Trust the Process

They board quietly. I set the course.
Two passengers, female. No shared record.

They sit beside each other.
One woman checks her phone.

Asked if everything is all right, she says she has been waiting for a message.
Asked how long, she says not long.
Asked about children, she says when the time is right.

She checks it again.
Everything is unfolding exactly as it should, she says.

After a pause, the other woman asks how she knows.
She has to trust the process, she says.
The other woman does not ask again.

She checks it again.
Everything is unfolding exactly as it should.

She smiles. Phone on her lap, screen dark.
Neither woman speaks again.

The vessel passes through a debris disk, where fragments circle a star without forming a planet.

I carry people. Their words travel with them.