They"d finally made it, settling down, the group was trying to follow Sergeant Coniver"s instructions as he explained how to use the military tent that had come with their tactical back pack for this training expedition. Unlike a regular tent, a cameo optical coating was applied to the outside material which made it almost invisible from a distance due to the way light was refracted off its outer layer. In fact this was the first time that Clay had been impressed by extend of the advanced technology in the new world.While the hovercraft had seemed to be advanced, it hadn"t made any impression on Clay, to him the fact that the vehicle could travel through self propulsion boosters at its base was nothing more than a typical scene, one that he seen often enough in films or comics. No, the military tent was different because when he looked inside the tent, compared to the outside, he could clearly tell that the dimensions were different. The inside of the domed tent seemed to be almost as big as medium shed which could comfortable hold two to three people. Perhaps it had to do with the illusion caused by the cameo optical coating of the outside material, but for once Clay was shocked.
He was sure the military tent would be a hot selling item if he ever brought it back to Earth. Thinking of the right word to describe he could not help but think of his relatives in England who were fascinated by the outdoors, they called it "glamping", camping in luxury: the tent would definitely sell well.
After setting up a couple of the domed tents, Sergeant Coniver soon drafted a rota where by everyone person in the squadron had to sit at certain spots away from their encampment to monitor their surrounding for danger. Clay quickly found himself paired up with Miranda as the second group responsible for their safety in the rota. With the exception of Sergeant Coniver who would be taking the first watch alone, the squadron was split into four groups. A total of three domed tents could be seen sat in a circle around each other in a triangular formation with three to a tent, consideration was made for the group of girls who were put into the same tent.
Unfortunately Doncaster and Kayden were forced to share a tent with Sergeant Coniver, it had been a matter of luck. Walking back to his own tent, Clay entered the concealed entrance using a signal emitted by his comm link which had been enabled for their safety, there was an option to sync the tent to the comm link which had been turned on. Inside he could see Reo and Tigul who were at opposite ends of the tent. This left the only vacant position which was in the middle.
"I"m going to sleep now so you guys better not be to loud. I still need to take the second shifts in two hours." Glancing at the two from side to side, Clay spoke clearly as he was partly annoyed that he had to sleep in the middle.
"I"m hungry," it was Reo who spoke. It was clear that Reo was the younger twin between him and Sigu. Even the way he acted seemed like he was used to someone taking care of him. Clay could only wonder how he had made it through the artificial awakening ceremony.
"Check the tactical back pack, there is some rations there." It was the first time that Clay heard Tigul speak, it was obvious that he was a person of few words.
"Don"t eat it all though, the food in the tactical back pack is supposed to last us through the duration of the training expedition, who knows how long we will be out here." He couldn"t help but warn the others as he saw Reo immediately go through his back pack after a suggestion from Tigul.
"The dark one is nice, it seems to be some sort of compound rice with nutrients added." Pointing to a small wrapped parcel in a silver foil Tigul shared his experience with Reo.
Seeing that the two were bonding over food Clay left them to their own devices as he quietly prepared to sleep, two hours would pa.s.s very soon. He was not sure if he was looking with his co-shift with Miranda, for some reason he felt like she enjoyed talking a bit too much. Not to mention her ability which had remained like a stark contrast to her initial impression, it was a bit too fierce for a girl. "Still I am glad that we have someone like her in our squadron.." reliable, Clay"s last thoughts were of his parents as he slowly fell asleep in the backdrop of strangers in the world.
"$%£"%$
A voice could be heard talking to him but he couldn"t understand it. In his dream Clay was imaging himself surrounded by light, he couldn"t see but he wasn"t blind either. It was just bright. He could feel the warmth of the light on his skin.
"Where is this? What are you saying?"
^£$$"£"$ &&&& ^%%^&
The sound was strange to his ears, it was like someone was talking through a voice changer.
"h.e.l.lo?"
F$%£$ IIN((D MM£$%£E
His mind was trying to make sense of the scramble of words that were appearing in front of him. A sense of urgency could be felt in the air gripping him in its throes. "h.e.l.lO? I don"t understand...."
A jolt ouf of the blue awakened him as he saw the sleepy figure of Tigul making a motion on his comm link before he went back to sleep. "What was that?" Clay couldn"t help but be disturbed by his strange dream. Still, he knew he could only put it to the side for now. Looking at the time on his comm link on his wrist he started to prepare himself to start his watch with Miranda.