Right Infront of Us The Whole Time

Posted on Mon Jul 18th, 2022 @ 6:10pm by Ensign 'John Smith' & Commander William Gerhard

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: Deck G - Corridor
Timeline: Day 301 1200 hrs
1684 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

William stepped out of the turbolift and headed towards the guest quarters where the pod goers had been assigned. He had some follow up questions he wanted to ask Commander Jameson regarding the entity that had killed his crew. There was something nagging at him about the whole pretense. How could someone infiltrate their ship the way he described. The internal sensors would've registered a non-human aboard, especially if it was a species not in the computer data banks. While Captain Leroux seemed accepting of the situation, William was still wary and as such he was armed with his phase pistol holstered at his side. As he rounded the bend, he felt the familiar headache that had been plaguing him for so long rise to the back of his forehead and he stopped to rub his eyes. As he looked up, he caught sight of a familiar face.

"John, I wasn't expecting to see you here," William said as the man stood down the corridor from him. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen you that much since we brought the escape pod aboard," he continued a slight tone of suspicion in his voice.

“The Captain has had me busy with the newcomers.” He lied as he watched the man. He thought the Executive Officers life would have sustained him for a lot longer but he could already feel the growing hunger after just over 24 hours. He was become gluttonous . “Have not seen you much either to be honest.” He said back in a similar tone but with a smirk on his face.

"I've been otherwise occupied trying to nail down leads on the XO's murder," he replied as he felt the increase in pressure from his headache. He thought for a moment before giving John a puzzled look. "The captain didn't mention anything about you dealing with the crew from the pod," he said before narrowing his eyes slightly, "Come to think of it, I don’t recall obtaining your whereabouts when the XO was murdered." William's hackles were up, he would've remembered interviewing John especially since he had personally interviewed the whole crew.

“You are mistaken William. We were together when the murder happened so you did not feel the need to interview me.” John tutted. “If you have changed your mind we can do it now. I have time.” He said pointedly. “Got to be a spare guest quarters around here.” The man said turned to look around him for the location that he was. There was so much of the ship he had not explored yet.

William narrowed his eyes slightly. There was something strange about John's actions. "John, we were not together at the time of her murder. I was in sickbay interviewing the survivors taken from the pod," William said cautiously, "I'll ask you again, what are you doing here?" John was giving all the signs that he was hiding something, and William instinctively shifted his hand to rest close to his holstered weapon.

“The Captain has had me busy with the newcomers.” The man repeated watching the man just as carefully as he was being observed. It took all of a second before he rolled his eyes. “Yes. But are mistaken William. I was there with you. You really need to get some more sleep.” He said simply giving it one more push with his powers.

"Thats impossible. The newcomers were in sickbay most of yesterday when I was with them, but you were never there," William said before trailing off. He could feel the headache growing but he fought against it. He decided to try and trap John in a question. He knew that John hadn't been there, but he wanted to be sure. "If you were there, you must know they told about a creature that took out their crew," William said keeping his eyes on John to see his reaction.

“What are you talking about?” John demanded trying to laugh but it came out an awkward sound.

"If you were there, then you must know that the reason their ship was destroyed was because someone was killing off their crew," William said as he noted the change in John's voice. It was then that things started to click in William's head. John's absence when finding the pod, the nosebleeds being reported amongst the crew, headaches only when he was in John's presence. He remembered what Jameson had said, the creature had assumed someone's identity aboard ship. He then remembered what Lexi had told him, John was not in her personal logs. "The nosebleeds, headaches, they are all connected. People only complain getting them when your around. Jameson said the creature that destroyed their ship assumed the identity of a crewman, but you'd already know about that wouldn't you," William said before drawing his phase pistol and pointing it at John.

"You're not John Smith, just how you weren't Jan Kowalski. You're the reason everyone has been getting the nosebleeds, headaches. Lexi was right when she told me there was something about you she didn't like," he said.

“I knew your little blonde whore would get to you eventually.” John said as the facade dropping as he stood there staring at the man. “You know something if I had known she had memory issues I would have made her my first meal onboard would have been easier to convince you all who I was.”

His suspicions now confirmed, William felt the ever-increasing pain as he continued to hold his pistol on whoever stood before him now. "So, you did kill Samantha. Somehow you came aboard and took John Smith's place. Did you kill him too," William asked. He could see John smile slightly as he took a step towards William. William in turn took one step back, maintaining the distance between the two of them. Lexi had been right, and William had doubted her. He was angry that John had bested him, he had been right infront of William the whole time. Even the pressure behind his forehead was increasing, William fought to keep his eyes on the man. He knew if he gave in it would be over. He could feel the trickle of blood start coming down his nose, but William chose to ignore it.

“John Smith never existed. You created that. Takes a strong mind to create such a firm persona for me I will give you that. But alas I am sorry William your friend never existed at all.” John admitted. “You were all so desperate to have some semblance of Aurelius Davis back you transferred it onto me the impossible new crew member.” He started to move closer but stopped.

"I created that," William said thinking back to the first encounter on the asteroid. John, or whoever this was, had never given his name. He had done that, but why? William would never have come up with that name unless there was someone in his memories that this thing resembled.

“The other version of you from the other universe was no where near this strong but I did not think that ship blowing up would quantum lock onto another version of y’all nor would I get that lucky that you were investigating the asteroid where I crash landed.” John had been lucky. Far to lucky so far to flick from universe to universe to feed.

"So, that's why you disappeared when we found the pod. They would know you as Jan Kowalski," William said before he felt another wave of pain hit him. He winced slightly and felt himself start to go but continued to fight the urge to stay concious.

“Possibly. I was not willing to take that chance.” John shrugged like it was nothing but another conversation the pair were having. “You are getting stronger? Something about your mind reboots. You have some type of connection to others that keeps you stronger than the others.”

"What do you mean you've fed on me before," William said before it hit him again. The nightmares, the subtle feeling of dread when he was in his quarters. "Before the dinner, I woke up in my quarters with a nose bleed. You...attacked me...in my mind," William said before looking back up at John," If that's true and I was to be your first victim, why did you go after Samantha then?"

John laughed and nodded. “I did not realize you would put up such a fight. The other you was not as strong, did not have as many connections. Samantha was just in the right place at the right time. She kept going on about how someone called Aurelius. She realized something was not right about me, so she had to die. I thought it might sate my needs for a little bit but no…your energies… my food in this universe is not quite as filling.”

"So your just a parasite, feeding off others. But if you kill us off, what do you do about your food," William asked as he saw John start taking more steps towards him. He could tell by the look on his face that John was done answering quesions. "Stay back," William said forcefully before he felt another wave of pain hit him.

“I guess you could call me a parasite. I like to think it is more recycling your feeble existences.” He commented ignoring the comment around what would he do when he ran out. He would do whatever he did when he ran out- move on.

"There's one thing you should know," William said as he could feel his strength leaving him. It took as much energy to keep his phase pistol leveled on John as he had. He looked John dead in the eye, realizing he would only have one chance. "Nobody calls my Lexi a whore," William said as he gave John a look of defiance. He squeezed the trigger on his phase pistol and fired at John. He had set the pistol for kill, but he wasn't sure if it would be enough. Then everything went black.