The Imposter Among Us

Chapter 2

Takeoff had gone without a hitch, thankfully. Oscar could admit he was a bit nervous. It was his first launch in 3 years and he had been late. That seemed like a recipe for disaster but his crew seemed to know what they were doing. Oscar felt a weight lift off his shoulders as they left the atmosphere and started the one month journey.

Since then, the mission seemed to be going perfectly, which made room for his mind to wander off into conspiracy territory. Robbie apparently needed to speak with a defense officer before leaving. Why was that? What did she need? Their mission was supposed to be a peaceful delivery mission, so why was security so important? Oscar didn't know. The chances are he was being silly anyways, but he couldn't shake the thought that something sinister was brewing just below the surface.

Oscar was knocked out of his thought spiral by a knock. He swiveled in his chair to find a person in the yellow suit standing in the doorframe. They had short blonde hair and a black belt tied around their head like they were trying to mimic some old ninja movie. Oscar stood to greet them.

"Erica Tarantino. He/she. Nice to meet you!" She said, holding out her hand.

Oscar gladly took it, "Oscar Khan. He/him," he replied. "How can I help you?"

He racked his brain for what Erica's job was. He recognized the name, her files had two names on them, which was memorable, but that's about all Oscar could remember.

"Yeah uh, so I've been like... pretty bored since I don't have much to do at the moment and I was wondering if you need any help?"

"Yeah... and you do... general maintenance?" Oscar asked, taking a guess.

Erica chuckled and said. "God! I hope I don't present so unprofessionally that I'm downgraded that far!" He exclaimed, clutching his heart overdramatically.

"I'm so sorry! It's hard to keep track of who does what at the beginning," Oscar admitted, trying to hide his blushing.

"General maintenance is Becca. I'm the nuclear scientist." Erica stated, matter-of-factly. There wasn't anything mean about her tone, but Oscar couldn't help but feel bad.

"Well then Ms. Nuclear Scientist Erica," he said, hoping to make light of the situation, "what do people need help with. Hm."

"Well that is what I asked," she said, punctuating it with a curt awkward laugh.

Oscar picked up his tablet from where it had been balancing precariously on a computer next to him and opened it up. He scrolled through the logs and tapped his chin. Everyone seemed to be on task and doing fine.

"If you could watch the map for me while I duck out, that would be helpful," he offered. It wasn't much but hopefully it would give Erica something to do.

She shrugged and sat down in a chair by the large computer table. "Sure. I'll message you if anything exciting happens." She said, adding quietly under her breath, "which I have my doubts about."

Oscar elected to ignore the comment and instead gave him a quick, hopefully genuine looking smile before stepping out of admin and into the hallway.

He had wanted to check in on some people anyways, so this gave him a good chance. First thing was first, he walked up through the cafeteria over to where the Medbay was located.

Medbay was a medium sized room for a spaceship with a large scanner in the corner and various other medical equipment. There were also a handful of cots attached to the wall using flexible steel cables. Bent over a rack of test tubes was a tall man in a pink spacesuit. Dr. Hayes Harvard. He looked no different from the last time Oscar had seen him with his stupidly perfect medium-dark skin and his buzzed hair and his bright pink eyes that could only be the work of enhancers.