Vinn barged, then layed the guns on the table.
“Pumpernickel, what’s the plan?” He huffed.
“We have to get everyone into the bridge. If that thing can get out of a sealed and welded airtight prison cell, it can get out of a bridge easily, but THEY can’t. So if it stays in their body, it’s trapped. If it leaves their body, then we know they’re our friends, and that it’s loose, but they’re at least free and safe. It wouldn’t return to a caged body that can’t leave. According to scans, there’s only 6 living entities on the ship. The 5 of us and the damn snail. So it can't be duplicating itself."
“Are we fighting a literal demon?”
“Vinn, I don’t know, probably a metaphorical one. A personal demon. I know you think I always have the answers, and on Delmar I usually do, but these are the black zones of deep space. We don’t know what’s out here.”
“SHIT!”
“I hate to suggest this on mission one, but if we can isolate the host body, we may have to just vent them into the black hole and clone them back.”
“You can’t vent Nicole. She doesn’t clone right, even with home technology and better lab gear, no offense but you screwed that up by one percent last time and she ended up different. So did Hyde, and you had to kill him. Vicki isn’t a guarantee either with hybrid DNA. Yeah, it worked the first 2 times as far as we know, but every time? And I’m even a small risk myself, my eyes weren’t the same after one clone.”
“What are you getting at, Vinn? Just say it.”
“It’s gotta be you or Jack. You’re the only ones that clone back perfectly every time, and you know it. One of you has to get vented.”
“Unfortunately, I agree in that situation, but we don’t know how this thing works yet. We know it causes doubt and identity crisis and it can somehow get out of that containment without breaking the welds. That’s about it.”
...
Jack and Vicki sat in the bridge as Nicole entered.
“What now?” Jack asked.
“Now I let you out.”
“We shot Gizzy.” Jack reminded. “You wanna forgive us?”
“You shot something. Vicki said she was attacked by the Snail, but who checked the security footage to say she never fell in? Gizzy. Who claims the cloning machine didn’t even run…Gizzy. Jack, you said the welds were broken, were they broken?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
“Who inspected the welds and said they were fine? She took 4 rounds from a military rifle to the chest and didn’t flinch. Now Gizzy may not be human, technically, but her body is, so that should have dropped her. Unless she was something that didn’t know what Gizzys do when they’ve been shot.” Nicole concluded.
“You’re saying you believe us, and that thing is mimicking Gizzy…so where is Gizzy?”
“Dead? Tied up? Who knows.” Nicole said dropping the field and handing them both rifles. “But wherever she is that’s not her. Aim for the head.” She said storming out ahead of them as they tried to follow. They split directions and went after their target.
...
Vicki noticed the lights flicker, her first concern being that The Imposter was the culprit, but she calmed herself and then realized the other likely scenario was that Candice was loose again. She grabbed her gun and headed down to the engine room…just feeling that it was right for some reason.
...
Nicole turned the stairs into the cargo bay, checking the room just as the lights went out. She turned every direction, realizing nobody else was around. She looked down and stared at the knuckles on the containment box, which looked welded shut. She checked the security cam and noticed Gizzy in there, chained up and mouth taped.
“Shit, how do I get this open?” she muttered.
“You don’t. Drop the gun.” Said Gizzy’s voice. She lifted her hands and noticed a rifle pointed at her. “Nobody opens that box till we get to the destination, Captain.”
“You’re The Imposter.”
“You’re hallucinating. You looked at the security camera, didn’t you? Every time someone looks at that thing, they lose their composure. It’s like the Syndrome only affects you when you notice it, if ignored, the side effect wears off.”
“Then why is it tied and gagged, unless that’s Gizzy in there?”
“Right, so I’m the Imposter, I can pass through solid steel, and then somehow get HER through solid steel. Think about it, the welds aren’t broken, nobody can cut them open, let alone repair them that quickly, he’s still in the box, Nicole.
“Then why is the power out?”
...
Vinn snuck down the halls, carrying the keys to Candice’s tank. He turned the corner and spotted Jack. Before he could say a word, Jack fired a round and he ducked behind the doorway.
“Don’t move you son of a bitch.” He barked.
“Jack it’s me!” Vinn hollered. Jack chuckled, hearing Gizzy’s voice say it instead of Vinn.”
“I know it’s you. Let’s play a game.”
“Game night is Wednesdays now.” Vinn said, taking the gun off safety and returning fire.
“Gizzy’s a damn deadshot, that’s rookie shooting, asshole. Ever used one before?”
“Jack, if you’re trapped in there, I’m sorry, but you have to die.” Vinn said firing a few rounds and ducking back into the room.
...
Nicole suddenly took on a look for horror, walking past Gizzy as if she wasn’t there.
“Hello?” she hollered.
“Nicole, respond!” she ordered. She didn’t blink. “Can you hear or see me?” Gizzy asked as she began nervously grabbing her gun and running off.
“I WILL SHOOT YOU! STOP!” Gizzy yelled. “DAMNIT. You don’t even know I’m here.” She said, accessing the handheld systems and trying to shut off the containment boxes internal camera. Access denied.
...
Vicki crawled over the conduit pipes and directly into a wet spot. She smelled her hand.
“Fuel… I can’t fire in here; I’ll kill everyone.” She said, switching to a knife and looking for the source of the leak. Without warning her foot pulled sharply, dragging her into a tight jam near the gap in the pipes. Her heart raced and the moment she felt the wet grip of a tentacle, she lost her composure, dropping her gun and knife. The flashlight provided no help as she screamed for it, getting pulled harder. She wasn’t sure if her leg would pull off before the pipe moved. Wet muscle grabbed her wrist and pulled the light away, then another one grabbed her remaining elbow, and another around her throat. Vicki struggled silently trying to breathe as it coiled tighter like a python, stretching her limbs almost to the breaking point. She could feel her vertebrae starting to pop and move apart as her legs went numb and her neck compressed.
...
Nicole walked in the dark, tears in her eyes, trying the coms again. “Someone please help me.” She whimpered, seeing no signs of life on the scanner screen. She could hear footsteps. Looking back she saw nothing, but she could hear it approaching. She fired at the void, and a breath of cold air echoed past her. She sprinted, running for anything, anywhere. Feeling alone and hunted.
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...
Vinn, checked his magazine count.
“Running out of ammo in that handgun? I got twice the capacity you do. Step out, throw the gun.”
“Fuck that.” He said closing the door and trying to remember where he installed a divider wall last month. Fake plastic stone texture, he horse-kicked at the vinyl, seeing it flex and knowing it wasn’t stone. He fired a few shots, kicking his way through and out the back of the room. He turned the corner, and was relieved to see Nicole running his way.
“HELP!” She shouted, as Gizzy darted behind her and grabbed her around the arms. Nicole screamed in terror, fighting the emptiness as Gizzy ducked gunfire,
“Let go of my wife you bastard.”
“Vinn it’s me, I’m helping.”
“Let her go.” He ordered.
“If I let her go she’ll just run.” Nicole lifted her head up smiling oddly. “Yes I will, and none of you can stop me.” She chuckled demonically.
“She’s The Imposter. Gizzy, she’s the thing. It’s inside Nicole!” He barked.
“How do you know?”
“That’s not my wife.” He said darkly as Nicole heard his words echo through the hallway and his gun lowered to her.
“Vinn, you’re pointing a gun at me.” She sobbed, cut to the core as she realized maybe it wasn’t Vinn at all.
“Stop struggling.” Whispered Gizzy, with zero response from Nicole. She dropped to her knees, watching Vinn approach her and take out prisoner restraints.
“Vinn, don’t do this.” She begged.
“I’m putting you in that box.” He said.
“Bullshit, we can’t even open the box. This isn’t The Imposter, it’s Nicole, he’s just controlling her mind. If you open the box to put her IN, you let him OUT!” Gizzy tried to explain. “That’s what he wants. He wants control, he wants out.”
...
Jack rounded the corner, ready to kill Gizzy as he heard Vicki screaming bloody murder. He turned around and followed the screams to the cloning tank where Vicki was curled up in a ball, naked and frantic.
“I’m here, what happened?” He asked as she just curled up and sobbed, unable to respond or think, the feeling of dying and waking up in the tank over and over like some personal hell.
Vinn and Gizzy entered the room as Jack blindly pointed the rifle behind him in their direction.
“We have you cornered Jack. If we fire, we hit you AND Vicki, and you can’t hit us both. Lower the gun.” Gizzy ordered.
“You’ve been letting that thing out to hunt her this entire time, haven’t you?” he growled, looking up with rage in his eyes.
“Jack, Candice got out before we had the prisoner onboard. Once, and she didn’t hurt anyone. That doesn’t make sense. Why would I let it out if I was still me, and The Imposter wasn’t even on the ship yet? THINK soldier, think of the order of operations. It got out one time, due to faulty bolts, it never got out a second time.”
“Look at her!” He yelled. “That thing has killed my wife twice and you won’t even put it down. You want it loose.
“Why? Why would I want it loose? Why would it specifically target Vicki, who is the only one afraid of it? Check the tank, it’s still in there, Vinn even went to make sure and check.”
“Then maybe he let it out.” Jack accused.
“We’re not both Imposters, Jackass, and look at Vicki, her clothes are torn off. If she was cloned back she wouldn’t have any. She tore them off fighting an imaginary monster to complete the delusion.”
“Vinn, you’ve got your wife cuffed. You’re not Vinn.”
“Maybe he’s not Jack.” Vinn said shouldering the gun and stepping to the side for a clear shot.
“Vinn what are you doing?” Gizzy asked.
“He put her in there like that so we’d find her and think she was killed and cloned. He’s using Vicki to set you up. Jack would never do either. If I get a clear shot, I can take him out without hitting Vicki. The Imposter dead, we clone another Jack, just like we said.
“Vinn, that is not the plan, there’s nothing INSIDE Jacklike a physical parasite, he’s just losing his mind. It wants you to shoot the cloning machine. We only have one of those! Nobody is the goddamn Imposter HE’S STILL IN THE BOX YOU ASSHOLES!” She said frustrated. “THINK!" She yelled. "Every one of you is trying to get someone into that box and the box is still welded shut. It wants us to open the box; that’s the entire point. It’s trapped and we’re gonna kill his ass, but if anyone opens that box we’re all dead, and he has a ship, weaponry, and the list. If he takes over, the story is over. Jack, pick up your wife, Vinn, pick up yours. We’re all going to the bridge together and none of us are leaving.”
“And we’ll be there till we die,” Vicki sobbed. “Because the engines are leaking fuel and we’re not moving. That beast is down there, we can’t go back in.” She whimpered.
“The ship is electric.” Vinn said calmly. “There’s no fuel leak because there’s no fuel. We had the combustion system swapped out for antimatter when we first took off. The Imposter doesn’t know that. These ships are standard starships fueled. Vicki there’s nothing down there.
“What do you bet she killed the power fighting off the monster that wasn’t there?” Sighed Gizzy. “If she shot that engine to shit, we’re dead in the water.”
“I used a knife.” She said, "I dropped my gun.”
“Well thank spacechrist for panic fumbling, because we can rewire a knife gash. Jack, can you reconnect a power cable?”
“Why don’t you repair it?” he asked suspiciously.
“Because I’m the sanest one of the group and acting captain while fucking Wednesday Adams here is too delirious to lead, and only I can be trusted to prep the box for ejection.”
“Why are you so immune to it?” Vinn asked.
“I’m the only one with a computer for a brain. That’s probably why I can’t see it in the box. Maybe it has no visible form. Whatever is affecting your organic brains isn’t affecting my hardware. Jack, your ranking officer is giving you an order and your crew depends on you. Get your ass down there, or I WILL shoot you. If we all die, we all die, but you’re the easiest to clone because you’re just 100 percent unaltered corn-fed human meat. So if I can’t trust you, I’ll kill you, and clone you back when I can, after there’s no mind control prisoner making you a liability. Don’t make me shoot you, I’ll memory cone every damn one of you, and you’ll never know I did it. Just give me a reason to do this the hard way.” She snarled, eyes glowing in the dim light.
“I bet you would do that.” He said, standing up.
“Bet your ass I would. I’d kill you to save everyone, including you. And I’d sleep that night knowing we’re all alive because I did. Vinn, take the tape off of Nicole’s mouth. Captain Evee Nicole Alekseev, are you with us?”
“I’m okay. I’m back.” She said nodding.
“And you understand exactly what I’m saying and why…do you agree as Captain of the ship that I am correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then take the gun, make sure Jack doesn’t sabotage something. If he does, we all die, if you have to shoot him, we’ll bring him back. Your life is more valuable than his, and fixing the power is the mission. Is that clear?”
“I’ve never killed anyone before, and it’s Jack.”
“Right now it’s not Jack driving, he’s just along for the ride. You’re the Captain, we trust you, can you lead this ship, Captain?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Then take the gun, and move his ass to the basement.”
“Okay.” She nervously said, taking the gun into her hands.
...
“No you can’t that thing is loose down there!” Vicki pleaded. “It’s not safe, she’s lying to all of us. Jack is your friend, she’s leading both of you to die.”
“Can you prep the shuttle bay to launch alone?” Vinn asked.
“I can…if there’s power to open the airlocks.” Gizzy said.
“I’ll go with them. Nicole, if you don’t trust Gizzy, trust me. Jack is not himself.”
“Well not to rush things…” Gizzy sighed, "But you got 35 minutes to do it, or we all die anyway.” She said checking her scanner.
“Why?” Nicole asked.
“Because ships don’t stop in space when the power dies, they just stop accelerating, and we’re pointed at a black hole going 80% cruising speed. We don’t have steering or thrusters to slow down. You may wanna fix that damn cable, Jack. If there’s a monster down there, handle it, soldier.” She said, grabbing Vicki and leading her with a gun top her back.
“Please don’t do something stupid.” She whispered.
...
Gizzy waited in the cargo bay, suited up and giving Vicki a helmet in case they had to vent too soon.
The power came back on, and the shuttle doors prepped for launch.
“Bout damn time something worked.” She said as the sound of a rifle powering up stopped her. “What now?” she asked turning to see Vinn holding Jack by the neck and pointing the rifle.
“That’s not my wife down there. Nicole is in the box.” He said.
“You looked at the security screen?” Gizzy whined.
“Why don’t you want me to look, because she’s in there, right?” he said as Gizzy diverted her eyes. “I don’t know if you’re the thing or just confused but I can’t let you hit that airlock, Gizzy.” He said sniffing back a tear. That’s my Nicole in there. I can’t lose her again. She doesn’t clone back the same, you know that. The copy is cuffed to the ladder. I’ll shoot you if you hit that button. And then I’ll make sure you don’t clone back.”
“Vinn your wife is down there, if I don’t hit the button, we all die. Your wife dies too. I’m hitting the button.”
“I’m aiming for the head.” He insisted. Jack suddenly hopped up and gave him a kick to the balls as Gizzy narrowly sidestepped the round and hit the button, opening the airlock, Vinn screamed and rushed her, ramming her into the wall as Jack pointed the gun at Vinn and debated on wether or not to shoot or let her fight. He gave a running leap onto Vinn’s back and choked him out as he tried to squeeze Gizzy’s skull flat. The doors shut and Vinn fell back on Jack, knocking him windless. He rushed to the doors watching the engines fire and slow the ship as the box fell into the black hole. He pounded the glass and punched wildly as the black hole suddenly flickered. Jack and Gizzy stood lost for words as they all stepped back, and the black hole turned cloudy and stormy, curling into a face.
“What have you done?” Vinn said to Gizzy. “You just made it stronger. You’ve killed all of us, you’ve killed the universe.” He said panicking.
“No, that can’t be right.” Gizzy said in shock, “Nothing could survive that. We didn’t have any other options, nothing kills The Imposter except forgetting it. What else were we going to do?" She barked as it glowed red and began swelling into a writing mass of stormclouds.
“I knew you sent us here to die all along!” Jack yelled, stepping to tackle her and collapsing, holding his chest.
“No, no no, this is bullshit!” Gizzy screamed. “Just die! You can’t be that strong! Just die!” She pounded. And suddenly she blinked, and there was silence. The void of the black hole exactly as it should be. “It’s not real.” She smiled. “Oh my god, it’s just giving us the hallucinogenic finger one last time. Is everyone coherent?”
“I think so.” Vinn said, looking confused. “Did I just lock my wife in the basement?” He asked, rushing to the hallway to get her. Gizzy un-taped Vicki’s mouth.
“What happened?” Vicki asked.
“Not a damn thing. We captured The Imposter, threw him in the black hole as planned and he never left the box. Everything else we did to ourselves.”