039 contagious

Character: Matthew

Matthew always found it odd how contagious an idea could be. He sat in his couch watching the news. They were covering a rebel attack in one of the outer colonies. It was just another planet that was falling to the selfish ideals of the rebels. What annoyed Matthew the most was their complete disregard for innocent lives. In the attack they were describing on the news, two hundred people had been killed and fifty had been seriously injured.

Matthew felt sickened by it. These rebels claimed to be fighting for the people, but instead they were killing them. It didn't make sense, and it made him suspicious of their motives. What sort of group that wanted to protect the people would also kill them? The flat tone of the newscaster made it clear that he'd reported on this sort of tragedy too many times. When Matthew thought about it, these sort of reports were becoming more and more common, as we're the reports of the UNSC's counter measures.

Matthew switched off the news and grabbed his things. He didn't bother announcing he was leaving. His mother was at work, and his father was asleep after a long night shift. Matthew made sure to lock the door as he moved out of the house. He enjoyed his daily walk to work, and today was a particularly nice day. The sky was clear, the air fresh, and it was just warm enough to be comfortable.

The store was only a few minutes away, and when Matthew arrived he found his boss forcefully telling a man to leave. Matthew moved into the back of the shop and changed into his uniform in the bathroom. When he came back out the man was gone, and his boss was standing at the main counter.

"What was that about?" Matthew asked as he grabbed his work bag and checked his gear to be sure it was all there. He didn't want to get to a job and find out he was missing something.

"That guy wanted to put a poster up in our window." His boss shook his head. "I will not take part in such things. It's bad for business, and I won't have the blood of innocents on my hands." Matthew raised an eyebrow, not understanding.

His boss slid a poster over to him and Matthew read the information. "This sounds like a rebel rally." Matthew didn't like it. Sure there were a few problems with their government, but not enough that it should fall prey to rebels.

"I know that's exactly what this is. These rallies, they think they speak for the people but they aren't open discussions, they are a small group taking advantage of the anger of people to make them follow like sheep. In the end the government won't fall to their attacks; we'll just have a load of dead civilians and UNSC troops all over the place." His boss continued to mumble about it for a while.

"I hope that no one shows up, or if they do it's to stop these people. From the looks of it the UNSC already had its hands full." Matthew moved over to the work schedule and checked what jobs they had lined up.

"That's because the UNSC is under-manned. Not enough young men and women realize that they are the only things that can protect civilians. Instead they are swayed by clever talking rebels that convince them of a lie just because their leader wants power. Then they're bombing civilian locations, destroying families, and tearing sons from their fathers!" Matthew set a hand on his boss' shoulder and the man seemed to come back to his senses. "I'm sorry, Matthew, I got carried away." He moved over to a chair and sat down.

"You have personal experience with the effects of rebel attacks," Matthew guessed. "You know I've heard you talk about your son but never how he died."

"It's not an easy tale to tell," his boss admitted. "He was studying on Biko, learning about the culture and studying to become a geologist. He was just having lunch with a few fellow scientists when a bomb went off. There wasn't even enough left of him to send back to me. Just like that, they removed my son from this world." He shook his head and stared down at the floor. "Promise me you'll never become one of them, Matthew. You're a good man, and we need men like you to stay loyal to our government, be an example for the kids, not these anarchy creating rebels."

"Of course I won't become one of them," Matthew assured him. "I know that we have to stay loyal, that our economy relies on trade with Earth's other colonies. I'd never harm civilians."

"Good, good," his boss muttered and patted Matthew on the arm. He moved into the back of the shop and Matthew watched him go.

Matthew frowned, looking down to the list if jobs but he wasn't really reading it. He'd never seen his boss like that. The passion behind his hatred for rebels and the sorrow of the loss of his son were so out of place for the cheerful man he knew. He had seen the reports on the news, but he'd never seen that side of it before - the human side. He considered what his boss had said. Was the UNSC really under-manned? Was that the reason why the rebels hadn't been stopped? He looked to the poster again and grabbed it, tucking it away. He checked the work schedule again and found the next job lined up for him. He grabbed his tools and headed out the door and toward the first house.