Our Existence Is Scandal

✦15✦

Great another person who I don't recognize will try to start a meaningful conversation with me.

They had their helmet on, one of the first I'd seen to do it, which was surprising for a species that wasn't native to this planet. This entire dome-like structure is meant to make the planet somewhat inhabitable for humans is what I learned, not just temperature but they needed other things to be able to breathe too.

Such as oxygen.

A rare gas, too incredibly rare to be one of the main things your survival depends on. I got lucky by landing on Mars, which seemed to be Carbon Dioxide, and I doubted Astra couldn't handle different atmospheres herself, considering her...yeah.

Apparently, in the words of the expert herself, Earth had an abundance of oxygen.

An abundance of many things humans needed to survive actually (something most planets tend to have for their inhabitants). Which brought up the question of why they would want to leave. Astra did mention in passing that the humans had a bit of a knack for destroying their planet, however.

Strange little species they are.

"Dr-" The person looked up at us and sighed "Please tell me you and Teegan aren't fucking in here again, the smell doesn't wash out of these desks and you know that Mhklali!"

And in that moment I had a choice to make, a lightning-fast one and I could have said two things. The responsible thing and well...the one I was actually going to say.

I shrugged "Guilty."

Astra turned her head to slowly look at me and in that moment whatever consequences I was going to suffer were worth it. "Actually-

"No!" The person threw their hands in the air "I don't want to hear it!" They began slithering their way back out the door "You shouldn't have come back Kofi, some shit came up and there's talk of them putting you back in genetic tests again and Tee?....you should probably go see the people at security, your teams dropping like flies out there."

Astra couldn't see it but I was sporting the biggest smirk in history behind my helmet.

"Now," She breathed, staring at the door that had just closed "Why would you say that?"

"Forgive me for not being up for meaningless conversation," I raised my hands in the air defensively "But if you notice, they're gone and you didn't even have to pretend to know who they are."

"I do know who they are," She countered, "So you didn't want to speak to someone and so you said we were having sex?"

I tilted my head "What? You disappointed it's not true?" I gestured to the desk "I'm sure we can spare some time to make your dreams a reality."

"Oh sure go ahead, it's not like every second you spend in there depends on our survival or anything."

Astra and I jumped like irresponsible teenagers caught by their parents. She mouthed fast sentences to me whilst pointing frantically at my wrist, I tried to read her lips but couldn't and mouthed that to her which made her make another gesture at my arm that I also couldn't understand.

Shit, she's bad at this.

"Oh, so you're just going to pretend like I didn't hear you guys flirting? Okay, let's play that game. Hi guys, great to catch you in this strange moment of silence, do you have any new information for me?"

Astra and I still kept each other's gaze strong and this time I could read what her eyes were saying 'Speak!'. My eyes spoke back 'Why me?' she did a silent scoff and rolled her eyes making me tap my foot aggressively against the floor before giving up and replying.

"Uh hey Temp-

-Temp?"

Temp?

"We do have something for you, yeah."

Astra's head snapped to look at me her mouth agape, I shrugged at her. "Oh really?"

"Yes, we found out..." I gestured to Astra to find something making her scramble on Kofi's desk looking for something but only finding files and paperweights, in her hurry I pointed at a stray piece of card on the floor and she snatched it off the floor and put it in my hand. "The schedules for everything and everyone's shifts!"

"Well that's... useful," She sounded almost disappointed that we had something "At least the exploring you're doing is not just of each other's bodies."

"We haven't explored anything!" Astra chimed in making me facepalm.

"Very convincing, curly," Tempest snickered.

"Of each other bodies I mean," She explained further "We've done a lot of exploring of the base and-

"Astra she cut off the communication line," I informed her, placing a hand on her shoulder before bursting out into laughter, "Way to change her mind."

She punched my shoulder "I wouldn't have had to say that if you hadn't made not one but two!" Her fingers were shoved in my face for emphasis, "People think we were," A blush crept up her face.

"Let people think we were what?" I teased leaning closer to her "Fucking?" I whispered before gasping "How scandalous!" I gaped, pressing the schedule to her chest and sauntering passed her. "Let's go check out what the fuss is in the security room."

"But you don't have clearance?"

I waved her off "My pregnant girlfriend does."

Teegan was the more affectionate one.

That was obvious, her office was decorated from corner to corner with pictures, big, small, framed, and unframed. Her desk was messy but seemed to be color-coded in a way she'd understand. Neon-coloured 'sticky notes' as Astra called them were everywhere little reminders scribbled on them.

Her handwriting was hard on the eyes, borderline illegible. I couldn't read anything she'd written down if I tried.

She was a lot less secretive than her partner however she even had the courtesy to have all her passwords or a bright pink note in her drawer (so much for a security officer). It took Astra a while but she managed to decipher it and get into her laptop where all the true magic happened.

"Lupita Karmen," Astra shook her head fondly, "I should've known," She scolded herself as she typed into her computer. "It was her daughter's name."

I frowned "They have a daughter?"

Astra's nodded slowly "The first one they lost."

Her finger froze over the mouse as she took in the wallpaper Teegan had of her and two older people who from the resemblance I assumed were her parents. I spoke up to snap her out of her trance "You have any idea what we're looking for?"

She took in a deep breath before shaking her head "We'll probably know when we see it." I hung over her shoulder as she opened multiple files, most being picture albums and long paperwork we didn't care to read until we finally opened something useful.

"Is this camera footage?" Astra asked, scrolling through each frame.

"Looks like there's one for every room in this building," I said, eyeing the familiar walls and unfamiliar human faces "You think it's old, like, pre-recorded files?"

Her finger lifted to the corner of the screen "No look at the time and the red button over there, we're live."

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