The BLTS Archive - The Truth
by Exploded Pen (exploded_pen@hotmail.com)

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Published: 06-04-07

Updated: 06-04-07

Disclaimer, I own nothing at all.

Here's another fic salvaged from my WIP folder, hope you enjoy :)

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I imagined many times that the people who'd created the fraternisation
regulations had never had to go years in space with people so close to
you that sometimes you could even feel their breath on your skin.

I always imagined that when I returned to Earth, I'd march right up to
those people and ask them whether they'd ever tried years of celibacy.
Of course these regulations weren't abided by anyway. The temptation
of the opposite or even of the same sex in some cases, were too
strong.

Life on board went on. Relationships were formed. Lies of everlasting
love were whispered and false promises of a bright future were
murmured in private.

We knew they were lies. We knew the promises were false even as we
made them, but we clung to them desperately, hoping beyond hope that
the light at the end of the tunnel wasn't just an oncoming train. We
lazed in comfortable lies and lay ensnared in a web of deceit.

No one wanted to know the bitter truth.

Occasionally, we would see a relationship break up and would view the
harsh reality of truth with pity in our eyes. We would watch the
bitter truth and then turn to our lover, whispering the same lies of
everlasting love and the same false promises.

The promises were beautiful, but the beauty was only skin deep. The
promise to love the other forever and to never leave them.

Then there were the lucky ones. The lucky few within the crew who knew
the bitter truth, the lucky few who didn't engage in relationships and
who regarded the rest of us with a smug look tinged with sadness and
regret.

The person you love today may be the person listed on the casualties
list tomorrow. On a star ship every day is a new opportunity to prove
the promises wrong. Everyday people are injured, some even die and
some drift apart from their partner for the simple reason that there
is only so much they can cope with in one go.

The fraternisation regulations I realise now, were created by people
who knew the bitter truth. People who knew that even those lucky few
whose relationship survived the ravages of the star ship life, would
eventually succumb to the Bitter Truth.

The reality that love does not go hand in hand with star ship life.
The reality that love is fleeting. The reality that love blinds you
and makes you do stupid things. The reality that the fraternisation
regulations are there as a protective barrier, a futile attempt to
protect people from facing the bitter truth.

The bitter truth is this: love will only lead to pain.

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The End