Creed

Today I was tasked with a routine inspection of an airlock in quadrant II. Just a normal thing that happens from time to time. Nothing too interesting.

When I entered the staff only hallway connected to the airlock, I thought I heard a few noises from the walls, sounding like they were coming from outside. This scared me. What if someone or something was out there? We haven’t had a visitor come to Kuroe for quite a long time, and none were scheduled for a long time either. I hesitantly inserted my keycard into the airlock panel, and pushed a button for automatic inspection.

The airlock can automatically do its inspections by itself, but it isn’t 100% reliable, so one of us scientists need to watch over it during the process. The system completed the first phase of testing without problem, but as soon as the second phase was about to start, the testing system shut down, and an alert popped up on the airlock panel, stating that in order for testing to start, the airlock must not be in use.

Right as I was about to say “What do you mean in use?”, the airlock opened. Instead of showing empty space, a hallway of a docked ship filled the view. Standing in said hallway was a man in a black jumpsuit, with green bits of metal scattered over it. On his chest was an emblem of a serpent coiled around a wolf head, with the number 0 on the forehead of the wolf.

“Hello, I assume you are one of the scientists stationed at Kuroe 228922?” the man asked in a kind voice.

“...” I didn’t say a thing. I was still trying to process what the hell was happening.

“Don’t worry, this is just a surprise inspection of Kuroe facilities.” The man reassures me.

I sigh with relief, and also fear. Our entire facility is an absolute mess at the moment. The energy from Kuroe 228922, the black hole powering this installation, has been drastically lowering for the past few months, and none of the other scientists know why. This trip to the airlock was supposed to be a break from that reality, but now we have this man inspecting us?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“S-sure, right this way!” I stutter. I couldn’t try anything against this guy. If anything went even slightly wrong between us, he would’ve had me killed. I have nothing else I can do other than bring him to the generator, and try to warn my colleagues on the way.

As he followed me out of the staff only area, I grabbed a communication device in my pocket and clicked it, making sure to keep it hidden. I was trying to tell the generator team about this situation in Morse code in hopes that they could do something while this man and I traveled there.

We made our way to the main area of quadrant II, where many civilians were gathered. Of course, many people eyed us while we used a conveyor to cross the area. I got more and more nervous, and tried to rush both of us out of the main area as quickly as possible.

The door exiting the main area opened, and the inspector and I passed through. The area we were in now was a series of hallways, break rooms, lockers, and other rooms that served as a sort of separation between the public area and the private area only accessible to scientists. Civilians still weren’t allowed in this area, but the separation area makes it easier to keep them out of the private sector.

“Ah.” I said as I spotted another scientist on our way to the generator. Luckily, he was lower ranking than me. “Inspector, this young man right here will guide you to the generator, I’m afraid my duties are of the utmost importance. I hope you are satisfied with your stay.” I say, trying to sound as articulated as possible, but I think I just sounded like an idiot.

I attempted to rush off to my “duties” before the other scientist could ask anything, but the inspector suddenly said “No, you guided me all this way, and there aren’t many things more important than an inspection. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are not ranked high enough to handle those ‘duties’, right?”

I cursed under my breath. “Why yes of course!” I said, feigning ignorance. “Sorry, it has been quite a while since the last inspection, apologies for my lapse of judgment. I would be happy to escort you to the control center and introduce you to this installation’s command.”

“Thank you.” the inspector said to me, then turned toward the other scientist and said “You may go.”, prompting him to scurry away. The inspector turned to face me. His eyes looked down on me, the amber color amidst the darkness of his face like a lighthouse in the dead of night. “So. The control room? Bring me there quickly, the inspection depends on this.”

“Y-yes, right this way!” I uttered, by voice cracking.

I began quickly walking down the hallway towards the control center of the generator, the inspector following on my heels.