Bryan stood and gazed out the windows at the setting sun in the distance. He hadn’t slept a full night in weeks. Doctor Harrison was waiting for him to respond to his last question. Having to come here twice a week and go through all this with someone. Bryan wanted to be anywhere else.

“Yes, I had another of those dreams.” He turned and walked back to the chair that was across from the doctor and sat back down. He looked down and then back up meeting his gaze. “What do you want me to say? That I keep having vivid dreams and hallucinations so real that I’m starting to lose myself?” Bryan leaned forward and inhaled. He didn’t know what else to say. For close to six months now he had been having moments of, something. He would be fine going about his life then suddenly everything would warp and the entire world would be different. People would be different the world was somehow dirtier and colder nobody acted how they normally would. Himself included.

The first time it happened he was in the cockpit of a fighter and then he just wasn’t. He remembered some sort of dirty ship at least six other people and then he shook it off alarms were screaming at him and his fighter was tumbling end over end into the atmosphere of the earth.

“What happened this time? Anything you can remember?” The doctor asked while taking notes on a PADD. He was always listening as closely as before, but Bryan was starting to doubt everyone.

“It’s not much but earth looked different.” Bryan rubbed his hands together remembering how horrible it was. The seas looked green and the land was browner than any other color. He explained this much to the doctor but left out the craters he saw everywhere and how hopeless everything had seemed to him. The planet had looked better in the images he had seen from around world war three and the atomic horror.

The doctor nodded and made more notes on his PADD. He looked up and smiled warmly and placed his PADD on the table next to him. “I’d like to prescribe a medication that I think might help at least somewhat remedy what’s happening to you.” He tapped the side of his head and continued. “Your scans and workup have shown some irregularities in your neural activity almost like it’s being mirrored…..So I’d just like to get you on this and monit…..”

Bryan let his mind drift as the Doctor continued to talk. Somewhere in the distance, he thought he could hear voices. He tried to tune it out to not fall into it again. He knew it was Futile……

The shuttle shook slightly as it transitioned through the space doors and into the cavernous interior of the shuttle bay of Starbase Bravo. He could see the older Lieutenant was staring at him now.

“I’m sorry what was it you asked again?” Bryan said with his usual cocky smile trying to cover the fact he was minutes away from screaming. He looked straight ahead as the shuttle settled to the deck and the crewman directing it signaled for engines to power down.

“I was wondering how you found old man Thompkins during your flight certification at the academy?” He offered again while going through the shutdown sequence and began to finish his job. Bryan stood and walked to the back of the shuttle and grabbed his duffle and his helmet.

“Oh, I suppose the same as everyone else he was a hard ass. Up until it came to graduation and then he was first in line to shake hands and pat backs.” Bryan gripped his helmet tight and blinked his eyes several times as the world started to try and slip away again. It was getting easier to stop but it did give him an enormous headache. The rest of the conversation continued and Bryan managed to get through it and the next half hour of briefings and duty and room assignments. He walked into his quarters and dropped his duffle and his helmet to the deck. He grabbed the sides of his head and groaned.

“Computer lower ambient lighting by forty-five percent.” Walking to the nearest chair he sat and stared at the far wall that contained the replicator. He had another day to himself before he was due to report for duty. He was going to use it to find the nearest bottle of real liquor and drink it. Standing he removed his uniform top and tossed it into the chair he had been sitting in. He grabbed his duffle from the floor and turned to walk into the sleeping area. He tossed it onto the bed and unzipped it. He pulled out his favorite shirt and pants.

Standing in front of the mirror he looked himself up and down. He missed wearing his holster and sidearm. He doubted station security would be as forgiving as the captain and CAG on his cadet cruise. With a sigh, he pulled his suspenders over his shoulders and let them fall with a snap! He looked into his bag and pulled out his brown duster and smiled. A gift from his mother and dropped it back into the bag and turned to walk back out into his quarters living area. He glanced around the simple spartan room. His belongings would be along in a few days aboard the Wanderer along with his fighter and a bunch of other cargo. His helmet lay where he originally dropped it on the deck. Walking to pick it up he turned it into the light so his callsign could be seen stenciled in bright reddish brown letters. He placed it on the chair with his uniform top.

“Well Cowboy, lets go find a saloon.”