World Seed

“Are they done yet?” I asked, tapping my foot impatiently. It had been at least two hours since she gave me that timeframe, right?

“...Yes. Yes, John. They are done.” Celeste said, letting out a long sigh of relief. “Remind me never to suggest you taking a week off again.”

“Great!” That single bit of good news made my mood instantly brighten. “So, how long till we can go?”

I heard a dark and sinister chuckle from inside of my mind. Every word she spoke came out like an evil villain’s taunts. “Well, first we have to recall all the crew members that went planetside for their time off. Then, we need to do the calculations for our first warp jump, and make sure everyone is synchronized so that we don’t accidentally appear inside of each other. So… about a day, give or take? Depending on how long it takes the crew to say their goodbyes and pack their belongings to resume the voyage.”

By the time that Celeste was done, I felt my face losing all color. “But… you said two hours!” I shouted out to the empty bedroom.

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” She asked, a grin in her voice. “I guess it’s a good thing I went ahead and called for everyone to return to their ships yesterday. Once we do the spatial calculations, we’ll be able to move out.”

“...That was unexpectedly mean of you.” I said, slapping my face with my hand. “I deserved it, didn’t I?”

“Yup.” She replied simply. “Consider it payback for asking ‘Are they done yet?’ every two minutes… For the last three days.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad, right?” I glanced side to side in guilt, not really wanting an answer to that question.

“I have it all recorded. Would you like to see the highlight reel?” Celeste asked, a grin in her voice. Of course, I had been on the ship, so it was only natural for her to be able to have a recording of me.

“No, that’s fine… Anyways, go ahead and let everyone know that we’ll be ready to launch once the fleet is assembled. I’m heading to the bridge now.” Eager to finally be able to do something aside from pacing back and forth in my room, I quickly got changed and made my way out of the room.

“I already did, John. They should be waiting for you by the time you get there.” She commented in a gentler tone before going silent, likely making her own final preparations. I couldn’t help but smile at the forethought she put into this. Then again, I had likely annoyed her beyond enough to make her want to get this over with as soon as possible.