The year was 20XX, the humanity finally achieved a way to travel through the space, and a mission towards mars finally initiated. One of the chosen astronauts was Tom, Tom just like everyone was one of the crewmates responsible in the spaceship, he thought the behavior of his colleagues was weird, complimenting him about things he never did, helping him all the time, at the start everything seemed normal, suddenly he finally reached his breaking point, but instead of blasting off on his crewmates, he started investigating alone.
Rumours inside the spaceship spread about something in the electrical zone, rumours about aliens invading the ship, so he decided to start there. He still wasn't used to the spaceship's air yet, so he decided to cover himself completely on the suit, using his helmet all of the time. Walking through the corridor heading to the place, his footsteps were heard by Harold that was just getting out of the electrical zone, a black man with a scar near his mouth on his 30's, on the second he saw Tom, Harold put his hands on his back hugging him with one arm as of they knew each other for a long time.
"Yo Tom, whats up?"
Tom answered confused, as far as he know, he's didn't knew Harold that well, for Tom they were just crewmates:
"I'm good man, so what were you doing in the electrical zone?"
Harold seemed happy to answer it, he frowned a bit hearing it, but still answered with a smile on his face:
"Tryna fix something there like Erika told me to, but i'm kinda scared of the rumours to be honest, can you come with me?"
Tom smiled even though harold couldn't see, that puppy face in such a big man and asking for help was funny enough to just get things going:
"I was curious about the rumours, i can help, don't worry, but you're kinda too close, i don't like hugs that much"
Harold got a little distance after hearing that, he used to act like that all the time but got rejected now, his happy faced turned into a frown once again but for a longer period this time:
"Oh, did something happen? you look kinda off, you can tell anything, i'm your bud you know"
Tom put his own hand on the back of the helmet and with a nervous tone responded to Harold's question:
"You know, its kinda one of those stories where you don't know where to start, and i don't feel like saying now"
Harold had an worried expression hearing tom, but accepted his privacy and decision:
"It's fine, but you can tell me it at any time, i'm here for you just like everyone else, we may be just coworkers, but a good working place needs to have a good relationship between everyone you know?"
Responding with a thankful voice, he answered Harold:
"Don't worry too much, i'm sure i'll figure this out soon, lets go, if we wait too much, other tasks may get in the way"
Harold nodded, and both of them head to the eletrical zone, despite being the place with most energy, it was kinda dark and the place seemed like there was something off, but both of them ignored. The footsteps inside the place echoed through the whole room, they both activated their lanterns on the suit and started working.
The task was easy, not too much to comment over the fact that a weird noise was coming out of somewhere inside the room. Harold looked at Tom and with a little push he thought to himself that it would be a great opportunity to fight that fear of the rumours:
"I'll take a look, wait for me, i'll help you finish soon as i see what it is"
Harold yet fighting his fear was still shaking and really nervous, Tom noticed it and nodded, trying to calm him with some jokes:
"What is it? scared? don't forget it, we also got some space guns, just remember to use it when you see the alien parasite"
Tom joked with the fact that it could be an alien, Harold got slightly embarassed and nervous:
"Don't joke with that fact you madman, you know those kind of things doesn't exist!"
Tom's mocking tone took place, playing with Harold's fears was a really funny activity, his reactions made a wide smile on Tom's face, and once again he opened his mouth:
"They don't?"
Harold freezed in shock with that quote, despite his tough appearence, Harold was a gentle and naive person, so it wasn't that hard for Tom notice it once talking to him once. Harold's voice cracked slightly before making his question trembling:
"What do you mean "They don't?", stop with these games, you know what? I'm just going"
With his patience thin he headed towards the strange noise. Tom was calm, the verification on the electrical zone was almost done, so Harold later returned with a weird nervous smile on his face, Tom got curious about it and asked Harold about the noise:
"What is it? Something bad?"
Harold was worried, the reason was simple, yet horrific:
"The communication with earth was cut, we're stranded on the space!"
Tom got completely shocked with that answer, it meant they probably were stuck on the space forever, there may had a small chance of finding a way back but the fear of staying there forever was still real, his mother, friends, everyone who waited for him was millions of miles from distance and the chance of coming back was short. But looking at Harold's face freezing on shock, harold couldn't hold it anymore, laughing uncontrollably:
"I got you, i got you, i really caught you with that one hahahaha!"
Tom got mad, realizing that all of this was just a joke, Harold played with his feelings, kinda off character, but it was a joke, so he took it lightly:
"Don't do that again bud, you really got me there, it wasn't that funny"
Harold's face frowned a bit after Tom's words:
"My bad, you know, i'm not used to have friends, thats why i always help you, you were there for me when i needed"
Those words caught Tom's mind like a knife, his mind got full again as he remembered the reason he started investigating the electrical zone, the only moment when he actually interacted with Harold, was that moment, so what was he talking about? Those questions invaded his confused mind with a hint of fear:
"What is he talking about?"
"We basically just met"
"What do you mean what i did for you?"
"What is going on here?"
Yet confused, he accepted Harold's words, maybe he was talking about coming with him to the electrical zone, ignoring the weird occurrence and just moving to actually asking what Harold saw there:
"So what was it then?, the sound stopped once you headed there after a while"
Harold got excited to tell what he actually saw to the confused Tom, enlightening his mind with the information:
"I don't even know how to say it, for the past few days there were a little problem in the power management, basically we were losing energy because of that mistake for the past few days, but i fixed it already, you don't have to think too much"
Despite being naive and innocent, Harold was a man chosen to be an astronaut in the same ship as Tom, he wouldn't let a simple mistake kill all of them, Tom thanked Harold for saving everyone:
"Nice, maybe it would've killed all of us and we wouldn't have enough to reach mars or come back, great one Harold"
Harold opened a wide smile hearing Tom's reaction. Looking at the time Tom noticed it was break time, both of them walked together to the cafeteria, the smell of coffee was strong and the one making it was Erika, an asian woman with a painted blonde hair, she looked at Harold and Tom with a menacing gaze:
"I was at security watching the cameras, what was both of you doing in the electrical zone? Harold, did you not finish what i told you to do? Slacking off shouldn't be a thing for you after all these years"
Harold with a hint of anger answered Erika:
"Of course i did, i was with Tom, that place gave me a few bad vibes you know?"
Erika sighed at his response, and with a slightly worried tone she spoke to him, like a mother educating his son:
"You spent a lot of time there before you met him, don't act like a kid, you're a full grown man now, i won't baby you like always"
Tom got confused at that statement, as he didn't talked too much to his crewmates, he didn't knew Harold and Erika met before, and more questions appeared in his head:
"You won't what?"
"Wait, how much time he spent there before i entered?"
Harold's started losing his temper, really offended by Erika's words:
"Really? in front of coworkers? You don't have to do it like this, come on Erika..."
Erika sighed again, but this time with her head slightly down in a sarcastic tone:
"Sure, my bad, won't happen again, i recognize i took it too far, happy?"
Despite her sarcastic tone, she was being honest, Harold noticed it and accepted her apology:
"Just, don't do it again, i still want to be your friend you know?"
She nodded, grabbing two cups of coffee and handing to them:
"Would you take this as an apology?"
Harold looked at Tom's face really happy about it, accepting the cup of coffee from Erika:
"Sure thing, just take care of your words next time, it's all fine Erika"
Tom, got even more suspicious about something being wrong at the spaceship:
"Harold's responses were really weird, why would he spend so much time in the electrical zone doing nothing?"
"Was it really to just slack off?"
"But he didn't seem the kind of guy that slacks off during work despite Erika's words, so what was he doing before inside the electrical zone? Nothing?"
Noticing his friend zoning out, Harold gave a little slap on Tom's back to make him come back to reality:
"Ay man, i know you're going through a lot, but stay alert, you never know when an alien will come out of nowhere in the space haha"
Tom after getting back to reality was still confused, but he accepted the slap on his back as a help, so he thought to himself:
"Aliens? No way, must it be it"
And accepted the coffee from Erika:
"Coffee, always great during those times, i don't know what i would do without it"
Erika smiled at Tom's response and traded a few words too:
"Right? Coffee is everything when we need to work, that little push on energy, i know it will kill us one day, but still it's a great boost to the mood"
In the moment he was about to take his helmet off, he remembered something that he set just before he met Harold, he dropped his coffee:
"Oh, i gotta go real quick"
Harold grabbed his coffee mid-air as Tom ran out of the room really quick with quite heavy steps, Harold was curious, but let him go, staying with Erika at the cafeteria while enjoying his coffee as Erika started clapping her hands after Harold's achievement of grabbing the cup of coffee:
"Are you spider man?"
Tom running through the corridors got into the security room, swiftly searching for something, in the cameras he could see both Erika and Harold talking but that didn't took his attention as he finally found the thing he was looking for. For the past few days he left a recorder at the cameras, unlike other kind of cameras, that one in the spaceship didn't record by itself, just streaming what is going on live, what he wanted with it? Know what happened to Harold. Watching the tape he could see himself talking to both Harold and Erika, and as well, killing Harold and the other crewmates, all recent, all on a moment where he took his helmet off, that wasn't him. Shocked, Tom looked at the screen where Erika was talking to "Harold", but he wasn't there, Erika was alone, and afraid to be caught by that creature and killed, he ran to the cafeteria with his space gun on his hands, absolutely took by desperation.
Finally reaching the cafeteria, a shocking scene was in front of him, an absolutely disgusting creature with both his suit and wearing the helmet was standing before Erika, he couldn't move a single muscle, as that creature disguised as human looked at Erika who said her final words without noticing:
"T-Tom?!"
The creature opening its helmet revealed a sting which passed through her impaling Erika in the heart, the smell of blood took the room soonly after, Tom could see her face of fear and pain, slowly fading into her final breath. The creature looked at Tom preparing itself to attack, but Tom was already aiming at it, yet it seemed a great strategy, the shoot couldn't stop the creature of moving as it wasn't even damaged. Tom headed to the pilot room, the only room where he could lock himself in, he ran through the corridor. Quickly looking back he received a deep cut on his shoulder by the creature's sting, making him drop his space gun, deciding to not look back again and just run. Reaching the room with sheer bravery he stepped inside, but the moment the monster tried to get in, the door smashed its body, which finally seemed to give it an end. Tom tried to approach thinking of opening the door, but the creature tried to move again, it didn't die yet, scaring Tom away. Then creature took the face of Harold pleading for help:
"Please bud, please, get me out of here"
But its voice distorted over and over, trying to take the face of the other crewmates. Tom was shocked, an alien at the worst time possible, no way he could let this thing get into earth, he dropped his injured arm, taking with the other inside his suit a picture, a picture of his mother who waited patiently his return, he gave a little kiss at the picture and hugged. The monster couldn't escape being stuck in the door, struggling nonstop to break free, he took a recorder and started saying his last words:
"Thank you mom, but i guess that was the last time we met, i hope you live peacefully, if it wasn't for you, i would've kept wondering why am i still here, thank you for everything"
Cutting the communication, he sent with the recording a message reporting the reason why he won't come back as one of his final acts. The monster tried tirelessly to get itself free, so Tom hugged his mother's picture and closed his eyes awaiting for his last breath.