His eyes opened, his head held by the soft, comfortable pillow of his cabin. This morning he was distinctly not awoken by Freya, something he had grown so used to.. Closing his eyes, he raised his upper body and covered his face with his hands.

“Calm down, me. Calm down…”

‘It is all my fault…’

Yesterday he was supposed to go to her. But instead, he had hyper-focused on work again. That’s what he always did. Even when it mattered the most...

‘...I just continue to fail.’

Sucking in an air of breath, he knew he couldn’t let things continue likes this. So, he hit his cheeks before jumping out of the bed, quickly heading into the shower.

‘Today is the day. Nothing will stop me from talking to her.’

Cementing the thought in his mind, he closed his eyes again and imagined her fair face, which always seemed to smile when her gaze met his. It was part of the reason, that unfettered way of just expressing your emotions, that he felt himself grow closer to her each time they met.

Done with the shower, he put on his uniform and headed towards the exit to his cabin, his hair still slightly wet. Pressing the button to open the door, he suddenly saw a uniformed soldier in front of him, saluting.

“Sir! I am to bring you to the vice-captain right now!”

“What?”

“Now, sir!”

His mind in turbulence, he looked upon the soldier who’s gaze was incredibly serious as he looked upon Evander. Anyone would be surprised when a soldier would come to escort you to a meeting.

‘What’s going on? Does this have anything to do with the report I sent? Or, perhaps... No...’

Grabbing the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath, he tried to calm the feekubgs inside of him. And though that worry was still there, Evander could now look at the soldier.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

The soldier nodded and walked down the brown metal hallways of the ship, Evander following closely behind. And looking at the rest of the ship, from what Evander observed, nothing was really out of place.

‘So it is not something large scale? Maybe not the report then. Then, it can only be...’

Yesterday’s matter had been fixed, the information having been sorted out. The list of possible reasons was probably gone through by the general engineering crew. And that left only a single possibility in Evander’s mind.

‘I am so going to be punished for something, aren’t I? Is it the new astrological navigation gyroscope I am working on? Or is it something else? Am I doing too much overtime?’

He couldn’t stop shaking, his mind going through all the things he had done wrong, enough to make his teeth chatter. And surprisingly, the more he thought, the more reasons for his punishment came up.

‘...know about that? No. Of course not. I got rid of any evidence of who stole from the fridge in the workshop.’

His face pale, Evander stood in front of a general meeting room. The soldier, who led him here had already saluted and walked away.

‘This is going to be so bad… I’m sorry, Freya. Maybe our talk will have to wait a little longer...’

Letting out another sigh, something he did a lot those days, he knocked on the door. Silence greeted him for a few moments, as the nervousness within Evander continued to rise. And right when Evander was going to make a run for it, he heard an answer.

“Come in.”

It was deep, gruff, and formal, which was all the indication needed to know that it was the vice-captain. Gulping loudly, Evander opened the door, and what greeted him were several high ranking officers.

Moving his gaze around the room, Evander’s eyes widened, as the head of engineering, operations, and finally the quartermaster, as well as the vice-captain all sat in full uniform.

“Sit.”

Following vice-captain Wormfrey’s orders, Evander quickly scurried towards the nearest seat. That seat, coincidentally, was directly opposing these four massive figures who preside over a ship of over 10.000 crew. And so, Evander’s mind went into work mode, pushing aside everything else.

‘First things first. I need information, starting with remembering who these people are.’

Evander started with the quartermaster, a woman with red hair and green eyes. Mirabel Gazef was her name. She was a woman of high accomplishment. At just the age of 35, she became the quartermaster of the Andromeda.

And even in the presence of much older and more experienced officers, she is calm and doesn’t seem to be backing down at all.

‘Is that maybe because of me?’

She is the representative of all crew. While the captain and vice-captain may run the show, she is up there as well, defending the rights of the general crew.

Sitting to her left was the head of operations and logistics. An astute-looking man with glasses. His hair was starting to grey at the edges, though he still kept it sleek and clean. You could not find a single thing wrong with the man known as Leon Barmovawich.

‘From what Maverick told me, he is a stickler for numbers and rules.’

Observing Leon, Evander could see signs of it, as his gaze never seemed to move from Evander. And when they did, it was just to look at the small pile of paper in front of him.

And moving his gaze to the left of Barmovawich, the head of engineering sat. He was a man who was as much of a workaholic as Evander. His uniform was always covered in grime, soot, and dirt, and his blue eyes always seemed to glow with something.

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‘The head of engineering? Since Marco is here, then maybe it is about my report?’

The final one was the vice-captain, who’s appearance and aura always made others respect him. Vice-captain Wormfrey had always been respected throughout the ship, as he was always the one keeping their captain in line.

“Now...”

Coughing for a moment, everyone looked at the Wormfrey, who’s gaze met Evander’s for a moment.

“...engineering operations officer Smith, the quartermaster is here to make sure the crew and you get the respect they need within the constraints of the law. While the head of operations and engineering are here to find out the capacity of the problem. I am personally here as the leader and facilitator of this meeting.”

The vice-captain gazed at everyone in the room for a moment before finally continuing. He seemed seemed somewhat satisfied with everyone’s calm and able attitude at the moment..

“Officer Smith, in the report you wrote last night on the problem of the transmitter module... you said a possible reason could be sabotage?”

Suddenly, everything clicked. The quartermaster, the head of engineering and operations, and even the vice-captain.

‘If someone sabotaged the ship, the transmitter modules, then... Does the captain of the ship perhaps suspect we have someone trying to hurt the ship?’

“Right. That is... a possibility. Though who they could be would be limited. And the information they would be able to have would be...”

Nodding at him, the head of engineering, or rather, Marco, turned to Wormfrey.

“Wormfrey, if the traitor did this, then they would have to be at least an operations officer. Engineers only do maintenance on modules. They do not have access to the way the information is distributed. That would take an override of the systems.”

The vice-captain turned to Leon, folding his hands together.

“What do you say, Leon?”

“Hmm. What Marco is saying is true. Though, to be more specific, the officers who could be a traitor would be engineering, logistics, operations, and service officers. Other officers were removed from that access before we even launched the ship.”

Letting out a sigh, the quartermaster covered her eyes with her hand, her red hair flowing down the sides of her head.

“So the one who betrayed us, if we are lucky, is one person, and is among those we trust the most?”

Letting out a sigh, the head of engineering, Marco, spoke the mind of everyone here.

“We really are in a load of shit...”

Evanders eyes opened, his gaze meeting the stars enveloped by void yet again. The red, orange, green, and yellow dust floating through the void created a scene that many would call beautiful.

Raising his body up from the hard and cold metal bench, he found that he still remained as thin and weak as before. Evander’s dreams reminded him of the strength, pride, and everything else he used to have.

‘Why couldn’t it have been my mind that became thin and weak instead of my body?’

Evander cannot help but feel like wanting to cry, but somehow he couldn’t. He shouldn’t. Everything was his fault.

‘If we had found the thing we needed to search for instead of having useless discussions, then everything would have, then everything would-’

‘No. That isn’t right.’

Sucking in a breath, Evander fought the urge to continue to lay down and got off the bench, even though it still continued to be one of the hardest things he continued doing.

‘What even is the reason for getting up?’

He walks through these brown halls, his body that could nearly not walk before now stumbling, but moving forward gradually.

‘It was good that I ate. But it isn’t like I need a lot... To spare what food I have I should keep the same schedule.’

Letting out a sigh, his footsteps that used to fast and direct are now slow and careful. Evander didn’t used to be like this. Back then he could take a whole transmission module by himself.

‘But now, now I am...’

His memories of those times, of Freya and Maverick, of his leaders, everyone he thought he could rely on, are repeating. The useless conversations and feelings, the suspicion, everything...

‘Why am I going through everything again!?’

Stopping, leaning himself up against the brown metal wall of the hallway, Evander tried to get his breathing, that had already become ragged, under control.

He is too emotional.

‘Everything was so wrong. We could have fixed everything so easily... Yet, it is always the-”

Dung~

Hearing something hit the metal floor, echoing throughout the hallway, Evander looked up. The hallway was dark, and the stars enveloped by void continued to shine upon the Andromeda. He started to slowly walk forward toward the noise, careful with each step, his heart beating faster and faster..

Reaching it, Evander sees it and his heart stops. A bulb, a light, something that is on the ceiling in every corridor.

“Hahaha...”

Laughing, he bends down to pick up the small, circular lamp. But, unable to cry, no tears are flowing down his cheeks, the only thing showing his sorrow being a horrific laugh.

“It was just not... screwed on tightly enough...”

Holding the lamp, his body started shaking more and more, harder with each second, the plastic of its outer shell bending at his supposed weak and bony fingers. His eyes bore down on the innocent lamp that had fallen, and something lit within him.

‘It was just... a lamp?’

He clenches his fist that is holding it, his arms shaking with more strength than he had ever had in ages.

‘It was not a person who did something?’

His eyes, body, arm, everything focusing on the small lamp, he clenches his teeth and throws it at the window. Yet, it just...

Dunk.

‘...it barely made a sound.’

It was quiet. Too quiet.

Evander looks down at his bony arms, the sound of having thrown the lamp so quiet that it didn’t even create an echo. So quiet he realized even more how weak he had become. No. How weak he is and used to be.

‘Why did it have to be so quiet?’

Going down onto his hands and knees, he looked at the floor, stared at it. There was nothing there. Yet, he continued to stare. That was the only thing he could do.

‘It is silent. There is nothing here. There is no reason to look, stare, or anything...’

A feeling of not being able to breathe suddenly enters Evander, as he holds his chest, trying to breathe. His chest moves up and down hurriedly, yet it feels as if no air is entering his lungs.

His knees and arms hurt, and he can barely hold himself up. And so, he suddenly loses strength in his right side, falling onto the floor.

He continues trying to breathe, but his body will not let him. And he reaches out his hand towards something, someone, and he sees...

“Are you okay, silly?”

Smiling at him as soon as her gaze meets his, she moves a strand of her blond hair behind her ear.

She reaches down her hand, touching his cheek, as he feels the softness and warmth he had felt so long ago. She is back, and she still loves him.

“Don’t worry. I will always be here.”

Touching his heart, her figure became transparent before disappearing.

And then, just as sudden as it had come, it was gone. Again he could breathe. Again he could get up. His body is tired, and his chest is in pain, but he is still alive. Yet he had lost so much more.

‘The silence is... my fault. I am reason why there is no reason to observe anything anymore... I, I am the reason she-’

Closing his eyes, he holds his chest and lets out a cry.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHH!”

His scream echoing back at him throughout the silent, quiet, and empty brown metal hallway, he cannot help but realize that was the only scream he had heard in a long time. And when his screaming finally stopped, his chest heaving up and down, he just stood, the light of the stars cascading his figure.

‘I could only watch as they, they...’

His mind thinking one thing, his body and words react another.

“I wanna sleep...”

The single mutter escapes his mouth, as Evander gets back up and walks through the empty brown hallway again.

Eventually, he reaches a cabin. He hesitates a bit to push the buttons on the panel that are on the right of the door. And after that moment or two of hesitating, he finally pushes the button.

It is his old cabin.

And in the cabin there are pictures. Many pictures. The dim yellow light of the cabin barely making the room bright enough to see anything, Evander steps over trash and clothes as he goes to the bed, nearly tripping over some article of clothing.

Evander, with a slight breath, turns his head, staring at a specific piece of furniture, a shelf.

The shelf is clean, completely clear of any dust or trash that was filling the rest of the room. On the shelf were several pictures. There was one of Freya, of Maverick, the vice-captain, and more...

In the rest of the room, similar shelves are set up with pictures. Evander, closing his eyes, starts to shiver.

‘I don’t want to see anymore... I don’t want to.’

Curling himself together into a ball, the dim yellow light turns off as darkness now envelops him.

The pictures are now gone.