The mess hall was empty when Celeste walked in behind Oscar. It was located on the upper level so the ceiling was dome shaped. Benches and tables filled up the middle of the room. Celeste walked past them to the serving station on one end of the room. Behind it Celeste could see a kitchen filled with high tech machinery that whirled and buzzed. The smell of food filled the air making Celeste's stomach rumble. Two domestic robots moved around back and forth in the kitchen. They moved freshly cooked trays out of the ovens and onto the counters. Then they replaced the ovens with trays of newly processed food from large cylinders with rotating blades that chopped up raw food.

One robot sensed Celeste's approach and moved to the serving station holding two metallic trays of food. "Chicken or beef?" The robot asked in a polite female voice. Celeste eyed the food; it was an unrecognizable mush, she could not tell which was chicken and which was beef. Celeste wrinkled her nose. "What is it exactly?" Celeste asked. "It is a healthy nutritious blend, good for young recruits in training," the serving robot recited. Celeste was not convinced. "Yes, but what is it made of?" She asked again. "Chicken or Beef." The serving robot said pleasantly. Oscar let out a low chuckle. Celeste sighed. Robots would be the end of her.

Celeste placed her plate of chicken mush on the furthest table from the door. Oscar had chosen the table so that he could scan people as they walked into the mess hall. Oscar stood right behind her as she ate, lifting his hand to scan the air. He scanned each and every recruit that walked in through the door. Most of the recruits waved back at him. He was attracting a lot of attention to Celeste too. They stared at her curiously. "Hey robot!" Celeste called. "My programmed name is Oscar," he said back. Celeste rolled her eyes. "Your scanner is good enough to work from that corner of the room. Do you have to stand so close?" She requested. Oscar started rattling off his orders to stay close to her. "Then stop waving at everybody!" She demanded. Oscar chuckled, "I'm helping you make some friends. Look someone is actually coming this way." Sure enough there was a young man about Celeste's age with glasses walking towards their table.

"I'm Henry Hightower," the young man introduced himself setting his tray down on the table. "You are Celeste Sidman aren't you?" Celeste was suspicious, "How did you know my name?" Henry looked a little amused. He pushed his glasses up as he replied, "Everyone knows who the Sidmans are." If there was anywhere that her parents could be famous it would be in the Barracks. Celeste just nodded and shoveled another spoonful of tasteless chicken into her mouth. Henry fiddled with his glasses as he focused on the robot behind Celeste. It was strange for someone to be wearing glasses here. In Edeth's major cities it was important that citizens always appeared in good health. In fact an obvious display of a defect like glasses was the kind of rebellion that was common in outer cities like Serenity City.

"Why do you wear glasses?" Celeste couldn't help asking. "Well... you see.... I'm," Henry stuttered. Oscar cut in, "Henry Hightower, Declared blind two years ago. Unknown genetic development. Was one of the first patients to be fitted with Substitute Optics. Substitute Optics technology is recommended to patients who previously had sight, as it required the brain to have an understanding of vision. "

Celeste took a moment to scold the robot for invasion of Henry's medical records. "Don't you know anything about privacy?" Celeste asked. "Medical records are public, your question does not make sense." Oscar defended. "Still! You could respect his privacy," Celeste complained. "Miss Sidman, your safety is my only priority," Oscar said smoothly. "So it's true," Henry said causing Celeste to turn to him. She gave Henry a questioning look. "There were rumors that your parents got you a Military grade robot for getting accepted into Enforcement," Henry Explained, "I suppose that we shouldn't be suprised." Celeste was surprised. There were already rumors about her! She looked around the room and found that the other recruits kept glancing over at her table and whispering among themselves. Suddenly Henry stood up. Celeste noticed that he had already finished his plate of food. "Better hurry, You don't want to be late for your first training session with Officer Vivienne," Henry said with a smile.