The Imposter Among Us

Chapter 1

Being late to launch was possibly the worst thing a spaceship captain could encounter. Sure, there was the occasional mutiny or space pirate, but being late to launch was the cause of all problems. Maybe. Oscar thought so, at least. He normally showed up early to avoid it, and he had this time, but he left something at his apartment and had to go back.

    It wasn't his fault. He was out of practice. Oscar hadn't been on a space mission in over a year, of course he would break his first rule and be late.

    As soon as Oscar's feet hit the ground, he was running. He positioned himself by the light train doors so he could be the first one out, and so he was. He pushed past a crowd of people waiting to get on and sprinted 3 blocks south passed the place with the really good stir fry. He took the stairs two at a time and fiddled with the key, quickly throwing his apartment door open.

    Immediately Oscar regretted not tidying up before he left. There were various forms and other notes and files scattered around his apartment, covering nearly every surface. There were also a few half emptied envelopes that probably contained things he needed. But no he just needed to focus on his ID.

    He started sorting quickly through everything, panic rising in his chest. Luckily for Oscar, he soon found it under a stack of papers on the coffee table and let out a relieved sigh.

It had been a long time since he needed a spaceship ID, and it was odd to see all the differences from his last one. The new grey streak in his hair made him look 30 years older than he was. He supposed that a whole new arm was different, but he'd gotten quite used to that one. A robot arm was cool. Grey hair was not.

    Then there was the title: Captain Oscar Khan. He liked the sound of that. He had always been Co-Captain Khan or 1st Mate Khan, but not anymore. He was in charge now.

    Speaking of now, Oscar needed to leave now. He glanced at his watch and felt his stomach drop. The crew was supposed to start arriving around five minutes ago.

Shit.

Oscar pocketed the ID card and rushed out of his apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him. He was going to be gone for two months and a break in would be the opposite of ideal. Like being late to his own launch which was going to be the cause of any and every bad thing to happen on the trip.

    He ran down the stairs and re-boarded the light train, standing near the doors while absentmindedly tapping his foot. He watched the stops go by with an uneasiness settling in his gut. Surely they wouldn't leave without the captain.... right?

    Soon enough, the stop Oscar was waiting for came up and he stepped out of the train, looking around for the staff entrance.

The Earthen Society of Space Travel Launch Site (or ESST for short) was a spacious campus filled with experimental labs, offices, hangars, and launch pads. It was the largest organization launching people out of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere, and Oscar was honored to be invited to launch a mission with them. He was not honored to run through their back roads to try and sneak into the right hangar without anyone realizing he was late.

If you thought about it, was he really late? He had been there earlier. He just had to leave for something. Surely that didn't make him late? Maybe it made him someone who liked excuses.

Eventually, Oscar found the right hangar (3A) and was able to slow down to a jog as the Skeld 3-10-5 came into view. It was one of the less magnificent ships that Oscar had been on, but it was under his jurisdiction. That was worth something at least.

Gathered by the Skeld's entrance was a group of people, likely the crew. Most of them stood around checking their phones, but a select few had opted to sit on the ground.