The following week, I found myself Fixing the Wiring in Upper Decontamination. Once I finished, I practically bashed my hand into the wall at the speed and strength and I hit the button to open the doors. I fell out of the room, leftover steam dissipating in the bathroom as I came up into Medbay. Once again, I saw Olive doing the Inspect Sample task.

"Again, Olive?" I asked as he selected the sample that the chemicals had turned red. This meant that the sample in the vial was an anomaly compared to the other samples, which had a blue coloring.

He spun to me quickly, and in the process knocked over one of the vials—one of the blue ones. Quickly he grabbed it and leaned it against the sample machine.

"Oh, it's just you, Blue," he said.

"Again with this task, Olive?" I restarted my question, "Inspect Sample? You seem to be getting it a lot lately."

"And? So? I'm good at it."

"There ain't no skill involved in this task, besides patience, kid," I replied, "you click the button, and the vials are filled with samples and the chemicals go to work and you just wait a minute. You take a break. Grab a coffee. All of this…is suspicious."

Olive rolled his visor. "Where'd you even come from? I just did the Unlock Manifolds task in Specimen Room then came into Upper Decontamination to get here, to Medbay, and I didn't see you the whole time. Honestly, that's more suspicious than me getting stuck with the same task almost every day."

I sighed. "I did Swipe Card, then came down into the Specimen Room from Admin to come into Upper Decontamination for Fix Wiring! I guess…I guess you were just up earlier."

"Alright, fine," finished Olive. He placed the red vial into a cabinet marked with red tape for that purpose and put the blue vials, including the one he almost knocked to the ground, in another cabinet with blue tape. "I'm just a little scared. But not that much. I am not a wimp, okay?"

"Why are you scared?" I asked. The way I said it must've sounded a little probing, because Olive backed away from me more, towards the weather equipment near the west exit of the Laboratory.

"I saw something," he told me. "I saw something in a hole."

I took a step towards him. "Where? Which hole?"

"The one in the small little cove in Admin. Where you sit and read the holo-books, you know? There's a hole there. I saw something in it. It shot by, like a blur. I saw it when I came from the Bunker and the Office to Admin, to get to Lower Decontamination and the Specimen Room."

"What did the thing look like?"

"A visor," Olive answered. "It looked like a visor, shining bright, staring at me. Thankfully, a crewmate came into Admin to check the Admin Map quick, and the thing disappeared. The crewmate left before I turned to see them because I was focusing on the visor…but I think it was the other Imposter, deciding how it wanted to kill me."

I remembered a time in The Skeld when Maroon and I had found Cyan stuck in the Reactor, and he thought he saw an Imposter in the vents. And another time, Maroon said he saw an Imposter in the vents on Medbay, but to this day I think that was just a lie. "Well…be careful, then, I guess…"

"Thanks a BUNCH, Blue," Olive said slightly sarcastically as he left the Laboratory's west side for his next task.

I waited in the Laboratory for a bit more before coming out the same way Olive had. I checked my pad for the rest of my tasks: Refill Canisters, O2, and Refuel Engines ½, Storage. I made my way across the base, passing Fortegreen on the way to O2. He was working on one of the Weather Nodes. What's with all of them breaking down lately? If it was the other Imposter…just, just why? I chuckled to myself at a thought that came to my head, which depicted Maroon whipping out a miniature AK-47 and atomizing tiny little bits of the Weather Nodes so that they malfunctioned because of the slightest inconsistency.

In O2, I passed the Boiler Room, the garbage chute, and the tree room (the hole there had been filled in now) to get to a compact room full of air tanks. The room had a purple hue and a big brown pipe connected to a metal machine that went into the tree room just north of it. A little airway extended from the metal room, looking like the inside of a battery-powered toy where you had to stick the right kind of battery in, and it just barely fit inside. As I picked up one of the O2 canisters, I realized that it read "O2 - CANISTER TYPE 2-J." Hmm. Nice detail.

I opened the canister and stuck it into the airway—and funnily enough, it clicked in just like a battery and was shaped like a battery anyway. I twisted a little knob and the canister started to fill with delicious oxygen. Once it finished, I took it out, closed it, and sat it down with the other filled ones. My task instructed me to fill one more, so I obliged and did so.

Once that was done, I got onto my pad and checked one of the apps installed on it—Yummy Oxy. The app icon had a picture of a human exhaling, and when I got into the app, I was greeted with a screen that showed a little tree, and in front of the tree the percentage of oxygen I had left in my tank—22%!

"Better filler' up," I said to myself, clipping my pad back onto my belt and taking off my oxygen tank like a backpack. I could still breathe for another minute or so with my helmet on, but as normal I put on one of the extra tanks to be perfectly fine while my usual blue one refilled. Still, as my normal tank refilled in the airway, I felt like a part of me was missing. Us crewmates needed oxygen almost everywhere we went, be it on Warships or Dropships, Polus bases or mining settlements in the asteroid fields. Even the folks at MIRA HQ needed oxygen for the most part. Invisible oxygen bubbles covered the outside areas, and that was how the survivors of The Skeld—including Pink, Cyan, and I—were able to breathe just fine on the Launchpad of MIRA HQ when we first crash landed there after almost being blown up inside The Skeld.

Wanting to self-consciously know I was alright with this other oxygen tank while my usual refilled, I watched the safety video included with the Yummy Oxy app. The video showed a pink assistant crewmate standing in what looked like a greenhouse—the Greenhouse of MIRA HQ, where the superstructure got its oxygen. I knew all of the safety procedures shown in the video to keep yourself safe from gasses and smoke, like putting your hand over your nose/mouth, or even a wet handkerchief over it; getting low on the ground; keeping our helmet on (if it is off, the previous procedures were stated to help), etc.

Once my blue tank was 100% full, I switched it out for the replacement one, but kept watching the video. The experience was cut short, though, when it and my tasks disappeared, and the only thing I could view was my map. Text saying Comms Sabotaged replaced my task list, and so I used the flashing arrow on my pad that then appeared to navigate to Communications. There, Olive and Pink were at the communication board, both arguing as they were trying to twist the knob, and loud static was issuing from the radio tower. Cyan stood a bit back, brushing some snow off his shoulders and helmet.

"Guys, guys, just let one of you do it!" I said.

They still bickered a bit, but Pink won the argument and Olive moved aside. She worked on fixing the sabotage, but then a bit of electricity shot at her hand, and her glove's fingers blackened. Pink bounced backwards, muttering, "Good thing we'll all decked out in rubber."

Fortegreen came over as Pink tried again.

"That took you a mighty fine while," grunted Olive, crossing his arms.

"I was doing Clear Asteroids in Weapons," Fortegreen defended himself. "The task is a bit long, and I thought one of you guys would've fixed the issue by now."

Pink took out her pad, turned on flashlight mode, and used the light to peer into a hole in the communications board she just discovered.

"Hey guys," Pink said, "one of the circuits in here is fried. As if water, or something like that, touched it."

"Why would someone waste water on a prank? Or, more likely, why would an Imposter waste water?" said Cyan. "They gotta drink too."

"They're all about the killing," said Fortegreen as he walked towards Storage. "I'm gonna get up there and see if the radio tower needs any adjustments to try and fix the error from there."

Pink, Olive, Cyan and I had backed away from Communications as Fortegreen carried a ladder over. He leaned it against one side of the metal pod and climbed up onto the pod's roof. Snow began to fall heavily as Fortegreen took a wrench and screwdriver from his belt (which I thought were two suspiciously sharp objects to carry around, even though they are frequently needed if something isn't working right) and tinkered with the radio dish, trying to align it in the general direction of MIRA HQ, where the power coming from Electrical was coming from in the first place. If it wasn't for the HQ, this Polus base—or any for that matter—wouldn't be running properly. There wouldn't be Dropships coming to collect samples from our tasks or to drop off food to refill the vending machines; we wouldn't have electricity; we wouldn't be supplied with tasks, and, for that matter, replacement items like pads; the Upload Data task wouldn't do anything because there wasn't an HQ to upload it to…

If it wasn't for MIRA, there would be no order. But if MIRA never came along, another intergalactic company would.

"Get back to your tasks, everyone!" Fortegreen yelled from atop Communications as he took out some more tools. "I'll wrap this up before you know it."

Pink and Olive exchanged glances and then went their separate ways, and I watched Cyan back up into the Office.

I tightened my coat and walked over to the base of the ladder.

"Fortegreen," I called. Fortegreen ambled over to the top of the ladder, his tools set aside for the moment.

"What is it, Blue?"

"I just wanted to say that even though I am a little suspicious of you," I said, "I feel bad for you, especially if you aren't the other Imposter. Losing your best friend and your love sounds terrible, and I understand your feelings. I just want to say…sorry." I felt like Cyan should be the one to say that, but I just wanted him to know. It made me feel better. I wonder if Maroon ever felt like this. He was a friend that I've lost, like Fortegreen lost Yellow. But I haven't lost Cyan. I haven't lost Tan.

Fortegreen just stood there. He looked up into the sky suddenly, as if he felt someone tapping his top hat. He then took off his top hat and dropped it off Communications. It blew in the breeze a bit, but I caught it with ease.

"Put this on their stone. Make sure it stays there." He then turned away, and I couldn't see him from where I was on the ground anymore.

I knew what he meant by "their stone." But before I did anything, I had to say something to Cyan as well.

I found my best friend eating a dark-chocolate-chocolate-chip cookie at the meeting table. It was his favorite kind, I remember him telling me once on The Skeld. I didn't bother to remove my snow gear, but I did set Fortegreen's hat down in my blue color-coded bin where I'd normally store my snow gear.

"H-hi, Blue," he said timidly when I appeared. He pulled up a chair for me, and I took a seat.

There was a moment of sad silence.

"Cyan," I said. "I need to tell you something."

He looked up from his cookie, a few crumbs falling to the floor. "Mmph?" he said with a full mouth.

"I…I'm sorry about your loss," I stuttered, "w-w-with Lime's brutal death. I guess I never really said sorry about that, Cyan, and I…I just guessed…well, no, I was thinking about Gray and the other Imposter whomever it may be and that I thought Lime was pretty suspicious the entire time, even though it turned out that he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and he wanted to be a good friend to you. Can…can you forgive me?"

Cyan's visor dimmed. "I guess so." I heard him sniffle, and he set down his cookie.

"N-no, Cyan, I…" he threw his arms around me, and I hugged him back. "I'll find the other Imposter, Cyan, I promise. I'll toss it into the lava. It'll be fine."

"Thanks Blue," came Cyan, the quietest I've ever heard him. He then pulled himself away, finished the cookie, and walked down towards Admin.

"I need to get to the Specimen Room for my last task for today—Download Data," Cyan said to me.

"Alright," I said back. "See you later. I need to do something for Fortegreen, and then do my Fuel Engines task."

Cyan nodded and he slipped away into Admin. I got Fortegreen's top hat from the bin and brought it outside. I crossed the base to the clearing just outside Electrical, by the fenced-in outside area where the crew fixed the lights with the master breakers the other day. Rose and Red had both died that day, I remembered. Two crewmates I barely got to know.

I came to a flat, semi-rectangular slab of brown rock we found by the lava river. We had set it over the place Yellow, Red, and Rose had all been buried. On it, Pink had carved the words in a very neat fashion:

Here Lies

Red, Rose, and Yellow

Let Us Remember these Innocents Forever

Nearby, White had been buried in a hole nearby, and Olive had struck a screwdriver into the dirt to remind us that White had been buried there. I pushed the sad memories from my head as I struggled to lift up the brown stone a tiny bit to put a part of the top hat under, so that the wind wouldn't blow it away. I then set the stone down and, feeling blue like my belongings, trudged over to Storage. The room was full of random crates and boxes, and thinking of death and burial, I remembered how the crew of The Skeld had put the crewmates who had died in boxes in Storage to bury them when we arrived at MIRA HQ. As I filled an empty canister with oil for the Fuel Engines task, I came to the realization that none of them could ever be buried, for like The Skeld itself, the bodies had been blown to atoms.

I headed north to the Dropship and went to fill the right engine. As I finished my task swiftly, Tan suddenly jumped up from behind some snowcapped crates, crying "BOO!"

"AH!" I dropped the empty canister, and it slid on some ice. "Oh, Tan…it's just you. Okay, thank God."

"I didn't mean to, uh, um, actually scare you," she said. "It was just a little prank."

I put my hands on her shoulders. "Tan, it's okay. It's totally fine."

She raised her visor at me. "Hm-hm."

We stood there for a moment, but then Tan went over to the nearby Weather Node. "Gotta fix this for my last task."

"Why didn't you do it while you were waiting for someone?"

"I was just waiting for you. And, umm…I didn't want you to see me. For the prank?"

"Ah."

"Relax, Blue. I would've killed you by now, if I was an Imposter." I would've liked to think she winked at me under her visor. They hadn't programmed that into our visors yet, either, but maybe that was for the best, along with displaying blushing.

"Okay, okay," I said.

I went back to Storage to refill the canister and then I fueled the Dropship's left engine. I tossed the canister back in Storage and decided to check on Fortegreen again. At Communications, I called his name a few times. No response. I checked my task list on my pad, and it was working normally again. The Comms are fixed…I climbed up the ladder to the top of the metal pod, but Fortegreen wasn't there either, but his tools were, strangely. Maybe he forgot to put those and the ladder back in Storage? Or maybe he had to go to the bathroom or have a drink or snack before refusing his work? No...the Comms are fixed, myself...I'm so confused...I checked inside Communications, and yet again he wasn't there.

Wait just one sec. Cyan probably would've seen where Fortegreen went, because once he Downloaded Data in the Specimen Room he would've needed to Upload the Data to Communications! I ran into the Office and checked the place, as well as Admin. No one was there either. I was beginning to panic! I checked the Admin Map and saw that there was one crewmate in Electrical, one in Weapons, two in the Laboratory, and one just outside of Upper Decontamination. Not wanting to go the short way through Lower Decontamination, the long hallway, and the Specimen Room, I left Admin and the Office to get to the Laboratory. When I arrived, though, the blast doors had shut. I flicked all of the little red levers in the same direction, and I burst inside.

Tan was pressing a little button near the weather maps when I passed her to get to Fortegreen, which I just spotted right outside of Medbay. He was washing his gloves in the sink, and while the gloves were getting soaked, he was recording some notes on a clipboard.

"There you are," I said under my breath. Tan nor Fortegreen heard me, but Fortegreen acknowledged my presence.

"Did you do as I requested?" he whispered, setting his green pen aside and taking his gloves from the sink.

"Yeah, I did," I responded in a quiet voice. "You can go check if you like."

"And leave you alone with Tan?" He got in my face, but I still couldn't see the human behind the visor. "You're still not cleared in my book, Blue."

"Hmph. I wouldn't murder her, even if I was a killer parasite. She's too…"

"Too…cute? Kind? Shy?" He urged. I knew that he must be smirking to himself.

I blushed again. This was the second time Fortegreen was poking at my crush on Tan. "Shut up."

"Why don't you Submit a Scan?" he said, gesturing to Medbay. It was like he was me, and I was Lime. And Tan was Cyan, I guess. "Then we could compare your records to—"

"Have you seen Cyan?" I cut him off.

"Not since the Comms were sabotaged, no," he replied.

I scratched my helmet where my chin would usually be. "I need to find him first, then," I told him, and pushed past him to get to the bathroom, my next destination to check.

Cyan did not show himself there. I checked all the stalls, but still nothing. Taking a deep breath, I opened the doors to Upper Decontamination and stepped in. I heard Fortegreen's heavy footsteps behind me, but then the doors shut, the room got dark, and that special steam got everywhere. Once the doors opened, I stepped out, a bit dizzy. As I went forward down the hall to the Specimen Room, I tripped over something in the dark. It was a lump of snow!

"But we're inside…" I said to myself. There was no crack in the walls or ceiling. "Some idiots must've put this here on purpose." Do they think they're funny?

Then I saw something peeking from the snow. A bright boot. I quickly cleared the snow away and screamed.

It was Cyan. And all that was left was his legs, blood, and a singular long bone sticking out from the middle.

"DEAD BODY REPORTED!"