Crewmate

2

We stand in a circle around the center table of the cafeteria. The button looms between all five of us, reminding us exactly why we're here. We look between each other, all of us holding suspicions and doubts. Their tasks are all pulled up on their tablets. I do not have these, but I will have to pretend. I can't get caught, but they all have instructions as to how to do their tasks. I do not have those either, so pretending is a bit difficult. I'll have to manage.

"So, we all know the rules, right?" pink starts. "Do your tasks, report bodies, and try not to die."

We all nod in response and send glances to each other before going our separate ways. Yellow and pink head toward navigation, and white goes toward medbay. I head down to admin, planning to vent as soon as possible, but red seems to follow after me. Our footsteps sound with metallic echoes through the metal hallways as he continues after me into admin. I stop at the electrical box as he walks into admin as well. For a moment I think he's caught onto me already and that he is here to verify his suspicions, even if it has only been like two minutes, but I let out a breath in relief when he walks past me to the control board.

I go ahead and open up the panel to get to the wiring. I put the cover under my arm and pull out my tablet as if I'm checking what to do. I wait a few seconds while mindlessly scrolling through random things before putting it away. It doesn't help the fact that I still don't know how to do the wiring, but I didn't want to be staring at my tablet for too long. That's sus, so now I am just cluelessly standing here with bunches of colorful tubes in my hands. Will red just leave already so I can vent?

I glance over at him from the corner of my eyes to see him desperately trying to swipe his card. Every time he puts it through the machine beeps, denying his ID and mocking his efforts. Overcome with rage, he swipes his card a couple more times very quickly, and the machine just beeps once again, flashing red lights. Red groans angrily and kicks the bottom of the island. He puts his hands down on either side of the control board and exhales slowly, trying to calm himself. After a second or two, he stands up straight again and regains his composure. Then he puts his card through one more time, and finally, he is greeted with a green light. He sighs happily with a smile then he looks up at me.

I blush and turn away, looking back to the wires and hoping that he doesn't notice I haven't done anything, but he's still staring. I pull on the wires a bit then try to piece two together. The raw copper wires touch for a split second, and for a moment I think I've done it right. Then, the shock hits me, and I immediately let go of the wires with a gasp. I chuckle nervously and give red a glance out of the corner of my eye. "I think I'll just complete this task later," I announce to him, turning my head in his direction to look at him directly. Red tilts his head, and I expect him to accuse me of faking tasking.

I really wasn't planning on killing anybody quite so soon, but I guess...

"Yeah, I get that," red says, surprising me. "It took me a while to get the hang of some tasks. You want me to show you how to do it?" he volunteers, taking a step forward and gesturing to the wires.

They can't know.

I shift on my feet and manage to put a nervous smile on my face. "Yeah, sure!"

I see the faint hints of a smile through red's helmet screen as he walks over and takes the wires from me. "You have to match up the colors. Pink goes with pink; yellow goes with yellow, and so on," he instructs me. "If you try to put red and blue together..."

He touches the wires delicately together then jumps back after being shocked by a small pulse of energy. He laughs at the thrill and wires the correct ones back together for me. Then he turns back to me. "See?"

I look to the wires as if I'm inspecting them thoroughly then look back to him. I nod and smile. "Yeah, I understand now. Thanks!"

He stands there for a second, looking at me with a grin, but I look away from him. "I'm going to go do the wiring in the cafeteria now," I excuse myself.

"Yeah, of course," he acknowledges as he steps away from me. I put the cover back on the box and nod a thanks to him before walking out of the admin office and into the cafeteria. I look around to make sure no one is there before I hastily make my way to the wiring box across the way. I pull off the cover and let it clatter to the floor. I pull out some wires to make it look like I'm busy before I take out my tablet. I throw a look over my shoulder to confirm once again that there are no witnesses, specifically red.

He seems trusting of me though, which is good. He obviously doesn't suspect that it's me, or maybe he does. It's possible that he's only acting like that so I'll trust him too and slip up around him. Hah, wait until he realizes he's not the only veteran here. I know what I'm doing. I don't 'slip up'. I don't make mistakes. A mistake means ejection, and that definitely will not be happening... to me at least.

When I see that no one else is in the room with me, I focus back on what I'm doing. I pull up the map on my tablet and scope out the options I have to sabotage. O2, lighting, comm, reactor... I want something that will draw someone in; something that I can easily vent to. That's why sabotaging the reactor would be the best bet. If only two people are in there, one on each side, I could easily kill and vent without the other seeing. Simple. Flawless. Easy.

I tap the reactor room and turn off the cooling system. Immediately, red lights start flashing, and a klaxon sounds. I look to the ceiling at the flashing lights. Then, I get the notification on my tablet, and I catch sight of it. "Nuclear meltdown in 30s," it reads in red letters as the number begins to count down. I tuck my pad away and exhale sharply.

I have thirty seconds on the clock.

"It's go time," I mumble to myself.