Chapter Fifty-Four: Accusations
No one is in the spotlight today,
but I do still want to thank everyone for their continued support!
If you're celebrating Thanksgiving in America, Happy Thanksgiving!
If not, well, you probably don't have an Oompa Loompa as your president-elect, either.
I tried to make this one a little longer because of how short the last one was.
The end of Season One is within range and then we move on to
the very confusing Season Two.
Please enjoy, everyone.
~o~OoO~o~
They searched the ship from end to end again, but found no one. Leaving everyone with the uncomfortable feeling that someone in the crew was indeed responsible for the Android's sudden inoperable state. She'd gone with Four to the training room when they'd all separated. He'd shown her some moves that she could still use that wouldn't put any stress on her abdomen as the android had recommended and then began his own workout routine. One blew some smoke about Three, but that's not who Four or even Seven was concerned about.
"Two," she said and he nodded his agreement. "She's the most likely option. One and Three have never trusted each other because of their mutual attraction to her. Six didn't agree with the jobs, but he's never tried to completely stop anything either. Five… I don't want to drag her down for being young, but it's difficult to imagine that she would take the Android out of commission instead of just programing her to do what she needed the Android to do."
He began going through one of his slow motion, movement routines as they spoke. "We can't rule anyone out, but I believe you're on the right course. You, Two, and myself are the only true warriors on this ship. Three relies too much on his weapons and would have most likely shot the Android after a foiled attempt at someone else on the crew."
"One would have tried to win over allies in a more overt manner ahead of time," she hypothesized. "He breaks out in a sweat if his coffee takes too long to brew. He'd want everything to be settled in advance with no subterfuge that could trip everything up."
She began the routine he'd showed her again as the thought things out. "Six would have enlisted the kid or come to one of us."
"Perhaps he attempted to do just that." Four stopped and turned to her, dark eyes burning as his mind worked through possible plots and subplots.
Seven frowned at him, but stopped as well. "What do you mean?"
"When we got the call about the Android," his cheekbones sharpened to full prominence as he clenched his jaw for a moment. "He was leaving your room just as we came out of my quarters."
Her grey eyes narrowed as she thought back to it, but her attention had been redirected to One's whining. "He did say he was looking for me, but… "
"Why was he looking for you?" Four came in close, hands coming up to the sides of her face, tilting it back so she had to look into those dark eyes as she tried to find a reason for Six to have tried to come to her. "Is there anything in your quarters that could have been used against the Android or that he could use against us?"
The answer came to her, but then Two called them to the mess hall over the comms. Team meeting. They went obediently. They both knew that Seven couldn't have defended herself properly against Two or even Three if the rest of the crew turned against them. It was best to be minimally complaint they assumed, rather than as outwardly obstinate as they both would have preferred to be, but they still needed this crew and this ship for Four to retake his throne as quickly as possible.
Two had passed around the water, but Seven had opted for juice instead, craving something a bit sweeter than the bland water the ship stored. Seven sat at the end of the table and Four stood behind her. He downed his glass in one quick drink and then set it on the table. One hand on his sword, the other on Seven shoulder. Two tried to get everyone to agree to handing over their weapons, she even tried to get them to agree to stay in their individual quarters until they reached the nearest station, but no one was having any of that. Someone suggested that they all stick together, like a sleepover from hell.
"Huddle for protection like a bunch of frightened animals?" Four snapped, his grip on his sword just as tight as the bruising grip he had on Seven's shoulder. "No thank you."
"But staying together makes it harder to access the Android and use her against us!" Five tried to reason with him.
Six even stepped up. "I would have thought you would have preferred extra eyes and protection, if not for yourself then for-"
"I don't fear the Android, and I surely don't fear any of you," He gave Seven's shoulder a quick squeeze, their signal to leave, and stared for the door. "So if anyone in here is even considering coming after either of us, I'd suggest you rethink y-"
Seven had barely stood up to follow him just as he went down. Two was there as soon as he started seizing, trying to check vitals, but Seven there in a flash, checking for something worse.
"What's happening to him?" she heard Five cry out as the others crowded around them.
Seven stuck just the tip of her finger inside his mouth, giving the excuse that she didn't want him to bite his tongue off while he seized, but she could already feel what she was afraid to fine. A thin film along the inside of his lips. Poison. She remembered feeling it herself when he'd put the paralytic in her coffee and with as well as she knew his lips, she knew that it hadn't been there earlier.
~O~o~O~
She was sitting at the head of the scanning table, looking down the length of Four's still body as the computer pretty much confirmed what she already feared. Around her, the others were hurtling accusations at each other.
"I'm not the only one who didn't drink the water!" One snapped pointing a finger at Seven.
She sneered up at him, "I wanted juice. You try forcing a pregnant stomach to accept anything it doesn't want."
"She's not the one in question here anyways," Three rounded on One again. "She's not about to poison the guy that knocked her up. She wouldn't still be screwing him if she was."
Seven frowned at him, but just let her head drop into her hands. "I didn't realize the walls were so thin, I'm sorry."
"But what if she didn't want to be knocked up?" One came back at him and now there was just a stunned silence. "What if she was working with Dwarf Star in return to not be, you know, pregnant? What if they're waiting out scanning range for a signal to come back in get back at us for taking Two and destroying their lab?"
"Did he really just say that?" Six asked after a moment of silence. "Are you trying to accuse Seven of setting up that entire mission just so she could get an abortion? You realize that she could have done that on any of the stations that we've stopped at since she found out that she was pregnant, right?"
"And you guys thought I was stupid," Three quipped.
"But with the nanites?" One started his rebuttle, but everyone had heard enough.
"One, you need to stop right there," Two's arms were crossed and her hands were clenched into fists. "You weren't there when I found her or when we had to make our escape. She didn't plan any of that and I may not be her best friend, but even I wouldn't have gone so far as to accuse her of something like that."
"I say we search his quarters," Three piped back up, jabbing a finger at One. "Guaranteed that's where we're gonna find the shock stick."
"Come on, who's stupid enough to hide that thing in their room?"
Three gestured back at One who childishly replied, "I wanna search his quarters, too!"
"Fine," Two moved her hands to her sides. "We'll search everyone's quarters."
~O~o~O~
They started with Seven and worked their way backwards through the list. She didn't dare try to stop anyone from going near the book shelves. Even as they leafed through the books, it didn't seem that anyone else had thought to check under the shelves themselves and she'd already gotten rid of the books that had areas cut out to conceal the vials. Six had mostly looked at the titles anyways.
"Have you actually read all of these?" he asked, delicately handling one of the leather bound books.
Seven shrugged from the doorway. "I have no idea. Since we'd come out of the pods, I hadn't tried to until I was put on bedrest recently. No bells ringing so far."
Five had gone to search the computer, but all she found was the article Four had shown her originally about the missing Mezzo-Altero Twins, not the personnel file he'd found with it or the communication files she'd received from Derris, just the news article. Two had gone through her drawers and closet. Three went through her bathroom, making off comments about her hygienic routine. Despite all of One's accusations, he just sort of stood off to the side with his arms crossed not looking anyone in the eye as though he were just now realizing the implications of what he'd said and was ashamed.
"Anyone find anything?" Two finally asked.
The others shook their heads and began to put everything back in order.
"Let's move on to the next room," she instructed.
Seven stepped out of their way as everyone moved past her. "If no one has any objections, I'm going to get some rest."
Two waved her off as the others went on to the next room. Except for Six.
"Are you doing alright?" he asked her. "Some of the things One said, I mean, they were out of line."
Seven began unstrapping most of her gear, but shrugged. "I'll be fine as soon as we find out what happened to Four."
"He's going to be okay," Six assured her. "I mean, if whoever is behind this wanted him dead, he would be, right?"
Seven shrugged, setting her gear neatly on the side of the bed, Four usually slept on.
"Would you mind if I came to check on you?" he asked. "Under the circumstances, since Four isn't awake to keep you safe or anything."
"I can take care of myself," Seven snapped softly, impatient, but she hadn't been lying about her fatigue. "But if you really think it's necessary, do what you need to."
"I will," he nodded, giving her a small smile as he left. "Get some rest."
As soon as the door shut behind him, Seven's hands were running along the bottom of the bookshelves until she found what she was looking for, or rather, didn't find it. One of her vials was missing.
~o~OoO~o~
Please review and let me know how I'm doing.
I look forward to hearing your input.
