The chair was colder than William expected.

  Not uncomfortably so- just enough that he noticed when he sat down, the chill bleeding through the fabric of his pants and settling into his legs. Like the old school chairs from earth, but slightly more comfortable.

  The room itself was quiet, wide, and deliberately undecorated. No banners, no slogans. Just two rows of identical chairs arranged in shallow arcs, all facing the other end of the room- which was only broken up by a single white board. Funny how that was one of the things that stayed relevant into the modern day.

  He definitely wasn’t the first to arrive, though.

  A handful of others sat scattered through the room, each keeping to themselves. A few people checked their datapad, and one man stared straight ahead. hands folded in his lap. He was stock straight, and looked like someone had shoved a metal beam down his back to keep it perfectly straight.

  William had picked a seat near the middle and rested his elbows on his knees. He was simply waiting for the presentation to begin. More people filed in, until all twelve chairs were filled with men and women. A door opened at the side of the room, and everyone went silent.

  Two people entered- lab coats, ID badges on their right breast. The woman looked like she lived off coffee and energy drinks, the bags under their eyes were so dark. The other one, a large, very buff man, carried a small dark briefcase. Which he set down at his feet before crossing his arms across his chest.

  “Good afternoon,” the woman said, her voice carrying easily across the large room, “And thank you for arriving on time- or early, in some cases. My name is Dr. Shr?dinger. My associate here will hand out something that will be relevant to our discussion, so please hold onto it.”

  The man bent down, and opened the briefcase. Inside were dozens of narrow tubes- near translucent, hollow, and alternating between two colors- Blue, and red.

  The man began walking to each participant, handing one tube to each person. When he reached William, he placed it in his palm without comment. The plastic was smooth, faintly warm, and heavier than it looked.

  William turned it over in his hand, looking it over. Blue. No instructions, no explanation. Just the quiet click of the container closing when the last tube was distributed, the man taking his place besides Dr. Shr?dinger. She stepped forward, clapping her hands together with a smile.

  “Before we begin,” she said, “there are a few things you need to understand.”

  She gestured to the sitting men and women in front of her, still smiling. “There are two potential teams in this room. Only one will be proceeding to the final stages of the project.”

  A ripple went through the seated- some straightening spines, a few sharp inhales and mutters of ‘the hell?’. Some others still shifted in their chairs, a little uneasy.

  “Additonally, this project will require your full attention. If you are currently employed, we ask you to resign. If you maintain a residence outside project housing, please vacate it. This is not a part-time position, this will be your life for the next several months- or more.”

  William squeezed his hand around the tube.

  The woman’s gaze swept the room, her eyes determined and set.

  “If that is a problem,” she continued, “this is your opportunity to leave.”

  Only one person stood. They walked to the man beside Dr. Shr?dinger, handed over the tube, and walked out of the room. She waited a few more moments before continuing. Pulling a marker from her lab coat, she uncapped it and turned toward the whiteboard.

  “Red tubes to the left side of the room. Blue to the right.”

  Chairs scraped softly against the floor as everyone stood and began shuffling to their sides of the room. The movement was quiet, but very familiar.

  William stood, crossed the short distance, and took a seat among the other blue holders. No one spoke. A few quick glances were exchanged- William caught the man who'd had been sitting unusually straight nodding to another man, before joining William on the blue side.Dr. Shr?dinger began writing in neat, controlled handwriting. At times, she almost began to shift into cursive, though caught herself.

  Stage 1 She underlined it- twice.

  “Team building. Physical conditioning. Psychological evaluation.” She wrote each line as she spoke, the marker squeaking faintly as it glided across the board.

  “You will be assessed under controlled stress conditions. Sleep disruption, simulated emergency drills. Isolation tolerance. Group decision-making under time constraints.”

  She turned back toward them. “This phase lasts eight weeks.”

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  Some of the red group began muttering to one another- about what William couldn't tell.

  “Pretty standard" a woman whispered besides him. He turned slightly to look at her- her worn leather jacket and lip piercings jumping out to him immediately.

  Shr?dinger wrote again, and William turned his attention back to her.

  Stage 2

  “Simulation training. Alcubierre theory. Field procedures.” A small smile tugged at her lips as the big man besides her chuckled a little to himself.

  “Yes. There will be coursework. Examinations. Practical drills-”

  One of the red team members raised a hand slowly, their face scrunched in a slight confusion.

  “Why does this feel like I’m back in grade school?”

  A few low chuckles rippled through the room, joining the man who'd ask the question as he smiled a bit.

  Dr. Shr?dinger didn’t miss a beat. “Well,” she said, smiling faintly, “I was a teacher on Earth. Old habits die hard, as they say. But-”

  The room quieted again as they were glared down by the man besides her- his large frame making him quite the intimidating figure.

  She tapped the board with the marker.

  “You are not being trained to press a button and hope for the best. You are being trained to understand the machine you will be trusting with your lives. You won't be taught useless algebra you'll never use again, or even the intricate mathematics that were used to make the alcubierre drive possible.”

  Shr?dinger capped her marker and looked across the room to the two groups of people as William, and a couple others, rubbed their temples. She had gone into extreme detail on the project, carefully skirting around the actual Alcubierre drive- whatever that was.

  “If everyone understands the responsibility attached to this project, then you are dismissed,” she said. “Remember, you have two weeks to quit your current place of employment and return here to begin training.”

  The faint hum of the building’s ventilation system and the quiet shifting of fabric as people adjusted in their seats filled the air.

  A few of the red team stood first- low voices already beginning to compare notes. Figuratively speaking.

  “Eight weeks just for evaluation- or will Blue drop out before then, and we'll skip to stage two?”

  “Sleep disruption tests?”

  “Psychological testing isn’t abnormal for flight programs. I should know, I was-

  The leather-jacket woman near William leaned back in her chair and rolled her shoulders back as she chewed on her words. “Two weeks,” she muttered. “exactly the amount of time to quit on amicable terms.”

  William turned towards her as he stood, raising an eyebrow. “You thought so too, huh?”

  She gave a crooked grin and shrugged, before standing herself and jutting her chin at him. “Yeah, doesn't give you any time to actually think about it- though if you were going to drop out, figure people already would have.”

  William nodded and slipped his datapad into its designated spot- turning towards the doors and starting the walk out. The woman followed, sticking her hands in her pockets. William ignored her as he opened the door to the rest of the city, blinking as he saw the evening lights slowly turning on.

  “Im surprised I even passed the initial interview though- look at me, I’m a classic delinquent.” She said lazily, walking backwards to face William as he continued towards the transport platform. Her eyes searched his face for… something.

  “Can I help you?” He asked, stopping at the platform. She spun around and tossed up her hands.

  “Right now? No. Later? Just don't drag the team down Mr. Serious.” she waved her hand in the air as she began walking away. William relaxed a bit, watching the tube airlock. Waiting for it to open for him.

  “It's Oliva, by the way.”

  He looked over to the woman- she was still walking away, back into Red Valley.

  “William.” He answered, and she gave a thumbs up. He chuckled a bit to himself, the airlock hissing open.

  The ride back to Site 22 felt shorter than usual.

  William stood near the rear of the car, one hand hooked loosely on the seat's arm rest. He wasn’t thinking about the red team. Or the blue, or even what Dr. Shr?dinger had said.

  He was thinking about one, important thing. His resignation. Even as he walked the halls of site 22 to his room, he kept thinking about it. What was he going to say? What reasons were he going to give?

  The room greeted him with the same quiet it always did- bed, desk, storage slot, viewport dimmed against the Martian night- the near pitch black outside only brightened by the slightly reflective iron sand.

  He sat on the edge of his bed and pulled out his datapad- the light illuminated the darkness around him as he flipped over to his internal Email.

  Two weeks wasn’t long. Long enough to leave properly. Not long enough to hesitate, or to think things through. He pulled up a blank message on his datapad and stared at the cursor for a moment before typing.

  Albert,

  I’m submitting my two weeks’ notice effective today. I’ve accepted a position that requires full-time commitment off-site- The position was too good to pass up, and will require my full attention. Additionally, I will be vacating the assigned room by that time.

  Thank you for the opportunity.

  -William

  He re-read it several times,before closing the message without sending it. If he was leaving, he’d say it in person- face to face, like the man he was.

  Albert’s office light was still on when William reached administration. As usual, Albert was working too many hours to not enough pay- though this time, it was by choice.

  He knocked on the airlock, the doors opening with a thunk.

  “Come in.”

  Albert looked up over the rim of his glasses. “Everything alright?”

  “Yes, sir.” William stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He was stiff, and stood as straight as he could. “I’m giving you my two weeks notice.”

  Albert blinked once, then twice as he slowly lowered the paperwork he had been holding in his hand. “And- why's that?”

  “Another opportunity I could not pass up.”

  Silence stretched between them. Albert leaned back in his chair, taking off his glasses and looking William in the eyes.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Another quiet moment. Then Albert nodded slowly, opening a drawer in his desk. “Alright. Fill out the form before you go.” No speech. No guilt. No lecture. Just paperwork, like always.

  William signed his name cleanly at the bottom of the page, pausing for a moment before handing it over to Albert.

  Albert extended his hand and took the paper, seemingly thinking as he read over everything.

  “Dammit William, you filled it out perfectly.” He joked, placing it down on top of his desk. Covering his previous work.

  “Well, I couldn't make more trouble for you now, not when I'm leaving.” William retorted. The two men gave each other a small smile, before Albert sighed.

  "We'll miss you.”

  William looked around the office, eyes lingering on the small pieces of personality scattered about. The fountain pen, the actual paper Albert insisted on using instead of datapads.

  “I'll miss this place too.”