Reece awoke hours later feeling incredibly rejuvenated. All the things they had done the “night” before flooded his mind, eliciting a huge grin and an unconscious moan. He looked around for the twin focuses of his desire, but both women were already gone. Somewhat disappointed, Reece quickly dressed into his loaner gym clothes and went to the mess hall for some breakfast. He could hear voices from within the infirmary when passing by, but his stomach was rumbling with hunger. Reece decided to go in after he’d eaten something.

The mess was empty, so he ate some mashed potatoes and a protein shake and considered the situation. While it was possible the commander was sticking around for Sora, Reece found it increasingly unlikely. They didn’t seem to care much about human life. So that left the black rock...the nightcore. They must need it and won’t leave without it. If that was true, his group needed to find it first.

Reece put his engineering brain to work. There was a problem that needed a solution. Failure likely meant death. His group had to narrow down the most likely place for the stone to be secreted away. That was their best chance at survival. Aldo had mentioned proximity to the stone. It made sense to Reece that if the scientist wanted to maximize the experiments, he’d have hidden it as close to the lab as possible. Putting it in the lab would have been too obvious and it would have been quickly discovered. Plus, the lab didn’t have any good hiding spots.

So, what was around the lab? On one side was the male barracks, and there were plenty of hiding places. However, it would be quickly discovered if it was there. The guys were always moving stuff around. But on the other side of the lab was the garden, and it shared the module with the lab. Reece considered this as he took another bite of mashed potatoes. Potatoes that had been grown in the garden module and needed to be dug up to harvest. That was it! The plants! It had to be buried in the dirt that the plants were grown in. But which plant? It would have to be one that wouldn’t likely be dug up anytime soon. The best bet was one of the trees.

Reece decided that he’d keep this info to himself and try and take care of confirming his hypothesis later in the day. He finished up his food and headed to the infirmary. The rest of the crew was inside and casually talking. They all looked up when he walked in. Aika glanced at Reece and quickly looked away in embarrassment. Naeva just smiled her wicked smile and winked at him. He grinned right back before looking over at the other two. Reece noticed that Sora was up and about and looked much better as she chatted gleefully with Pasha.

“You’re getting pretty comfortable with our situation,” noted Pasha, indicating Reece.

Reece looked down at his loose-fitting gym clothes.

“Yeah, well…I’ll put something else on in a bit,” he replied. “How’re you feeling, Sora? You look much better.”

“I feel great!” she said, smiling uncharacteristically as she flexed her bicep muscles. “Better than ever, in fact.”

“Good, we need everyone on their A-game today,” said Reece as cheerily as he could muster.

Sora seemed on her deathbed just the day before and now she was “better than ever”. That worried Reece and strengthened his resolve in finding the black stone as soon as he possibly could.

“What was that serum doing to her?” Reece thought to himself. “And could they still trust her? Probably not.”

“Are you ready to put your plan into action?” asked Pasha.

“Almost,” answered Reece. “Just stay here, I’ve got to go and get changed and take care of business. I’ll be back as soon as I finish up. Just give me about fifteen or... maybe twenty minutes.”

“No worries,” replied Pasha, waving him off. “Take your time.”

Reece kept his manner casual as he left the infirmary. As soon as he was out of sight, he took off as quickly as he could. He didn’t have much time to enact his side-plan, and it all depended on him finding the large black stone. He ran all the way to the male barracks and grabbed a change of clothes, his tool bag, and the almost empty torch. With the needed tools in hand, he sprinted back to the garden module. In case someone came looking for him, he shut and locked the bulkhead to the gym and infirmary.

Reece allowed his gaze to take in all the module’s plant-life at once and narrow down which was the most likely hiding spot. He ruled out all the smaller plants, but the fruit trees had potential. There were thirteen of them in total. Reece deduced that only three of them had pots big enough to hold something the size of the stone without killing the tree, quickly eliminating most of them. Two of them were near the gym-side of the garden module, while the last was near the bulkhead going into the lab.

Heading to the storage lockers, he found some overshirts and put one on. He didn’t need to get dirt all over his clothes. That would only invite questions. Reece also grabbed a hand-spade and bucket from the storage lockers and headed to the single large tree near the lab. It was a type of apple tree that Reece didn’t recognize. It already had several small green apples forming.

Kneeling next to it, he positioned the bucket next to the tree. The tree had a skirt that kept all the dirt in place, so he removed it and carefully set it aside. Once the skirt was out of the way, he began scooping one spade-full of dark dirt after another from the tree’s pot. Each spade-full was placed into the bucket. He had to be careful since he didn’t want to damage the roots and end up killing the tree. He also didn’t want to spill dirt everywhere. He wouldn’t have time to clean it up.

Despite his care, he made good progress. In under three minutes, nearly half the dirt from the pot had been removed. He was soon rewarded with a metallic *tink* as the spade hit something hard that was buried underneath the tree’s remaining dirt. Dropping the spade into the bucket, he began moving the dirt around with his hands.

His efforts uncovered a large round object. He got one hand around it and had to work it out from between the tree’s roots, wiggling it firmly but carefully. The tree had intertwined itself around the object, hugging it tightly and refusing to let go. It took a couple of minutes and some convincing, but the tree’s roots finally gave up its prize as he managed to free the object from its prison.

He held the dirt-encrusted orb before him, keeping it over the pot to avoid spilling the dirt everywhere. Using his other hand, he removed as much of the dirt as he could. Shaking the object over the pot with both hands helped. The rigorous shaking dislodged some of the dirt clinging to the crevasses and indentations within the strange stone, revealing some of its surface to him. Getting a better look at it now that much of the dirt had fallen away, it was indeed black and about the size of a small human skull.

Basically round, it looked like it had a crystalline structure, but not like any crystal he had ever seen before. It was completely opaque and looked almost organic. Also, although it seemed partially solid and made from a single substance, only a little over half of it had the crystalline appearance he first noticed. The rest looked almost melted, like lava rock. The whole thing seemed to weigh about two kilograms or so.

Reece quickly placed the strange-looking object into his tool bag. He swiftly reburied the tree and replaced the skirt, making sure no dirt was left on the floor. Using a brush and small dustpan, he swept up the whole area.

Once he was satisfied, he returned the spade, brush, and dustpan to their places within the storage lockers. The bucket, he cleaned and filled with water before setting it near the table holding the potted potatoes. Reece washed up in the garden’s sink, drying up the area as soon as he finished. Removing a few metal scraps that he had left over from an earlier repair, he placed them on the floor next to the bucket. The pots were strapped to the table and sat within metal trays with a two-centimeter lip surrounding it to catch any water overflow.

Reece unstrapped and moved a couple of the large pots from the tungsten-alloy trays they sat within. Stacking the empty trays, he set some of the scrap metal into the top tray. Using the torch, he carefully melted the metal together, forming a clump. He picked it up with his grabber tool and dropped it into the bucket of water where it made an angry hiss. Pulling it back out, he flipped it over and melted the other side. He did this a few more times until it started to resemble a sphere. Once he was satisfied with its general shape, he turned the torch down and used the flames to blacken the metal. Before long, the metal took on a metallic black color.

He appraised the object as he pulled it from the bucket for the last time. It fit the description that Sora had given him, so he figured it would make a good counterfeit. He put the bucket back in place. The whole process took a little over half an hour, so he left the stone he had found in his tool bag and replaced it and the torch back into the men’s barracks where he had found them. After quickly changing, Reece grabbed a spare satchel from the barracks and put the fake nightcore within.

He took the nightcore that he had just fabricated back to the infirmary to show the remaining crew and see what Sora would do with it. If she tried taking it to the other side, Reece would have his answer to whether she was compromised or not. If that happened, he would have to inform his other two crewmates and decide what they would and could do about her.

Reece hoped they wouldn’t need to find out and she’d be just fine. Looking at the other members, he could see that they shared his worry over her. Pasha was the first to see him enter the room.

“That was a long twenty minutes,” stated Pasha with an appraising stare.

“Yeah, it took a lot longer than I thought, sorry,” replied Reece when a thought suddenly struck him. “I was looking for an electronics toolkit. It would make controlling the door much quicker and easier. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate one.”

“You should have said something,” cut in Naeva. “We’ve got one in the barracks. Someone had left it strapped under one of the beds. It’s been there for years.”

“Really? Great. Could you grab it?” asked Reece, cheered by the unexpected stroke of luck.

“Sure,” answered the woman before heading off.

A couple of minutes later, she was back. In her hand was a tool bag, like the one Reece used. She handed the bag to him and he took a quick look at its contents. Wire strippers, cutters, clamps, plasma fuser, heat shrink, mastermeter, various wire spools, and more filled the bag.

“Excellent,” commented Reece. “I think we have everything we need.”

They were finally prepared for the day. Now it was time to execute their plan. They had gathered everything they needed and then some. Naeva and Pasha each readied their hastily crafted spears while Aika checked several small kitchen knives she had strapped to her body and readied her functional katana. Reece grabbed the toolkit and the crew headed out.

“I’ve got some good news,” announced Reece as he pulled the fake stone from the army-grey satchel he had slung over his shoulder.

He watched the reactions of the crew, particularly Sora. Her attention was clearly drawn to it. He could see it in her eyes when he held the object aloft. It was the first thing she had shown any real interest in since she had found them.

“Is that the nightstone?” asked Pasha, breaking Reece out of his musing.

“Yeah, it’s called a nightcore, actually. I couldn’t tell you why it’s called that, of course,” replied Reece matter-of-factly.

“Well, that puts us in a good position, doesn’t it,” said Naeva, smiling. “Now we have some leverage.”

“Exactly, but this still doesn’t change the plan,” added Reece. “If anything, it makes it even more important.”

“Right,” cut in Pasha. “So, are we ready to do this?”

“Reece,” Aika added, “The rest of us have been talking. If we encounter any resistance, Naeva will simply stay here with us. We can always try smuggling her over again later.”

Reece wondered at the change, but he trusted that Aika knew what she was doing.

“Alright, that makes sense,” he replied as he faced Naeva. “I don’t want to put you in any more danger than necessary.”

She got a pouty look on her face, grabbed his head with both hands, and kissed him passionately.

“I know,” she replied as she pulled away from the kiss. “And if I survive and make it to the ground alive, I’ll head for Cape Canaveral and wait for you guys there. Now let’s do this.”

He nodded and looked over to Sora.

“Try and stay behind us…just in case we face any opposition,” he said as he went over to the door panel.

He could feel everyone watching his back as he worked. He dropped the fake nightcore into his toolkit and grabbed a hex-driver, wire cutters, and needle-nosed pliers out of it. It didn’t take long to fish out the wires and disable the door’s locking mechanism. He turned towards Aika and nodded. She returned his nod and lifted her katana into her battle stance.

Standing up, Reece grabbed the wheel of the door lock and cranked it a half-turn, partially opening it. With his heart beating in his ears, he carefully swung the door completely open. Where he was behind the door, he couldn’t see inside. What he could see was the looks of horror on the faces of Naeva, Aika, and Pasha. Suddenly, Sora sprinted past them into the room, laughing hysterically. She had Reece’s hastily crafted nightcore in her hands as she ran by them.

Aika’s face changed from horror to anguish over several seconds before she backed away from the room, causing her to bump into Naeva and Pasha. Reece rounded the door and was the last to see into the hallway beyond. What he saw made his blood run cold. Thomas and Thato were both standing there in the hallway. Only it wasn’t the Thomas and Thato that Reece remembered. Gone was the mischievous smile Thomas often wore and the spark of wisdom in Thato’s eyes as he explained a particularly difficult Yoga pose.

Both men were clearly dead, and only their decaying corpses stood in the hallway. They had died weeks ago when the commander had shot them, according to Pasha. And they did look dead, except for the fact that they were standing there in the hall. Staring back at them with hunger in their sick-looking milky eyes, their jaws chewed the air in anticipation of a fresh meal. Reece shivered in revulsion at the sight. Their yellowish skin was drawn taut over their bony faces and the dried blood from the gunshots that had ended their lives still covered their skin and clothes. It was a horrific mockery of the men they once were.

Behind the grim vision of the two former crewmates, Reece caught sight of Sora giggling madly at them while hugging the stone close to her breast. She smiled wickedly before running deeper into the other side of the station. As she disappeared down the hallway, the two dead men charged. Inhuman growls escaped their lips as they quickly covered the distance to Aika, who was standing the closest to the hungry monsters.

The stoic woman, for her part, grimaced and moved further into the room as they came on. Tears actively trickled from her eyes. She sniffed as she wiped them aside and readied herself for their charge. Naeva came in right behind her, her jaw firmly set in anger. She was equally disturbed by the sight of their dead friends, being used as tools for some sick plot. Reece swore he heard an inhuman growl escape Naeva’s throat as she moved in to back up Aika against the nightmarish duo quickly approaching.

Just as Thato’s living corpse attempted a flying tackle of the agile Asian woman, she easily jumped over his dive. As she lightly landed behind the now prone zombie, she brought down her katana with a heavy forward slash into the corpse of Thomas which had also rushed ahead. The hastily crafted katana did its job admirably and Thomas’s rotting body was split from neck to hip. Blood painted the walls as his corpse collapsed into a pile of limbs and gore. Behind her, Naeva plunged her spear into the back of Thato’s prone form.

Pasha pinned Thato to the floor with his spear as well. Despite the two mortal wounds, Thato’s corpse continued to thrash and struggle. Naeva savagely ripped her spear from its back and brought it right back down, skewering him through the back of the head. Thato’s corpse twitched once and moved no more.

The same couldn’t be said for Thomas’s mangled body. Despite the horrific wound, a grasping arm was still attached to his head. The mess of a creature reached up with it and grabbed for Aika. She winced in disgust at the sight and backed off, passing by Thato’s unmoving corpse. The arm grabbed at the floor and slowly drug itself and Thomas’s attached head and remains of the attached torso along. A trail of blood and viscera was left in the pitiful thing’s wake. Despite its horrific wound, it continued undaunted. Even more disturbing, its jaw snapped closed repeatedly, as if it were trying to bite something.

“Go for the head!” shouted Reece from behind. “That seems to do the trick.”

A quick nod and she turned back to what was left of poor Thomas, plunging her sword through the thing’s right eye socket and into its brain. She violently twisted the weapon, causing further damage to whatever was left inside its skull. The thing that had been their friend and crewmate collapsed into an unmoving mess of greenish gore. Partially coagulated blood slowly spread in small pools around the two bodies.

Aika fell back against the wall, overcome by grief and horror at what she had just had to do. The whole affair had only lasted a few seconds, but Reece knew it had scarred all of them forever. Reece’s heart hurt for Aika and he stepped into the room and gently hugged her before leading the distraught woman away from the nightmarish experience.

“I take it that this is what happens when the serum is injected into those that are already dead,” spat Pasha in revulsion. “It’s an abomination and a complete betrayal of these two good men. We need to do something to avenge this atrocity.”

“We will, but we need to be careful. They have a different injection that turns people into these…zombie-like creatures,” added Naeva with barely contained rage. “The level of disrespect of not just these two brave men, but nature itself, is astounding.”

As Reece continued to hold Aika, he took in the sight of Naeva. Knowing it may be the last time he saw her; he etched her face into his brain one more time. He could see both emotional pain and physical nausea on her face, but she fought through it and set her jaw in defiance.

“Now...I have a job to do, and you need to get back on that side of the door,” she said through gritted teeth as she looked hard into Reece’s eyes. “I don’t have much time, we gotta move...now.”

Reece saw her mouth the words “I love you.” Giving him one last wink, Naeva turned and sprinted down the hallway past the entrance to the officer’s quarters in the direction Sora had gone. Reece wanted to call after her and repeat the words back to her but didn’t want to blow her cover. Aika grabbed him by the arm and led him back into the dining module.

“We need to lock this back up, now,” ordered Aika, shaking off her horror as Pasha came through the portal after them.

Reece quickly pushed the heavy bulkhead shut and spun the locking mechanism closed. Kneeing down, he separated the wires that allowed the door to be opened both locally and remotely. Naeva was now physically separated from them and completely on her own. They waited nervously at the door for a few minutes before Naeva’s voice finally came through Reece’s intercom.

“I’m in and I’m confident no one saw me. They appear to be traveling between control and the officer’s quarters for the most part. I’ll report when I have something more. Over.”

“Copy that Naeva...oh, and one thing...the stone Sora grabbed was a fake. I have the real one. Now...stay hidden, stay safe. Oh, and I love you. Over.”

The seconds ticked by as Reece waited for Naeva's reply, the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.