14 minutes later we all sat around the table- an impressive feat in itself. Although we were required to collect our meal, there were no such restrictions on when and where we had to eat it. So obviously dinner usually devolved into a one on one reflection session on our lonesome- which suited us just fine. Of course, that was until we learned that one of us was technically dead, a traitor, or had a malfunction – or possibly all three at the same time. In other words, no one was really feeling in a talkative mood at that moment.

Mason broke the awkward silence.

“Soooo… we’re kinda in a bad situation guys.”

Silence.

Allison snorted “if the moment before shit hits the fan is merely bad, then yeah, you’ve got my vote.”

“As my oh so eloquent friend over there put it,” began Dan, “We’re screwed.”

Allison smiled sweetly at Dan while shooting him the finger.

“We all know the possibility of malfunction is extremely unlikely, and therefore we can assume that one of us is not who they say they are” concluded Saskia as she stared vacantly at the centre of the table.

“A traitor” Dan piped in, voicing what we were all hesitant to say.

SPACCA was a large organisation, and did claim to be international- however, it was well known that there were numerous groups out there who believed that we were heretical or blasphemers to search for a home other than Earth.

“Woah there guys no need to be so hasty- it’s only one possibility- not the only one! And besides, Ollie has a possible solution.”

Everyone turned their gazes towards me, and suddenly I found the chair I sat in to be far more uncomfortable.

“We do have a full body scanner on board-” I had barely started before I was interrupted.

“Fuck that- I ain’t getting my body scanned!”

“It would be moronic to walk into a sealed chamber in which one person has full control over the entire machine- and also over the results.”

“Perv”

Mason stepped in. “Let him finish guys.”

Red-faced, I cleared my throat. “But I didn’t think you guys would like that- So I had a different idea.”

I looked and Mason to check if he was ready. He gave me a subtle nod, so I continued.

Pointing at the mission timer, I continued. “We have a bit over 60 hours left until Earth- that’s all. And all our sectors are inaccessible except by the inhabitant. I propose that we all stay in our rooms until the flight ends- Then leave it to the authorities to sort this problem out themselves.”

As the group started to absorb my proposition, Mason and I looked at each other.

The idea was that if there was a traitor and they wished to do something untoward they would likely need access to the rest of the ship. If it were some other reason, being in locked off sectors would further reduce damage or injury potential from whatever was causing the death reading. This would mean that whoever disagreed with the proposal had a higher chance of being the victim/traitor.

Unfortunately, it seems the plan didn’t account for the extremely recalcitrant nature of the group.

“Fat chance!”

“Not on your life.”

“No way.”

Ah. Looking back on our previous social interaction, it was probably a pretty damn predictable outcome.

“What you failed to factor into the equation is that whomever the traitor is, they have the ability to foil our CMI. Therefore it is a reasonable assumption that they may be able to control components of the ship- ergo making us sitting ducks in our room,” stated Dan, staring pointedly at me.

“To be fair,” chimed in Mason “It was a pretty long shot, but it is still the first suggestion we’ve had. And we need to do something. Why don’t we start with narrowing down the possibilities to the cause of this mishap? As a starting point, we can try to confirm at least that we are who we say we are.”

“Ah, I getcha- to prove that we haven’t been switched out for some sorta clone before the mission was sent away, right? Well, I’ll step up first then, the name’s Allison and I’m this ship’s mechanic and repairs officer- they called it Construction Specialist back at Spacca. My job around here is to make sure everything is running smoothly, every cog turning right. Something most of you wouldn’t know about me is that I hate spaghetti to the point of throwing up – and Saskia here can prove that this was true back on Earth. Right Sas?” she nodded across the table to Saskia who returned that nod.

“If I may ask- why do dislike spaghetti so much? It was confusing that we had to order a substitute for spaghetti to one crew member” Dan asked curiously.

“Bunch of bitches back in college poured the stuff all over me in the cafeteria- still brings back shitty memories to this day. I still literally can’t eat it without throwing up. But if I do see those girls again… well, I took martial arts for a reason.” The smile Allison gave somewhat resembled one of the Cheshire Cat – but only if you removed it from the constraints of its PG-13 rating.

“Uhh… right, well I’m Mason, and I’m the doctor on board. That’s basically it concerning what I do. One thing you might not know is that I have xyrophobia. Which, while the word is great for scrabble games, it’s less cool when it means that I have a deathly fear of razors. Ollie can testify- he was there when I got this” pulling up his shirt Mason pointed to a small scar on his left lower abdomen.

Hmm who knew – play sword fighting was much more fun with wooden swords. “Yeah I was kinda involved in the process- that’s the same scar.”

Dan leant back on his chair with his arms crossed “Well I don’t have any cute little relationship secrets like you people seem to all have, but I do have the security login details and fingerprint confirmation for all my computers- all verifiable that they haven’t been changed since my enrolment into Spacca in the IT department.”

“Well I guess that’s my cue- my name, as you all know, is Saskia, and I’m the geologist. I’m here to study and categorise the samples we obtain. And Allison can confirm that the first words I said when we were accosted by our so-called ‘fan-club’ were ‘please go screw yourselves’.”

“Yeah, she said that alright- and lucky for you guys she skipped out on telling you the next few words she said. I ain’t never seen a man turn red so fast and so completely in my whole life!”

That wasn’t hyperbolic language by any means- Saskia wasn’t free with her words by any means, but when she found the need, not much could hold her back.

“lucky last, Ollie” prompted Mason, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Ah… yeah, I’m Oliver- the Zoologist. I’m studying the effects of living in space on animals, as well as trialling some drugs to alleviate some of the negative effects-”

Allison interrupted “wait, hold up there- you tryin’ any fancy drugs that might’ve caused this whole shitstorm?”

“No! Nothing… nothing that could’ve caused… this.” This wasn’t good- I could see how this would turn out if I didn’t manage to dispel all doubts about this.

Thankfully Dan gave me the perfect opportunity “what sort of specific effects are these drugs supposed to have exactly?” he inquired suspiciously.

“I’ve only trialled two drugs this trip. One with the purpose of combatting the decline in plasma fluids throughout the body and the second attempts to increase brain function- besides, none of them were tested on anything other than geese, fish and a few land-based mammals. And unless the syringe was directly applied into my own body, I can’t have had direct effect from the drugs!”

After a baleful glare, Dan turned back to the rest of the group “That puts us back at square one, so unless anyone has any further brilliant ideas, I suggest we retire this conversation and turn our attention towards the rapidly cooling breakfasts in front of us.”

Whether no-one had any more ideas or no one felt like speaking, the mission group spoke no further words together that morning, as we all gathered our rations and started back to our sectors- all of us more solitary and on guard than ever in the flight. Even Mason, who I usually ate with, subtly shook his head to indicate we would be eating separately this morning.

I took one final glance at the fluorescent green numbers above the monitor before I left the room.

62:43 hours to re-entry

***

However as it turned out although I didn’t eat dinner with Mason, I wasn’t entirely left alone in my return to the animal sector.

“What’s the long face for Ollie?” asked Allison, as if she wasn’t fully aware of the ‘little problem’ on board this ship.

“I don’t think now is the time for jokes, Allison.”

“Ah but now is just the time for jokes- stress isn’t going to help us fix the problem at all you know!”

She did have a point, but that still didn’t explain why she was joking with me specifically- we had barely interacted after a particular incident that had occurred during the mission, and I didn’t intend to start now.

“What do you want Allison?” I asked bluntly.

“Ah don’t be so mean- don’t tell me you’re still mad about my visit to your sector?” she winked suggestively at me. That would’ve made me blush on any other day- but I wasn’t in the mood for any teasing or joking right now.

“You didn’t even enter my sleeping quarters Allison- you and I both know you just came to see the animals. And I was never mad- It wasn’t me who fell into the lake.” I could still remember the shriek she let out as she fell into the water after trying to get a little closer to the ducks. Needless to say, she didn’t exactly wave a cheery goodbye to me as she left the sector.

“Then you’ve got no reason to be so grumpy, then! I just wanted to have a little chat with you!”

Allison was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. If she hadn’t brought up that either of us could be traitors, it was because she had a reason not to. And besides I wouldn’t last five seconds against her, so she didn’t have too much to fear if she thought I was the traitor.

“Well, what do you want to chat about then?” I said in an emotionless tone.

“Oh nothing in particular” she started sweetly, playfully grabbing my hand. “Except I saw a strange thing happening just before our breakfast.”

“What was tha-” I started to say but was cut off by the crushing pain in my hand.

“I saw someone go to the doctor’s just an hour or so after the video meeting. And I couldn’t help but notice that they didn’t look at all sick in any way? See I’m just looking out for my fellow crew member’s health- you wouldn’t happen to know what sort of problems were dealt with in that office, would you now, Ollie?”

“It was the scanner I told you guys about! I swear that was all we did!”

“And you just so happened to trust Mason that much to be able to step inside a metal chamber in which he had full control over? You’re either dumber than I thought, or you’re a horrible liar- and I can’t stand liars Ollie.”

The crushing sensation magnified- but the smile continued to split her face.

“I swear!! That’s all that happened!! He’s not the- he can’t be the traitor! I’ve known him since we were kids!”

The sickly sweet smile was gone now- and the glare that was on her face gave no indication as to whether she believed me or not. Luckily that was the moment that Saskia chose to respond to my yelling.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” she asked as she rounded the corner.

Allison gave me a greasy look, as if I had somehow managed to conjure up the help, and threw my hand back at me before turning to smile at Saskia.

“Nothing! I was just reminding Ollie here that we can’t trust anyone now. I think he gets it, don’t you Ollie?”

“Go screw yourself Allison.”

“Cute. Only in your dreams, hun, only in your dreams.”

Turning, she lithely walked away without looking back. Saskia gave me a questioning look as Allison passed her- but must’ve ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth the effort, turning back to follow her.

Leaving me alone in the corridor, clutching my bruised hand.