“Sup,” I said in the middle of a yawn, “What’s happening?”
“Morning, and it’s a checkup from the scientists. We didn’t get one last night due to the whole ordeal with that Moth, but now that they’re not salivating over that thing, they’re making sure we don’t die from some alien disease."
I nodded, stretching while I listened, “So what do we do?”
“Just line up, and they’ll call your name.”
“Ah.”
And as we waited, Kalani asked, “So, did you sleep well last night?”
“About as well as one can expect laying on the ground in an enclosed room filled with unwashed Marines.”
Kalani didn’t react as I expected, looking at me with a coldness in their eyes I hadn’t seen before. And they were about to say something before one of the scientists called my name.
“Oh, that’s me, goodbye,”
I gave a wave to them as I walked towards the person who had called me, shocked to see Dr. Bekert. I sat down in the chair in front of her, sandwiched in between two privacy curtains, and with her gloved hand, she gestured for me to give her my arm.
The next couple minutes went by as she gave orders while running various tests. Halfway through, out of boredom, I asked.
“So, how are you doing?”
“Swimingly.”
There was an awkward pause as she continued her test, unconcerned about continuing the conversation.
Then I said to fill it, “So, this is quite thorough.”
“It has to be.”
“...yeah,” then a conversation Orchid had with Charlotte popped into my head, “So, why didn’t I get this last time?”
“Last time what?” She actually looked up from her work.
“When I first came back from the gate, I didn’t get any of this.”
She stared at me, “What?”
“I wasn’t tested like this.”
“No, I understand.” She went to push her glasses up, but was blocked by the hazmat suit, “That’s not what was supposed to happen.”
I looked at her as she fidgeted, “I’m guessing that’s a bad thing?”
“Beyond bad. But are you sure you just didn’t realise they were tests? I checked that you got it, so why would my team lie to me? This is another pandemic we’re talking about!”
“Maybe it was Gray being all nasty?”
“It could be, but-” They stopped dead in their tracks, looking directly at me.
“What is it?”
“Why did you suggest Gray of all people? He had the most on the line.”
I shrugged, “Just seemed like something he would do.”
Bekert took a long, slow breath before saying, “Were you the one with the Moth last night?”
I tensed for a moment, just a moment, but I knew she caught it, and I tried to save myself by saying, “I was with Orchid when we returned, if that’s what you mean.”
“Don’t lie to me, you have the same hair, eyes, voice, build, and you’re the only one who has ever suspected Gray of anything.”
I sighed, “I guess the mask didn’t work.”
“Yes, now tell me why you’re even here, why all the pretense?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“What pretense?”
She splayed her finger, “This. From what I’ve heard from Juan, you and that moth can just fly off whenever.”
I crossed my arms, “I don’t exactly have to tell you anything.”
“You’re trapped in the middle of a military camp.”
I shrugged, “So are you, and you have a lot more to lose with less to do about it.”
We glared at each other until Bekert sighed and looked down, and she said, “Fine, but why do you think Gray would do that, though?”
I shrugged, "I don't know him.”
Bekert glared at me, about to say something, but was interrupted by a clock ringing. She sighed and grabbed a yellow wind-up timer, winding it up again, “We only have a minute left for me to complete my tests, so let's get through this. We can talk later.”
“Fine.”
The test were promptly finished, and the next person was called, Bekert, and I kept an eye on each other the whole time. But it wasn’t for long, as all the scientists were escorted out of the room by soldiers in hazmat suits, then they did the same to us. Bringing people into individual quarantine cubes, which was where we were originally supposed to go until the complications Kalani mentioned happened.
I thought the quarantine chambers were redundant at this point due to having been exposed to each other in a small room, but getting a room all to myself was nice. They even gave us computers to entertain ourselves, but it had Windows 11… so I promptly replaced it with Linux. And downloaded some of the lower needs games from my Steam library (Stellaris, my beloved, may you live forever).
But outside of the fun little escapades I had through my minions, it had been a rather uneventful few days. Until I received a letter with no name on it, but when I opened it, I recognised the handwriting as Dr. Bekerts.
The contents read as
“Gray has taken more interest in you. Please dispose of this as quickly as possible.”
I put the paper to my lips, thinking it over, what had I let slip that Gray found interesting… It was probably Orchid, that had been a whole mess. But did Bekert think I was dumb enough not to notice? (don’t answer that). So it must’ve been something else…
I sighed in frustration, deciding to do as the letter asked and ripped the paper into little pieces, soaked it in water, and threw it away.
After that little thing happened, all of us in quarantine were transported back to the compound and given more spacious quarters. Also, we were forced to daily attend this room where they had set up clear plastic walls between everybody and socialise. Which was just sort of awkward to say the least, but weirdly nostalgic, bringing me back to the pandemic.
Which would’ve been a rather uneventful year for me if my parents hadn’t died… It would’ve been me shut up in my room ordering things online as always, just a few more masks involved.
I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality, looking around the room, finding the only people Orchid had gotten along with: Kalani and Charlotte. I grabbed the tablet the scientists had given us and opened the only application on it, which was a group chat, and messaged them.
Then I got a reaction I hadn’t expected, they whipped their heads towards me with a weird look in their eyes. I straightened my posture, looking between them. Then there was a pause… I put on an awkward smile and waved.
The two of them looked at each other, then started furiously typing, but I wasn't getting any icon telling me it was for me.
‘Maybe they accidentally created a group chat without me?’
So I sent a second message.
I saw them look up from their tablets again, and a moment later I received
I felt a little something painful twist inside me, but I forced myself to type.
They looked away, typing to eachother, and I sighed.
‘Back to square one… always back to square one.’
But life went on, and at some point, I stopped going to the socialization events and just continued grinding Stelarris. But one day, I discovered there was a daily time limit for how long I could play each day, seeing my aghast face reflected in the darkened screen.
I spent time trying to break into the system and fix this horrid design flaw, but someone had remote admin access to the computer and shut it down. All of that was told to me through a message on the screen before it powered down with a dying whir of the fans.
I sat up and paced around the room in a tight circle, then I noticed something at the corner of my eye. The exchange box had its indicator light on, so I walked over there and took out a clear orange plastic bottle with a note next to it.
I picked them up and studied them. The note told me the pills were Vitamin D given to all the Marines since we hadn’t been getting enough sun. But I noticed something odd, it had a faint power signature, that of Bekerts. And when I deepened my senses, I saw the paper was stained with Mana, spelling out one word.
“Run”
A moment later, my military issued PC lit up, another message popping up
“Emergency virtual meeting with Lieutenant Jason Gray has been called. Please wait a moment as the connection is set up.”