Doctor Wilkens is marched up to the electric equipment, pushed along by Red Robert's superior might and Sven's cold liberal gaze. He is strapped into the equipment, the electrodes placed on his head and, while most of your look away, the electricity starts.
The lights flick on and off as most of the electricity is routed through the device. The doctor seizes and smoke starts to come out from under the electrodes, the smell of burning hair and flesh pouring into the room. There are no tentacles, there is no change of shape, just the flicker of life draining from a businessman's eyes.
Just when it starts to seem that the true monster here is man, you see perhaps why Elora Erickson was so quiet for so long. While she remains standing for now, blood starts to drip from her eyes and her ears. There is a sound of creaking within her as the creature's acidic venom seems to be causing her internal organs to press against her ever weakening skin. The woman bursts open, and she falls into an unrecognizable mess, nothing but a smoking soup of organs and flesh.
Her bag, now unattended, seems to contain a few documents. As well as a recipe book for snacks and meals (she seems to have all your favourites tagged with post-it notes) it appears there are actually several PhDs with her name on them. Dr. Elora Erickson, PhD in Marine Biology, Astrophysics and Genetics. Oddly, she only has her Master's degree in Culinary Arts.
Russ' poor stomach is once again severely disturbed. He rushes over to the corner where the recently used mop bucket was just cleaned after the previous victims disposal. Russ uses his incredible superpower to make it...not clean.
Avistan gives The Red Robert and Sven a cold scowl:
"I know I'm most often distinguished as the positive member of the team but I gotta say, you guys really dropped the ball here. The single most valuable member of our team is dead along with our fake Doctor. We're completely f*!$ed!"
"Holy Crap" Mike gasps as he backs away, unable to look away as he struggles to not join Russ at the bucket.
"I did nothing to that there woman. Never even noticed she was among us. He went with his gut when he accused me and I did the bloody same laddie and yeh will nay make me feel bad about it..."
Robert walks up and unhooks the Doctor slowly, taking care not to damage the mans body further. "Nothing could make me feel worse about it. Forgive me old boy, tis a sad day but was going to be one of us..."
"What about you Avistan, you booky little twit? You blame us for this man's death but you yerself were shouting the odds at someone else St the same time. What if you had gotten your way? Would you have chosen as badly. I own what I did, I made a mistake and a man is f&~*ing dead for it. But who is to say you aren't to blame for the other death...?"
He lay the body of the Doctor on a table at the back of the room, covering it with his jacket and bending his head to say a quick prayer.
"Bah, believe what ya will ya little s@%%e, Im tired of this. I will nay be throwing out the blame this time."
"What about you Avistan, you booky little twit? You blame us for this man's death but you yerself were shouting the odds at someone else St the same time. What if you had gotten your way? Would you have chosen as badly."
"To date I've only voted in order to protect those whom I believe are innocent. So to answer your question, No, I would not have chosen as badly because it would mean protecting a friend."
"As for the possibility of me being able to do something like this to Elora is terribly unlikely. I'm just under 5 feet tall and weigh the same as an anorexic schoolgirl. Where would I find the room inside me to fit all those extra tentacles when I can barely lift a wrench. Why do you think Curtis and I work in pairs? He's the muscle."
Alexander watches Doctor Wilkens get fried with a look of disgust, but he does not exactly lift a finger to help either. He does not seem terribly surprised to see that the man was human after all. "Well that just f#*$ing figures."
However, his eyes narrow when Elora's body abruptly turns into mush. "And that's just f@~%ing great. Anybody have anything useful to say, now that the second smartest person in the room is dead?"
"No, I have nothing useful to say, we are in the s!*@ and words aren't going to fix it." Mike says as he gets some sheets out of the linen closet. "Jimmy, I know regulations state that you can not disturb human remains, but I am not going to degrade these people any longer by leaving them out here exposed. If you are willing to help great, otherwise I will move them to cold storage myself." Mike says with a hopeful look at Jimmy, "Besides, we do not need these graphic reminders sitting here in front of us. If I am still alive when this is over the bosses can fire me or fine me or whatever."
Sven rouses from his shock to help Mike with the sheeting. Though Elora's fate is horrid, he seems more distraught by Doctor Wilkins' death. "Let me help, Mike... I can't believe it. I was sure he was a creature. Ready to toss everyone into the electric chair at the drop of a hat to advance an ultimately self-destructive goal... wait a minute... he worked for an oil company! Naturally he was like that. He wasn't a monster, he was a normal capitalist! How could I be so stupid?"
He lays the sheet atop the Doctor's body and drops heavily into a chair. "Logic has failed me. My hands are red with the blood of an innocent. My PETA membership will probably be revoked... no, he was a human, not a lemur. They wouldn't care. But still, how can I possibly make this right? Impossible. Impossible. Why didn't any of you try to STOP us?"
Leaning forward, he speaks softly to the Doctor's body. "Wilkins, I swear to you, if I get out of this alive and have children, my firstborn will be named after you. It's the least I can do to keep your memory alive. Boy or girl, it'll still sound good. Doctor. Doctor Iscidea. For you."
Russ wipes his mouth and quickly uses a sink to rinse as well to remove the acrid flavor. As he towels down, he looks much more sober as well as somber.
As Sven wails, Russ cocks an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, would we have stopped you? By voting for another just to create deadlock? Perhaps for some that would seem a logical path...but, man, I can't imagine my own guilt right now if I had voted for somebody on a lark but then suddenly others agree and see that person, that human, taken down like that." Russ mouth twists as he points to Doctor Wilkens, but he doesn't retch. He's done getting sick.
"I...I almost voted for Alexander..." Russ avoids Maxerson's eyes. "I didn't think anyone would actually..." The stubbly mechanic gestures lamely at the doctor's body. He closes his eyes and swallows.
"But before you all think I'm getting soft. Let me say that," Russ now points directly at the covered remains of Elora, no Dr. Elora. "That right there disturbs me a helluva lot more. What happened to Doc Wilkens, that's on us. When this is over, I expect any of us who might still be around and not creaturfied to tell the authorities that's our doing, and we'll face the music on it. But that," Russ moves to stand over Elora's sheet, "but this just proves what we feared. What we can't ignore."
Russ stands tall with a sickly look on his face but fire in eyes.
"I say good the comms are down. Good, we're basically trapped here. We can't let this happen to anyone back home. If we could reach anyone, they'd come trying to help. And this—this thing...it might get back home. Hell no! We need to burn 'em all out, or all of us better die trying to a man. Trying to narrow it down somehow...some people here got to trust each other, right? Start with who you trust and worth with 'em. Yeah we may not get every vote right, we just need to be honest about that now. But if we starts with what we know about each other...this nunnlif it can't be everything we knew in our friends, can it? I know enough about stuff that says our memories and our muscle memory, it ain't the same thing."
Russ looks around the room at the survivors.
"Just cuz this nunnlif can look and talk and act like us, doesn't mean it remembers. Maybe it just has enough to get by, just enough to fool you if you ain't got yer guard up. Then it attacks, and you gets assimilated, too. We gotta remember the other things, the things this nunnlif couldn't possibly know. We gotta...we gotta...find something..."
Russ' impassioned speech trails off. He's at a loss on what to suggest. He turns to face Elora and kneels down a hand hovering just over the sheet.
"I'm...sorry, Ellie...I never thought it would all go down like this. That there was really a thing...I...I wanted to believe somehow it was just a sicko...not some nunnlif that could get you even as we were standing here."
Russ might be crying a little.
...gosh, those cream puffs you made were amazing!"
"No, no, no...it shouldn't be like this!" Clive says continuing his pacing with a look of absolute terror on his face. Eyes wide and mouth agape, he's shocked at the sudden violence.
"This is really bad, firstly we kill the Doctor! He may have been abrasive but... no the young geneticist dies without getting any research and the only other who knows any genetics is one of the creatures..." He's appalled at the desperation. "I guess this means that were in trouble - for the only way to gleam more information is through blood."
The thought stops him in his tracks; "For a soldier could fortuitously protect us, though it'd have been best to help poor Elora. Thus our best course is surely to rely on the pair that know each others' safe - before the 'nunnlifs' get one of them or find out whom each other are?" He ponders sadly, looking around the room as one who isn't really engaged with reality rather a complex puzzle.
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The Duke raises a glass to Doctor Wilkens. "Alas I had hoped the Doctor might have been of aid to us in our struggle, but no, he has gone now."
"Yes let us move all the dead to cold storage."
"I have put my relay beacon to contingency Omega meaning that should we all perish here the whole base will be destroyed and all monsters along with it."
Helps fold a sheet over the doctor....
"Sorry about that Dr Wilkens, I didn't want to attempt to tie the vote in case someone changed at the last second. Yours was the best way to try and rile up some emotion from the situation - just a pity it backfired." Clive says sadly as the corpse is removed.
Oh god. Dash says as he takes a swing of the whiskey and manages to keep a hold of it this time. If I had access to the security room I'd just burn this whole thing down. If I could call out I'd tell 'em to nuke the site from orbit. He gets a haunted look. It's the only way to be sure!
...
However, his eyes narrow when Elora's body abruptly turns into mush. "And that's just f$&~ing great. Anybody have anything useful to say, now that the second smartest person in the room is dead?"
"Third smartest."
*****
"Hhmmph." Jimmy is surprised to see some of the upper echelon actually do a little work. He steps forward to lend a hand.
"Here, take these rubber gloves before you handle the bodies. There might be residual toxins."
While helping lift the sheet-wrapped corpse, he leans in close to the others. "The nunnlifs must have known Elora could identify them. That's why they killed her first. Who has access to the personal files? Dash does as security officer, and Avistan too as a supervisor."
Mike ponders Jimmy's question for a moment.
"There are no hard files, as in paper copies, here at the station so they would have had to access them through the computer. There was a copy on the local server, which is backed up in real time at Corporate HQ. I am sure all of the scientist types had server privileges allowing them access to the personnel files, and then as you said Dash as Security Officer, Avistan as a Supervisor and myself as your humble IT Geek. That being said, the way I set up our cyber security was focused on preventing anything from outside the local firewall in, I had just basic security settings within our local network. This means if a 5th grader was logged on locally he/she would be able to figure out a way around our network without much trouble. Once the lockdown was initiated however, that all changed. The network was locked down tight, and my attempt to get in caused a complete wipe of all local drives. So, the only way one could access the personnel files now is if they copied those files previously to their personal device or if they have access to Corporate HQ. I would say access to Corporate HQ is impossible as we have no working connection to the outside."
Mike pauses and thinks for several minutes before whispering low enough that only those closest can hear.
Am I also a supervisor now? I think I saw a post-it note somewhere but disregarded the memo. I'm not leadership material.
After the shock slowly starts to wear off, Clive thinks.... "So we still have a doctor left, as well as a trained guard, they've information - experimental information so not as accurate as my pure theories - but shouldn't let anyone know their role."
"If they've worked out a nunnlif then they'll just do the accusations, if it's one of us normal people then it doesn't matter - however if they've worked out a guardian or room-mate it could be valuable to let them know whom the geneticist is."
"Thus I propose we state a person we 'trust' it may give someone an idea of either who they can work with? But would it give a clue if they get killed, that's the only risk..." Clive ponders his words running on too quick; "But if it enables some to find extra trusted people. And if it did paint a target then at least the guardian would know whom to protect."
Am I also a supervisor now? I think I saw a post-it note somewhere but disregarded the memo. I'm not leadership material.
"Well Russ sure isn't the brains behind your dynamic duo. You're the boss."
"Yes, my foolhardiness only put us at more of a disadvantage, and poor Elora... multiple PhDs and pie crust to die for. Truly a woman of many talents. I wonder why the nunnlifs went after her?" Sven shakes his head and turns to Clive. "As for who I trust... ha. I trusted Elora and look what happened to her. I didn't trust Doctor Wilkins, and I was wrong. My nunnlif-dar is not reliable, that's for sure." He chuckles humorlessly. "In fact, I can't think of a better way to get somebody killed than by saying I trust them."
If we're talking about people not being what they seem then you're talking real smart for a janitor Jimmy. Dash says rounding on the sanitation engineer. You cleaned up everywhere including the security room from what I remember
"Dash, Mike can tell you that I don't have access to personnel files in the computer, and all confidential paper files are supposed to be locked up when an authorized person isn't there to watch them. The only way that I could have seen those files is if an authorized someone left them out against regulations. Would you have done that, Dash? Or are you accusing Avistan of breaching protocol? We all know that Mike would never bother making paper copies. "
"Duke, I'll take some of that brandy now."
Waving The Employee Manual wildly in the airspace above his head:
"Avistan Tharp NEVER breaches protocol! I am the definition of a model employee."
"Yeh may not have access to employee files but so what? Why would that matter? It is us again them lad and they know who we are already so they don't need ta know what our jobs are!" Robert growled as he turned back from the window to glare at Jimmy.
"Bloody hell we need tae find them all. Ya know... it would make yer job a lot easier if we weren't here, wouldn't it Jim? No one left ta mess up the base? No one to throw up, spill, bleed or s@~%. Sure it'd be dirtier at first but a man with yer talent? One the last o us hit the ground yed have her s!*+* and span in less than a day. And then perfection for eternity. No one would come lookin for us, no one would dare. Safer just to leave s+$& s@!+ty little post unattended in the ice and cold."
Sven nods, pale. "I... I suspected Jimmy, too. After all, what body did he clean up? The dead alien. He left the humans. Seems like the act of a nunnlif to me. But the last time I agreed with Robert, we killed a man. An innocent man. I don't know what to do."
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"Duke, I'll take some of that brandy now."
"Of course my good fellow."
"What goes here another vote based solely on socio-economic status, it is your own prejudices that are making a bad situation worse! If we can control ourselves and not form lynch mobs, we might survive this yet."
"I look upon you each and see no reason to suspect any among you, I will not go with group think against Jimmy due to his wages or due to which mess he cleaned first or last, such tomfoolery!"
...I will not go with group think against Jimmy due to his wages or due to which mess he cleaned first or last,...!"
Avistan mutters to himself:
"or the fact that he's operating under an alias and is actually smarter than everybody here..."
"Man, that's just cold. And believe me, I know cold," Alexander says gruffly, directing a glare of his own at Robert. "You best be careful about picking on Jim there, 'cause guess what? I know that sob story of yours about the haggis was a crock of s+@$. And as far as I'm concerned, there is no human on this godforsaken planet that could possibly think that s%*~ tastes good."
"Jim here was just doing his damned job. If somebody else had done their damned job, then maybe poor Ellie wouldn't have been turned into mush."
Sven stares at Duke Leto in disbelief. "The bodies of our comrades... friends we've lived with for weeks... nothing more than "messes" to you? An oil company executive and a janitor are of the same socio-economic status? And one person is a mob? Duke, you either have a skewed sense of morals or a skewed sense of arithmetic or a skewed sense of economics. Or both."
Only one here who's been lying from the start is Jim. The creature controlling him probably learned how to lie like a champ from the fake janitor genius.
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Sven stares at Duke Leto in disbelief. "The bodies of our comrades... friends we've lived with for weeks... nothing more than "messes" to you? "
"My point was the self serving absurdity of the condemnation leveled at the man himself, my language was intentionally harsh and justified in his defense. You are quick to now move on to vilify me when you are the one of beating the band wagon to find people to kill and still with zero provocation. You can expand and explain all you like and make a fancy speech, it does not make any difference to me other than to prove that you are bloodthirsty."
"How about we make a deal then? If you harm Jimmy and find yourself wrong you volunteer to go next?"
"What the heck is wrong with you, Duke? I haven't voted for anyone. Unlike you." Sven seems more puzzled than upset.
"Me!? You're voting for me. Why 'cause I'm no angel?"
Jimmy barks a laugh. " Because you don't like me? You all need to think. If I was a monster, would I have changed my vote to let Russ off the hook? No. Because the monsters win if we kill each other off. But whose vote clinched the doctor's fate? Iscidae's! Use the wooden noggins that pass for your brains. Based on available evidence, Sven is a monster. "
"Except, of course, that nobody would have been electrocuted had you let the vote stand, Jimmy. You didn't let Russ off the hook. You doomed Doc Wilkins. I fully admit I was wrong - the evidence shows that. But you were just as wrong. And I'm not going to compound my mistake with a hasty vote this time," Sven says quietly.
Mike watches the discussion with interest, weighing heavily what is said and paying close attention to body language. THINK bonehead, something someone said or did has to provide a clue. If I am wrong it can greatly hurt our chances, but if I use my head and am right it can lead to us getting out of here!!
Throwing his hands in the air he exclaims "F#&K, we are no better off then we were before the last vote!
Of course some of us chose to vote, if we were not willing to decide on a course of action and act we would not be stuck in a station in the Antarctic. For various reasons each of us had a goal that is quickest achieved by going to the most inhospitable climate on earth, damn the risks. Therefore they see the quickest way to get rid of the impostor is to vote, so they voted, damn the consequences.
At the same time, of course some of us chose not to vote. We are intellectuals, people who do not act before weighing all the evidence and moving forward with confidence. With no real evidence they believed they were not qualified to offer an opinion. This is a common trait among scientists.
These two facts mean we can not decide someones fate simply on whether they voted or did not vote. It is a catch 22, vote blind and hope to vote for one of the enemy or do nothing and cause inaction which causes favorable conditions for the enemy!
WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?? I need facts and evidence that can be logically processed and a course of action decided upon. F#&K!!"
After a moment he collects himself and humbly apologizes "Sorry guys, but this situation is unreal. I do not want to vote to put someone to death on the evidence we have, but I feel like I have to. It is crazy."
With that Mike takes accepts another brandy and lights a cigarette before slumping once more in a chair.
"You are correct Mike. We're all going to die here."
"No we're not! But Mike is right, evidence is essential. Science is more important than socio-economic status or corporate greed. EvOil is at fault here, it wouldn't surprise me if they send us here specifically to unearth the samples.... maybe they're formed from their own vile biological agents?" Clive says shocked, whilst hoping that Avistan is completely wrong.
"Now for my earlier suggestion, I trust the Duke - even if he likes alcohol... a little too much."
"No, Tharp, we're not. All the humans or all the creatures will die here. Not all of the beings in this room. And if all the humans die, Russ, then only creatures who mimic humans and wish them ill will fly out of here at dawn, to rampage through civilized lands. Comms being out is not a good thing, you idiot! They're smart enough to know that, they're smart enough to take care of the Duke's failsafe, too. Nobody's going to nuke this place from orbit. Only the humans in this room have the ability to protect humanity from monsters." It's suddenly easy to see that Sven belonged in academia as cold logic takes over.
"And Mike, you want evidence? Consider this: Robert and I screwed up and killed a human being. That helped the nunnlifs, right? They're getting closer to being able to take over, numerically speaking, because Robert and I screwed the pooch. So, who would want to repeat that same mistake? Either abysmally stupid humans, or nunnlifs who see their chance at eliminating two more of us. So if they put me in that chair and I don't change - and I won't - you'll have the evidence you need. The "people" so eager to destroy one of us aren't. People, I mean. You've got your evidence."
"See that is me problem, I'd be quite happy to sit around an wait, no vote for no one, but then we just DIE! I don't want tae vote for someone, I don't want tae have to do that but I also don't want tae die like that poor Gnetist from afore, hey? We can nay just sit around staring at each other like a couple o spare pricks at a party. I voted for Jimmy the same way I'd vote for Alexander, they have been hostile and dismissive of all of us, in words, but dinnae seem ta have the conviction to put themselves out on the line for their beliefs."
"So here it is laddies, execute me this round. Do it, go on, I will nay fight. But when I turn out ta be a human, and I will, then yeh will know I speak sense. Or jus listen to what I am sayin and stop the monsters before it is too damn late!"
"Duke, Duke, Duke... Yeh know I respect yeh old boy, yeh know I do. We hae known each other for a long time now, but... if we just sit here we are going tae end up being picked off one by one. We can naw jus let that happen!"
"You're an Honourable man Duke, glad you've come to your senses. Now if we can work together, I'm sure it'll become obvious whom the nunnlifs are."
Clive looks at Red Robert; "Whilst that taunt is an interesting ploy - I'd say, especially since you aren't in line for a lynching. It's either a bluff or a double bluff - I believe that the Protector should protect you, thus if you are one of them; well they cannot contact you & if you are not... well....though by me pointing it out it might make it less likely your focussed like poor Elora.... but by me pointing this out you might be, especially since the guardian won't (probably) listen to me.... no-one listens to me.... except my cheeses."
"I... have no idea what ya just said laddie. Are yeh alright? Sober-er? Do ya need tae lie down maybe? Feeling... not like yerself maybe?"
Clive lets Red Robert sit him on a stool and gets out his notebook; "I'm super sober, ne'er a drop touched my lips." He cocks his head; "Is it any good, I wonder?" He says softly after having been so sheltered and seems the situation has started to get to him.
"Look here..." He gets out a netbook and starts to scribble a spider-diagram on it; "See there's a few permutations, some could identify a nunnliff whilst others, prove the masons. That is depending on what our remaining people say - I know Russ has been busy with the bucket."