RJ logged out and headed for the mess hall. When she arrived, she treated herself to a cheeseburger, fries and a large salad. She found a large booth along the wall and sat down to eat and was almost done when Fitch and Cowan entered the room. Both men grabbed a drink before sitting down with her in the booth.

“Amy will be catching up with us too; she'll be along in a couple minutes,” Fitch explained.

“Good. I was reading over the status reports. It seems as if everything is moving along right on schedule. By the way, what is that smell? Smells like something burning,” RJ commented.

“There was a fire in the laundry area. They'd just finished installing the last of the equipment in there, and it was being tested. No one was in the laundry room and suddenly, the computers were signaling a fire alarm. It took a few minutes to get people down there to get it out. It seems one of the large dryers shorted out. There isn't much left of it. There's a team down there working on clearing up the mess. It looks as if a couple of the units on either side of the defective one are ruined too, but the rest are okay,” Fitch explained.

“Glad this happened now, instead of after the sleep,” stated RJ.

“Agreed,” Travers said, joining them at the table.

“We have some timetable issues to discuss. We need to decide which one of you two is joining us for the big sleep, so we can get the required training started,” RJ said, glancing from Cowan to Travers.

“I think Amy should go with you, she's almost as knowledgeable as I'm about the sleep process and I can finish up here while she starts the training,” Cowan announced.

Travers turned to stare at Cowan, surprise evident on her face.

“Amy, if there are issues during the sleep, can you deal with them?” RJ asked.

Travers thought for a minute or two. “I suspect I could handle almost any problem, I've been working closely with James for some time now.”

General Fitch spoke up. “James is clearly the most experienced person when it comes to the sleep process, and while I'm very pleased with Captain Travers abilities, it only makes sense for the most qualified person to go. This whole project revolves around the long sleep and anything we can do to guarantee its success is paramount.”

“I'm afraid I have to agree,” Travers said reluctantly.