The others afterward behaved properly, filled with both expectation and nervousness toward Rock Fortress.
There was no need to put the children through a second round. If they all ended up crying, it would be hard to handle.
Calista did not particularly like dealing with children anyway.
Cute ones were the exception.
The last one was Leo.
The young man sat in front of Calista, looking somewhat at a loss.
"Leo," Calista said bluntly as she looked at him. "You're an athlete, and you're in good shape. But last time, your impulsiveness nearly got your companions killed."
Leo's face flushed instantly. He lowered his head, his voice full of remorse. "I know... I was wrong. I really regret it."
"Regret is useless," Calista said, her tone sharpening. "What Rock Fortress needs is discipline and obedience, not lone heroics, and certainly not impulsiveness.
What can you use to prove that you've learned to control your emotions and are worthy of trust?"
Leo looked up, his eyes urgent. "I can learn! I can change! I'll do anything you ask. Carry things, patrol, any dirty or exhausting work, I'll do it!
I just... I just want a chance to prove I'm not a burden. That I can protect my sister and do something for everyone!"
His voice was emotional, but his attitude was sincere.
Calista studied him for a moment, then asked a pointed question. "Leo, you run fast. If there were a mission right now that required you to risk your life to lure walkers away.
To buy time for your sister, and for everyone else at the base, would you go without hesitation?"
"I would!" Leo answered at once, his eyes firm.
"Even if it might mean never seeing your sister again?"
Leo's lips trembled slightly, but he still nodded hard. "...I would. They'd help take care of my sister."
"They? Who?"
"Gwendolyn, Marcus. All of them would."
Calista raised an eyebrow. It seemed Marcus was a decent person. The people in his community trusted him a great deal.
She changed direction. "Then what if the mission wasn't to protect your sister, but to execute someone who threatened the base, someone who used to be a survivor just like you, and might even have helped you before? Could you do it?"
Leo froze, conflict showing on his face.
He was used to running and fighting to protect people, not actively deciding whether someone of his own kind should live or die.
"I... I..."
"Remember," Calista said coldly, "here, survival and order come before personal feelings.
Your speed and courage are good, but hesitation can become a fatal weakness.
You need to learn to act for the greater whole, even when it goes against your instincts in the moment."
She wrote on the evaluation form, "tied down by younger sister, brave, has potential, but needs tempering of character and cultivation of absolute obedience to the collective."
Aside from the questioning, physical examinations were also being carried out at the same time.
Dr. Evans and Harry were in charge, with Felipe, Jenny, and Sarah assisting, and they conducted a full health screening on every new member.
The results were not optimistic. Most of them were malnourished, with varying degrees of frostbite and vitamin deficiency.
The good news was that no infectious diseases were found.
Those minor problems would improve as long as they were able to eat properly.
The questioning and physical examinations took a full two days.
In the command room, Calista flipped through a thick report. It recorded in detail the basic information, skill assessments, preliminary personality judgments, and health conditions of each of the sixty-one people.
The community's background was relatively clean. It could be confirmed that they were mostly former dam employees and nearby residents.
Most of them were cooperative, had a strong will to survive, and would be easy to manage.
She said to Leah and Rickson, who were sitting beside her, "You've both read the full report, right? What do you think?"
Rickson nodded. "The assessment results are in line with expectations, maybe even a little better. This group is worth absorbing.
But there will be management pressure.
Their recovery from long-term hunger will require time and resources from us.
There are a few unstable elements among them. David is the most obvious and needs close monitoring.
Some of the elderly and physically weak won't be able to provide effective labor in the short term. They'll be a net drain."
After thinking for a moment, Leah said, "Rickson is right. We need to plan their management carefully and integrate them with the original residents as soon as possible."
Calista's fingers tapped lightly on the report, her gaze stopping on the skills summary page.
Hydraulic machinery, construction, basic medical care, farming, carpentry. These skills matched Rock Fortress's current needs very well and complemented them strongly.
This was not simply a group of burdens. It was a resource package urgently waiting to be integrated, with enormous potential.
She closed the report and looked up at Leah and Rickson. "Once the quarantine period ends, assign them according to the established plan.
The dam technical personnel will be prioritized for Elena's water conservancy projects and the infrastructure team.
Those capable of labor will be assigned to the housing construction and wall expansion projects at Blackberry Ranch. Let them build the place they'll live in with their own hands, and strengthen their sense of belonging.
Once the quarantine period ends, implement the same point-based ranking system so they can see what they're working toward."
"As for the few people who need close observation," Calista paused,
"put them on the routine monitoring list and keep it within the Defense Force. Strictly limit their access to core areas and weapons. If there is any abnormal movement, handle it according to the rules, with no leniency."
"Understood," Leah and Rickson replied at the same time.
Calista's decision settled the fate of these sixty-one people.
They had passed the initial test and earned the right to become a "cog" aboard the great ship of Rock Fortress.
Life in the quarantine zone was strict, even dull, but their basic food, warmth, and safety were guaranteed.
That gradually calmed many of those who had been anxious at first, and they began to passively accept this new order.
As they watched Rock Fortress personnel carry out every task with meticulous precision, what they felt was not only coldness, but also a powerful control that gave them a sense of security.
What awaited them next would be long labor, strict discipline, and constant evaluations, all to prove that they deserved the right to survive in this post-apocalyptic base.
...
After truckloads of supplies from the last century were brought back from the Norris Civil Defense Depot, the base's storage area became fuller than ever before.
The dark green crates piled up like small mountains, giving everyone a very real sense of security, but also bringing new problems.
The first item placed on the inspection schedule was naturally the largest batch of all, the "multi-purpose civilian emergency biscuits."
Although Leah, Merle, and the people from the Norris community had all eaten them before, that only proved the biscuits would not kill someone immediately. They still needed to be tested properly.
In Dr. Jenner's laboratory, he and Dr. Evans used the available equipment to carefully examine these half-century-old "antiques."
Dr. Evans used a tool to pry open a sealed crate, took out a few gray, dusty-looking biscuits, and performed a preliminary observation and crushing.
Dr. Jenner used simple chemical reagents and a microscope to analyze their composition and check for possible microbial contamination.
A few days later, a preliminary test report on the biscuits was freshly completed and delivered to Calista and Rickson, who was in charge of internal affairs.
...
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