The Pace family paused in the doorway when they reached the mess hall.
The room was full of people and movement. It was the lunch hour, after all. Jorgan
tried to estimate how many people were there. He could only guess it was between
halfway and three-quarters full. The important thing was that he couldn’t find any
empty tables. They wouldn’t be able to sit together.
Maybe more important than that, everyone was an adult, and most wore Fleet
uniforms. Silver-gray was for station personnel. Maroon meant they were assigned
to a ship. The colored stripes on the outer seams of their trousers and their tunics
indicated their assigned service area. Jorgan knew the colors for ship crew because
he had been studying to be ready for life on the Defender. He had the awful
feeling he didn’t know the color designation for station personnel. After all, no
one on a station would be in a Gate team, so that green-and-gold variegated stripe
on the arm of the woman walking past them had to mean something else. Red-and-white
meant Medical on a ship. Did it mean the same thing on a station?
“I have an idea,“ Tila said, resting a hand on Jorgan’s shoulder. “Why
don’t we fill our trays and go to the recreation deck to eat?“
“That sounds a lot better than trying to stay out of the way of people
who have to hurry back on duty,“ Ben said. “Tell you what, boys. You go down the
right side and we’ll go down the left, and we’ll see if there are any differences
in what they offer us.“
Shayn grinned and hurried away, to the rack with the trays. Jorgan hesitated
just a moment. He wanted to ask his parents something, but he wasn’t sure what.
Shaking his head and feeling like he was being silly, maybe even a coward, he followed
his brother. Shayn pulled out a tray and utensils for him and they stepped up to
the first door together.
“How about we get completely different things, and we share, so we can try twice as much?“ Jorgan suggested, after looking at the first four shelves with sealed bowls, neatly labeled with their contents. Stew and chowder and soup and noodles.
“Smart.“ Shayn pulled the door open and reached for a container with a deep red, chunky stew.
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