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Faint beeping filled the pristine Medbay room. There was a slosh of liquid as more vials clinked into place in their spots on the rack; there was the sound of cabinets rolling as Blue opened their desk to find a pen. Blue liked to keep everything neat, clean, and organized—it ensured the sterile safety of the patient and allowed them to work with more urgency knowing where all of their equipment is—just a good habit overall.
Once they located the utensil, they pulled it from the drawer with a small ‘aha!’, and clicked the pen’s back, about to begin writing on the 10 printed scans from the patients. The first order of business would be to put everyone’s individual names on it, fine print in the top corner for easy access even in case of future accidents. Though, Blue suspected, the case would be solved in no time with the impostors’ papers lined up right in front of them. To think that a simple few letters would be the difference between life and death.
Right before they could begin annotating, however, they heard the heavy metal doors slide open behind them, and in strolled Green, looking youthfully innocent as ever. Blue smiled upon their entrance.
Though they debated immediately telling the young astronaut about their discovery without the important contributions of their Captain and MIRA Advisor by their side, as well as the rest of the crew, Blue cast aside their convictions for just a moment. Green was an upstanding intern, and a trustworthy friend. Surely they, of all people, deserved to know immediately of their peculiar condition?
“Green,” they began, turning their body fully to properly speak to them. “What a pleasant surprise; and to think I was just about to call you over as well.”
The eyes behind Green’s glossy visor lit up, and they walked a little quicker over to them, blush evident. “You were?”
Blue let out a light chuckle, leaning on their palm against the desk. “I sure was. Though, it may not be as positive as I would prefer it to be. I found a discrepancy in your scan compared to the rest of the group, alongside your crewmate Orange’s.”
“Really…?” They now said, slouching. Their blush grew, though this time it was clearly moreso in embarrassment from being caught out. “What’s wrong, Doctor?”
“You’ve no bone inside your body, Green… I’m sure you’ve already noticed the feeling of being a little more ‘sludgy’ now. Some sort of this pink, sticky substance I’ve isolated has infected you, and mutated your body. I’m not so sure of a cure just yet, but…” Blue clicked their pen, thinking deeply. “A few days in quarantine could surely buy enough time for our team and I to figure out a solution while preventing you from infecting more crewmates.”
“So I have to go in time-out already? Aw, man…”
Blue took a step forward, patting Green’s shoulder comfortingly. “I wouldn’t be so quick to frame it like that, Green. My best interest is in protecting all of our crew—being willing to cooperate with me and simply living in a part of the ship detached from the main sectors would mean the world to both the community and I, and make you one strong crewmate, adaptable and loyal.” They nodded thoughtfully after they finished, simply letting Green imagine the sparkling resume themself.
And based on their sudden goofy smile, Blue’s persuasion excelled. “It doesn’t sound too bad, for just a few days…”
“Great. Then, let’s go meet with the rest of the crew and–”
“Wait!...”
Blue stopped in their tracks, turned back to them and attached their pen to their collar. “...Hm?”
“If… I have to be alone for a few days, then, uh, maybe can I get a bit more attention before I have to go? Like feeding worms—you have to give them lots of fuel in their short lifespans or else they’ll die and not digest much—so then you won’t have a good compost, and…” They sputtered over their words, flailing their hands in front of them, struggling to find a proper ground for their analogy. “I’m saying, can I maybe… have a hug?”
Blue smiled, having expected no less from them. “Of course.” They let the exuberant crewmate take the proper step forward after they opened their arms wide for them, encasing them in a warm embrace.
They closed their eyes gently, allowing it for as long as Green wanted. But after a few moments, they started to realize that this was going a beat too long, even for Green. They pulled their head back and looked down at them.
“Have you ‘fueled’ yourself enough yet?” Blue asked, a smile in their tone.
Green took their head off from Blue’s neck so that they met eyes. They looked horribly sad at the idea of having to leave. “Maybe… one minute longer…?” Their hand came up to cup Blue’s cheek, their fingertips fiddling with the other’s visor. That blush spread somehow further, and Green sheepishly tried to hide it by pushing their head back down towards their neck.
Blue obliged with the slightest sigh. Once again, it would be a minor task in the grand scheme of things. If this were all it took to make Green more comfortable during their inevitable moments alone, then it would be worth it a hundred times over.
But as they continued to ponder in their head, Green kept tugging at their visor a bit. Blue looked down at them again, and now their eyes were dead set on that spot of the suit, pushing their fingertips underneath the glass, prying it open.
Gently, Blue prodded again. “What are you doing?”
Green said nothing, just continued to pry open the visor as their other hand trailed up towards Blue’s other cheek and held it still. Then, with a hiss and a pop, it swung out from its place and made their face inside vulnerable to both Green and the cold spaceship air. Their hand then trailed inside through the visor’s absence, stretching out the fabric, touching their face much more properly this time.
Now, based on the context clues of this rapidly escalating situation, Blue assumed what would happen next. “Green… as much as I appreciate your flattering display of affection, it’s known to be an unfair power dynamic for a doctor to have relations with their patient. It would be unfair to you and the rest of the crew to allow such a thing. Just as well, company policy states we’re all to refrain from expressing romantic love for our days on the ship. It could cause unnecessary tension, and a strain in the mission.”
Green frowned.
“I’m very sorry, but we wouldn’t want marks like that on our records, hmm?”
“It doesn’t matter if MIRA doesn’t find out…”
Blue was slightly taken aback by that. They didn’t expect them to be so insistent on being forward. Regularly, they saw them to be a very nervous intern; they internally note that they really shouldn’t be so quick to judge character like that. After all, they were acutely aware of how many crew members were often interested in them. They had to exercise caution with intimacy, so as not to make anyone jealous, or misread their situation…
They took a deep breath, then glanced at the door. Closed. The cameras weren’t perfect, as Purple described, so as long as nobody was there right this moment the deed would go undetected. They supposed the quick sacrifice to make a potentially dangerous impostor happy was worth it in this situation.
“Alright, then,” Blue agreed, and Green painstakingly leaned in forward, nudging his face through the hole in the suit and dragging Blue’s head down by his neck to kiss him.
They noticed that Green’s lips had flavored chapstick on them, which quickly turned to them noticing the inside of their mouth as well as they wriggled their tongue through. It tasted chalky and soft, weirdly bending and molding to the other tongue’s will in an almost unnatural way, and their brow furrowed as they sucked their discomfort up, recognizing it would be over soon.
However, Blue, as a scientist, was also always paying attention to these little details. Their gooey saliva that seemed to stick to their teeth only amplified their suspicions of this being a kind of parasitical disease making residue at the expense of the host. More research would be necessary. Though, maybe next time in a little more desirable way.
Blue finally pulled away, feeling properly disgusted and like they needed to suck on a bar of soap for the next week. Green was smiling big, a little too big, as the same goo seeped out from between sharp canines stretching ear to ear. Their eyes, wide and bright, seemed infinite and insane when they looked too far into them.
Their discomfort was growing larger now. They took a step back, dragging themself out of Green’s grip, but in horror they realized it was too late, as a pulse of pink started to trail down Green’s veins and mutate their skin, their “body” giving way to something else bursting out from beneath, where pale pink tendrils replaced the hand on Blue’s neck and drew blood from how they dug into their nape.
"I don't want to stop this so soon," Green mumbled, almost mockingly. "I was really enjoying your taste."
This was not Green.
"You wouldn't mind if I... took a little more... right?"
It may never have been Green in the first place.
Desperate, Blue writhed, but they had fallen right into their trap. Their tendrils grew larger, making it so that they couldn’t move their face in the tight suit’s helmet, and Blue could just barely hear the clatter of their visor finally making it to the floor over the disgusting push and pull of the vermin’s viscous flesh. They were quickly pinned in place by the growing body folding over their boots, forcing them stiff and upright, and more thick, ropelike tendrils wrapped around Blue’s arms, binding them in a winding motion all the way down. If Blue were able to move, they might be shaking and heaving, but in this position all they could do was speak halfway through the side of their mouth and wait for their untimely demise.
“Green…” they begged, just once, but it came out as no more than a muffled groan. The impostor then pulled in for one more little peck.
Their razor-sharp jaws closed in around Blue’s whole head, and Green’s victim couldn’t even scream before their skull had been broken right through and they got a full taste of brain mixing with bone, both eyeballs popping instantly like boba, their tongue providing a unique texture amongst the rest of the regular meat. They relished in the contrasting flavors, swallowing down all of the blood with a satisfied sigh.
Though, Green knew they could get a little more. The rest of their crew were idiots. The rest of them were likely all rather kicking rocks or at each other's throats, either of which were fine by them. Now that they had ichor dripping down their gums, they were realizing just how hungry they had become.
They pulled the tendrils holding Blue down away, letting their legs go limp and drag across the floor, ruining their shined boots with maroon and guts. Using those same tendrils, they dug through the hole in the helmet again and began to scrape out more flesh from the back of their head. It really was a shame that Blue was so smart, Green mused as they chewed on a particularly hard piece of their fat. They would have enjoyed a few more visits just like that. A bit of intimacy could go a long way in the dark reaches of space.
Green misses their family on the worm farm, maybe. Their town that threw such an elaborate party all for them. Getting praise like that was something a stupid unpaid intern like him couldn’t dream of for another million years.
Well… not now that Blue’s gone. Red might be the only other around here really willing to give them some encouragement.
Green thinks they’ll leave them for last.
And with that note, they dropped Blue, then adjusted their posture so they can stand just upright even when in death. It might buy them more time to come back even later and get more snacks. Green’s skin sloughs back into place, bubblegum-colored residue the only evidence of an impostor’s participation, and then slinks over to Medbay’s single vent, slipping through without so much as a sound.