The cold sunlight interrupted his sleep with its usual vigor. Peeking an eye open he quickly snapped it shut once more. Much too bright.
"Blinds, 20%." He croaked out. A slight whirring followed and soon after the blinding grey sun relinquished its hold on his room. A knock on his door reminded him of exactly he was and he slipped out of the sweat-stained sheets. They were damp from the night, even here, trillions of miles from the source of his night terrors. The knocks sounded once more, louder. Will hesitantly tiptoed through his cluttered sardine tin to reach the white coat and red keycard hanging next to the door. Slipping them both on he laid his hand on the door panel. The door slid open at the touch, successfully stopping the large knuckles from their next assault on his door.
The man standing before him was tall as he was broad. Barney, the security on hall 27. Will imagined he did many other halls as well, but he was the only monitor he'd glimpsed on this hall since arriving. Barney was a beta, and he was probably one of the nicest people Will had met here so far.
"Good morning." His own voice maintained the tone of a man who'd lost against the beaming sun yet again. One glance at his guest would assume the same of him.
"Keycard." The man gruffly barked. Will unclipped the access card and handed it over. Barney's hands were nearly as rough as his beard.
The guard scanned the back with a small ring on his finger, and a hallmark-card sized hologram popped up from the jewelry.
"Will Graham." He announced looking up again.
"Brown." The man tried to make eye contact, but Will was prepared for this part and fixed his gaze at the bridge of the man's nose.
"Brunette, 5,6, One hundred and thirty six pounds." His dark eyes flickered up after every word, he stopped, finally, staring intently at his face for a moment. Will's breath caught in his throat, but Barney quickly winked and flicked the hologram off.
"You might want to get that last one updated. You might have finally gained some weight, ." An unexpected laugh escaped Will.
"You really had me scared for a second. A scan two days in a row? I thought they were supposed to be weekly?" The large grin that had emerged on the even larger man's face faded slightly, becoming stale.
"They've been upped to daily as of Tuesday." He glanced skittishly down the dim hallway before continuing.
"I heard about some kind of… malfunction with a breech door." The real smile returned.
"But you didn't hear it from me!" His laughter carried down the hall and he handed Will back his keycard.
"You'd better head down to the mess hall before you miss lunch. We've rotated halfway already, it's getting late in the day." Will bid him goodbye and turned back into his storage closet as Barney continued to the next door. When the door was fully shut Will opened the top dresser drawer and grabbed a small pill bottle out. He swallowed one down dry. The bottle was light. Only three or four remaining and he had to breathe slowly out of his nose to calm his nerves. He'd packed a spare bottle, but it had been 'lost' in the commotion at his original shuttle's takeoff. Some asshole probably thought they were pain pills and snatched them before they'd settled into stasis. He didn't want to think of what would happen when he ran out.
Running a hand through his tangled hair he exhaled again. His shift didn't begin until a full rotation of the station, midnight in earth time. Putting the pill bottle back he quickly gathered some clothes from a lower drawer and made his way back out into the hallway, waving at barney and his 'neighbor' as he made his way to the stairwell. The sonic showers were located every five floors so he only had a few flights to climb to his destination. He'd have enough time to explore more of the station before dinner, he hadn't managed to wake up early enough to go farther out of the residential areas in the week he'd been here. It surprised him how much he'd been sleeping since waking up from the three year journey it took to get here. He didn't know how people had managed the trip in the time before cryo-chambers. He'd never been at ease on earth, but this was different. Looking out into the dark expanse where he now resided Will felt terror cling to his insides. Space, he supposed, he would have to get used to.
He approached the shower room with as much vigor as someone could when approaching a communal shower room in a unfamiliar place. He left his clean clothes by the sinks and set his shoes against the wall nearby. He naturally, picked the stall furthest from the entrance. Stripping off his pajamas left him in only his socks. He had brought clean socks with, but he didn't trust the cleaning staff here- more accurately he hadn't seen any janitorial staff yet and thought it better to be cautious. He might be on the furthest space station from Earth, but this was no better than a shower at a campground. In the five years the station had been operational he didn't even want to consider how many other's feet had stood bare in the same stall he was in. Will pumped at the soap canisters on the wall and tried to think of other, happier things. It didn't necessarily work. His thoughts would never fail to escape the cold, it seemed. It was the one thing he didn't think he would ever get used bitter cold seemed to have entrenched its very essence into the structure itself. He couldn't imagine how one would ever adjust to it. The air maintains itself at a crisp 56 degrees fahrenheit. Warmer than the sub-zero of space, but the warmest they can manage without over extending their power supply 'needlessly'. He'd heard that the higher-ups here had personal thermostats in their quarters.
After his shower he decided to follow Barney's advice. Lunch here was nice... well as nice as "astronaut food" could be. They were still running on dehydrated foods on the Amadeus despite it having been five years since the station opened. It was smart in his opinion. Although it wasn't very appetizing. The station had an entire sub-section dedicated to space agriculture, they had stores of actual food held in stasis, but they would hold the food there until they ran out of dehydrated foods to ensure they would always have a surplus of food. Will couldn't imagine how a shortage of food would effect a space station so far from any kind of relief. If they ever lost their stores of food it would be an entire growing season until they would have anything. Will took a small bite of the mush on his plate. His food was much more unappetizing than the others' nearby, but after being in stasis for three years he had to start off with easier to process foods, too much strain on his organs could lead to something akin to decompression sickness.
"Hey, you're Will Graham right?" The scent pulled Will out of his thoughts, he looked up to a dark skinned man who looked like he might have been a skincare model on Earth. His tray was filled with dried fruits and what looked like a cookie.
"Yeah…" The man sat down next to him, like, the seat directly next to him.
"I'm Tobias Budge. I work in Comms." He said it like it should mean something to Will, but all he could think of was the invasion of his personal space. This was definitely an alpha.
"It's not often we get a new arrival here nowadays. At least since they started cutting down on the transportation after the accident on 43." Sitting his fork down, Will decided that he might as well play along, he was probably going to be here until he died. A sobering thought, but his reality now. He might as well try and make something close to a friend here. Any amount of socialization would be better than what he'd allowed himself on Earth.
"43?" He asked, his eyes finding their now familiar resting spot at the bridge of the man's nose. The least he could give him was the illusion of interest. A thin lipped smile spread across Tobias' face
"About three years ago a shuttle was sent to explore a bit further into section X. That's what they call the dead space in between here and Canis Lupus. That's the nearest star system, but I'm sure they briefed you on that." Tobias took a moment to lean in closer to Will, like the next part was supposed to be a secret.
"Rumor has it there's a habitable planet out there. This shuttle never made it though. A rescue shuttle found them a month out from the Amadeus and everyone on board was dead. The official cause of death was blood loss, but a buddy of mine was on the rescue mission. He said there was no blood. None." Will tried to look interested, but Tobias seemed like a man who loved to gossip. It was hard to tell how much of the story had been exaggerated in three years, but unless space vampires were a thing Will wouldn't wage his money on Tobias' credibility just yet. This was probably just a ghost story they told the new arrivals. Will moved what had now become a glare from the center of tobias' face to glance him over. Will didn't think Tobias looked like he was lying. He did think he was too close however. While Tobias took a few bites of his food Will decided to contribute to the conversation before it became a monologue.
"That's rather frightening. Has anything happened since then?" Will asked, pushing his plate away from himself, and himself away from Tobias. Tobias looked a bit put out for a moment before retaining his former vigor.
"Nothing that they've told us. I will tell you, however, that those weekly security checks started soon after the incident. How weird is it that now they verify our features on a daily basis?" They sat in silence for a moment while Tobias took his last few bites of food.
"I've got to head back to the comms station, but I'll see you around William." Tobias winked at him as he got up, taking Will's tray with him to the trash as he left. Will stood to leave as soon as Tobias left the cafeteria. That was probably the most conversation he'd had since he arrived here. He missed his dogs.
A large analog clock above the trash cans told will it was 2:30. Less than ten hours until his shift. He supposed he might as well go and take a nap before it, there wasn't anything else he felt like doing right now.
It took about twenty minutes to walk to his lab. Well 'his' lab, he shared it with two other guys. Browning and Hobbes. He only knew that because it was on their coats. Will figured it was too late now to ask for their first names again. They were betas, and they thought he was too so they had that to 'bond' over. Work was easy enough though. Right now it was just analyzing slides under a microscope. He didn't even know what they were of, but all he had to do was document any changes, any patterns that emerged within the slides. That was his specialty after all. On Earth he had worked for the FBI, analyzing crime scenes to narrow down suspects. When they first contacted him about working for the Amadeus he'd hung up countless times, deleted multiple emails. Half of him had thought that it was the modern day 'African prince' scam. Until they'd come to his house down in wolf's trap to convince him. Now here he was; In space. Will had already determined that whatever they had him analyzing within these slides wasn't human. It couldn't be anything from Earth at least.
Aliens would make sense. His former supervisor the director of the FBI had left his position to become the overseer of the newly completed Amadeus. If he'd been in his right mind at the time he would have realized how out of character it was for Jack to make a move like that. Jack was a stationary being. He disliked change and space- space was a giant step for the larger man he couldn't see him logically taking. Unless there was something, somewhere out here. Will was still recovering from his takedown of the Minnesota Shrike,Garrett Jacobson at the time though. He hadn't even heard that Crawford had left Earth until Alana Bloom, a former colleague, had mentioned it while checking on him nearly a year after the station had opened.
Will walked through the doorway into their lab. His coworkers were already there and Browning, who was around his age, already seemed to be worked up about something.
"Hey Will!" Browning waved him over.
"Lookit, the cells are forming shapes." Will squinted into the scope. Three of the tiny dots were indeed in a constant dance, moving only to take the other's spot as a different points of a triangle. Will's brow rose up to meet his hairline.
"That's... unusual." Will didn't know what else to call it. Well, besides "alien".
"Yeah man, this is the coolest shit I've seen since reanimated that pig." Will just nodded and headed over to his own station. A petri dish was already seated under his microscope. Odd, because up until then he'd only been reviewing whatever it was safely encased within slides. Now all that stood between him and these alien cells was him managing to not knock the dish over. Fingers crossed.
With how active the cells were it was interesting that they would just stay in the dish. Will leaned in to look through the lens, his brow furrowed as he focused the lens. There was nothing there. Will laughed aloud and then coughed to try and cover it up. Hobbes looked over at him curiously before moving back to his own slides.
Someone from day shift had been using this station and forgot to put their petri dish back into storage. Will grabbed the petri dish and immediately yanked his hands back. A chip in the lid of the glass had snagged at his pointer finger. A single drop of blood splattered into the dish, and then the movement began. Will saw in barely the blink of an eye, hundreds of tiny freckles appeared in the petri dish. He carefully slid it back under the microscope and peered in.
There they were. Hundreds of them, like they had gone invisible before. Will shivered at the implication. If these were alien cells, what did they come from? Even the cells seemed to have survival instincts. He focused in more to the dish. They seemed to be absorbing the remaining splatter of his blood. He felt sick. The creatures this came from… Did they drink blood? Will peered closer. The cells weren't able to drink of course, but they were literally absorbing the blood into themselves. They all seemed to double in size before blinking out of existence once more. Will glanced over at Hobbes and Browning, they were both now enthralled with Brownings shape-shifting sample. Taking a deep breath Will reached over to his kit on the table and grabbed a scalpel. He held his breath and ran the blade over the cut on his finger. He squeezed out several large droplets into the dish and quickly put his eye up to the lense. The blood covered the bottom of the dish in a thin layer, and then it was gone. Will hadn't even blinked that time. He had to do it once more. He placed his finger right above the cells and squeezed a single drop in.
Will watched, he kept his eyes open until they burned with the need to blink, but nothing happened, The drop remained. Several minutes passed and still nothing. A part of Will was scared that they had grown large enough to climb out of the dish themselves, or that they were smart enough to wait for him to think they were gone…
"Will, what the fuck, are you okay?" Browning had seen the blood. He came over quicker than Will would have anticipated and Will had to quickly hide the scalpel up his sleeve.
"Someone left this sample dish here from dayshift. I tried to move it but it's got a crack on the lid and I cut myself." Will tried to sound casual as Browning picked up the dish by the sides and examined it. Unlike Will he had the sense to wear gloves.
"This is our lab. Dayshift is across the hall." Browning's blue eyes narrowed, looking hard at the dish.
"I don't see any chip here." What? Will leaned forward to see for himself. There was nothing wrong with the dish. Browning took it over to their decontamination unit, a small furnace that burned at a constant 500 degrees fahrenheit. Any glass thrown in would be cleansed by the flames.
Browning slid it in and turned back around. He looked like he had something to say, but then his eyes widened almost comically.
"What the fuck is that?" He pointed with a shaking finger at what seemed to be a shadow in the corner. It was darker than the other shadows though. Two red pinpricks were the only break from the dark. Will's breath caught in his throat, were those eyes? He wasn't sure what they were, but they were looking at him. Hobbes made a move for secondary lightswitch and flicked it up.
Sterile brightness reflected off of the white walls, but the spectre remained.
"Holy shit!" Hobbes breathed. It was the first thing Will had heard him say today, and he thought it echoed his own thoughts perfectly.
"Browning. Comms. Now!" Hobbes could barely speak through the fear that washed over them like an ocean. Browning clawed at the buttons on his watch, but the shadow leapt. Will felt the cold air swoosh around him as the thing seemed to swallow Browning whole, the darkness covering the thin man fully. Hobbes didn't wait to see what it would do when it was finished. He sprinted out the open door without a glance back. Will felt like he was frozen in place. His pulse banged against the cut on his finger. A muffled crunch filled the silent air and Will's feet decided to think for him. He slowly backed towards the door. He somehow knew the shadow was done with Browning, but it remained still. A shroud of darkness on the floor. The thought of it waiting for him to make a run for it sent shivers down his back. An even darker part of him whispered that maybe it didn't need to be looking at him to see him. By whatever higher being was watching he managed to back out of the room, not breaking his line of sight to the creature. The shadow swept into a standing position as he crossed the threshold of the door.
Dread settled deep into Will's stomach and he skittered back another step. The heel of his shoe caught on something solid, knocking him off balance. He fell onto something warm. Something wet. Scrambling to get up only covered him more in… in- Will caught sight of the slick red on his palm. Looking down Will knew what was below him before he saw it. Hobbes. He was laying on Hobbes. Blood covered the man from head to toe, like someone had completely drained him and then spewed it back like rotten milk.
'How?' Will couldn't fathom what was happening. The shadow hadn't left his sight after Hobbes left the room. The shadow. Will nearly slipped again fumbling off the ground, wiping the blood on his hands onto his ruined lab coat. He was still facing the lab, but the shadow was gone. His breath caught in his throat as cold air blew onto his neck. Goosebumps broke down his arms. His eyes flickered quickly to where Browning's body lay now. His eyes met the dead man's and he knew without a doubt he was next. Browning looked drained, like Hobbes. No blood remained, and neither did the spectre. It was behind him now.
"If you wish to live, I will require you to be silent." Will's felt his heart stop. It leapt back into his throat as he spun around to meet the speaker. A tall man, taller than him. Broader than him. No doubt he was an alpha. No doubt he was dangerous. A rough, strong hand wrapped around his shoulder, and as he leaned forward Will unintentionally made eye contact. He was too frightened to even consider his near constant anxiety. The man's eyes were dark like dried blood, but they were unmistakingly the same as the dark spectres. He leaned forward. Time seemed to stop as warm lips pressed against Will's cold neck. The pain that followed hit him like a freight train, so fast he couldn't even scream. He felt something burning at his insides, like his every cell was aflame. He must have dropped to his knees because the pain abated for a moment. Long enough for his head to clear.
Before the man, no, the monster could reposition himself will kicked out. He doubted he could do much damage, but the kick seemed to surprise it at the least. Wasting no time Will dropped himself to the floor and rolled to the side. He tried to crawl away, but the monster gripped harshley at his ankles and yanked him back. A shot rang out. The hands recoiled from him, and Will felt the cold seep back in. Not the usual cold of the Amadeus. It was ice in his very veins, it seemed to burn him alive. He writhed onto his back and did his best to scoot himself from the danger in front of him. It was too late. The monster was back into his spectre form once more, and then it fell. Darkness unlike he'd ever experienced covered him. A dark, dead weight pushing down. The next few minutes were a blur. The darkness was pulled from him and a flashing neon green filled the hallway. A heavily armoured security squad pulled the spectre to a near standing position. Will looked into the furious ruby eyes as they pulled the shadow back further. Will must have been going into shock because he was suddenly acutely aware that this was the most eye contact he'd made in years.
They had to have shot it with some sort of tranquilizer because the darkness was still, but very much awake and the fury radiating off of him was nearly tangible. Medics pulled him onto a stretcher. The blur of movement nearly caused him to vomit. He caught sight of other men bagging up his coworkers. Former coworkers. It was probably for the best that he was on the stretcher now. Everything seemed to echo. The lights burned at his eyes.
"Will." He knew that voice. His eyes searched out and Jack Crawford stepped out of the bustle around him. His former supervisor on Earth was before him on the Amadeus. He'd known he was here, but Will couldn't stop the sudden, frantic thought that he was dead. He was just witnessing them find his body as a ghost.
"Will goddamnit, I brought you here to help. Not to get yourself attacked a week in." Jack came to his side as the medics hurried the stretcher down the long hall.
"Alana is going to be furious… What happened here, Will?" Will swallowed and closed his eyes. Watching the ceiling tiles fly by was making him dizzy. He didn't know where to start. Should he tell him about the petri dish? The disappearing cells...
"That alien… it was in our lab."
"What?" Will frowned and opened his eyes.
"It had been there the whole time." Jack was leaning directly over him, a puzzled look on his face. His words weren't leaving his mouth. Panic began to bubble up from his chest., darkness began to pull in from the corners of his vision. Hands pulled at his shoulders to steady him. He didn't even realize he was moving. All he could feel were the shadow man's harsh grip. His panic fully tunneled his vision. He fought hard against the hands only for two more to wrap around his ankles. The burning panic bubbled over and his primal omegan self took over. The pills could only mask a normal level of hormones. This, this was another level. A keening wail broke free from his throat. It continued even as a deafening roar answered from across the hallway. The hands released him and Will felt his body become wrapped in silk. The panic ebbed as darkness enveloped him. Will let it. He breathed deeply, inhaling strange scent that surrounded him. It reminded him of home. Wolf trap. Curling up by the fire with his dogs on a cool summer night. The wail quieted to a tired whine. He surrendered himself to the darkness.
"Crawford. It seems, you might have me here to stay now. Do you not feel accomplished? Ecstatic,maybe... This is your fault you know. The treaty…. The treaty stated no Omega's on board. I could not control myself." The voice- his voice, echoed around Will's mind as he slipped further.
"Get him away from me. Now. I do not know how much longer I will be able to contain this blood lust. I don't know how he broke the mesmer in the first place." The steady rumble of the voice lulled him into the void.