Despite everything, Elli did manage to doze off on the twin bed in the sparsely decorated room she would be sharing with Star. Elli sleepily rolled over to spot the other girl curled up on the bed on the other side of the room, reading a tablet.

"Hey," Elli yawned. "Looks like I did manage to drift off."

"Yea," Star smiled. "You sank hard when you finally got to sleep. Sam came by with your luggage, and you didn't even budge."

Elli's eyes drifted to the bags at the base of the bed as her cheeks began to heat with a blush.

"Is it normal for guys to come into girls' rooms like that?'"

Star shrugged. "It's not like we have Co-ed rules or anything. This whole hall is full of the members you met today, and the rest of the wing is designated for field agents."

"Field agents?"

"Yea..." Star set down her tablet. "Domina will go through all that and tell you about ops and give you an ID access code to get around with."

"Oh." Elli glanced around for a clock. "When—"

A knock rapped on the door.

"Come in," Star called.

The door slid open, revealing Domina dressed in a kind of body suit with cargo pants and boots, the entire outfit was black.

"Lunch time." She said matter-of-factly, looking at Elli.

With a stifled groan, Elli threw off the covers and sat up, digging her shoes out from under the bed. As she shoved them on, she noticed Star had resumed browsing on her tablet.

"You're not coming, Star?"

"No. I've got a meeting with Trevor in ten minutes."

Star smiled cheerfully. "Good luck, Elli. I'll see you at group dinner tonight."

"Oh, okay." Elli felt a little nervous facing the intimidating Domina alone, but she forced her expression into an easy smile as she stood. "Let's go."

Domina returned her smile and led her down to the cafeteria. For the first time, Elli noticed small spray paint marks at the end of each corridor. When they reached the cafeteria, the hallway was marked in yellow.

Domina led her through a buffet-style lunch, and they sat down. Elli decided to ask the burning question.

"Is there a reason the hallways are marked with spray paint?"

"Observant." Domina grinned. "Yes, directions are denoted by a color code. Once you learn it, it'll be easier to get around."

Elli listened intently as Domina explained the system in great detail as they ate.

Red designated the intergal areas, such as exits or utility spaces, green and yellow denoted recreational and food areas, respectfully; blue marked living area and quarters, and orange meant secure area, like the conference room where they were earlier.

Elli kept that knowledge in mind as they navigated their way to the "East" conference room after lunch. They went down a yellow hallway, turned right into a red, and left into an orange marked corridor where a pair of familiar double doors were. Domina waved her hand, and the door clicked open, revealing a smaller room than where they'd been before with rows of tables lined up facing a half-wall screen.

"Sit where you like." Domina offered, waltzing up to the front of the room. Elli slid into the second row from the front, settling into a seat in the middle. Domina activated the screen, and a large icon matching the graffiti outside floated on a black background.

"There is a lot to know about Quantum," Domina began. "But it starts with us, those that possess mutative anomalies in our genetic makeup. These mutations can manifest both physically, and metaphysically in the form of what we like to call 'gifts.'"

Domina swept her hand over the screen pulling up portraits of Samuel, Trevor, and the girl Elli now recognized as Reach.

"These are the founding members of Quantum. You're familiar with two of them, so I'll just fill you in on Reach-- without her, gathering our kind would be near impossible. Even if you found the gifted by accident, you could only detect them if they had a physical trait or if they exhibited their powers. The process of finding N.N.s would be too great an undertaking."

Elli leaned forward as Domina pulled up a file with some charts.

"Reach's gift is unique, as far as we know. Psychic in nature, she can sense... for lacking of a better term, someone's essence. Her ability is so strong, she can find any gifted individual in the world, at any time, allowing us to pinpoint our kind and scout them, or assist if they're in danger."

Elli's mouth went dry as all the pieces clicked in her head. "So, if that's what she can do... could Dark Sector force her to find us?"

"Not just us, Elli." Domina pierced her with an intense gaze. "All of us. They could use her to find every single N.N in the world."

Elli stared back, stunned. Every person who had a gift could be singled out, found, and incarcerated for nothing more than being born with a genetic mutation. Trevor and Samuel were justified, then, in dragging her here. She was slowly beginning to understand what they were about.

"Now that you grasp the gravity of the situation, Elli, let's move on. There's a lot to cover in an hour lesson."

Domina lectured on through a variety of topics, concluding by assigning Elli a pin number. Elli stared at the slip of paper with the four digit code, her head still buzzing with everything she'd just learned.

"Until you decide to get chipped, this pin code will allow you access to everything you need." Domina smiled gently.

"Chipped?" Elli frowned.

Domina held up her right hand that she had swiped over the screen. "One of Ferris' inventions; it's a small nanodevice, nearly untraceable that functions like a RFID device. There are a few unique differences, other than its size. Such as its remote capability to control devices here at the base."

Domina waved her hand and the screen shut down. "See?"

Elli was amazed. She opened her mouth to ask more about the chip, but someone cleared their throat from the back of the room, catching Domina's attention.

"Come on in, we've just finished."