Chapter Text
“We have conditions,” Blue said simply. “And we expect them to be fulfilled.
The head looked taken aback. “And what would those conditions be, Mr. Blue?”
Blue looked to Cyan for reassurance, who gave a tiny nod of encouragement. “We want all the information you have on imposters, the HQ, the other crewmates, everything. We’re not going to go in blind, like last time,” Blue said.
“That can be arranged,” the head replied, waving Blue off. “The dropship leaves in-”
“I’m not done,” Blue said, shocked at himself for interrupting like that.
“You have another condition?” the head asked skeptically, clearly not happy with this.
“Yes. Free childcare.”
~~~
“We don’t know much about the imposters,” began a tall, lanky scientist. “Their main goal is to kill the crew, but we don’t know why.”
Blue fought the urge to tell him he and Cyan had already figured that much out. He supposed he should be thankful the head agreed to their conditions at all, and he didn’t want to push it.
“They’re pretty solitary for the most part, there’s only ever three of them in the same place at once. Less if there’s fewer actual crewmates. Our theory is that the imposters value the safety of the crowd. They aren’t human, either. Analysis shows that they are probably an unstudied type of alien subspecies, and an advanced one at that.
“Imposters have increased stamina and strength in comparison to the average crewmate. They can withstand normally deadly situations, such as oxygen depletion or extreme conditions such as a reactor meltdown. They have exceptional night vision, and it’s believed they are parasitic shapeshifters. Imposters are also incredibly intelligent, and able to hack into the core programming of the ship to sabotage it.”
“So that’s how the reactor and oxygen kept malfunctioning,” Cyan said. “The imposters were behind it,”
“Not to mention the lights and the doors,” Blue added, remembering the sense of being trapped with a blood-streaked Orange in Storage.
“Precisely,” the scientist confirmed, then continued, “Imposters can also use the vents to get around the ship.”
“I knew it!” Cyan exclaimed suddenly.
“Knew what?” Blue asked.
“When we were on the Skeld, I thought I saw a vent shutting by Navigation. I didn’t mention it because Purple already thought I was sus, and I didn’t need anyone thinking I was crazy on top of that,” Cyan explained.
Blue thought this over for a minute. Maybe he could’ve stopped the imposters sooner if he had known to watch the vents, maybe Green would still be alive, maybe-
Stop, he told himself. He agonized over this a lot. His therapist had told him to slow down and take a minute to clear his head, remember that he couldn’t stop what he didn’t know was occurring. But he did know what was going on, and it was killing him slowly inside.
Blue took a deep breath and let it out. It was going to be fine.
He stared at the map of HQ that was displayed on his tablet. It seemed bigger than the Skeld, or maybe it was just more spread out. Cyan was poring over hers too.
“We should stick together,” she suggested.
“Yeah. Definitely.” Blue replied. He thought about making some friends on the dropship. It couldn’t hurt. Then he remembered what had happened to Pink. She had been in the grasp of an imposter the entire game, yet he hadn’t killed her. Yellow had. This still confused him, though he had subconsciously ruled out Orange as a suspect because of his affiliation with Pink the whole game. Until she had died.
Blue thanked the scientist profusely and he and Cyan walked out together. He was already getting a headache just thinking about getting in the dropship. In less than a week, he’d be stranded in the middle of space with alien imposters again.
How did he get roped into this?
~~~
As Blue stood in front of the dropship, he realized just how quickly five days had passed. Just twenty-four hours ago, he had been at home with his two sons. Twelve hours ago, he had been lying awake in bed, unable to sleep at all. Three hours ago, he had said goodbye to his sons. MIRA had presented a few options, but Cyan’s family had volunteered to take them while he was away. He trusted Cyan’s family more than MIRA, but it wasn’t like he was going to tell them that, so he had simply informed them that the kids would rather stay with Cyan’s family. That was that.
As he stepped onto the dropship, he realized he and Cyan were the last ones there. He blinked.
Lime. Orange. Black. Purple. Pink. Green.
He stumbled a little, and Cyan touched his shoulder. “It’s not them,” she whispered, seeming to sense exactly what he was thinking. He gave a nod, then surveyed the crew.
Lime was laughing at something Green had said along with Black and White. Orange was tapping around on his tablet. He stopped occasionally to adjust the caution sign on his head. Blue had no idea what the purpose of it was.
Purple and Pink were both already in their seats. The more he looked around, the more he noticed about the crew. The most striking feature was that while the crew on the Skeld had only had children, and very few at that, this crew had many exotic creatures Blue had only read about.
A Squig followed behind Lime, while a Brainslug stuck close to Black. A Bedcrab that seemed to be Green’s wandered the dropship every so often, and Orange had a UFO hovering nearby. Brown and Purple both had children. Blue sorely missed the presence of his kids, but was glad to know that should something happen to him, they would be safe.
Blue took his seat and thought back on what the head had told him and Cyan before boarding the dropship. There were only two imposters this time, though that didn’t make him feel any better. Especially after the haunting warning the head had given them.
“If the imposters are aware you know more than you should, they will not hesitate to kill you.”
~~~
As the dropship pulled out, the PA system made the same announcement as last time, only it wasn’t cut short by a faulty reception.
As the crew began panicking, Blue closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. He reminded himself he wasn’t alone this time, and that he wasn’t going in completely clueless like last time either.
“Remind me why I’m doing this again,” Blue said to Cyan, feeling slightly nauseous.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” she said, seeming equally as nervous.
Blue checked his tablet.
10 hrs 49 mins to MIRA HQ, it read.
For once in his life, the time couldn’t pass slow enough.