The Skeld was one of the largest spaceships that Mira had developed. It had everything a person needed to survive for oh about 15 years on the ship. But usually it wasn't just one person who inhabited the ship. It was multiple. It had a storage room, communications, security, reactors, cafeteria, shield, oxygen, navigation, electrical room, medical room they called medbay, admin, and a room dedicated to weapons. Alongside that there was an entire area dedicated to sleeping areas. The captain had his own room next to navigation, while everyone slept in a room, all those rooms were located in a hallway connected to the cafeteria opposite from the admin hallway.

Meme stood in the large doorway of the Skeld. His anxiety was higher then it had ever been, and he stared at the captain. He had a decent conversation with the captain during the welcome party hosted but now this guy seemed completely opposite. He stared at the group with cold eyes. His eyes were dark. He had pale milky skin, he had one sleeve of his space suit rolled up revealing a tattoo of what looked like runes. He had bags under his eyes and seemed like he hadn't slept for months. His helmet covered most of his hair but Meme thought he saw something in his hair glimmer in the light above. His face was also quite scarred up. What looked like a scratch from a claw was on his forehead barely missing his left eye. Meme was sure that if it had been a tiny bit down Socks would be blind in that eye. Socks also had a few burn marks on his face, neck and his arm that was slightly revealed. Then last but not least the rainbow socks. Everyone after getting a very cold and unwelcoming welcome message split off to go work on tasks or socialize with other crew members. But soon it was just Meme and Socks standing in the storage.

"Don't you have something to work on?" Socks grumbled.

    "Nah, I'll work on my tasks later." Meme responded. Socks groaned.

    "I take it, you want something from me?" Socks asked. "What is it because I'll give it to you. Only if you leave me alone and we never speak after this. Okay? Okay, great." Socks said without giving Meme a chance to respond.

    "I just want to know what Miras deal is with these aliens all over polus is." For one Meme saw real emotion flash in Socks eyes. It wasn't a good emotion it was pure terror Socks then took a deep breath in and ran his fingers through his hair.

    "Of course, Imposters I'm quite familiar with this species." Socks responded breathing in and out in a meditation style. He looked like wanted to say something else but decided against it then he spoke softly. "This tattoo on my arm is actually a language that they use."

    "Ooh can I see?" Meme asked. Socks held out his arm and rolled up his sleeve. Meme examined the runes he couldn't describe anything about them. "What does it mean?" Meme asked. Socks seemed to panic at that. He yanked his arm back and rolled down his sleeve.

    "Does it matter?" Socks asked. "Anyways follow me." Socks said waving for Meme to follow. They began to walk through storage and ended up at Admin. There was a wall that was built with bookshelves. Socks walked over and grabbed a tattered book off the shelf. It looked almost ancient. Like it was made thousands and thousands of years ago. Socks saw the look on his face and sighed. "It's not that old." Socks told him. "It's only about 6 years old. I'll tell you this thing has been through a lot." Socks held the book out for Meme to see. It seemed to be stained randomly with orange ink. The pages were yellow with age or coffee.

    "What's it about?" Meme asked, reaching out to grab it. Socks pulled it away from Meme quickly and held it close to his chest.

    "It's a book from an old crew member. Ray, she um was thrown into lava on false accusations. She had the journal on her at the time and tossed it to me. I barely caught it and I saved it. It's got a lot of info on extraterrestrials. Some of it is just personal notes on the creatures and then actual facts. So if you want to know about Imposters here is the first page on it." Socks said, using his thumb to turn through the pages. "Here, Imposters is a rare species of aliens that live on the planet Polus. With human like characteristics they could somewhat pass for humans but since they can't fully blend in since they have no facial features-,"

    "Wait like they don't have eyes or something?" Meme interrupted.

    "No eyes, no mouth, no nose. They can breathe just fine and see perfectly. They can also speak perfectly yet how?" Socks said he seemed deep in thought. "I haven't figured this out yet but neither had Ray. Anyways moving on, they possess a body, like a host to a parasite. Except the person dies, and the imposter uses the former person's body as a vessel. Yeah strange and slightly creepy i know. Normally when the person's defense is down like when they're sick, sleeping, or if they naturally have a physical condition, etc. If they don't do this a thing called a conscious imposter can occur. "

    "What the heck is that?" Meme asked, interrupting once more.

    "If you would be quiet for longer than 30 seconds you would know. Once again moving on, a conscious imposter is like the imposter is more of an objective giver instead of being in full control. See your immune system fights it because it's still aware. Instead your body is constantly starving, thirsty or tired, because your body thinks that it still needs those although it no longer does. Your physical body doesn't really take a toll but mentally it feels like a burnout that never ends."

    "Why do conscious imposters still you know, murder when their in control?" Meme questioned.

    "Because it gives reason to murder, it gives you an objective and then reasons that its not the worst. It makes it logical. It also takes away all emotions, it kind of dangles the sense of emotions as a way to get a person to do what it wants. Manipulation." Socks shrugged. He seemed uncomfortable. He shut the book in one swift motion and turned towards the door. "Now if i've answered all your questions do you mind if i leave?" Socks asked. Socks had already begun to leave before Meme could ask any more questions and soon he was gone. Meme realized that Socks had taken the journal with him but Meme was still curious. He turned to the bookshelf and looked at all the spines to see if it said anything about imposters. He saw a book that was about alien ruins and grabbed it instantly. Flipping through the pages in hopes of finding anything similar to the runes on Socks' arm.

    He soon fell on a page that looked similar to one of the symbols but he couldn't remember what the rest looked like. He then heard footsteps to the side of him at the entrance of admin and saw Laff staring at him.

    "What are you doing?" Laff looked asked wearily.

    "Nothing." Meme said. Laff crossed his arms and looked at Meme skeptically. "Okay fine it's a book on alien runes."

    "One, why? Two, why do we have a book like that?"

    "Because apparently there was an old extraterrestrials captain. I wonder why they got rid of that." Meme wondered.

    "Because they don't need it, also I can't tell which question you answered." Laff said.

    "Oh, well have you seen the tattoo on Socks' arm?" Meme asked.

    "Of course."

    "Well he told me it's in runes from the aliens, you know the ones that have been taking out all the previous crews and stuff?"

    "Imposters is the name I heard." Laff quipped

    "Yeah, yeah."

    "Well I wouldn't worry about it, did you try asking?" Laff said.

    "Yeah then Socks got super panicked and told me not to worry about it." Meme recalled. "I wonder if there could be some lead to find out the imposter that's been taking out the last crews."

    "I'm a tad suspicious of Socks himself." Laff grumbled. "I mean he's survived the last 5 masacres how?"

    "I hate to admit it but you have a point. It has something to do with the runes. 100%." Meme said. "We won't get far without research, so I'm gonna keep looking through."

    "It would be easier with a photo of the tattoo." Laff mused.

    "So we get one!" Meme exclaimed. "I mean how hard could it be?"

    "You realize who we are talking about right? Imposter or not this guy has survived over 5 massacres. If we asked him for a photo of his arm he would be like 'Why though' and if we tried forcefully that guy would end both of us."

"Point, point." Meme sighed. "Objectives! We talk to Socks more, gain his trust then ask for a photo of his arm or he'll tell us himself!" Meme said optimistically.

    "I'm gonna be working with an optimist. What luck." Laff groaned.

    "Oh sorry should I be more like, 'Hi my name is Laff, I'm so edgy and I wear a gas mask so people don't see my face.'" Meme said in a mock British accent in an attempt to mimic Laff.

    "I hate you." Laff said, although he did sound slightly amused, Meme smiled.

    "Well.. you're adopted." Meme retorted. Laff chuckled and turned to leave. "Wait where are you going?" Meme asked.

    "What conversation did we just have?" Laff asked.

    "Right, right..." Meme nodded. He put on a strategic looking face and nodded, putting his hand to his chin. "How are we going to build up his trust?" Meme wondered.

    "How about treating him like a normal person?" Laff suggested.

    "Clever I knew there was a reason I told you my plans." Meme said.

Both of them left admin and began to walk to Medbay. Which Meme had claimed as his area. He continued to claim he had a medical although no one believed him.Meme sat down on the floor with his legs crossed trying to fix the scanner. It had fallen into disrepair after so many months of it not being used. Laff sat in a roller chair watching Meme work on the scanner.

"Personally I think that there should be more robots." Laff said. They had gotten into a serious topic about what was better: more humans or robots. "Although a robot uprising would be unfortunate."
Meme used a wrench to move a bolt into place holding some more wires as Laff continued to speak
    "In all honesty I think that more humans would be bad for the environment. They remind me of a virus. You know, plaguing the world, using nature's resources to build and destroy more of nature's resources."
Meme nodded and used a zip tie to hold more wires together. He tied them into their respective ports and used the same wrench to put a bolt to hold them in place.

    "If I had a choice I'd say just leave both be." Meme said. "Worry about the problems we have now, not what could happen with more robots or humans."  Meme slid the medbays small panel door down and stood up. "That should work now." Meme said. He used his hand and pressed the blue button that powered the machine on. It made a sort of coughing and sputtering noise. "Never freaking mind." Meme said distraught.

    "Need some help?"  a voice asked from behind Meme and Laff.

    "Please." Meme responded. He saw Socks standing in the door. He had oil stains on his gloves.

    "I've been working on this ship for so long this will be a breeze." He said. He walked over to the medbay scanner and gave it a firm kick. Meme winced, he knew that would have hurt, but as he looked at Socks there wasn't a glimmer of pain in his eyes. He hadn't even flinched. Socks sat down where Meme had been moments ago and opened the same panel. Carefully he reached in and grabbed a set of wires with his hands. He put similar colored wiring together and began to weave the frayed wires together. The copper strings holding both sides of the wire together. Soon he stood up and used his foot to close the panel. He walked over and pressed the same button that Meme had and watched as the scanner flickered to life.

    "Woah how did you do that?" Meme asked.

    "Very carefully." Socks said sarcastically. "Its complicated and take weeks of practice."

    "What's so difficult about it?" Laff asked, leaning forwards.    
   
    "Lots of things." Socks said patiently. "I'm too tired to explain, perhaps later."

    Meme then felt a lightbulb go off. He smiled and glanced at Laff who had confused look in his eyes.

    "Well is anyone hungry?" Meme asked. Laffs eyes lit up from underneath the gas mask lenses.

    "For sure." Laff agreed. "We've all been working hard. I think we can take a break." Both Meme and Laff looked pleased with the idea, while Socks on the other hand looked less open to it. His lips were tightened to a thin line and his eyes glittered with worry.

    "Yeah alright..." Socks added hesitantly, "Im not that hungry though. Just ate." He said. It sounded more like a lie than the truth.

    "Really I thought you were just constantly working?" Meme pointed out. Socks bit his lip, his eyes glistened. He was a child that had just been caught in a lie.

    "Whatever." Socks said with an eye roll.  "I can just leave if you so desire?"

    "Wait!" Meme shouted as Socks turned to leave. Socks smirked.

    "Miss me already?" He teased. Laff stepped forward. To which Socks took another step back. Laff looked confused, Meme was even more confused. Was Socks scared of Laff? Socks still had a slight smirk on his face. Although it had fallen a bit.

    "So is lunch still on the table?"

———-

Leave it to Meme to only think about food. Me in all honesty.

Soooooo I've been holding off on this chapter for like 3 months. (Procrastination *jazz hands*)

Anyways yeah I felt slightly unmotivated due to the news of Technoblade passing away but then I suddenly got it back. (Why? I don't know)

Anyways

Words :2446