<strong>Location</strong>: The Ritz-Gospel Hotel (First Haven, Watcher’s Island). Elevator to Conference Hall 01, Conference Hall 01<br/><strong>Date</strong>: 5 January 2099. Monday<br/><strong>Time</strong>: Morning<br/><strong>Who</strong>: Julie Tanaka<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Julie thought she heard Indira mutter something to Tianran in...she could not remember if he spoke Mandarin or Cantonese, but neither were intelligible to the pilot trainee regardless. The elevator door then slid open.<em>Here we go.</em><br/><br/>When Julie had said she was “not too nervous,” she had meant it in the sense of “not too nervous to do this.” If Indira thought the group’s youngest pilot was not nervous at all, she was incorrect. Despite her reputation and call sign Julie was not exactly shy—that implied that she feared social embarrassment, which was not the case. But she did have a need to keep to herself, and the end result was just about the same as shyness anyway. There was already enough pain in the world without excessive attachment—if her colleagues did not really get to know her and she did not really get to know them, then she was not hurt too badly if any of them died. And they were not hurt too badly if she died. What made her a little nervous was that in theory a press conference like this was supposed to be about people getting to know her—though in actual practice it was just about telling people what they wanted to hear, and she was fine with that.<br/><br/>As they walked to the conference room and on to the table, Julie managed a few polite smiles and little waves to the cameras—the photographers were just doing their jobs, and she did not begrudge them that. Finally she took her seat, and settled in to weather what would at best be a tedious affair.