III.
Arguments had gone on for well over an hour. No one had their stories straight, conflicting information being thrown around as the crew stood outside the medical bay. Purple had gone completely silent, pacing around wildly and occasionally glancing to Yellow's body. His fate was left in the hands of the other crew, and whether they wanted to see the truth or take an easy lie was in their hands. He was curled up next to the bed where Yellow's body had been covered by a blanket, his once-vibrant purple feathers starting to lose their shine with stress.
He expected Red to come marching in any time soon, grab him, and throw him into an airlock. With that horrific image in mind, he started to mutter his prayers, begging the Eleven for some sanctuary in their realm, should his time be up. The Coatl's stare was blank and empty, hollow eyes only speaking of a droning mind reliving memories with Yellow. Her smile, her enthusiasm, the way the stars reflected in her wanderlust-filled eyes. He didn't react as the medical bay was unlocked, the heavy titanium door sliding upwards.
"Come to throw me in an airlock?" Purple muttered, getting to his feet. He squeezed Yellow's limp hand one more time before letting go and tucking it back under the cover, refusing to look any of his crew in the eyes. "Don't worry, you don't have to drag me there. I'll go there myself." What was the point in resistance? It would only make his last moments miserable to need to be manhandled and wrestled. If the crew had made their decisions, then he would accept it, even if he knew it wasn't him. Someone had to pay for the crime, and if it was him... so be it. Perhaps he would get the grace of seeing Yellow again, even if just for a split second before he descended to hell or whatever dark and unforgiving realm he deserved.
He walked, head hanging low and was ready to see himself to his doom. His chest met an open hand, stopping him from going further. He was beyond confused, looking up to see Orange keeping him back.
"No, not you," Orange muttered, "we made our decision. You're going to be moved to electrical and confined there for now while we look through the security records. We're ejecting Cyan."
All eyes were now on Cyan, the Coatl absolutely livid and fighting against Blue and Lime's iron grips. She hurled profanity and insult, demanding to be released. Her wings thrashed against Blue and Lime, the two dutifully keeping her where she couldn't run.
Purple's mouth gaped like a fish. "I... I don't understand."
"We've decided her story didn't make sense. We're not risking another murder if she's the one, but you still need to be detained until we can find proof that you're innocent," Red muttered. "Green, you said you didn't want to watch. You can take Purple to electrical and lock him there then."
A pair of keys were tossed to Green, who had made it clear she couldn't bear to see another person vented into space. This wasn't a dead body they were talking about, this was a living, breathing dragon who would suffer a painful death. She couldn't do it. The idea of locking Purple up wasn't pleasant either, but at least she wouldn't see him die there.
"What about Yellow?" Purple asked, looking back at where her body lay, covered by a blanket. When he had last held her hand, her grip was still warm, but it was getting colder and stiffer with every second.
"We'll keep her somewhere. She deserves to get a burial back home," Black muttered. "I got it, I know how to preserve a body. Don't ask why. You guys can go get Cyan out of here." The Fae spat Cyan's alias out like venom, glaring daggers at her. Should she have done the crime, then at least she would pay like the vile scum she was. He stepped through the crowd and headed into the medical bay after getting a quick rundown from Green as to where everything he would need was stored. Green led Purple away, while the rest shoved a shrieking Cyan to the airlock.
The Skywell was considerably quiet after Cyan was ejected. She had screamed, yelled, argued, and hurled verbal abuse right until her last breath, even trying to fight Lime and Blue off multiple times, and having attempted to drag Lime into the airlock with her. The Pearlcatcher had managed to kick her off him and scramble out right before the airlock was sealed, and the next fifteen seconds after the airlock was vented weren't pretty.
No one wanted to talk about it. Pink scowled and turned away the second the airlock was activated, feeling her stomach try to reject the cafeteria pizza she had for lunch. She doubled over, trying to force herself not to puke in disgust. She found Orange's hand gently patting her back.
"Hey, you okay?" Orange asked, running her palm across Pink's back in a small gesture to try sooth her.
Pink recoiled as she felt bitter bile in her throat, but forced it back down, coughing a few times. "Ugh... yeah. I didn't imagine there would be a difference between watching dead bodies get vented out versus a live one..."
Orange was sympathetic. She was no veteran compared to White and Brown, but in her years of being an astronaut she had never seen a live body get vented either. Pink's reaction was understandable. Even the stoic Red had to look away when Cyan's muffled screaming went quiet. If Black was there to watch, he would probably have been the only one who saw the entire thing happen out of his own morbid curiousity.
There was little she could do to help Pink, but the Imperial was pretty sure none of the remaining crew wanted to have to clean up puke. Better to keep it inside. "Hey, take it easy. Why don't you go back to your cabin, I'll make you some tea to try keep your lunch down. How about that?"
Pink clutched at her stomach, silently begging herself to try hold it in, at least for the amount of time it took to run to a bathroom if needed. She nodded at Orange's suggestion, getting another light pat on the back before Orange turned away, heading for the cafeteria to get some hot water going. A few other crewmates checked on her, asking if she was okay before she found the energy to head back to her cabin.
She was always grateful that her cabin was right next to the starboard stairs, making the trip from the airlock back to her room quick and without incident. The rest of the crew were dispersing, plans to try find out if Purple was innocent or not coming into play now. Instead of joining the rest, Pink crawled into her bed and flopped over, pushing her knees up to her chest for some comfort. Reaching out for the radio, she flicked between channels until she found some pre-recorded music playing, turning the volume down until it was just background noise for her to sleep to until Orange came by with tea.
Pink was unsure how much time had passed since she fell asleep. She woke up to a pitch-black cabin, the only light coming from the radio's screen with the channel number. The Guardian wriggled out of her blanket in the dark, accidentally going too far and kicking herself off the bed. She landed on the floor with a thump, groaning as a jolt of temporary pain radiated from her right shoulder as it hit the ground.
"Damnit," Pink growled, untangling herself from the blanket and chucking it back on the bed in a messy bundle. Fumbling around in the dark, she got her bearings after she found out which way the window was, a distant view of stars being her only sense of direction. The door was on the opposite side of the window, so she made her way there, feeling around for the handle.
As she swung the door open, she expected that maybe only her cabin or the right side of the spaceship's lights were out and maybe there was light on the other side of the walkway or in the greenhouse. She was greeted with more darkness, and a pretty loud bang as something slammed into her door.
"Ah.... ow. That hurt," Blue muttered, the Imperial having slammed face-first into the open door. In the darkness of the ship-wide blackout, nothing was visible and the door was no different.
"Oh, goodness. Blue? Is that you? I'm so sorry, I can't see anything," Pink hastily apologised, gingerly feeling her way out of the cabin in case anyone or anything else was nearby that she could run into.
"Neither can I. Ah, I think my nose is bleeding." Blue reached up to touch his nose, feeling a little wetness on his claws though in the dark, it was impossible to tell if it was blood or not. "Damn backup generators should be working. Sorry, I should clean up. Assuming I can find the bathroom from here."
There was some shuffling around as Blue picked himself off the ground and started feeling his way around for the bathroom, running one hand against a wall at all times.
Pink experimentally tried flicking her cabin light switch on and off a few times, hoping the lights would come back on, but no luck. The next step was to head to the electrical room, though... wasn't Purple there? Shouldn't he have turned on the lights? Yet, Pink realised Purple had never stepped into the electrical room before and probably had zero ideas on how to fix the lights, so she'd do it herself. She could head to the admin office and get the master key before going to unlock the electrical room and fix the lights.
Taking a moment to figure out which way she was facing and which way she should go, she headed off to the forward of the ship. There was a set of stairs at the front of the cabin row she could take to get down to the admin office, but in the darkness, went beyond the stairwell without realising it.
She bumped into a wall and automatically apologised, feeling around. Her shoulders sagged as she realised she had been apologising to a wall, and chuckled a little at how silly it was before continuing on, not realising the stairs were behind her.
Through the blind she kept going, keeping one hand on the wall next to her so she knew if she was going to run into more walls. The sound of a door opening alerted her that she was either in someone else's cabin or had somehow turned around entirely and was in the greenhouse.
She had to shield her eyes for a bit when the lights suddenly flickered back on. Guess someone was down in electrical fixing it so they weren't in the blind, or maybe Purple had stepped up to trying to fix it. The thought that Purple had maybe tried to fix it gave Pink the idea that someone else was probably broken and she had to check the bridge controls and see if anything was amiss.
The lights turned back on, revealing Orange in the cafeteria trying to fix a water pipe by the water dispenser. Pink's mug was on the countertop, a tea bag and the sugar container next to it. On the other side was Brown.
A body on the floor.
Pink backed up, staring at Orange with wide eyes. The latter didn't even seem to notice, still cursing out the water pipes as she stood back and tried the water dispenser again. Orange turned as Pink backed up in horror.
"Oh, hey Pink! Sorry I haven't gotten you your tea, damn water dispenser is only spitting out cold water." Her innocuous smile faded as she noticed the body, her gaze snapping to Pink. "Wait. It's not what you think it is! Hey!"
Pink turned and bolted out, Orange dashing after her to try stop her from reporting before they found out the killer. Pink was only focused on getting away from Orange and towards the emergency button in the bridge, the Guardian sprinting down the stairs and almost crashing into surfaces. Her claws screeched against the metal and carbon floor, leaving claw marks against the surfaces.
There was no hesitation as she got to the emergency button, hurling the glass case open and slamming her hand down on it. The alarms blared across the ship, a sound that was getting too familiar for comfort. Tired and frustrated crewmates filtered into the bridge, Pink already throwing down her accusations at Orange.
"Brown's dead! She's dead and Orange did it! I saw her- I saw her in the- the cafeteria!" Pink's yelling were becoming less and less cohesive, all the while her claw was pointed at Orange who yelled her rebuttals back.
The crew glanced between each of them, wondering how this trip had brought out the worst in everyone. They were astronauts! Dragons that had to work under extreme stress! What a pathetic display.
Red crossed her arms. "Shut up guys, take it from the top," She snarled, clearly exhausted from the recent events and not in the mood for games.
Crew Recounts
All crew recounts are in first person. Voting is now done via Strawpoll.
VOTE HERE!
Orange (Prime Suspect): Bloody hell guys, Pink has it all wrong. I offered to make her some tea while she went back to her cabin after we got rid of Cyan. You guys all heard that, no doubt. I found the water dispenser was only spitting out cold water when I got there, but simple fixes didn't work so I had to dismantle the entire thing and go check the water filtration. The lights shut off when I got back to the cafeteria, but I know my way around. The lights turned back and Pink was there with Brown's body, but Brown never even appeared in the cafeteria while I was there. Pink's being ridiculous, she just thinks it was me because we were in the same room. How do we know she didn't do it and is just trying to pin it on me?
Pink (Reporter): Orange did it for sure! I took a nap and when I woke up, the lights were all out. I was going to go to electrical to try turn the lights on, but I got lost and ended up in the cafeteria when the lights turned back on! Orange was just there being all casual, pretending she didn't see the body! It's her!
Red: Okay, this is ridiculous. I went back to admin after we finished up with Cyan since I wasn't done combing through the comms. Didn't find anything. Orange came with me and too the admin side stairs to head up to the cafeteria, so she was definitely on the forward, if nothing else. Pink, you seem a bit frazzled. You sure you're thinking straight?
Lime: I went to the greenhouse since, you know. The plants still need to be taken care of. Didn't see anything or anyone, but I did hear Pink and Blue talking at the cabins. Apparently Blue rammed straight into something and his nose was bleeding? He said he was going to try find the bathroom. When the lights came on, he was in the greenhouse with me. From what I can tell, Blue was never on the forward of the Skywell.
Green: Not again, not again. I checked on Black and how he was coming along with preserving Yellow. He said he was good so I went to security to go through the footage... since Cyan never got around to finishing it. I'm sorry, I can't be of more help.
Blue: Lime's got it right. I was coming up from storage and walked straight into Pink's cabin door. I managed to find my way to the bathroom to clean up and went to the greenhouse. Some of the bioluminescent flowers were the only thing I could see and honestly, I'm not into breaking my nose on something else in the dark. Lime was tending to the hydroponics when the lights turned on. I gotta say though, Orange is a little suspicious. I can't think of how she could have just not noticed Brown's body, especially if someone else did it.
Purple: I don't know what you want me to say. Green locked me into electrical like you guys said to. When the lights turned off, I thought I'd try to fix them since there was a battery powered torch in here. I guess I did it right since the lights came back on.
White: I literally just woke up from a nap in my cabin when the alarms went off. Didn't go anywhere, didn't see anyone on my way there, just slept until this meeting was called. If I have to point fingers, I'm going to say it's Pink. Because I don't like her and she's coming off a little aggressive, no?
Black: I'm going to sit this one out. I don't know anything, I finished preserving Yellow's body and went to pack everything. Just came out of storage, where I put her in a refrigerated box when this was called.
to love you tonight
