Showered and ready, Sarah returned six hours later to find massive changes. Alan said “I’m now the quartermaster and we are up to 380 confirmed, outfitted, and ready to go. Most of the passengers are from Embassies or the local Universities or people who just happened to be holidaying or working in New Zealand. The quick, like Simone, contacted their Embassies. Some, just turned up and asked to go. I tried to get a range of Nationalities and occupations. I’ve been making decisions with the Airport Manager. But there is a little problem. Two hours ago, a 20 person diplomatic team from America turned up. Their leader, Mathew Western, declared he has been designated the leader of this expedition.” Alan looked at Sarah to see how she would take this but she shrugged. He continued, “Teams from Kenya, Britain, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Russia, India and Indonesia are on the way. Jolene has decided to go, as has Hine. The roll is filling fast. This is going to be interesting!”
Alan’s blue eyes were laughing. He announced, “There are about 180 or so racing for the last 40 seats. We’ve got a political war going on by conference vids. Madge, the Airport Manager, has decided that the roll will be finalised 30 minutes before the deadline. Since there is no official New Zealand team, Madge has decided she is the umpire. She will divide up the seats between the Teams that are here. The American Team were simply the first here. The time limitation and the distance has been the problem. I’ve ordered some extra packs which I was paid in advance for and the unclaimed packs will be auctioned off. Madge wanted me to ensure they did not get left for her to deal with. Fair enough. The auction house will pick them up.”
Thirty minutes before departure, Sarah’s Team and all except the last ones allocated, boarded. The American Team had taken the ‘free’ seats but Sarah had anticipated a diplomatic Team would consider those seats as theirs. That, she had expected but she was disconcerted to lose the leadership. Unwilling to cause conflict, Sarah decided to accept it and work with Mathew Western but having looked him up on his website, she could not see how he thought he was qualified for this. He was a business man. His family were mostly military. Nowhere on his website did he mention any interest in SETI or even science fiction and she did not recall ever seeing him at any of her displays, exhibitions or book releases. His major interest was War Games! Hardly a qualification! His Team had already boarded.
Cattle Class
Boarding with the rest, Sarah was shown into a large hold. They each had their personal items and one ‘Pack’ allocated to each person and she watched as the luggage was brought in by what looked like robotic trolleys. The packs had already been checked by the Aliens. Once 56 people had been counted into a hold, the hold door was closed and locked!
Sarah calmed down the unsettled people in her hold explaining that this was probably for safety during takeoff and got them organised setting up the tents and allocating space. She noticed Stella and her mother were among the first to get their tent up and their gear stowed away. They looked like they were used to working together. Both then went to help others. No one knew what was happening. There was no sensation of movement so most presumed they hadn’t left yet.
The organizing was very fast. Dan from her Team, and an Australian, Con, were getting the toilet tents up and securing them over the holes in the wall recesses. Still a little unsettled most decided to go to bed. Most had had very little sleep lately…Sarah decided that was a good idea. The few minutes she had got were rather insufficient. Most of the time she had tossed and turned.
On wakening, Sarah found to her relief that the hold doors had been opened and the walls seemed to have been moved in the corridors. Both ends were blocked off.
“When did this happen?” She asked Alan.
“About two hours ago. There was the sound of machinery moving. Several minutes later the hold doors opened, one after the other. It was all done from somewhere else. We’ve seen no one. We have heard what sounds like engines and there has been some sensation of movement but we aren’t certain. It’s a bit eerie. Not what I expected,” he said feelingly. Sarah also felt uneasy. She went off to explore. She saw they could mix with all those in ‘economy class,’ which was seven holds, but could go no further. Their world was the seven holds and the wide corridor connecting them. She saw no windows. She felt no sensation of movement. She heard no sounds of engines, just a sort of hum. She felt claustrophobic and it was smelly.
She noticed that people were milling around looking very uneasy and there were some problems. There was no way to heat food or water. Sarah became the automatic leader simply by organising and taking charge. There was no sign of Mathew’s Team so she figured she was justified. She decided that the food should be pooled, rationed and prepared, so it was. She saw to it that the ‘packs’ were handed over, cooks were volunteers but since most of the food was just, ‘add water and serve,’ it wasn’t difficult. It also wasn’t very interesting.
The Alien food on tap, so to speak, was not popular by itself but mixed in with strong tasting food or spices it was fine. Sarah declared it was used as much as possible as that stretched their supplies out. Sarah and Alan had decided not to bring any of the old style gas bottles or any other type of food heater as all could be a fire hazard, explosion hazard or smelly and the latest chemical camping food heaters, being designed for outdoor use, would be hazardous inside with questionable ventilation. Not to mention very expensive.