Entering the dorm, it was obviously in the stark, spartan style of the military - the walls had the silver sheen of corrugated steel, and the floor had a thin hallway-style carpet as its only protection against cold feet. Even the beds weren't out of place - bunks far too large for the children, the XL-Twin size that one might see in a college dorm, took up nearly the entire space to either side of the room, with workstation pods shoved to the corners at the beds' heads and feet.
'Wait, workstation pods?' frowned Will, moving towards the back left one with interest. It looked a little bit like a grey tube, with a fingerprint scanner at its front, just next to a door tall enough for the average man. He glanced back at the others arguing about bunks behind him, he shrugged and climbed up to the top left bunk.
"First come first serve," he called out, causing the others' gazes to flick towards him in surprise, before each ran towards the right bunk. Jonathan won by sheer luck, which left James on the bunk below Will and Gerald in the last one. At this, Will climbed down, scanning his finger into the right pod. It confirmed his identity - Cadet Will Franzen from 83W72N-S02-P4 City F - before the door to the tube opened, and the faint hiss of escaping cold air hit the small group. Inside was a chair, with what appeared to be a pair of gun-like joysticks, and a helmet that looked like an evil villain's brainwashing device hanging above it. He'd have time to test the device later - turning back to the others, who had also begun to try out their pods, and looking out the door. Behind them, the very annoyed looking Erin stared back at him, the others either fidgeting or tapping their feet. Will hurriedly tapped the shoulders of the other boys, leading Gerald to give an embarrassed smile.
"Let's head out, squad," the poster boy said, somewhat late, and held up the tablet from before. Like all such devices, the word 'tablet' was abstractly used - it was more like a holo-screen where one held what appeared to be a metal square, and then light projected outwards up and to the right from that to show images while sensors collected keypresses.
On that tablet, a map soon appeared on-screen, if it could be called that - it was more like a 3-dimensional maze, with a slowly pinging dot showing their current location at Cardinal Facilities, Dorm 6. 'Home base,' Will noted, before peering, like the others, over his shoulder to look at the map.
"Take us to the Main Deck," Gerald told the tablet, as if talking to S*ri. When nothing happened, Erin snorted. A little belatedly, as if just copying her, Carol snorted too. 'I didn't know people like this actually existed...' crossed Will's mind before reaching forward to tap the search bar. Gerald looked back at him, thankful, before typing in the search criteria. Soon, they were on their way - turning left, then right, then back left, then taking an elevator, until they had been walking for ten minutes - and were about to be late for the muster. The group started fast walking, then jogging, until finally they broke into a run, passing a variety of what appeared to be training rooms, classrooms, and rec facilities. When they arrived, it had been twenty minutes exactly since the timer had started.
"You're late," Colonel Anverheim flatly stated.