The transformation hadn't been pleasant, to say the least. Tentacles had wrapped around Mini's limbs and crept into her suit, merging with her skin. She felt the biomass curling and churning inside of her, spiraling from her limbs to the rest of her body, eventually constricting her heart and stopping its beating momentarily.
Consciousness shot into her like a missile. She sat up with a start, breathing heavily. She had been laying on the floor next to the vent.
Red was sitting on the floor beside her, half leaning on an electrical console. He was fiddling with the knife. "About time", he said, not looking at her.
"How long was I out?" Mini asked. She didn't feel any different than before, besides her head being foggy and dizzy.
"An hour" Red said, "How do you feel?"
"Like I just went on a carousel ride at a hundred miles an hour", she grumbled. Red just hummed in acknowledgment.
'What the hell is a carousel?' he thought.
He's never done this before. He didn't know that this ability existed, but when the thought came to him he instinctively knew what to do. What else could he do? That's a thought for another time. However, he didn't know what is considered a normal reaction to the the biomass. Is she going to have limited abilities? Is she not going to be able to do any of the things that he can? Is the biomass just sitting inside her? Is she fully imposter now? Is she not human anymore? He was thoroughly confused. He didn't know if he's felt this kind of confusion at all in his lifetime, as usual. It's entirely possible, but if he has felt it he didn't remember it.
"So what now?" Mini's voice cut off his train of thought. He pondered the question for a second before giving an answer.
"I am going to try to teach you how to be an imposter", he said, looking at her, "Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think I've ever done this before. I don't know the extent of your abilities yet."
"How do you not remember if you have?" she spoke up with a hint sass in her voice which caught him off guard a little. This Mini was completely different from the one that was crying a little over an hour before.
"I don't even remember where my life began. That's how long I've lived", he said, "This is all I've ever known. Hunting, killing, eating, lying."
"So what you're saying is that you're immortal?" she cut in.
"As far as I know", he said softly, a hint of sorrow creeping into his voice that he wasn't aware of.
It's a good thing that the helmets they wore were tinted out so much that their face wasn't visible, because that statement and tone shocked her to her core and was something that she didn't think was possible for imposters. They aren't as unfeeling as the horror stories say apparently. There are plenty of stories of members of the crew turning on everyone that everyone knows are true, but stories of imposters are rare, and proof of them being true are even rarer.
"I guess you know as much about yourself as we do", she said carefully.
"How much do you know?"
"From what I've heard, your kind are...unfeeling monsters that are only out for blood", she said honestly, "People have a lot of different theories. Like you can shapeshift, or you're a kind of sentient fungus, or that it's just a hoax and that you don't actually exist."
"We can shapeshift to some extent", he said.
'Cool' she thought.
"Do you have a name?" she asked.
"Yes, but it can't be translated into english", he answered, "I don't even know if my language is in your hearing range of frequencies."
"Try it", she said.
A gurgling and hissing sensation filled the air and her mind. She understood it perfectly. She tried repeating it back to him.
"Good", he gurgled in his language. She pumped her fist in the air in triumph internally.
The ship's intercom dinged. "Red, where are you? We need you in the cafeteria so we can get a head count before we go to bed", Cyan's voice rang out.
"You humans and your sleep", he groaned, standing up. Mini followed him out the door. "We'll talk more tomorrow."
Everyone was accounted for and they went to hit the hay, except Red. Red would just sit in his room and be bored. Mini slept as best she could. The empty bed beside hadn't bothered her as much as she thought it would. It was strange and she did miss her dad, but everything was about to change and she would be getting a brand new life. She thought about what tomorrow would bring more than she slept.
Hope you enjoyed! This chapter is probably really short compared to others but I'm not quite sure yet. I'm kind of making my own lore to it as I go along so some of it may seem inconsistent but it's going good! I'm having a lot of fun writing this so I'm gonna keep doing it for a while. Until next time!