What Did You Do, Captain?

Done This All Before

The screen before them has started to feel like home to the captain as they 'wake up' in the same scenario once again. They really thought they had it this time.

Everything starts to flash in red, warning alarms blaring as the ship status is read out once more in that familiar robot voice,never changing volume or fluctuation, just tone, midsentence.

"Ship status is absolutely catastrophic." It says. At one time the captain had thought to themselves about how soothing the voice was. They had chosen it well. Now, the captain grew nauseous listening to it drone.

"Emergency wakey wakey protocol activated." It says, launching the captain from the pod, painfully to the floor. Every time this happens, the captain expects it to hurt more, for it has happened so many times before, but the pain of the past never lingers.

They remember what is going to happen next but they were too deep in their own minds to stop every part of it.

"Reviving head engineer. " The Ship says, launching Mark across the bridge and into his front window. He stands up and frowns.

"What's going on captain?" He asks. He is so innocent and unaware, but captain can't get stuck in their own minds just now. Mark is in danger.

Captain reaches across the control panel and grabs Marks hand tightly, just as the window shatters.

Captain remembers when this happened the first time, the inevitable time. There was no way to save Mark that first time. The universe is littered with the corpses of your failures. How many of those corpses were Mark's? The captain feels an ache thinking about his body spinning endlessly through the vast and empty space. Did that Mark feel the pain of the glass as he flew through it?

The bulkheads had long closed, Mark just stared into the captain's baby grey eyes, mouth agape in question.

"Thank you, but... what's happening?" Mark asked, breathlessly.

Captain wants to take him in. Just be with Mark again, they never got a moment to just be with one another. All their lives together, some Mark wouldn't even remember. They never got to just be together.

The fire brings captain back to the present as they grab the fire extinguisher. They want to tell Mark to be safe as they lift the extinguisher to insinuate they have the fire if Mark could just...

"I have life support." Mark states, running from the bridge.

Captain curses silently as they put out the fire. They have been mute since before they started university. As it is in most situations like theirs, they actually became mute as a child.

Captain just wanted to say three words to Mark right now, and they werent....

Stay safe, Mark.

Author note:
From this point on much of the story will be original, I won't make you sit through me describing something you probably have already seen.
~Faye