Discovered

Luke clutched the knife firmly in his hand. His veins ran with confidence and determination. With this new ally, the last three teammates would be eliminated without a problem.

The alien had proposed to pick each of them off one by one, assuming that they were all separated. This, it had assured him, would ensure no witnesses. The two of them would need to act fast, especially with the constantly increasing activity bar. The green bar was almost at its end. Luke had wondered how it kept rising even with the dwindling number of astronauts completing tasks, but his mind didn't dwell on it. Their first target would be the first crewmate they saw. Once they had a plan, it was time to hunt.

Like a pair of wolves looking for prey, they began their search. Leading the way, Red marched through the ship, scanning for astronauts. It seemed like his thirst for human blood was unquenchable, even with the two teammates he had already eaten. Luke followed close behind, eyeing his companion's back, a malicious grin appearing again. He couldn't believe it. Working with such an intelligent alien species overjoyed him. After the encounter, he felt great respect grow for the terrestrial beings. Respect edged with sympathy and fear. He was able to see through the alien's eyes regarding its desire to protect its home, but also felt the risk that he may become a meal when all was said and done. Sweat caused his suit to stick to his skin, making it a little uncomfortable, but his plan was coming together and that's all that mattered. Passing Navigation, the alien suddenly stopped.

It was clear why. Through the silence, distant footfalls echoed through the empty halls of The Musk. Red pressed forward with purpose.

-*-

Benjamin had begun uploading the data in the Admin room. Although Paul's next task was in another section of the ship, they both agreed to stick together for the remainder of the course. On the tablet's screen was a miniature digital version of himself. The tiny, animated avatar ran across the screen in-between the two folders transferring the information. It was all a little comical. Taking his eyes off the screen, Paul took a step closer to the entrance and studied the hallway outside. Looking left at the storage compartment than to the right he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Standing right in front of him was Red.

After a quick survey of the surroundings, Paul did not sense any danger and relaxed, realizing this is what he had done to Black earlier.

"Sorry," Paul said, ashamed of the inconvenience he kept causing. "I didn't mean to get in your way."

The astronaut in red didn't reply. Instead, he just moved forward until he was an inch away from Paul.

Perplexed, Paul retreated into Admin but Red persisted after him. Just at the right moment, Benjamin walked over and patted his back.

"Alright," Benjamin said cheerfully. "The download is finished."

Red stopped moving forward as if analyzing the situation.

"Apologies gentlemen, excuse me," he said as he backtracked into the hallway and then continued his way. Another astronaut, Luke, followed behind him.

"What happened?" Benjamin asked, looking questioningly at the leaving teammates.

"I'm not so sure, but Red was acting very strangely." Paul was wondering what that astronaut was trying to do. Knowing that there was a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds of every crewmate, it may have been some sort of greeting.

Dismissing it, Paul and Benjamin carried on with their plan and moved towards O2; he wasn't going to let the odd confrontation slide, however. This astronaut was going to be filed under the suspect list Paul had in his head.

Paul and Benjamin trooped to the O2 room in silence, watching their backs now and then. As they navigated through The Musk, Paul's mind persistently attempted to unravel the mystery surrounding the previous events and challenge his rogue crewmate theory.

"Benjamin, where were you when the oxygen system was sabotaged?" Paul asked, not because he was suspicious but because he was just curious. It would also help to answer some of the questions he had as well as whether he could truly trust him.

"Oh, that was certainly a frightening event," Benjamin said, pausing as if to compose himself from the trauma that might have been caused by the near-death experience. Clearing his throat, he continued: "I was on my way to the Electrical room for my task when I heard the alarm. After that," Benjamin recalled with a little quaver in his voice. "I went straight to Admin to enter the code for reset." Benjamin paused, taking a deep breath, showing the toll the pressure took on him. "I thought that was going to be the end. Thank God it wasn't," he finished.

Paul was listening intently but kept his eyes on the hallways in front of him. "That's incredible!" Paul said elatedly. "So, you were the one on the other side." Benjamin looked up with surprise. Paul explained: "I entered the code here in O2. It was the last few seconds when I also thought we weren't going to make it."

Hearing the words out of his mouth reminded him of what Luke had said: "Were we going to make it?" he remembered from the conversation on the dropship.

As Paul's mind wandered back to Lime being his top suspect, his thoughts were interrupted by a flurry of running from down the hallway. Being right next to O2 and his task, Paul was tempted to ignore it but something told him not to. Something was going on and he needed to find out what it was.

Breaking into a jog himself, Paul followed the sound of movement coming from the Shields room. With Benjamin's footsteps close behind, he picked up the pace and rushed onward, pushing past Navigation. He twisted through the hallways and turned sharply at the corner which led directly to Shields. At the end of the hall, Paul saw what had caused the commotion. With his blood pumping hard through his veins, Paul's momentum drove him straight into the heart of the plasma generators where he was introduced to a new type of fear.

Illuminated by the exuberant yellow light of the reactors, a hellish creature stood. It was the shape of an astronaut but somehow bent in half. Dozens of shark-like teeth lined the split edges when the crewmate looked to have been torn. It stalked an oblivious crewmate who was too focused on his task, back facing the beast. Paul's eyes went wide. His heart beat faster than ever before. Fatigue combined with intense heat made him feel like he was in a living nightmare. The alien rumors had just become reality.

Suddenly, the horrific monster morphed into the same crewmate that had greeted Paul strangely just moments ago. Red. The transformation happened just as Benjamin arrived.

Finally turning around, the astronaut in a cyan space suit who had almost been eaten saw three teammates in the room. Cyan took a step back, clearly in astonishment and confusion.

Red took advantage of his confusion.

"Purple just tried to kill you! I saw him shapeshift into an alien!" the astronaut in red exclaimed; the emotion of fright so rich in his voice he should have won an Oscar. "He must be the imposter!"

Just as he finished, Luke who seemed to appear out of nowhere chimed in with equal amounts of energy and panic.: "I just saw him turn into an alien too!"

Paul was taken aback by such an approach and couldn't find the words to oppose. He had just been framed. Looking at Cyan, he did not doubt that the astronaut would not believe such a horrendous lie.

To his surprise and disappointment, the crewmate backed away from Paul, suspicion deep in his eyes. Even Benjamin took a step away from him, watching him skeptically.

Everything happened so fast. Paul felt his ears redden. It was as if the world was crashing down on him. All trust between his new friend seemed to dissipate in an instant.

He could almost see the smirk of satisfaction on the creature's face as each one of the astronauts headed off to the cafeteria. Paul knew exactly what that meant. An emergency meeting was about to be called to discuss his fate.

The odds were against Paul. Gathering at the table, his gut wrenched with the accusations that were to come. Dazed by the series of events that had taken place, he stood in silence, noticing that yet another crewmate was missing from the meeting. Only half of the original number of teammates sat at the round table. It just didn't add up. Was Red really the one causing all of this? He started to question whether he had seen an alien or simply hallucinated the transformation of Red. No matter the situation, Paul planned on going down valiantly and with honor. It was the right thing to do out of respect for the rest of the teammates and humanity. If he was going to join his fallen teammates, then so be it.

"Purple is the alien, let's vote to eject him!" Red declared without any formality or preamble. He started the discussion, breaking the tense atmosphere and changing it into a courtroom. Paul realized that he had never really noticed this crewmate until now. He had never been vocal or active in meetings before. Something was up, but he stayed quiet.

"Yeah, we saw him try to kill Cyan.," Luke asked, directing the question to the astronaut. "Right?"

"Y-yes, I think so." Cyan stuttered, evidently unsure of what he believed. The once confident astronaut had seemed to have been broken down by the chaos that had occurred on The Musk.

"I think we have our verdict…" Red said in a menacingly low voice as if he had just claimed victory.

Paul felt helpless. There was no way to defend himself with three witnesses. He knew he would be overpowered. After surviving for so long, he would die at the hands of his own teammates. It was such a blatantly false accusation; how could the rest not see it? He had to at least try. With a sudden burst of outrage, Paul was ready to fight back with his words but there was no need.

"No," Benjamin spoke up, his voice firm and collected. "The case is not settled."

Paul sighed in relief, maybe he had hope after all. His new friend couldn't have believed them.

"If Paul was an alien," Benjamin continued. "I would not be alive right now. We followed each other around the ship. There were so many opportunities for him to kill me. He has my trust." Paul was amazed by the friend he had made in Benjamin and wondered whether he had been a lawyer or studied politics before becoming an astronaut. He continued to support Paul with arguments based on their conversations: "Furthermore, during the oxygen malfunction, he was the one who had entered the code to stop the whole ship from perishing. The real question is, why was Red standing so close to you, Cyan, even before Purple was in the room?" Benjamin paused to let that sink in, but he wasn't done. "We have two witnesses to Red morphing into an alien as well," he continued. "I saw it for myself, as he turned back into an astronaut."

Paul was now even more astounded; Benjamin had seen the alien as well. So, he was not hallucinating. Casting a glance across the table Paul saw that Red was motionless.

"It's all on you Cyan," Benjamin said. "I'm putting my vote to eject Red. See how keen he is to frame other teammates. He has to be the one sabotaging all our systems." Whipping out his tablet, he pressed several buttons activating a voting ballot among the teammates and entered his vote.

Cyan was once again put in the spotlight. The four teammates waited for his response.

"Uh, I just don't know," he said, deeply considering his stance. Paul's life hung in the balance. All the training couldn't prepare them for the stress they faced in emergency meetings when lives depended on one vote. The meeting's designated time was ending before they had to get back to their tasks. He needed to decide, quickly.

At last, shaking his head, Cyan pulled out his tablet and voted. The rest of the teammates did the same, voting for the astronaut they thought was the imposter just like they had done earlier.

Paul held his breath as the results were displayed on the tablet. Spotting his name, he was terrified to see two votes for his ejection. But on Red's, there were three!

"What?" Red roared when he saw the result. "Cyan, why? I saved you and this is how you repaid me!" It seemed like he was about to lunge at the other crewmate before Lime suddenly grabbed him by the arm. The rest of the teammates came around to Red, seizing him.

"You've got the wrong crewmate! I'm one of you!" Red barked at the astronauts taking hold of him. Being in human form, Red was easily overpowered by the other four. With ease, the others shoved Red into the depressurized chamber and sealed him in. Seeing as how he had been betrayed, and with no more means to escape, the creature resorted to its last option.

From outside the room, the cries of a human began to transform into snarls of a monster. The three teammates gawked in horror. The doors of the chamber creaked and groaned as the alien attempted to pry them open revealing a sliver of what it truly looked like. In the nick of time, the chamber was flushed, ejecting Red into space. Peering out of the large glass panel, the teammates were able to see the alien drift slowly by. It had returned to human form, likely to instill guilt into those remaining aboard The Musk. It worked. To some extent. Cyan was visibly shaken by the incident, staring into space, still as a tree.

Breathing out all the anxiety that had built up in him, Paul was the first to leave. He needed to complete his last task. They were going to make it. He was sure.