"Man, maybe I should give everyone bits of my stash. It'll suck later, but weed keeps you chill." Shrug. "I'm gonna go work on the cheat sheets."

"It's one of the other doors on this floor. I think you can find it. Thanks but no-thanks on the weed."

"Suit yourself."

Walta comes into the library with a sigh, and signs in to whatever lessons the computer thinks she needs.

The computer wants to instruct Walta in how the seasons are different on this planet, some features of tropical plants and the uses of several plants she's never heard of. After Walta has settled in, Alice flashes her a quick smile.

She nods back. "That guy Joe said he thinks a nursing student was gonna use the White code. Apparently lots of people are hanging out in that lobby back on Earth, waiting for the organizers to show up."

"Huh, I don't know whether to hope he comes through or not. If we're trapped here it might be important to have the full range of medical systems unlocked but I don't know if that's worth another person getting trapped with us."

"I think we should explore the outdoors a little more. Work on a map, like Nick said. If we're going to be living here..."

"Yeah maybe, I think either Zahn or I needs to go with anyone who's exploring outdoors, so there's a degree to which exploring the mall is safer and easier but otherwise yeah, probably a good idea."

"We could find a camping store and set up tents outside the whole complex wall and stash food and water there, and then make sure to check all the doors at least once a day."

"I think that as long as whoever's exploring pays attention to the symbol that indicates one-way doors and doesn't enter those that should be fine. I'd feel better if we had like walkie-talkies or working cell phones though. I suppose it might also work if there's a building outside the wall with a working teleporter that anyone can get into."

"We don't know enough about this place yet, is the problem."

"Yeah, that is indeed the problem, still the fact that danger is marked with symbols and we have warnings for things like one-way doors makes me think we can manage."

Sigh. "Well. I still think we'll need someone to take nominal leadership sooner or later. People are calmer when someone looks like they know what's going on. Even if others kinda resent not being the one in charge."

"I might be able to manage that but I've never managed anything more important than a student club. I suppose we might just put it to a vote. The issue with voting though is that we don't know how many more people are going to come through."

"A simple vote for most things works if we don't end up with more than thirty or forty people."

"Oh, I meant for picking a leader. I think there is an advantage to having someone able to make a decision if we're ever in a rush. I think that's especially important if we decide to explore anywhere marked as dangerous."

"Hm." She turns back to her studying.

Alice turns back to her own studying, at the next convenient stopping point she looks up a store likely to have walkie-talkies and adds it to the list of stores to visit when she gets around to visiting the mall. Then she resumes her studies.

"This floor plan look good for the privacy dividers in the bathroom, Zahn? As a first draft, anyway - I'll talk to others and take measurements and stuff."

"Yeah, I think so. Probably good to get it set up sooner rather than later."

"Yeah. There's a few hardware places I can go scout, see what's there. Might have to drill holes in the bathroom floor here and there." He shrugs.

"Huh, just be careful about drainage, we wouldn't want mold growing somewhere we can't easily get at it."

"Could always just make a metal bottom frame, weigh it down with sandbags."

"Or, if we do it with like shower curtains, or some other light material we could do it by using shower bars between the floor and ceiling."