Chapter Text
Every expedition was a risk. Polus had warned its aspiring cosmonauts of this fact on the first day at the Mira Space Academy. The unknown was just that-- unknown. Humans couldn't be expected to be the only form of intelligent life in the universe. That, the instructors had insisted, almost laughing at the thought, was a statistical and chemical improbability. Life existed. Whether or not it was benevolent was another question altogether.
The first ship to be attacked was for cargo. It could have been pirates. But communication reports indicated that two crewmates had turned on their ship, sabotaging the vital systems and killing their fellow crewmen one by one. Whispers of the imposters that posed as crewmates, indistinguishable from their human counterparts, trickled through the pipeworks as more and more ships suffered similar fates. Sometimes an attacked ship would reach its destination, the surviving crewmates glassy-eyed and numb, rambling about betrayal, teeth, and ejections. After the fifth ship suffered the same fate, Polus came to a conclusion. The imposters were real.
But, as Polus liked to repeat, every expedition was a risk. The space program wouldn't stop because of a low-percent chance that every member of a ship's crew would be horrifically murdered. There were enough people willing to take the risk-- all for the chance to float among the stars.
He signed himself away when he was 17. The ever-smiling recruitment officers had driven to Lucas' shambling city in gleaming cars, offering an escape from the cycle that trapped everyone in Gellia. Would you rather sell second-hand weaponry like every generation of your family, or would you like to make a name for yourself? they had asked him, offering pinched eyes filled with pity. If you join the Mira Space Academy, your future is as endless as the stars.
Lucas didn't see many stars. The thick dust that hung like fog dampened the night sky in Gellia, making the pinpricks of light that did poke through seem like torn holes in a dark cloth. He wondered how many more stars there could be. The recruitment wanted him to do the right thing. Sign on the dotted line and get an almost-free scholarship to the Mira Space Academy. When he had given pause, raised a note of concern on whether he would ever return home, the officers had laughed. Would he rather live and die poor on Gellia? They were offering an opportunity, they said, and it would be foolish to say no. All he had to do was accept the hand that offered an escape. So he did. Within a day of the officers' arrival, Lucas left his home with more than half of his old schoolmates.
The galaxies and swirls of space dust he saw on the first night from home made the choice seem worth it.
"So, what colour are you gonna choose?" Evie asked when Lucas walked into the men's bunks. She lay down with her head facing the door, sprawled out on Lucas' bottom bunk. Her pretty face was pushed together by the fists that held her head up.
"You're not supposed to be in here," he said, shrugging off his jacket. Evie ducked as he pitched it on his bunk, the MSA stitching on the back staring at him as he threw it. Her hands flew up to her head.
"Watch the hair! I got it done for the ceremony." She cupped her palms around the crown of her head, dark fingers dancing over the purple-threaded braids. "And they're not gonna kick me out for being in the men's barracks when I literally graduate tomorrow."
Lucas hummed, pushing Evie's legs aside to settle on the opposite end of the bed. After two years, he still wondered where she found the vanilla that she smelled so deeply of. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her shift to a sitting position as he leaned over to untie his laces. "Yellow."
"Aw, like your hair?" Evie grinned, her white teeth gleaming pearls against her brown skin. She reached out a hand to thread her fingers through Lucas' loose curls.
Shoes untied, he toed them off and brought his hand up to cover Evie's, running a finger across the back. He turned his head, careful to not discourage Evie's touch, and smiled softly. "Well, I wouldn't say my hair's that bright, but sure. Like my hair." He pointed to one of her braids. "Guessing purple for you?"
She pulled her hand back to touch her braids, twisting them between her fingers. She grinned at them. "I thought I was gonna choose white, you know, to match my last name, but purple looks better in my hair."
Chuckling, Lucas leaned in, bumping his shoulder against hers. "You'd look beautiful in any colour."
She rolled her eyes, shoving him. "You're just trying to get on the same mission as me."
"Aren't you?"
"Maybe I'll change my mind. I mean, yellow doesn't really match with purple, does it?" she teased, pushing herself back to lie down behind Lucas. She was warm against his back, her fingers tracing the curve of his spine. He shivered at the touch, arching his back and inhaling sharp and low. He nudged her hand away before moving to settle down beside her. The bunk creaked as he spread himself out. She'd taken his pillow again. He made the futile effort to take back half. The perks of being a similar build to Evie, he supposed, was that they could fit like this on his bunk. He had certainly seen it be a problem for his fellow recruits whenever they had snuck their girlfriends (or boyfriends) into their bed. Evie's doe-brown eyes twinkled as she scanned his face.
Lucas tilted his head to look back, stretching out his long legs. "Well, that's too bad. I guess I'll have to find somebody that matches."
She twisted her face up, biting her bottom lip and looking up at an unknown point. She nodded to herself. "I mean, they match enough. I guess we can go on the same mission."
"Yeah?" His lip quirked upwards. "Good, 'cause I won't go without you."
Evie smiled, curling up beside Lucas. "Me neither."
The ceremony was brief. Not much more than a handshake and badge pinned to the suit of their chosen colour. There wasn't the budget for much pomp and circumstance, Lucas supposed, given that there seemed to be a graduating class every other week. Once he and Evie had crossed the stage, listening to the Dean's speech on what it meant to be a member of Polus-- the best space exploration program in the known universe--and how their expeditions would usher mankind into the next generation of interstellar travel, the couple went to their old instructor to receive their first mission. She was set up at a flimsy table at the edge of the Academy's courtyard.
Though it was hard to see her through her green helmet's visor, their instructor smiled as she watched them approach. "Congratulations, you two. You've made Mira Space Academy very proud today."
"Thank you," Evie said, adjusting her purple helmet. Lucas nodded in agreement.
Shuffling her thick-gloved fingers through the stack of assignments, she pulled out their papers with a soft 'aha'. She extended the stiff sheets towards them. "Seems you're both on the same expedition. You'll be on the Skeld."
Lucas stole a glance at Evie, trying to find her face behind her visor. Only her teeth were visible behind the dark plate. "Great," he said, taking their papers.
"Make Polus proud," she replied before waving a hand to gesture them away, already looking around them at the next graduate.
Taking that as a cue to leave, Lucas nodded again and took Evie's hand. It was weird not feeling her skin against his. The suits were comfortable, sure, but it was almost isolating. "We should probably find our crew."
"Lead the way, Mr. Graduate."
It took some time to find the launch bay and even more time to find the beaten-down ship that would be their new home come tomorrow morning. The exterior of the Skeld was scratched, slapped with hopeful dashes of red and black paint, and in dire need of new landing struts. A number of Polus cosmonauts stood by the sorry excuse of a spaceship in a loose semi-circle, talking amongst themselves. Drawing in a breath of the sterile air that filtered through his suit, Lucas nodded in their direction. Evie, walking just a hair faster, tugged on his arm as they made their way over. The green and white crewmates glanced up from their conversation when they saw the two approaching. Though their faces were barely visible, Lucas could them eyeing him and Evie up and down.
"Fresh meat, huh?" asked a gravelly voice from inside the green suit. He sounded almost disappointed.
Evie extended out a hand. "Just graduated. I'm Evie."
The man tilted his head, cautiously reaching out to shake her hand. "They never tell you not to share your name?"
Evie mimicked his posture, stiffening. "What?"
The girl in the white suit laughed, a clear, kind-hearted giggle. "Crewmates go by colour. Polus thought it'd be a good safety measure if we kept our names secret."
"Why?" Lucas asked. He placed a hand on the small of Evie's back, leaning in a little closer.
The other six crewmates had stopped talking now, their attention drawn to the newcomers. Judging by the shaking of their shoulders, Lucas thought Black and Brown might have been stifling laughter. White, which Lucas supposed was now the name he had to call her, tsked. "What the hell are they teaching newbies nowadays? It's part of the Imposter Protection Protocol."
"Imposter can't pretend to be a crewmate if they don't know their own name," Cyan cut in. He was a mountain of a man, towering over even the second tallest by at least three inches. If the light in the launch bay hadn't been the same sickening fluorescents that hung in the barracks, Lucas was sure he would been enveloped by the man's shadow. "Hell, I've been on a dozen missions with Green and all I know about him is that he eats rocks for breakfast."
"Ah, get fucked," Green replied, reaching over to slap Cyan on the back. He nodded back at Lucas and Evie, who now found themselves at the center of a new semi-circle. "Don't worry about it. You're Purple. He's Yellow. We man our stations, do our tasks, and Polus gives us a shiny gold star at the end. Nothing to it."
Pink, Blue, and White nodded in unison. Lucas let this idea hang in the air. Imposter Protection training had been months ago. He'd read the reports, studied the recordings, and crammed for the final exam. What type of creature is the Imposter? Is it a) A parasite, b) Not a creature, but the result of space madness, or c) A carbon-based lifeform with the ability to changes states of being? The answer had been "B", hadn't it? And only six ships in the past ten years had been reported to have Imposters aboard. That was what the Academy had taught them. Slowly, he nodded back.
"Well, she knows my name. Will that be an issue?" he asked, bumping shoulders with Evie.
"Oh no, it should be fine," Pink said cheerfully. "Just don't tell us!"
"We'll be sure to remember that," Lucas said, forcing out a tight laugh. Remembering the papers he still held in his left hand, he raised them and scanned the page. While it offered the length of the expedition (two months) and the crewmates that would be onboard the Skeld (Cyan, Brown, Pink, Green, White, Black, Blue, Red, Purple and Yellow), he started at the blank section that appeared after the phrase Mission Statement. He wiggled the papers near his face. "Does anyone have the mission statement?"
"Lot of 'em are blank," Brown replied, shrugging. "It's probably just cargo to take to a Polus outpost. Some food, building materials, the works."
Evie took the papers from Lucas' grasp and read through the assignment, her finger tracing under each line of information. Her finger ended its journey over the Polus' official seal. "None of our sample pages ever have had a blank mission statement," she mused, her hand going up unconsciously to tug her braid before knocking against her helmet.
"You'll have to get used to it." Brown's shoulders raised again. "Polus ain't as polished as the Academy would like you to believe."
"I got confused on my first mission too," Blue admitted, his soft voice giving away his age. He couldn't have been much older than Lucas. Maybe 20 or 21. It was almost reassuring.
Cyan laughed. He clapped a mitt on Blue's shoulder. "You mean your last mission."
The attention shifting away from Evie and Lucas, new conversations erupted among the crewmates. Blue puffed up his chest as he sent back a clever retort to Cyan. Black and Brown returned to their conversation about the food quality when on mission. It seemed the spaghetti was one of the few good meals they could look forward to. White, Green, and Pink discussed the results of the last mission, of which all three had been a part of. They kept their bodies turned toward Lucas and Evie. Offering the option to listen to their stories while still deciding that the newest recruits had run out of interesting things to say. Lucas and Evie turned to share a glance. Lucas wished he could read her expression from behind her face shield. They were just about to turn and leave, maybe spend a final night alone before they found themselves among a ten-man crew for the next two months, when someone reached out and tapped Lucas' shoulder. He looked up, swiveling to find the source of the touch.
Red, who had said nothing since the couple arrived, raised a hand in greeting. "Since nobody said it, welcome to the crew. It should be an easy mission."
He was a tall man with broad shoulders and would have been stocky if it weren't for his height. Although he shouldn't have been able to see it so well, Lucas caught the twinkle in Red's eyes, alert and curious. He might have been smiling, but his mouth hid behind the curls of a beard. Lucas froze under Red's stare and probably would have remained petrified if Evie hadn't bumped his shoulder on her way to shaking Red's hand. The moment Red shifted his attention away, the growing tension in Lucas' shoulders melted away.
"It's nice to meet you," Evie said, clasping Red's hand.
"Likewise." He released her hand and reached for Lucas'. Blinking as if waking from a trance, Lucas accepted Red's gesture, trying to focus his eyes on his own reflection in Red's helmet. He didn't look past it. He didn't try to see into the black mirror, into the face staring behind the shield. And if the handshake lasted just a few seconds too long, well, he refused to acknowledge it. "I'd suggest getting a good night's sleep. You won't believe me, but the beds at the Academy are much softer than the ones on the Skeld."
"Didn't even think that was possible," Evie said, a giggle erupting from the back of her throat.
"Guess you'll have to see it to believe it," he said.
She giggled again. "I guess I will."
"And since he didn't tell you, you'll be reporting to Captain Green over there." Red jerked his head towards the chattering clique. "He's a nice guy, though I'd like to think I'm nicer."
"Yeah?" Evie said, a smile evident in her voice.
If another crewmate had glanced over then, Lucas figured they would have mistaken Evie's giggles for flirting. Maybe that should have bothered him. But Evie was Evie and Red was charming. He couldn't deny that. As they shared their roles on the ship (Red was apparently the Safety Officer, which meant he far outranked he and Evie), Lucas studied the side of Red's helmet. It was free of scratches and freshly-polished. Perfectly up to code. His mind still flickered back to the discussion of Imposters. If Imposters were a result of space madness, he wondered for a moment where the risk of names came in. Surely a few months aboard a ship couldn't make you forget your own name?
Before he could think too hard on it, Evie was shaking his arm. The crewmates were dispersing. The meet-the-crew party appeared to be winding down. Lucas offered a wave goodbye to his new crew as they scattered off in different directions. Where did Polus cosmonauts sleep when they weren't on missions? Were there separate barracks just off the Academy property? Maybe he could ask tomorrow morning after departure. It would be good to know once they finish the mission and he and Evie were fully-fledged members of Polus. He and Evie returned to the student lodgings for the last time. In the morning, their whole world would change.
They spent the night in each other's arms, reading and rereading any and all information they could find on the Skeld, the tasks they would have to perform, and the Imposter Protection Protocol.
The ship was fueled and loaded early the next morning. The crewmates laughed and told jokes, taking the piss out of the assortment of hats they'd found in one of the shipping containers, as they bustled about the launch bay. Evie settled herself alongside the company of Pink and White, finding common ground on their struggles to swipe their identification cards in Admin. Lucas smiled when he heard her laugh. Despite his initial apprehensions about the crew, that laugh told him that they would okay. Together, he and the crew of the Skeld would complete their mission.
They would be among the stars.