rooms complex, together with its surrounding land extending out to the perimeter walkway. The geographic area of the town shall consist of the eight districts, plus the land that is bordered on at least two sides by the districts, paved or unpaved. Each district shall have the right to subdivide as necessary for internal governance. Each district shall provide from one to three council members to the town council, according to the following scheme: a district with at least ten residents gets at least one councilor; a district with at least 24 residents gets at least two councilors, and a district with at least 64 residents gets three councilors.

  Town laws may be added by the following procedure: the council shall write the law and vote on it, and if the council passes the law with at least a 60% vote in favor, then the citizens shall vote to ratify the law, requiring a 51% margin. Laws which pass both votes shall become laws of the town. Laws may be repealed by the same procedure. The government of Firmitatem shall review the town laws at the time of the three seasonal trade fairs, and may repeal any unacceptable laws by the usual functions of the government’s interaction with towns, including the requirement of notifying the affected ci- excuse me, I mean the affected residents.

  The charter laws of the town shall be as follows: Town residents are forbidden from committing murder in town, on pain of being executed by whatever residents shall witness the murder. Town residents who have an active Outlaw tag, regardless of location where that tag was first applied, must remain outside of the town boundaries or else inside their rooms, on pain of being executed.”

  Danielle’s System suddenly activated, requesting that she vote to ratify the proposed charter for “town Camp Constanza, in which you are a recognized resident.” She saw she could focus on the charter to see it in text in the interface, but she felt it was clear enough, and almost immediately voted “Ratify.”

  Beside her, Cassy muttered, “I can’t believe we actually had to argue over whether or not to make murder illegal.”

  “I can’t believe the adults had to interrupt the argument and force a vote,” Akari replied darkly. “I just hope the loudmouths are a minority, and can’t really vote down the charter.”

  “I can’t believe they let that be the whole charter,” Heather said.

  The Ranger interrupted, “I’m hearing a lot of people asking about why the resident requirements are so low for the representatives. At the trade fairs, the government sells access to additional rooms. It costs a lot for newbies – 400 mana in tokens, same as a second Class – but later on that price starts to feel a little more reasonable, and it helps people spread out as you start to get more tools and things together. It’s part of the reason why we don’t pack you into every room in the building up front; most of you will have an empty room on one side. Anyway, it’s possible that in a year or two, all eight buildings will have council representatives. For now, though, let the record show that there are five buildings, and each one qualifies for three councilors, so you’ll have an odd number to prevent constant ties. Please go ahead and vote, additional laws can be added in a few weeks after you have your council established and after you’re a little more settled in.”

  “There, you see? It’s not supposed to stay the whole thing,” Cassy said. “He’s obviously hoping we’ll get our heads straight and add stuff after we’ve had time to think it out and, you know, not be in shock like some people obviously are. His point about not having gotten to this point in school is downright scary – have you really not talked about government stuff at all in your classes?”

  “What? Of course we have,” Danielle said. “Just, you know, what Firmitatem has now, not so much about how it got that way and even less about how to adapt it to a small town, much less a Sending group. We’re all 14 or 15 here – 13 or 16 year olds would be in the next year down or up, in school. Wait, are you saying your school did do that mock government stuff already?”

  Cassy looked away awkwardly. “Oh, um, I,” she paused to take a steadying breath. “I’m a home tutoring student. I’m 14, so I should be pretty much on level with the younger class here, but the boundaries blur a little with tutoring programs.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know home education students could be Sent,” Danielle said. “What – “

  She was interrupted by the System and the Ranger, both announcing the same thing: “All right, the charter is passed.” The Interface included the detail, “by 52%.” The Ranger skipped the numbers and moved on, reminding everyone, “We’ll see you in four weeks for the Summer Fair catalog and the first charter review. For today, we’ll be putting out the trash bins as I mentioned before. Please take a few minutes to be sure you have all your plastic trash out of your rooms, the smoke is toxic if you burn it, and it doesn’t break down if you bury it. After today, it’s burn, bury, or storage until fall for any trash you may generate. The Rangers will respond to emergency calls on the radios you were offered on Decision Day, but please keep it to serious emergencies. That is all. You now have our permission to take a nap if you’re still recovering from your hike yesterday, or go out and make your first attempts at fishing or setting snares, or whatever seems like the best use of time to you.”

  The Ranger cancelled his Skill and jumped down from the table. Other Rangers converged on the tables to finish packing away breakfast supplies into crates or set out the promised trash bins.

  “Wow. That was a terrifyingly small margin,” said Akari.

  “How can people seriously be so, so – I don’t even know what,” Heather said. She looked like she was about to break out in tears.

  “Can I stick with you girls while we bring out our trash?” Cassy asked. “My roommates are all pretty close, and they seem to kind of resent me, so I can’t really hang out with them, but I’m a little bit afraid to be alone right now. You all seem sane enough to walk with, at least.”

  Danielle looked at the others, almost daring them to say no.

  “Yeah, fine, you can walk back to the building with us,” Akari conceded. “And then we’ll bring your trash to the bins for you on our way to go wherever we go next, so you don’t have to walk back into the crowd, OK?”

  “Er, yes, OK. Thank you. That’s very generous,” Cassy said, though Danielle could tell she had been hoping for something a bit different – probably to hang out with them more.

  Danielle sympathized, but she had to admit, she wasn’t sure she was ready to involve Cassy in the idea that she had come up with back in the room earlier. “Maybe we can meet up tomorrow morning, too,” she suggested. “It’ll be Sunday – do you go to church? Akari and I are used to doing church on Sunday, that’s where we met.”

  Cassy gave her an odd look. “Well, yes, my parents take me to church back home, but – I mean, there’s not exactly a church out here. The whole town is just the eight buildings full of stupid little rooms. Nobody out here is a priest or anything!”

  “Well, no,” Danielle admitted. “I mean – I guess the Rangers might have one, but I was just thinking those of us who want to could at least get together and have maybe something like a prayer meeting? At least?”

  “And pray for what,” Cassy asked sarcastically, “not to be sent out into the mana-wilds with a bunch of wanna-be serial killers?”

  “We could pray for our daily food, and ask not to let the temptation to easy mana points tempt us into becoming serial killers. We could pray for the wanna-be outlaws to get distracted with easy hunting, and pray for our new crazy-town to shift more towards God’s laws than the laws of the jungle.” Danielle tried not to sound offended, but she wasn’t sure how well she was doing.

  Cassy didn’t respond for a long moment, looking conflicted. “Whatever,” she finally said. “It beats hanging out with the nutjobs who think they can murder their way back inside with no consequences. For now, let’s just go get our trash.”

  The five of them walked back to building six, where they let Cassy take the lead to show them where her room was. It turned out to be on the ground floor like their own, and on the back side, but closer to the other end of the building. The stairs to the lower walkway were in the center, between rooms 6013 and 6015, right across from a door labeled “Janitorial.” The guide had led the girls in room 6024 to the right from the stairs, but Cassy led them left. They passed the odd numbered rooms, counting down to 6001, then came around towards the back row, where they discovered that instead of a room 6000, there was an open space behind 6001. It was about the size of a room, but only had the two walls – the back wall of 6001 and the side wall of 6002. Wooden benches with a variety of rustic designs sat against those walls, no two of them looking like they were made the same way, and in the middle of the space was a large, low, bronze brazier.

  “Is that supposed to be a fire place?” Akari asked, looking at the brazier.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s what our guide said,” Cassy answered distractedly. “She says every floor of every building has one. She said, they’re good places to cook, if the rest of the floor can figure out how to share, and decent places to hang out around the fire and talk at night. This is me,” she added, stopping at 6006. “So where will I find you, to give you the trash?”

  “All the way at the end,” Danielle told her, pointing down the length of the walkway. “We’re in this same row, in the corner room, 6024.”

  “OK, I’ll be down in a few minutes.” Cassy paused, looking reluctant to actually go into her room.

  “Be as quick as you can, please,” Heather told her. “Most of us – our room, that is – actually took off as much of our plastic packaging as we reasonably could before we even got on the busses yesterday, and we really do want to get out there and get on with the whole food thing.”

  “Right, ok. See you in a few minutes, then,” Cassy said, and finally went in. All the lights were off in her room, so it seemed her roommates hadn’t beaten them back from the breakfast meeting.

  The four girls walked down the hallway to their own room, and entered.

  “Sooo, about that food thing,” Danielle said, going to her footlocker. “While we all check for trash, let me tell you about a different idea I had this morning.”

  https://discord.gg/u5dtzpShv2