At the living building, it was another quiet day with just Choco and Charlie around.
The two were only just done with all of the possible chores, and were now at the edge of doing their own laundry.
"Isn't it strange how we only have a selective number of items in our wardrobes?" Choco asked.
"I'm not sure if I should think it's strange" Charlie replied. "But in any case, my clothes are always comfy enough to be in. Glad I checked a few bigger sizes to wear prior to coming here, since everything that I wore in my foster homes was always way too small and tight." She emptied the 'white half' of her laundry basket into the washer on the left.
"That's true. I always need quite the large size with all of those chunk rolls."
"Even without such rolls, slightly larger clothes are always comfortable. Take Yikk, for instance. They're a tad on the thin side, yet always wandering around in a comfy, oversized hoodie."
"Will they still fit in it if I feed them one chocolate bar and gingerbread biscuit packet a day?" The chubster smiled a little since he was really joking.
"Choco, please! I only just said they're a tad on the thin side, not skinny down to the bone. Lava is skinny, but that's because she refuses to eat stuff that contains more than a certain amount of fat."
"Yeah, but that's just mean Lava. I mean, even for a snob, she says no to a box of even the most royal chocolates way too quickly." Choco added some detergent to the worst stains on his clothes before putting them into the washer on the right.
In the drawers of both the washers, a decent amount of detergent and vinegar were added before the devices were turned on at the usual washing programme.
At the same time, Charlie had set a timer for both the washers, so neither she nor Choco would forget to take it out after it was all done.
Afterwards, the two crewmates worked together to unfold a large laundry rack so they could hang their clothes out to dry properly soon.
"Now, what would you like to do?"
"I dunno… I honestly want some time for myself now, do you mind?" The tomboy shyly fidgeted with her fingers.
"Not at all. If you're looking for me soon, I'll be downstairs watching some boring TV shows or something." Choco patted his fellow crewmate's shoulder.
"You can find me in the recreational room, behind either the vibraphone or the keyboard."
"Aight, have fun."
"You, too."
Both of the crewmates left off to spend some time alone each.
Not much later, the only sounds that were able to be heard faintly from the front door in the hall were the loud washing machines, the voices and sound effects of a random western show on the TV, and vibrant vibraphone music with a jazzy hint.
Meanwhile, the spaceship had arrived at the Polus, and Lava, Squee, Billy, Yikk, Arnie, Navy, Vienna, Pop, Rice and Nori were about to get out of it, but not before seeing their functions on their pagers soon.
Bobby, Arnie's Brainslug, was very nervous, and mostly clung to his owner's leg.
"Hey, Bobby" the dark green crewmate said, "there's no need to be nervous. I'll be there, and protect you from harm wherever I can." He petted his pet in a loving fashion.
"He most likely feels safer and more at home in our living building" Billy stated, "because that's where he knows where his food and sanitary spots are."
"Don't forget that 'Bobby's' sanitary spots are also ours, Billy" Nori said, "note how the downstairs toilet seat is often covered in faint green slime."
"But that's because he's a civilised Brainslug, Nori, and only civilised pets share a toilet with us humans, you know?"
"Really? I know no such pet ever."
"But I do" Arnie chuckled. "Back at my parental home, one of my cats was actually capable of using our toilet, rather than the litter box in one of the shrubs outside. Yes, quite the concealed place, but that's because my father necessarily wanted to base it on the traditional water closet room. Quite the silly father and civilised cat I have, huh?"
A few laughs followed here and there.
"That's only for the best to have a civilised pet or two" Lava said. "Me, I never had pets back at my parental home, simply because they leave too many hairs and skin particles in even the most expensive carpets, not to mention stuff like the blood of the animals they catch every now and then."
An eerie silence was there before the ship's main door went open and everyone's pagers went off with their soon-to-be functions.
Vienna turned out to be the impostor, and was quite surprised about that, but remained quiet about it for the others.
"Neri" she whispered into her son's ear. "We're impostors now, but please keep yourself quiet about that, because otherwise, we're way too easy to be ratted out by the others, so we should do the best we can while keeping ourselves as quiet as possible. Understood?"
"Yes, mother" Neri said in an almost robotic tone. "I will distract them well whenever I can."
"That's very good to hear. You're so wise for your age, you know?"
The little boy simply chuckled before following suit with his mother.
Yuri, on the other hand, didn't understand that their mother was now the impostor, and didn't know that many words yet either, so they were one to keep quiet quite perfectly at the moment.
Everyone else just did their assigned tasks.
"Aaaah!" Squee grumbled at the 'difficulty' of the task of fixing wires in the bathroom near the laboratory. "I cannot do this! I hate this! So so so much!"
Yikk, who just pushed the button of the sample inspector, had heard the dumb blonde's complains, and rushed towards them.
"What's the mattah, Squee?"
"Those wires are a literal nightmare!"
"They not be. Hewe, wemme hewp ya wif 'em." The childish crewmate grabbed a few wires of the same colour and easily connected them all with each other. "See? It not be that hahd. Jus' connect the wiyahs of the same cowouh with one anothah."
"Thank you, Yikk, but I don't think I can ever do this all alone."
Yikk rolled their eyes and sighed loudly, obviously not being in the mood to help the dumbest blonde around out.
"Come on, you're the only one around here whom I trust. Please help me out with the difficult task!"
"Fine, but pwease dun be so gwumpy, aight? I hate that."
"I'll try my best. After all, I'm only human, too."
"Good. Now, whewe be youh next wiyah fix?"
As the two polar opposite crewmates went off towards the next wire box as assigned on Squee's pager, Vienna, Neri and Yuri came out of the bathroom's vent hole when they only just went off.
"Darn it!" she grumbled. "Just missed them!"
"Quick!" Neri said, "they're still nearby, I can hear their voices and footsteps." But just as he said it, they swiftly faded away. "Oh, never mind…"
Out of the decontamination chamber near the bathroom, Navy and Nika came.
"Hey, I know a little distraction… Mummy, you'll go to Daddy while I go to Nika, okay?"
"Okay."
"Hi, Nika, good to see you again!" Neri walked up to his older sister and practically glomped her.
"Whoa, Neri" Nika said in surprise, "you're a little too happy to see me, huh?"
"Yeah, there's this awesome thing I'd like to show you. Come to the telescope."
"What is it?"
"I'm not telling yet, it's a surprise!"
"Oooh, nice."
While the two siblings were at the telescope, Vienna silently made Navy unconscious before quickly disappearing in the nearby vent hole again.
Soon after, she and Yuri were to be found outside with nobody nearby, and had gotten out of the hole just in time before Lava came out of the office to measure the temperature of… well, the nearby lava.
"I wonder if Neri will still be able to find me soon?" she asked herself out loud, while heading for the entrance of the laboratory once again.
Just as she arrived there, her son came to her, panting to catch his breath after having ran at quite the ridiculous speed just now.
"My little plan worked somewhat" he huffed. "I just showed Nika a bright star that I convinced her was a wish from our friends to see us again soon."
"Very clever of you. Now, we should continue and also pretend to do a few tasks. Look, there's a weather node nearby."
From the weather node towards which Vienna pointed, Rice went away for their next task in the storage shed.
"Rice, you silly goose!" Nori said, who saw his younger twin sibling not go to the laboratory to confirm the weather node fix. "You can't just leave that fixed weather node hanging for a refuelling of the ship, you know?"
"That's up to me!" the crewmate in white said. "The ship needs us more than the laboratory now! We already charted the course and inserted the keys, but the weather node can wait!"
"Fine, have it your way." The crewmate in black headed for the commands satellite that Vienna just secretly sabotaged.
"Good gravy" Charlie sighed out loud, "I can't even focus properly…!" Her stomach growled angrily at the same time. "I should get some lunch." She got up, put the vibraphone's mallets back into one of the shelves and headed downstairs.
"Hey, Char" Choco said, seeing his fellow crewmate pass by in front of the television that played commercials now.
"Hi, Choco. What would you like for lunch?"
"I'm kinda in the mood for grilled cheese today, but I'm not sure if we have the toaster for that…"
"That shouldn't be a problem, I could also fry them in a pan with only one teaspoon of oil." The tomboy grabbed a spatula and a frying pan, put the latter on the stove and let it warm up before gathering a few sandwiches, butter, cheese and tomato sauce from the fridge. "What would you like on your sandwich?"
"I'd like a stack of three sandwiches: one layer should contain cheese and ham, and the other should contain cheese and some of the leftover chives, if we still have them."
"Interesting choice, I oughta try chives on mine, too." Charlie gathered the other two ingredients from the fridge as well and swiftly prepared the sandwich for her fellow crewmate to fry up. "Now, for the teensy-weensy amount of oil…" She got a teaspoon from one of the drawers, carefully poured some sunflower oil on it, which subsequently went into the now hot frying pan, and started frying the first side of the sandwich.
"Since when is this even a way to make grilled cheese sammies?"
"Some of my foster homes didn't have such toasters either, so they taught me to do it like this instead, which is also quite convenient, in my honest opinion."
Choco turned the television off and took a seat at the dining table.
"What would you like to drink?"
"Some tea would be nice, and as for the taste, surprise me."
Charlie filled the nearby boiler with some fresh water and turned it on, and subsequently made her own grilled cheese sandwich to fry soon. One layer contained cheese and chives, and the other contained cheese and some tomato paste.
About 15 minutes later, the tea and the grilled cheese sandwiches were all done and ready to be served.
"Is it okay if I grab some mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce to dip my sammy in?" the chubster asked before heading for the fridge.
"Knock yourself out" the tomboy replied, "in fact, I could use a little mayonnaise as well."
Soon, the two crewmates were having a good lunch and chit-chatting about whatever one could think of.
"You make the best grilled cheese sammies, Char" Choco said with a smile after a few bites. "You should definitely do this more often."
"Thanks" Charlie replied with a smile just as big. "I think the other crewmates will love it as well. However, it will take quite some time for me to make them all, since everyone wants a huge variety of spreads, of course."
"I could help you out with that next time."
"Aw, man, thanks, that's so sweet of you." The tomboy couldn't help but giggle a little.
"I'm not the best at cooking, but I could at least try and learn from you."
"That's alright: I'm not the best at cooking either, but whenever Navy, Vienna or Arnie cooks dinner, I occasionally help out and learn from them as well."
The two finished their sandwiches and cups of tea before washing their own dishes and putting them back into their respective cupboards and drawers.
"So what would you like to do?" Choco asked.
"I think a movie could be nice to watch" Charlie replied. "Let's take a gander at what the TV has to offer, shall we?"
The chubster and the tomboy headed for the sofa in the main room, turned on the television and were just in time: on the channel where Choco turned it off just now, Spirited Away had just started.
"Never saw this one before, but it looks good so far."
"I've seen it earlier, and it is quite a nice movie, too. I'm sure you'll love the plot, as it's a little paranormal."
"We'll see about that."
The two crewmates huddled a little into one another and fully focused on the ongoing movie.
Approximately three hours had gone by with many unconscious bodies being found, but the impostor still not having been unmasked. In fact…
"It was Yikk who did it" Vienna lied with a straight face.
"What?!" Yikk exclaimed in disbelief. "I did nuffin'!"
"In my opinion" Nori stated, "Rice is sus, not going to lie."
"Hey!" Rice shouted, "that's rude of you to say!"
"Oh, please quit the yelling" Lava yelled stoically, as she slammed her fist onto the table, "you bunch of loudmouths."
"Lava, Yikk just cold-clocked Billy. Trust me." The purple crewmate breathed in deeply, feeling a little nervous at the moment.
"You know I'd nevah hahm my sweet Biwwy…! They be my fwiend, an' fwiends dun hahm one anothah!" The lime crewmate had started crying in quite the rage in the meantime.
"We should most likely skip…" Rice rolled their eyes and skipped the vote on their pager.
"In my opinion, you're sus, Vienna. I hate to say it in front of your kids, but still." The snob voted the impostor off.
In the meantime, Vienna felt very guilty for making Yikk cry like that, and also skipped her own vote.
With two skips and two votes for Vienna equalling a tie, the mission still continued as it was.
Yikk and the twins remained at the meeting room in the office as they were done with all of their tasks anyway, but especially for the former to drink a little water to calm down.
Vienna secretly followed Lava towards the O2 tree and pretended to have a few tasks nearby as well.
"I have this ominous feeling that she's nearby…" the snob mumbled to herself when she was at the edge of finishing her task.
The spirits of Squee, Billy, Arnie, Navy and Pop looked at Vienna in a judging manner.
"How dare she insult poor Yikk like that…" Billy sighed. "She knows that we're best friends and that they're very sensitive…"
"But she is still smart with those distractions" Navy said, "wouldn't want to complain."
"As long as little Yuri won't do… you know, stuff in their nappy" Pop stated, "then Vienna will also still be safe."
"Oh, you know that those suits are mostly odour-locked, you silly. But not in the way that Yuri would practically choke in the foul smell of their own matter, fortunately."
"Thank goodness, I was already concerned."
And just as Vienna cold-clocked Lava while the latter was off-guard, Nori called up an emergency meeting, shocking the impostor and her children quite hard.
"That's also quite some way to easily find out who the impostor is" Arnie's spirit stated once he and all of the others arrived at the office once again, pointing at the remaining crewmates who still sat at the table.
All of the other spirits nodded in agreement.
"I hate to confirm this in front of your kids, Vienna" Nori said.
"But you're definitely the impostor" Rice added.
"Yeah" Yikk said with a slight sob and an obvious nod.
Lava's spirit applauded at the remaining crewmates' effort with a slight genuine-looking smile.
"Alright" Vienna said, "I'll admit it. I'm the impostor, and quite a clumsy one as well, to be honest." She escorted Neri towards Nika and Bobby in the other corner and put Yuri on the floor there too. "Vote me out so I can do the dirty tasks."
No sooner said than done, the impostor went to do her own specialised tasks at the bathroom near the laboratory.
Against their will, the twins carried Lava's unconscious body towards the medical bay, where almost all of the beds were occupied now, while Yikk carried Yuri in their arms, had Bobby sit on their head and kept their eyes on Nika and Neri as well.
Yuri restlessly babbled a series of random nonsensical sounds, also noticing that something was clearly wrong at the moment.
The youngest crewmate simply kissed the baby's soft, chubby cheek in response, and also rubbed their nose against it.
Man, they thought, your skin sure is still as soft as silk… and I could also use a thick layer of shampoo tonight, because man, Bobby sure is able to make my hair awfully greasy right now…
"You okay, Yikk?" Nori asked, after he and Rice had placed Lava onto one of the beds.
"I'm fine, thanks" Yikk replied. "Jus' a tad tiyahd, that be all…"
In response, the older twin unfolded a portable crib for Yuri to sleep in soon, and patted on one of the free beds to convince his fellow crewmate to take a nap there at the same time.
From one of the pockets in his suit, Neri grabbed Yuri's soother and handed it to Yikk.
"Thanks, Newi. Quite handy that you have that in youh safekeeping, too, wathah than just youh Mum."
"Isn't it?" the little boy chuckled. "Can I join you in the bed to take a nap? I'm also tired, but don't fit in Yuri's bed, so…"
"Why, of couwse, do as you wish." The childish youngster popped the soother into Yuri's mouth, kissed the baby's cheek again and gently put them into their crib before laying down on their own assigned bed. "Bobby, pwease get off of my head."
The Brainslug did as Yikk told him and subsequently slithered towards Arnie's bed, where he laid down on his owner's chest with a desperate look in his eye, as if wanting him to wake up soon.
"Don't worry" Arnie's spirit said. "I'll be there for you soon, Bobby."
Neri joined the lime crewmate in their assigned bed, nestled next to them and closed his eyes.
"Sleep well."
"You, too." The youngest crewmate yawned, popped their thumb into their mouth and closed their eyes as well.
Slowly but surely, the formerly unconscious crewmates woke up alternately, and the twins did their best to take the best of care of them, but not before silently pointing at Yikk, Neri and Yuri who were sleeping, to indirectly say that they had to be quiet for them.
"Today was quite the long mission, huh?" Billy whispered after taking a tiny sip of their water. "I can't wait to finally be showered and in my bed, to be honest."
"Hi, Bobby" Arnie softly cooed once he made eye contact with his pet Brainslug, "did they watch over you well?" He gently petted the slimy creature's head and faintly smiled at him, too.
"I wanna go home, Daddy" Nika said. "I'm also tired, but not to the point of feeling as sleepy as my siblings and Yikk."
"We will soon, sweetums" Navy said, as he ruffled his daughter's hair, "you're not the only one."
Once Vienna was all done with her tasks, everyone was all set to go home, even the ones who were still asleep. Neri and Yuri were carried in the arms of Navy and Vienna respectively, and Arnie was strong enough to carry Yikk over his shoulder, even if they still had their thumb in, which was usually a factor that made being carried over the shoulder slightly harder.
"I'm sorry for knocking you out the other hour, honey" Vienna said to her husband.
"It's alright, Vi" Navy replied, "that's what impostors are supposed to do, right?"
"But I regret it, and I even managed to sadden poor Yikk without even thinking beforehand…"
"That indeed wasn't the best thing to do. You know that Yikk would never harm Billy, right? And vice versa?"
"I should blame it on someone else next time instead. In fact, if a mission would have more than one impostor, wouldn't we make a good duo?"
"Hmm… that's a tricky one. Perhaps we do."
