Confusion
Brian
"Good morning, Brian," Gordon greets him with a smile.
"Good morning," He replies. He doesn't have quite the good feelings he would normally have in their Youth Meetings. It has been six days since their last daily morning meeting and this one is being held late morning. Also, most of the people who would normally be in attendance with him are not here. This includes his cousin Shy and his friend George.
"You ready for the day. Just think we have the day to ourselves and no schedules. It is just our day."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Wonderful. We are going to have one happy, busy day." Gordon says with a wide grin.
"Ah, sure. Doesn't it bother you that we haven't had a morning meeting until today, and we are in another groups meeting."
"No, not all," Gordon says beaming. "We will enjoy the day and not have to worry about anything."
Brian blinks, "You are way too happy for you." Before he can say anything more, Victor the Youth Corp superior stands and begins to speak.
It is not quite the same to Brian. A visual comes up and flashes images. Images, he remembers from his last bonding. Nothing at all is said, but one thing is clear, his total devotion to his Great Leader. When the images stop, music begins. Brian closes his eyes while listening to the music and it feels like his breath is coming faster and faster. Then Victor asks them to stand. He finds himself on his feet not even knowing how he did it so quickly.
Victor then requests that they show their devotion to the Great One. Brian and the others are yelling and screaming how only their Great Leader can save their people, their world and all should be given the Great One. Brian finds himself becoming weak due to his passion. He has to grab the chair in front of him to keep from falling as his knees have become that weak. This goes on for sometime before the groups zeal begins to dissipate and Victor is able to calm them.
When Brian turns to Gordon he can see the look of total devotion that he feels also on his friends face. This assignment that he had not wanted and thought he loathed, is all he wants now. How could he not. Only the Great One can save his people and if this means he gives his last breath for the cause, then that is the way it should be. Without total devotion how can he or any of the Youth Corp save their people.
There are no speeches they are simply told to enjoy their last free day. Before leaving everyone begins to hug each other and express their desire to do everything for the Great One.
Brian now stares at Gordon in silence. Gordon in return simply stares back at him. The room has become very quiet it's like all he can hear is his and Gordon's breathing in his ears. He was wrong, this morning's meeting was the best they have ever had.
His friend shakes his head and points to the exit and asks, "Have you ever felt anything like this morning. Ever?"
Brian steeples his hands before his face. "No, this was amazing. I can't tell you how much I feel the gift of our Great Leader."
Together they walk out to the hall and towards the elevator. "So, Brian. We are going to Beautiful Smoke this morning?"
He finds himself fidgeting uneasily as they enter the elevator and give their destination. "Yes, I have too. My roommate, I think he is angry at me. So I have to make it right. So today, I get him his herb. Also, since they won't let us go without a trooper, I have requested a certain individual. A special one." Brian can't help the smirk that comes to his face.
"Special trooper? Ah, we have to smuggle the herb to the ship, so I take it you think we can either manipulate him or he will work with us on smuggling." Gordon looks around as if looking for a monitoring device. "I am not sure why we have to have one in the first place, and who did you request? More, like will we be able to do our little project?"
He becomes a little stiff for a moment, but with a deep breath he tells Gordon about the trooper with whom he had a rather intense conversation with days earlier and how Kelly had heard about it. Unfortunately, the one who told Kelly had not fully understood what was going on; or at least his side of the conversation with the trooper. As for trusting the trooper, will it matter? He also reminds Gordon that if the trooper does report them, then they will be punished. However, due to their rank in the Youth Corp and the work they are doing it would likely only be points taken away. Maybe, they might have to do some sort of weird unpleasant chores, however it would not last as the Regime needs for them to do just what they are doing now. Or at least, he tells his friend that this is his take on what could happen. Also, he reminds Gordon that they have both been there before for doing some silly thing. His for wearing his socks inside out, something he can't figure out why it is such a major event to ranking officers. What he expects though is that the trooper will not report their activity and therefore could be someone to always request when told they must have an escort. Since it is; do this and gamble on its outcome or not smuggle the herb to the ship. His friend shrugs; he is willing to give it a try. So, it is this or contact Gary who will charge them for his trouble; which is only fair if he is putting himself out there to take the hit if caught. All seems good and he believes for a moment they are finished with the trooper issue. Unfortunately, Gordon then questions him again in detail on the conversation he had with the trooper making the trip to their destination uncomfortable for him.
Once arriving to the landing the walk to the shuttle is only a short distance, but Gordon halts for a moment forcing him to stop walking. His friend regards him silently with a look of disbelief. "I can totally understand why they thought you were demeaning the trooper." He shakes his head at Brian, "Are you going to apologize to this trooper? If only, so that we may do today's project."
Before Brian can respond he sees a technician that he knows in one of the elevators. It appears as if he is working on the computer guidance box as it is open and the technician appears to be staring inside intently. He smiles, "William?"
Willie and a young technician turn to face him and Gordon. He figures that the young technician can't be over fifteen.
Willie stands up holding some tool in his hand. "Brian! I am so happy to see you. I am good, are you good?" He points to the young man with red curly hair, "This is Anthony." Then as if in a whisper Willie says, "He is one of the Downstairs."
The young man simply mutters, "Hello." Then he turns back to what he was doing.
Brian smiles, while on their way to Earth he had done quite a bit of tutoring with the Downstairs youth. At the time none of the Downstairs had to wear pseudo skin. Anthony is the first Downstairs he has seen looking human. However, since their arrival here he has not been to their part of the ship. "What are you doing? Repair work? I thought you were working in the factory."
"Yes, working factory. However, Anthony is gifted in electro magnetic energy." Willie turns and looks at the young man for a moment. "Gifted. He has many ideas. One is to use this for sending us planet down, I mean side...something." He pauses, "None will listen to him say things...I not very good still at English." Willie bites his lip for a moment and speaks confidently in English with no issues. "The idea is to make a platform and use the crystals and the electro magnetic energy to take us down, and then back up to ship. No, need for shuttles. The platform could be placed for instance at the factory so that not only could staff be brought down, but equipment as well. Then once finished the equipment could be brought back promptly."
Brian wonders about William's knowledge of English as he seems quite capable of speaking the language without difficulty. He is aware that William is likely using his advice to use broken English to his advantage. Then when he really wanted to express his idea on the platform his English improved suddenly. When he does have difficulty, well everyone knows that English was not William's assigned language in the beginning. Therefore, William can be more of a listener and blend into the background. This is something he knows William prefers. If so, he is doing a good job with playing the game and yet adapting to using English language when needed.
As for the electro magnetic platform, he has an idea what William is talking about. It would be like the mass transit vehicles on their planet, but instead of moving across it would go up and down from the ship. Sadly, it would not be a safe use of their technology with the humans and their ability to adapt and learn quickly. Stealing would not be a problem for the humans, so if ever they were to get a hold of any of their advanced technology it could be used against his people. However, he can see the excitement in William's face and decides not to give him a negative response if possible. He will just move the conversation away from the floating platform if he can. He smiles, "You are doing fine William. Maybe, one day they will listen, I know research has gone into this before, perhaps you could download that information and do some study before presenting it again." He glances at the elevator, "However, I take it your just fixing the elevator at this time. You seemed to be concentrating when I interfered into your day."
"No, you fine." Willie shrugs, but a happy grin appears as he finishes speaking. "I just help. Anthony fix. He very smart."
Gordon touches Brian's shoulder and points to a trooper who is standing not far from them with his arms crossed over his chest. Not hard to tell that the trooper is not happy. Another trooper is standing next to him who appears much older. The older trooper appears to be scowling at the younger trooper. Brian thinks that this is something he may use against the trooper whose identification number is S9N10060, if there is a problem when they bring the herb up to the ship. Even though he suspects nothing big would come of a ranking officer finding out, he and Gordon would still be reprimanded. One reason he is a Youth Leader is because of his ability to read people, to sense their emotions. Now, he will try and read the trooper; difficult since he will need to wear his helmet once the shuttle lands.
Brian sniffs and tells Willie, "Guess we better go before someone smacks us one." He points to the two troopers and Willie nods and smiles.
"May, we see each other another time. I mean, we visit again sometime. Maybe you could help Anthony with attaining the information?"
"Nothing, would please me more, William. It may be awhile though, so please remind me if I don't get back to you."
Willie smiles cheerfully, "I will remind you."
Brian and Gordon then walk quickly over to the troopers and as they approach the older one leaves and the younger one picks up his helmet from off of the floor. Several seconds pass and no one says anything. Finally Brian holds his hands in a pleading way. "Please, don't be angry. Your presence is one, so dear to my friend and I."
Gordon smiles and raises a hand as to say hello.
The trooper's only response is to point to a small shuttle and the three of them walk over to it, all three show their devices with their destination and trip approval. The pilot verifies their trip on his device and logs them in. He and Gordon smile at each other as they enter the small shuttle and the trooper simply follows them still saying nothing.
Gordon sits quickly, casting a dark glance to Brian and then to the trooper and back again to Brian. Two other Youth Corp members and another trooper enter and sit and nod to him and Gordon. Their pilot passes them quickly as he goes to the control panel; then the shuttle leaves for Earth.
The Youth Corp members tell them how they are getting a chance to assist the Youth Leaders and how excited they are to have the opportunity. They also offer to assist him and Gordon if they have time, but Brian reminds them they may wish to ensure that they have all the data they need for their assignment. Both, he and Gordon keep glancing at each other fearful that questions will be asked of them, but the rest of the short trip the two Youth Corp members concentrate on their devices. They have taken his advice and are doing as he suggested. Brian is glad he didn't want questions as to why he and the other Youth Leaders are not on duty. He knows that it has something to do with the new bonding procedure, but he is nervous. He and Gordon have fears that some sort of conversion was done on them. Why though is a question as they have always been devoted and bonding was to bring unity to the Youth Corp; nothing more.
He looks up for a moment at Gordon who now has a dark frown on his face. Brian shakes his head; Gordon is likely visiting his own dark thoughts. It is hard not to feel lost and confused; still the Great One would never do anything to harm them. The Great One wants the best for his people.
Once they arrive both troopers put on their helmets. Brian can't fathom how it would feel to have fake outer ear attachments, a crafted lip covering and a false nose bridge as the Dahax must have done to them. It's hard enough to have the bleaching and skin coloring done to the bottom of his own feet and the palms of his hands. He shivers as he thinks of the procedure done on the inside of his nostrils, ears or his lips. He remembers a few months before they left for Earth that they were given seminar on what was to happen to give them a human appearance. The seminar he remembered was very dismissive about the Whipelli and the bleaching and dying procedure. The woman giving the seminar had said that if it wasn't for their scale like skin the mountain people would likely just be bleached and have hair glued to them. Thankfully, his skin is different than a human. To have his entire body bleached and dyed; the thought reminds him of the painful experience of the things done to him without having the entirety of his body going through this. He turns his palm over, this false color will remain with him for several months. However, every two months he has an appointment to undress and have his entire body checked for needed touch-ups. The bleaching however, is not confined to the face, palms and bottom of this feet. Areas he would like not touched such as his privates and his buttock. Having someone pull your butt cheeks apart and looking for discrepancies; is repulsive. He certainly wasn't going to undress in front of a human so what was the need for all of this?
However, the seminar also included what would be done to Depol and Dahax. The Depol needed a bit more humanizing, but still not much more than the Whipelli. The Dahax lips were so different that unlike his people or the Depol their lips cannot look human with just bleach. The visual showed a Dahax having odd lip coverings placed and you could see the pain on the Dahax. These people must be under pain constantly. He finds himself grimacing; what if he was Dahax and had those large crests. Another cold shiver runs up his spine and he rubs his forehead just thinking of the pain they must endure to appear human-like. Because of their large crests it is hard to truly keep their heads from appearing deformed with the human facade they are forced to wear. This is not their fault; none of them including his own people should be forced into this masquerade. However, the more he sees of humans, the more he knows they are not ready for another species to come into their lives. Therefore, the Dahax must wear their helmets always on Earth as well in areas on the ship where humans may be in attendance. Had they not been in a landing area where humans were not brought through the Dahax troopers would not have been allowed to have their helmets off. It is simply better this way so that humans do not begin to wonder and ask questions on why some of their people have odd shaped heads. Always better to keep the Earther's away from the truth. He is sorry though for them, when he looks in a mirror without his pseudo skin he seems himself with the exception of areas like under his eyes, lips and his ears bearing him human color shade. A thought comes to him that is unsettling. The things he said to the trooper were demeaning. Why had he said them? He closes his eyes; he must embrace the words of the Great One and all will be good.
They disembark quickly with Brian, Gordon and Aloohula going to their destination. It is a quiet walk as no one says anything and it does not take long to arrive to Beautiful Smoke. With only a few feet left to reach the door Gordon turns his head to Aloohula as they walk. "I am happy you were able to join us on our little adventure. Also, I know that for some weird reason they think we need; what do they call it?" He pauses for a moment. "Ah, babysitter." Gordon then smiles; it is easy to see he is awaiting a response.
Aloohula says nothing, nor does Brian, instead they just keep walking. Gordon holds up a hand as they reach the door; they stop and look at him both giving him a puzzled look. "So, your okay being with us. I mean, you and Brian are all good?"
Very quickly the trooper snarls. "No, I am not good with this!" Then Aloohula turns to Brian who is standing there with a crooked grin. "You, think too much of yourself."
Brian shrugs. "Look, I have not forgotten what you have said. I also, know that you will never forget what I have said in our last conversation." He turns directly towards the trooper and smiles. "This is a day where we go down the same path together. Peace at least for now, or at least we try. It may be the best we can do. If things are not better after; well then you shall never see me again, or rather I shall never request your presence again. Shall we try?" He holds out a hand to Aloohula.
The trooper turns his head towards Brian and pushes the door handle and enters the shop without responding.
Gordon and Brian hesitate for a moment as Aloohula enters the shop without a word.
"I guess that is ahhh...yes." Gordon says shaking his head as they enter the shop.
Brian hesitates entering the shop and has replaced his grin with a snarl, "No." Actually, he is anything, but happy with the trooper. He is also, not happy that for the first time a trooper must accompany them. It had been an odd day yesterday as they and several others had been placed in a room and made to go through social behavior training. They were not to show their complete devotion to the Great One to the humans, but still they must remember exactly why they were there and who their total obedience will be given to at all times. Next, they were made to go through simulations as though with humans. Different scenarios were played out; if they did not pass they would not get a pass to go to Earth. That did not mean just today, but not at all until they did pass their social behavior training. Then they passed and were told that regulations had changed, for now they would travel with a trooper. Right now he just wishes he had not requested S9N whatever; it had been a stupid idea. Neither, he nor the trooper liked each other and it wasn't going to change. All he can do is finish his errand and tell Kelly he had tried to come to good terms with the trooper and here was the herb. A nagging thought comes to him after Gordon's comment about smuggling the herb. The trooper will now know they are smuggling herb onto the ship; a nagging thought comes to him that the trooper may already suspect that he and Gordon are up to something. However, he was hardly the first to do this, other Youth Corp members were doing this as well. That is at least what Gary has insinuated. The superiors he assume just ignore their indiscretion, but being reported on could be a different matter. Yes, he had made a huge mistake and he hates that he didn't really bother to think this through. He may suspect there is something to use against the trooper, but would it matter to the trooper. S9N's hostility to him will make it difficult to manipulate him. It is obvious the trooper hates him and will likely turn him in for anything no matter what he has to use against him. Bad enough for himself, but to get his close friend in trouble is really wrong. Maybe they should just turn around and go back. Why did he always think he knew better than everyone else?
Inside the shop owner Nick is behind the counter giving them a dark look. "Javier, is not expected back for a bit."
"May, we wait?" He asks as he looks at some of the items in the glass cabinet. He feels indecisive, maybe they should just leave. The Great One would not be happy with his behavior and life is to be lived for the fulfillment of the Great Leaders plans for his people. As he turns to Gordon to tell him he thinks it best they leave, he is startled by the sound of someone coming up behind them.
A woman answers his question. A woman who had not been in the room previously, "No." She tilts her head slightly and then speaks again. "Come back later. We don't need our customers seeing you three." She tilts her head to Nick and in a low voice, "Red suits, no."
Brian glances over to the woman, he has heard this expression from Nick's little brother Ethan. In this part of town his people have been given the name Red Suits. For some reason many of these people seem suspicious of his people, but could he blame them. He thinks the woman is what they call Mexican, Hispanic or Italian; or maybe what they call Native American; it is to hard for him to try and understand their differences. For his people; you knew. His people weren't exactly the same; where as humans, were humans no matter the differences they chose to go by. Her long dark hair has been pulled back into a ponytail. The woman also appears to be wearing some sort of medical uniform. He can't help, but smile as the uniform is not red and then again not pink. Even with his protective glasses on he sees multiple colors in her uniform, but suspects the human only sees one. The way the colors are in the uniform with its various hues has him assuming it has been worn much too often. This woman could use a new uniform, but instead she is wearing this one to the point it is showing the wear to the fabric. Therefore, she has no money. "We will wait," He says and doesn't bother to smile, he just looks her straight in the eye. "You are Javier's wife Zelda?"
"Leave."
"Nice to meet you Zelda. I believe you are studying to be a nurse; or something like that."
"Leave."
He turns for a moment to Gordon and the trooper who stand there saying nothing; as for Nick he appears to be hesitating to speak. This is his shop, so the woman must be someone whose nature is to tell others what to do, and do it with little reservation. He turns back to her his eyes never leave her and she simply tilts her head and stares back at him. Great, Javier is needed for the herb and his wife Zelda has taken a disliking to him.
Finally, Nick tells them to wait out back if they could and Zelda will take them out to wait for Javier. Gordon states they have no problem with that and motions to the trooper to follow her as well.
Brian can't believe this; today he must put up with a trooper who dislikes him as much as he does the trooper. Now, this woman who for no reason appears to dislike him. Truly, who will be next to hate him. Hate him, for no reason that he knows of. Then a cold shiver races up his spine, there is one person he admired, but this week he has come to hate. His own father, the man whom he been so much more devoted to then the Great One. His father a traitor, not only to their Great Leader, but all of their people. He can still feel the sickness in him and the dark shadow that it brings.
Once outside he and Zelda can't seem to stop staring at each other. This has nothing to do with attraction. No, they don't like each other. However, he is not here to be angry; he is here to get herb. Get the herb and leave without issue. There is nothing further he can do, he walks away from her and watches the trooper pacing about inspecting the area for whatever troopers check for. He knows that right now killing one of his people would not play out well for any human. He looks up at the trooper; still good to have someone watching your back even when they don't like you.
Brian looks the area over. They are in a small fenced area. The fence is wooden and fairly high with a large double gate. He assumes that this is to park a vehicle or two. The weeds along the fence are very tall and vines cover part of the fence and along what grass there is. There are scraggly bushes here and there which he believes are rose bushes. There is also, a small table with four plastic chairs. Finally the trooper stops his study of the area and stands behind him and Gordon.
Zelda shrugs as she looks at Aloohula, "Are you happy now? Javier will be out soon." She shrugs again and leaves.
Sadness suddenly envelopes him and all he can see is his mother. She is shaking her head and her eyes are so grief-stricken. Is it because of his disgust with his father? Why is everything so confusing? His devotion to his Great Leader seems almost odd for a moment. "I want to go home."
"Hummmmm?" Gordon looks at him with a puzzled look.
He finds himself snarling, "Hummmm! What is that? Stop, it is stupid."
"Talk about being grumpy."
"You do it all of the time, it makes crazy."
Then the trooper snorts, "Is that all it takes? Hummmm, hummmm, hummmm." He turns his helmeted head towards Brian for a moment.
Brian turns quickly on his heel and looks directly at the trooper and speaks in Dahax. "You are the one who makes more of yourself than you truly are!"
"Really Youth Corp is not! Is not part of the military. You spent all of your time in front of computers. Oh, wait I guess you did some marching...oh, wait walking." Again Aloohula snorts, he speaks in Dahax as well. "Yes, you are nothing. You are children. Officer, your not an officer. Where is your military training. You are the one who is nothing."
"You are no older than I. I know, because I saw your records and your age. I guess that means you are a child as well." Brian looks him up and down. "Truly just a Dahax."
Gordon places himself between Brian and Aloohula with his hands out to signify they must not become physical. "Stop, humans could be out anytime."
From the tone in Aloohula's words you can hear the anger has overcome him. "You don't know anything! I must endure this false face. My peoples crests are large and beautiful. The Depol have tiny ones and your people none at all. My peoples noses are flatter and broader. I don't have ear flaps or whatever you call them. You take off the hair, remove the eye coverings, remove the skin covers and you mountain people still look just like earth people, only green. I must live with physical pain now. You have no idea! You don't care. I am just a trooper. I am just a Dahax! You are nothing. Demeaning me, showing no respect to me! This is unacceptable. That is why you are not really a soldier, but are a foolish child. Remember, I hurt to look like this."
Brian nods, "I understand you must be in pain." He can't seem to keep the anger from his own voice. "I can smell the pain from your breath. Is that not arasth I smell. Is that not a very addictive drug? How did you get that? How can you do your job? Soldier, hardly!"
Although they can't see Aloohula's face it is not hard to see that he is now embarrassed. He clears his throat. "You are not living my life. You can never know."
Gordon then pushes Brian back and in a beseeching tone and in Dahax speaks directly to Brian. "Are you finished? Do you need to degrade him further?" Then he turns to Aloohula, "Is this really the place for this?" He turns his head to the door. "Remember we are here where humans can see us."
No one says anything as several minutes pass. Then the door opens and Javier comes out. "Hi! How's it going?"
Brian walks over to Javier and both Gordon and Aloohula stay where they are.
Javier has a look of astonishment, "Is that really a shock trooper. Are we okay doing this?"
Brian turns enough to see the trooper. "There is no problem. Trust me, I know enough to get him in trouble. He has his own issues." He then takes out a cache of money from the small pack attached to his belt and hands it to Javier. "Ready for my order?"
Javier nods and Brian gives the order and how he would like it packaged. Javier leaves and he walks back to Gordon and Aloohula. At least twenty minutes pass and no one says anything. When Javier returns he gives three plastic bags to Brian who passes one to Gordon. They both push one of the plastic bags down inside of their boot and the third one Brian puts in his belt pack.
"Thank you Javier," Brian mutters. "Can we go out this gate?"
"Sure, see you again soon."
"It may be awhile; I have to wait for them to give me your type of currency. They don't give us much as I said." He shrugs, "Take care."
The three of them walk back to the shuttle, but now their pace is slow and an awkward silence follows them. The pilot waves them in without hesitation. When they sit, Brian leans forward to verify that the pilot is where he believes him to be. Then he takes out the small plastic bag out of his pack and leaning towards the trooper he shoves it into Aloohula's boot. He then removes a small ceramic pipe from his belt pack and tosses it to Aloohula.
Aloohula catches the pipe and snarls. "I don't want this." He then begins to take out the bag from his boot, but Gordon now leans forward and stops him. With a shake of his head he pulls Aloohula's hand away.
"No, it may help with pain." Brian gives his smirk, "You will be in less trouble for this then the arasth. You may want to put that down your boot as well...ah, and hurry before we have company. Further down the boot the better."
Suddenly the other three passengers appear with the pilot following them. Aloohula pushes the pipe into his boot acting as if he is simply pushing the pant leg down. Once the door closes and they leave for the ship he removes his helmet and frowns deeply.
Brian can't look at Aloohula, he still has the anger in him even though he gave the trooper the herb. He is not sure why the trooper irritates him. Thinking on it now, he really is the one who made more of just the one comment the trooper had made. The comment; a Youth Leader is just a child. Why it bothers him he doesn't know. He is not a child, but others he knows do not see the Youth Corp as belonging to this mission. However, the pain he understands. Pain is not always physical and right now he feels pain even though it is emotional. How could his father have betrayed his people. How could his father, betray him?
Once they arrive at the landing bay he is the first to leave the ship and he hurriedly races for the elevator. He can't talk to anyone; he can't understand his own confusion. He can't understand why he is so touchy about comments that may have bothered him in the past, but now he can't let go. His total devotion to the Great One, is of course everything.
Once he arrives to his room he places the herb where he normally hides it for him and Kelly. He brings his hands up in front of him; they are shaking. He closes his eyes and his thoughts shift to home. To what he calls his dream space. He shuts out as much of the world around him and concentrates on that dream space. The haze is so thick he can't really make out anything, but he knows he is there. He smiles and allows his head to lean back; it is almost like he is asleep. Yes, this is good.
Then he hears a young woman, "Who is there?"
His snaps back upright his eyes open wide, his heart racing. He glances about and at the same time trying to control his breathing. There is no one in the room. Then he smiles, he must have gone to sleep and not known. Kelly had told him just days ago he had been sleep walking in the nude in the hall. He loses his smile and the darkness feels like it is coming back. Maybe try one more time to enter the dream space. In a few minutes, of course, there is Gordon at the door.
"You okay Brian?" Gordon holds his hands out imploringly.
He rubs his chin as if he is trying to get his thoughts together. He has no idea what to say. "Gordon, my cousins are dear to me. Kelly is my roommate, but you. You are my closes friend, I would hate losing you from my life. I could not handle anymore losses of those I care for."
"I understand," Gordon does not look at Brian. "My mother was a part of our clan council and she has betrayed us. I can only hope that she understood what she was doing, for she has paid for her betrayal with execution. My father arrested and I have no idea where and what will happen to my sister. Our clan, if I understand is being broken and placed directly under Regime guidance."
They stay silent until Gordon says he is too sad to stay. They nod at each other, there is nothing to say. Tomorrow will be another day. "Brian that was a nice thing to do for the trooper. I know you, you will pretend it is keep him silent, but I know better."
All Brian can do is give a sight smile. Tonight will be a very long night as the inner darkness has settled and will not leave. All he can ask himself is why is the path of life so full of obstacles?