We all stood there in shock- what were the possible implications of this? Had we really confirmed who the murderer was?
I personally didn’t think that it was her- I don’t think that the real murderer would’ve given themselves away that easily by running off in denial. But obviously she was hiding something either way- she was strong enough to take us all on- probably without even breaking a sweat. If she really was the killer she could’ve just taken us all out right then and there. But she ran away- she obviously had a real fear of us finding out something. Likely something to do with the real reason why there was blood on her hands.
But apparently, that sentiment wasn’t wholly shared between the rest of us in that room.
“How… how can that not be proof?” Dan weakly exclaimed, obviously still recovering from Allison’s forceful exit.
“Come on, do you really believe that her reaction was one of a hardened killer’s? Surely you’d imagine that they’d have a little more composure than that.” I retorted.
“Yes, but we can’t discount the fact that she could be acting. She’d certainly be capable of it if she had managed to work around us for a year without us noticing anything. And regardless- she’s hiding something, even if she really isn’t the killer.” Allison pointed out. Somewhere along the line she had snapped out of her surprise and was back to her usual poker face.
“I don’t doubt you, she's obviously hiding something, but I don’t think it’s a smart idea to go out and demand an answer from her. Unless one of you has been hiding their martial arts prowess from me, we would literally get destroyed, remember?” I reminded them.
“I can admit to my physical ineptness” Dan began. “I’m not so full of myself to not be able to see that I don’t stand a chance. But we can’t do nothing- We’ve all agreed that she’s hiding something! We can’t just do nothing!”
“Regardless, this isn’t going to end with us saying ‘don’t worry let’s just forget about it’. She ran off, she has something to hide, and we’re in danger. Might be from her, but might not be- But I sure as hell won’t be twiddling my thumbs waiting for her for to own up and confess whatever she’s trying to hide.” reasoned Saskia.
Dan looked over suspiciously at Saskia.
“You sure switched sides fast- you seemed quite sure of your position when you walked in here.” He pointed out, glaring suspiciously at her.
“Oh, come off your high horse, Dan. She came to me- we both suspected you as the killer- and we were going to asses the situation to see if Ollie was firmly on your side or whether we could sway him to ours. Don’t act all butthurt- like taking control of a central part of the ship and leaving us to our fate isn’t reason enough to suspect you of masterminding this whole plot.”
Dan’s aggrieved face immediately shifted to an affronted one.
“Fine.” he conceded. “What are we going to do then?”
“I don’t think that reasoning is completely off the table” I interjected “She didn’t actually lash out or attack us. I think we can safely infer that she won’t kill us right off the bat.”
“Well, I can tell you that I won’t be the one sending the diplomatic peace offering. And I don’t think our courageous crewmember over here is tempted either… you going to volunteer out of the kindness of your heart?” Saskia taunted.
“It certainly wouldn’t be out of the kindness of my heart, but I’ll do it. You do realise that it’s going to benefit us all if we don’t lose an additional crew member- that we need as many as we can so we can stand up to whoever it is that is doing this. Or are you suggesting that we need to lessen the number of crewmembers?” I threw out a little bait in the form of an accusation but didn’t really expect her to rise to it.
She rolled her eyes, clearly noticing my clumsy attempt to get a rise out of her.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear your preaching- but let’s see you practice it without getting your head kicked in- then maybe I’ll start listening.”
It didn’t seem like I was going to get anything further out of those two, so I headed out the doors she had left through.
“Try not to get that white flag of yours dirty- she might not notice you’re coming in peace!”
Sheesh- for a girl who was in an alliance with Allison only 5 minutes ago, she had turned tail unnaturally fast.
* * *
I slowly made my way down the corridor towards Allison’s sector, calling out for her as I went.
Even though what I had told the other two was true, I didn’t think that she was the murderer, there was still a sliver of doubt in my mind. And that small voice that was currently doing the best it could to remind me that I could be walking straight into a lion’s den. I was making a bet on her acting skills; that she didn’t have the capacity to fake that panicked denial. And I was going all in.
Admittedly a little less confident than before, I called out again.
“Hey Allison, I just want to talk! We don’t even have to be face to face, I don’t mind if-”
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“You better not be bloody bullshitting me right now.” came a subdued voice from behind a corridor lock. These locks were activated by hitting the activation buddies on the side of the corridors, and there was at least one in all major corridors throughout the ship. The idea was that they could be used to quarantine or section off a quadrant of the ship in the case of an emergency. She’d closed the lock as she’d gone through.
“No- If I had come with the intention of taking you out, I’d have brought the other two with me. Take it as a token of good faith from me to you that I’ve come alone. I don’t believe it was you who did it- but the other guys aren’t going to have anything to do with you until you explain what the bloodstains were from.” I tried to keep my voice as even and as measured as possible.
“That’s puttin’ it mildly- Dan, at least, is certain that I’m the killer. And I bet that backstabbing bitch has sashayed her swanky little ass over to his side as well. I ain’t stupid Ollie- don’t ever think me stupid because I don’t have the skills or knowledge that the rest of you do! There’s a reason why I didn’t just spill out the reason the moment Dan accused me- and no, I’m not going to tell you either! Because you can’t guarantee me that the moment I trust you guys with the truth that you’ll turn on me- with some fancy ass gismo that Dan has stored away in his sector. So you can rack right off- I’m going to stick to my sector, and you guys can stick to yours. Don’t touch me, I won’t touch you, and we’ll all be right as rain- until one of the three of youse reveals themselves to be murdering psycho and kills us all. So have fun with that.”
That would actually be a decent outcome- the three of us didn’t trust her enough to interact with her anymore, and thus if she was willing to isolate herself then we could just avoid contact. But with Dan certain that she was Mason’s murderer, and with her unwilling to give a reason for the bloodstains, it wasn’t going to end like that.
“Surely you know that it isn’t going to happen like that- you’ve seen how certain Dan is yourself! Do you truly think that he’ll just accept that you’re going to isolate yourself of your own volition?” I questioned her, trying to stay reasonable at the same time.
“I KNOW!” the shouted response echoed its way down the corridor I had come from.
Even separated by the lock, I took a step back, surprised by the intensity.
After a moment she seemed to have gathered herself.
“But what can I do. Let you kill me? It’s not selfish to want to live. It’s not…. It’s not.”
There was a muffled thump sound, the sound of a body hitting the lock.
“I have people I want to see back at home as well- I was thrown into this complete fuck up of a group just like you. I just don’t want to die.”
What could I say to that? It wasn’t like I had a solution either. Luckily, Saskia chose that moment to show up, walking down the corridors towards me.
“Who is that!?” Allison said sharply, hearing the footsteps drawing closer.
Just before I was about to answer her, Saskia cut in before me.
“It’s me.” She said demurely.
“What the HELL are you doing here, you backstabbing bitch? Come to try and take me out- decided I’m now a risk? You step one foot inside this lock and I’ll show you just how much of a risk I really am!” anger poured out of her every word. Whatever sort of partnership the two had, it was obvious that it was important enough for Allison to feel completely gutted when Saskia had jumped ship.
“Look, I’m only going to say this once, so listen up. I do feel bad for ditching you, and I truly am sorry for that, but I’m not about to go back to being buddy-buddy with you when you’re still hiding something massive from me. I’m not as heartless as everyone believes. But while you’re hiding exactly what that blood stain was caused by, I just don’t feel safe enough to hang around you.”
Not once during that whole speech did she raise her voice, keeping it all matter-of-fact.
“You promised!! Promised that you would side with me- that you thought that it was either Ollie or Dan!” came the anguished reply.
Ouch.
“And I truly meant it. But do you seriously think that I would simply just accept the fact that you may have something to do with Mason’s murder? And you aren’t even able to give a reason as to why the evidence isn’t condemning? Don’t be stupid!” berated Saskia.
There was no response from behind the lock.
“Dan has agreed to give you a few hours to think it over- but after then, if you still haven’t said anything, then we will be forced to use a harsher method.”
Without waiting for Allison to respond, she turned to me.
“I’ll take the watch- and if she does open the lock, I’ll run to alert you guys. Get some rest- and maybe she will change her mind about sharing soon.” She said, with a half smile on her face.
It was a generous offer- I suspected she had some reason for offering it- but I wasn’t about to turn it down. There was something that I needed to check on- and this would be the perfect time to do so.
“Thanks,” I said briefly before heading off down the corridors, back towards my sector.
* * *
There had been one thing nagging me in the back of my head, ever since the destruction of the computer room. Talking to Dan inside there, it was impossible not to notice the humungous effect that his fear of Allison had had on his psyche. And thinking of changes in mental state brought me to what I was doing now.
It was time to have a proper examination of the Swans.
There were 2 bodies that had remained untouched, I had only examined one, and very briefly at that. Plus, I had scanned the biochips to gain the majority of the information. In normal circumstances, that would’ve been completely fine- the biochips were almost always a superior source of health information than manual inspection. However, it only assessed bodily health and functions- the mind was something that was not yet monitored. And these suicidal tendencies, I had a strong suspicion, came exactly from there.
Once again, I gingerly brought one of the birds into my sector and onto my examination table. Taking out my scalpel, I carefully made an incision across the top of the bird’s head.
There was clearly something wrong with the brain- as it looked like none I had ever seen before in my dissections back at the academy. Some sections were enlarged, some impossible to find, and some had a sort of unnatural discolouration. However, as I examined further, reaching the prefrontal cortex, I immediately realised the cause. Nestled in amongst the grey matter was a long, white organism- a parasite!
Dropping the scalpel to the operating table I immediately searched the medical database for parasites with neuromodulatory abilities, and effects relating to suicide. There was only one that even vaguely fit the search parameters; the hairworm, nematomorpha.
The hairworm, according to the database, would affect 3 main amino acids proven to have a manipulatory effect on brain functions, taurine, valine and tyrosine. The host would then commit ‘suicide’ by leaping into an aquatic environment, which is what the parasite required for continuation of its lifecycle.
But the ‘suicidal’ effect of the hairworm had only been observed on its natural hosts, the crickets. There had been documented cases of hairworms gaining access to larger animals such as dogs, and even one human- but no notable effects had occurred.
So how had it managed to create such an effect on the ducks?