Location: on the Skeld, heading to the planet Polus
Red
After the Peach incident, they were nearing Polus.
Everyone was gathered at the ship windows, gazing outside as they neared the small, icy planet.
Wren and Talon were pressed against the window, completely mesmerized. Black was there also, and she had the exact same look in her eyes as the two kids.
The three of them looked like children waking up on Christmas morning to see piles of presents under the tree.
Red smiled at the sight of them, knowing that it was not a moment to be missed.
With him, Pink and Purple were also on the outskirts of the throng of people gathered in Cafeteria.
Turning, Red left to find Maroon, who was in Navigation, about to land the ship. He knew that landing on Polus was one of the newer things that mission leaders were trained to do, and if Maroon was still new to her job, she may need assistance.
When he made it to Weapons, he stopped, realizing that there was a lot of space debris coming up, and most of it consisted of icy rocks.
Some of those rocks looked like hazards to the ship's safety.
Thinking fast, Red got onto the Weapons chair and activated the system.
The chair rose, elevating him above the floor, and the screen lit up, displaying the diagram of the ship with the debris detection.
There were several blinking warnings, alerting Red to the presence of several approaching large rocks.
One collided with the ship, and Red felt the impact nearby.
We're getting close.
With the control panel, he readied the ship's guns, narrowing his eyes for focus.
There's a big one- left-
Turning the guns, he shot at the approaching rock, knocking it off course enough to clear the Skeld's path.
Right-
He turned the guns again, shooting the chunk of ice off course.
Straight ahead-
Again.
Right-
Again.
Right. Left. Left. Right. Straight. Left. Right. Right. Left.
He heard a sound below him, and he glanced over to see Pink.
Left. Straight. Left. Right.
"You good there?"
"I think so," Red said, only half-listening.
"I... think Maroon is having trouble with the navigation."
Red came back into focus for a second, realizing that Pink was right. They were experiencing quite a bit of turbulence, and Maroon must be having trouble.
However, in that second when Red took his eyes off the lit-up diagram, they felt a rather large impact.
And it sounded like it broke something.
... Oh no.
Purple and White ran into Weapons, and Pink looked from them, to Red, and back again.
Red nodded at her, silently telling her to take charge of the situation.
He went right back to defending the ship, the ensuing conversation blurring into the background of his awareness.
All that mattered was shooting down their rocky, icy foes that threatened their safety.
Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Pink running towards the very front of the ship, and Purple and White running to the Cafeteria.
But he quickly turned back to his duty.
~~~~~
Purple
"Okay. Purple, take White and get everyone else to help you figure out what's broken and fix it. I'm going to help Maroon navigate. We're in Polus' atmosphere now, so things are getting difficult."
Purple nodded, exchanging a glance with White before following orders.
They both ran into Cafeteria, and the ship jerked to the side suddenly, sending them sprawling onto the floor.
Everyone else was in the Cafeteria, holding onto the tables for stability.
"Something's broken, we need to find it and fix it!" White declared as the ship jerked again.
Suddenly, they all started floating.
Purple sighed, knowing that the ship's gravity had broken somehow. Grabbing onto a table, she pushed herself towards the hallway from where she came.
Everyone started to disperse in different directions.
"Oh!" Purple said, the thought coming to mind. "Put on your helmets, until we're sure that the ship's oxygen isn't broken too."
Purple put on her helmet, suddenly feeling claustrophobic, and then continued on her mission. White followed close behind, ready to help.
I hope he has some experience being a repairman, because I sure don't.
I fix human bodies, not spaceships.
They made their way past Red and into Oxygen, and Purple's eyes widened.
The oxygen system didn't look right.
White floated closer, inspecting the outside of the system with a thoughtful gaze.
Seemingly with knowledge of what he was doing, he pulled off the outside and looked into the workings of the system.
The ship jerked again, but White seemed unaffected, instead staring at whatever those components were.
After a moment, he turned to Purple with a grim expression. Thanks to the voice and speech system implanted into the suits, he said, "it's broken."
"Where? How can we fix it?"
"Well... the damage came from outside. So, I'll need to go out to see what the issue is and see if I can fix it."
"... Can't it wait until we land?"
"No. If I'm right, it won't be long before the ship no longer has enough oxygen to get us back home."
Purple's heart sank. "So... who's going outside?"
"Both of us. I know what I'm doing, but you have to make sure nothing knocks us off the line, as well as hold the toolbox. I'll probably need both hands."
Purple gulped. "Okay."
After obtaining a ship mechanic box from a nearby compartment, Purple secured their line to a hook, and the door of the deployment chamber closed, preparing to release them into space.
Purple was not prepared for the otherworldly sensation that was her body getting sucked out into Polus' atmosphere.
After orienting herself, she looked at White, who was holding onto a handle on the ship's roof. He helped pull her down onto the roof, and she secured herself, holding on tight to the toolbox in her hand.
White pulled himself towards a hole in the side of the ship, inspecting the damage.
A huge hunk of ice hurtled toward their heads, and Purple shoved White down, ducking both their heads beneath the threat.
Purple's eyes widened as she realized there were a lot more around them.
White wasn't paying attention, instead looked to her for the toolbox. She opened it, and he took out a small tool.
He leaned into the damaged area, half of his body disappearing into the hole.
Purple pressed herself against the Skeld, clutching the toolbox to her chest.
Being out in the open atmosphere with only a line and a handle keeping you from certain death was not something she'd look back on longingly.
White came back out of the hole, reached for another few tools, and disappeared again.
Hurry up. Please.
For the love of all the stars, please hurry up so we can go back inside.
To make matters worse, the ship jerked to the side to avoid a particularly large rock.
Another one exploded in front of them, sending debris spraying all over Purple. She yelped in surprise and fear, instinctively raising a hand to shield her face.
Red must have shot that.
"Almost got it..." White said, reaching for another tool. "We should be fine, I just have to fix one more thing, and then secure it all."
Purple nodded, unable to speak.
... I don't know how much longer I can handle this.
Looking around at Polus' atmosphere filled with stray space debris, Purple tried to calm her breathing. It was frigid, windy, dangerous, and she just wanted to go inside even more than ever.
WHITE, PLEASE JUST HURRY UP.
They were nearing the ground, despite the turbulence, and Purple glimpsed Polus' space center in the distance.
"Finished!" White said, emerging from the inner workings of the ship.
Purple slammed him against the ship again, avoiding yet another rock.
Working together, they both made it back inside the ship, and apparently, White's repairs had also fixed the ship's gravity.
Purple sighed in relief, but then White looked at her.
He said simply, "oh, you might want to hold on."
Suddenly, Purple was catapulted across the Skeld floor as the ship lurched forward.
She scrambled to hold onto something, but failed; so, while the ship landed on Polus, Purple was sliding around like a hockey puck on ice.
And White was evidently trying not to laugh.
As they finally came to a halt, Purple rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks for the help," she muttered sarcastically.
Purple turned to go put the toolbox back, and as she left the room, she heard White laugh.
Is that the first time any of us have heard him laugh?
~~~~~
Location: Mira HQ
Green
The frantic, panicking Scarlet led Lapis Lazuli and Violet down the hallway towards Launchpad. Green and Blue trailed behind, keeping up the scared couple act.
Green held onto Blue's hand, knowing that Violet, Lapis, and Scarlet had their eyes on them.
As they came upon Gray's bloody body, Violet inhaled sharply, and Lapis simply stared in horror.
Cadmium was already there, and she was in tears, inspecting Gray's body.
"Who would do such a thing...?" Cadmium whispered in her soft voice.
No one had an answer for that.
Well, Green and Blue did, but they definitely weren't going to say it. Blue turned to him.
... I didn't know she could fake tears.
Well, the more realistic, the better.
Keeping up the couple act, Green held Blue close as she averted her eyes.
Lapis finally found his voice, saying in an uncharacteristically soft tone, "we... we need to call a meeting."
No one disputed that.
No one spoke as Lapis led the way back to the Cafeteria, where some of the others were waiting.
No one protested as he hit the button to summon everyone else, although they got a few confused looks from those who were still somehow blissfully ignorant.
"What's up with the lights, Lapis?" Onyx asked, arms crossed.
"They... we have reason to believe that they were sabotaged."
Confused murmurs made their way around the room before Lapis spoke again:
"Also, you may have noticed that we are missing someone - that's because we've just found Gray... she's dead. Evidently, killed by someone else."
Everyone was silent, shocked.
I wonder if anyone misses her, Green thought to himself.
"Gray? She's... dead?" Glaucous asked, putting a hand over her heart.
Wait, hold up - someone here actually liked Gray?
"Unfortunately, yes. And, to make matters worse, we have no idea who did it."
"Well," Violet spoke up, "I do have some ideas."
"Do go on," Lapis nodded to his friend.
"Well, Gray wasn't necessarily well-liked, so there's no clear indicators there," Violet stated.
I think that's an understatement, my good sir.
Blue gripped his hand, keeping up the fearful act. "Wha- what else are you thinking, Violet?"
"I'm thinking that if people can vouch for each other, we can make this a mere process of elimination."
Ah. This.
"So, who here can vouch for someone else?" Lapis asked the group.
Dandelion spoke up, "I saw Glaucous and Titanium in Reactor with me and Cochineal - I don't think it could have been them."
Green chose to speak then. "Blue and I were in Greenhouse when the lights went out, and we saw Lapis and Violet in that area as well."
Lapis nodded at that.
Scarlet looked at Cadmium. "We were both in Cafeteria when the lights went out, and we went to MedBay after the lights came back on, and went to Launchpad, where we found the body."
Cadmium confirmed this with a nod, wringing her hands nervously.
Violet looked at everyone, seemingly checking them all off a mental list. "So... that leaves only one person. Can anyone vouch for you, Onyx?"
With wide eyes, Onyx realized exactly where this was going. "No, but I would never kill anyone! That's crazy - I never liked Gray, but I wouldn't kill her!"
"Are we sure it has to be him?" Lapis asked Violet in a low voice.
Violet nodded. "If there were two killers, there would be multiple bodies, wouldn't there? There's only one, so logically, there has to be only one killer - obviously, it's the only person who was alone at the time. Simple."
Green tilted his head at Violet. Looks like we located the brains of the operation.
Lapis Lazuli and Violet - the power duo. The leader and the brains.
Interesting. Interesting indeed.
Target located.
Onyx was panicking at this point. "But- but that's insane! Why would anyone do this? Why would I do this??"
"We don't know yet!" Violet protested. "But we shouldn't let any more kills happen, should we, Lapis?"
Lapis looked torn. "But... then what do we do with Onyx? That was never in the training procedures!"
"We eject him, obviously. We can't keep him here, and we can't let him go back to Earth."
Some of the others were nodding at Violet's suggestion.
Lapis looked at Onyx, who was backing up against the Cafeteria wall, afraid for his life.
He hung his head. "This is all happening way too fast. I really don't know what to do here."
Onyx realized Lapis' sympathy for him, and tried to use that to his advantage. "Please, Lapis - I have a sister at home! I would never do something like this, I promise you. Just, please, don't eject me. Don't do this. The real killer will still be out there, and you'll have killed an innocent person. Please."
Violet narrowed his eyes. "But that's what a killer would say."
"But I'm not a killer!"
"That's also what a killer would say!"
"Sounds to me like you're-"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone stared at Lapis in surprise.
"I... I need time to think about this. For now, Onyx stays."
"But-" Violet began to protest.
"Onyx. Stays."
... Dang.
Finally, a sensible and sympathetic mission leader.
A wicked, crazy idea came to Green, and he would have smiled if he wasn't around a bunch of other people.
He's a sympathetic leader all right.
But that exact trait will become his downfall.
I'll make sure of it.
~~~~~
A/N: ... how on Earth did I write that all in one sitting?
WARNING: insane morbidness ahead.
I had an idea the other day: I've written a LOT of scenes where characters die by getting stabbed.
But I want to try other killing methods - as dark as that sounds.
Like, stabbing is getting a bit old. I want to throw people in lava, get their necks broken, and possibly get suffocated or get crushed by a vent or something.
I WANNA KILL CREATIVELY.
(Wait - out of context, that phrase sounds SO bad.)
But my question is, would that be interesting to you guys? (Or are you a sensible, sane human being who doesn't like death scenes? If so... why are you here?)
... If you've been here this long, I just figure that you either enjoy the blood or just know how to tolerate/avoid those scenes.