2.14 New Day

"Rise and shine kids! You have exactly one and half hours to be ready. If you aren't ready by then, good luck walking to the class and forget about breakfast. Your uniforms are outside your room. Don't forget your watches and Hurry up." Alvarez's sound was heard from the corridor to the rooms where team Gaia stayed ,at sharp 7 A.M.

Surprisingly, each of them were awake before the announcement, well not everyone was out of their bed.

Emma was already fresh and practicing small talks with the mirror since she had no idea what else to do. She let out a sigh of relief as she went to get her uniform.

Rick was awake because he couldn't sleep well at night, well the pain could have been an issue, but his excitement was overwhelming it. He quickly jumped out of the bed to get ready.

Lucy was stretching after getting up, she was already getting ready, she was happy about her timing.

Alex was getting out of his bed monotonous while reconsidering his life decisions. It wasn't really bothering him much as he had plenty of sleep, it's just he wasn't feeling the excitement. He slapped himself twice lightly to throw the sleepiness off and started getting ready.

Meanwhile Ravi was watching the scenery out of his window while the announcement was happening. Well actually he was lost in his thoughts while his eyes were just on windows but the announcement took him back to reality. He slowly went to the washroom without any change of mood whatsoever.

In 45 minutes everyone was ready and came out of their rooms as Alvarez was waiting outside with a cup of tea. "So any new issues? Any new scars or some supernatural things that I should know of?"

Surprisingly, the uniform was unisex, well at least from outside. It was a deep red shirt and red pants, and a big cloak of the same colour attached with the shirt. Everyone except Ravi sighed after seeing each other. Emma and Lucy sighed from relief because the uniform did not consist of a miniskirt and top. Alex and Rick sighed exactly because of the previous reason but it was not that of relief, it was from a little disappointment.

"No sir, I'm afraid not today." Rick said while initiating a high five towards Alvarez.

"That's nothing to be proud of, that should be the normal case." Alvarez proceeded to ignore the high five and started walking, "Follow me."

Everyone laughed a little secretly and followed Alvarez. Rick slowly brought back his hand and muttered "Tsundere".

Snap to 30 minutes, after they had breakfast. They all went into a red bus, and of course Alvarez was the driver again.

"Wow, a whole bus for a few of us, so cool!" Stars were shining in Rick's eyes.

"Yes, so that if any terrorists attack, they'll go after you thinking they are going after too many people." Sarthak replied from the speaker of the bus.

Everyone laughed and understood who was gonna be the class clown.

"That was a joke...or was it? Anyway here is a little introduction for your class. This institute has a 2 year curriculum and that's the minimum. There are two divisions in each class, Class Alpha and class A. The whole learning facility is Circular, the core being for first year and second year alpha classes. And the outer part being the class A learning facility." Sarthak stopped for a moment. "Any questions before I proceed?"

"What's with the naming? Why not class A and class B?" Emma asked the question and breathed heavily. That was too much for her.

"Good question, naming then class A and B will mean classes are divided by academic qualification, which is not the case here. Due to changing circumstances in today's Mars, some of the students need special care, you may think it's you who needs care, yes you do, that's why you're in this institute, but class Alpha is far more special."

"So are we free to interact with them?" Alex asked.

"In no situation, you're allowed to interact with them, and even if you do they are not allowed to. Although you'll see them from time to time, there are high chances that you'll never interact with them.

"It's somewhat clear already, but still asking, why is class Alpha in the core part?" Ravi was unusually interacting.

"They are simply more valuable than you, don't get me wrong but in case of any situation, you're nothing but shields for them.

"Then what about us? Are we just shields? We don't have any security?" Lucy was normally annoyed.

"No you are not getting it, when I say situation, it means the end of the world. I don't mean to brag, but our security is so tight that even if the whole Mars turns against us, we'll still be safe, but as you can see illogical phenomena are becoming common nowadays, we need a protocol for everything."

"Umm what about the books? And none of us got a bag to carry them today . . ." Alex returned the situation to them instead of class Alpha.

"Don't worry, you'll get everything today. See guys? You don't need so much information on class Alpha, just don't mind them, think about yourselves.

"Okay, new question, are we allowed to interact with second year class A?" Rick asked this time.

"Well of course, you should. They are your seniors. By the way, you remember Connor and Archie? They are in class A second year, they might be joining class from today.

"But their injuries?" Emma looked confused.

"Well Sat healed them after testing. No time to lay idle... ok we reached, if you have more questions, ask later. And yeah, after classes, you'll be able to send the messages to Earth. Goodbye." The bus stopped and they saw a small crowd waiting outside a big building, well it looked more like a stadium than a building.

"Are we getting a welcome party?" Lucy asked the obvious question that somebody had to ask anyway.

"No, that doesn't happen here, it's for class Alpha, they'll reach in a few moments. Miss Cécile will be in charge of your class now" Alvarez signed them to get off from the bus.

"Hey Alvarez, Sat said he wants to talk to you, be sure to meet him today." Cécile approached the bus.

"Sure ma'am, when?" Suddenly Alvarez's voice went humble.

"Huh? Since when you need appointment? Come on kids, meet your new environment." Saying this, she left with the kids.

"Wa-wait, but when..." His voice got lost in the crowd.