Discord
''I had a dream last night'' he said, casually spinning his char back and forth. The wine in his glass almost went over the side of his glass as he spun. It didn't seem to bother him.
''Did you know?'' the answer came slightly later than he thought. She had thought for a moment. Whether or not to actually respond. The hesitation in her voice seemed to note that she'd have preferred the latter. ''What was it about?''
''I saw the sun setting.'' he paused for a moment, stopping the repetitive motion he'd stuck with doing for quite some time. ''It's been so long since I've seen that. I wish that I could've seen it for myself, and not just in a dream. Reality brings a certain beauty even dreams lack.'' she seemed amused at that notion. Perhaps it was the wine. They never seemed to have a reason to smile any more.
''The sun doesn't set for us, you know.'' She took another sip. ''You'll have to settle for a dream today I think.'' The ship shook from another explosion. In the cargo bay. He felt it in his bones. It was... familiar. Yea, that was the best word. At least, it'll do for now.
He didn't respond to that with more than a nod. He simply thought for a while. Not even hearing the oxygen slowly seeping out of the command module made him stop.
''Do you think we're too late?'' he asked her. ''Was it a waste?''. She looked at him, with sorrow in her eyes, but steeled herself before she spoke.
''It was'' she looked outside, at the assortment of stars displaying a wide spectrum of light and the asteroids and comets floating lazily by, going many hundreds of times faster than they were. ''But we aren't alone, in the end. There'll be more like us. There already are. We matter only if we think we matter.''
''Do you?'' his voice cutting her off mid-thought. She spun off in an entirely new direction at his words.
''No''
A moment of silence passed between them. Eventually, he nodded, satisfied after processing the thought long enough. The door behind them seemed to be melting, he realised. Slightly worrying. Didn't change much in the end though.
''This isn't the worst end imaginable at least''. he said, breaking the long silence between them.
''It's not the end I was expecting, I'll say that'' she responded, and in return he looked at her with a confused expression. She picked up on it quickly, and gestured towards her shoulder. Wasn't difficult catching the gist of it.
Somewhere in the distance, a star is dying, thousands gazing upon it as it does. Somewhere else, a husband feels the sting of a tear, not knowing why, and yet elsewhere, a daughter watches the sky, blissfully unaware.
