Outlast

02 | Double

Air. Air was the first thing Dylan thought of. Gasping for oxygen, he shot up straight from what had obviously been a dream. March 31st, It had been exactly 3 years since the beginning of their journey and they still haven't done anything interesting. But that was about to change. Dylan felt restless and tired. He decided to check the readings and have his daily sip of coffee. He grabbed the daily recordings and took a sip of freshly brewed coffee as he made his way to the main lobby which connected to the front of the ship. 'Hey Rich,' greeted Dylan as he comforted himself on the seat next to him on the helm.
'Morning Dylan, or uh is it um night? It's kind of confusing now.' Laughed Richard awkwardly as he dissolved into silence and back into the repair manual he was engrossed in.
'Yeah, I guess it would be morning right?' Assured Dylan as he presented his watch which read 8:41 am.
'Although I guess that would be our time at home' continued Dylan.
'Yeah, I wonder how everyone is doing right now?'
'Yeah.'
The following minute was an awkward silence which Dylan kind of enjoyed. Richard was an awkward guy, kind of shy. He liked those types of people, silent and weird but a blast to talk to and when they get into a topic they like, it's like they're a new person. Dylan realised this was the first time he had relaxed since the beginning of the trip. He smiled, but was interrupted by a knock on the window. He sat up straight and noticed a figure by the window.
'Who are you?' Dylan questioned through his radio, whilst looking out the window at him.
'It's Richard, just got back from repairing the intercom sat, doors locked.' Replied the man floating outside
Dylan looked to the right of him... He was sitting right there. Richard was right next to him, completely oblivious of the person outside.
Dylan turned back to the the window. 'Sorry, who?'
'It's Richard! Your ship's engineer!' He cried.
'Yeah, nice try bud. Richard is right next to me.' Dylan tried to play it cool; He was doing his best to hide the fact that he was starting to feel very scared and confused.
'Stop joking around Dylan! That's not me! There's no way I'm sitting next to you right now!' Pleaded the floating spaceman.
Dylan's face went from a smug to absolute terror. He was confused, and the Richard next to him was still silently reading a repair manual. He didn't seem to notice the conversation happening.
What the hell is happening. Dylan thought. He tried to stay calm. He went back to the radio.
Dylan cleared his throat 'um, please repeat your details.' He didn't know what he was saying anymore, he wanted to leave, go back to sleep. Sleep. That's it - Dylan thought. He was probably still asleep and he regained his confidence.
'I want to hear your personal details and ID Number.' He commanded.
'Richard Gruey, 32. Occupation as the Technical Engineer on flight Morpheus 7. ID number 16780' he
rehearsed comfortably. Dylan couldn't find any flaws, but he was still convinced that the Richard next to him was the real Richard. And he couldn't exactly ask the others for help either. They had night duty and were currently sleeping.
'Ok, Richard.' Remarked Dylan in a passive-aggressive tone. 'I'm going to check the repair logs and see the time of departure for the repair and time of return.' Richard nodded. Dylan shuffled around being careful not to disturb the still oblivious Richard next to him. He grabbed hold of the repair log folder and sure enough, there was a logged leave for the repair of the intercom satellite that commenced at 6:46 am but had been accomplished at 8:23 am.
'Hey Richard.' Blurted Dylan to which he immediately regretted. The Richard next to him was called to attention.
'Yeah?' He looked up. 'The hell... Who is that?'
The now alerted Richard went straight for the air lock switch and manually closed it. Now there was no chance of the Richard outside of getting in unless the door was physically opened from inside.
'Ok. Ok,' Dylan breathed heavily, he couldn't tell which one the real Richard was but his instinct told him it was the one outside. It was a gut feeling and he knew he probably should trust it but the question How? Kept on coming back to him.
There's no way there are two Richards right now and I'm still dreaming right? Thought Dylan.
'Don't open the door Dylan.' Richard's serious voice sounded way scarier than Dylan imagined.
Dylan retreated back a little. 'Umm what Richard?'
'I said, Don't open the door.'
Dylan felt unsure as to trusting either of them. He grabbed the radio
'Umm, how can you prove that's you Richard?'
'Really Dylan?! How am I supposed to do that, I just said my personal information. How can you not trust me!' The Richard outside started to get frustrated.
Dylan grabbed the control for the airlock door and opened it. He sprinted to the door and released the pressure.
'Dylan stop!' Richard stood up
'Sorry rich.' He closed the door, attached the safety rope to himself and released the second airlock to open the outer door. Suddenly the Richard outside came bolting in breathing heavily. They took a second and Richard took off his helmet revealing his short, dirty, blond hair. The door behind them was still closed.
'Thanks mate, I thought you were going to leave me out there' he said as he sighed in relief.
'No problem dude.' Dylan felt confident that this was the real Richard.
The noise was so loud that it surprised both of them. The door behind them opened to reveal a Richard ready to punch. He pushed Dylan out of the way and the Richard that came out from outside braced himself. Dylan hit the wall and the adrenaline shot through him again. He tried to stand up but the Richard that came from outside grabbed him and they ran inside the ship. The Richard from inside blocked the way however causing all three of them to fall over and stumble on the floor. What followed next was a fistfight that Dylan tried to get involved in but he had knocked his head on the lock which made him quite dizzy and light headed. He fell on the floor and crawled to the nearest wall, when he looked up he saw the two Richards in a violent brawl. The Richard from inside had a very bright and fresh bloody cut on his forehead which made it easy to distinguish the both of them. The assault continued and the inside Richard threw outside Richard on to the chair which made it kind of difficult for Dylan to see what exactly was happening as he lay helpless. The inside Richard made a final blow and and the environment calmed. All Dylan could hear was exhaustion and heavy breathing. Richard wiped the sweat dripping off his face and he grabbed the knocked out Richard and dragged him in front of Dylan.
'Dylan look at this closely ok.' He kneeled in front of the body and the blood dripped from his forehead as his sweat cascaded down his face. There was blood all over the three of them and Dylan had only just noticed the slash on his left fore arm. This is when Dylan concluded that he was not dreaming. He wouldn't feel this kind of pain in a dream otherwise. Richard continued his demonstration. He grabbed the unconscious Richard and ripped his face off. Dylan winced but when he looked back he saw a jumble of wires and mechanical parts.
'The son of a bitch was a robot.' Dylan mumbled.
'Yeah, I have no idea where it came from but I could tell immediately.' Exhaled Richard as he sat down on the greasy floor.
'How did you know?' Dylan asked starting to feel guilty.
'I'm an engineer and a qualified technician. No human being was that perfect. Not trying to be an eavesdropper but I heard your conversation with him.'
'It.' Dylan interrupted
'It and I noticed straight away its intentions and they way it moved.'
They both sighed heavily and looked at the mess they made. Glad that no one had died or was severely injured.
'Well we better clean this up.' Laughed Richard. Dylan was glad that Richard wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge against someone not trusting him.
'Yeah.' He replied. 'But first, let's get cleaned up.'
'Yeah, we'll talk about those robots later. Hopefully we didn't wake the others.' They both laughed and scrambled their way into the sick bay.