Granted

The Hall

Jess and I walked to the main hall with the group for ten minutes. The satellite was huge. I'm hoping it won't take too long to get from floor two to four on our breaks. I imagine I'll make friends with some of my co-workers but I'm excited at the prospect of Jess and I becoming better friends. He said he would teach me judo which is apparently some kind of martial arts.

When we reached the hall, it was pretty big. It could easily fit two-thousand or more people but there was only a block of around fifty seats near the stage. The Commander was waiting there for us with a microphone in his hand. He was a stout man with a small fuzzy moustache and a gold hanker-chief hanging from his blazer pocket.

"Come on everyone," He said into the microphone which blasted out from ten foot speakers hanging on each wall, "Hurry up; we want to start this as quick as we can."

As soon as everyone was seated, including Eron who was at the back, again, the Commander started.

"Soooooooooooo, welcome, welcome, welcome," The speakers made him sound un-necessarily loud and his voice echoed each time he spoke, "How was the journey, did you have fun? Alright, okay let's begin. My name is Rout Strut but you can just call me Commander R, okay? I will be announcing your rooms shortly along with who you'll be bunking with for the next three years. Exciting right? But after I tell you, you're all going to leave for your rooms, make sure you feel at home, meet your roommate and then come back here. Understood? Okay here we go."

He proceeded to list everyone's name and room-mate. Most people were with someone from their own work floor or from this group. I was an odd one out though and I got paired with someone from lasts years hiring, Jia Tseung. I didn't know if that was going to be good or bad, but it could give me someone to teach me how things work here.

We were all told to leave and walk to our rooms which were one floor up.

"Let's try and meet again when we get back okay?" Jess said,

"Okay," I said and then we hugged and went separate ways to find our rooms.

I walked to the elevator with a few more people and took it to my floor. I was room 334®54. I got lost a few times before finally finding it. I pressed a big silver button by the side of the door and it slid open. My stuff had already been left inside by my bed. It was a good size of a room and my side was empty except for a bed, a cabinet and a wardrobe. Jai's side was bright pink with pictures of kittens spread out evenly.

Jia came round from the corner and hugged me, "HI room buddy!" she screeched into my ear, "What's your name? I'm Jai, I like cats. Oh my god, I have to show you this photo."

She ran back to her cabinet and got a photo from it then brought it over to me. It had a girl holding a cat on it.

"She," Jai said pointing at the girl, "Is my fiancée and that's my cat she's holding, Princess."

"You're engaged?" I asked,

"Yeah, Jess proposed just before I had to leave, about a year ago."

"Congratulations," I said, trying to sound nice.

"Thank you," Jai had a large smile on her face, "So that's your bed, obviously, and this is mine. It is a little pink," I would say very pink, "but I'm hoping you don't mind too much."

"No, its fine, I don't mind at all."

I walked over to my bags on the bed and started unpacking what was necessary. I brushed my teeth quickly in our shared bathroom and felt like it was a good time to meet with the others in the hall again.

"I have to go but we'll speak later, okay?" I said to Jai with a smile,

"Okay. You're about to do something exciting. I had so much fun doing it," She replied,

"Doing what?"

"Go, go, go. You're going to miss it." Jai pushed me out of the room and down the hallway slightly then walked back in and shut the door behind her. I felt strange. I have no clue what we are going to be doing now. I thought we would just get another long lecture which can't be very exciting.

**********

Back at the hall I looked out for Jess. I told myself to look for anyone that is tall,blonde and probably doing something stupid.

"BOO!" Jess grabbed my waist and scared me. I screamed and fell to the floor which attracted the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Dammit," I said, "How did I fall for that?"

"I'm surprising good at sneaking up on people,"

"Maybe you could just never do that again. Like, ever." I said while grabbing his hand he put out to help me get up.

"I can't promise anything, Rose."

"Take your seats, please!" Commander R's voice blasted from the speakers, "It's time for some health and safety."

"Great." Jess whispered to me and we sat down on our chairs.

"We have a surprise for you all. Each of you will get a special suit. You'll all get changed and we will make our way outside."

"Outside?" Someone near the stage asked.

"We're going on a spacewalk." R said which was followed by whispers and conversation coming from the group, "

"Don't be scared. This training could save your life one day. What would you do if this base came under attack? What if the safety pods stopped working? You can't run very far. The only way to survive is to go into space."

"Then what do we do?" Another voice asked.

"We have special rescue ships who use the trackers on each of the suits to find you and pick you up."

"Perfect." Jess said sarcastically.

Purple suited officers walked in to the Hall and handed numbered suits and helmets to all of us. I guess we were really going in to space.

**Chapter 5 coming as soon as possible.**

**There is an interactive tumblr for this book at www.granted-book.tumblr.com to learn more about the characters and ask questions**