The Occurrence of Dr. McElroy

         Seridine gently placed the large canvas grocery bag on the countertop and breathed out a weary sigh. The sky was already dimming and she already had too much to do. Keyla would be home soon and she should have had dinner in the oven thirty minutes ago. The ship is going to take off in two hours and she was already behind schedule, yet again. She ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. She briefly closed her green eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts, she was drowning in stress and needed a moment to refocus.

         She quickly tossed together the freshly prepared ingredients for a quick grilled chicken salad and began the cooking process. The salad itself was so basic. She crinkled her nose at the thought of it, but it would have to do. It consisted mostly of spinach, arugula, romaine lettuce, blueberries, apples, pears, walnuts, a few small nut and seed granola balls, goat cheese and finally the sliced grilled chicken breasts and raspberry balsamic dressing. 'Oh, what I'd give for a fucking decent steak.' she mentally complained. The salad itself looked to her no different from a cafeteria salad that tried too hard. She hoped Keyla wouldn't complain too much, though she honestly couldn't fault her too much if she did.

         Seridine or rather, Dr. Seridine A. McElroy worked aboard the intergalactic cruiser, U.S.S. Independence. It was the first deep space ship successfully invented by mankind. It was a massive grey and dark blue ship that took ten years to complete and even longer to research. Her job was to monitor the Biosphere. The Biosphere was a large section of the ship where most of the plant growth and life support systems were located. It was a huge glasslike orb that fit in-between the two large levels of the ship. It was basically a large botanical garden, several fully functioning farms and orchards all combined into one main locale. There were three others on the ship, in case if it failed or was corrupted in some way. But, it also doubled as a meeting area and rehab center, so there was usually never a moment alone.

         Seridine later heard the door unlock and Keyla's exasperated sigh as she clunked down her bag. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Seridine fussed. "Don't drop the bag, damnit! Laptops aren't cheap you know!" Seridine was getting tired of Keyla's bullshit. The girl just had no sense of respect for the time it took to work to afford a freaking laptop. It wasn't like Keyla was actually going to get off of her lazy ass and do it herself. The young step mother rubbed her eyes, internally rebuking herself for staying up late at the lab until nearly six in the morning. She had entirely too much shit to get done before docking. She glanced at the time on her HoloTab, 03:45:28 P.M., she had five hours before deadline. It wasn't a whole lot of time really.

         Keyla's voice responded, "I know, fuck. I don't want to hear it right now." Keyla was her step daughter. It was just the two of them now after Mark's passing. Emptiness was the only thing left in Seridine's chest right now. He was a good man and fuck, she missed him. She was still certain that Keyla blamed her. But, she didn't really expect much more than that from an irresponsible nineteen year old. Keyla was the spitting image of her father and birth mother. She had her father's skinny frame, fair skin and black curls, and her mother's high cheekbones, freckles and brown eyes. Keyla's appearances were very different from Seridine's somewhat boyish and blonde appearance.

         Seridine sent Keyla to her room after dinner and headed off to the pod's control room. She glanced at the HoloTab again for the time to ensure she was still on schedule. Sure enough, she was. From there she navigated it to the ship's docking. Her spot was Docking Bay #45, it was almost always reserved for her by Cpl. Pete James from the Regulations Department. He was an odd duck, but nice enough.