Excerpt:

When we finally landed in London, I was so tired. I do not enjoy early morning flights across the Atlantic. Really, I just don’t like anything early morning, no matter what it is. It made finding my way much easier having Simon with me. He was much more normal than I expected anyone else in the program to be, which was a definite relief. I am not a fan of meeting a lot of people at once, so it was good to get to know someone ahead of time so I could at least feel a little less overwhelmed. After going through customs and claiming our baggage, there was a man waiting by the door with a small sign which had our names on it. He was bald and had small, round sunglass that were pushed far into his face. “Come with me please.” he said in an English accent.
Simon and I looked at each other. “I assume he’s not going to shove us in a car and kidnap us,” he said. “but I’m just not entirely convinced of it.”
“Who would want to kidnap us?” I asked. “You’re a starving artist and I’m a Martian. We don’t have any money.”
The Englishman chosen to escort us did not seem amused, and he promptly turned on his heals and strolled out of the airport as we ran to catch him up.
We dragged our luggage up a big black limo. “Whoa…” muttered Simon.
“Cool,” I said. The bald man opened the door of the limo. I threw my suitcase in and climbed in after it. Simon seemed apprehensive.
“Does the gentleman wish to accompany the lady, or does he wish to remain at Heathrow?” said the Englishman.
“You are not going to talk my ear off all the way here and then ditch me.” I said, looking at Simon.
“It’s just… its so nice! I’m not used to this kind of thing!” he said.
“Artists,” I muttered. “Get in!” I grabbed his luggage which he was firmly attached to and hauled both inside. Our new “friend” slammed the door behind him.
“Are you sure we’re not getting kidnapped?”

We arrived at a large white building in some busy part of the city. My strongest desire was to be dropped off at some fancy hotel so I could shower, but I was informed that all the delegates for this mission were arriving about the same time, and it was imperative to those who were sending us that we all meet together immediately.
Simon and I were marched through the large double doors, past some impressive looking desks, where the bald Englishman flashed a badge and ushered us onward, into a conference room with a long rectangular table, at which sat around two dozen other twenty somethings from different parts of the world, and from different walks of life. The man standing at the head of the table in a gray business suit looked us over when we walked in. “Sir, the remaining ambassadors from the United States have arrived.” said the bald man. The other nodded and motioned for us to sit down.
“Now that we’re all arrived,” said the man at the head of the table, who was apparently German. “I can start your debriefing.” My eyes widened. Did we really need to get so official after such a long plane ride? “There are 26 of you being sent on this mission. The United Earth Movement has tried its best to ensure diversity amongst all of you, while suiting the requests of the Lonosians. We have delegates whose chosen occupation is in some field of science, while others of you work in more creative things. Some of you have minimum wage jobs, some of you have no jobs. Some of you are students, and some are drop outs. A few of you are doctors.”
“Whoopty do.” I muttered.
He looked directly at me. “Ms. Setty here is on this mission by special request of the Lonosians. She is the only member of the Mars Project that was eligible to participate in this mission.” I waved unenthusiastically to the other members of the table. “Because of her experience leaving the planet and returning, Ms. Setty will be assisting us with some of your training.”
“Aw, crap…” I mumbled. Simon snickered. And I thought I was going to get off easy with this whole experience.
“Tonight you will gain some acquaintance with your fellow ambassadors from earth. You will be eating all your meals together, and rooming in the hotel together as well as doing all your training together for the next two weeks. Some of you will be undergoing specialized training for this mission.” The German leered at me. “I need not go into details now. You will discover its identity and purpose soon enough. Tomorrow you will officially begin your training, and for the first time you will meet with the Lonosian ambassadors.” At that, most at the table seemed to get excited. I however couldn’t understand what the big deal was… they’re still humans, they’re just from another planet. Heck, I was a human from another planet. No one had ever been impressed by me.
When we were finally dismissed from our meeting, we were met outside by a small legion of cars to take us to dinner. We arrived outside a neon restaurant titled “Sanzoes” and were escorted inside by overly friendly wait staff. They had a large banquet table set up for us in the back, and when we saw the table set up with fine china, we noticed that there were name cards on each place setting. “Oh my God, I haven’t had a seating arrangment like this since elementary school.” said Simon.
“Well, I had elementary school on Mars, and we didn’t do that.” I said flatly.
Simon was seated rather far down from the table, and although I couldn’t say we had become fast friends, I had become used to him by then, and it was awkward to have complete strangers around me again.