Who Goes There?

Who Goes There?

"The act of cowardice is all that matters; the emotion of fear is, in itself, no sin." C.S Lewis


"Fear'll keep you alive." Doctor Who

The faint light of stars, blinking softly in the endless abyss…quiet,  solemn, and yet, beautiful in its simplicity. Proof that the dark was not to be feared…it contained such sublime visions to behold. Every single day he was reminded of the majesty of the very thing he served to reign over, and all by simply looking out the window.

The Grand Councilman of the Galactic Federal Alliance, chosen by the people, the best hope for the galaxy always took time out of his schedule to stand before his window, and just…think. Think about his day, think about his dearest ohana, his family. To think about all he loved and cherished…and about how damn PRETTY everything was on the immense GFA headquarters that floated purposefully in Alliance space.

A tower stretching high, a giant beacon of silver and white, a needle in a big black haystack with faintly gleaming circular roofs and large complexes, each one bustling with life from a thousand different worlds. The embassies had the prettiest windows of all, they faintly glistened with a small gold shine, winking across the galaxy across anybody lucky enough to catch a glimpse, a giant entryway rolling off the "front" of the GFA Headquarters like a mighty gangplank.

But there weren't too many people today. Today it was a "skeleton crew". There were only 100 people present on the station, each one a government representative from the "Core" group of planets, the best and brightest, the "elite" in one key manner: they were willing to take off a three day weekend and work straight through it just to finish up legislation. All of them were willing to show their constituents they cared by passing the latest bill, one meant to regulate the intergalactic trading markets more intensely.

"War-profiteering is TREASON." Junior said bluntly, the door slowly, nervously being opened, the man who WOULD have spoken swiftly shutting up. "Once again Eichpee , my answer is NO."

"Do you need assistance, sir?" A chipper, shiny little voice chimed in, the small, orbish "head drone" of the automated security defense force of the GFA's Headquarters emerging from the hallway, floating past Eichpee's head and over to Junior.

"…no, Database." Junior insisted quietly to the robot, patting it on the head. He'd grown fond of this little guy. Database was the only drone who had a sort of…optimism to it. He liked that. It reminded him of the old conversations he'd had with Grand Councilwoman Caldwell, hours spent just talking politics and the importance of their respective families…that same youthful exuberance he'd once had was now reflected in Database.

The Illithid representative flinched, the tentacled head frowning, flopping slightly as he folded his arms across his limp and lanky, but very stylishly purple and black robed chest. "I'm certain you haven't considered the possibility that you need PRECISELY 100 votes for this emergency measure to pass. As such, you ought to be kowtowing to me. I've tried being nice…"

Junior slowly turned around, red and blue eyes staring into pure black, a rabbit-hamster-gerbil thing glaring at a humanoid octopus monstrosity. One around 5 feet and in rather good shape. The other a 7 foot tall 99 pound weakling. An epic confrontation, sparks sizzling in the air. "You have hounded me every single day since I proposed the legislation. You had TOLD me you had come around to agreeing with me the same way the others did, Ambassador Eichpee."

"You're CERTAIN you don't need perhaps an attempted conflict resolution? I've got perfectly-toned stunning-" Database offered.

"I appreciate it, but no." Junior insisted firmly. "This calls for…diplomacy."

"My people's interests come first before anything else in my book." Eichpee said snarkily. "And our economy-"

"Is SHAMEFULLY being employed in the use of rebuilding countries that OTHERS have invaded." Junior snapped, cutting him off with a wave of a three-digited, white-furred paw, his deep blue ring glinting slightly in the light of the softly-painted light study. "The Osmosians say they could make the walls for their buildings for a mere hundred. You are charging a THOUSAND."

Eichpee frowned darkly, his tone becoming like burning oil. "Listen you little brat. I don't care if you're Grand Councilman. I'm old enough to remember when you were a lowly page, fetching books for Councilwoman Caldwell.  You don't scare me. And you NEED my vote."

"No, you need me not to press this button." Junior said calmly as he walked over to his desk and put a single digit slowly over a single button on his built-in desk computer. "Do you know what will happen when I do?"

Eichpee was silent, eyes slowly widening as Junior went on. "Your planet has a credit rating that's doing rather well. A single one of your dollars is equivalent to one and a half GFA bills. But, well, the GFA regulates credit ratings all the time. We monitor incoming and outgoing…economic irregularities…we know where you keep your money and what it is worth. So let me make this simple."

He lowered his hand closer to the button. "If you don't GET IN LINE…I will tank your your credit rating…immediately demand an instant repayment of ALL loans your planet has taken from the Galactic Federal Alliance…and it will NUKE YOUR ECONOMY BACK TO THE STONE AGE." Junior hissed, his eyes widening angrily.

"…I'll see you downstairs. Sir." Eichpee muttered, slowly turning around and exiting the room, the doorway sliding shut as Junior let out a sigh, putting the computer back into the desk as he slowly turned around, looking out the window again, shame casting a shadow over his face as he grit his teeth…

"Sir, would you like me to schedule some security to be stationed around your office in the event Ambassador Eichpee attempts something?" Database spoke up, hovering by the Grand Councilman's head.

"No, Database, not just yet. I'll get a read on him later with my Empathic abilities, then I'll alert you if he seems serious-"

And it was then he noticed something odd. Something was heading right towards the GFA's headquarters Osmosian embassy…and about to crash right into it. A ship was spiraling towards it, sparkling and hissing and definitely without any brakes.

Oh. NO.

Eyes widening, Junior leapt back at the desk, bringing his computer back up. "Initiate Emergency Code 92!" He insisted into the voice command system, the ship passing through the invisible oxygenated "bubble" that surrounded GFA HQ as a proto-shield shot up two seconds later, just as the ship crashed into the embassy, an enormous, booming "THRAKKA-THROOOM" echoing through the air. The shield would keep anybody from getting out or IN in the event this was all some pirate's scheme to take over the GFA…which had happened once before…and, in case the ship's pilot was carrying some kind of disease that had forced him to crash, this would quarantine the whole HQ until they could diagnose and treat.

Nobody could get in or out. Not until he figured out just what was going on.

"Nobody but me into my office, Database! NOBODY but me! And if anybody attempts to access the Master controls, you stun them immediately!" Junior asked of the drone as he swiftly left the office, heading for the Osmosian embassy, racing down the long steely hallways of the Galactic Federal Alliance's main embassy, it never occurred to Junior von Hamsterviel what kind of terror that awaited…

Neither he nor anybody else could conceive of the alien horror that was about to become part of them.

…

…

…

… "Huld dehg onnah!!" A yelping, screeching voice, grating to the ears, ringing through the air as it fired off a plasma pistol at the ground before the assembled members of the Galactic Federal Alliance, Junior managing to get to the front, standing alongside the limber and smooth-skinned Plooskian representative, who's cycloptic eye gazed intently at the newcomer, hands behind his back…long fingers reaching for the knives he kept hidden in his back pockets.

"Calm down." Junior insisted to the odd being, who appeared to be somewhat mammalian, with thick legs and a spiky lower face, the top of his head a bristle of fur, his eyes pure blue but crazed and desperate. His stubby tail was quivering along with the rest of his body, this odd being holding the pistol up at Junior's face, the Muridean/Experimental American not even flinching as the newcomer snapped at him.

"HULD DEHG ONNAH!"

"What are you trying to say?" Junior asked gently. None of them could understand him, he wasn't speaking Galactic Basic, and none of the translators were here that day. More unfortunately, his dialect was so thick and heavy that even if he WAS speaking a language they could recognize, the words sounded rather mangled.

"Noh fuhrferdileg her eh miht skiph!" The newcomer yelled, sweat dribbling down onto the pale floor of the entryway below, some of the other ambassadors looking at each other and nodding, as if wanting to rush him, pistol be damned. "Deht ir nn slahgz ding!"

Junior RECOGNIZED that. He could tell, for a brief moment, what this newcomer was speaking. It was Nawaijan, the cadence spoken by those from Andromeda, far beyond the rim. "Hicks" in the eyes of a few intolerant ambassadors for not joining the GFA in a collaboration effort with those from the Milky Way and Andromeda to build a bi-partisan, multi-galactic government. And this Andromedan resident was simply soaking in raw fear, terror and horror, saying something about a "Thing". Something in his ship…

"Lah mig draipe deht!" The Andromedan demanded. "Bihk! BIHK!"

"He obviously wants us to stay back." Eichpee remarked sarcastically, waving his long claws in the air as a multiple-eyed arachnid ambassador let out a clicking, clacking hiss of a chuckle, holding his claws over his mandibled maw before turning to Junior.

"We caaaannot simply let him keep THREATENING ussssss." Steifankihn insisted, his abdomen a-quiver with the possibility of real action.

And indeed, real action was taken a moment later. The Andromedan turned briefly to glance back at his bulkhead of a ship, the Plooskian representative's hand flicking out, one knife sweeping out, diamond-bladed tip striking the Andromedan in the side of the head, the man crumpling to the ground with a quiet THUMPF as Junior wheeled on the Plooskian. "Rahb Zahm!"

"It's better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission." The Plooskian remarked with a shrug, Junior pointing an accusatory digit at him. "He was threatening our lives and invading the Galactic Federal Alliance headquarters. It was within my right to put an end to his life."

"I could have talked him DOWN if you'd given me some time!" Junior snapped. "You might be within legal rights to…GAH." He waved a paw in the air. "This is not the time. Nobody go near the ship. We need to immediately quarantine it, and HIM, and examine it for disease. " He turned to the arachnid ambassador from Mobius. "Steifankihn?"

Steifankihn nodded firmly, holding up a clawed hand in the air, the body slowly levitating up as the others all parted way to let him and the body pass through to the embassies. "Bring it to the security wing. Have it examined. Then we look over the ship. Until then, the ship is off limits. NOBODY is to go near it." Junior said, waving a paw in the air, speaking authoritatively before turning to the small, round little fluffball that was the representative from the planet of Popstar, a red and cream-colored being named "Waddy", who nodded eagerly as the Grand Councilman ordered him to alert the GFA fleet. They needed some more security here, immediately, and, in the event this man was infected with something, to quarantine the place and ENSURE nobody got off until the all clear was given.

Waddy bounced off for the communications wing, across from the long and thin Plooskian embassy, pushing the big glass doors open as Junior saw him head inside, turning to look back at the ship. "Alright, Rahb. Since you were so eager to kill the Andromedan, you can do us a further service by standing guard over the ship with Eichpee until our security drones arrive. I need people with experience in scientific accomplishment. And I need them now, we've got to find out what was going on with this Andromedan."

"Space fever, I suggested. A Long, lonely trip out in the great unknown can drive you nuts, I continued, knowing from personal experience when I was forced to skin and eat my great aunt Sally in one particular, spectacularly botched attempt to celebrate her 123rd birthday by taking her to the Pillars out on the Outer Rim." The round-headed, big-eyed Libertarian Ambassador, Parkston, remarked. "I wistfully recalled the slow, steady decline of her mental health over the 5 hour faster-than-light trip which ended in a splatter of cranial cavity."

"You are disgusting." Garguiem, the stony-skinned, mole-faced winged Ambassador of Planet Goliath snapped, picking slightly at the long hair that was growing from his very noticeable mole with a single pointed granite nail. "In any case, I suggest a sterilizing bath."

"That could damage his body." The Patronic Ambassador insisted, waving a finger in the air, her hair neatly tied into a bun, a few curly strands being the only ones which escaped, falling down along the sides of her knowing but solemnly beautiful face. Her nose was finely developed, as keen as her senses, and she rubbed her chin as she looked over the dead body. "We must still be wary. After all, the Andromeda galaxy has diseases we know nothing of. What could amount to a simple flu for them could be a world-killing virus for us. Until we know exactly who or what this Andromeda is and what makes him tick, we exercise the utmost caution and examine him in a sterilized area in the security wing, using our enviro-suits to look him over."

"Excellent idea, Athena." Junior said with a complementary bow of his head. "You're a credit to the Patrons of Earth. We need to be smart about this. You, Garguiem, Parkston, come with me and Steifankihn. Anybody who's NOT Eichpee and Rahb, just head back to the main debating hall and wait. Nobody does anything until this is sorted. I want to make sure our headquarters is as safe as possible."

Rahb nonchalantly shrugged, Eichpee frowning ever-so-slightly as the Plooskian sheathed his hidden knives, folding his arms before his chest as he turned to look back at the badly damaged craft. Junior walked off, heading for the security wing with Steifankihn and the others as circular-eyed medicine-ball-sized silver security drones hovered over to them, nodding at the two with a cheery "Roger, Roger", none of them aware of what was to come…

Nobody seeing the thing which stirred ever-so-slightly in the ship's remains.

…

…

…

…faint light flickered down from the umbrella-sized light fixtures above their heads, the body levitated onto a circular table in the security wing as Athena fitted herself with a smooth poly-nanite carbon-tube "hazmat" suit, designed to investigate disturbances of a toxic or chemical nature that "spilled out" onto the GFA's headquarters. Her body now seemingly sheeted in gleaming white, she added the "helm" as her final touch, the helm turning invisible so they could fully see her face and, if the sound system crapped out, read her lips.

She closed the quarantined little area of the security wing behind her, the triple-proofed glass doors sliding shut, reinforcement shields springing up as she examined the body with laser-cutting tools, slowly sliding an arm open, examining the muscles with a careful eye, a small little screen popping up in front of the right side of her face.

"No infections." She announced to them, her voice connected to the security wing's PDA system. "None that we know of…but I am noticing some irregularities in his genetic structure. It could just be common for people from his galaxy, but all the same, I'm doing a comparison to other species similar to his design, see if I can get a…hmm."

She frowned, noticing something odd, lifting it up with a small scalpel. "This isn't normal." She informed them. "This wasn't part of his body."

It was an ever-so-small piece of slightly greenish/grey goo, limply hanging from the scalpel as she deposited it into a container on a nearby clean counter, placing it under a microscope as Steifankihn took a look at it at a nearby control console. Having degrees from everywhere paid off sometimes.

"…ohhhhh myyyyyy." The Mobian ambassador mumbled, Steifankihn's mandibles hanging low as all eight of his eyes bugged out at the sample that was contained underneath. "Oh my stars and fucking garters."

"What?"

"This little thing herrrrrre is some kind of techno-organic item I've never seen. It's based off a new framework of DNA I wouldn't have thought was POSSSSSIBLE in nature." Steifankihn murmured, quickly pressing a button on the control console on the wall, the sample quickly being shoved back into the quarantined zone, Athena exiting the area, removing her suit. "And whatever spawned it is most likelyyyyyy at the ship."

Junior's heterochromatic eyes widened. "Eichpee and Rahb." He murmured out. "Oh dear. OH DEAR.

…

…

…

… "HAAAAAALLLLLLP! HAAAAALLLLPPPP!!!"

Rahb's loud, screeching cries rang through the air as everyone who was able to hear raced towards his screaming, gasping as Eichpee fired off a small pistol from his waist, Rahb crawling away in sheer terror, his singular eye bugging out at the metal monstrosity before them all.

"The security drones…" Garguiem remarked, his eyes widening in surprise as he rubbed his chin as an enormous greenish/gray thing towered high in the air, enormous chunks of ship slightly sticking out of its muscular body, one arm a whip-like tentacle, eyes gaping and soulless as it let out an unearthly, metallic shriek of a howl, the TEXTURE of the beast far-too familiar…as was the medicine-ball sized head it now had. "It's…eating them…no, absorbing, becoming them! It must have wanted to try and hide itself away so it decided to become a drone…" He whispered, frozen solid by absolute terror at the horror that was before him.

"We sent them to investigate a…a "thunk" we h-heard in the back of the ship and…and then it was…EVERYWHERE!" Rahb gasped out as Junior passed a paw in the air, eyes widening.

Nothing.

He could feel nothing from this…thing. No anger, no fight-or-flight type of emotions…nothing but something he could see in the thing's "eyes"…a dead light that betrayed an inescapable hunger.

"Amazing! Simply amazing! The structure of this being!" Eichpee hissed out in surprise, tossing his pistol away as he reeled back, Rahb being helped up by Steifankihn. "My little peashooter is doing nothing to it. After all, it survived a horrific crash landing…I doubt anything we do will do anything harmful to it…"

"I know what might." Junior said, clenching one fist as the blue ring on his left hand glowed slightly, a golden chalice appearing in his paw. He swished the contents around slightly before launching them through the air with a swift grunt, the creature's tentacle dissolving away as it lashed out at them, acid from the chalice eating through. It screamed, high and painful, some of the others reeling back as Junior launched another wave at it, its other arm, thick as a tree trunk, being dissolved away as Athena ran off. "Where are you going?"

"We're gonna need the flamethrower." She said with a firm nod, bolting back to the security wing, Garguiem chuckling slightly.

"How rare that "kill it with fire" becomes a serious-as-a-heart-attack order." He said, clenching his hand shut, a small explosion blowing off a tentacle that lashed out at them, the thing reeling back further.

"IF it'll kill it!" Junior exclaimed, the thing hunching over on the ground, panting and screaming at them, a secondary mouth emerging from its primary mouth, snapping at the air as the other ambassadors pulled out whatever weapons THEY had, trying to blast the thing back. But, unfortunately, none of the plasma-based weapons did a thing, the Thing just grunting as the blasts struck at its filthy stolen metal flesh.

But then…salvation. The burning roar of flame belched out, a steady stream of instant fire lighting the Thing up. It let out a deathly howl as it reeled back, screeching and screaming before finally dissolving into a tiny bunch of chunks, all of the others looking around at each other as Rahb wiped his brow, reaching for one of the chunks.

"DON'T!" Steifankihn yelled out, all of them reeling back at his high shriek. "If my idea's right…shovel the remains into containers! We need to test them. NOW."

Within minutes, the remains had been brought to the security wing, everyone standing around Steifankihn as he looked at the collected remains, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes?" Junior asked, raising a nonexistent eyebrow, folding his arms in front of his chest.

Steifankihn 's mandibles were taught as he spoke slowly and purposefully. "The collected remains weigh about 86 pounds, give or take one tenth of a pound." He murmured.

"How ludicrous, I insisted, yelling loudly. That thing looked like it weighed at least 300, I proclaimed to them with surprise and alarm." Parkston said, shaking visibly as his teeth rattled, his small pupils glancing left and right at the others in the room. "What is going on, I demanded!"

"What's going on is simple. That…THING…can separate itself from whatever being it is imitating. And then it can become another." Steifankihn murmured, steepling his large claws and slowly turning around to gaze around the room. "…and another still. That Thing…is free. And it is among us."

Everyone slowly but surely turned to look at each other, everyone visibly stepping away from each other, Junior paling even further before he held a hand to his mouth, biting slightly into his paw. "…obviously, none of us can split up. And none of us can leave this facility until this Thing is caught and dealt with." His eyes narrowed. "Everyone stay together in groups of five. We should all arm ourselves."  

…

…

…

…every shadow, every cranny, every nook on the headquarters of the Galactic Federal Alliance was now eyed with suspicion as nobody really felt like moving beyond a few yards of where they were. All of the ambassadors and senators stayed bunched together in groups, bodies nervously quaking and shivering, one of them occasionally whipping their heads left or right to look in the direction of what they thought was…

No, nothing, but they thought they just saw…

And above all, the sheer, absolute silence. All they could hear was the sound of their own breathing. Everything mechanical and computerized was being shut down, save for the shield controls, which were being closely guarded by…

The security drone team. This thing could take over technological items. They couldn't risk an automated security force watching over the only controls to the shield which kept the Thing within the headquarters. The job HAD to go to organics. Which meant that, until everything was sorted out, the drone team would have to be shut down so they couldn't be used by the Thing.

"I'm really quite sorry for this." Junior insisted gently to Database as Steifankihn carefully opened up the back of the little orbish drone, mandibles clicking together as they stood outside of Junior's office, the Grand Councilman patting Database's head, the other security drones all put offline, being moved by the armload out of the building and back to their primary launch facility where they remained until called on by the members of the Galactic Federal Alliance senate as needed. "It's only temporary."

"I understand, sir." Database said. "The alien infection has to be cut off from any possible source."

"Indeed. Which makes me worry…" Steifankihn murmured. "…Atheeeena." He hissed out, shutting Database off with a final "chukka-clik", the last switch being turned down as the Arachnid-esque Mobian turned on his communicator. "Have you been keeping an eye on the sample?"

"It's growing…" Athena murmured. "We've kept it completely contained within the quarantine area but we're ready to purge and destroy it in an instant if needed." She went on from the other end, she and Waddy by the controls, Waddy sweating nervously, his little heart pouding, threatening to burst from his chest as he scratched at said chest with one little stubby hand whilst Garguiem stood by, slowly opening and closing his palm, ready to blow the thing apart with his explosive alchemy in an instant if need be.

"How fast is it growing?"

"The introduction of a digital watch made it…the thing turned into a tiny little spider. In 30 seconds. Judging by how quickly it adapted and by my examinations of its cellular structure, I've reached a conclusion." Athena went on, the small spider letting out a reeling, screechy cry, tiny spiky legs stabbing against the walls of the quarantine area in the security wing in useless desperation, every "Clikka-click" making Waddy flinch, his tiny black eyes growing larger and larger. "Larger objects require a little more time to take over…that, and the complexity of the synthetic material it absorbs and becomes add to the time it takes to convert its prey into itself."

Clikka-click, clikka-click…tiny, soulless eyes staring…greenish/gray into pure black.

"…y-you sure it can't get out?" Waddy whispered, his voice squeaky and terrified.

"I am MOST certain, morta-Waddy." Athena said, her tone slipping for a moment into a stuffy, pretentious air before she rubbed her chin, looking the creature behind the glass over. "…we're not leaving the room until we're relieved by the others outside the door, alright?"

Eichpee and Rahb were looking out different windows at opposite ends of the hallway, the Plooskian slightly quivering, still shaken from his earlier experience, whilst Eichpee was whispering the hymns of his people under his breath, fondling some kind of tiny statue he'd kept within the deep folds of his cloaked robe, his body otherwise as still as a corpse. Junior passed a paw in the air, looking the two over, astonished at how…CALM Eichpee was, and yet how absolutely terrified Rahb appeared to be. He could understand Rahb's fear, but…why was Eichpee not so concerned?

In any case, since they were all in considerable danger, Junior decided to get what he had been concerned about off his chest, walking towards Eichpee. "Listen, ambassador, I want to apologize for my appalling behavior-"

"Such a thing doesn't matter. F'dagn cathul t'jakall…f'dagn cathul t'jakall…" Eichpee chanted, his eyes slowly opening as he briefly glanced over at Junior before closing them again. "We are against something the likes of which my kind only dream of. It is sleeping now. Sleeping somewhere on the base, and waiting. F'dagn cathul t'jakall…"

Junior scratched his head. "Pessimistic of you."

"Realistic. When it wakes, we will no longer care about anything anymore. Everything…my planet's economy, your attempts to intimidate me, your sudden guilt…all of it does not matter. Those concerns are petty compared to this being almost beyond our comprehension. Once we are one with it, those things will…be washed away." Eichpee remarked…but Junior wasn't sure whether he felt fear…or hope…in the tentacle-faced alien's voice.

Meanwhile, Steifankihn had scuttled over to Rahb, who's single eye bulged out as he stared out over the large, empty expanses of the Galactic Federal Alliance Headquarters, the spider's mandibles clicking together slightly as he tilted his head. "What is on yourrrr mind?"

"That thing looked right at me." Rahb said. "…and…"

"What?"

"…I saw…NOTHING." Rahb murmured. "…so much…NOTHING in its eyes, so much that…it seemed to be this…this abyss hiding in a prison of mechanical flesh, just…trying to get out." He slowly reached out and put a hand on the glass, his voice soft and quiet. "I looked into it and…it wanted me. I could hear it in my head…"

"Telepathic?" Steifankihn said sharply, eyes narrowing. Junior could feel a surge of distrust peak up from the Mobian as he stepped away from the Plooskian ambassador. "…possible. Very possible. We're dealing with an utterly unknown life form. I suggest we keep these two separate from everyone else."

"Indeed, I'm going to have to ask you two to come with us so you can be quarantined just as the sample creature was." Junior asked, Eichpee and Rahb nodding, one in a more sanguine fashion than the other as they walked down the hallway, heading to the security wing as Parkston and Waddy, who were now standing guard outside the door, nodded at them. "We've got to put these two in quarantined wings same as the sample…"

"They can be put in the wing where the sample was. The thing's dead." Garguiem said simply, opening up the door and allowing them in.

"…what?" Junior asked, scratching his head as they headed inside, Athena frowning as she looked down at the deceased sample in the quarantined security wing's little cell. It was a quiet, dead thing, utterly without movement, rotted through and utterly grey. "…it LOOKS dead but…I'm not taking any chances. We need to destroy the sample thoroughly. I'm going to go examine the ship with Steifankihn, see if there's anything in there that can aid us."

The others nodded, Junior walking off with the Mobian ambassador in tow as Garguiem made a fist, Athena taking the next guard as Maddy stood behind a chair. "Let's open this thing up and let it burn, baby, burn…"

…

…

…

…slowly Junior and Steifankihn opened up the charred and cracked remains of the door to the ship the Andromedan had used to arrive at the GFA headquarters, the smell of rotting, decayed flesh being hammered into their nostrils as Steifankihn shined a flashlight around, his many eyes narrowing at the enormous slash marks on the walls. Whatever the thing had been, it had been confined to a "cargo" area of the ship…along with, from the slowly-dripping…things…hanging off the support beams above…several unfortunate crewmembers.

All of them were beyond dead, eyes staring vacantly, mouths slightly open as if questioning what was happening to them, blood trailing down from their slit-open necks and bellies onto the stained floor of the ship below.

Drip…drip…drip.

Junior slowly turned, heading for the cockpit, looking down at what appeared to be a small tape. He picked it up, turning it over in his paws before he slid it into a player in the main control console, the terrified, yet resolute words of the Andromedan spilling out as carefully and concisely as the blood that slid down to the floor of the craft.

Drip…drip…drip.

"Whomever finds this. Run." Repeated, again and again, with warnings of something "new" his crew had found, floating in space.

Something new that had killed them all.

Whomever finds this…

Run.

Drip.

…drip…

…driiiiiip…

A scream pierced the air. The two raced out of the building, seeing a chunk of the security wing was ablaze, the ambassadors rushing towards it, all having armed themselves, ready for the worst as Junior approached it with Steifankihn, eyes widening as Athena and Waddy rushed over to them, panting and heaving as they pointed back at the facility, at what Rahb was shooting at as Garguiem led a nonchalant Eichpee away.

Parkston. Parkston was shambling towards them, falling to his knees as Rahb ceased the incendiary assault. The flamethrower was low on power at the moment…but Junior could handle this. He stepped forward as Parkston slowly raised his head, his eyes now appearing to be slowly covered by growing moss that was making its way across the vitreous fluid of his eyes, his mouth just gaping blackness, his hands twisted and deformed as a dead, foul moan came off from his mouth.

For a moment, Junior just stood there, stunned as the thing moaned at him, eyes hateful, almost accusing…before he finally rubbed his ring, another goblet of acid forming in midair as Parkston lunged…but not swift enough. Junior flung the contents at him, Parkston reeling back as…no. The THING reeled back, screeching, howling, dissolving into nothing as the acid burned through it, Junior turning to the others.

"That thing can imitate organic matter as well. Take control of it the same way it did the drones." Steifankihn realized. "This being is…this THING could be any one of us."

"How?" Athena wanted to know, glancing around at the others around him, paling visibly.

"Eichpee…Rahb. You two were left at the ship. That thing could have infected one of you or both of you whilst you were on duty." Steifankihn  whispered quietly, pointing an accusatory claw at them. "And if that's the case, then…well, there's only one thing we can do."

"We don't know if they're infected!" Junior insisted swiftly, holding his arms up.

"How can we be sure?" The Mobian asked. "If they're perfect imitations…PERFECT imitations of the two…would they even know if they were infected? It barely had any time to get Parkston down. It's had enough time to "perfect" them…and keep in mind, if they were infected, there's a chance they could have left…infected others…"

Junior felt a chill dig deep into his heart as everyone whispered and murmured among themselves before turning to glare at Rahb and Eichpee. The two glanced at each other for a moment, stepping away, both wary of the other as Junior passed a paw through the air, one of the ambassadors speaking up. "Well? Sense anything unusual?"

"Nothing about them is…abnormal." Junior insisted. "Everything seems fine. They're just nervous and scared."

"Like I said. If they were a perfect imitation…would even they know?" Steifankihn murmured. "…we need a way to determine if they're who they say they are, so I'll get to work." He informed them. "Athena, Kuntz, Poh, come with me." He called out, leading Rahb and Eichpee to the security wing. "We'll put them in quarantine and I'll try and devise a test that shall suit our needs."

There was a loud CRUKKA-THROOOM and everyone shuddered, looking out the window, seeing huge plumes of smoke rising up from the region of the HQ where the drones had been discarded. "…were they not fully deactivated?" Junior wondered out loud. "We checked, we were careful…"

He turned to Garguiem, who nodded. "I'll come with you," The stony-fleshed being said to him, the two making their way down the hallway, the slowly-dying light fixtures casting distorted shadows on the darkening walls, each step down the stairway to the first floor feeling like an eternity. "Just stay close."

"Something tells me that's not going to be the best advice." Junior murmured to himself, the other ambassadors looking around at each other, Junior's words hanging heavy in the air like a frozen scream.

…

…

…

… Waddy had lost his mind. He had locked himself in the closet and was rocking back and forth, from what they could tell, squeaking and whimpering piteously. He was slowly drowning in thoughts of insanity, unable to escape from his prison.

He was "lucky".

Junior and Garguiem had a tougher job. Slowly they pushed the doors of the facility open, carefully looking around the darkened warehouse where the drones had been stored. Every single "slot" for the drones was empty…where once had been a giant "bookcase" for the security force of the GFA was now empty shelf after empty shelf, the musty air nearly choking their lungs as they carefully stepped through the facility.

There was no wind within the building, yet…there was the faintest…creaking…from somewhere far off in the back end of the facility, and the light from the stars that surrounded the headquarters filtered softly through the tiny windows, casting the faintest slivers of light across their feet.

The creaking grew louder.

Garguiem clenched his fist. Junior rubbed his ring, a goblet of acid forming as he passed his paw through the air again, trying to feel around, trying to find the creature, the THING that imitated life…

Nothing. An absolute vacuum of emotion save for the reflections of concern, nervousness and fear emanating off of he and his fellow-

The creaking grew LOUDER, and they turned to their right, seeing what was causing it. It was not one of the droes, it was one of the AMBASSADORS, the one from Hallex. What was he doing there? Had he snuck off to set fire to the facility? Trying to destroy the drones forever so the Thing couldn't use them? No, the ambassador WAS one of the Things, powerful arms swinging, barely missing them as Garguiem reeled back, Junior's goblet being knocked away.

Garguiem was quick, though. He grabbed hold of a nearby axe, used to smash crates open. He swung it at what they assumed was now the head, and it scrunched horribly, tattered flesh reeling slightly, eyes blazing with unearthly hate. Taloned feet scratched, the floor creaking below it as it howled in rage, possessed of a nigh-unkillable vitality, but Junior was not about to give up. He grabbed the goblet as Garguiem swung the axe again, a slice cutting open the thing's chest, Database's visage now sticking out of it as Junior gaped in horror, the paw clutching the goblet trembling for a minute, Databite's singular "eye" being slowly clouded over by the greenish/grey infection of the Thing.

"Sir, I don't understand…" Database whispered out. "If there is a problem with my performance, I can readjust…sir, what are you doing? Sir, please, put me down, I do not understand…"

Over and over, a simple, pleading request, his final words before being claimed, Junior flinching horribly, looking away and gritting his teeth as Garguiem's explosive alchemy knocked the thing back again, and again, and again, more and more pieces of other drones falling out of the Thing-Ambassador, all slowly dissolving as the Thing slammed into the wall, striking an electrical power grid as Garguiem impaled the thing through its chest, straight into the power grid.

It howled and singed and burned, Junior looking down at the slowly dissolving form of Database, who continued to plead.

"I don't understand…

…I don't understand…

…I don't understand…"

…

…

…

…About an hour later, after torching the entire building to ensure anything within could never be used, Junior and Garguiem made their way back to the others.  Eichpee muttered hymns, standing calmly in a quarantine cell, Rahb's arms curled around his legs in the dark, barely-lit security wing. They had evidently not moved from their spots since they'd been put in there, and neither was everyone who was assembled in the area as Junior looked them all over, speaking softly but surely.

"This thing doesn't wish to show itself. This tells me it is vulnerable in the open…and that we outpower it, outnumber it. It doesn't have a chance against all of us combined. So we stick together, and we figure out who's who. And we do it now." Junior insisted, holding a single digit in the air, waving it slightly. "I know how we can prove who's who."

"We're all ears." Steifankihn insisted with a shrug.

"This thing only cares about surviving. It'll do whatever it takes to live, and get rid of us while it can. It sees us as a threat, the only things standing between it and getting away, getting to safety. I believe it went to the facility to split us up. It wishes to pick us off bit by bit until whomever isn't a Thing is in the minority." Junior went on. "But it isn't very smart, at least, not as smart as it thinks. It couldn't take us on. It's still trying to figure out what we can do, that much I'm certain of, and we need to do something about it before it gains that advantage over us."

"So the test?"

"Blood." Junior said. "Every bit of this thing is its own, living organism. Every piece has a kind of personality and thought process of its own, but there's a common thread running through them all. Normal blood shall bubble and singe and dissolve in a cup of acid…" Junior murmured, Garguiem drawing a claw over Junior's paw as he held it over his goblet. "…but the blood of the Thing shall fight to live."

Drip…drip…drip. The blood dripped down from his paw into the acid, dissolving before their eyes as they all glanced at each other.

"Everyone has to take itttttt."  Steifankihn decided. "The Grand Councilman's right." He told them all, scuttling forward. "I'm ready. I'm going to show you all what I already know."

With delicate precision, Steifankihn cut a thin line across one of his clawed palms, wincing slightly as he held his palm steady over the goblet, the blood dribbling down into it, pale silver in color. It hissed softly as it plopped into it…drip…drip…drip…

Nothing. Normal. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good on you!" Rahb said cheerily. "Good to see you weren't just accusing me to draw attention from yourself."

Eichpee just blinked, and continued mumbling chants as the others in the room turned to him and Rahb.

"We need to test you two. You're the most likely to be infected, no offense." Junior apologized. "I do hope you stay with us, honestly. I truly am sorry for my behavior before."

"Such a thing doesn't matter. Nothing does at present." Eichpee insisted as Rahb winced, a scalpel cutting into his palm as the blood dripped down and-

He knocked the goblet away with his other hand, but whatever chance he might have had to escape was gone an instant later. A score of them leapt on him as he snarled and spat and grew fangs, red-bone claws jutting from his long-fingered hands. Yet all of it was in vein.

"Stop him!"

"Kill him!"

"NOTHING MUST LIVE!"

And indeed, nothing did. They tore the thing that had been Rahb into shreds, the Thing being crushed, rent before Junior's very eyes as he flinched again, seeing the smouldering eyes his fellow senators had as he summoned up a new goblet and drenched the remains as they smouldered, stank and dissolved away.

"I know who I am. I don't need any test." Athena insisted haughtily.

"Athena, this isn't the time."

"Can we do Garguiem first?" She asked nervously, glancing at the goblet. "I'm…kind of…got a thing against bloodletting is all."

Junior sighed and nodded. "Alright, Garguiem, if you don't min-"

Unfortunately the sight to his right made him gasp in horror. Garguiem was changing before their eyes, and Junior reeled back, horrified. This thing had been with him, ALONE, and yet all this time…?

Garguiem looked Junior squarely in the eyes, and for a moment, Junior thought the Thing was going to say something, but they were on him in an instant. There was less tenseness in what they did now, indeed, some of them were grinning quite widely. Junior cringed at the burning remains, Athena lowering the flamethrower as they turned to Eichpee.

"At one point he was one of our finest members. A dear friend." Eichpee said, closing his eyes, folding his hands in his lap. "Five minutes ago I could have sworn he was himself. They are more than mere imitation." He went on…eyes slowly opening.

Revealing greenish/gray decay creeping across them and the ground he was under.

"This I know from personal experience."

A minute later they tried to jump him, but Junior's voice rang out. "STOP!" He insisted, all of them stepping away from the Quarantine area as Junior approached.  "…whatever you are. Whoever you are. What do you WANT?" he asked, standing before the quarantined glass cell, looking the Eichpee-Thing squarely in the face as it stared back at him, slowly blinking. "I'm trying to understand. You've captured him. Why? What do you need?"

Electricity lit up the air as Junior tilted his head slightly to the side, raising a nonexistent eyebrow. "You haven't tried to break out. You didn't try to attack us before. You seem to want to talk. Why? Because I'm the only one who can help?"

Eichpee blinked slowly, the charge remaining in the air as Junior rubbed his chin, frowning slightly. "No…no, I truly wish that was true, but…but when I look at you, I see into you. I want to believe you just want help, but your eyes… are saying something else. Listen. PLEASE." Junior stood up. "Whatever you want, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone, and I can help you, I promise-"

A flicker of movement. Junior reacted fast. Faster than the thing that had been Eichpee had thought as it burrowed up from beneath the floor, people falling down into the empty chasm, screaming, Eichpee's eyes alit with pitiless glee as Junior slammed his fist hard against the grass. Though his fist seemed to shatter with it, Athena had an opening and torched him, the burning fire catching, bathing over Eichpee and spreading down into the abyss that he had been forming beneath the surface of the facility as Junior and Athena and what little remained after the floor had burst open took off running. They bolted outside as the facility went up in flames, smoke rising high up through the air as others began to catch fire, and they all stood there, panting and heaving…

"…we still need…to have everyone else take…the test…" Athena gasped out.

…

…

…

… "That's the last of them." Athena said, her eyes saddened, bloodshot from what had seemed like hours. "…only fourteen of us left."

"Fourteen." Junior looked mournfully at the facility, the smoke continuing to rise. "…if it could mean I could have prevented the spreading, I…I woulda wanted some of those imitations back…" He sighed. "…I wonder. Athena, when do you think Garguiem got infected? Did you and Waddy ever-"

Athena paled. "Waddy. I took guard duty outside only ONCE, when I left him with the sample we had…the sample Gaurgiem burned…and he's in the supply closet."

They all rushed across the long silver stretch of the headquarters, panting and heaving, just yearning for it all to be over, stopping in place as a strange, curious greenish light beat out from the cracks under the supply closet's door, a soft humming sound rising out from within. Steifankihn's eyes narrowed as his telekinetic power slowly opened it with finely-tuned precision, revealing more sounds…a clinking and clanking, tools at work, conveying a message of absolute haste.

"If that thing'sssss made something that can get it off this place…" He muttered, a long hallway leading them down to another doorway, the sound of furious tinkering behind it.

Junior was not having any of that. "I tried…to be…NICE!" He roared out, his enormous foot SLAMMING into the door and knocking it squarely into the thing as it wheeled around. One of its six tentacle arms held a five-inch pencil of some kind of metal, thin lips curling slightly in a sneer of baleful contempt, hate blazing in its greenish/gray eyes, the body pale and black, a false bloated mockery of Waddy.

Steifankihn's telekinesis shoved a chunk of door into the thing's chest and its face twitched in agony, its body becoming a mass of mangled flesh oozing grey ichor, Junior's goblet flung through the air, bathing the eyes in hot, fiery acid. It screeched and howled and wailed, tentacle lashing at its blinded eyes, crawling on the floor, crushed flesh sloughing away in sodden gobbets.

But Athena's flame thrower would be having none of it. It spat out a three-foot long tongue of burning flame, the Thing screeching and howling as it writhed and withered as it was bathed again and again in hot death. Everything became crisped by the flame as Athena continued to step forward, the others advancing, tossing things that would burn onto the thing as it became a living bonfire, howling and screeching in death throes before…

It was over. Only a thin, stinking greenish/grey wisp of smoke dissolving before their eyes as they all turned to each other, nodding, looking around at what had not been thrown, Junior picking something up from the ground.

"…a ship engine." He realized, turning it over in his paws. "One to replace the damaged one in the ship. It was going to fly out in the very thing it came in…"

"All these parts were to repairrrrrr it, huh? Waddy was in here for about an hour and he'd already completed all this? A power coupling relay, multi-modal reflector…" Steifankihn said as he combed over more items on the ground, looking intrigued as Junior put the ship engine down.

"We've done it." Junior insisted softly. "There are things that even that…THING…couldn't replicate. The strength we have working together. Our spirit. Our soul. You just can't beat the real thing."

"Sheer accident it landed here." Athena added. "There but for the Grace of God, perhaps?" She mused.

"Sheeeeeeeer accident…yes. Couldn't happen again." Steifankihn remarked. "…right?"

Junior slowly turned to look over at a bit of piping that was dripping oil into a container for a fuel cell, holding one paw thoughtfully over his mouth.

"…right?"

Drip…

…Drip…

…Drip…