solo_sword | Office hours- Thursday

Entry tags:

Office hours- Thursday

There were no gremlins today. Jaina had checked her office thoroughly as soon as she got in, and with the coast clear, she sat down to work at her desk.

The thing was, when you knew there was a possibility of gremlins due to experience, a check of the place didn't mean you weren't slightly paranoid that any little noise might not be the sign of something you had to kick a lot without it biting you. So, you know, it was going to be that kind of day.

[Open office hours!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

"Dad did the same thing," Ben said. "I'm twenty."

"I hate your trip, Ben," Jaina decided.

At least she wasn't the only one in the family with timeline wonkiness now?

"Could've been a lot worse," Ben said. "I could be 35 with three kids."

"If you called me from 35 with three kids, I'd be yelling at someone about something right now," she pointed out.

She kind of wanted to do that for missing out on two years, but she was keeping her inner Han at bay here.

"I missed you too," Ben said with a little laugh. "It was really a very boring trip. It took two years to get there! On the same ship!"

Shhh, Ben was spoiled.

"How did you not go insane?" she asked, completely seriously. She probably would have demanded to fly the ship, insisting that she could make it go faster.

"I exercised constantly," Ben replied, "and organized the colonists that stayed awake into playing games and learning new languages, and then helped Ender hold off a coup attempt by the admiral aboard ship."

"...That last one sounds like a really strange hobby to take up," she said, half-teasingly, half-concerned probably like two years after the fact.

"He decided that just because Ender was young he was also not very smart," Ben said with a snort. "I think Ender'd figured out Morgan's play about five minutes into being on the ship."

"Anyone who still pulls the 'your age means you can't really do this' thing is pretty much setting themselves up for a bad time,' Jaina agreed.

"He had major issues not being part of Battle School," Ben said, "which I would have been more sympathetic to if he hadn't been such a pinhead."

"And he should probably learn to suck it up anyway." Sympathy? What was that?

"Exactly!" Ben said. "He was an admiral of the first ship ever going to a colony in their galaxy's history. It's not like his career was really suffering."

"Do I wanna know where the guy is now?" she wondered.

"Heading back, I think. Another two years back to Earth where he'll be four years older and everyone he knows is dead. They really need to figure out lightspeed."

"Does this mean every trip back here is going to be six months and two years?" she wondered.

"Kriff, I hope not," Ben said. "We found a portal, so that should speed it up?"

"Good. I refuse to keep missing huge chunks of your life due to travel time." Yes, the whole family was spoiled there.

"The reverse is also true," Ben said. "I was afraid I was going to call back and find out that everyone was 90 years old."

"I remember that feeling," Jaina said wryly.

"Kriffing terrifying," Ben replied. "I was afraid to listen to my messages."

"Well, you haven't missed much on this end," she said. "Everything still good at home?"

Well, "good."

"Everyone's still has all of their parts attached," Ben assured her.

"See, that's good!" Jaina said, almost brightly even. Because wow, it would suck to come back from no contact after two years to find out everything was horrible.

"Dad's coming to visit soon," Ben said. "We think if we give him our coordinates he can figure it out from his side."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject