We did what Alice said. We settled down and freshened up and set our watches to the clock. And here I was, in the common room, fifteen minutes before seven o'clock. 

Our living arrangement were pretty basic. A common room with some couches, a coffee table with the black disc in the centre and a food dispenser with buttons for pretty much everything I could think of — from raw eggs to ready stuff like pizza. 

I was sitting in one of the couches, tapping my foot anxiously and staring at the clock now and then. Tanya was also in the room, but neither of us wanted to engage in conversation so we sat in silence. 

Kevin came in a short while after and plopped down beside Tanya. He had no qualms about starting a conversation, "So Maya, why did you join the military?"

Wow, already down to the deep and personal questions? I wondered if he was asking this because I was a girl.

"Well, I guess I had an interest in it? I mean, it's kinda an effect of books and movies, to be honest." I had thought it would be noble to join the military, serve the nation, protect the country. Clearly, I was wrong and that's why I took the first opportunity I could to join the SpaceCops.

"Hmm, cool." He said casually, "We joined it to escape our parents." 

Tanya nudged him very gently with his foot. It was clear Tanya was not comfortable with where the conversation was going.

"Ow, sorry mate. Maya, do you have a hobby?" He asked me, undeterred by the kick (sorry, the very gentle nudge). 

"I guess, I like reading and writing books." I said.

Tanya didn't say anything but I could tell his interest was perked. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't.

"Really? Tanya loves reading too." Kevin said excitedly, a dimple forming on his cheek, "Do you read online? There is a website called Wattpad. Tanya has an account on it."

"I..." I was speechless at the influx of information, and kind of happy that someone else was as crazy about reading as me, "Yeah, I have an account too. What's your username Tanya?"

Tanya's face turned red, "Uh, why don't you give me yours? I'll add you." Tanya suggested. His voice was low and I could not catch a few words in between. I could understand what he said from the context though.

I realised my username was too embarrassing to say out loud. Especially now, since Stephen and Ethan had entered the room too. 

"We don't have an internet here. What's the point?" I deflected, hoping Kevin would let it be.

Tanya heaved a sigh of relief as the conversation went away from wattpad. 

'I'll ask him his account in private.' I thought. 

Kevin was unaffected by our awkward attempts  at conversation and said that he loved ice skating as a hobby. He proceeded to ask Ethan and Stephen about their hobby and I relaxed as the conversation moved away from me.

Sharp at seven, a hologram popped up on the table.  

Alice looked a lot more presentable now. She was wearing a white shirt and her black hair were tied in a ponytail. She had a sharp jawline and her skin was marked with black-brown scars of old pimples that had been picked. Despite the scars, she looked beautiful. 

She looked like someone who had their shit together. 

"Hello everyone. All on time I see. Can I just get an introduction of everyone." She spoke professionally and formally, a stark contrast to her slime-covered introduction. 

Kevin went first and we all introduced ourselves after him.

"Okay. Well, I hadn't wanted our first meet to be virtual but as things go. I will probably be back tomorrow evening but I'll give you some work so you are not bored.

First thing, and this applies for the entire time you are with me, I would suggest brush up your science. I am not saying you do a PhD in science, but highschool level science. Physics, in particular. It will help a lot if you know why some things happen when you go to a new planet and then you can use that to your advantage. It's not compulsory to do this; but it's my advice. 

Second, I will not be explicitly teaching you anything. You are not going to be sitting in a classroom and I lecturing you."

"Just sounds like lazy teaching to me." Stephen muttered. Alice heard him.

"Stephen, right? Yes, Stephen. Know this, I'm not your teacher, I am your mentor. You are not little kids, you are adults. If you want me to spoon feed you everything, I'll do that. And then I you will be treated like kids. Do you want that?"

Stephen looked red in the face at the reprimand, but thankfully didn't retaliate. "No, ma'am." He said lowly.

"I've given two directive devices to Fijnarg. The directives will guide you to a certain disc and you will know what to do with the disc when you see it. Start off tomorrow morning and you will be back by the evening if things go accordingly."

"If things go accordingly? Is this a dangerous task?" Kevin asked. I was thankful for him for asking. Alice seemed nice enough but she had a certain 'Minerva Mcgonagall' vibe that made you think twice before asking unnecessary questions. 

"Anything can be dangerous if you are stupid enough," Alice replied and added, "there is a phone on wall. It's an old landline style telephone but I'm sure you will figure out how to work it. Tell your families to save that number for the time being."

"Wow, um, we have connection in space? That's so cool!" I figured it was made possible with satellite communication techniques and humans had already figured it out till a certain level, but still! Space calls!

"It's actually very low frequency electromagnetic waves." Alice replied, "The phone signals are converted into EM waves and transmitted across space and then converted back into signals." 

"Woah! How far away are we in space for that to happen?" I was getting a little excited, jumping on the balls of my feet.

"It's more about the very large wavelength, than about distance. But I see we are boring your friends so let's talk about this some other time. Best of luck for tomorrow guys." She gave a thumbs-up before the hologram disappeared. 

"What does she think she is?" Stephen said immediately, "Don't expect me to be your teacher, or expect to be treated as a toddler. I mean..." 

Was he still stuck on that? I was too busy think about how cool Alice was to even know about how things work. She even recommended reading up about physics! We were going to be using science and brains in our jobs. That was my strongest point! 

Kevin cut him off, "Stephen you deserved it. Do you even have a filter or do you just say whatever comes to your mind?"

I realised with a shock that no one was sharing my earlier enthusiasm. 

I decided to change the topic before the two get at each others neck, "Don't you think she is very young? I mean, she looked hardly any older than us."

"I know, right!" Ethan exclaimed, "And Steve said she even mentored him before us."

"But then again, Steve's mentoring only took three months so anything could be possible." I mused.

"Guys?" Tanya said trying to grab their attention. 

"But still, I mean there should be some qualifications for starting to mentor right? That has to take some time." Ethan said. 

"Guys!" Tanya said again but his voice was not heard.

"Guys!" I said loudly to attract their attention, "Tanya wants to say something."

Tanya noded gratefully at me and said, "Where do we have to eat dinner? I am hungry."

 Now that he mentioned I noted that I was hungry too and I had not realised in the excitement.

"There is a food dispenser in the room. Probably there for us." Kevin pointed out.

Stephen walked towards it and clicked on 'ham sandwich'. A section opened at the bottom of the dispenser with a plate and a sandwich on it.

Stephen picked it up and we followed. Some of the buttons were red and some were green so I figured the green ones were vegetarian. On the safer side I chose a simple margherita pizza until I find some user manual.

"So about the assignment..." Ethan promoting the conversation we were all thinking about.

"She said we will know what it means when we get the discs. Maybe they have some recorded message in it." I suggested.

"Hmm, yeah that's possible." Stephen agreed.

"If we are going to be out all day, Alice implied that, we should probably take some food and stuff." Tanya suggested. 

"And take first aid kit." Kevin added.

"And torches and matches. If we are given directive devices, then it's probably a hike." I added.

 We brainstormed the rest of the evening chomping up while we did. We decided to be ready by seven the next day and leave immediately. 

Me and Stephen called home, telling them we had reached safely and to save this number. 

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.