Mark kneeled by the bloody footprint, asking Wanda nervously. "Is this what I think it is?" Wanda stepped around the blood stains to kneel across from him as she answered. "Impossible... Had to be equipment. If it was a creature... Hell, we would know about them by now." Mark lifted his eyes to meet hers, sarcastically saying. "We discover new species almost every day. And if this thing can bust through Tungsten steel... I don't want to meet it." Wanda slowly rose, moving to a control box mounted on the wall of the room. Mark turned slightly to watch her slide the panel open and began messing with the buttons. Everything she pressed was unresponsive. Smacking the wall with her hand, she snapped out. "The controls are either off or fired." Mark climbed slowly to his feet, moving closer to pull out the single cut cord out of the hundreds of wires in the wall. Wanda froze, taking the cord from him to look it over. Mark exhaled softly, discreetly uttering out. "Someone knew what they were looking for..."

Wanda glanced back at the stripped skeleton in the room, uttering out a bit uneasily. "Do you think the crew tried to evacuate the station... only to get here and realize that the pods clamp wouldn't unlock for launch?" Mark turned to look out at the hallway, saying softly. "I'm beginning to think the lockdown was to keep something in... the crew." Wanda released the cord, leaning back against the wall as she said in a breathless voice. "Why would someone do that?" Mark shrugged, but reluctantly gestured to the body to say. "Lunch? A mutated pet gone savage?" From outside the door, Hiro told them all in a clear voice. "The blood is almost dry. This happened a few days ago..." Hiro moved more out into the open hall, telling Miles seriously. "When you finish collecting the names of the dead, I want them. We need to know if any of them are still alive." Mark looked at Wanda, saying discreetly. "Whoever the survivor is could be the killer. Or is protecting its killer pet." Wanda pointed to the control box, telling him more confidently. "I'm going to check the other pods. Maybe they were saving one that we can use."

Mark nodded, patting her shoulder as she started to slip by him. Before she got too far though, he told her. "Don't go anywhere alone." Hiro approached him as she called out to Miles to join her in her search. Hiro raised an eyebrow, asking curiously. "What's going on?" Mark pointed to the footprints and told him about the cut wire. When he finished informing him what they were thinking, he added grimly. "We've got to get off this station. Whatever this thing is... I don't think we are prepared for it." Hiro huffed, kneeling to look over the footprints better as he told him a bit sarcastically. "Isn't that what the Space Force is for?" Mark shook his head, telling him bluntly. "With all due respect, Captain... There wasn't supposed to be anything up here. These were scientists. They were unarmed. I doubt my combat skills will help... We even got a long briefing on why guns are a BIG problem up here." Hiro nodded to himself, mimicking the briefing as he said dryly. "One hole and it's the same as popping a balloon. Everything decompresses until it is just a hunk of metal."

Mark nodded, kneeling to discreetly tell him seriously. "Captain. If this thing can bust through tungsten steel, this whole station is in danger. If it tries to escape-" The Captain raised a hand to stop him, saying more calmly. "Stop. We don't know what this is yet. This could be a person who lost their mind in space. They could be dressing like a big lizard and reenacting some alien fantasy. We shouldn't start a panic until we know all the facts. I won't have us all jumping at shadows." Mark pointed to the claw marks on the hatch door, grumbling out. "Does that look like something a crazy human could do?" Hiro looked at him with a warning expression, telling him firmly. "These were scientists. They might have found a way. Stay focused. We need to get to that Control room." Hiro rose to his feet confidently, walking from the room. Addressing the others, he announced in a firm voice. "Until we know what happened. This is just an unfortunate accident. Nothing has changed. We are here to figure this out. Let's figure it out."

Mark rose to his feet, hefting a heavy sigh. He understood what Hiro was doing... but he couldn't help seeing this like a video game. Sometimes the most obvious thing is the answer and he didn't see this getting more obvious that something was wrong. Following Hiro out, Mark moved to the other room pods to help Wanda check the other control boxes. Hiro talked about possibly cleaning out some of the rooms for them to stay in while they worked. He even asked Wanda if it was possible to fix the wires. Mark was barely listening to them though. After checking the control boxes, he discreetly began searching the rooms for anything helpful. Anything that might shed some light on what they were doing. While it was true that most people logged all their thoughts into the computer to inform NASA on what was going on. Someone had to of written down their more personal thoughts in a notebook, diary, or journal. Entering the last pod on his side of the room, he stopped short upon entering. Stepping back out, he did a double take at the intact hatch door.

The interior of the pod was organized and untouched by blood or death that had befallen the others. However, when he checked the control box, his eyes narrowed a bit. The cord was still cut. Taking in the room, he eyed the bolted down bed and desk with a swiveling bolted down chair. At the front was a bubble window with a launching chair and a small table like control panel to pilot the pod. Mark checked the bed, then moved to the desk to unlock the latch drawers. He searched through the papers in the drawers, until he noticed a small button it the far corner of drawer. Pressing the button, the bottom of the drawer popped open to reveal a battered leather journal. Removing the journal, he closed everything back up. Unbuckling the journal, he opened it slowly. Titled across the first page were the words 'I want to believe.' Mark backed up, sitting down on the bed as he started to skim the beginning. It was Commander Steele's journal. The beginning mostly explained how she became obsessed with space. Having grown up in an area where alien abductions and sights were common. She had been a skeptic like everyone else... until her father was taken.

Mark's heart ached for her as he read how she struggled with being called a liar and told that her dad had simply abandoned her at the age of seven. She became obsessed with proving everyone wrong. Going so far as to join up with NASA to see the truth for herself. Venturing to the moon and planets, she hoped to find him. Mark didn't know if he believed her himself. It felt too... made up. Flipping to a few pages ahead, he stopped when a drawing caught his eye. Opening the journal more to look at it, he licked his lips nervously. Reading the words written beneath it in a very low tone, he gawked at it. "I've made a huge discovery, but NASA refuses to accept my data on it. I'm not seeing things and I'm not making it up! The crew even agrees with me. There is a tenth planet! I don't know where it came from. It wasn't there two days ago... but it is here now. It is orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. My team believes that this planet is orbiting our sun in a long regime lasting between three hundred to six hundred years. Where then, it passes between Mars and Jupiter. It's not unrealistic, because astronomers found Pluto this same way. I'm thinking it sits back farther from Pluto in the orbit. Making it much harder to detect as it gets farther from our solar system."

Mark looked up, listening to the crew agree about staying in the room pods. Bringing his focus back, he continued to read on quickly. "NASA can brush me off all they want. But in a few days, the Station will be passing by Jupiter and I plan to find out why NASA keeps telling me to leave this alone. What don't they want me to see? They are too insistent for this to just be a simple 'error' in the system. My crew agrees with me. We're checking this out. NASA be damned!" A voice at the door asked him curiously. "Mark? Find anything?" Mark jumped, slamming the journal shut as he snapped out. "Jesus!" Hiro raised his hands up in surrender, saying a little startled himself. "Relax. I'm leaving Wanda down here to help the others clean out some of these pods. I need you to come with me to the control deck." Mark climbed to his feet, saying seriously. "Do you think we will be here that long? We should be focusing on getting off this ship as fast as we can." Hiro leaned on the hatch door, admiring the clean pod as he answered casually. "I am trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Mark started to make his way to the door, when Hiro asked him even more curiously. "This escape pod is untouched... Who was in here?" Mark didn't hesitate to answer. "Commander Steele. The woman that ordered the lockdown." Hiro's eyes drifted to him and then down to the journal, upon adding out a bit bluntly. "That hers?" Mark thought about lying but wasn't sure he could pull it off. So instead, he told him just a small lie among his honesty. "Yes. I was looking for anything on what happened... but found a book she had translated into German and got distracted." Hiro raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms to face him as he gently said. "Is that right? And you can read German?" Mark nodded, despite the fact that he barely could. He was still learning German and Korean. With a sigh, Hiro waved him out, saying carelessly. "Whatever. Put it away and let's get to work." Hurrying out, Mark slipped the journal into his tool belt and headed back toward the stairs.

While going back up the stairs and out across the spa room, Mark asked Hiro lightly over his shoulder. "Hiro, did you run any planetary scans when we were approaching or docking this station?" Hiro kept pace with him, answering casually. "No. The radar showed everything closest to us. Why? Something come to mind?" Mark moved into the next stairway, letting Hiro pass him as they continued up before stating out. "I was just thinking... Jupiter always knocks out our gear and blocks signals. What if the Station came across something there? Something clearly interfered with us coming in." Hiro stopped, turning to face him with a distressed look. Raising his hands, Hiro told him in a calm voice. "Mark, please. There is a rational explanation for all of this. Space is frightening and new. I get it. But there is nothing up here but us. And trust me... that's scary enough." Mark took a single step up to be more at eye level with Hiro, before saying softly. "I'm not trying to cause a panic. I'm trying to think rationally about this too. Captain... I trust your experience. But you can't tell me that what you saw down there was normal."

Hiro took a deep breath, placing his hands on Mark's shoulders as he told him honestly. "Look. I'm thinking this has more to do with that Robot than some... creature. Ok? I'll know more when you get me into the control deck." Mark waited for Hiro to take his hands off him, before making his way up around him. At the control deck's hatch door, Mark gruffly stated over his shoulder to Hiro. "Robots don't eat flesh from bone." Hiro lowered his eyes like he wanted to disagree but couldn't. Mark looked back at the door, briefly glancing at the round window built into the door. He could see that some lights were on inside and some computer monitors were running through different sources of data. Reaching for his tool belt, he planned to try unscrewing the ID scanner to hack it. Without the Commander's identification bracelet, trying to get in wouldn't be possible otherwise. He had just pulled out the tool he needed, when someone slammed their hands against the glass!

Mark jerked back, slipping off the step and nearly falling backward down the stairs, but Hiro caught him. Staggering in Hiro's arms to get his feet back under him, Mark straightened up behind Hiro. Peeking over Hiro's shoulder with the tool raised at the ready, they both watched as a woman banged on the glass and started yelling something inaudible at them. Hiro rushed up to the door, trying to gesture as he told her to calm down. She didn't understand and kept shouting at them with a panicked look on her face. Hiro looked her over, then shouted to Mark excitedly. "It's Commander Steele! Get this door open! Now!" Mark stayed where he was, telling Hiro in a shaken voice. "Captain, if she wanted out... She'd use her bracelet. She's not asking for help..." Mark turned around to look over the stairway behind them out of habit. He didn't want something sneaking up on him. He didn't see anything... yet. Behind him, Hiro stated out completely perplexed. "What are you talking about? Mark, open this door! That's an order!"

Mark whirled around to face Hiro, telling him seriously. "Captain, she locked herself in there on purpose. We should-" Hiro pointed a stern finger at him, snapping out at him through his teeth. "Open this door now, Lieutenant!" Taking a deep breath, Mark stepped up to the door and began to unscrew the panel. Commander Steele banged on the window more intensely as he worked, but he ignored her. After hacking into the panel with his nifty tool that scanned backdoor codes to unlock the door, the door hissed and slid into the wall to open the way in. Commander Steele staggered back away from the door, her hands going into her wild hair. Shaking her head in disbelief, she began muttering out. "Oh my god... What have you done! Why are you here?! I told NASA NOT to come for us! I sent the message! Unless..." Commander Steele lowered her arms and looked across the room in horror. Hiro moved inside, trying to calm her as he began to ask. "Commander, please calm down. Tell us what happened?"

Mark followed her eyes across the room to a person sitting at one of the main control desks. The person wasn't a person at all though. It was dressed in a NASA uniform and about human size... but it was a green lizard with something impaled in its side. It looked to have been dead for a while now, with its scaly hand still on the control panel. Mark stood frozen at the sight of it. He saw it but his mind was trying to think of a million reasons why it wasn't real. That's not what had Commander Steele's attention though. Scattered across the floor at the feet of the lizardman... were the pieces of Robonaut. Mark blinked completely confused as he stated aloud. "There are two of those things up here?!" Commander Steele looked directly at him as she answered reluctantly in a terrified tone of voice. "What do you mean? There is only one and you're looking at what remains of him." Hiro and Mark both looked at each other. Hiro's voice turned icy cold when he uttered out. "Then who did we leave downstairs with the others?" To Be Continued...