Work Text:
I looked above my head to see the glowing words of “crewmate”. I looked from right to left to look at my team. There was an imposter among us but I had no way of telling who it could possibly be. I knew the most likely way for us to find the answer was for someone to die. I did not want to let it get to that point.
“Okay guys,” Red started. “We don’t have that many tasks so let’s just finish them quickly so we can end this before anything bad happens.” We replied with murmurs of overall agreeance.
“Okay get to it then,” Orange said. We all headed our separate ways throughout the ship. My yellow space suit was loose and hung awkwardly around me as I headed to the reactor. Starting the reactor took longer than most tasks so I wanted to knock it out first. Out of the edges of my vision I could see Pink and Cyan headed to the lower engine and saw Blue stop in security. I finished my task and was about to head to electrical when something caught my eye.
Blue was just standing there. Not standing near the cameras or even near a possible task. But just standing in the middle of the security room. Maybe he was just distracted? I came in and circled a few times to get his attention but to no avail.
“Blue?” I said finally breaking the silence. Still nothing.
Weird? Yes. Completely out of the ordinary? No. The stress of an unknown murderer caused crewmates to act strange sometimes. While it was concerning, I still had tasks to do.
Reluctantly, I left security to go to electrical. As I reached the entrance, I heard the unmistakable sound of a vent. The killer was nearby. Stopping dead in my tracks, I listened. Silence. Silence….Vent! The killer must have left! But the electrical vent only goes two places. Med bay and…
I raced back to security as quickly as possible. If Blue was still there, he was in danger. Past the lower engine through the hallway and… I was too late. Blue lay dead in security. I only allowed myself to grieve for a moment. Time was precious especially this soon after the murder. Every second could be crucial, so I reported the body.
“Body reported!” rang loudly throughout the ship. But, something was wrong. I wasn’t teleported to the cafeteria for a meeting with the group.
“Shit” I muttered. This just got a whole lot scarier.
I needed to leave security before the Imposter could come back. I had to finish my tasks. I went to electricity to download data and then to storage to empty trash. I saw Lime, Cyan, White, and Black flit past me at one point or another. Each completing their own tasks. I had not seen Orange, Pink, or Red in a while which I mentally catalogued. I needed to go to Admin to upload data and swipe my card so I made my way through storage with Black following closely behind. What I saw stopped me dead in my tracks.
Red lay dead in Admin. Black stood next to me. I could not see his expression behind the space suit but I could only assume his silence was from the same shock and grief I was experiencing.
Stepping forward slowly I reported the body. Red lights, “Body reported!”, and back to tasks. Slowly, like in a dream, I uploaded my data and swiped my card, leaving Black behind to complete his tasks.
All I had left was to empty trash in the cafeteria, destroy asteroids in weapons, and chart the course in navigation.
Emptying trash was uneventful. Destroying asteroids led to me paying more attention to the people walking past than the asteroids I was destroying. Lime. Cyan. White. Pink. Still no Orange....
Could Orange possibly be the Imposter? Hiding in the vents waiting to kill someone who had called him a friend? Or could he already be dead?
I turned the corner into navigation just to see… Oh. Oh no.
Black stood over the body of Orange, knife in hand. There was a moment where we just stood and looked at each other. I was frozen to the spot, no words or thoughts coming to me. Black, of all people. Black who I trusted.
He began to walk forward slowly and calmly.
“You,” I breathed, still unable to move. He was just a foot from me now. He lunged forward and stabbed me in the stomach and through the space suit. Mouth gaping, I slid to the ground.
He lifted my head once more as I felt myself die and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“Me.”