Nigel awoke Sunday feeling a bit drained. The weekend took a lot out of him, and he still had several questions. The last day was riddled with more tests. More people that Nigel didn't know were present, and everyone kept asking him questions related to machine learning, many of which he didn't know the answers to. It was almost if they thought he invented it!

The weekend finally ended with a dinner. About halfway through, Natasha addressed the crowd of a dozen or so students.

“You may have noticed that there are fewer of you than when the weekend started,” Natasha said. “This weekend was the final test. Those of you remaining have successfully passed and can consider yourselves full interns of Collective Systems.”

Nigel felt both relieved and anxious about this development at the same time. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off. Something had been off this whole orientation.

“Different levels of internships have been assigned. Please open the envelope that is pasted below each chair.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Nigel felt for an envelope; there was nothing there. Every other student was opening envelopes but him.

“When I call your number, please line up,” Natasha said.

Nigel looked around for numbers but couldn't find any. At that moment, five people came into view, each with a giant number card.

Natasha called out numbers one through four. All other interns except Nigel were lined up.

“Each number represents a skill level. Your assignments will be based on these numbers until a new skill level is assigned.”

Of the thirteen interns present, there were six Level Ones, four Level Twos, one Level Three, and one Level Four.

“Interns, please welcome our newest Level Five intern, Nigel Watson,” Natasha said. She was looking directly at Nigel.

Nigel got up and stood next to Natasha. After the ceremony, each student was handed a packet and was instructed not to open the packet until they returned home. This was the last time that Nigel saw Natasha.

Nigel waited a very long time before Rocky came with the car. All other interns had already left with their respective rides. “Get in, Kid.”

As Nigel got into the car, an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion came over him, and he fell into a comfortable sleep.