The day before the departure date, it was time for the assigned staff to depart from the Base to two of the designated airports where volunteers and observers would be departing on the first day of departure.
The assigned staff were walking down the lower corridor, making their way to the airlocks, with the other staff that would be staying at the Base following behind them, with the intention of seeing them off.
The staff had a look on their faces that was a mixture of slight anxiousness, curiosity and anticipation as they walked. The assigned staff were leaving soon for their overnight stay at the airports and they would arrive the next day with the volunteers, and the clinical trial would start effectively.
They chatted casually among each other as they walked. They reached the airlocks where their glass doors opened automatically. They stepped into the airlock in groups of fives, then the glass doors closed shut and the door leading to the bay area slid open.
