Introductions
“So, what exactly are you going to be doing? I mean, no offence, but you don’t strike me as the scientist type.” The light-yellow crewmate asked, sitting across from a dark coloured bean. The two had been travelling together in the cramped spaceship for a few hours, making light conversation.
“Apparently, they found some new drug recently... I don’t remember the name, and I wasn’t told exactly what it’s going to be used for, just that it’s for some kind of medicine that needs testing. You?” the navy crewmate responded.
“Oh, so you’re like a lab rat gotcha!” This received only a blank stare.
“Never mind, I’m going to be working in communications. It sounds lame but it shouldn’t be too bad, especially since Rose will be here...” They continued before trailing off, causing even more confusion.
Suddenly, the spaceship jerked to a halt, and the door slid open with a screech revealing a proud looking bean as snow fluttered in through the opening.
“Ah hello there! Welcome to Polus! I am Captain Grey, the leader of this outpost. And you two are...?” Grey greeted.
“Uh Test Subject Ink, consumer of... medicine?” replied Ink.
“Sun, but most people just call me Banana,” said Banana. Grey glanced at Banana’s hat critically for a second.
“How... original, now if you wouldn’t mind, please follow me.”
The trio entered the one of the largest buildings around, navigating the lava-filled craters and pilling snow as they went. Inside, many beakers were strewn around on tables and shelves, filled with multi-coloured liquids, a large telescope sat on the balcony. Two cremates wandered around organising items, seemingly at random.
“Oh, and don’t mind Maroon’s horns. They may look scary but I can assure you, they are quite friendly,” Grey said, gesturing at Maroon, as they set down the crystal and approached.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Maroon, head scientist, and this is Ginger, my assistant. You two must be Ink and Sun, yes?”
As they spoke, the other crewmate started to walk towards the group, but tripped, spilling the contents of the vial all over the floor.
“Damn it.” they muttered.
“Don’t worry too much about it Ginger, that one was only mildly important,” Maroon reassured.
"Maybe I should go for the blue one next time..." Ginger commented, still muttering.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!” Ginger shouted, frantically.
“Test Subject Zinc, you will be spending most of your time here so make sure to listen to Maroon (unless I tell you otherwise),” Grey said .
“Actually my name is-”
“Moving swiftly onwards!”
The three went into a far smaller building, with a large satelite dish extending from the roof. It didn’t have much furniture inside, apart from the two large computer screens and table, which was mostly covered in discarded packaging.
“This is where you’ll be working Banana, Al, our electrician, here was just setting up the console I take it?” Grey introduced.
Al, an oil-stained white bean, was connecting one of the monitors to the other wires, before turning to face the others.
“Is that short for anything? Like what’s your real name?” Banana challenged, which received a glare.
“None of your business, to put it bluntly. I’m not questioning your fashion sense, right? Just leave me alone and we’ll get along fine,” as Al spoke another bean walked in, clearly frustrated.
“Hey Al, the light in the meeting room has been out for an hour, are you going to fix it or what?” they complained.
“Are you ever going to stop bothering me? I’m kinda busy,” Al responded.
“What you’re ‘kinda busy’ like the other 5 times I asked?”
“Maybe if you stop asking, I’ll be able to get on with my-”
“Ah there you are, Sun meet Coral, you’ll be working with them to send documents to Mira,” Grey interupted, Coral turned to look at Banana and Ink, as if they hadn’t noticed them before, looking the two up and down.
“You two seem alright, I hope old Al here wasn’t giving you too much trouble,” Coral commented.
“We’re the same age, who are you calling old?” Al retorted.
“We should go before they start squabbling again,” Grey whispered to Ink and Banana.
Next, the group were taken to a sort of indoor garden, filled with various vegetables and fruit bushes, that were clearly being well cared for by green crewmate watering them. In one corner of the room, flower beds, mostly of lavender, were tucked away, out of sight of any who weren’t looking for them. A large, flowering, magnolia tree grew in the centre of the room, that left scattered petals on the grassy floor.
“Oh, er hi? I hope you two settle in well!” They greeted nervously, clearly caught off guard. Ink looked like they were about to speak before another bean popped out of a hole in the ground, unexpectedly.
“Hey there! You’re Banana, yes? Rose told me all about you, I’m sure we’ll get along great!” The newcomer said, excitedly.
“...I really wish you would stop doing that,” Fern, who was still clearly shaken, mumbled, though not loud enough for anyone else to hear.
“Yes, yes that’s lovely and all, Tan, but aren’t you supposed to be digging out that ore cluster?” Grey dismssed.
Tan immeadiately jumped back down the tunnel, shouting “Oh right of course, gotta go bye!” as they left.
Before they even entered the next room, they could already smell the cooking vegetables and spices mixed with smoke, as well as the humming of a soft but lively tune. Inside there was a cozy warmth, in stark contrast to the biting cold outside.
“This is the kitchen; Plum here will be cooking your meals,” Grey said.
“Ah, welcome! I- are you wearing a banana peel?”
“Yes! I mean no, it’s just a hat” Banana responded, hesitantly.
“No offence meant, but it is a bit silly,” Plum seemed apologetic, Banana seemed to decide that they’d rather turn their gaze to the floor.
“I’d recommend keeping on Plum’s good side, that is assuming you want free access to the snacks whenever you want,” Grey commented, half joking.
“I never said that!”
“So you’re denying it?” Plum stayed silent for a few seconds, glaring at Grey before giving in.
“You know I hate lying... fine I admit it! I show a bit of faviouritism from time to time, happy now?”
“I suppose”
Concluding the tour, they reached the final room. It contained two large computer screens, showing various other scenes across the outpost, each had wires stretching out of them like a spiders web. A crewmate slouched, watching the cameras, with their head propped up with their hand.
Grey attempted to say “Finally, this is-“, before being cut off.
“Rose!” Banana shouts in excitement, running over to them. Rose got up and hugged Banana.
“Banana! You’re finally here! Say who’s your new friend here?”
“Rose, meet Ink. They came with me on the ship” Banana gestures to Ink.
“Nice to meet you!” Ink waves, politely.
“Likewise! Have you two met Tan yet? They’ve been keeping me company”
“They jumped out at us, scared me half to death!” Banana joked.
"Ha! Yeah, you get used to that after a while, they’re nice once you get to know them, though.”
“Hate to break up the reunion, but why aren’t you in uniform? This is the third time this week I’ve found you not wearing it, and we’ve only been here for 3 days!” Grey cut in.
“...because it’s lame?” Rose responded, bluntly.
“Look, if I catch you out of uniform tomorrow as well, I will be writing a report to Mira, understood?” Grey said.
“Whatever you say, Grey”, Rose dismissed.
“That’s Captain Grey to you!” Grey’s raised their voice further.
“Yes, Captain Grey” Rose sarcastically mocked. Grey sighed.
“I’ll leave you lot to... whatever it is your doing, just come to the meeting room in an hour and a half, Rose should show you the way, and don’t be late!” they said before storming off, grumbling to themselves.
“...weirdo. Anyway, glad you got here ok,” Rose sighed.
“I’ll leave too, you two seem like you’ve got a lot to catch up on. Besides, I should get a better look at the lab,” Ink said, awkwardly, before hurrying out of the room.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Mira’s a lying, money loving, cheapskate? Why’d you think there’s only 11 of us with terrible equipment?” Rose waved a hand in the direction of the monitors, despite their size, they’re in black-and-white.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad! Besides there’s only so many people signing up, that’s all,”
“Whatever you say!”
“You worry too much! Just relax a bit, you’ve basically got the day off today anyway.” The computer beeps, loudly and shows a notification from Grey.
“Try telling that to Grey, I gotta go, let’s talk after this meeting though, ok?”
“You got it!”
Rose strolled through the main section of the lab, passing through the decontamination chamber into the back room. Several containers were upturned and the previously tidied crystals were scattered across the floor. Maroon was pacing the floor and muttering to themselves while frantically scanning the room, while Grey tapped their foot impatiently, looking down at their watch.
“What took you so long, Rose? I sent you an emergency notification 4 minutes ago!” They snapped.
“It took 4 minutes to walk here?” Rose responded, defensively.
“Can we please focus on the matter at hand? We don’t have time to bicker!” Maroon shouted.
“Right of course, you understand that as part of the experiments, we were working with some of the minerals here, yes?”
“Get to the point.” Rose growled.
“Tan found a deposit of ore, since they’d never seen it before, they brought it here to ask about it...” Maroon said, trailing off nervously.
“I contacted Mira, and apparently, it’s ore+: a highly valuable fuel source, however there is also a species of ...alien that lays eggs identical to ore+ and-” Grey continued.
“It’s hatched, hasn’t it?” Rose interupted.
“...I was instructed to bring two eggs in for testing, but they’ve disappeared from their containers. Particularly strange, considering I took every precaution, or I thought I did. Hell, the boxes were even bulletproof, but they weren’t broken when I found them, just... open” Maroon said, hesitantly.
“Either they’ve hatched and escaped to do God knows what, or they’ve been stolen. As head of security, it is your duty to track them down, preferably without causing a panic,” Grey commanded. Rose stared in disbelief for several seconds.
“How on earth am I supposed to do this without, what, telling anyone? It’s not like I’ve been given much to work with.”
“It won’t be easy, but at best our jobs are on the line, at worst we could be dealing with a serious threat we have little knowledge of,” said Grey.
“That’s all you have to say!? You’re just sending me off on a wild goose chase alone, no clues, no suspects? I find it hard to believe there’s nothing else you know,” Rose shouted, progressively raising their voice. Maroon began to speak.
“Also-” Grey quickly covered Maroon’s face, cutting them off.
“Just go, we’ll both be here to help with the search if needed,” Grey said, as Maroon tried to prise their hand off of their face. Rose simply stood there and glared for a moment, before turning and sprinting out the room. Grey finally releases Maroon.
“What- was- that- for?” Maroon panted, gasping for breath.
“They’re clearly stressed already; I don’t want to cause further panic.”
“It was important! What do we do if we can’t find the eggs, or worse, the aliens?”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. If Rose can’t find them, then we’ll tell the whole story.”
“With all due respect, keeping this kind of information secret-”
"With all due respect, you got us into this mess in the first place! And last time I checked, I’m the captain, so for once just do your job and get on with it.” Grey snapped. Maroon seemed to start to speak again, before deciding against it, and walking out of the room.
Grey sighed and walked into the meeting room. Almost everyone had gathered around the table, except Banana, Maroon, and Rose, who were still absent.
“Apologies, I had to take a quick call, it seems Sun, Rose, and Maroon are late?” Grey said, sitting at the head of the table.
“Should’ve figured Rose and Banana would be late, but it’s not like Maroon to avoid meetings,” Al pointed out.
“I saw Maroon, about ten minutes ago when they were handing me some reports to organise. They seemed tense, I didn’t ask about it, though, I figured they were just tired,” Coral commented.
“I’ll go check on them, see if they’re doing alright” Fern announced, as they stood up and left the room.
When Fern entered the lab, Maroon was sat on the floor, with their head in their hands. They were shaking slightly.
“Hey, Rue? Are you doing ok?” Fern approached Maroon as they spoke. Maroon jumped, not having noticed Fern earlier.
“I- uh yes. Everything’s fine, why do you ask?” Fern looked at them skeptically, before sitting down with them.
“Have you had a break today? I haven’t seen you out of the lab all day” Fern asked, softly. Maroon turned to look down at the floor for a second, not responding.
“Look, you need to come to the meeting, so you need to leave now anyway. How about we go to the garden and have a picnic afterwards? I’m sure we can convince Plum to let us take our dinner with us.” Fern stood up, offering their hand to Maroon, Fern helped them up before brushing themselves off.
“I’d like that, hopefully Grey isn’t too upset we’re late,”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, I’d bet they’re too busy arguing with Rose to notice.” The pair then left the room, chatting and holding hands.
Even when the two had returned to the meeting room, Rose and Banana were still nowhere to be seen. Fern and maroon sat down next to each other as Grey spoke.
“Ah, there you are. Did either of you see Rose or Sun on your way here?”
“We didn’t see anyone else, have they still not arrived?” Fern replied. Just then Rose ran in, they were clutching their striped scarf and panting.
“Have any of you seen Banana? I’m worried they’ve gotten themselves lost,” they said, which was answered with a general murmur of the group saying they hadn’t.
“We could check the map in admin, it shows how many people are in each room so we could see where they are,” Coral suggested.
“We might as well try it, lead the way,” Grey agreed.
Rose, Grey, Al and Tan stood around the admin table as Coral attempted to activate it. Old bookshelves surrounded them, covered in reports and folders, all colour coded and organised by date. Finally, a green hologram flickered to life, before it flashed a greyish colour.
“Please connect to the communications network to access the map,” it said.
“That’s odd, it should already be connected,” Coral commented.
“Here let me try, you aren’t doing it right,” Al said, shoving past Coral, they fiddled with the wires for a little while.
“I can assure you I know what I’m doing, but be my guest.” Al closed the wires compartment and restarted the hologram.
“Please connect to the communications network to access the map,” it repeated.
“Hate to say it but, I told you so!” Coral said while trying to disguise laughter.
“Something must be up with the wires in communications, everything’s connected fine on this end,” Al said, ignoring Coral.
“Hopefully it’s nothing too bad, we won’t be able to continue work here if we can’t contact Mira,” Grey remarked.
“Theres no way off this planet without a ship, the one Banana and Ink came on is already long gone. If it’s just the main system that’s down, the backup should still be working, if it isn’t we’re stuck for good, or until we can make a new one,” Al responded.
“Great, so there is a real chance I could be stuck with you for the rest of my life? I think I’d rather take my chances with the wasteland outside,” Coral said, bitterly.
“And we’d all be owing you a favour if you did.”
“Look, this is all well and good, but Banana is missing and, if you’re right, communications is broken. So can you two please just shut up and deal with it?” Rose snapped, impatiently.
“My thoughts exactly,” Grey said. Al and Coral continued to glare at each other, but stayed silent.
“Nothings wrong with the satelite dish, or antenna, wires look ok as well, anything odd in there, Tan?” Al asked, while clinging to the top of the satelite dish.
“Nope, the underground wires looks fine. I think we should head inside, you said that’s where everything connects, right?” Tan suggested, as they popped up from a nearby pit . Al slid down into the snow, but when they tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s jammed!” they shouted to the others, Rose went to the window and tried to peek through.
“I can’t see through the window either, it’s fogged up, can’t imagine why though” Rose called back.
“Pass me your pickaxe Tan, I’ll get the door open,” Al said. Tan agreed and handed it to them, Al just barely pried the door open enough for one crewmate, by using the pickaxe like a crowbar. Rose is first to enter.
Within, the newly installed screens are shattered, leaving broken glass scattered across the floor, a mysterious, thin, smoky mist had filled the room, which slowly escaped through the new opening. But worst of all, Banana lay slumped, leaning against the the wall, with one of Plum’s knives jutting out of their head, as blood dripped down over their face, and soaked into their once yellow scarf. Rose rushed over to Banana’s body, and knelt.
“Oh God, no no no, this can’t be true,” they sobbed. Grey came in next, Rose quickly rose and whipped around to face them.
“YOU! You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” Rose screamed. Grey tried to approach Rose with their palms outstretched as Coral squeezed through, followed by Tan.
“Rose, calm down I-” Grey tried to reassure Rose.
“No, no- get away! You and Maroon you- youknew!” Rose tried to back away, gasping for breath.
“You’re panicking, Rose, just breathe, you aren’t making any sense,” Coral said, trying to keep their distance.
“They’re dead! how am I supposed to- you can’t- need to leave.” Rose then half sprinted, half stumbled, their to the exit, pushing the others out of their way as they left. Tan started to run after them, but was stopped by Coral.
“Let me go to them!” Tan said.
“Don’t, you’ll make things worse. Just wait for them to come back when they’re calmer, ok?” Tan relented and stepped back, trying to avoid looking into the visor of the lifeless corpse beside them.
“We’ll deal with Rose later, for now we need to tell the others” Grey announced
