Restless and Worn

Posted on Thu Jun 20th, 2019 @ 7:48pm by Commander Dominic Aldrich
Edited on on Thu Jun 20th, 2019 @ 8:05pm

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Dominic's Quarters
538 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock... Dominic listened to the clock he had rebuilt from his grandfather. It was the twelve thousand, six hundreth such cycle he had heard since putting his head down. He had fallen asleep easy enough, but woke up about an hour later and hadn't slept since. He wondered if it was a left over of his five years on Marga. Parts of him were still angry about that period of time. In some ways, he had lost five years of his life. He was a prisoner of a circumstance that was created simply by the desire of a people to not be alone. The "caretakers" thought they were doing something kind by not informing their people about the machine that phased them into our universe, but Dominic was a firm believer that some secrets aren't meant to be kept. If it hadn't been so secret then perhaps the people could have worked on the malfunctioning machine and not have trapped him and his crew mates on Marga.

He looked over at his desk where copies of a few books from the planet were stacked up. He had scanned them and had them re-fabricated upon coming on board the Majestic again. He glared at them in frustration. Then, he saw the picture of Zeria sitting next to them. Suddenly, his frustration melted to a warm calm. Had he not been trapped on Marga he'd have never met Zeria. It had been so long since he felt a connection to someone like he did with her. Since the Camelot was disbanded, he had always felt lost without being near his friends he'd served with for so long. Zeria had started to take all of that away almost immediately upon meeting her. He had not let anyone close to him romantically since Erica had left him suddenly before their wedding. Over the past five years, he had gotten to know her. They had grown close, but not as close as Dominic would have liked. The day he realized that he would be able to go back to the Majestic was an anxious one for Dominic.

After Zeria and he had become close, he had tried to convince her to return to the ship with him and see the universe with him. He had assured her that the Captain would be happy to have her on board and she could keep gardening. She had never fully committed to the idea. So, the day came when the planet phased back and Dominic took her hands and asked her, "Zeria, I love you. I want you to return with me. Will you come back with me?" For a moment she said nothing and he had internally panicked. He had not meant to tell her how he felt for her, but he did and that was that. Then she said, "Yes."

The memory had made him smile and he forgot about his exhaustion for a moment. Standing up, he went over a chest in the corner and began to rummage through it. Finding what he was looking for, he smiled, nodded to himself and sighed to himself, "Yes." Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock....