Captain Voss sat in her private quarters, a rare moment away from prying eyes. The small room felt like it was closing in on her. Two crew members died in one duty shift. She had recorded a brief message to Aurora Station about the incidents, carefully wording it to maintain some semblance of control: an accident, a suicide – tragic but not indicative of an unmanageable situation. She wasn't sure if she believed that herself.
Her console chimed softly. It was a text-only message from Station Command:
"Hold your position. Quarantine remains in effect. Investigation team ETA 36 hours. Maintain crew stability at all costs. Do not attempt docking."
At all costs. Voss rubbed her temples. They made it sound so simple, as if morale was a switch she could toggle.
A knock sounded at her door. "Come in," she said, straightening.
Commander Reed entered, face lined with fatigue. "Captain, they've secured Kowalski's body in the morgue. Ferrell is sedated in her quarters under watch. Dr. Zhang gave her a mild tranquilizer."
Voss nodded. "Good." She studied Reed's expression. He looked like he wanted to say more. "Go ahead, Dominic."
He stepped forward. "Frankly, I'm worried. The crew is on edge of outright panic or worse. Some are convinced the ship is cursed or haunted after that derelict. I overheard a few junior crew saying they'd rather take their chances in an escape pod than stay aboard."
Voss closed her eyes briefly. An escape pod? Out here? It'd be suicide. "We can't let that happen."
"No, ma'am," Reed agreed. "I've instructed all department heads to do frequent check-ins on their people. Try to keep them busy and monitored."
He hesitated, then continued, "Halley – Commander Raines – also suggested we discreetly collect all personal firearms. We don't have many on board aside from the armory, but some officers have sidearms or keepsakes. After Kowalski..."
"She doesn't want another suicide or an impulsive shooting," Voss finished. "Make it happen. Offer to lock them up for safety, voluntary compliance if possible."
Reed nodded. "And Captain... Maybe we should impose a curfew. People wandering at odd hours—"
A sharp beep from Voss's wall intercom interrupted him. Raines's voice came urgent: "Bridge to Captain – we have an emergency in Medlab. Dr. Zhang's distress alarm just went off."
Voss shot to her feet, Reed already moving. "On our way," she barked into the comm.
They ran through the halls, adrenaline sweeping aside exhaustion. The medlab was on Deck 4, only a short dash away. As they arrived, they found the doors sealed and the red alarm light spinning above them.
Inside, through the small reinforced window, Voss could see chaos: medical equipment overturned, glass shattered across the floor. And slumped against a cabinet was Dr. Elias Zhang, a dark stain blooming across the front of his lab coat.
Reed cursed under his breath. He keyed the door override code. The panel blinks red: locked from inside.
"Zhang!" Voss shouted, pounding on the door. He didn't stir.
By now, Raines and Nova (who had been nearby) rushed up behind them. Raines pushed Reed gently aside. "I'll override," she said, pulling a security keycard and tapping a rapid sequence. With a hiss, the medlab door slid open.
The smell of coppery blood and chemicals wafted out. Voss and Reed entered first, weapons drawn by reflex though no assailant was evident.
Dr. Zhang was alive, barely – gurgling breaths and wide, shock-filled eyes. He had been stabbed in the abdomen, a deep wound that oozed blood onto the floor. His hands were pressed weakly over it as if to hold his insides in.
Nova gasped and ran to fetch a trauma kit. Reed knelt next to the doctor, applying pressure. "Elias, stay with us," he urged.
Zhang's lips moved. "S... sample..." he croaked.
Voss quickly scanned the room. The secure specimen safe was wide open, its door hanging ajar. Inside, the container that held the Halcyon biomass was shattered. Empty.
A cold chill swept through her. "The sample's gone," she said, voice barely above a whisper.
Raines swept the corners of the lab with her pistol's flashlight. "No one else is here now. Maybe they ran."
Reed, face grim, continued to press on Zhang's wound, trying to stanch the bleeding with a grabbed towel. Nova returned, sliding to Zhang's other side to inject a coagulant and painkiller. Her hands were shaking but efficient.
Zhang's eyes rolled toward Voss. He gripped Reed's sleeve weakly. "Captain..." he gasped, each word a struggle. "It's... alive. Clever... mimetic..."
"Save your strength," Voss urged, kneeling and taking his blood-slick hand.
But Zhang persisted, blood flecking his lips as he coughed. "We... We were wrong. It's not... microbe... it's..."
His pupils dilated, and a shudder passed through him. Nova's eyes welled up. "He's crashing— Doctor, stay with me, please," she begged, tearing open his shirt to apply pads of the portable med-kit defibrillator.
Reed moved aside as Nova delivered a jolt of electricity to Zhang's chest. His body jerked. No response. She tried again, tears spilling now. Still nothing.
Dr. Elias Zhang exhaled one last ragged breath, and went still. Nova bowed her head, sobbing quietly.
Voss felt as if the floor had dropped from under her. She squeezed the doctor's lifeless hand once in silent thanks and then closed his eyes. Three dead, her mind reeled. Three died within a day.
Raines cleared her throat, voice tight with controlled emotion. "Captain, we need to secure this scene. Whoever did this might still be armed and loose on the ship."
Voss stood, rage and fear swirling in her chest. "Find them," she said, jaw clenched. "Go, now. Full security sweep. Reed, with her."
Reed nodded and rose, though he paused a moment to put a comforting hand on Nova's shoulder. "Nova, lock this door behind us and don't open it for anyone except security or command staff."
Nova wiped her eyes and nodded. "Y-yes, sir." As Raines and Reed dashed out, Nova engaged the door locks again, staying with the Captain and the fallen doctor.
Captain Voss forced herself to focus. She had to compartmentalize the grief; later it would strike her, but right now she was thinking as a captain and as a detective. Who could have done this? Dr. Zhang had an emergency alarm implant – he must have triggered it after being attacked, which is how Raines knew. If only they'd arrived a minute sooner...
She surveyed the lab more carefully. Blood trail on floor – he might have stumbled from his desk to the cabinet. The broken container – did Zhang break it or the assailant? And where was the sample now?
It dawned on her that perhaps the assailant took it. But why? To weaponize it? To expose others? Or to hide evidence?
Nova's voice, shaky but determined, cut into her thoughts. "Captain, I think I have something." She pointed to a corner where a wall-mounted camera was positioned. "Medlab has a security cam. It might have caught what happened. Should I pull it up?"
Voss nodded vigorously. "Do it."
Nova logged into the medlab's console with trembling fingers, accessing the local camera storage. A grainy feed popped up, showing the lab a few minutes earlier.
They watched: Dr. Zhang was at his workstation, leaning over his microscope, his posture tense. He suddenly straightened, looking toward the specimen safe. He got up and approached it, then hesitated. He moved to his desk and began writing something feverishly on a notepad (from this angle they couldn't see what). Then he pressed a few buttons on the safe – perhaps unlocking it – and opened the door.
"He opened it himself?" Nova murmured.
On-screen, Zhang carefully removed the container of biomass and set it on a metal table. He appeared to be running a test – he injected something into the container through a port, perhaps a reagent. A few seconds passed.
Then Zhang reacted as if startled – he stumbled back. The container suddenly cracked from inside – a hairline fracture spreading across the transparent cylinder. Zhang rushed to a console, presumably to trigger an alarm or lock, but before he could, a dark blur struck him from behind.
Voss and Nova leaned closer, horrified. The blur resolved into a figure – a person in a crew uniform. They slammed a tool or knife into Zhang's back. He collapsed against the console. The attacker yanked the implement free and Zhang fell to the floor, crawling weakly.
The figure turned slightly toward the camera. The image was shadowy, but as the attacker moved to the specimen container, the overhead light caught their face for a split second.
Nova inhaled sharply. "Is that...?"
Captain Voss felt her heart plunge. The face on the screen was contorted with a strangely blank focus, eyes dark, but it was unmistakably Caleb Royce.
They watched as Caleb – or someone who looked like him – picked up the cracked container. Black fluid was seeping from a fissure in it. He seemed unperturbed as a few drops dripped onto his sleeve. Then the camera feed showed him turning and walking out of frame, likely out the door.
Moments later, Zhang, lying in his blood, weakly reached up and hit the alarm on the wall. The feed ended there.
Nova covered her mouth with a hand. "No... no, Caleb wouldn't... He couldn't!"
Voss felt a strange mix of fury, betrayal, and sickening realization. Caleb had been increasingly unstable. He'd voiced his anger openly. But murder? "Whether it's truly him or not, that's what we have," she said, voice hollow.
She tapped her comm, switching to ship-wide broadcast with a priority tone. "Attention all crew: This is Captain Voss. By now you are aware of Dr. Zhang's death. We have evidence that Security Officer Caleb Royce is responsible and is armed and dangerous. Effective immediately, Caleb Royce is to be considered a threat to the ship. If you see him, do not approach – report his location to security at once. All crew, please return to your quarters and lock your doors until further notice. This is not a drill."
As her stern voice echoed through the ship, Voss looked at Nova. Nova's eyes brimmed anew, shock giving way to devastation. "It can't really be him... Why...?" she stammered.
Captain Voss felt a stab of empathy for the young woman. Nova was close to Caleb once; this must be shattering. She put a hand on Nova's shoulder. "I don't know why. But I intend to find out. And stop him before anyone else gets hurt."
In the corridors and cabins of the Odyssey, crew members heard the announcement with a mix of disbelief and dread. Some locked their doors in fear. Others whispered theories: Had Royce lost his mind from the Halcyon incident? Was he infected with something that made him snap? The ship, already teetering on chaos, now had one of their own turned into a killer in their midst.
And somewhere in the dim bowels of the ship, Caleb Royce – or what Caleb had become – moved with quiet purpose. In his hands, a shattered container and the living darkness it held. In his mind, a chorus of whispers not entirely his own. He walked in shadows, unseen, as alarms and orders rang out above. A faint smile played on his lips, though his eyes were empty. The hunt aboard the Odyssey had begun.