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It was only supposed to be a simple mission. They were only meant to stay in Polus for a day or two, depending on how fast everyone was at completing tasks. Trudging through the snow in the spacesuits was bad enough, but it was so damn cold. No other base could be detected for miles. Why was the area so large? Brown supposed that it couldn’t be helped. The location made sense, especially when it came to competition. The problem came from the parasites - the ones who infiltrated the system and struck when you least expected - and gained so much while screwing over their hosts.
Before they were assigned the mission, Black was his best friend. They lived in the same neighborhood, and both had an equal passion for space exploration. They were at their prime and no matter what happened, they stuck together. No matter the severity, their fights over the years were overshadowed by their friendship. Neither of them would have had it any other way.
When all ten people were on the dropship on the way to Polus, Brown paid close attention to how all his crewmates acted, trying to figure out what made them tick. The one who got his virtually undivided attention above the others, however, was Purple. Purple was...different from the others. Perhaps it was their stance, their assertive body language, the way they smoothly maneuvered themself across the ship, or anything else. Brown was positively infatuated with his fellow crewmate. They weren’t much of a talker, only communicating in head gestures. Brown didn’t care either way.
Once the dropship landed on Polus, things were looking up. Brown had enough tasks to last the day, and assuming his crewmates had the same, this mission would be a breeze. He stuck with Purple for a majority of the first few hours, until they left for a few minutes and came back. Brown didn’t notice the blood on their suit, or the crack in the helmet. Once the body of Blue was reported, people were throwing accusations left and right. Only Black, Purple, and White were silent as they took in the situation. No one was voted out into the lava pit, and things moved on.
White tagged in with Purple and Brown halfway through the round. Brown honestly didn’t have any idea what to think about White. He only knew that she was female and that she stuck around with Purple a lot. As the two tailed him down the hall, he saw them leaning to each other, nodding their heads. Brown thought nothing of it, as this was common. As he finished scanning himself in Medbay, they left into the specimen room. He followed, not wanting to be left behind. He caught up to them as they reached a body, with Red standing above them.
Red immediately started spewing vitriol and accusations against the two, but Brown was confident in what he saw. Red went down into the lava, giving them all a middle finger amidst his screams as the heat consumed him.
Now there were only 7 left. Brown hoped they could finish tasks in time. This time, Black went with him, saying nonsensical things like White and Purple being the impostors. Brown was set on ignoring him until they saw the duo in question soaked in blood, standing above Cyan and Yellow’s lower bodies. White saw the others and prepared to aim at Brown before Purple stopped and shook their head. White nodded and shot Orange, who was running towards them.
Purple turned to Brown, and spoke for the first time: “We’re even.”
Brown was petrified. The noise that came out was not human in any sense of the word. It was raspy and guttural, with a distorted quality to it. Brown looked down and realized he couldn’t stop shaking. Whether it was from the cold or not, he could not say. As the two impostors hugged each other, his heart dropped even further. He had refused to see what was happening before his eyes the entire time, and this was how he was punished.
As the impostors walked away out into the snow, without a care about those they had left to die, Black came over to Brown, who was sitting in the snow, and sat down next to him. No words came out of their mouths. There was nothing more to say. Brown asked himself why and how everything happened the way it did. He got no answer. All that was left was the biting cold, the dreariness of Polus’s landscape, and his best friend by his side.