Red swiped his access card at the terminal. He was locked out of the admin console, again, which had started flashing an alarm signal. Tiny blips representing his crewmates were disappearing one after another.
Remain cool, he thought. Was the console also damaged during the crash? Or had one of them snuck aboard?
Another alarm sounded, this time over the intercom. Someone had pressed the emergency meeting button.
Red proceeded quickly toward the cafeteria where Blue, Purple and Yellow were arguing.
“Where’s White?” Red said.
“He’s dead. I found his body,” Yellow said.
“I saw you with him last in navigation. Why did you kill him?” Blue accused.
“I didn’t kill him,” Yellow protested. “I was repairing oxygen. What were you doing stalking us?”
“I - I wasn’t.” Blue’s hands shot up. “Trust me, I was fixing the wiring.”
“Pretty sus,” Red said. He’d heard about this before. Murderers quickly cast blame upon other crew members to hide their crime. He wasn’t going to allow another death on this ship.
Red turned to Purple. She shrugged. They each took out their communicators, tapped a few buttons and nodded when they finished.
“Blue, you’ve been voted off the ship for murdering White,” he said.
Blue tried to stammer out his disbelief, but the idea of being ejected into space overwhelmed him.
Red watched Blue drift off into the distance. He sighed. “We’re almost home. Shame we had to lose so many comrades, Purple. Purple?”
Purple was gone. Standing in the doorway was Yellow, his torso ripped open exposing sharp and bloodied fangs.
Blue was not the impostor.
🔬📖 Microfiction entry 11.29.2020
🖼 Art by Neytirix on DeviantArt