If no one else was around, Adam would have been bashing his head into the nearest wall. Of course a lot of the people here would have left behind actual lives. He would be in a minority of personnel that had very little tying them down. I had to open my big mouth. The Technician woman had a distracted look about her, fiddling with her empty MRE as if she wanted to focus on something, anything else. They'd flown into a minefield without even noticing.
"Damn... Must've been tough... surprised you didn't go back-- the Van-Winkle Laws would've provided for you for a long time."
no no no no, shit don't take it there.
He shrugged as he wracked his brain for a response with less of his foot firmly planted in their collective mouth. I heard mention of beaches. joke about not bringing by bathing suit? No, that could come off as insensitive or indifferent, and with a thirty year gap no one's will have a home to go back to... Ask her about back home? No, I'd probably make her feel worse trying to be a shrink. He was out of time and he was drawing a blank.
"...Then again, I guess if you're on this mission, you're not in it for money, hm?"
Perfect! Thank you Castle!
"Excited to be one of the first to set foot on the new planet?" He put on his best encouraging smile for her, and everyone else at the table to a lesser degree. "Think they'll name a region after you?" He tended to his MRE, propping the sleeve up and ripping open one of the snacks. He muttered under his breath. "A granola bar with coconut and dried pineapple? Who comes up with this shit? Stuck with MREs-" The fog cleared from his head and the thought that had been nagging at him slammed into his consciousness harder than a freighter hitting the Siberian tundra.
Adam's expression changed from jovial to guarded as he slowly swept his head from one side to the other, his eyes dancing over every individual in the mess hall. Everyone here is in a flight suit. Pilots. His eyes locked onto the empty kitchen area, unmanned and spotless. His hand constricted on reflex, keying an imaginary radio as he whispered a question to no one in particular. "Why did they only wake us up?" He didn't know why, but his heart was hammering in his chest. He turned back to the Technician, his smile reduced relaxed to a grin.
"I guess I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Adam Gilford, and it's nice to meet you."
