4'All ten of the contestants are seated around the dining table, finishing off their first meal together. There is an extensive menu available, but on their first night they decided that they would all eat at the same time, and would eat the same thing. Fish and chips was considered to be the best bet, even though are no vegetarians in the group. Various beers have also been chosen, and these have been drunk at a frightening rate. Early nerves, awkwardness and quietness have given way to loud chat thanks to the alcohol.'
Rose's outgoing personality had enabled her to lead the conversation to a large extent. She was interested first of all in finding out about where everyone was from, a subject everyone could discuss and involved dealing with hard facts so there was little room for differing opinions to cause arguments. Besides, with ten people there was a lot to discover.
'We talked about this a little earlier,' said Gail, 'or at least Damo and I discussed our support for our local football teams before a lot of you arrived. And you can tell from my accent that I am from Liverpool.'
'Never.' muttered Zombie to himself.
Ignoring him, Gail continued 'I was born outside Liverpool, in Southport, apparently to a very young mother. She was possibly in school at the time and she couldn't look after me. So I was moved to a foster home in the outskirts of Liverpool when I was about three years old after some childless friends of my parents "did the decent thing" and looked after me as a baby. So that I was out of the view of my real family. Because I moved to a foster home so young I have no recollection of any of my family, and I have never been able to trace them. Not that I have made much effort. I doubt my real mother kept in touch with my real father, and do I need to know someone who let me go? My foster parents were OK, but they had two children of their own, and they were much more committed to them. I went through school comfortably, but as soon as I got to sixteen, I left that behind me and left them and the home they ran to make my own way in life. I didn't really get very far though without proper qualifications, and apart from the odd job in a café I have financed my stay in a hostel by claiming unemployment benefit. I spend most of my time in public libraries reading.'
Damo piped up next, 'We also established that I am from Newcastle, and I have perhaps been a little more fortunate than that. Especially because I support a better football team.' he added with a smile to Gail. 'I was born in Newcastle eighteen years ago,' he continued, 'and had an easy start to life, but couldn't hack the school thing. I took up an apprenticeship as an electrician and qualified very quickly. Well, not quite, rather I learnt enough to set myself up recently with my own "business", which the government and the tax people don't know anything about, let alone the regulatory authority.'
'Isn't that dangerous?' Sarah asked.
'Not when you don't do any of the difficult stuff. In most cases though it's a case of a little old lady not knowing how to change the fuse in the plug for her iron. I make a big deal of taking it apart and showing her a bit of metal, saying "That bit's broken, I'll have to go back to my office for a spare part". Then either off to the next old lady's house or the pub, depending how much money I think I need. Eventually I get back to the original house, change the fuse, put the iron or whatever back together again and charge an outrageous amount. Not forgetting to add VAT of course. A tidy extra 17.5% that makes me look professional. That is how I get my season ticket to Newcastle United and attend most of the away games.'
Rose was horrified. 'That's immoral!' she blurted out.
Malcolm leapt to Damo's defence. 'You've got to think like that if you want to have an easy life. Most people who slog away nine to five waste their lives doing what robots should be doing. You only get one shot at life, and I would want to work as little as possible to have the standard of living that I want. As a matter of fact I don't work at all. Over the last few years I have built up a nice group of acquaintances who all pay me handsomely for providing them with assorted plant derivatives that they like to smoke, or chemicals they choose to ingest. Don't touch the stuff myself, but it puts a lot of cash in my wallet. And I am sure that the sad people of Manchester are very grateful for my service.'
'And Manchester's famous for that problem, so you probably do earn a tidy packet off people like me.' said Charles.
'What do you mean? Stuck-up snobs?' laughed Malcolm.
'No, people who are stupid enough to get themselves addicted like I did.' replied Charles.
Tina, thinking quickly about that comment said 'Surely if you are addicted, coming into this situation is going to be hell for you. You'll be doing cold turkey straight away.'
'I was addicted, but I managed to kick the habit I got into. It was cool to smoke grass when I was in my teens, but then over the years one thing led to another and I got onto worse things, more expensive things. LSD for instance didn't make me think that it wasn't sensible to try other stuff when other young idiots offered it to me. I was on such a cocktail that I never knew whether I was up or down, but whatever I tried would have an effect, and in the end I just needed that. Some effect that would numb my brain and make me forget about the good job I had lost and the criminal I had become. I stopped using them after a spell in prison, and have learnt to keep alcohol as the only thing that can mess my head. That is socially acceptable at least. I now get my money from begging in Leicester Square, where there are many friendly people, tourists, people with a lot of money. It's years since I last wore a suit, so it just shows how wrong your first impression of me could be. I still keep my high standards though, my aspirations, and a sense of good taste. I am not afraid to express my opinions, and you may not like them, but I am entitled to have my say.'
Colin was next to speak. 'I have been reduced to begging too. I studied hard at the University of Central England, and qualified reasonably well in Computer Science. After graduating I got a job with a small computer firm, which did pay well until the software industry had a bit of a crash and I lost my job as a result. Because all the companies were struggling no one would take me on and I got left behind technologically. I couldn't buy the most up to date books, and I got less and less likely to find a job as the downturn continued. Birmingham isn't such a bad place though, and the city centre did give me enough scope for scraping together enough money to get by. The financial centre near Victoria Square, and the shopping centre off New Street, above the station, were always packed, and I often collected quite a lot of money. Occasionally I could "take time off" to study in the University library and try to catch up. Eventually though, they got a lot more security-conscious and issued students with passes, and because I wasn't a student I didn't get one, and so ended my access to the new computer science text books.'
Zombie was the next to comment. 'You should have stolen them. That's what I do when I want stuff. I nick it.'
'But they are electronically tagged, an alarm goes off if you try to steal them.
'There are ways and means.'
When it became obvious that Zombie wasn't going to add any more, and didn't look likely to speak about himself, Rose started to speak.
'I am from Blackburn, Lancashire, and have had very little opportunity to have a good or an easy life. My parents were killed in a car accident on the M6 when I was two. I managed to survive because I was well strapped in to the child seat in the back. My grandmother looked after me and did her best, but she was not well off, especially since my grandfather died. I got through school, but by the time I got to eighteen and had finished I could not take the opportunity to go to University. My grandmother was very elderly by this time and had no one to look after her. I really felt that I should return the favour she did me as I was growing up, and look after her as she was approaching the end of her life. I did this for a year before she finally succumbed to cancer. All the money she had was spent on her funeral. She rented her house, so I was thrown out by the landlord after a "respectable" period. So I found myself on the street. That is why I took the opportunity to be a contestant here.'
Tina spoke next. 'I have also come here off the street, or you might say from walking the streets. This has been an escape for me and gives me the chance to give up my "profession". Glasgow is not the nicest place for hanging about street corners trying to pick up custom. I think a lot of the buildings are beautiful, don't get me wrong, but many of my clients , I'd rather not think about it. And it's not just the men who pay me and leave, there's those that are violent and those that don't pay, the threat of disease, and those that look diseased. And the gangs of youths that always seem to be hanging about or walking past shouting and whistling. And I don't like men anyway! But it's all I have ever known.'
Looking around slowly, to realise that almost everyone had spoken, Sarah began to tell her story. 'My tale is not very dissimilar from that of Tina. I haven't worked as a prostitute though.' She then took off her glasses. 'Without these, and with my height and my blonde hair I suppose it is obvious that I am ideal model material. To begin with I did do some fashion modelling, and I was quite successful. Then I fell into a similar trap to Charles. As you get a bit older it becomes more difficult to keep the weight off. As a result you do things to stay slim. It started with smoking because that is supposed to suppress your appetite. That worked for a while, but then it stopped working. I still had plenty of cash, so I bought drugs rather than food. I stayed slim, but couldn't afford the habit I had built up. When work became less frequent I had to try anything to keep enough money coming in. That is when I got into the glamour-modelling scene, taking my top off and all that. That kept the money coming in for a while, but soon it wasn't enough. Then I was approached to act in 'films'. I had reached my lowest ebb, but had to do it to be able to afford my lifestyle. As with Tina, this is a desperate attempt to get rid of my bad, bad life, and put all that behind me. Unlike Charles though, I am still addicted, and this will be hard for me because I am now starting withdrawal. Someone once said to me it is no worse than a mild case of the 'flu though, so I hope I will get over it while I am in here.'
There was silence for a while, but finally the last contestant spoke. 'I have listened to your stories, and as far as things go I consider myself to be somewhere in the middle. I had a fantastic upbringing, loved life and had loads of friends, but as with Rose, I lost my parents. I was much older though, just in my first year at University. It made it impossible for me to study, and I left without any qualifications. I got depressed following loads of broken relationships that I started with the wrong people to try to replace my family, and eventually considered suicide. Ultimately though, I had no one who would have cared that I was gone. I have managed to hang on, but like Colin and Charles I have to beg to try to get enough money to get by. I live in Edinburgh, where there is plenty of space in hostels, except when the Festival is on, but that is in the summer, so the life outside at that time is not so bad. And there are plenty of rich people around to give money. It is hard in a way though, because on almost every street in the centre there is a hard luck case, and people can walk from one end of the city centre to the other, passing ten or fifteen people trying to cadge money off them.'
'I haven't given my name yet, because as I said earlier I have gone through a few phases in my life where I have used variations of my first names, Emelline Victoria. I was Emma at primary school, but changed to Vicky at secondary school. At University I was Victoria to lecturers or Vic to friends, because I thought that was more the sort of name that would enable me to get on. My family called me Emelline. The name I use for most social acquaintances is Emily, and I have decided that I want you all to use that name for me. It always seemed to me a friendly sort of name, and obviously while we are together I would like to be friends with you all, despite the fact that this is a competition.'
Suddenly a buzzer sounded. It became obvious to the competitors that the administrators of the competition wished to make some kind of comment. A light flashed above the large screen in the living area. Then a message appeared.
[We would like to announce that the results of the first vote are in. It has been established by a vote of the watching audience who is to be the first loser in the 'Captive Contestants' competition. We asked that everyone voted according to first impressions of your first couple of hours. First impressions don't necessarily tell the whole story, and there has been little chance to make an impression. However, one of you finished tenth in the poll.
Before you entered the competition for ten million pounds you were all aware that the stakes are very high. It is possible that the stakes are higher than you believed. At six o'clock tomorrow morning the first loser will walk through the door in the garden marked with the number one. There they will find an envelope, which, when opened, will let them know their fate. Tonight we are giving plenty of time for goodbyes because this has come to you suddenly. The first unlucky loser is.
.Tina.]