@n o s t r a d a m u s location_city
Critique away (total word count, 1345):
Daphne stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the planet she’d never come back to. Earth had never suited her, she found it caging and sometimes suffocating, and don’t even get her started on the majority of the people. She felt like her life could finally begin, a bird let out of it’s cage if you will. Daphne had always been something to gawk at, or to marvel over; at university, people had always assumed that she was someone's little sister, or lost, only to later stare at her like she had a third eye when they found out she was a student in one of the most advanced courses. Daphne had never understood why she had such a large chip on her shoulder either, as if she had something to prove, or entitled to solitude of some kind. All she knew right now was that Earth and it’s simple qualities would be far behind her in a few days, replaced by adventure and exhilarating possibilities.
A sharp knock echoed through the room, piercing through the silence. Daphne rolled her eyes and kicked her legs toward the floor, people. She didn’t have to guess who it was, only one person could have knocked like that. Rebecca could be easily summed up, Audrey Hepburn crossed with a drill sergeant - graceful and elegant, yet emotionless and unforgiving. Almost like a pitbull with butterfly wings. Daphne yanked open the harsh metal door just before the forth knock, “About time,” Rebecca placed her hands on her hips, “Meeting. Ten minutes. Room five,” she said swiftly and turned on her heel, marching down the corridor. To be fair, that was the longest conversation Daphne had ever had with Rebecca.That was the one thing about her that Daphne had genuine respect for, she knew how to keep it sweet and simple. She closed the door behind her and strode over to the wardrobe to get her boots.
The meeting would no doubt be a regurgitation of everything they’d been told during training and a speech about their journey leaving a mark on human history. Which even with it’s doubtless truth, was idiotic; what would people would remember if they were successful, was that people ruined our original planet to the point that we had to move to a new one. Almost as if they burned down our house and said “Oopsies, better find a new one,” in a toddler-esque, careless manner. Daphne let her mind wonder as she put her boots on. Theia was supposed to be beautiful and untouched, like the Earth before humans created industry, and uninhabited. That was all that they could tell from the satellite images and probes that Earth had sent over. Daphne stood and grabbed the coat off of the hook, holding up her pumpkin orange hair as she put it on and slid out of the room. The outside hall was lit only by bright fluorescents, like the kind in school classrooms - long and narrow, and the metal siding on the walls airbrushed a sterile white. It was all very clinical and made the place feel depressing, like an asylum. Daphne made sure that she was paying attention to where she was going, the uniform surroundings made it quite easy to get lost and there weren’t any signs.
She arrived at the meeting with a minute or two to spare, Daphne was big on punctuality, she hated being late or when others were. Seriously, how hard was it for people to be on time? She thought that being punctual showed respect, and that you put in effort or at least gave some sign that you cared. It seem that most of the others shared the same opinion, as the only person who wasn’t there was Eric, who would no doubt show up five minutes late. Typical, thought Daphne. Eric had a serious problem when it came to time, he never knew what day it was let alone the date, and could never seem to hear his alarm. The only way he could make up for it was by having an excellent sense of direction, which explained why he had been as the space shuttle’s captain. He was ex-military as well, and had fought in Afghanistan, before retiring and becoming a United Nations peacekeeper.
Amanda, the surly woman who had run the crew’s gravity simulation a few weeks ago, stood up to to speak, “Is everybody here?” she asked, “We’re missing Eric,” Rebecca replied in her usual stone cold manner. As if on cue, Eric burst into the room stopping for a second to place his hands on his knees to catch his breath, “Alarm again?” Amanda asked clearly not impressed, Eric nodded and took the seat next to Daphne, still panting. “Now that everyone is here, I would like to congratulate you on the fact that you have made it this far,” Amanda said, “You are all about to embark on a mission that will change human history, and will be the first ever humans to leave our galaxy. You have a great responsibility upon you, do us proud,” Amanda sat back down, and the crew gave her a half-hearted applause, five am was not the time to expect people to care about changing human history. Dr Russett took Amanda’s spot, “I’m sure that you have heard this protocol non-stop, but I will go over it one last time. Once you arrive on Theia, you are to establish and construct a basic colony, collect further data about plants and other living bacteria on Theia, and begin farming. The gravity on Theia is lower than hours, so if you can, discover what native plants are edible, as they will grow better than our crops. Be sure to take your daily injections to protect against any harmful bacteria as well. We are counting on you to make this mission successful, for our race’s sake,” Dr Russett paused, placing his hands in the pockets on his blazer,. “And good luck,” he nodded and sat down.
The meeting adjourned, and everyone made their way down the hall for breakfast, which was the food pouches the crew would be eating in space. Not exactly the most appetising meal. Today was spinach and pumpkin risotto, or at least powdered risotto, with a vague bitter drink that apparently resembled coffee but had ended up more like brown lemon juice. Daphne stared at the brown liquid, it was way too watery and the exact colour of dog poo, “Why can’t we at least eat real food on our last day?” Eric sighed across from her looking up, Daphne huffed and nodded in agreement, she wasn’t in the mood to talk. Even though Eric could be completely useless at times, he was still one of the only people she’d managed to make friends with.
When they’d met, he hadn’t stared at her like she was a bright green alien like the others had; she wasn’t a child prodigy to him, only a kid who happened to be smart. Daphne appreciated that. And for someone almost old enough to be her dad, he wasn’t half bad. “I thought you were happy to get off Earth?” He asked, “Yeah,” Daphne sighed, “It’s the 'you are going to change history’ bullshit. Puts me off wanting to go,” waving her hands around in the air, Eric was the only person who seemed to get that she hated being the centre of attention. “What about, ‘this is for the human race’ and all that jazz? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me,” Eric mocked her hand gestures and added a loud sigh “So unnecessary,” he shook his head. “Funny,” Daphne said, “Well they ain’t wrong,” said Eric before going to take a sip of his coffee without paying attention. He immediately spit it back into the cup, “Nope,” he exclaimed before getting up and tipping the food into the rubbish bin.
