Parasite (on hold)

chapter 5

–Damien–

opening the familiar metal door of the locker, I was greeted by the sight of my cocoon.

The humans had yet to find it, meaning I still could dispose of the evidence, the only question is how.

looking around the shower room I found no clear way of cleaning up this mess. I needed to prevent them from learning anything else about my kind, or at least delay it until I had the upper hand over the situation. 

if the dead human wasn't proof enough of our existence on this ship then the cocoon those men found in the vents was. they now know for sure that one of us is among them, it would be in my best interest to keep them from discovering another.

Aris managed to obtain samples from the other imposter's cocoon for research purposes, which might lead to the humans finding out more about us as well, but that would be something I would have to deal with later.

For now I need to focus on this.

scavenging around the locker room I managed to find a plastic bin –a trash can as they call it– that gave me an idea. Humans cannot live within their own waist and filth so where do they dispose of their trash? 

sparing a brief glance to my cocoon I shut the locker door and proceeded to make my way out of the shower room. 

walking around the ship I passed by Dax and an engineer working with some sort of handheld device and a panel on the wall. 

out of genuine curiosity I stopped and moved out of sight to listen and watch them as they talked. 

“This relay should give us control over the main ship's functions remotely, if it works… It will lessen everyone's burdens and we won't have to do everything manually. let's test the lights first–”

they tapped a few buttons on the device and the lights in the hall we were in flickered on then off. “Now the doors…” another button and the nearby door automatically shut.

“perfect! it still needs a bit more work but this thing will be a lifesaver!” Dax exclaimed.

 Ivan smiled and nodded “glad I could help, I could probably make three of these with the parts we have on the ship but I only have a ranged sensor for one, this will be like a master key that could work from anywhere, but the other two will have to be used while in close proximity of one of these relays.”

“That's fine, this already is a massive game changer for us. I'll go let the captain know the good news.” Dax responded before thanking Ivan again and walking off. 

I eyed the device in Ivan's hand thinking of all the possibilities. having most of the ship's controls at the palm of my hand? That was a dangerous power, a power I needed.

I couldn't possibly pass up on an opportunity like this, that device alone would give me the upper hand, making it easier for me to go unnoticed, but how do I get it? should I kill the engineer here and now then just take it? no one is around, no one is watching… 

as if on cue a door down the hall opened and two others passed through chatting as they walked down the hall towards us. 

hissing under my breath I moved away from my hiding place and strode past, as though I was going about my business without sparing the engineer even a glance. I would have to wait to get the device later.  

—---hours later—---

night had fallen as people started turning in for the night. There were only a couple of people going about their business still and a few chatting while sitting around in the Cafe. I had yet to find an opportunity to obtain the device Ivan had been working on earlier, nor a way to dispose of my cocoon, so instead I decided to bide my time by patrolling around the ship.