"Five…four…three…two…one…zero."

Rachel solemnly watched the timer on her tablet count down to zero as she sat in a chair in the Medbay. Dr. Rodman hung his head as he checked the Intergalactic Date and began to dictate a death report.

"This Dr. Henry Rodman speaking. At approximately Intergalactic Date 71920.8, Nurse of the IA Ship The Skeld has died due to exposure in space. Due to to safety and security concerns among the crew after the deaths of Salieri Roux, Scottie Crawthon and Dr. Maxwell Earl Meyerson; we voted to eject her off the ship. We do not know if she truly was responsible for any or all of the deaths and despite the minority of the crew desiring to vote me off the ship, we all begrudgingly dumped her out of The Skeld."

Henry pressed stop on the recording device and filed the document with the rest of the ship's files.

"It's a shame about Louise" Rachel spoke.

Henry sighed as he looked over the analyzer, it was at 98%.

"It is, no matter what the truth is."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a shame if she was innocent as have doomed her to die for being sus." Henry said with a sigh "It's a shame if she was guilty because we don't know why she would do such a thing."

Louise nodded and looked over at the body bag that contained Max's legs. With a fresh needle in hand, Henry carefully unzipped the body bag and began to draw blood out of the remains.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to do what Max did and compare his pre-mortem blood to this blood."

The vial quickly filled with darkening blood and was then was drawn on with a permanent marker. With the press of a few buttons, he not only grabbed a sample of Max's spare blood but also that of Louise's. On the vial stand were the 2 different types of blood for the now absent crewmates. Half of them contained blood taken before they took off, the other half taken sometime after the death of Sal.

Suddenly, the Analyzer slowed down and began to beep. The lid popped open and a red light on the side of the device began to blink.

Cautiously, the two approached the device and began to read the screen attached to it.

NEW LIFE FORM(S) FOUND
THOROUGH SEARCHING THROUGH THE IA COMPENDIUM HAS DETERMINED THAT THE PRESENCE OF [TWO] PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN BEINGS HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. PLEASE GIVE NAME(S) TO THE NEW FORM(S).

"New life forms?" Rachel said with a gulp.

Henry calmly clicked a few buttons and got a closer look at the details of the life forms. They were microscopic, similar to germs and had vastly different appearances. According to the analyzer, intact individual members of the cellular components were few and far between but what was more common were entwined versions of the dead biological matter as if they were fighting for dominance.

"What are you going to call these creatures?" Rachel asked.

The doctor scratched his chin a bit before typing out names. He named them both after the planet they originated from. The name Omega was given to the larger of the two life forms while Psi was given to the smaller.

"Now that they have a name," Henry began as he removed the analyzed vials "We can have a better understanding of what they are.

The doctor then began putting the vials of the absent crewmates inside the analyzer and closed the lid.

"What are you checking for?"

"I want to see which of these creatures have infected the crew, if at all."

"So…if they had been infected, they were guilty of the murders?"

Henry shook his head "No…how could SAL be guilty of killing anyone if he was the first to die?"

"Well he could have planted the bomb that killed Scottie…"

Henry nodded in understanding "That may be so… It's gonna take a bit to check the blood, but too long."

Rachel nodded in understanding before making her way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"…to the Cafeteria?"

Henry stood, his fists tightening as he approached.

"I don't think you should go…"

The cadet gulped a bit as the doctor stepped forward.

"At least, not alone." Henry smiled as he opened the door for both of them.

Relieved, Rachel and Henry made their way to the cafeteria to check on the rest of the crew.

Gary and Alice were sitting at other ends of the room and naturally refused to talk to each other, Charlie and Sam were playing a game of cards and Tommy and Eleanor were missing. Resting on one of the tables were the mini Pavlovas, still untouched after several hours.

"Captain?" Henry asked as he approached "Where are Tommy and Eleanor?"

"They're at the escape pods, checking on the emergency hailing frequencies."

"Why are they doing that?" Rachel asked.

"It's scheduled maintenance." Alice spoke "There's no need to worry about abandoning ship…unless Gary here thinks it's necessary."

"It isn't necessary at this particular moment" Gary retorted "We're still alive, The Skeld isn't about to explode, we're fine."

Alice rolled her eyes and walked over to sit with Charlie and Sam.

"Captain," Henry began "The analyzer has finished it's scrutinization of the IA Compendium."

"And if I had to guess, it found a new organism? Something that matches what Max described?"

"Not exactly…."

"Not exactly?"

"Yes. The analyzer determined that there are two new organisms that have been discovered."

"I see…how do they react with each other?"

"I don't know, all evidence seems to say that these new organisms were completely deceased."

"So there is no way we could have gotten them from the dead body we found."

"Most likely not."

Rachel remained quiet, thinking continually about the photos she and Tommy found on the SD card they had acquired.

"Captain? Doctor Rodman?"

"Yes?" Gary asked.

"What if Sal and Scottie…weren't who they appeared to be?"

The two stared at the cadet in surprise.

"What do you mean Rachel?" Henry asked.

"I mean… what if they were infected by something… that changed them so much that they could shift into a monster…without us knowing it."

"What?!" Gary bluntly asked "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

Henry glared at Gary before turning back to Rachel "I don't think it's stupid… go on."

"Well… Max died in a different way from Sal and Scottie, as if a monster was on the ship. What if those who killed them knew that they were monsters and wanted to protect the rest of the crew?"

"That doesn't make sense" Gary interjected "If I was a monster, a perfect monster under this skin, how would you know if I was one?"

Henry and Rachel looked the captain over, seeming as normal as he ever was, save for a ketchup stain or two that could never get washed out.

"I'm sorry," Rachel began "I'm just…on edge."

"I understand" Gary began, "we are all nervous after we ejected Louise."

From the other end of the Cafeteria, Tommy and Eleanor strolled their way in.

"Hey everyone, why are we all gathering here?" Tommy asked "Is there a pow-wow we're missing out on?"

"We all want to be in each other's sight…" Alice remarked.

"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch!" Eleanor spoke as she grabbed a glass of Don Dew.

"How are the radios?" Gary asked.

"One of them is fine but I want to bring Rachel over to teach her a bit more. Is that ok?"

Rachel looked Tommy over. He was still wearing that casual grin and his hair long and unkempt, like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo without the stoner mentality nor the godlike power.

"Captain?" Rachel asked.

Gary nodded, and the two mechanics made their way to the upper engine and it's escape pod.

"I'm going back to Medbay" Dr. Henry announced.

"As always…" Sam quipped with a sour tone as he continued down the hall with Rachel to the Upper Engine.

The engines were both rust colored and powered by Stercusium fuel rods, an element created from exposing natural waste to radioactive energy. Thankfully, if exposed to humans, the radiation would be no worse than sitting in a swimming pool of bananas. The fuel used to stink as a form of energy but it has been refined extensively to be as efficient as possible. There were all sorts of meters to check, but it was a rather user friendly interface.

As the two mechanics were testing the engine: Alice, Sam and Charlie were playing a game of Five Card Draw. Sam had folded while Charlie and Alice were facing each other.

"So Charlie, what do you got?" Sam asked.

"I got a two pair…" Charlie groaned as he showed black aces and black eights with the ten of spades.

"That's funny… I got two pair as well!" Alice said with a smirk as she showed a pair of red fours…with a pair of black fours and the three of clubs.

Charlie frowned as Alice took the pot with a big smile on her face.

"Say Alice," Sam began, speaking as quietly as possible. "I have an idea for how we can get rid of Dr. Rodman."

Alice cocked an eyebrow "What's the plan?"

"Let's all go to electrical and I'll explain…" Sam began.

The three made their way past Admin and the Kitchen towards storage, leaving Gary and Eleanor alone. The three glanced around worriedly as if the monster that killed Dr. Max was in the halls.

They arrived at electrical and Sam opened up the main surge protection panel where four wires were visible. She then took out her knife and handed it to Alice while she explained her plan.

"Charlie, you go to the Reactor. There's a vent that leads into the Upper Engine. Crawl into it and overload the upper engine."

"Overload it?! But won't that destroy one of the escape pods?"

"The escape pods hold six people. If we lose one and vote Henry off, it'll be a cramped fit for seven people but it will work."

"But what if Rachel or Tommy die in the explosion?" Alice asked.

"Then there'll be more evidence to pin the crime on Henry. Now go Charlie!"

Charlie nodded and made his way to the reactor.

"And what about me?" Alice asked.

"You'll cut the wires to shut off the main lights once the Upper Reactor explodes. I'll be here to restore the wires after you flee, alright?"

Alice nodded as they patiently waited.

Charlie grumbled to himself as he took out his IA Multitool to undo the panel for the vent that led to the Upper Engine.

"I'm not gonna fit in this… these vents are too small for a human!" Charlie complained as he lifted the vent panel up and placed it aside. Ever so carefully, he stuck his head into the vent. To his shock, his body seemed a lot thinner and flexible than he thought and he was able to quietly crawl into the vent with little issue.

Slowly but surely, Charlie shimmied through the vents and eventually arrived at the Upper Reactor. The screws for the vent panel were sticking into the ventilation shaft so all Charlie had to do was unscrew them from the inside of the vent.

He then heard a clang and Rachel shout in pain.

"SHIT! Shit shit shit shit shit!" She shouted.

Tommy groaned as he picked up the tool she dropped.

"If I've told the IA once I've told them a thousand times… the mechanics need steel toed space boots!"

The mechanic walked over to console the cadet while Charlie quickly unscrewed the panel off and quietly entered the Upper Engine room. Right by the vent was a lever that read "STERCUSIM POWER LIMITER". At the fulcrum there was a large metal rod with a zip tie on it that prevented the rod from being removed by accident. On the zip tie was a tag that read "WARNING, REMOVING THIS ROD WILL DESTROY THE ENGINE IN 60 SECONDS. ONLY REMOVE JUST BEFORE EVACUATION IF NECESSARY."

With a worried gulp, Charlie took out his IA Multi tool and folded the knife out. With a quick slash, he broke the zip tie and quickly removed the rod before crawling back into the vent.

Suddenly, the Upper Reactor began to hum loudly.

"Huh?!" Tommy wondered as he ran to check the meters. They were all swinging into the red zones, indicating the dangerous levels of pressure and energy.

"Tommy?! What is it?!" Rachel shouted as she ran to see what the matter was.

"NO!" Tommy exclaimed as he pushed her away from the engine and onto the floor "RUN YOU FOOL!" he spoke, his voice turning into a guttural growl.

"But Tommy!" She pleaded as she tried to stand.

"GET OUT! LOCK THE DOORS AND FIND GARY AND ELEANOR!"

Rachel nodded and dashed out of the room. Outside of the doors of each engine were a number of switches. One of them activated the fire doors, which made the rooms airtight just in case the explosion would cause an oxygen leak, the second was the switch that injected a flame retardant into the room.

She lifted the safety panel off the fire door switch and pulled it, causing all the doors for the Upper Engine to slam shut.

As soon as the seal was completed, the pressure of the engine's explosion pushed Rachel onto the floor. She struggled to stand and then lifted the safety panel again and turned on the switch for the flame retardant. While the emergency klaxon began blared, and the foam poured into the Upper Reactor, the lights suddenly turned off.

"Perfect…" Rachel said with a sigh as she began to stumble her way to the Cafeteria.

As the room came into view, she suddenly felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"AHH!" She shouted, seeing the red glove touch her.

"Easy! Rachel!" Henry spoke.

Rachel stepped back "Don't touch me, alright!"

Henry frowned "Sorry… are you ok?"

The cadet brushed off her suit "I'm ok…Tommy is dead."

"Shit… that means mechanic duties are on you."

"Thank you Dr. Obvious…."

Henry smirked a bit "C'mon. Let's go to the cafeteria."

The doctor and the cadet walked to the cafeteria as Charlie continued crawling back to the reactor. Not only were there fire doors on the ship's deck but also in the vents too. The pressure of the explosion shook Charlie up, but he was able to shimmy his way back.

But as he shimmied, he noticed that the vent was more difficult to crawl through and that he heard the creaking of metal. Initially he thought it was the aftershock of the explosion but it kept bending and creaking extensively.

He finally got to the other end of the vent into the Reactor and began sticking his head and arms out of the vent.

"GAH!"

Suddenly, he felt metal crush against his legs as if the vent was trying to eat him.

"ALICE! SAM! HELP!" Charlie shouted but the door for the reactor was shut and all the rooms were sound proofed.

The metal kept crushing around his legs and the metal began to cut his suit and boots.

He tried reaching for the reactor so he could try to pull himself out, but anything he could grab was too far for him to hold.

The creaking increased, the cutting increased, and the crushing of the vent started to crawl up Charlie's legs.

*SNAP!*

The pressure on Charlie's legs was so much that it began breaking his bones. Blood began seeping into his boots as his lower legs crumbled like rotting wood. The pressure then began going for his upper legs, paralyzing him.

Charlie began to cry as the pressure went to his most sensitive areas and began breaking his pelvis.

"S-SOMEONE! HELP ME!" He began to cry as the crushing began to affect his stomach, the hot acids pouring into the vent.

With a yelp and a cough, blood spurted out of his mouth as his ribs were snapped and his lungs were punctured. His heart then swiftly stopped by the stabbing of a stainless steel vent.

His vision faded, his limbs went limp, and his gasps for air ceased.

But the crushing did not stop.

It kept going until the entire vent wrapped around the lower legs of Charlie, bifurcating him and causing his upper body to splash into a pool of his own blood.

Unaware of Charlie's demise, Alice met Rachel and Henry in the Cafeteria. The former was wiping away some tears while Henry paced around.

"What's going on?! What happened?!" Alice asked.

With a glare, Henry turned to Alice "The power is out, we've lost one of the engines, and Tommy is dead!"

With a frown, Alice sighed and sat at a table.

"Where were you anyway!?" Henry demanded.

"I was in Storage," Alice replied "Where were you?!"

"Where I always am. The Medbay!"

"And you Rachel?" Alice asked.

"Oh leave her alone! She was with Tommy in the Upper Reactor. He saved her while trying to stop the damn thing from exploding."

"Fine…where's Charlie? Gary? Eleanor? Sam?"

"I'm right here!" Sam spoke as she entered from the hallway that led to Storage "I was looking for Eleanor in communication, I didn't find her."

"That's because I was at the Lower Engine." Eleanor answered as she arrived from the same hall "Because if one engine went haywire I want to make sure that the other is ok."

"How is the Lower Engine?" Gary asked as he made his way from the hall that lead to Weapons.

"It's fine and in working order." Eleanor said with a smile.

"What about the Escape Pod?" Henry asked, his fists tensing.

"It's fine too…nothing there."

"Alright then," Gary said with a smile before glancing around "Now where's Tommy and Charlie?"

"Tommy is dead" Rachel explained with a heavy sigh "He sacrificed himself to try to keep it intact."

"He will be honored for his valiant effort" Gary spoke.

"A fat lot of good to give Tommy an honor after he's dead."

"Oh give us a break Alice…" Henry complained.

"Right then," spoke Gary "where's Charlie?"

The crew looked around and despite the dimness of the emergency lights marring everyone's view, Charlie and his blue IA suit were nowhere to be found.

"Does anyone know where Charlie was?" Henry asked.

Alice darted his eyes around nervously before Sam stepped forward.

"I believe he went to check on the reactor as the Upper Engine began to go on the fritz."

Gary took a deep breath and began leading the other five crew members to the reactor, walking through storage and passing electrical.

"Who's gonna fix the electricity once we find Charlie?" Alice asked.

"I'll do it," Rachel perked up "I'm the head mechanic now."

"Bitch please," Sam began "I'll be responsible for the electricity."

"How come?!"

"Because most accidental deaths on IA ships happen in the electrical room and you're still a cadet" Alice explained.

Rachel pouted as they walked past the lower engine and to the reactor. The door quietly opened, and everyone collectively held their breaths as Charlie's fate was revealed to the rest of the crew.

"…No!" Alice shouted "NononononoNO!"

Gary just hung his head while Sam frowned as Henry began walking to the deceased top half and pulled out a syringe to draw some blood.

"What's the point of taking his blood NOW?!"Alice shouted.

Henry said nothing as he exited the reactor and began to make his way to the Upper Engine.

"HENRY! AS FIRST MATE I DEMAND AN ANSWER."

"And as the captain," Gary began "I feel like he should do what he's doing."

The fire doors were still active, so Henry had to push the activation switch back up to unlock the door. The doors still wouldn't open so Henry took out his IA multitool to pry the doors open with the knife.

The Upper Engine room looked like a shaving cream factory had exploded. The reactor was completely destroyed and the escape pod's windshield had shattered, rendering it useless.

Henry sloshed through the flame retardant and began digging through the mess.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sam asked.

"I'm looking for Tommy…or at least part of him."

With a sigh, Rachel started sorting through the foam and the two were eventually joined by the rest of the crew.

"Ejecting a crewmate and swimming in white goo are two things I never imagine would happen on the same day" Eleanor remarked.

"Well I had to slog through mud during the battle of…"

"Can you not talk about your military career?!" Gary pleaded.

Sam just rolled her eyes as the searching continued.

Eleanor eventually found the rod that was meant to keep the power limiter in check, bent into a pretzel because of the explosion.

Soon afterwards, Rachel saw a part of the foam that was redder than the rest. She reached in and pulled out an arm that was clothed into a black sleeve and bleeding from where it disconnected from the torso.

However, the arm's hand looked different than usual.

The fingers of the glove were torn from the inside and the nails had grown in length and became black and sharp.

Sam herself found one of Tommy's legs, and the boot had broken due to the foot enlarging and the toenails curling.

"W-what happened to Tommy?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know" Henry spoke as he began to draw blood from the arm Rachel found "But I do know that whatever has been killing the crew… is still among us."