Fantasy Vs Reality | The Withering

13: A Distasteful Leader

When you don't remember, think about Y. It holds the knowledge you seek.

~~

The next day, just a couple hours before the hyper jump to Sector T, Kay spent her time wondering the hallways with Storm. She learned about the various jobs available on the ship. As they had been listed off, one of the jobs that seemed both the easiest and least stressful was working in the cargo bay. 

As the two felines went down another familiar elevator and the doors opened, Kay found herself staring into a large, spacious area with what she figured were small spacecrafts. There were about a dozen of them on the ship, and they were bigger than she-

-didn't remember.

Kay blinked a few times as more memories flashed through her mind. One of them was just slow enough she could catch it. Her eyes widened as she watched through someone else's eyes at the scene in front of her. The lights were out on the ship, there was a green stranger among them...

S̵̝͙̒̕e̴̡̛͉̎̈́̑̃ń̷̗̞̟̔͒͝͠s̷͈̏̋o̴̭͌́̊r̵̬̓̀̌͝

The image was gone just as fast as it came, but Kay held onto it as if it were life or death. 

Storm must've noticed something was up, because she was staring at Kay with concern, "Are you alright?"

Kay needed a moment to gather her thoughts. She felt like she had been... taken from her own current body and placed in another for a brief time. Once the feeling subsided, Kay looked up to Storm with hope in her bright yellow eyes, "I... I think I remembered something!"

Storm's face lit up, "Really? What was it? What do you remember?"

"I remembered... this ship... but," Kay thought for a moment, "It was dark, the lights were out. We were trying to be sneaky... and there was this little green fellow... I think his name was... Sensor?"

The reaction Kay got was not the reaction she expected. Storm's face grew stone still, like she was reliving a memory of her own. She closed her eyes and then opened them again after a moment, "Well, Sensor is an actual person, and he works in the Cargo Bay as well. You'll get to meet him there."

Storm ushered Kay onward as they walked across the long Docking Bay. They went through a small door that opened up to a very tall, large warehouse. Boxes were stacked so high it hurt to crane Kay's neck up that far. They came in all different shapes, colors, sizes... some even glowed.

"Gavin should be around here somewhere..." Storm mumbled, "GAVIN ARE YOU THERE?"

Kay winced at the volume of Storm's voice. She was so used to the almost whispery soft voice that she always used, and didn't know that she could yell that loudly. Kay suddenly wondered if she could do the same with her own voice. She'll try it later if the need arises.

A few moments after Storm yelled, a figure from high above slowly came hovering down on a strange looking panel. The figure turned out to be a strange hyena with what looked like green body paint on his fur in particular patterns. He looked grumpy and ready to punch something.

His voice was gruff and didn't seem like it was used very much, "I'm assuming you're bringing this transient here for a reason Storm?"

Kay felt slightly offended, she wasn't a transient! Was she?

"I brought her here to be useful, Gavin." Storm said, her voice full of sudden spite, "She just wants to get the job done and be done with her day. If it doesn't go well, I'll just move her to a different location alright?"

Gavin stared Kay up and down critically. He didn't say anything for a long while until he finally huffed, "Fine, but if I find out she's done a single thing wrong, it's off to the Captain with her. Bring her to Charlie, he'll give her more to do. I'm busy right now."

Without anything else to say, Gavin floated silently back up into the depths of the warehouse. Kay grimaced when he disappeared from earshot, "I don't like him, Storm..."

"Neither do I, but I still tolerate him." Storm hissed, "Now come on, I'm getting you to Charlie so he can give you some things to do."

*     *     *

Charlie was alright. He was loud and grumpy but Kay didn't find him nearly as intolerable as Gavin. He was clear with what needed to be done and the work was fairly easy. The only things Kay really struggled at was lifting the heavier boxes. Despite the struggle, she was able to get everything done that was requested of her the first day. 

She didn't see the green kid named Sensor though, he must've been somewhere else while she worked.

Kay had gone back to a bedroom she had been given to call her own for the time being when a female voice came on over the intercoms. Elva was her name?

"The ship is getting ready to commence hyper jump to Sector T in 5 minutes. Get strapped in and wait for the ship to re-stabilize. You know the drill, Elva out."

The hyper jump was nowhere nearly as scary as it was the first time. Sure, Kay still had butterflies from it, but she knew what to expect the moment the jump happened. She was strapped in and focused on just breathing for the brief moment the ship felt like it was stretching.

Once it was over, Kay unbuckled and decided to go explore. She was a bit hungry and wanted to find something to snack on before dinner. Finding the kitchen shouldn't be too hard could it?

It was safe to say she got lost very quickly.

She managed to go down some corridor that was not familiar to her. As she walked down the hallway, it seemed to grow darker and smaller. Fear began to tingle at the edge of her consciousness, but something made her press on.

As she walked onward, it soon became too dark to see. She could've swore she learned somewhere that cats could see in the dark, but she guessed she was wrong by the fact she couldn't see anything in front of her nose. She reached out and felt the walls on both sides of her. As she felt, she bumped into something hard in front of her. 

Blinking, she found herself suddenly staring out of what looked like a window. She was watching figures from some unknown area. They were talking. Despite being on the other side of a window and being far away, she heard them as if they were right next to her.

She recognized some figures as Storm, Marcus, and the same little green fellow. They were with a few others. The lights were out on the ship and fear was pricked into Storm's green eyes.

She was shakily holding onto what looked like a pistol, and she was wearing a strange, but familiar space suit. She followed behind Marcus. When Marcus spoke to her, it sounded as if she were new to the crew. As if she had no idea what she was doing.

But that couldn't be right, because Storm had mentioned to Kay she had been on the ship for over a year now... and this took place only a few months ago... how did she know that? 

As Kay looked closer, she began to notice just how different she was acting. Storm was acting nothing like her usual, confident self.

In fact, she reminded Kay a lot of herself for some reason.