Casey and the boy looked at Hannah and grinned mischievously, but Casey stood up to release the boy, blew hair out of her face, and stuck out a hand to help him up.
Crickets and other musical insects were tuning their instruments in the grass for the full orchestra that would begin at dusk. The group traipsing down the hill became denser the further down they climbed as other colonists joined them -- Day laborers from the crafting district, toddlers from the Reset housing and their caregivers, farmers and haulers dirt-smeared and sweating -- swelled their masses until Ellie was one of a crowd of at least 200 people.
They veered right at the school where the bulk of children and teachers -- Ellie's former welcoming committee -- joined the march. Now the colony converged en masse on a building at the lake shore that she hadn't yet toured. The smell of charcoal and grilling met her hungry nose and she closed her eyes with appreciation, breathing it in.
It was big, similar in proportion to the Reset houses higher on the hill, and prolific smoke issued from several chimneys on the back-end of the building opposite the lake.
The front ⅔ of the building -- the side facing the lake -- was open air. Two dozen picnic tables were set out, half of them under the awning and the other half spilling down a gentle grassy slope toward the lake. A few of them were occupied by folks who had already gotten their plates of food.
A bonfire had been built next to the water, mostly ignored on this warm evening while the colonists ate. Electric string lights lined the sweeping awning of the mess hall, granting the evening a festive vibe. On the other side of the bonfire, a wooden swimming dock extended roughly fifty feet over the water.
Several lawn games had been set out here; tetherball, cornhole, horseshoes, et cetera. A handful of schoolchildren played Foursquare with a dusty red dodgeball to Ellie's left as she marched with the group.
Hannah led Ellie to the end of the line for food, which snaked out of the right-hand doorway of the mess hall.
"Hey, y'all."
Riley had caught up to Ellie and Hannah as they joined the line. She was back in her polo-and-khaki pilot uniform, hair twisted back into its bun, aviators hooked on her shirt collar. "How you holdin' up, Ellie?"
"I wish people would stop asking me that," Ellie said testily. Riley fell into apologetic silence, which made Ellie feel bad. In this lighthearted environment -- next to the sparkling lake, under the soft glow of string lights, among the talking and laughter and smells of good food -- she was incapable of staying pissed off.
"The training stuff was cool, though."
"I know! I'm so jealous," said Riley, latching onto the change of topic. "I wanna take a ride in one of those G-force machines, but the bastards won't let me."
"Blegh. I want to puke just looking at them," said Hannah.
"Me too," said Ellie.
The three of them talked like old friends as they made their way up the line towards the promising smells. Riley told Hannah about the erotic novel she was reading up at Recruit House, Hannah told them both about Bethany's delivery at the clinic (fast, but Beth was a screamer), and Ellie expounded on how neat she thought the spacewalk training pool was.
They did not discuss Ellie's trip to the observatory.
When finally they breached the doorway into the mess hall, Ellie saw that most of the gymnasium-sized space was empty. She guessed that the picnic tables were brought inside during the winters when eating outside wasn't an option.
The line of people wound around the outer edges of the room, got their food, and then exited back outside through a door on the other end of the hall. First stop was a washing-up trough just inside the door where each person cleaned their faces and hands. A shelf of small hand towels stood next to this.
Ellie washed her hands and forearms next to Riley and Hannah in cold water that streamed from the punctured ceramic, enjoying again the pleasantly gentle lather of the bar soap placed out for them. Copying Hannah and Riley, she patted herself dry with one of the clean hand towels.
"Keep that with you," said Riley. "It's your napkin too."
Ellie obediently draped her hand towel over her forearm for safe keeping. The queue resumed.
She then met a row of ceramic platters of food set out on a long wooden table -- the selection plentiful in quantity but modest in its contents -- served by three people with wooden tongs. Ellie grabbed a wooden plate and thanked each of these workers as they filled her plate with an un-fussy variety of food: baked beans, grilled corn on the cob with butter, steamed rice, and sauteed green beans and carrots.
Finally, they grabbed clean cups from a shelf on the opposite side of the hall from the food and filled them with water taps set into the wall.
Ellie followed Riley and Hannah back out into the fresh air. "No meat, huh?" she asked, trying not to sound too plaintive.
"Yeahhh, meat's kind of an occasional treat," said Riley. "We got animals, but not enough to slaughter ten of 'em every day."
"You get used to it. No one's starving," said Hannah.
As Riley led them to an empty picnic table, Ellie scanned the rest of them. Ttables were much fuller now, and the soft babble of dinner talk had reached a low roar.
Adults and teenagers shared details about their days with each other as they cut corn off of the cob and vegetables into smaller bites for children and toddlers sitting between them. A few of the younger children breastfed.
Ellie spotted Tad sitting with a group of Recruits she hadn't met yet. He made eye contact with her, smiled, and stood up as though he'd been waiting for her. She expected Tad to intercept her, but he didn't. Instead, Tad strode over to the mess hall awning and rang a large bell hanging there. Hannah, Riley, and Ellie took their seats at an empty table while the babbling died down.
"Good evening, everyone!"
"Good evening, Tad," said the Recruits.
"Good evening, Mister Tad," said the Resets.
"Thank you as always for your hard work, focused learning, and diligent training today. As you all know, we have a special guest with us this evening, and I would like to extend a further thanks for the hospitality of those who had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Miss Ellie today... Ellie, can I ask you to please stand?"
She was halfway through a bite of corn, and now 300 eyes were on her. Annoyed and embarrassed, Ellie set down her corn, wiped her mouth, and stood up. She focused on finishing her chewing and swallowing before Tad asked her to speak.
He didn't, though.
"Ellie, I want to thank you for your patience and your questions on today's tour. As with all of our recruits -- and all of them here will understand -- you received some difficult information today and are likely still processing."
Tad paused his speech and she wished he didn't. Nobody spoke, but a few of the Recruits nodded their heads at her sympathetically.
He finally continued. "Everyone here would be thrilled if you joined us, but leaving your life behind is a monumental ask." Tad was not smiling as he said this part: "There will be no hard feelings if you feel that we are asking too much, rest assured. We are only grateful that you took the time to visit."
Ellie fidgeted uncomfortably with the hem of her T shirt above her bare legs and exposed panties, suffering profoundly in this spotlight.
Tad's smile returned. "So! My only remaining ask is that you enjoy the rest of your meal and have a safe flight home. What happens after that is entirely up to you. Everyone, let us please give Miss Ellie a round of applause for her bravery and strength in taking a considerable leap of faith to join us here today."
The crowd clapped for Ellie. She winced sheepishly at the good-natured applause and sat back down without asking for permission. She felt suddenly and sharply homesick.
Fortunately, Tad was done with her. But he continued to speak, "And now we remind ourselves."
A grand clatter as 300 sets of silverware hit their plates while everyone present paused their meals. The only sound now was the bugs and the breeze.
Tad spoke again: "I must care for others as I care for myself..."
The crowd of hundreds responded in unison, startling Ellie slightly: "And I must care for myself as I care for others."
"I must respect others as I respect myself," said Tad.
"And I must respect myself as I respect others." Children and adults alike participated. Toddlers fumbled the word respect, but they tried their best.
