"Do you really think Becke is infected?" she asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. Lind gave some pretty solid evidence, and even if he's not, he would understand that the Coro Federation takes possible threats like these seriously, so it would merely be the standard protocol," he replied, nodding.
"Got it, what about Reno, though? She has been with us for some time and doesn't seem to have shown any signs of, well, anything," Caroline said.
Ridge thought for a moment. "That's why she'll be tested as well. Lind will determine that question, but at the very least, I do think she should be fine, just merely being used as a pawn, so to speak, for Becke to blend in."
Nodding, Caroline and Ridge got to work, joining the others in gutting the room and transporting some materials to build up whatever was needed. They didn't do much to change the actual structure of the room, more so just adding security locks and reinforcements to the walls within the conference room. Outside of the conference room, they quickly fabricated some steel bars to act as a barrier and as a holding-before-questioning type of situation.
Realistically, Ridge would have liked there to be separate holding cells just to be safe, but it would take too much time. It took a good amount of the day to actually set all of this up, and finally, when it was ready, Ridge had been informed that everyone besides Reno and Becke had been informed quietly about the suspicions regarding Becke.
The two of them were newer to the base, Reno being a little more familiar to everyone else, but still new, so they didn't hold too much attachment to not being able to talk with either of them. Furthermore, it was the fungi who had somehow brought them to this strange planet, presumably, so they mostly felt a bit of resentment if the accusation was to be believed.
During the time of building and spreading the word, Reno and Becke had been held up by Lind for most of the day. At this point, Reno especially was starting to get restless; Becke, on the other hand, was still calm, not showing a single emotion on his face that could expose him in any way to Lind.
"How long are these tests supposed to take?" Reno said, frustrated.
"It depends. For normal checkups, which is generally what this falls under, it would only take an hour, maybe more at most, but since you had been previously injured, I want to make sure every test comes back great. Which means we all have to wait for the results, and unfortunately for us, we only have rudimentary machines for the testing. After all, we aren't a science ship, so it's great that we have the current instruments that we do now," Lind explained calmly as she worked on her panel.
In fact, she was merely receiving messages from Ridge about how things were going. Acting naturally, she asked him about the progress on the jail. To which he replied, 'Almost done; I estimate around another hour or so.'
Letting out a sigh, Reno used her hand to hold her head up on the side of the chair and simply waited.
"It's just some tests; think of it this way: once you get it done now, you won't have to worry about it again, at least for a good amount of time. By then you will be fully healed, and it'll probably only take an hour or so, like Dr. Lind here said," Becke said.
"I guess. I'm just not used to being in one place for long; if I'm not busy working, then I'm training," she replied, still restless.
"No worries. I get the feeling, though, I'm much more of a shut-in, despite what my physique represents," He joked.
"Yeah, yeah, you don't have much of a physique now, so I guess that line doesn't work so great for you," she countered.
Hearing them distract themselves, Lind felt a sense of relief, though what she didn't notice was that her minute expression of relief was noticed quite keenly by Becke, who had at this point become more and more suspicious of the reason they were being held for so long.
Before he could think further about it, though, Ridge, who had finally finished up the jail, walked into the clinic.
"Becke, would you mind coming with me for a bit?" he asked sternly.
Sensing some type of trouble, Reno furrowed her brows and was about to stand up, but Becke held her down and shook his head no.
"Sure, Commander, I hope you don't mind that I'll be a little slow," he replied while getting up slowly, using a makeshift cane that Reno had somehow managed to acquire for him.
Ridge, hearing this, nodded to Lind. "Great, depending on how things go, we really shouldn't be long at all."
The two of them eventually left the room, leaving Lind and Reno inside.
Even more restless than before, Reno's leg had begun to tap on the floor. Peeking over the screen in front of her eyes, Lind watched for a few seconds before asking, "You okay?"
"Of course I am; I just don't understand why the commander needed to question Becke?" she said rather anxiously.
"Who said anything about questioning?" Lind replied with a question.
"I think I can trust my instincts on this one; just the tone he used gave it away, honestly," Reno answered.
"Hmm, after your tests are complete, I think we can probably go and see what they are up to once we're done; then we can put your suspicions to rest, hopefully," Lind said while moving some instruments over to examine drops of Reno's blood.
"Got it," she quietly muttered.
Meanwhile, during this conversation, Ridge and a few other soldiers who were waiting outside slowly escorted Becke to the newly built and furnished jail.
Eventually entering said jail, Becke was escorted without a hassle to the interrogation room, which featured only a single table of decent length and two chairs on either side. The ceiling had a single light that managed to light up the whole room, and the walls were the standard grey metal color that the base commonly featured.
Most things were just reused from the old science room; one of the walls, on the other hand, was completely replaced by a one-way mirror, and the previously empty part of the science room behind it had been replaced by another smaller room that took up most of the time when building the jail. This room was darker, and inside it were Caroline, George, and Yayha waiting.
Walking in, Becke slowly set himself down and let out a breath of exhaustion as he sat down.
The soldiers who had escorted him left the room, leaving just Ridge, who closed the door.
"I'd like to get started by asking you: do you know why you're here?" He asked while sitting down across from Becke, just out of arm's reach.
"I don't know exactly what it's about, but I have a bit of a hunch," Becke said slowly.
"Well, please elaborate," Ridge responded.
"I imagine, during the tests, that something was probably caught that isn't natural, and I am probably being suspected of being a spy or one of the enemy, I guess," he stated with a neutral expression on his face.
Watching him closely, Ridge continued, "Then, since you understand why you're here, you can see why we took action. Furthermore, I would like to ask you how you're so sure something was wrong with the tests," Ridge inquired.
"Well, to begin with, there are a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I can feel my muscles in my legs especially repairing quite rapidly, allowing me to walk so soon even after just waking up from a two-week-long coma, which should be impossible. Secondly, Dr. Lind's expression shifted a bit, which caught my eye when she was first reading the results of my tests," Becke explained.
"Are you able to explain the reasoning for this enhanced healing then?" Ridge asked.
"No, I can't; however, I will say this: I am more than willing to continue taking tests and being monitored. I just would like it to be known that I am not one of the fungi things. I would rather die than end up being one of them," he sneered.
"I understand," Ridge relented. "For now, you will be kept in this jail. When needed for questioning, I will come by and do so. We are very likely going to be doing many more tests on you over time, so please be patient."
Nodding, Becke let out a sigh while getting up and was led by Ridge into the jail cell behind the bars.
The others had already left the room, making sure not to be seen by Becke. They didn't want him to know that they were watching the entire thing; otherwise it could change his behavior.
"You won't have to wait long, I'm sure," Ridge said as he closed the cell and locked it, then made his way out of the room.
"Just to let you know, we have cameras watching you at all times, as well as a button just through the bars on the right of you to let us know if you need anything. Behind that small wall over there in the corner of the cell is for using the restroom," he remarked once more before actually leaving.
Becke didn't have time to respond before Ridge left, so he sat down again in his cell, looked around, sighed, and closed his eyes.