[center][h2]Another Day[/h2][/center]

[hr]

It was dark, very dark, an empty void with nothing for the eye to see. The emptiness made his body shiver with a cold feeling in his back, Matthew didn't know where he was, he never did. He looked around for a few seconds, circling around like a maniac in a locked room trying to find his way out. Nothing still, just darkness that covered his vision to the point that he couldn't even see his own body. Then a figure down in the distance, a light shinning up above the figure making it some sort of silhouette.  

Matthew approached the silhouette with caution, who was it, or what was it? He began to hustle up as he began to get closer to the silhouette he could make out a female figure. He finally got to it, with tiresome eyes and losing his breath he approached the figure. 

As he got closer to it, he could see the familiar face of a women. It was hard to tell as the light was over the shadow, the figure was still much of a silhouette that he could barely make out. 

"Matthew, my love." She said. 

Matthew was taken aback by the voice of Crystal. The women he had loved for years, she was there in front of him and he didn't know what to do. 

Raising his hand to touch her face, Matthew said "C-Crystal..."

Then as he touched her face, he could feel her skin wasn't the soft and smooth canopy he knew, in fact it felt rough. It had a harsh but also delicate feel, like sand. He pressed his hand on her cheek, taking out a massive chunk of ash. Crystal's figure began to fall apart into ash, down on the floor making a mound. Matthew was completely aghast by this, with tears in his eyes as he crumbled on the floor and tried to gather the ashes like if he could do anything with them, a strong wind then took them away from him and his hands. 

"Why didn't you come back?" A voice said. 

"Why did you leave?" Another one said. 

"You promised to fight with us!" One angered voice yelled. 

Matthew began to run away from the shinning light on the sky, as the voices grew in intensity and loudness that he couldn't make out what they were saying. He tried to cover his ears but it was as if they pierced right through them. 

"YOU LEFT US TO DIE!" 

"YOU'RE A COWARD!" 

"COWARD" 

"WE TRUSTED YOU!" 

"TRUSTED YOU!" 

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT WITH US!" 

"FIGHT WITH US!" 

"WHY DID YOU RUN AWAY!"

"WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY,"

Matthew then screamed, he let out a scream of pain as he felt his head getting crushed by the noise, so many voices that he heard, all well too familiar. 

"STOP!!!" He pleaded. 

Then he opened his eyes, rising from bed with sweat covering his face and bloodshot eyes. His breath was uncontrollable as he looked around his bed and around the room, it was nothing but the same room he had been sleeping on for the past 5 years. He looked out the window into the multicolored vacuum of space, a sight to behold indeed, if it wasn't the same fucking sight for 5 years straight. Matthew rubbed his face as he went over to the bathroom. The nightmares were getting progressively worse, but this one was different, it felt real, maybe too real. He didn't know what to make of them at all. 

The light turned on automatically and heading to the mirror, same face as always, he was still him like always and that reassured him on some level, he didn't know why. First thing he did was wash his face, undress and jump into the cold shower. Stepping out of the shower, Matthew noticed it was 4:30 AM lights on was about to begin in half an hour for the rest of the contingent. He was right on time as he dressed up in his uniform.

As he readied himself for the day, the Captain called out the AI of the ship. As much as he disliked the thing it had it's little perks. 

"Noah." He said. 

The hologram of the AI appeared at the middle of the room "Yes Captain Lopez?"   

"Call Harrison." Matthew requested as he walked right through the hologram up to his drawers.

"Of course sir. Requesting Lieutenant Harrison. Anything else sir?" Noah said. 

"Leave." Was the only thing the Martian said. 

"Of course sir. I hope you have a fantastic day." The hologram disappeared and then the voice of Harrison was connected to the intercom of the room. 

"Yes sir?" the lieutenant asked. He was always a quick to answer, dependent for whatever one asked him. A good assistant to have, and Martian like Matthew, he wouldn't trust anyone from any nation with being his right hand man. That's why he could relatively tolerate being in the Ark for so many years. The military was what he was used to and the men who were his commanders and fellow soldiers were of his planet. It was better that way, Feds would've killed them with bureaucracy and the Cons would most likely had tried to make the ship a moving company in space. The Fleeters were not so bad, but they were still a nuisance from time to time. Martians understood how this whole thing had to be, how to keep order while out here looking for a new home. It may seem harsh but it's a necessity and to fuck around is not an option at all. That's what many don't understand. 

"Make sure the Companies are ready for a new exercise. Also make sure the patrols at the Hangar and the armories are properly relieved by 0600 hours. Locke wants me to ready an Operations team, probably an away mission coming up soon or just another joint exercise with Ark Sec. Either way I want a team ready for tomorrow." The Captain finished up getting ready. 

"Yes Captain. I'll make sure its all ready sir." Harrison answered over the line. 

"Hopefully today goes without a hitch, I'm getting really fucking tired of the recent protests calling for 'Elections'. Yeah, my ass, they want elections like we're some sort of nation state, inside a ship in the middle of space. Uhummm, I know that shit Drobov has something to do with it, always yapping about the little man and shit." Matthew was ready to head out the door. 

"Yeah, I've seen that during leave. Protest and calls for elections, I don't really care about politics. I never did, but I feel like what we have is working. I don't get the the fuzz." Harrison answered.

"Me neither... well I'll get to you in a moment lieutenant. Gotta get off now." Matthew opened the door out of his quarters.

"Yes sir." 

"Call Ended." The voice of Noah said as Matthew closed the door behind him into the large hall of the Officer's quarters, his room at the very end of the large hallway. He was ready for another day of routine.