<i>bzzzzzz<br/>
bzzzzzz<br/>
bzzzzzz<br/>
bzzzz-</i><br/>*click*<br/><br/>The clock on the bedside table shined brightly, flashing a bright red 7:30 on its screen.<br/><br/>"<span style="color: Sienna">Nope.</span>"<br/><br/>Arturo drifted back off to sleep in short order.<br/><br/>__________________<br/><br/>The young man grunted in his sleep, his face contorted into a snarl as he rolled over. Only clothed in a pair of blue polka-dotted boxers, Arturo shivered, the warmth of his blanket having been discarded long ago.<br/><br/>It was dark. Like ink. The blackness so deep you could almost feel it as you breathed in the chilly air around you. Crawling down his windpipe, making his throat and chest feel cold. Arturo delved deeper, his feet carrying the shivering soldier to a foregone conclusion. He couldn't speak, hear, feel, or see. It was as if everything had gone black, every texture, black, smell, black, sound, black. It was a void, something that surrounded him each and every day. He tried to fight it, try to avoid the end her knew was coming as he took his thirty seventh step. He pleaded with himself, shouted, and whimpered, but he just kept walking.<br/><br/>His body and soul shook as the dark suddenly shattered. A mechanical roar filled his being, he shook under its power, his voice lost before the flood of sound, his head pounded and he thought he felt his ears pop and start to leak.<br/><br/><br/><i><b>BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ</b></i><br/><br/><br/>That metal cacophony! Every single time, that metal screech from a damned past, from a time of cowardice and pride! The metal chorus that shook the blackened heavens and brought light into the infernal pit below! He cried and laughed, wailed and cheered as the colossal screech took him over, his hands gone, arms, gone, happiness sadness anguish ecstasy anger calm, all gone gone gone, taken away before a tidal wave of grey sound.<br/><br/><br/><b><i>BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ<br/>
</i></b><br/><br/>__________________<br/><br/>bzzzzzz<br/>bzzzzzz<br/>bzzzz-<br/>*click*<br/><br/>The cheery display, now a neon green displayed a bright 7:34.<br/><br/>Arturo sighed and wiped away the sweat on his brow before he shivered. He wrapped the blanket around himself and looked at the wall.<br/><br/>__________________<br/><br/>bzzzzzz<br/>bzzz-<br/>*click*<br/><br/>7:45, now a cheerful cyan.<br/><br/>He shrugged the blanket off his shoulders and finally left his bed, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes. He shuffled his feet across the cheaply carpeted floor of the cabin towards the connected bathroom.<br/><br/>This was one of the spare officer's rooms. Luck had a role in his receiving this role, though his service record didn't hurt. What he wondered though was whether that luck was his own or another's.<br/><br/>He looked at the mirror as he passed by to spy a disheveled, sleep deprived, beaten man giving him a passing glance before he grabbed a towel and shed his clothing, throwing himself into the shower. A trio of sounds emanated from the small shower, that of water hitting flesh, water hitting ceramic, and water hitting metal. Arturo let the water run down his body as he stared studiously into the tiled wall in front of him. His arm grabbed a nearby bottle of shampoo, squeezed it into the other and put it down as his second hand rubbed the shampoo into his hair.<br/><br/>As the suds fell down his face he closed his eyes. The warm water of the shower turned red in his head. And thicker. And then smelt of copper. His eyes shot open. His sighed as he saw through the water running down his chest, arms and legs. Just water. He rubbed his eyes as the last remnants of shampoo decided to sting at them.<br/><br/>He scurried out of the shower then, shivering as he wiped away at the fogged up mirror to reveal a wet, disheveled, sleep deprived, beaten man. Methodically, he rubbed the towel over his body, quickly removing one of those faults. A bit of attention to his face with a razor removed another fault and a smile left him only sleep deprived. That he could deal with.<br/><br/>He walked up to his room's wall-mounted display and tapped away at a new message. More orders along with a general announcement that they would be refueling in this uncharted system. He really didn't like that. If they were ambushed they would be screwed, hard. He scowled as he put slipped himself into a pair of jeans and a tight shirt, his muscles clearly visible. He took a deep breath to clear his head before he stepped out into the hallway, heading towards the normal briefing room with a cocky smile on his face.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>