(Somehow I got the motivation to write this. Welp, no going back now.)

Your heart pounds loudly in your ears, the screams of the infected echoing through the empty hull. You drag Orion behind you, while Bruce runs ahead and warns the crew. You pant heavily, the low gravity in the ship not helping your progress, but thankfully slowing down the infected. But you still must move on. Bruce's voice chimes in through the radio explaining the situation at the ship. There's hordes of them, Elfs, Plant people, humans, the list goes on. The crew onboard... you hear his voice waver for a second before returning to it's usual loud self. The crew is missing, and can only be marked as terminated. The screaming behind you gets louder, as if more of the infected are following you... or catching up. You can hear the screams from Bruce's side, and loud monstrous breathing. 

"Guys, this was such a fucking bad idea. I uh... I'm gonna take one for the team, you know? As the humans say." You hear him grunt and open a vault of some sort, you guess it was a number combo, because of the beeping. His voice is calm, he explains his plan with extraordinary calmness. He was going to go out of the ship and lead away the hord, allowing you and Orion to escape. Orion is running beside you, from his expression he looks sad and broken. He doesn't want to lose someone that he just met. How stupid. Fight for yourself, and live only for yourself... it's how you were raised anyway. You look back in front of you, the dim light in your helmet doing almost nothing to brighten the path. It was still dark, and someone was still going to die because of stupidity.

You hear Orion comment on some parts of the plan, still questioning how Bruce is getting back to the ship. You don't care, the screaming was almost on top of you and you were severely tired. You finally speak up, asking one simple question. "Why in Gods name hasn't the Galactic Rose contacted us yet?" Bruce says that sometimes the ship goes into a state of power saving, and not to worry. You're suspicious, but don't question it. Your headlamp flickers in the dark void, and then finally gives out, leaving you blind and vulnerable in the dark. The screaming stops as soon as the light goes out. You can hear them sniffing in the dark, s e a r c h i n g  f o r  y o u. But... they can't. Sight is the most important part of the infected. You radio in to Bruce, relaying the information. You tell him to turn off all lights and stay in the ship, and be prepared to turn everything back on when he hears three quick knocks.

There's a pause and then a short, "Got it." Orion was quiet, not scared quiet... just quiet. The infected are still searching around for you, and you were still suspicious of their abilities. Were they deaf? That would make sense, the screams were loud enough to be heard through your suit. So most were able to see, but what about the ones with no eyes? You remember the first of those things, it was captain G and he had no eyes. Your best guess is that the crystals can act as eyes, and they don't need food or air. But how were they alive? You take a step towards one, and none of them react. Orion grabs your arm and trys to pull you away, but you tell him it's okay. You get a look, but eventually he released your arm allowing you to test something. 

It's face was covered in crystals, blue, green, and almost everything in between. The body was contorted and bloody, while still showing no signs of rot. It was test tube perfect. Orion asks what you intend to do, and you just say "Science" before turning off your radio. You can see Orion's worried face, but you don't care. You had to know how the infected worked! You cautiously approach the subject, before lightly tapping it's face. No reaction. Was it not aware of your presence, or did the cold void freeze all of its nerves away? A grayish chunk of the crystal has formed around its brain, was that the thing keeping it alive?

You give it a light tug and the infected subject jerks away, but makes no further effort to keep you away... fascinating! Orion taps your shoulder and motions towards his Radio. You turn on yours, ignoring the weird static voices. "Can you guys hear us now?" It's Cosmic.  You respond with "Yes"and prepare yourself for what might be a long lecture. Instead you get frantic info about the current state of the ship. Apparently one of the crews before you brought a live sample of the crystal on board and began going crazy, mumbling about how they must serve the  queen. You butt in with your questions, questioning if they had versions of the crystal fused to their bodies, and if they were capable of cognitive thought. "Cognitive thought?! Those bastards shut down two of five reactors! You can't come back to the ship... i'm sorry guys. It's over." It's silent, besides from the distant screaming and crunching of bones. 

 The infected in front of you aren't capable of any thought whatsoever, unless the gray crystals are touched. What if... you pull out the grey mass lodged in it's brain and it literally rag dolls to the floor. Holy balls. Two things, A: All of the infected around the dude that died,  immediately stopped living, And B: Demonic whispering. As soon as the infected died, that thing started whispering like a voodoo priestess on speed. Things like, "Serve me!", "I will grant you immortality!" and, "I can help you find the answer! The truth!" You just decide to chuck it into the dark, greatly displeased with the way Cosmic and Luna were handing things. You sigh and contact the ship with your findings, and ask for an escort home. Cosmic then tested your theory, by finding an infected crew member, and destroying the first gray thing that stuck out of it. He  successfully destroyed three infected with a laser cannon he just so happened to have. 

Eventually after ignoring Cosmics rants about how it's just like a zombie game, you head back to your ship, do the signal thingy, and run over/ char a crap ton of infected before leaving. 

"Aster, how the hell are we gonna get back to the Galactic Rose?"

" Shut up Bruce. The dock isn't gone. Probably."