Greenhouse Three

• Up to 250 Words
• Genre – Sci-Fi
• Action – Eating a salad
• Word – Wire

“Joyce, Earth time please?” Callie questioned the station’s computer as her stomach rumbled yet again.

“12:24pm central standard time,” the system replied. Callie wheeled her chair away from the workstation as she pulled her protective goggles off. She rolled and popped her neck, releasing the tension and stress.

“Joyce, open Greenhouse three please,” she requested as she exited the tech room and headed down the hall. The soft woosh of the doors sounded as she approached and picked up a basket from the entry way. Reviewing her choices, she selected deer tongue lettuce and heirloom cherry tomatoes before tugging a large carrot and two radishes from the bed. She stopped and plucked several olives from the tree on her way out.

Callie sat by the bay window to gaze out as she ate the vibrant, crisp homemade salad. The thick windows prevented any outside sound, but she enjoyed watching the A113 units clearing mounds of dirt, drilling holes, and framing the structures of the colony that would hopefully be home to the survivors headed her way from Earth.

Having finished her salad, Callie rinsed and put away the dishes, then headed to the communication bank.

“Joyce, draft wire to Station Eleven. Vegetables still lack flavor. STOP. Retrieve and transfer seed packet four to Station Thirty-Three. STOP.”

“Sending wire.”

Glancing at the plant life, Callie gave Joyce one more command, “Joyce, reset Greenhouse Three”. Callie watched in sadness as the complex system annihilated the vegetation once again.

Christy’s Creative Compositions