I drew my card out of my pocket to check in the next morning. Upon entering Admin, I was met with Lime already scanning her own card.

"Oh, hey," she greeted with a smile. "Here to do your scanning too?"

I shoved my card back into my pocket. "No—I-I'm—I thought the data download was in here, but I forgot that Admin is where it's uploaded—not downloaded."

Lime straightened up to look me in the eye. Her smile disappeared. "Cyan, I saw you take it out. Don't try to lie to me."

I shook my head, unsure of what to say, grasping at any excuse I could think of. "I forgot I already checked in."

"You don't trust me, do you?" she accused, narrowing her eyes at me. "Even after I defended you at the meeting with zero proof that you were actually safe?"

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. I could almost feel her gaze drilling into me while I hurried back down the hall.

Well, shit. You really screwed that up.

I wanted to trust her. I absolutely felt like I could. But it was difficult to bring myself to even talk with the others. Everything that happened around the ship seemed like a cause for suspicion. Yellow disappears for a while; Red seems to be everywhere I am; Pink completes a task much faster than I expect it to take—all sending up probably unnecessary red flags.

Everyone on this ship has been unusually quiet today, and for good reason. I don't know who I can trust to defend me, to be alone with—hell, even to talk with. I want my crewmates to see my behavior, see how I wasn't suspicious, stick with me to have an alibi just in case, but at the same time didn't want to take the risk of being alone with someone.

A commotion from the cafeteria caught my attention. Just as I spun around to see who was talking, I saw Lime leaving Admin. I silently slipped into the room, swiped my card—on the first try, using Purple's trick—and headed to the cafeteria to investigate.

Black, Yellow, and Purple all stood at the edge of the cafeteria. Right as I walked in, Black shouted, "So you didn't think something like this was important enough to tell us about?"

"I didn't think she would want it announced to the entire crew," Yellow shot back.

Purple was with the two, looking somewhat confused. Black turned to her and said, "And how did you just happen to witness this? You walked by just as she was attacked? And, on top of this, you saw absolutely nothing?"

"I swear I didn't! I was in the bathroom in her cabin, and the lights were off in the main room, and I ran out when I heard her screaming," Purple defended. There was a tone of helplessness and desperation to her voice.

"Why were you there with her so late?" Black demanded.

"Why are you suspicious of me? If I wanted to kill her, I wouldn't have reported the attempt," Purple cried.

"Answer the question!"

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Lime shouted.

"Stay out of this," Black snapped.

Brown peered out from around the corner. "This is about me, isn't it?" she muttered.

"Did something happen to her?" Lime pressed.

"I told you, this is none of your business," Black repeated.

"She's just watching out for her crewmate," Yellow defended.

"I'm fine, I swear," Brown said, stepping into the room. Her throat was covered by a large gauze patch.

"That looked bad, though," Purple fretted.

"Yellow said it looked worse than it is. Seriously, I'm better now. I can work," Brown insisted.

"Really? I don't think you should be," Yellow warned.

Brown glared at him. "If I feel up to it, I'm going off to work again. Maybe I'd trust that advice coming from White, but you're not even qualified to be a medic yet."

Yellow looked surprised, hurt, and somewhat pissed, but he held his tongue and turned down the hallway.

"I don't want to hear anything else from you," Black warned Purple, before she too left the room.

Not wanting to face Lime before I had something decent to say, I tried to rush down the north hallway before she had a chance to talk to me. She didn't let me.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I ignored her and quickened my pace down the hallway. She yelled my name twice before finally giving up.

I'm sorry, I wanted to call back. It's not you. I want to trust you. But I can't trust anyone right now.

Purple followed me down the hallway. "Is there something going on with you two?" she asked quietly.

"I fucked up," I sighed. "She thinks I don't trust her anymore. I'm not sure what to say yet, and I don't want to upset her any further."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. This whole situation has been stressful. I'm sure she'll understand." Purple flashed a grin. "Do you think she sent us away so she could go off with Yellow?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," I snickered.

We roamed the hall for a few minutes, idly talking and stopping at random rooms to check out equipment. Purple just has this charm about her that makes her presence feel comforting, letting me briefly forget my anxiety.

At last, I willed up the courage to ask, "What happened to Brown?"

Purple, although probably expecting the question, seemed a bit taken aback. "Well—I don't know if I should be telling you."

"I get it." I nodded once. "That's fine."

"Actually, I don't think she would mind. We were hanging out in her room, and I'd gone into the bathroom to change. Right as I was about to leave, I heard a clatter and her screaming." She hesitated again to draw in a deep, shaky breath.

"You don't have to tell me if it's upsetting you," I quickly reassured her.

"No—we're both fine, it was just shocking," Purple sighed. "I ran in to see her gripping her neck and trying to pry the door open. There was blood everywhere. The only thing I could think to do was to throw her a towel and run to the Medbay. Yellow said it wasn't deep enough to cut into anything important, and she hadn't lost much blood, but it fucking scared us."

I was speechless for a few moments. "That sounds awful," I whispered. "I'm sorry. But think of it this way. If you weren't there, she—"

"I know," she interrupted. "Cy, I know you're trying to help, and I appreciate it. But I really don't need to be reminded."

I nodded. "Sorry."

"The only way I could see that making sense was if the impostor came into the room, was about to—to kill her, and heard me and panicked." After a brief pause, Purple asked, "So, where are you off to?"

"O2, to clean the air filter."

"I won't hold you back any longer. That thing is filthy."

As I entered the small room, I caught a glimpse of Purple lingering by the door. She stayed for a few moments until I began pulling debris out of the filter.

That simple hesitation stung a little, and it almost felt like the last few minutes' trust was undone by it. There they go again with the distrustful looks. I thought she trusted me. Does no one trust me in this place? What have I done wrong?

Wait—oh, shit, this is what I'm doing to my friends.