An Imposter Among Us

22: The Day I Reunite Only to be Separated

Genesis (1st-person POV)

To my surprise, I woke up.

I was on the floor of the airlock chamber, the first thing I saw being a large pile of crates blocking my way into storage. My chest rose and fell, taking in air. Sweet, precious air.

My crewmates had done it. They fixed the oxygen supply. Which meant that maybe they were still alive.

That thought spurred me to a stand, though my body wasn't quite ready for it. My head spun, still not quite screwed on right from my trip outside and the too-long moment of suffocation as I came back in.

"Hey," I said through the helmet's comm channel. "Jericho? Elara? Astrid?"

"Genesis?" Elara said. "Is that you? You're alive?"

I collapse against the pile of crates, overcome by gratitude. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Shut up," Elara replied, though her own voice was choked up. "We're in comms. Where are you?"

Right now I don't care who's listening in. "The airlock chamber, but I'm blocked in right now. How's everyone else?"

"I'm here," Jericho said quietly. My skin prickles at the silence that follows.

A part of me knows there's no point in asking, but out of a surge of denial I do anyway. "Astrid?"

"She's gone," Elara replied. "She sacrificed herself for us, and to take out Ceres."

I purse my lips to swallow back a lump. "Why did she have to do that? Why do people have to keep dying?"

"Captain, we can still turn this around. We'll get you out of there, and then it's the three of us against Zaniah. No one else on the Skeld has to die, not even our enemy if we do this right."

"Okay," I replied, but really I wasn't. So many of us were dead. All of it could have been avoided if I had not been so caught up in finally leading a mission. If I had looked closer at the stupid safety PDF, if I had paid more attention, connected more of the dots before we launched, I would've seen that the whole mission was a scam, a set-up by the superiors I thought had genuinely changed their mind when they told me they did.

All this tragedy was my fault. The lives of Astrid, Pollux, Graham, Maeng, Stella, and even Ceres would forever rest on my shoulders, and their ghosts would never leave me until I became one myself, whether this mission would end as a success or not.

But no matter what happened, I would not rest until I found out why. Why Nareem set me up, why the Conclave was so determined to sabotage the Polus Initiative.

"We're on our way, Captain. Hang tight."

I took my helmet completely off and let it fall to the ground. My body was still clenched up, my head still throbbing and my limbs beyond weak, from the suffocation. Never before had I come so close to death, not even when Zan prodded me with her blade or when Ceres had aimed his handgun at my head in navigation. I couldn't quite process either of those moments, but here, coming from the infinite, high-pressure expanse of space, I wanted nothing more than to curl up and hide myself from the universe that had been so close to sucking the life out of me.

Shuffling came from behind me. Then straining as one of the crates slid out, shifting all the others. I stood slowly and tried to push against the two crooked crates blocking my way, but they refused to budge until Elara and Jericho started helping.

They pulled the top crate away, revealing themselves in their helmeted white space suits. But a part of me was convinced Zaniah was among them, pretending to be one while already having kidnapped or killed the other.

"Take off your helmets," I told them, mimicking the action with my hands. "I want to make sure it's really you guys."

They both did, and I relaxed a bit. Only to have the hot knife of guilt driven into me knowing they were the only ones left. Jericho's face was stained with streaks of both blood and tears. Elara's expression was neutral, but her eyes were more distant than usual.

Would we ever move on from this? Would we be terrible people if we did?

We all worked together to slide the bottom crate away. Once I came out of the chamber, my legs tingled and lost all feeling. Two pairs of arms caught me by mine before I collapsed completely. Keeping our eyes sharp (well, not so much Elara), they supported me as we headed to communications.

They set me in the central chair, then backed away to watch the door.

"So where's Zaniah?" I asked them. "Do you know?"

"Navigation. She's been trying to turn the ship around."

So I wasn't just delirious when I thought the airlock chamber was tilting. "Okay. We need to stop her, then."

Elara nodded slowly. Jericho wrapped his arms around himself and slid to the ground. "Just...go on without me. I won't be helpful."

"Jericho," Elara said softly. "I...we have to fix this before we're all dead."

"Elara, Astrid dying was my fault. I did nothing when she pulled herself and Ceres down. How can I live with that?"

"You can live knowing that you avenged her."

"I wouldn't have to avenge her if I wasn't so in shock. I could've done something, and maybe she would still be here."

Jericho pressed his palms into his eyes. "Just...do it. Find Zan, end this. But I won't be any help."

"We're not leaving you behind," Elara said. "The last thing I'm doing is leaving one—or both of you—alone for Zan to ambush. No one else on this ship is dying today. Not under my watch."

She crouched and poked Jericho, then held out her hand. He did nothing but stare at it until he finally took it and allowed himself to be hauled up.

"Okay," Jericho said, his voice still weak. "How are we going to do this, exactly?"

"Captain?" Elara asked me.

"We should just...jump her. All of us at once. She can't think to overcome us that way. She might even surrender right then and there."

Elara nodded. "Sounds good. Are we all still armed?"

Jericho shook his head, looking down at his empty but blood-stained hands. My frostbitten fire extinguisher was left in the chamber. Elara didn't even have her cane.

"Jericho, I don't suppose you—"

"No," he answered flatly.

"Okay. Maybe we can just...pick something up on the way."

Elara sighed and took Jericho's arm. "Come on."

I jumped in front of them and led the way to navigation. We stopped at every corner and took our time slowly peering down the coming hallways.

"If she's smart, the door will be shut," Elara said. "I can hack in, though."

I nodded once, in time with Jericho. "We'll watch your back."

We arrived in front of navigation without any trouble, but the door was open. I took the first step across the doorway, Jericho quickly switching his gaze between both ends of the hall and oxygen while I ventured cautiously into the dark room.

I froze when I saw the top of Zan's curls hovering over the top of the central chair. I straightened up.

"It's over, Zaniah. It's three against one."

Zaniah's fingers drummed on the desk. Then, without warning, the door hissed shut behind me, Elara and Jericho still on the other side. Instead of banging hopelessly on the door like I had made a habit of doing on this ship, I turned around to face Zan as she stood and faced me.

"Actually, it's one-on-one," she said coolly, sliding out a blade from behind her back. "And only one of us will come out alive."