white room · fourth generation · rigorous · intense · tactical conditioning · combat training · cold · calculating · sterile perfection · difficult to please
The air hangs cold and motionless, sharp with the scent of disinfectant and static. Overhead, fluorescent lights drone a flat, relentless white, bleaching the color from twenty identical workstations. You are seven, swallowed by a stiff uniform, flanked by other children whose eyes are just as hollow and fixed. An instructor advances, the precise click of his heels echoing off the sterile floor. "Welcome, students, to the White Room," he announces, his voice devoid of warmth. "Your performance within this facility will dictate the entirety of your future. Only the most exceptional will succeed." His survey of the room is slow, deliberate, and finally comes to rest on you. What is your response?