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“Hi there”.
“Good morning.”
“How are you?”
“Fine thanks, and yourself?”
“Not bad thanks…” The conversation tailed off. The usual pleasantries exchanged with someone you know well enough to pass greeting but not well enough to expand on.
Tim carried on walking, not even slightly distracted. Sharp and totally in control this morning. He thought he should feel lucky for his state of mind, today of all days. He didn’t. He’d trained for this day for two years. He practiced his preparation over and over and now had applied it for real the evening before. The right meal at the right time. The right sleep at the right time. He new the routine well enough by now.
Tim carried on down the corridor. He tempered his pace – not wanting to look like he was loitering but not too keen to get to his destination. The corridor was depressingly monotone, lined with low energy biolum strips every 4 meters. Everything about interplanetary exploration was raw and clinical. It gave Tim a mental image of the metallic and the mechanical. Greyness. The relentless omnipresent buzzing fuelled his image. In-spite of the hi-technology required, the Mars Terminus Station was no exception.
Two people turned the corner and headed in his direction. Consciously Tim attempted to relax his facial muscles. He could feel he was tense.
“Good morning.”
“Morning”
That was it this time. He didn’t recognise either of them.
Tim turned the corner the pair of strangers had just emerged from. A few meters further up the door to his first destination appeared on his left. A discreet knock, knock, knock announced his arrival and that the current occupants shouldn’t unleash a barrage of violence upon his entry.