Battle Royale

(The computer lab at the Institute for the Advancement of Dictatorships. The students sit behind their screens. The Instructor stands at the front, a stopwatch in his right hand.)

You will now write an essay on the Deep Value Theory of Labour. You have one hour. Your essays will be graded instantaneously by the latest addition to our family. Her name is Yadya. You haven't met her yet. She is an AI, an AI trained on the institute's thoughts.

(A beat.)

The winner of the essay competition will be safe from what follows. The loser will receive a hunting knife. The Caretaker sharpened it this morning.

(A beat.)

Then Part 2 will begin. It will end twenty-four hours after I start my watch. And then one of you shall leave the institute.

(The Instructor clicks his stopwatch. The students begin to type.)

(Lights fade out and back in.)

And that concludes Part 1. Yadya, what is your verdict?

(through a loudspeaker at the front)

My verdict is simple and clear. The First Student wrote the best essay. Nobody has expressed the potential of slave labour for the stability of autocratic governance in the future, that awaits us all, as he did. He wrote eloquently and sharply. The worst essay came from the Most Senior Student. Maybe not a surprise given that he has failed his finals three times already. But I must add — I read his essay in the same impartial way as I read all others. I was not biased by past performance. My judgement was based on words alone. He must be given the knife.

(The Instructor hands the knife to the Most Senior Student, who lowers his eyes.)

(The woods behind the institute's paddock. Night. All the Other Students assembled, with the exception of the Most Senior Student.)

We isolated them.

For good.

We are safe.

We must watch our backs.

Twelve hours to go.

Sounds long.

We can't fall asleep.

We must keep watch.

We should alternate.

We need one to the north.

One to the south.

One to the west.

One to the east.

We are twelve.

That makes the math simple.

It does.

It does.

Wanna bet?

Yes.

Ten quid on the New Student.

He had it coming.

No, the First.

He's safe, dumbo.

Safe.

He had it coming bad.

A democrat's son.

Booo.

Let's keep watch.

(The First Student, the New Student, and the Most Senior Student together in a rowing boat in the middle of the lake.)

Ten minutes to go.

Looks like it will have to be one of us.

(The Most Senior Student holds his knife toward the others.)

(gesturing toward the First Student)

He is safe.

He is not. I can just stab him. Here and now.

A gap in the rules. I should complain.

You didn't notice that?

I didn't.

Why the fuck did you take me along with you then?

Better to have the knife in one's team.

So that I can bloody kill you?

There is no need for you to kill either of us.

The others are safe.

Safe from your knife.

But not from each other.

They will get nervous now.

And they know we are a team.

We have been a team for over twenty-two hours now.

They will all be very worried now.

And one of them will realise —

Realise what?

That they are forced to pick amongst themselves.

None of them has a knife.

They have their hands.

And hands are enough.

They are strangling each other as we speak.

You are trying to trick me.

We are trying to save you.

(The other students, still in the grove behind the paddock.)

Five minutes.

Why didn't we hear anything yet?

Didn't the Instructor say we would hear when it's over?

I think so.

Didn't he mention a trumpet call?

Traa-raa!

This is not funny.

What if it's one of us?

How could that happen?

Because I might strangle you.

I will strangle you first.

(looking at Other Student 4)

I will strangle him.

No. Me you.

(They all fall over each other trying to grab throats.)

(The First Student, the New Student, and the Most Senior Student still on the boat.)

Two minutes.

We are all safe.

We are a team.

(holding his knife at the New Student's throat)

You are still trying to trick me.

He's not. One of the others will have been suffocated by now.

I don't believe you.

One minute. We almost made it.

(looking at the New Student)

It's either you or me.

Calm down. We got this.

(The Most Senior Student moves the knife away from the New Student and holds it at his own throat.)

Ten seconds.

We all survived.

(The Most Senior Student slashes his own throat.)