The small spaceship was packed with ten crewmates from the same group again.
Lava, Billy, Yikk, Arnie, Navy, Vienna, Pop, Rice, Choco and Nori were headed for the Mira HQ, and according to the message that they all received on their pagers, they were the only ones to go there today.
"One cannot simply say that about the Skeld's main ship" Billy stated. "Like, that place is a literal icon of the whole company."
"Yeah" Yikk, Choco and the twins replied.
"It receives so many missionary groups a week, including during the unpopular nocturnal missions. Thank someone in the way of God that none of us ever has to go there."
"Why else wouldn't we?" Lava said. "After all, our literal time in bed lasts from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and nothing more."
"I certainly don't hope that Mack will suddenly 'surprise' us with it someday" Navy said.
"No, no, he won't" Arnie chuckled, "he knows us quite well by now, and this includes the hours of both our bedtime and wake-up time."
"Well, thank goodness, because I was secretly concerned there, to be honest."
The ship soon set its landing on the launchpad of the Mira HQ building, and after a few seconds of doing absolutely nothing afterwards, the main door opened up, and everyone eagerly grabbed their pagers to have their eyes glued on its display to see what kind of function they'd have soon.
Silence. Well, minus the sound of the slightly howling wind, that was.
And then, Billy and Choco were chosen as the impostors.
"So my first task is to refuel the ship right here, right now?" Vienna said, as she went towards the refuelling part. "Yet I see no jerrycan around here anywhere. Okay, work with me here."
"Here" Neri said, as he tried to carry a nearby jerrycan and clumsily handed it to his mother.
"Ah, thanks, you saved my tangled brains just now, Neri." The purple crewmate slowly but surely poured the jerrycan's contents into the fuel hose.
Yuri watched it happen and seemed impressed about it.
"Why did you think there was no jerrycan, Mummy? They're all the same shade of red, you know?" Neri was chuckling a little about his mother's slightly scattered brains.
"Yeah, I feel a tad weird and clumsy today for some reason, that's all, nothing to be too concerned of."
Meanwhile, Nori, Lava, Navy and Nika were watching Yikk scan in the medical bay, so they all knew that they were safe.
However, little did they know that Billy was secretly watching from the vent, in which they jumped in the decontamination hall.
That was, until they heard some weird screams coming from elsewhere in the vent. They came from Choco, who was eager to vent once again, but as usual, got stuck into the vent due to his large body.
"What did I just hear?" the crewmates at the medical bay muttered through each other, apparently having heard the screams as well. "Oh well, guess it's not too important." Out of them, Navy was the next to perform a scan.
Nori left to head for the laboratory, and ran into Pop in the locker room.
"Yikk and Navy are safe" the older twin said, "I just saw them perform a scan."
"That's good" Pop replied, "but be wary, because there are two impostors among us at the moment, and who knows who they are."
At the same time, Billy succeeded to push Choco out of the vent with all of their physical strength.
"Please, man" they huffed, "never vent again while you know damn well that you're fat."
"If only those vents would be accessible for both fat people and wheelchair users" the crewmate in brown chuckled, "but when life gives you lemons, you should definitely eat them."
The yellow crewmate swiftly got out of the vent and placed the grid back onto it upon hearing steps from the decontamination hall, obviously feeling their heart pound in their throat at the same time.
"Quick, the sorting task!" Choco pushed his fellow impostor towards the boxes and the samples before rushing towards the crystal assembly himself.
Nori and Pop arrived at the laboratory and happened to have the same tasks at the same positions.
Billy pretended to have trouble sorting the artifacts, and Nori believed it and insisted to help them out.
"In which box does this belong?" the Latinx asked as they held on to an animal fossil. "It looks so much like a plant."
"This one" the crewmate in black replied as he pointed at a box with a paw print drawn on it.
"Ha ha! You fell for it!" And with a punch, they knocked him out. "Dammit, forgot Pop was here, too…"
Choco and Pop had heard Nori say "oof" as well, but the former knew a little solution to that.
"Hey" he said, "because you just did so well with helping me assemble this crystal, here's a little reward." He got a miniature chocolate bar from one of his pockets and handed it to Pop.
"Oh, thanks" the pink crewmate said, "that's very nice of you, but I thought you were already together with Charlie?"
"I am, but that doesn't mean that I can give candy to regular friends anymore."
"Ah, good p-"
A rigorous knee-kick in the stomach followed, and now there were two unconscious crewmates in the lab.
"Turns out we're both good at playing tricks" Billy said, as they high-fived their fellow impostor on their way towards the decontamination hall, "even if I'm worse than you."
"Hey" Choco said, "don't worry, practise makes perfect, you know?"
"Yeah, that's right. I should keep that in mind."
The spirits of Pop and Nori both shook their heads at the eavesdropping of the conversation.
"Can't believe I actually fell for that" the girly girl sighed. "He knows that candy is one of my weaknesses!"
"And Billy playing dumb?" the sceptical and more silent crewmate added. "Never expected them to actually do that. If it was Squee, then I would've probably believed it more."
"We should be more wary on the next few missions. Next time Choco offers me candy, I should refuse, no matter how hard he tries."
"And I should most likely not fall for Billy, as they're also quite a bad liar, to be honest."
"Hmm, good one to remember. Bad liars make bad impostors."
Back in the living building, Squee and Charlie were just doing their own things.
Charlie was a little upset that she wasn't with her matesprit for the time being, and was playing some songs on the piano to try to process the sadness.
Squee, in the meantime, had just finished preparing their citrus fruit platter and was now planning to make themself a good glass of orange juice to go with it.
They searched through the entire kitchen, but simply couldn't find a juicer anywhere, like they had back at their parental home.
"This is the same situation at the student residence all over again!" they grumbled. "Why can't all of these damn things just have a juicer from the start?!"
The dumb blonde grabbed their phone from their pocket and frantically searched for solutions to their current problem.
It took quite a while, but within the shortest time, a makeshift juicer was made out of a large bowl and a glass with sharp edges at the bottom, and the result was freshly squeezed OJ with occasional seeds that were soon removed, but still the same 'I-squeezed-it-just-now' taste.
There was more than enough orange juice, however, so Squee decided to pour most of it in a glass pitcher so everyone could have it.
Now, they were ready to enjoy all of their citrus delights and watch a good comedy show on TV at the same time.
And just as The Office US was about to start, Charlie shambled downstairs, having grown bored of being alone and not knowing what else to play on any of the instruments upstairs.
"Hi, Squee" she said as she entered the main room.
The dumb blonde briefly squeaked upon suddenly hearing their name, but sighed in relief upon discovering that it was just their fellow crewmate.
"Oh, hi Char. You want some OJ? It's in the kitchen."
"No thanks, I'm good."
"But it's in the pitcher on the counter, I just made it."
"How? We don't have a juicer."
"But we do have the internet, which helped me big-time. I love the internet. And citrus."
"Well, alright, if you say so…"
The tomboy headed for the kitchen, got herself a glass, poured some of the fresh orange juice in it, added a paper straw and settled next to Squee in the main room, putting her glass on one of the coffee tables.
"If you'd like" the orange crewmate said, "feel free to grab some of the citrus fruits from my platter, but leave most of it for me."
"Nah, I only like the clementines, to be honest, so more for you, I guess."
"Nice."
The two crewmates watched television in almost full focus, and occasionally chuckled a little about the jokes in the show, filling up its void of the lack of stereotypical comedy audience laughter.
Before they both knew it, a commercial break was there.
"Squee?" Charlie asked, "may I ask you a question?"
"Sure" Squee replied, "I cannot see why not."
"Have you ever been in love to the point where you feel awful when you and your special someone are even briefly separated from one another?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you know how I am with Choco, and now I feel awful that he's on a mission right now and I'm not."
"Aw, I'm sorry." The dumb blonde rubbed the highlighted blonde's back and shoulders.
"No, don't touch me!"
"Sorry…" Squee pulled their hand away. "Also, no. Never felt that way myself. No girl seems to ever want me."
"So you're looking for girls who are attracted to nonbinary people like you? I thought you were pan- or skoliosexual, like most of the nonbinary people out there."
"I just said I only fall in love with girls, not with pans or scoliosis!"
"Silly goose, that's not what pan- and skoliosexuality mean. The terms respectively mean that one is attracted to all genders, and that one is only attracted to anyone nonbinary, fluid or something."
"I see. Well, no, I'm not one of those people. Never been that either."
"That's alright. I do hope you'll find a nice girl who loves you just as much anytime soon. Whether it's one of our many neighbours, or just a totally random someone…"
Both of the crewmates took a brief sip from their orange juice, looked each other in the eyes again and smiled kindly.
A while of silence and commercials later, the current show finally resumed, and the main room was filled with the occasional laughs again.
Yikk casually sat at the desk in the office, watching the computer process the data. They especially liked the crewmate icon that ran over a blueprint-like path, from one folder to the other.
Billy stood at the entrance of the office, and their heart still beat like crazy, specifically since seeing their moirail while being the impostor really wasn't the best thing to experience at the moment.
They decided that they wanted to make it quick, and thus sneaked up to the childish crewmate and punched their temple hard, followed by a very whiny "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry…!", and a few tears.
"Oh no" Yikk's spirit gasped in disbelief. "I cannot bewieve that they wehe… my moiwail… was the impostah…! Oh, pwease, don't ever wet this happen again! I hate it!" They burst out in tears.
Digit, who was still shook by the sudden knock-out of their owner, idly folded together, sighed, and quietly wept some robot tears.
In the meantime, Rice discovered Lava's unconscious body at the reactor room, and an emergency meeting was soon held.
"I saw no-one nearby" they stated, "and I felt so much dread around there, too!"
"You know" Arnie said, "I hate to say this, but I think Billy is a tad suspicious. Just now, they were watching Yikk in the office, and look at them now."
"I-I did nothing!" Billy said with quite the quiver in their voice, "I promise!" Quite some sweat was dripping from their forehead as well.
"Billy, are you scared?" Nika asked.
"Y-yes… of being kicked out, and nobody has proof, either…"
"Well" Vienna said, "I did hear a punch from the office when I was charting the course in the admin room, and when I looked, I saw Billy run, so I'm afraid that… they… actually punched their moirail just now, albeit reluctantly?"
"What's a moirail, Mummy?" Neri asked.
"It's like… well, how do I explain this? It's, uh… moirallegiance means that someone loves someone else, but with way less kissing and sweet talk."
"Kind of like best friends?"
"Yes, you could say that."
"So" Pop asked, "should we vote Billy?"
"I think so" Arnie replied.
"Oh, I feel so guilty for doing this…" Choco muttered under his breath as he voted his fellow impostor out.
Once all of the votes had been casted and confirmed, Billy departed to the usual 'impostor task floor' to do newly assigned tasks there.
Vienna went to pick up Yikk's unconscious body in the office to bring them to the medical bay, while Neri made sure that Digit came along as well.
"That's very sweet of you, honey" the mother said to her son, "you know how much Yikk loves Digit."
"I just found it sad to think of them being separate" the little boy said. "Them both crying… it's just too painful to think of, even if it's not me."
Yikk's spirit heard Neri's wise words, and they only made them feel more emotional.
Lava's spirit had heard the iconic loud cries, and attempted to ask their fellow crewmate about their well-being.
"Can I help?" she asked.
"N-no…" the lime crewmate sobbed. "J-j-j… jus' get away fwom me, y-you… you dumb animal…!" Another weeping wave followed. It was obvious that they were still cross with Lava after what happened recently.
The snob simply shrugged and sighed as she went off to finish her last few tasks, which took place on the balcony.
I just wish I could help them, she thought, ever since Arnie came to lecture me, I can suddenly feel people's feelings, and it just feels so… weird, I guess. Is it good? Because I honestly have no clue…
Nori's spirit partly saw the previous situation happen, and decided to comfort Yikk by himself instead.
"I jus' wish that eithah I was the impostah awong wif Biwwy…" Yikk sniffled, "oh that we both be weguwah cwewmates… I know they be sowwy about doing this, but…" Another intense wave of sobs stopped them from being able to explain it.
"I understand how you feel" Nori said, as he rubbed his fellow crewmate's back. "Whenever I'm the impostor, I feel guilty for harming Rice who's a regular crewmate by then, and vice versa. We even get into fights about it, and right we are about them."
"Yeah, but that be because you two be sibwings in the same gwoup an' you ahways see one anothah. Me, I no have sibwings that awso be cwewmates in ouh gwoup…"
"Yeah, I guess that's a legit and good point."
"An' I awso feel guilty fo' cussing at Wava jus' now… they suddenwy be twyin' to hewp me, I heahd it wif my own eahs…!"
"I already thought I'd catch one snippet of that just now. It's not the typical Lava, is it?"
Yikk silently nodded and leaned on Nori's shoulder to seek comfort.
Soon, Navy joined the spirits due to Choco's wretched fists, and Vienna saw it happen when she only just arrived in the locker room, so she was the one to report her husband's unconscious body.
"Yes?" Arnie asked.
"It's Choco" Vienna huffed. "I didn't even arrive at the locker room just yet and it already took place." She glared at the only remaining impostor. "It's a good thing that you cannot vent, because otherwise, I, myself, would've been voted out by now."
Nika, Neri, Yuri and Bobby glared at Choco just as hard.
"I already thought I heard an 'oof' emerge from there" Rice said. "I was in the communications room." They grabbed their pager and voted Choco out.
"Lies all along" the crewmate in brown huffed. "Bald-faced lies." He tossed a biscuit packet at Vienna's head, which got caught by Neri just in time and thrown back just as hard. "Hey, what was that for?"
Pop's spirit was laughing about how Neri didn't fall for the trick.
"He's one smart toddler" she chuckled.
"He saw it happen, too, you know?" Navy said.
"Kids these days are way beyond our own intelligence" Lava said. "Before we know it, they're already at the university by the average elementary school age."
Soon, all of the votes were confirmed, Choco was sent to the same 'impostor task floor', and the remaining crewmates had emerged victorious. Out of them, only Arnie had one task left, which was the cleaning of the O2 filter in the greenhouse.
As for all of the spirits of the unconscious crewmates, they were all done with their tasks already, so they could rest before regaining their consciousness.
That evening, it was eerily quiet in the living building. And not just because Navy and Vienna's kids were now in bed, everyone felt relaxed after having showered and whatnot.
Everyone had noticed that Lava was different in some way, but they simply couldn't put a finger on what exactly.
The hearts of Pop and Yikk were pounding like a fist being banged on an even surface, because they were afraid that Lava was fooling everyone again.
Charlie and Billy respectively noticed this, and took their fellow crewmates in a gentle grasp in an attempt to comfort them.
"What is she going to do…?" Squee whispered.
"I don't know" was Rice's reply.
Lava sighed loudly and scrolled her eyes over all of her fellow crewmates.
"You guys" she started. "Arnie, he… he gave me an important lecture recently. On my behaviour. Until then, I never realised that it was no good… and now I'm also suddenly able to feel others' feelings… strange, ain't it?"
"That's not strange" Billy said. "It's only a good thing."
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"I owe you lot a ton of apologies. I really shouldn't have been like this, and especially not to Pop and Yikk."
The hearts of the two 'especially' crewmates started beating faster.
"Yikk, please forgive me for my harmful actions the other mission… I was most likely too caught up in my status as an impostor, and I often tend to get caught up as much as that."
"Oh, pwease!" Yikk said with a shiver in their voice, "dun wemind me of that! It pains me!" They had started weeping softly and Billy was now trying to comfort them even more.
"I'm really, really sorry for having done that. I had a right to be scared of Buggs. Of course he was trying to protect you, but in his own way… to which I'm honestly not quite used…! And I know I deserved it!"
"You do?"
"Yes, I most certainly do." Lava scanned her moist eyes over everyone once again. "From now on, I'll try my utmost best to be a better person. A way better person than when I just got here. And no, I'm not tricking you lot."
"Oh my gosh" Nori gasped, "this indeed isn't the you that we used to know…"
"Apology accepted…" Charlie and Navy mumbled.
"I praise you for openly bringing this up" Arnie said, as he patted his fellow crewmate's shoulder. "And I praise you even more for apologising for your actions."
"You know what?" Vienna said. "I praise you for this, too."
"Yeah, me too" it sounded from the mouths of the other crewmates.
"Thank you guys…" Coloured make-up tears were now slowly flowing from Lava's bright blue eyes. "Also, I'm not crying, you are."
"I indeed am" Yikk said, as they accepted a paper tissue from Billy in which they blew their nose hard.
"Take your time to think about it" Navy said.
The snob nodded and headed upstairs, most likely to have the last cigarette of the day in the icy cold of the winter evening.
"I really don't hope she'll remain the dumb animal that she always has been" Billy said. "I am still reluctant about whether this was a trick or reality."
"It's definitely reality" Arnie said. "Why else would I have lectured her from here to the moon? I was apparently the only crewmate among us that could unfold her true feelings and reasons."
Most of the crewmates got up from the sofa to also head upstairs.
"We're tuckered out" Pop said, "it made such a big impression on us."
Squee, Billy, Yikk, Charlie, Choco and the twins nodded in agreement.
"If you're looking for us" Nori said, "we'll be brushing our teeth in the bathroom, and in case we're all done with that, we'll be in the dorm room."
Arnie nodded with a slight smile, and remained downstairs with Navy and Vienna to discuss this a little deeper.
Eight out of the nine dorm room crewmates were done brushing their teeth quite quickly, and indeed in their beds already when Arnie and Bobby finally arrived.
"Hope that tomorrow is a better day for all of us" Rice said, as they fully covered themself into their duvets.
"I wonder how tomorrow's mission will go" Choco said, "unless we all have a day off, that is, but there's a very slim chance that that'll be the case."
"A chance of only a selective number of us having a day off is a bit bigger indeed" Charlie said.
"And what if that number is twelve?" Squee said.
"That's literally all of us, you silly orange, Choco just said that such a chance is as teeny tiny as a germ."
"I thought he said it was as slim as a germ?"
"Germs are germs" Nori said, "and they're neither slim nor corpulent as far as our eyes let us see them." He also fully wrapped himself up in his duvets. "Now don't speak to me or my sibling, we're in the duvet cocoon for the night. Sleep well."
"G'night" Yikk yawned as they turned onto their left side, popped their thumb in and let out a deep sigh upon closing their eyes.
Everyone else also wished one another a good night, and then, complete quiet and serenity were the only things left to be felt.
