I let the noise of my thoughts dwindle and confirmed a sound coming from the door connecting to the spacious hall. It was muffled and echoey. As the noise grew louder, the sound became discernible. Voices. I was the last one to turn and face the dark wooden door as it pushed open.

Two boys stepped into the room with loud, energetic voices. One had tan-colored skin and was tall—donning a scarlet poncho that couldn’t contain his brawny arms. He had a rugged face and spiky auburn hair that frayed in all directions. The other sported thick-rimmed glasses and a navy blazer and trousers that exuded elegance. However, his display of refinement didn't match his unbridled nature while interacting with the brawny poncho man.

“Looks like we’re the last ones to arrive,” said the guy in the poncho. His voice vibrated my ears and seemed to penetrate into my heart – drumming it to beat along with his speaking pace. If he were to sing, he might just shatter me. Seems like the voice the girls picked up on before I did. Not only was it deep, but it was loud enough to carry as echoes in the hall.

“So the Integrator hasn’t arrived yet?” The well-dressed guy said. Both of the newcomers marched down the aisle and sat at the other front table where Kemia and Lyviria were initially sitting.

“You might not want to sit there,” I said. “This girl, Kemia, may have left some smelly impressions.” I pointed to the girl in front of me.

“Then I’ll sit on it.”

Without a care for his neat navy trousers, the well-dressed guy pushed his chair in and hopped onto the table – his legs now dangling just as Kemia had when I entered the room. The brawny brown man wasn’t fazed by my comment nor by his new friend’s actions. Instead, he let out a boisterous laugh that stung my eardrums with its unrestrained volume.

“This doesn’t affect me at all! I’ve been through much worse than this,” he said, taking my comment seriously.

“Hey, I don't release toxic waste that would cause death!” Kemia said to me, then turned to face the two new boys. “So! What are your names?” She introduced all of our names first, and we all had our own little greetings with nods, waves, smiles, and Notemi’s blunt “Hi.”

“I’m Kailus,” said the well-dressed guy with thick-rimmed glasses. “You can just call me Kai. Kailus if you want to treat me special.”

“'Sup Kai!” Kemia said.

“You get me, ‘sup!” Kailus and Kemia exchanged spontaneous hand signs, shakes, and whatever they were trying to communicate with their new made-up language.

“Yo! Name’s Olmahitkho. Good to see you all,” said the brawny poncho man.

“Oma… what?” I asked. Kemia paused, and the girls and I exchanged puzzled faces.

“Ol-MA-heet-ko, it has four sounds or whatamajig you call it,” he said.

“Syllables—four syllables you mean?” I clarified.

“Yes, that! But you can just call me Olma,” he said.

Kailus clasped his belly with both arms, heaving and wheezing and struggling to gather his composure. “Oh man, that was a good reaction.” He removed his glasses as tears flowed down his closed eyes, only to realize his whole face was sweating and wiped everything with his sleeve before putting his glasses back on.

“Now we have a jester and a man who could pronounce his name but not recall any vocabulary. Nice,” Notemi said, giving a thumbs up while her cheek leaned on her knuckles.

Her unapologetic bluntness made her as scary as Ruyo, though I wouldn’t know who would win in a competition of bluntness and banter. With these kinds of people, it was near impossible to hide anything because they could notice a single particle off in the air and would not hesitate to point it out. If she weren’t tired, what kind of a miscreation would I be dealing with?

“We’re all here – all six candidates,” Lyviria said, breaking the booming atmosphere with her calming voice. She smiled before proceeding. “We’re all here for the Explorer’s Project, correct?”

“Yep!” Both Olma and Kailus answered, while the rest of us nodded.

“Looks like you’ll have some male friends after all,” Lyviria looked at me and teased. I gave her a blank look as she giggled with Kemia.

“Hey Laizen!” Olma shouted, raising his hand towards me. “Come over here, let’s have some fun.”

I looked behind Lyviria across the aisle, seeing him wait with wide eyes and smile that bored into me. “Uh, sure,” I told him, getting up from my seat. He gave a mini fist pump to Kailus.

When I walked close enough, Olma stood from his seat – his head towering over mine – and placed his arm over my shoulder, nudging me and slapping my back as if I were as strong as him. My body vibrated as I kept myself from buckling. I recalled a basic principle from my history of physics class—whenever there was an action, there would be an equal and opposite reaction. So I trusted that the floor wouldn’t cave in on me as Olma continued smacking my skinny stick of a body like one of his bros. It worked until I felt a creak in my knee from handling all the pressure; prompting me to block his final, incoming arm.

“If I’m going to die soon, at least let me pray,” I blurted. Kailus laughed as loudly as Olma did, but thankfully his vocal pitch matched the girls’. The girls turned around to see the source of the squeaking noise and chuckled before returning to their conversation.

“You’re quite sturdy despite your looks!” Olma said, motioning me to sit next to him with his rugged arms. I settled beside the large, hulking man and attempted to make myself comfortable beside the heat and presence he was exuding.

“I like you!” Kailus said after regaining some composure. His shoulders and hair continued to wiggle and sway during his containment of laughter. A jester indeed; despite how he looked with his well-groomed hair and matching suit. He had a sense of aesthetics that pleased my eyes and percolated into what I assume was his style of humor, which was yet to be understood by me.

“Yeah, so what is going on here?” I asked, looking at them simultaneously through my peripherals.

“We wanted to be in your presence while you’re away from the girls,” Kailus said.

“…Then I’ll head back to the other table,” I said. I stamped my palms on the tabletop to lift myself, and walked back across the aisle to the three girls’ table.

“NOOOO!” A shrill cry paralyzed me in my tracks, and a wave of unease spread through my body, alerting me of danger. I creaked and pivoted my neck to face the source of the sound behind me.

Kailus outreached an arm towards me; fingers continuously grasping the air as if something important were slipping away. His contorted face resembled that of loss. Behind him stood Olma, who held Kailus back with a large arm around his chest. My mind went haywire with thoughts of how my body displacing air could have caused Olma to sneeze, which flung a pencil to a clock, ringing its alarm and echoing the sound in the empty shelves, which resonated enough to resound in Kailus’ ears uncomfortably.

“Please don’t leave me!” Kailus continued shouting in a shrill voice. Confused, I turned to look at the three girls, who stared at him in silence. Each of them raised to a stand and walked past me to Kailus, and I followed behind.

“Something happened?” Lyviria asked, looking at him before turning her head upwards to Olma. She stood with Kemia beside her, while Notemi and I were behind them. As for Olma, he reflected how confused I was by rubbing his chin and jawline; furrowing his eyebrows.

“Nope, just seeing what would happen when I act in front of everyone,” Kailus answered, switching his demeanor abruptly. Then I heard giggles coming from someone I least expected to have a sense of humor—Notemi.

“Interesting,” she simply said with a smirk before strolling back to her seat.

“No more of that,” Lyviria said firmly. Her agitation showed throughout her stiff body, which returned to a poised posture after saying her part.

“Sorry… I understand,” Kailus conceded as he bowed his head. Kemia stepped up to ruffle his hair for several cycles until the comb-over lost its shape and glimmer and became as messy as Olma’s auburn spikes.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“I just do it, I can’t explain it if that’s what you’re asking,” he said. Olma released his arm lock around Kailus' chest and Kemia withdrew her hand from his head, and we all returned to our respective seats. Lyviria and I sighed in relief as tension escaped my body.

The door to the left of the chalkboard swung open.

With my lack of sleep for two days, I didn’t have the energy to react, and gave in to the shock I received from the door's squeaking hinge. “I see you are getting acquainted with each other quite nicely,” a soft and baritone voice said.

A messy black-haired man entered through the door, wearing the same off-black ceremonial robe the officers had when they picked me up. But this man was not one of them. Silence and tranquility embraced the room, transforming negative tensions into fuel that uplifted me rather than linger.

A soft, tickling sensation was felt on my chest, leading to a cascade of goosebumps to my limbs. The man’s presence was magnetic. His gait, his posture, and the drapes of his robe radiated with effortlessness. If Kailus had an aesthetically pleasing style, then this was something that could not be captured in words. He displayed a beauty that no man or woman ever exuded. I wanted to identify a word, but the closest, yet inadequate word was beautiful.

I wanted to shriek just like Kailus did for me because something wanted to come out. I stood still and thought that Kemia was right—how did Kailus make such a spontaneous emotion without cranking up in such a short span of time? I felt a sense of admiration for him build up. Looking at all the other candidates, they all fell silent and taken aback by the man’s presence just as I have.

“Since I don’t have a name, you can call me the Integrator. Good to see you all,” the man said.

“He’s here!” Kailus yelled out while slamming his table. The Integrator stood with a gentle smile on his young, pale face undismayed by the sudden outburst. Wherever Kailus’ courage came from, I wanted that.

I stood and my mind was blazing with questions. “I—”

The Integrator held up a hand. “There will be questions later. I will talk about why you are here. Afterwards, you can ask away.”

All of us exchanged glances at least once with each other. I sat back down next to Lyviria and the rest of us turned towards the Integrator—standing in front of the chalkboard where the aisle was centered.

“Thank you all for accepting my invitation and coming here on a brief notice. I see that all of you are the original nominees I have put down,” the Integrator started. “You are First Generation Explorers—precisely selected for your traits and potential for teamwork in order to spearhead humanity's evolution."

“The first thing you need to know,” he continued, “is your essential role in meeting with extraterrestrials. You will learn about their culture, lifestyle, technology, and many other aspects to pass it on to humans.”