Do I Know You, Captain?

Circa 2016

Captain Nyx stepped up to the window and looked down at the planet. It was perfect in almost every way. They had always been awestruck by earth, but this planet was a shade of blue they hadn't ever seen before. The vegetation was a different green over most of the planet, even though they still produced oxygen. Actually, they produced more oxygen than plants on earth.

It had been roughly 3 weeks since they found this new planet. The reason they only saw it as roughly 3 weeks because the days were a little different here too. So much was different but it was beautiful anyway.

Mark cleared his throat. He had walked up to them so quietly they hadn't heard him.

"Morning, Captain." He whispered in the silent cabin. No one else had woken just yet.

The Captain slowly and genuinely smiled, nodding lightly to him.

"You ready for today?" He asked, offering them a cup of coffee. They took it with another nod.

Mark look away, staring out the windshield. They had talked and talked about what they had gone through and how they felt about one another. Even though the Captain was still mute out of habit, their voice didn't feel so dangerous to their brain, but they still weren't used to using it. The long conversations had been in hushed whispers and body language that Mark had grown to know well. He knew them better than anyone else ever had.

"I know there is still a lot to work out, and I know that means we still have a lot of steps to take before we become anything serious, but I would like to give you a kiss, if that's alright." Mark said, his neck turning red under his collar.

Captain felt their neck turning red too as they looked down. They nodded and Mark moved towards them, sliding a hand across their cheek and down to cup the nape of their neck. Instead of a peck on the lips, Mark tilted his head up and gently pressed his lips to their forehead. He let it linger for just a moment then pulled back.

"I'll go wake the crew. You stay here a day take a few more moments to yourself. Then we will wake the first wave of colonists." Mark said.

"Today we settle the planet. Today we claim Vita Renascentia." The Captain said in a breathy voice, smiling.

They had done it. They had gotten everyone here safe. What was it that Burt had said?

"No doubt, the universe was playing out as it should."

++++

Captain stood at the control panel, checking all the systems remotely as the first wave of colonists were woken up. There was a small red blinking light at the very top of the control panel as they scrolled. It took them a moment to notice.

They reached up absently and clicked the red flashing light and a small screen showed Celci, who wasn't actually looking at the screen she was talking to.

"Captain, uh... we need you to come down here." She said, slowly turning the screen.

The Captain expanded the screen to see what she was showing them. Sitting at a very old fashioned police table with his hands cuffed to a bar atop it, was Mark, but it wasn't Mark exactly. He had longer hair, some of it was dyed red, and a green tank top with a cartoon dinosaur on the front. The Captain's eyes wandered to his shoulders. If this was Mark, his uniform hid strong shoulders. The Captain knew he was strong, he had caught them and held on easily,  and he was a climber, Mark had told them that.

"Captain..." Celci said in a worried tone, turning the screen back to herself,"That's not Mark. You're going to want to come down here."

She turned the screen again to show Mark in his engineer uniform, standing with his arms crossed. He was watching the other man with a worried expression but the Captain couldn't help their eyes traveling down his neck and across his arms. He was built the same way. The uniform hid this pretty well.

The captain nodded and turned the screen off, staring at the console blankly, worry flooding their brain.

Captain walked briskly through the halls, waving and smiling lightly at the crew members as they did. They didn't want to cause any panic.

At the door to the holding chamber, Captain stopped, their hand hovering over the keypad. Their hand trembled visibly as the air was knocked from their chest, making them sick to their stomach.

Inside there was a familiar voice coming from two different sides in the room beyond the door. One seemed calmer, though his words were clipped and coming through his teeth. The other seemed to be in complete disbelief. The voice bounced between accusatory and confused.

Finally, Captain opened the door, watching the ground. The voices hushed for a moment before Marks voice came from the right, pitched and strained.

"Now who the hell is this? Are you here to tell me what the fuck is happening?" The Captain looked up and saw him. In person he was more handsome than they had thought. He was holding his hands out with his palms up, the cuffs keeping them close to the table.

How could someone look exactly like Mark but also look nothing like him? His hair was longer, red, and curly, slicked slightly with sweat.

Captain looked at Celci for explanation.

"Captain, We opened one of the cryo tanks and... that guy was in there. There was a different name on his tank but that person has no other records here either. We shouldn't have woken him before checking with you but...we didn't realize the error but when we finally did we were so shocked..."She explained.

"There were no instructions... I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." The new Mark muttered.

What did that mean? The Captain had no idea.

"Tell them what you told us." Celci said, crossing her arms the same way actual Mark was.

"Why should I? Who are they?" The new Mark asked.

"They are The Captain. They just want to help." Celci explained.

"Nothing grows in the darkness but the courage to search out new light." Burt muttered. When everyone looked at him he pursed his lips and nodded,"Yup."

"Excuse me, but uh, what the fuck?" The new Mark asked with narrowed eyes.

"What he means to say is, you can trust The Captain. They have never led us astray." Engineer Mark explained. He seemed to jerk like something startled him when the Captain looked at him. When the Captain looked back at the new Mark he did the same thing. Almost like they were being shocked by static they didn't expect.

"OK, so, my name is Mark but I'm a gamer. I post games online. I go by the username Markiplier..." Markiplier was interrupted by a loud crash. Engineer Mark had fallen and hit the table with both hands as he tried to catch himself.

"Keep going." Celci commanded as she knelt to check on Mark.

"Uh, well, I was put into a game called, 'Vita Renascentia'. It was a game in a headset that makes you feel like you are in the game. When I put it on, the game opened up to me in that cryo...." He cried out, falling to his knees. The chair he had been in clattered back.

As he hung his head, his hands cuffed to the table kept him upright. Markiplier groaned lightly in pain. The Captain looked at Mark as he sat with his head between his knees, then looked at Markiplier who knelt at the table.

"They told me there could be a glitch in the game where I rendered twice..." He whispered.

The Captain went to comfort Markiplier but when they leaned over him he broke the bar off the table and punched The Captain with both hands, knocking them to the floor.

Their head hit the floor with a harsh crack and everything faded to black.