"We have nothing else to do here anyway," John said with a casual shrug.
He spoke as if they were deciding to leave a vacation early, rather than concluding a months-long, life-altering struggle in a new world. "We've scouted the sector, built the foundation, and secured the loot. Let's go back tomorrow."
"At last," Luke sighed, leaning back in his chair. "It feels like a literal lifetime since we were walking the halls at the academy."
"Do you think about how much time has passed since we left?" Cissel asked softly, her gaze drifting toward the flickering torchlight. "If the time dilation was significant, they must have marked us as dead months ago. We're going to be zombies walking back into that school."
