Chapter Text
"welcome to Polus!" Blue greeted with exaggerated enthusiasm, shaking my hand with both of hers. "we've been receiving your communications for the past few days, so it's very exciting to finally meet you!" she finally let go, tipping her blue police hat to us before gesturing to the rose-coloured crewmate beside her. "This is Trent."
Trent waved, but showed no interest in shaking hands when I offered mine to him. He wore a backwards cap. "sorry we couldn't reply, our comms have been finicky."
Blue nodded solemnly. "as I understand it you're the temporary captain of this ship? with a prisoner, even! we'll take her off your hands and make sure she gets somewhere safe."
it felt like a relief to be able to trust leadership to someone who actually knew what to do with it. "thanks. we're supposed to be stationed here for three months? do you think our ship can be fixed by then or…"
Blue looked over the The Skeld with her hands on her hips. "hmm… I'll have to give it a closer look but I should have an answer for you in a week. until then, Trent? can you lead this group here to the office?"
Trent just nodded and gestured for us to follow.
he led us out of the dropship where I got my first exposure to Polus. the planet was noticeably cold, even under my suit. we had to trudge through snow just to finally come across the room where the office resided.
I noted the hole in the ground just outside the office.
"they're connected to the lava core to keep the rooms warm," Trent explained, presumably noticing my gaze. "we've yet to get new vents in."
the office was a large, cozy room. the centerpiece was a ridiculously long table with the emergency button in the middle. nearby was a projector, and closer to the walls was a water cooler and coffee maker.
"it's acceptable for your tasks to be below efficiency for a week as you get used to the place," Trent explained. "anyway, it's getting late and you've probably had a long day. let me show you your rooms."
"What-?" Imposter interrupted. "no dinner?"
"You missed it." Trent deadpanned before continuing on his way.
Imposter was one of my more reluctant friends. He acted scary and told a few too many jokes where the punchline was a thinly veiled threat, but once I got past that he was a good guy, really.
I approached my purple crewmate now. "I guess they have dinner earlier here?" I suggested.
Imposter only grumbled miserably.
the next day I was told I was pairing with my best friend Brown and someone named Rodeo.
"we like to stick to teams of three here," Blue explained chipperly.
"okay… who's Rodeo?"
"the tan one in a cowboy hat- you'll see him at breakfast."
I'm not sure why I expected better food just because we were on a planet. well, the eggs and toast were salted, at least.
Brown and I found Rodeo cheerfully adding coffee to his cream.
"pleasure," he greeted shortly, his voice warm.
By Brown's insistence, once Rodeo was ready we headed straight to security.
Brown immediately began flipping through the cameras. "I can only see one at a time which sucks… but wow I can see a lot more." he leaned forward eagerly. "any imposters are going to be caught immediately with this thing," he stated, sounding impressed.
"But there aren't any imposters," I reminded him. I turned around to grab Rodeo so we can finally start comparing tasks, only to find him gone. "Rodeo's-" was all I could manage before I was immediately fearing the worst. had I been wrong? was he dead already, just because we couldn't keep track of him? were we going to be ejected??
"...heading north of the office," Brown noted.
I was out of Security before Brown even finished his sentence, but it was all a false alarm. I found Rodeo sitting in the snow, building a snowmate. he was shaping the visor as I approached. "hey, Rodeo…"
Rodeo looked up at me, waving. "hey, Cyan! wanna help me build the pac?"
"…no."
Brown came along just in time. "what are you doing??" he snapped, though Rodeo didn't seem to register the anger in his tone.
"building a snowmate!"
"we have work to do, Rodeo," Brown explained impatiently. "you worried Cy- us. c'mon, let's compare tasks."
Browns tasks consisted almost entirely of repairing wires and fixing bits and bobs. for today, my tasks were mostly downloading and uploading, while Rodeo's were more varied, from taking out trash to replacing water.
"looks like we should start in O2," I suggested.
My task took me to a beautiful green room. The grass looked alien after so many weeks of grey and metal. and the tree- huge and flowering and awe-inspiring. Once I'd set my tablet to start downloading, I let myself feel small next to its mass. The very nearby 'vent' made the room almost suffocatingly hot.
"hey," Brown interrupted me from my daze. "have you seen Rodeo?"
"uh… one second." I confirmed the data was fully downloaded to my tablet before heading to the trash chute. but indeed, Rodeo wasnt doing his task.
we found him outside, alive, taking pictures of the craggy mountains just outside of O2.
Brown sighed, exasperated. "I'll wrangle him. you… just upload your data and meet us in the office."
I nodded even though the idea of being alone filled me with near paralyzing fear. 'There's no imposters here. there's no imposters here.' was the mantra I had to repeat to myself to get my feet to move towards communications.
I did not complete my journey, instead rooted in my spot at the sight of a figure huddled near the vent just outside of communications. just a crewmate just a crewmate- "h-hi?" I asked uncertainly, taking a slow step forward.
the figure turned to me, and I could see that they wore two top hats on top of each other. their suit was a colour I didn't recognize as approved by Mira- an odd shade of green.
their speaker sputtered, like they were trying to say something, but all that came out was static.
I froze mid-step, too scared to think logically when their visor met mine. I blinked, and then I was staring at a vent, alone.
I screamed and ran towards the office.