NO. #1
"But now this room is spinning while I'm trying just to fill in all the gaps." | "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Summary: The Captain gets black out drunk at a party and remembers the last time that occurred.
CW: disassociation, unreality, delusion, multiple realities, mention of murders, deaths, the works
Words: 2,552
"Hey, hey, Captain? Captain, are you okay?"
"When did the room start spinning?" You asked.
"Captain?!" Mark looked concerned. His face looked funny all scrunched up like that.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Mark asked, holding up three fingers.
"Uum, eleven?" Your counting skills weren't the best right now. And neither were your eyes. Or anything else.
You lost consciousness before you could register what was happening. You wouldn't have known, but someone caught you before you fell.
…
You woke up. After catching up to the fact that you were now awake, you were in pain. Excruciating pain. The worst migraine ever. Aches all over. Oh and you were in a gurney. That was never good.
"Um hello?" Luckily someone was there with you. He never left your side after all.
"C-captain! I'm sorry I fell asleep…"
He seemed ashamed of himself. "Don't worry Mark. You didn't have to stay in that uncomfortable chair for however long…"
You cleared your throat. "How, how long was I out? I remember the party and the toast with the champagne… poker, and games, and oh my god didn't Damien do a keg stand?! Everything's blurry. I don't quite remember last night and I'm trying just to fill in all the gaps."
"Doctors! Celci! Get in here!" Mark called out the door.
"Um, Captain, your head might be in worse shape than just a hangover… there's no Damien as part of our crew and… there were no poker games last night?"
"You don't know who Damien is? But Maaaaark, he's your friend! How could you not kno-"
Then it hit you. Mark was dead. You remembered his dead body wrapped in that red robe on the floor.
"Nonononono…." You went into a panic, everything around you blurred.
"Celci get in here quick! We have a medical emergency!" Mark called out again.
…
"The Captain's unresponsive," Mark informed Celci.
"How long have they been like this?"
"They woke up just a few minutes ago and they seemed fine! Until they started talking crazy and now it seems they're disassociating or something I don't know!"
"Mark, calm down. Yelling doesn't help right now. What do you mean talking crazy?"
"They were trying to recall the events from last night, but it seems like they got black out drunk or something. They don't remember much… but then they said they remembered Damien doing a keg stand? And something about poker?"
CC couldn't put her finger on it but something about that name struck a chord with her.
"Did they say anything else about this Damien?" CC asked.
"They said I should know him because he's my friend?" Mark said, exasperated. "I don't know about you, but I've never met a Damien in my life. Let alone at last night's crew party."
"Okay. You stay with the Captain, let me see what I can find out."
…
Celci went to the server room. She had no last names and almost no clues, but she'd look anyway.
She typed in 'Damien' and millions of results came up. "Ugh this won't help."
'Damien and Mark' less results came up, but as Celci scrolled through it still seemed useless.
'Damien keg stand' nothing worth looking into popped up.
'Damien Mark party'
Now the results were getting interesting.
"Mayor Damien Whitacare has no comment on the death of former Hollywood star, Mark Iplier. Mark Iplier showed up dead at his mansion last Tuesday during a party with friends. Police have not released any information, but amateur news reporters, Jim and Jim, say they have evidence from the crime scene. The story continues to unfold…"
"Hmmm…" Whitacare where had Celci seen that name before?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was just Mark and the Captain. Mark and a very hungover and confused Captain. Did someone put something in their drink last night? Your behavior had Mark worried.
"You-you-you" your voice quivered as you pointed an accusing finger towards Mark. "You died, you're dead. Am I dead? What's happening?"
"Sshhh, Captain calm down…" Mark tried to soothe you by rubbing your hand.
"Don't touch me!" You screamed, still unsure if what you were seeing was real.
"Captain are you remembering the wormhole incident or something? I know we haven't really talked about it, but I know it must've been awful for you," Mark tried to calm you down.
"Wormhole? What are you talking about?"
"You-you don't remember?" Mark was close to tears.
"W-wormholes don't exist. Are you trying out method acting or something?" You asked, Mark was talking nonsense and he was a talking corpse.
"W-wormholes don't exist?" Now Mark was extremely puzzled. "Captain, that's how we got here… to the new planet."
Suddenly, Mark got an idea. "Captain, what year is it?"
"What year is it? What type of question is…." You thought for a moment. "Well, it's 19-"
"NINETEEN??!" Mark responded. "Captain, it's 2083."
"What?"
~~~
"Ahh, Dorene Whitacare," Celci greeted the colonist at their new residence on the planet.
"And what do I owe the pleasure?" Dorene asks before taking out a plate of cookies. "You can have one if you like dearie."
"Thank you, Ms. Whitacare, but I was wondering if you knew a Mark?"
"Why that's the name of that head engineer isn't it? I don't like him, he always gets my title wrong."
Celci felt a sort of kinship that she couldn't explain with Dorene. It seemed to go further than just shared hatred.
"Well, yes, but do you know any other Marks?"
"Hmm. Good question," says Dorene.
"Or-or a Damien?" Celci asks.
"Now that's a name I haven't heard in quite some time…"
~~~
"Captain, who are you?"
"I'm the DA. I'm not reading scripts with you or improvising or whatever this is Mark. Who are you and please just tell me the truth."
"A district attorney?"
"Yes ever since the mayor promoted me. I don't want to be a part of whatever game or story this is, Actor."
"Actor?" Mark asked.
"You. Because you know you're the actor. Do you have amnesia or something?"
"No but I think you do. I'm not an actor. I'm your head engineer. You're the Captain. Of our ship the Invincible II? Any of this ring a bell?"
"Invincible II? After the first 'Invincible' went down they decided to make another one? Has no one learned from the Titanic?"
"Captain-"
"Would you stop calling me that! I told you I didn't want to be part of your story today, Actor. Go bother someone else."
"Well okay, Cap- I mean District Attorney. I think it's best if you rest for a bit and I'll just be out in the hall."
"Okay Mark."
~~~
"So Mayor Damien Whitacare was your great uncle?" Celci asked.
"Why yes, something like that." Dorene answered.
"Do you know anything about that news story? About the dead actor-"
"Only that he had what was coming to him."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He was playing with powers he couldn't understand. Things from beyond the veil. It manipulated him and ruined everyone close to him."
"Well uh, nice talking with you Dorene, but I have to check on the Captain," Celci clumsily left the conversation, feeling very uncomfortable.
"I'm sure you do," she said.
~~~
Mark and Celci bumped into each other, running away from their subsequent conversations.
"Hey, watch i-" Celci interrupted herself when she realized he came from the Captain's room. "What did they say?"
Mark rubbed his head where they collided before continuing, "that they're a district attorney? And I'm an actor… and that I'm…"
"Dead?" Celci asked.
"How did you know?"
…
"So let me get this straight, over a 100 years ago, some famous actor named Mark died at a party with this Mayor Damien and mysterious District Attorney?" Mark asked.
"And the case was never solved. The police tried to cover it up, blaming this crazy colonel or some blaming a detective who was there that night, but it doesn't add up. Who hired the detective to be at the party and why? Also the District Attorney, the Mayor, and some other guests disappeared that night. The chef, butler, and groundskeeper all told the policemen their stories, but…"
"But?" Mark asked.
"They all said something supernatural happened. They were all speaking nonsense."
"But why does our Captain think they're connected to this DA?"
"I'm not sure. There's a colonist on board who's a descendant of the mayor or something but I don't know."
"Who's a descendant of the Mayor?"
"Dorene Whitacare." CC answered.
~~~
"Hey Captain, are you feeling any better?" Celine asked.
"I told Mark I'm the DA. You can drop the act. I don't know why you of all people would play along with him though."
"Ok DA. And who am I?" She asked.
"You're all acting so weird! You're Celine! The seer? Mark's ex wife? Any of this sound familiar?"
Saying no would be a lie. Some part of Celci felt like she was somehow connected to all of this. She didn't believe in reincarnation and past lives, but… after what she'd seen in the wormhole, she does believe in multiple universes. Perhaps the Captain was remembering a universe so vividly, they were stuck in it mentally.
Maybe if Celci could remind them of the end of this universe when they were inevitably sucked into a wormhole they could break them out of it.
"Right. Right. Well can you tell me what you remember from the party?"
~~~
"Hello, Mrs. Whitacare," Mark greeted.
"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not married anymore young man!"
"S-sorry Ms, Ms. Whitacare," Mark corrected.
It may have been the first time she reminded him in this universe, but they both remembered.
"About that… who were you married to before?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"That's none of your business boy!"
"Okay, uh sorry. Do you want to tell me about your great uncle Damien?"
"Here, I baked cookies."
She was avoiding the question, but Mark was still going to take one. "Sure. Thank you. Would you know anything about…" Mark paused for a moment. He was getting nowhere asking about Mark or Damien. He should go to the root of the cause.
"Sorry, I meant to say… what do you think of our Captain?" Mark asked.
"Well I think they've made a lot of mistakes. But they've been through a lot, and they're very strong to have gotten this far."
"Does the Captain remind you of anyone?"
"Why yes they do. Multiple people," Dorene answered.
"And who would that be, Ms. Whitacare?"
"Why, I need to get the cookies out of the oven. You can interrogate me some other time, Mark." Dorene got up and headed towards her kitchen.
"But you already had cookies…"
~~~
"Well, the gang was back together again! There was a toast by Mark himself of course, poker games, a keg stand, probably a fight or two… Honestly, I don't remember much. And I fell asleep around 1:30 am, but…" you said.
"Go on," Celine encouraged.
"Well I woke up the next morning and Mark was dead. His body on the floor. Out of nowhere. The detective turned it into an investigation. Said it wasn't an accident. Everyone started accusing each other. It was chaos. But you know the rest."
"I know the rest?" She asked.
"Because you suddenly showed up. I don't know why… maybe because your lover William hadn't come home? I don't know. But you are the master manipulator. You could turn everyone against me in a second. And then the ritual and the time…"
"What else were you doing in these days after the party?"
"Well I was helping the detective as best I could. But I didn't know who I could believe. My dear old friends or a man of the law or the staff… none of it added up. The colonel's eccentric but he wouldn't… he… William wouldn't…" it was all flooding back to you. The fights, the lightning storm, the gunshots. William shot the detective and then he shot… you."
"I-I I'm dead. He shot me and I fell off the balcony… how am I here?"
"Do you remember what happened next?"
What was happening. Was this another one of Celine's rituals?
"I… I was in the void. With the actor's corpse. And you and Damien… you said everything would be okay… you trapped me." You started to cry. "You walked away with my body and you just left me there!"
Mark walked in at the worst moment.
"And you! You! This is all your fault! It was all your stupid plan for revenge! We were your friends! How could you." You hit your fists against his chest until sobs crashed over you and you just leaned against him.
"Hey, it's going to be okay, Ca- District Attorney. You're no longer trapped. You're on a new planet far, far away from Earth and everyone who hurt you." Mark tried to comfort you.
"Is this another one of your lies?"
You ran out of the room. You ran out of the hospital. But they were right. This didn't look like earth. The plants were different. There were two moons in the sky. A memory of Mark, your head engineer, crossed your mind. He was in front of that glass window, holding a coffee mug and telling you about the new planet you've discovered. The ship… the- the warp core.
You felt the scar on your hand. The warp crystal. You were the Captain not the DA. Was it another universe you remembered? Or a past life? Maybe a little of both…
~~~
Eventually, Mark caught up to you.
"District Attorney?"
"It's alright. I know I'm the Captain now." You sat on a hill admiring the stars. They looked different than on Earth. You wondered if you could name a constellation.
"Do you know what happened?"
"I'm not sure. I was so stuck in this other reality. All the multiverses we went through and lives we've lived… I guess it was bound to happen and scramble my mind eventually."
"Let's hope it doesn't happen again. It was kind of scary," Mark admitted.
"Yeah… do you remember past lives?"
"Yeah. Quite a few. Most I'd rather forget."
"We really screwed stuff up with that wormhole huh?"
"I screwed stuff up," Mark said.
"No. We did. I was the Captain. I was in charge and I…. I played with my crew, the colonists I was supposed to protect, I played with you like toys. Like your lives were nothing more than dust on the wind."
"I built the warp core. I'm the whole reason all this happened in the first place."
"You were trying to fix my mistakes."
"That you didn't make!" Mark argued.
"Because I lost your trust. I lost everyone's trust. I was a poor leader. Now enough dwelling on the past. Let's run this colony as best we can, okay?" You asked.
"Yeah," Mark agreed.
"And I promise to never get that drunk again."
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