SATOSHI NAKAMOTO: THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD Chapter 2

A few years later . . .

“Welcome to Bitonica.” A computerized voice announced over the loudspeaker. Satoshi stood in a large room with dozens of other bodies. Many who were in worse shape than him. Since the old man died, Satoshi managed to keep the apartment by making a deal with the landlord. Satoshi promised to give him food every week as payment. Things were certainly more difficult now that it was only him bringing in food but still two bodies to feed.
The crowd around him were all thin, dirty, and frail looking. But Satoshi hadn’t heard anyone cough yet, which was a good sign. He knew this opportunity was too good to pass up, but with this many bodies in the room, someone was bound to have the sickness. He listened carefully for the first hour they were kept waiting in the room. Although employees in white labcoats took saliva samples from everyone to test for sickness, Satoshi couldn’t be sure they were accurate. There was always a chance that Bitonica was trying to get rid of the 99 percent by infecting people in masses and waiting for them to die. At the first sign of sickness, he would leave.
A few days ago, a public announcement was made in the city. Apparently, a company called to Bitonica needed a few more specialists to work for them and there weren’t enough of the wealthy willing or available to work. It was ironic to Satoshi. Only 1 percent of the population managed to survive without fear, sickness, or suffering, but they were stingy. Families only had one or two children and now the generation before his was becoming old and dying. There weren’t enough bodies to sustain them, and most of the 99 percent lacked any formal education and were useless to everyone but themselves. Since the schools closed down about a decade ago, many of the 99 percent could barely read. That was one of the few requirements for the job, whatever it was, Bitonica had listed. The company was only accepting applicants who could read. Satoshi had to taking a literacy test to even get this far. The test was pretty simple. He had to read a paragraph to one of their hiring administrators and write a few sentences about himself.
Afterward, Satoshi was shuffled into a large room with no windows. In fact there was nothing in the room except for an eight-foot table, two chairs, cameras in the corners, and a two-way mirror on the east side of the room. Satoshi felt uneasy. What could such a plain room be used for on any other day by the largest computer and technology company in the world?
“Thank you all for joining us today.” The voice sounded computerized. The voice made it sound like Bitonica invited the crowd for a friendly get together, instead of what would likely be the most sought after job opening in the city. Satoshi couldn’t be sure how many locations Bitonica had or where else the applicants might have come from. Satoshi doubted that the offer extended outside of the city. Afterall, there wasn’t a sign of civilization for a hundred-miles outside the city, and he doubted anyone like the crowd could travel that far on foot. It was only 99 percenters in the room. Likely, anyone with any kind of money didn’t need whatever dangerous and awful job that Bitonica was surely offering.
“We are pleased you came all this way for us. We will begin the presentation soon.” The room began buzzing with excitement. No one had come in or out of the room for hours. Satoshi began worry about the crowd’s bladder. A few moments later, one of the two doors opened. The other door was on the east side of the room, likely leading to wherever the two-way mirror connected to. In walked a woman, who Satoshi immediately knew was a 1 percenter. She was clean, and stood tall, not slouching with defeat like the rest of them. Her hair was about shoulder-length and brown, she was wearing a black business jacket and dress pants, her black heels clicked loudly through the now silent room as she walked across the white tiled floor.
Everyone watched as she walked to the north side of the room. Following behind her were six well-armed followers. Satoshi wasn’t sure whether they were men or women since they were helmets, glasses, and were covered with thick, black, bullet-proof vests. This woman was probably worried that a riot would break out from anyone that was rejected. She turned to face the crowd and gave a wide, forced smile. Her teeth were shiny white and her lips were painted with dark red lipstick. Satoshi had never seen a woman look so . . . clean. For a moment, anger filled Satoshi. How could this woman dare to give the starving crowd a ridiculous smile? They lived in fear and pain, while she went home to a nice apartment and ate dinner every night until her stomach was full. She got to bathe every morning and eat again. It wasn’t fair. Satoshi shook his head, trying to focus. He wanted this job. He needed this job. He couldn’t waste time hating this woman. If he could manage, by some sliver of luck, to get this job, he would probably be surrounded by 1 percenters, or at least people who lived far better than he, and he would have to get along with them. Satoshi knew that any dissent, any sign of disdain by whoever Bitonica hired, and they would be back on the streets, running from death again.
“Welcome to Bitonica.” The woman parroted the announcement. Satoshi was more convinced that voice before was computerized, since this woman sounded nothing like it. She sounded almost human. “We’re sorry to keep you waiting. As you might have guessed, we had quite a turnout today. Four of our observation rooms are filled with applicants. It took some time to get everyone organized and situated.” FOUR rooms! Satoshi thought bleakly. There must have been at least a hundred people in this room. “My name is Gale Hollings. I am the President of Human Relations at Bitonica. I am in charge of all of our employees, those with us, those we hire, and those that leave.” So this is the woman everyone would be sucking up to and trying to impress with their non-existent skills. “Today, we are looking to welcome a new team to our Computer Programming department.” Satoshi’s heart sank. He had never seen a computer, let alone know how to program one. He didn’t even know what kind of skills a computer programmer needed. For all he knew, computer programming required intense manual labor. Satoshi only knew what computers did and looked like because of some pictures he saw in newspapers that he came across in the trash. His father had one book when he was a child about basic computer skills. His father told him that Satoshi’s grandfather gave it to him before he died from sickness. Someone in their family from long ago had gone to a university when they were still available. Apparently it was pretty common for the public to have at least basic computer skills and Satoshi’s grandfather had taken a class on it. But after that, people began burning books for light and warmth after what had been called the “Zap.” All the electricity had stopped and everything that ran off of it was fried.
The crowd murmured Satoshi’s feelings. “Computers! Like any of us know how to work one of those!” Said a short man next to Satoshi. The man stomped his foot in frustration. The woman didn’t seem at all perturbed by the sudden tension in the room.
“We are aware that many of you lack training in any kind of technology, but that’s okay.” The woman cooed reassuringly. “If selected, Bitonica will provide you with all the formal training that you’ll need. We have several teams at Bitonica who will also assist you.” The crowd almost tangibly relaxed. “However, that is not to say computer programming is easy. Many find it very complicated and difficult, which is why only those we feel are qualified to learn this skill will be selected. Each team consists of five members, both men and women.” Only seven will be hired. Satoshi concluded stoically. Out of maybe more than four-hundred who are here. The woman continued, “So let’s get started shall we? The first round of elimination is easy. In groups of twenty, we will lead you to where our doctors and nurses are waiting. You will each undergo a simple and painless examination. We want to be sure that whoever is hired is in at least acceptable health and can stay with us a long time, if they choose.” Satoshi could have laughed. “Elimination,” “acceptable health,” “if they choose.” Those words were comical. Bitonica wasn’t hiring employees, they were inspecting cattle, cattle with no better choice. “I will see the remainder of you in a short while.”
As soon as the woman left and the sound of her heels could no longer be heard, more “security guards” entered. In fact, twenty entered. Each security guard pointed to someone and said “come with me.” The room slowly emptied out. After an hour, the guards returned, but the people they took were not with them. Satoshi wondered if they had already been eliminated. Now that everyone knew what the guards were doing, they scrambled to be the next selected. Some guards just took whoever approached first, others, like a game, shoved the eager hands away and walked toward the back of the room. Satoshi waited patiently. Eventually, they would come to him, but until then, he just wanted to blend in. Each guard found someone and led them away.
Satoshi was picked during the third round. He followed the guard down hallways with the same white floor tiles and egg colored walls. It was like a maze. Satoshi stuck closely to the guard. He wasn’t sure he could find his way back if he became lost. The guard led him down a hallway with a dozen doors, each exactly like the other. The guard stopped in front of one that was labelled “Medical RM 203.”
“Okay, go inside.” The guard said briskly, as if he was already bored of shepherding around a bunch of nobodies. Satoshi stood there and blinked. His heart began pounding harder in his chest. He felt uneasy. “Well? If you’re not going in then say-so now so that I can take you out of here.” Satoshi gulped and entered.
The room was quite a bit smaller than the one he had come from. It was filled with medical equipment, which Satoshi couldn’t name. In the center of the room was what looked like an oddly shaped bed but for sitting up in. The bed had a cushion covering it and thin white paper on top. As he entered, a man and woman in lab coats turned.
“Name please.” The woman said to Satoshi. She looked tired and agitated. She held a clipboard and pen.
“Um, Satoshi Nakamoto.” Satoshi replied as he shut the door behind him.
“Date of birth?” asked the woman. He man in the other labcoat didn’t even acknowledge Satoshi. He kept his back turned toward a counter with a sink and rummaged in the cabinets above.
“I...don’t know the exact date. But I think I was born in 2070.” The woman noticeably rolled her eyes and wrote it down. It’s not like my parents had a calendar when I was born, or cared what the date was. It didn’t matter! Satoshi wanted to retort, but he remained silent. The man in the lab coat chuckled and turned around. Satoshi couldn’t help himself.
“Something funny to you?” Satoshi was ready to leave right then. Comfortable living be damned. The man smiled.
“No. Forgive me. I could feel the nurse’s eyes roll from over here. This is her first time examining an Other.” The doctor said while he pulled a pair of light blue rubber gloves from his pocket.”
“Other?” Satoshi asked. The nurse hmphed and turned away.
“I guess you would call it a ‘99 percenter.” But statistically, that’s incorrect . . . there is a small percentage who fall somewhere in between.” The man explained putting the gloves on.
“And the rest of us are all the others.” Satoshi said matter-of-factly. The man nodded and said,
“Why don’t you have a seat there and we’ll begin.” The doctor pointed to the bed looking thing in the center of the room.

Satoshi out a sigh of relief as he remained seated, alone in the room now. Everything “checked out,” is what the man who turned out to be the doctor told him. Satoshi learned that the doctor examined 6 other people from the two groups that went before Satoshi. The doctor said only Satoshi and two of the others had passed the physical exam. Of the other three, one of them was too old, nearly forty. The other two were “beyond repairing,” as the doctor put it. Satoshi just nodded when he heard the news. He wasn’t surprised.
“Looks like you’re moving on to the next phase.” The doctor said. The nurse remained silent almost the entire time. Satoshi only heard her speak when she gave him instructions or made a comment to the doctor. “The nurse will take you to where the others are. Good luck.” The doctor said genuinely, if not sympathetically.
Satoshi ended up back in a room that looked identical to the room he started in. He only knew they were different because the table and chairs were slightly more worn looking. The room was half full when he walked in. I guess this is where they ended up.
Two more hours passed. No one left, but a few dozen slowly entered. Satoshi guessed those were the ones who passed from the following rounds after him. The room was filled with excited chatter for making it onto the next round. Gale walked in, her heels still clicking against the tile.
“Good to see everyone again.” She stopped just short of the doorway. “You and another room are those that passed the preliminary health exams. Congratulations for making it to the next round.” Satoshi wanted to roll his eyes. She was congratulating them for not being too old, frail, or among the dying. “Just short of two-hundred applicants remain. I know it’s been a long day. For now, please return home and come back in the morning so we can start round two.” That’s it? Satoshi thought in surprise.
“How long until we know who makes it?” shouted someone from the room. Gale continued to smile.
“I know you all must be very anxious, but with so many applicants, it will take a few days before we narrow it down. But tomorrow we have something to look forward to. If you make it through round two, we will provide you with lunch.” With that, Gale turned and left. Upon hearing that they would receive a free meal, the crowd became loud with happy laughter and excitement. Well, at least if nothing else, I will get food out of this waste of time. Satoshi thought grimly.

To be Continued...