I didn't sleep much that night; too much to think about. In the morning we were taken to the mess hall. This was more what I expected the night before. It was open and had about fifty or sixty other soldiers. These were men and women posted on the Earth base for security and safe zone patrolling. Apparently the first settlement was already completed. The mess hall had several rows of cafeteria style tables. Just in case we didn't realize how different we were, there was a separate table in one corner just for us. There was a buffet line at the opposite end of the hall from our table. Most of the soldiers were waiting in line and they looked at us, but no one spoke to us directly. We were like the new kids in school; the subject of rumours and legends, all more or less fictional. I imagine they had heard stories about our mission—they must have been curious about the special treatment. We would certainly be of interest to soldiers stuck in routine security detail.
From behind us, my father walked into the mess hall. As soon as the other soldiers saw him, they stopped staring and continued to get their food and sit down and fill up the rows of tables. We were the last in line to get food and he walked up to me, putting his hand on my shoulder and saying:
“Don’t mind them; you're not part of the regular routine, so they're curious. There are special areas reserved for training for your mission, and they wonder what all the attention is about. Its human nature, people are curious about the unknown. I hope you all have that same attribute, it will come in handy out there.” He pointed up in a sweeping motion to the Earth surface above us.
Nobody said much in response.
“When you soldiers are finished your breakfast, you will be led into our training facility. It's reserved for us and we'll not be distracted by curious eyes.” My father looked around at the other soldiers who all pretended their attention was on their meals. We finished our breakfast in relative silence. My father didn't stay with us. He headed over to talk with a soldier waiting at the mess hall entrance and then left. After we finished eating that same soldier led us to the training facility.