Juliet's stomach dropped at the sight. The angle only showed part of the helmet and the arm – but it sure looked like one of their standard EVA suits. The radio crackle came again, synced with the figure's motions, as if he were banging on the hull near the airlock.
"Please! Let me in! I don't understand—why won't you respond?!" The voice broke into a sob on the last word.
"That's Michael," Sera whispered. There was no doubt in her voice now, only horror. She turned to Elena, eyes wide. "But then… who… or what… did we bring in?"
The quiet question hung in the recycled air of the ops hub. Juliet felt a chill that had nothing to do with the station's temperature controls. Her mind flashed to Michael asleep in medbay, his face peaceful – maybe too peaceful? Did I miss something? Is that not him?
Elena Alvarez drew herself up, squaring her shoulders as if bracing for impact. "Alright. Let's not jump to any conclusions," she said, though her voice wavered almost imperceptibly. "We need to stay calm and figure this out. First, we verify Michael in medbay."
Juliet found her voice. "I can do that. I'll wake him, ask him some questions—a medical exam. There might be some confusion from his radiation exposure, but…" She trailed off, knowing that wasn't the concern. The concern was whether the man in medbay was who they thought he was at all.
Devon spoke up from the console, where he was rapidly typing. "I'm checking internal sensors. If someone else came aboard somehow, or something, it would show on the logs."
"Any unauthorized entries?" Elena asked, never taking her eyes off the jittery camera feed of the pleading astronaut outside.
"Airlock A logs show one entry during the storm, which we assumed was Michael," Devon said. "No other airlock cycles since. But…" he frowned, leaning closer to another screen, "there's something odd. The mass sensors registered a slightly higher mass coming in than what Michael's suited weight should be."
Juliet's heart skipped. "Could that be equipment he carried?"
"Maybe," Devon muttered, "or a glitch. Hard to say – sensors were fluctuating during the storm." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Station AI is still in partial reboot mode; I don't fully trust these numbers."
Elena exhaled, looking frustrated and alarmed. "Juliet, go to medbay. Check on… Michael." She said his name might not belong to him. "Sera, keep trying to talk to the person outside. I'll join you in a moment, but maintain comm silence about the one inside until we know what we're dealing with."
"What are we dealing with, Commander?" Sera asked, voice trembling on the edge of panic. "Is this some kind of prank? A hallucination? Because it can't be real, it just can't."
Elena placed a hand on Sera's shoulder. "I don't know. But we'll get to the bottom of it. Focus. Keep him talking, find out everything you can. And keep monitoring his vitals through the suit link if possible – we should treat it as real until proven otherwise. He might be in danger."
Sera nodded, swallowing hard, and returned her attention to the comms, opening a channel. "Michael—uh, copy, this is Janus Station," she began haltingly. "I hear you. We…we see you. Hang tight. We're assessing the situation."
Juliet didn't wait to hear Michael's response. She was already pushing off back toward the medbay, her mind racing faster than her body gliding through the corridor.
She reached the medbay door and toggled it open, heart pounding. The sleeping figure on the cot was stirring faintly, perhaps roused by the distant sound of the commotion or the slight jolt of the station as thrusters fired to maintain orbit.
Juliet approached quietly. "Michael?" she said softly.
He blinked awake, groggy. His eyes focused on her slowly. "Dr. Whitaker… Jules? What's going on?" he mumbled, starting to push himself up on one elbow.
Juliet gently pressed him back. "Take it easy. You're supposed to be resting." Her voice was as steady as she could make it, but inside she was a whirlwind of doubt. She needed to assess him, and fast.
Michael looked around, rubbing his face. "I heard something… like shouting. Is everything okay?"
Juliet forced a reassuring smile. "Minor comms issue. Nothing to worry about." She picked up a handheld scanner from the tray beside the bed. "While you're up, let me just run a quick cognitive check, alright? Standard after a neural implant glitch. Won't take long."
He frowned as if sensing her tension. But he nodded. "Sure. I feel… a little fuzzy."
She passed the scanner over his forehead, watching the readouts. EEG normal, implant ID #MNCH571 active and synced. Heart rate slightly elevated, likely from just waking. Physically, he appeared exactly as he should. She noted the scar on his left chin – a small mark he'd had since before the mission (he'd told her once it was from a bike fall in childhood). It was there. Every detail, as far as she could see, matched the Michael she knew.
"Everything looks okay," she said after a moment, her voice barely above a whisper. What was she expecting? A sign saying "fake"?
Michael studied her, confusion growing on his face. "Jules, you're worrying me. Is something wrong? You're checking me like you think I grew a second head." He attempted a feeble joke, but his eyes were searching hers.
Juliet opened her mouth to say something, but a chime from the wall intercom interrupted. Elena's voice: "Doctor, report."
Juliet pressed the response pad. "He's awake and seems… himself. All readings are nominal for him, given his condition." Her emphasis on "him" was subtle, but she hoped Elena caught it. She was essentially vouching that the man here did appear to be Michael Chan in all observable ways.
There was a brief silence. Then, "Understood. Bring him to the observation deck by Airlock A. Suit him up if he can stand. We might need him to help verify… well, verify himself."
Michael had heard that, evidently. He swung his legs off the cot, a bit unsteady. "Verify myself? What—why do I need a suit? Elena, what's going on?" he called, voice rising with alarm.
Juliet placed a hand on his shoulder. "Michael, listen. There's… someone outside the station, near the airlock. Claiming to be you." She exchanged a grave look with him. "We don't know who or what it is. It's probably a mistake or a malfunction, but we have to be careful."
He stared at her as if she had just spoken gibberish. "Someone claiming to be me? That's insane. I'm me." He thumped his chest weakly with one hand.
"I know," she said quickly. "We know. But we have to figure this out. The captain wants you to come to the airlock to… I suppose to confront this situation."
Michael looked bewildered, then a flash of anger or determination crossed his face. "Damn right I will. If someone's out there using my name, or if this is some kind of—" He winced, a surge of pain or dizziness hitting him when he tried to stand too quickly.
"Slow," Juliet said, grabbing his arm to steady him. He was still weak.
He took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay. Help me with the suit?"
Juliet retrieved a spare EVA suit from a locker at the back of medbay. It was really just a light pressurized jumpsuit meant for emergencies, not a full spacewalk suit – they wouldn't put him outside, just near the airlock's inner chamber for precaution if something went wrong. As she helped him into it, she tried to quell the rising unease inside her.
The idea that the man before her might not be Michael was ludicrous – she had just treated him, seen his vitals, scanned his implant. Yet, equally ludicrous was the idea that Michael was somehow also outside begging to come in. Two impossibilities, and one must be true.
As she sealed Michael's suit and he secured the helmet loosely (they left it unlatched for now since he'd be inside the pressurized area), Juliet silently hoped this would be some bizarre technical glitch. Perhaps a recorded message bouncing around ionized space, or a misidentified astronaut from some other mission. Because the alternative—that one of these Michaels was not real—was a reality she wasn't ready to face.
Together, they left the medbay, Michael leaning on her shoulder for balance as the drugs still made him groggy. The corridor lights flickered slightly – the storm's aftermath still affecting power regulation. In that flicker, for just a heartbeat, Juliet felt an irrational fear, as if the man beside her might change when the light returned—like a double image aligning incorrectly. She shook off the feeling and kept moving.
They were headed towards what might be a confrontation with the impossible. Juliet kept her voice gentle as she whispered to Michael, "No matter what happens, remember we're on your side."
He gave her a tight nod, jaw clenched. He was scared, she realized; even through his confusion, he understood something was deeply wrong.
At the end of the hallway, the airlock access chamber waited. Juliet could see Elena, Sera, and Devon gathered there, outlined by the small window that looked into the airlock antechamber. Beyond that was the heavy outer door leading to space. The captain turned at their approach, her face unreadable.
On the other side of that thick airlock glass, someone was waiting—and soon they would have to face the unthinkable truth, one way or another.