The pilots must have underestimated how many people would come up to them, soon over fifty people were asking them on where they should go. Mariah figured that since she was studying mechanical engineering, she ought to go to the center zone. Annie, on the other hand, wasn't sure where would best suit her. However, she knew that she preferred to stick by her friend's side, and she also didn't want to wait in a line for god knows how long just to ask a simple question.

They stood around waiting to see what would happen next. Then out of the blue – a voice as curious as an echo in a cave asks, "This is pretty crazy, huh?" They both looked to their right to see a chubby, blond guy standing with his hands in his pockets looking ahead at the growing line. Was he talking to them? He continues, "Never thought I'd ever be in this kind of situation. Chances are so scant." Mariah wasn't sure whether she should respond. She wasn't the type to engage in small talk with strangers, whenever they initiated, she always kept her response as brief as possible.

Annie was the opposite. She could get into full conversations with strangers. She had this wonderous ability to connect with anyone; it was something that Mariah admired about Annie. Annie responded to the guy with, "Me neither. I was playing chess with my friend when all the sudden… this happens."

He looked towards Annie's direction. "Yeah…, Hope we get found soon before things get possibly worse." He turned toward the two women, taking his hands out of his pockets and extending his right hand forward. "I'm Elwin by the way. What're your names?"

Annie gives him a firm handshake and looks him in the eye. "I'm Annie."

At this point, Mariah figured she should introduce herself. They were probably going to be in the crafting group with Elwin, and it's a good idea to get to know at least some of their teammates. She locked her eyes onto Elwin's and introduced herself as she shakes his hand.

Mariah decided to try to break the ice – at least a little. "I'm kind of wondering how this group thing is going to work. It's easier to work in smaller groups of five or ten. So, are the groups going to form little sub-groups? If so, how will they find members? Are they going to be formed by people in close proximity to each other or are people going to seek others out to join?"

Elwin was quiet for a moment, placing his chin between his thumb and index finger. Then he shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a bit of both. But people tend to form cliques with people of similar interests, so maybe that'll happen here too? Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Turns out they were both right. After the confused people in the line cleared away into suitable groups, everyone began to divide themselves into subgroups. Sometimes a person would initially be in one subgroup, but then break off to join another. That didn't happen with Mariah's little gathering. The members in it were all nearby and decided to group up together. Elwin studied the members in his group – scanning to see how many there were. Then in an orotund voice, "Well, since we're all in a group together, maybe we should play the name game to get to know each other a bit better. In the game you say your name, your occupation, where you were originally headed and a fact about yourself. This fact can be anything from your favorite video game to a skill you have. Then you pick someone else to go. Is everyone up for this?" Some people in the group, like Annie and Mariah, gave their approval. Others didn't say anything. Elwin, in a quavering voice, "Um… Okay…, I guess I'll go first. My name is Elwin Johnson. I study radio broadcasting at Townson University. I hope to one day have my own radio show where I talk about games, politics and shit that's going on in the world. I was originally going to Detroit for family business. I'm also really into anime. My favorite franchise ever is Ghost in the Shell. If I made a list of my favorite movies, Ghost in the Shell would sit at number one. But, Akira, Perfect Blue and Princess Mononoke would be in my top five somewhere. Annie, I choose you."

Annie chuckled at the last bit. She straightened up and cleared her throat. "Hi everyone. I'm Antoinette Lefèvre, but you can call me Annie. I study linguistics at the University of Maryland. I was originally heading to Paris with Mariah." When she said Mariah's name, she gestured her hand toward her. Mariah waved at everyone in response. "I haven't decided what I want to do once I graduate. I do know that I either want to teach French or be a translator. A fun fact about me is that I'm into fashion. I like comparing fashions in different cultures. I like seeing how fashion evolved throughout the ages. I also generally like to see what's coming out of the modern fashion world." At this, Mariah reminisced about the times they went clothes shopping together (something they almost never did without each other) and Annie's fashion books she showed her when they were roommates freshman year.

After Annie picked her to go next Mariah began gathering her thoughts. She felt a bit weird sharing even a little bit of personal information with most of these people. Normally this wasn't an issue when it came to meeting classmates and club members. Perhaps it was the strangeness of the situation, she reasoned with herself. She scrutinized at the other members in the group, the majority were eagerly waiting for what she had to say. She breathed in and began, "I'm Mariah Berkovich. I study mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland. I still haven't figured out what I want to do after college, be it going for further education or finding a job somewhere. Especially in the prosthetics or transportation field, though I want to keep my options open." Now it was coming to sharing a fact about herself. She wasn't sure what to go with. Should she share that one of her favorite bands is Pearl Jam? That she is a shitty artist? Or maybe share that one of her heroes is Nikola Tesla. Suddenly, it came to her. "I'm a sucker for the science fiction genre! My favorite movie is Blade Runner. And some of my favorite books include: Dune, House of the Scorpion, and The Martian. I popcorn… the girl with curly hair and glasses."

Said girl was startled, as if she was lost in thought, then realizing someone was calling on her. Her yellow and black headband popped from its russet base. She wore an oversized grassy t-shirt and black sweatpants. Her skin was like beech wood, and her dusky eyes were guarded by semi-rimmed glasses. "Oh, um, my name is Cassandra Wallace. But you can call me Cass if you prefer. I'm a double major in art history and archaeology. I was supposed to be going to Paris for the first part of my Europe research trip with some of my classmates. Uh…, I enjoy reading nonfiction books with topics ranging from history to religion to science."

She was more nervous than me, Mariah thought. She even forgot to pick someone else to go. Then again, maybe she is also flabbergasted by the situation at hand. "Aren't you going to pick someone else to go?"

"Oh, yeah! I pick… the man in the suit," Cass says as she adjusted her shirt.

The man looked very disinterested, like he had better things to do. He was sitting down, reading a book. He appeared to be in his forties at least. His burnt umber skin almost blended with his suit. He looked up with dark piercing eyes and in a deep, dispassionate voice asks if Cass was talking about him. When she nodded yes, he states in an aloof tone, "My name is Cole Hawkins and I am a gunsmith. I pick the man next to me to go."

He's pretty asocial. Better avoid him for a while. Mariah then observed the gentleman next to Cole. He was the oldest in the group; he appeared to be in his sixties, seventy-five at the latest. He was starting to go bald on his crown, though he still retained his widow's peak. He wore a tailored navy suit jacket with a green plaid scarf. His reading glasses were nestled on his face. The man stared at Cole blankly.

Cole repeated himself. He wasn't getting through to the old man. Maybe he's deaf. Or maybe he doesn't speak English. Mariah was just about to try conversing to the man herself, but Annie beat her to the chase. "C'est votre tour dire votre nom, votre travail, où vous-allez et un fait sur vous-même. Quelque chose briser la glace. Ensuite, vous choisissez quelqu'un d'autre aller."

The man seemed a little relieved. He likely had no luck previously on finding someone who spoke his native tongue. "Je m'appelle Florin Desjardins et je suis botaniste. Je retourniez à ma domicile à Paris. Dans mes temps libres, j'aime aller à la pêche, faire de la randonnée et l'aviron. Je choisis la jeune femme aux cheveux blonds pour aller ensuite."

Elwin was completely lost. He leaned towards Mariah and in a voice almost as quiet as a whisper, "Do you know what they're saying?"

Casually, she replied, "Yup. Annie was telling him what he needs to do. And he said that his name is Florin, he's a botanist, he's returning home to Paris. And his hobbies include rowing, hiking, and fishing. He didn't say what kind of botanist he is or why he's in the crafting group. But, he was probably lost earlier. Either way, someone with his skill set would be a valuable asset."

Annie called out, "Hey blondie! It's your turn!"

"Blondie" sat on her suitcase, twiddling with a pen in her left hand and a miniature sketchbook in the other. Like most in the group, she appeared to be college age. Her hair was braided loosely. Her maroon top had a sweetheart neckline and half-length sleeves. At the sound of Annie calling on her, she simply began, "Well, for starters, my name's Laurelei Costa. I'm studying to be an illustrator with a humanistic studies minor at MICA. I'm hoping after I graduate I can start my webcomic and find a job illustrating books. But I dunno, probably a lot of cool stuff out there I'm not aware of right now. I was going to Paris to study art for a semester, which I'm still excited for. One of my hobbies is cooking gourmet Italian and Japanese food with my boyfriend."

Laurelei surveyed her immediate surroundings, inquiring if there was anyone else that hadn't gone yet. When Elwin replied that she was the last one in the group, she wondered out loud, "What do we do now?"

Elwin shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we sit around and wait until we absolutely need to build stuff."

Mariah did not share this same instinct. She immediately went to go get her suitcase from the crew. When she returned with it, she unzipped it to grab her tool box. It was a good thing that she decided to bring it along to save money and time while she was studying in France or else, she'd have to borrow or buy more tools! Surely there was something in there that could help them in their situation. She unlocks it and lifts the lid open. In it she saw her caliper, caster, mirror-on-a-stick, dial indicator, force gauge, swiss army knife, mechanic's tool kit, duct tape, calculator, and ruler. She had to leave some tools at home as they weren't allowed on checked luggage, at least she figured they wouldn't be. (Like her WD-40.) The rest of her tools resided in her laptop

"Okay so I have a ton of goodies that will help us out in the future. We'll still have to go out and get some of the raw materials. We should be okay at the moment though..."

"Show me what you have," interjected Cole, scaring Mariah a bit. He approached as silently as a prowling mountain lion. She obliged him. After a few minutes of him looking through her tools, he says to her in an authoritative tone, "If I were you, I would start to gather the materials necessary to build shelter or anything else. I would also see if I could assist the pilots and crew in any way possible, if I were you."