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“Look, there’s your little friend… You know what they’re doing, don’t you? I know you’re not as dumb as you look, Greenie…”
The alien’s gargling voice, a shallow mimicry of Green’s own, echoed loudly inside the crewmate’s head. This happened when the alien forced itself inside their body, but not quite taking the strings into its hands. A few tentacles still protruded from their mouth, keeping them bound tightly in case they got any ‘bright ideas’.
The two of them were behind a large metal crate, staying out of Purple’s line of sight as they scoured the storage room, alone.
This was obviously some kind of trick, especially with the way Purple eyed the trash chute when they thought the imposter wasn’t looking. Even when blood, entrails, and bodies surrounded them, their focus always returned to that button. As Purple got closer and closer to the alien and Green’s hiding place, Green heard it snicker.
“It’s showtime. Try not to choke!”
The alien had gotten faster at sliding itself into Green’s continually abused body, to the point where Green could barely cough before control was ripped away from them.
The tentacles retreated, and Green’s body had full mobility again. It bent down and picked up a piece of ‘Ore+’, an alien’s egg hiding in plain sight among the vital resource. It tossed it in its hand, then once firmly grasped, it hit it against Green’s head. Again, and again, and again. It wasn’t being hit very hard, just consistently and repeatedly. Green wasn't sure what the alien was doing, until they saw cracks form in the egg.
The thud of hard shell against skull must have gotten Purple’s attention, because they swiftly turned the corner and stared at them.
‘Green’ turned their head, and looked at Purple with a grin too wide to be genuine, or natural. “Hey Purps!”
“Whatcha… Whatcha doing over there?” Purple awkwardly asked, holding the pizza paddle aloft defensively, twitching whenever the imposter moved.
“Oh, just testing the integrity of the Ore+, like a good unpaid intern!” Green showed off the cracked egg to Purple in their palm. “Or I could just say that I’m actually trying to hatch more alien eggs! But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
More of the alien’s true body emerged, gliding itself closer to Purple. Even as Purple backed away, the alien only loomed over them, appearing larger and larger.
“You were always the smart one! I really should have killed you first! But you were certainly a big help, casting all that suspicion on Red, splitting the votes, going along with everyone’s incessant accusations!”
Purple’s eyes darted towards the trash chute for the final time. Because as soon as they reached out to press the button, the alien egg was given a leisurely throw at the panel, breaking it apart upon impact. Purple’s expression didn’t change, but the look in their eye seemed the slightest bit more terrified.
Their attention was redirected from the growing imposter, to something moving by their feet. The broken egg, with a newly hatched alien making its way to its new host. Purple exclaimed in disgust and kicked it away.
“You coulda just been here the whole time hatching babies,” Purple asked, stepping away from where the baby alien was. “So why didn't you?”
“You know, for the smartest person in the crew, you sure are asking some unsmart questions!”
Suddenly, it was like the tentacles that had suckered to Green’s brain were ripped off, allowing them to take a breath, but not much else, since they were quickly encased in the alien mass, up to their shoulders. Their hat fell to the floor, but they hardly noticed amidst their coughing and hacking on the residue in their throat.
The alien had retained the crewmate’s voice as it continued speaking, though now it sounded more like what Green heard when they talked inside their head.
“Come on, you know this! I like to kill! No room for competition there, and besides, what’s the fun in letting these pathetic grubs do all the work?” As the alien approached, it slapped away the other pink gooey spawn in its way with little care.
“Oh, then you must have been under Orange’s orders…!” Purple’s tone of faux realization implied that they were merely trying to get under the imposter’s nerves.
Purple quickly regretted their loaded question as a smaller tentacle wrapped around their leg and lifted them into the air, leaving them to dangle. Purple already felt the blood rushing to their head. The sounds of sloshing; both of their blood and of the alien squishing around, filled their ears.
“Orange? Hah! That idiot couldn’t kill a sunbaked worm!”
“They… They killed Blue, didn’t they?” Purple stumbled over their words.
The alien made a loud, offended scoff. Purple was flung right-side up and their arms were squeezed to the sides by a larger morphed tentacle. Green’s body was shifted by the movement, and they groaned in pain. The alien shuffling their muscles and their bones like playing cards had taken its toll.
“I was the one who killed Blue! And White, all except for Lime, who ‘Orange’ killed right in front of God and everyone!” If the imposter had hands, Purple wagered they’d be throwing them into the air right now. Wait… something was different. Why wasn’t the alien using Green’s hands? Or Green’s mouth? And why did Purple hear their familiar ragged breathing, even while the imposter spoke?
“…what about Green?” Purple asked after a beat of tense silence.
The mouth that was split open on the alien’s body opened wider as it laughed; shrill and barking, like a hyena.
“Oh, they’ve been a fantastic host,” it drawled, squeezing Green even tighter, making them wince. “Their body has just been so accommodating. Sure, they have the occasional pesky thought, like fear, guilt, or grief, but it’s just made the deal even more delicious.”
Green worked up the strength to open their eyes and look at Purple as a fleshy pink tentacle made itself at home on their face, squishing it cheekily.
“You’ve been keeping them alive…?! Then what about—”
“Orange is a complete dumbass!” The imposter snapped. “They just went right ahead and hollowed out their host crewmate’s body, not even thinking about what that might do! That meant I had to deal with that guilty scan! I’ll admit, it worked like a charm to incriminate Yellow, but I digress. Greedy little shit. Just couldn’t help themselves. At least I have a little more discipline than that. Unlike them, I know how to savor. Even though it was so easy to pick you all off…!”
“I… I don’t believe you…!” Purple fought in vain in the alien’s hold, but still tried to remain brave.
“You don’t believe Orange was a dumbass?”
“No—”
The imposter grinned devilishly, bringing Purple closer to its permanent, ever shifting, face. “What? That it was so easy? Please, none of you trusted each other from the start, and even when they did, you did a fantastic job of clearing that up! Makes me wonder why you’re trusting Red of all people now. You know they’re just going to abandon you, right? Leave you for dead so MIRA can pin another medal on that meaningless uniform, so MIRA can keep all of this quiet and keep luring in clueless saps like you and Greenie to keep sucking up to them; both Red and MIRA.”
…how could Purple trust Red? The last time they had a choice between them and MIRA, Red chose MIRA. What would make this any different? Would Red really risk their life to save Purple, when they weren’t even willing to risk their job for them?
“In fact, with how you’ve done so well at sabotaging every effort of ‘trust’ on this ship… I’d say you wanted this mission to fail. Certainly would make for some killer payback. Hah! Pun intended! But hey, who am I to judge? Tit for tat, am I right? They clearly don’t care about you, so why should you care about them?”
“That’s…not true…”
Both the alien and Purple’s attention was grabbed by the weak, quiet voice of Green, who seemed at least somewhat lucid now.
“I may not have been in control before, but I’m taking control now…!” Green grit their teeth with effort, but kept going. “Purple, I’ve been seeing you, and I’ve been seeing Red… I see you talking to each other, and I heard both of you from the vents I was stuck in… You care about each other…! Red’s not the way they were before… They’re not going to abandon you…”
“…how can you say that?” Purple asked, hushed. “How can you say that when they’ve— When we’ve failed you all… Over and over, each crewmate died alone…”
“Hey, we all make mistakes… Right…? The important thing is… We’re not alone anymore. Even after they died, Black finally got to know Cyan, Brown tried the flakey salt Yellow always liked, and you and Red talked to each other. …I have faith in you. Both of you.”
“Oh please, they could have done that while I was alive. Instead they waited until my death. Those are not the vibes of someone who cares, I think they just felt bad that I’m dead!”
To Green and Purple’s horror, the bodies of their friends strewn on the storage floor had begun coming to life, fitting around the alien’s extra tentacles so neatly, like finger-puppets. Cyan’s lifeless corpse was lifted up and dangled by Purple’s side, a cold arm flopping onto their shoulder, making the security guard shudder. Their voice had the same tinny inauthenticity that the alien’s did when they were taking on Green’s voice.
“No one even cared what I had to say until I died. It was only after the imposter proved me right that you listened to me,” Lime and Brown’s voice came out in a mangled mix, their bodies stuck together, like a little kid had glued two different toys together. “Tell me, does that sound like trust to you? Does it sound like anybody cared about us?”
“St… Stop it…! You’re… You’re the one who killed them…!” Green’s voice got stronger.
“Oh sweet little intern, if you hadn’t been so easy, none of this would have happened in the first place… You let that thing in, you let it control you, and you let it kill me,” White’s head and body were stuck back together haphazardly, rot pervading the edges of their wounds. Some words came out wrong or not at all as severed vocal cords tried their best to do as the invading alien bade. This time, White’s limbs were more precisely moved, cupping Green’s face in their hand. “If only you had the courage to confess earlier. Then maybe you could have kissed the real me, and not a dead husk. In the end, both you and Purple are weak. Too much trust, and too little. That’s why I saved you two for last~”
“You wanna taunt us…? Fine… But I have to know,” Purple choked out. “What the hell’s with White’s voice? It sounds like an old ham radio on the fritz.”
“What— No it doesn’t,” ‘White’ crossed their arms annoyedly. “The voice sounds fine. You sure you’re not— Okay now I hear it. Well, I did slice through their neck, so… Here, let me just…”
The head was pressed more onto the body’s neck with a gross crunch. Then ‘White’ cleared their throat.
“Let’s try this again… Ahem. I failed upwards my entire life!”
“That’s my line!”
There was a loud bang near the back of the room, punctuating the bold announcement. A metal crate creaking and giving under the force of Red’s signature captain’s kick. But not even the sheet of metal slowed them down as their foot hit the tentacle restraining Purple full force, forcing them to be dropped back onto the floor.
“You waited for the one liner…?!” Green and Purple exclaimed in tandem.
“That was the plan, wasn't i— ACK!”
With a slap of the alien’s lower tentacle, Red was sent flying back towards one of the Ore+ crates. An ore was dislodged and hit the ground with a crack. A baby alien had come crawling out, making a beeline for Red’s face.
“Oh god, oh god not the face—!”
Now that Purple was free, they could pick themselves up off the ground, making their own kick towards the alien spawn, smacking it against the metal and leaving it squished like a pesky bug.
“Nice kick, Purps!” Red smiled as Purple helped them up.
“Learned it from you,” Purple shrugged, a smirk sneaking onto their face.
By now, more eggs had hatched, infesting the discarded corpses. One by one, their former friends came to life and shambled towards them like zombies. But if this was a zombie movie, then Red and Purple had the almighty cure. Which is just salt water, but whatever, good thing this wasn’t a zombie movie.
After fighting the dead crewmates for Lime’s repurposed weapon, Blue ultimately was the one to grab it, the alien putting all two of its brain cells together to pull the trigger at Purple.
“NOOOOO!”
…which Red jumped in front of. The water soaked their uniform as they flopped onto the floor unimpressively.
“Oh right it’s just salt water. Hey— Stop that! It doesn’t work on me! Ow, that stings! I forgot I had a cut there!”
Blue, not getting the memo, kept shooting the salt-saturated water at Red until they were soaked. After trying and failing to grab it back from them, they took a look at their soaked clothes and hands and got an idea. They leapt at Blue and smothered their open wound in the salt water until the parasite shrieked and the body burst open, leaving the alien dead inside.
“Hah! Now who’s the smart one?” Red pointed down cockily at Blue’s remains. “…and hot!”
“Dude— Not cool!” Purple called over while they wrestled with Cyan, occasionally bursting out with a ‘sorry!’ as they punched them.
“Alright, alright!”
Red snatched the saltwater gun back, and left and right, Purple and them gunned down baby after baby, the creatures dissolving in the liquid.
Until the baster got jammed.
“Shit shit shit, it won’t shoot!” Red kept tugging and tugging at the makeshift trigger, but the water stubbornly remained inside the clear container.
“I’ve got an idea! I need you to trust me on this,” Purple grabbed Red by the shoulders. “You need to keep pulling! It’s okay if it doesn’t shoot, just keep pulling that trigger!”
“But how will we— Okay, fine, trusting you!” Red sputtered, and did as Purple said.
“Purple, Red—!”
Green hadn’t been quick enough. Their eyes and their head still swam, so they hadn’t even noticed the alien rushing towards their fellow crewmates, plunging its gaping maw right over them. They’d spent so long with their movements and the imposter’s movements being one. So they hadn’t noticed until it was too late. It swallowed them whole. Just like that.
“No… No no no… They were the only ones left… They can’t be…” Green’s lungs tightened, they breathed hard and fast.
“Aww, chin up Greenie. You’ll be joining them real soon~”
More of the alien’s tendrils invaded them, but this time it was different. They ran themselves over their skin, explored their mouth, like it was tasting them. Some reached under their clothes. Voraciously, greedily sampling every flavor on Green’s skin.
They couldn’t talk. Couldn’t fight. Couldn’t do anything except wriggle, which only seemed to tighten their hold. Was this how they were going to die? Not even being given the grace of a quick end, being violated and played with, being sipped at like a glass of White’s wine.
“The last bite. All for me. Not for Orange, or for any of those gluttonous little freeloading maggots. This is my dessert. Green, do me a favor and try to enjoy this, yeah?”
The alien’s stomach(?) started to gurgle. It smacked its vague imitation of lips then made a ‘hm’ sound.
“Do I taste salt?”
Pink goo splattered all over everything. Crates, walls, and floors were coated in the stuff. The engorged monster was gone. The tendrils attached to Green’s body writhed like dying snakes, then stopped moving entirely. Green sat there, dropped to the floor wordlessly. Their eyes wide, yet unseeing. It took a moment for anything to happen, but after a good forty seconds of silence, the thick tension was broken by,
“EWEWEWEWEW! GROSS GROSS GROSS! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!”
Three voices chorused in disgust and revolution as three matching pairs of hands frantically wiped off what was left of the alien bodysnatcher. Unfortunately, some of the slime still saturated their clothes, but at least it wasn’t on their skin anymore. Or faces.
Green looked over, but they didn’t even get time to react when Red and Purple rushed over to them.
“Green! Buddy! Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re alive! And you’re— you’re you again…!” Purple stammered, their hands holding Green in a bruising grip. But even though it hurt, especially on an already sensitive body, Green didn’t mind.
“Wait, how do we know that this is Green? Or that Green’s even a real person at all?” Red asked.
“Because they trusted us. And despite what they saw… They saw the best in us.”
Red’s face softened, and they knelt down to Green’s level. “Ah hell… I knew you weren’t a bad kid. Just… one question. If you know what happened between me and Purps… Who was in the wrong?”
Green’s eyes went from Red to Purple, guilt swelling in their gaze. “…You betrayed them, Red… It’s no wonder you guys had so much tension when I first met you… But… MIRA betrayed you both. It was their fault that two interns were held responsible for a nuclear disaster they caused…! Just like it’s their fault that an entire crew’s dead, all because they were… I dunno…”
“And if we tell them the truth, we’d just be letting another hapless intern take the blame,” Red sighed.
“Who says we need to give them the truth?”
Both Red and Green turned to Purple.
“They certainly don’t deserve it. Not from us. Especially when they didn’t give us the same,” Purple said bitterly. “Comms are down. And the cameras don’t record, remember? So they’ll just have to take our word for it.”
“We’re with ya, Purps,” Red patted their friend’s shoulder, smiling fondly.
“…are you sure? I mean… If you blame me…”
“No Green,” Red’s encouraging tone turned firm. “As your captain, I need to take responsibility. You got turned into a flesh puppet for an alien, and I didn’t even notice. For once in my life, I need to step up and face the music. It’s the least I can do for you, and for the ones we couldn’t save…”
A fond, almost loving smile cracked on Purple’s lips. “That’s… pretty cool of you. I’m proud of you, Redsy.”
“Hey, it’s no biggie.”
Green’s eyes sparkled as they looked between the two crewmates, then grew moist. “You’d do that for me…? I— I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
“We’re all in this together, Greenie. You roll with us now.”
Green couldn’t help it, they sobbed in the arms of their new friends, while Purple and Red tried not to cry themselves.
“We can go back to my family’s farm…! I promise, they’ll love you…!”
“Hey, here’s an idea,” Purple pulled out of the hug. “We got some pretty good stuff on this ship, how about we get ourselves some souvenirs after we get rid of all these alien eggs? Should earn us a few handfuls of beans at least! A whole lot more than MIRA woulda paid us!”
“Yeah!”
A hole was torn through the Skeld as every bit of the Ore+ and the eggs were sucked into the vacuum of space. All the while the door was shut, and Red, Green, and Purple made quick work of the ship’s valuables.