An Imposter Among Us

12: Moment of Safety

Astrid (3rd-person POV)

"I don't understand why we're trusting her word anyway," Astrid said, tossing the tablet onto the nearest empty gurney, its side splashed with Jericho's blood. "For all we know, she could keep us here until she gets in through the vent and kills both of us."

"Again: why do you believe Captain Genesis is the killer?" Jericho asked, leaning against the still-sealed medbay doors. The thin gap sported faint dents from Jericho's very aggressive use of a metal tray to try and pry their way out.

"Okay, let's start from the beginning. Genesis may not have been taking a nap when Maeng was killed. With no one watching, she could very well have snuck out and made her move."

Jericho nodded in a way that suggested he did not understand at all. "But what about Zaniah? Genesis wouldn't have made it past her if the bunks connect to comms."

"Zaniah could have been anywhere, like in the bathroom."

He opened his mouth to keep arguing, then closed it. "What about Stella?"

"Genesis sent me a message telling me to come to admin, but when I got there the room was empty. Stella also received a message, thinking I sent it, though I didn't."

"So...Genesis messaged you to draw you away from the crime scene, and she messaged Stella to draw her in."

"Yes, and—" Astrid's breath caught as she looked at Stella's body covered by a bloodstained white sheet, laying perfectly still on a middle gurney. "She did it. She must have."

"Alright." Jericho pushed himself off the wall, towards her. "So Genesis could have been responsible for both deaths, but what about her not letting Stella be ejected? She said she wouldn't make the same mistake with her as she did Graham, and it looked like she meant it."

"It could have been an act. She has a degree in theater and everything. She could simply have been playing the part of someone noble and moralistic to get us to trust her."

"How do you know—?"

"She has an MIT diploma under her bed."

"And why are you—?"

"Because I've been paranoid! Now do you believe me or not?"

Jericho sighed. "I don't know. I mean, it could still be anyone."

"Well...anyone except you and me, right?"

He looked up and met Astrid's eyes, and for the first time he gave her a genuine—albeit fleeting—smile. "Yeah. I guess."

"Good. At the very least we can trust each other, so I think we should stick together from now on."

He nodded. For a moment Astrid allowed herself to relax. To feel safe, at least a little bit, for the first time since she boarded this ship.

"But we can't just sit here," Jericho said. "The killer—Genesis—will probably try and get back in through the vents and finish us off."

"Then we have to prepare." Astrid steeled herself against a fresh spike of pain at her forehead and pulled the cooling box of blood bags directly over the vent. "Find us some weapons."

Jericho pushed himself off the wall and poked around the place, stopping first at the cabinets below the fume hood.

"What kind of medbay is this?" he muttered. Five or six jugs of liquid sported an unsettling number of warning labels. "I'm pretty sure hydrochloric acid isn't used in medicine."

"It's not." Astrid crossed the room—withering at the sight of Stella, her eyes open and glazed over—and crouched beside Jericho.

Jericho took one of the jugs and spun it by the handle. "They're not unused, either. Were they here when we arrived?"