Loyalties (an Among Us fanfic)

2. Accused

I stepped on the scanner in Medbay, and the circular plate beneath my feet automatically glowed like emerald. A holographic disc travelled up my legs, and the large screen in front of me slowly displayed my information.

Green stood behind me, waiting for his turn. "The impostor's a part of the Uprising, huh?" he wondered aloud.

"I mean, that makes sense," I replied as the holographic disc reached my helmet. "The Skeld is one of the newest and most technologically advanced starships to date. They would definitely want it and all the information it has within its hull."

"And I think it's safe to say bad things will happen the second the impostor steals this ship," said Yellow from behind Green.

Yesterday, after discussing the existence of an impostor on the ship, Black proposed the idea that said impostor was a spy sent by the Uprising. The Uprising was the most powerful rebel group to oppose the Human Empire, which said something since rebel groups revolted against us on the daily. The Uprising was strong enough, but if the impostor got his or her hands on the Skeld, it would be a major advance for the rebel group. And we didn't want that to happen.

However, all twelve of us had been together ever since training. We knew each other like a group of friends, some like family. We were all verified candidates for these missions, so there couldn't have been a spy. Then, things got more serious when Commander White brought up aliens. There were reports that the Uprising had discovered a new organism on their hideout planet and had been experimenting with it. We all came to the possibility that somebody was being controlled by this alien species, which, in turn, was being controlled by the Uprising.

The thing was that nobody's attitude seemed to have changed at all recently. An alien parasite perfectly mimicking a human being's personality was definitely impressive. But that was why all of us were lined up at the Medbay scanner—to find out whose body this alien was hiding in.

And then, they would be ejected.

A lot of us protested against such an inhumane solution. However, the Commander insisted that keeping the parasite and its host on the ship was a huge risk. After all, it wasn't like anybody ever extracted a potentially lethal alien organism before.

"Do you really think the Human Empire is, according to the Uprising, corrupt?" I asked.

Green shrugged. "Well, it hasn't been long since all the nations of the world were united into one. The Human Empire's government wouldn't be perfect in trying to govern us. Yeah, people are starving and dying, but it's not much worse than, say, the twenty-first century. Plus, the Uprising has done some really crappy things, so I honestly don't think they should speak."

I really didn't want to have that rebel group involved with us. We were just a simple crew of astronauts sent to explore some of the Human Empire's colonies! Biology, chemistry, and psychics may have been my strong suits, but war and politics weren't. Commander White was just as concerned as I was.

After the scan finished, an unfamiliar beep sounded from the monitor in front of me. Green went to check it out.

"It's an error," said Green, arousing some murmurs from the other crewmates in line. "Your information can't be saved."

"The hell?" I exclaimed, still frozen on the scanner. "Okay, let me try again."

I reactivated the scanner and remained still as a statue while the green disc floated up my body. After that, the error noise beeped again.

"Okay, get off. Let me try," Green said before shoving me off the scanner. The result was naught but an error.

"The scanner's broken," Yellow murmured. "Why?"