"Did you hear? Some engineer went psycho in C-Block and killed four officers."
"Yeah! I heard there were two civilian casualties as well. Fucking crazy! And right when we found the Marker too!"
"It's such a shame their lives were cut short just before this glorious discovery. Altman be praised."
"Altman be praised."
Amidst the circulating rumors and chatter in the lounge, Eve ate her food alone. Her old crew was still on shift and her new crew weren't very welcoming of a Unitologist. And Otto flat out refused conversation beyond her reports she needed to submit on work and on Michael.
She stabbed her hydroponically grown broccoli with an almost Windex chemical smell wafting off of it and stared off into nothingness.
Michael's not in and there are these rumors circulating, she grumbled internally. Where's the prick at? Don't tell me he's behind it...
"An expedition is heading out tomorrow. They want to see the Marker in person. We're going to join them. Are you coming?"
Her ears perked up although the conversation wasn't meant for her.
"Hey," she turned in her seat and their heads turned in response. "Can I join you guys? I might have a partner who may join too."
"Yeah, sure. Ain't no problem."
"Are you a believer?" Another asked.
"Yeah," she smiled. "And I'm trying to show a fellow man the way to the light."
"Hmph. That rarely works but I'm sure Abbott would be happy to hear that. Fine."
"Great! Can you send me your code?"
"Yeah," he said while pulling up his holoscreen from his wrist. "It's..."
If I can convince Michael to join me and see it for himself, maybe his view will change. This is god's physical form made manifest! Who wouldn't change their mind after seeing it in person?
Beaming to herself and turning back around, she finally bit into her food while idly twirling with her ponytail.
He'll have to no choice but to apologize to me. I can't wait.
While she continued to enjoy her food, the other conversations surrounding drifted over her without much recognition.
"Did you hear? Marcus attacked his-"
"Yeah. I heard. Albert from my unit committed suicide this morning too."
"Do you think a chemical leak is causing this?"
"It would have to be a pretty major leak. Engineers should've picked up on it."
------
~Apartment A-Block Unit 9~
Hiss
Carpeted floors greeted him when the doors opened. A luxurious couch with a surround-sound TV system, a large kitchen with plenty of cooking space, and an open door to a bedroom with a queen-sized mattress.
A serious upgrade to the dull gray metal and brown interiors and the simple systems of C-Block.
Michael glanced back at the P-Sec officers who gripped their rifles tightly while glaring at him. Their expressions begged him to make a move so that they could act violently.
He stepped inside and silently closed the door behind him on them without any words.
No point being friendly anymore...
------
~Earlier~
Tom Scairello reentered the room with Michael strapped to the chair still to conduct a psyche evaluation.
"Will the the families of..." Michael whispered, guilt eating away at his heart and unable to look Tom in the eye.
"Yes," Tom replied. "Their families will be taken care of."
There was a pause before Tom spoke again.
"No amount of prayer or asking for forgiveness will atone for what you did," Tom said disgustedly. "A psyche evaluation will only tell me whether you are fit for continued service, which I know you're not, and how demented you are."
Another pause.
"Why did you do it? Why did you kill them and the P-Sec officers?"
Michael's head snapped up. "I didn't kill P-Sec officers."
"You didn't?" he asked before a holovid popped up between them.
Michael's eyes widened in horror.
"What is..."
"This is your apartment. And all that blood? Those organs? Those are from the P-Sec officers. Four of them."
"It wasn't me," Michael exclaimed in a panic, jerking against his restraints. "I lost consciousness after they injected me with a sedative!"
"Yes, I know." Tom said. "We scanned your body after taking you in and found it in your system."
Exhaling with relief, Michael relaxed a bit. "S-so you know it wasn't me then. Wait, no, that doesn't make sense... You knew it wasn't me because I was unconscious!"
"I don't know anything for certain," Tom replied firmly. "There's no video evidence of anything. I was hoping in this brief exchange you'd be able to tell me but it seems like you don't know either. But you do remember killing those two innocent people, correct?"
"...Yes. It wasn't on purpose."
"What happened?"
After a recount of running out of his apartment, running back inside to his bedroom, and then him firing to his murders of the husband and wife, Tom frowned.
"So you're telling me you saw some invisible monster and began shooting at it? Using a tool you weren't supposed to have outside of work purposes and illegally modified into a gun because...?"
Michael's mouth opened to talk before deciding on the middle ground between lying and telling the truth.
"I...I was listening for it...and I heard it. It was in self defense."
"You do realize how crazy you sound? These noises you hear around the colony could be anything. Electronics, pipes leaking, other maintenance crews at work, and because of heard these noises you made a lethal gun and thought it might be a monster? On a dead planet where not even archaea survive?"
His tone of disbelief furthered Michael's deflated appearance before speaking more quietly.
"And yet your wild stories MIGHT be true," Michael's eyes rose to meet Tom's very doubtful and skeptical gaze.
"The blood," Michael asked, hope building in his voice. "You saw it?"
Tom nodded.
"We did. The investigation team took samples. Albeit they were traumatized as well by the scene and the...did you do that with the blood as well?"
"Do what?"
Tom sighed again, taking off his glasses in frustration. "The substance was surrounded by their organs in a perfect circle. Everyone, including me, thought you were fucking sick. Don't get me wrong, I still think your sick even if I'm a doctor and I'm supposed to somehow 'cure' you."
"But if you saw the blood then you know I'm telling the truth," Michael protested. "I'm not sick if its real! It was an accident! I was trying to defend myself and kill it so it wouldn't harm others!"
"Your hallucinations have not gone away. I've seen your continued outbursts to yourself and heard of them through your crew. And let's say after all of our tests and analysis of this substance concludes that it is extraterrestrial blood of a humanoid alien, what if it wasn't hostile?"
"It could've been entirely peaceful but now that you've shot it," Tom slammed the table, glaring at Michael. "It's probably pissed or scared, and thus dangerous!"
There was another silence between them before Tom sighed.
"What can you tell me about this monster?" Tom asked, taking a deep breath to bring himself back to a professional level. "Ever since you and now this Marker, there's been an uptick in insomnia and violent outbursts across the colony over the last two days."
Fuck. That's happening now?!
Michael's eyes went wide, leaning back in the chair.
"Oh for the love of...don't tell me you were actually a worshipper."
"No," Michael chuckled weakly. "But what you mentioned...it's going to get a lot worse. A hell of a lot worse. And it's all because of the Marker. It emits a pulse that affects the human psyche and it will turn so many suicidal and violent. It will create monsters that will make you wish you were dead."
While Michael rattled, Tom had begun recording in silence.
"The same monster you shot at?"
"No," Michael answered with a shake of his head. "That was something different. The Marker..."
Michael paused and looked at Tom recording before shaking his head.
"You'll know that I'm telling the truth soon. Scores of people of people will die. And the nightmare will begin when planet crack happens in a month's time."
"How do you know the planet crack was moved up?" Tom asked with surprise. "That information should still be classified and you've been in confinement this entire time."
Michael let out a sad chuckle. "I just know. Call it a connection to the Marker if you want. Let's call it that."
They won't listen to me if I tell the truth.
------
~Present in his apartment~
Can you see it?
"Yes..."
Orange wisps danced around him in a two meter radius. All of it seemed to be coming from one direction. Moments after stepping inside and closing the door, she appeared as did these bright orange wisps.
So long as I'm here, it can't touch you. To see is only the first step to defend against it.
"Is this the Marker's influence?" Michael asked cautiously.
If that's what they are called, she replied with a small shrug. The wisps flared once more and then vanished, leaving the room looking completely normal again.
"They?"
They want you very much. They've been trying to change your body and your mind. Ever since those bad men tried to take you away.
Michael's jaw tightened. "Those men were innocent. And why are you trying to protect me?" He clenched his fists, suspicion creeping back in. "Is this some fake sense of security you want to give me while you use me?"
No, she said immediately, shaking her head. You are my baby. I won't hurt you.
The air flickered and flashed.
Her small, childlike shape warped into a tall, gaunt, and painfully thin woman. An adult body that only reached his chin, all skin and bone, her face hollowed by deep shadows that made her look like a skeletal ghoul. A loose hospital gown clung to her frame.
Another flash.
She looked healthy now. Still pale, but more filled out. Her hair was smoother, less matted, and her features almost normal. Almost beautiful but her eyes remained hidden with shadows from her hair.
Another flash however and she reverted to her skeletal state.
And then another and she was back as a child in her red dress.
Michael swallowed, unsure of what he just saw and what to think. He never met his mother back on his modern Earth, but there was definitely never any strange phenomenon or super powers or whatever this was.
At least as far as he knew. After experiencing everything since coming here, and those strange dreams while he slept, he felt unsure about a lot of things.
"How do I know you aren't connected to the Marker?" he asked, staring down into her empty black eyes. "A hallucination from the Marker to manipulate me? To make me protect it? Or help cause Convergence? You think I'll fall for it?!"
"Was it you that made them explode?" he suddenly demanded.
It was.
"Shit!"
I was protecting you.
"Prot- damn it! It made everything worse!"
That's not true, she said mildly, looking around at the vastly improved living quarters.
Michael exhaled sharply, frustration building inside him.
She didn't understand his situation, not really. He was held at gunpoint in everything but name.
Write down what the Marker wanted, draw what it showed him, and comply or be executed. But exposing himself to the Marker so willingly will make him go mad and die.
Worse still, he will probably be experimented on and then executed anyway if he somehow survived. And if Carthusia informs Unitology back on Earth, Michael will become a priority extraction.
It might be a benefit in the short term though, he thought, rubbing his chin. They sent a security team in that one game in an attempt to retrieve the bodies. And the captain of the Ishimura is a Unitologist so…
His thoughts snapped away as the bright orange wisps returned, flaring before fading back into nothing. When the room cleared, the little girl was still there, standing patiently, waiting.
Whether she was on his side or not, whether she was real or another lie woven into his mind, it no longer mattered. He couldn't afford to sit still and wait to be consumed by the Marker, by Unitology, or by fear.
If survival meant taking risks, then he would choose which ones to take.
He met her gaze.
"What's your name?"
She hesitated before giving a small, shy smile.
Alma.
------
~D-Site~
A drone flew overhead as engineers and workers busied themselves leveling the ground with heavy machinery to construct a tram track. Out in the rocky badlands of Aegis VII, this red marker was already on a platform when discovered. This puzzled many people as they also found seemingly man made tracks leading them to the Marker.
Some of the crew were experiencing headaches, some hallucinations, and others paranoia. Eventually one cracked a rather dark joke.
"Do you think we'll turn into that psycho from C-Site?"
"You mean the one being protected? Yeah right."
"I bet that person's a kid of some corporate executive."
"Probably. We don't get a name or identity and the person killed six people. Ain't no way that's not a big-wig's kid."
"Could be a Unitologist?"
Another snorted. "That person would have to be some secret high ranking vested or overseer if it's not Saint Abbott and even he wouldn't be immune to prosecution after doing something like that."
"So it's either a big-wig's kid or some super secret religious nut?"
"Guess so. Ain't much else to go off of. Hey Winston, you gunna help out or what?"
Standing away from the group, a man was frozen in place staring off into the distance with his multitool hanging loosely in his grip. One of the men who was already in a bad mood growled and stormed over while shouting.
"Hey asshole! You better not be playing up on the this whole Marker thing! I know your a fucking Unitologist and you fuckers have been getting on my nerves ever since it's been found!"
"Say something you fucking-"
Without warning, Winston turned and slammed his multitool into the aggressive man's visor. There was a brief scream followed by intense choking and gagging as he fell back to the ground.
"Fuck! Get a medic!"
"It's too late for that! He's dead! Grab Winston and hold him down!"
"Altman be praised..."
As they charged him, the man began to undo the locks in his RIG that kept his visor on and him alive.
"Wait! Stop! We're not in the atmospheric bubble! You'll kill yourself!"
Hiss
Within a second of him removing it, blood erupted from his eyes, ears, and mouth before collapsing to the ground in spasms. Everyone stopped and froze in shock and horror.
~Static~
Radio: D-Site what the hell is going on? Two RIGs went red. Report, over!
"What the fuck man..."