Kael had seen death in every form imaginable.
Explosions.
Vacuum exposure.
Radiation burns.
Bodies lost to the void.
But he had never feared the cold.
Not until now.
He and Rhea reached Deck 4, boots echoing through a hallway that felt far too empty. Cryostorage sat at the end of the corridor a massive circular vault built to keep up to a hundred crew members frozen during long travel.
Usually quiet.
Still.
Clinical.
But the closer they got…
…the more the temperature dropped.
Rhea hugged herself. "Feels like walking into a glacier."
Kael checked the wall display.
Minus 60 degrees Celsius.
That wasn't normal.
He slowed his steps. "Be ready."
Rhea raised her rifle. "Born ready."
The cryo vault door was half-open, frost spreading across the frame like invasive vines. Pale fog drifted out, swirling around their ankles.
Kael pushed the door wide.
Rhea inhaled sharply. "Oh god…"
There were fifty pods in total.
Forty-three were shattered.
Glass blown outward.
Frost coated every surface.
Something had broken out… or broken in.
Kael moved to the nearest pod. The inside was empty no body, no clothes, just cracked ice.
Rhea pointed her light toward another row. "They didn't melt open. They… exploded."
Kael crouched, examining the edges of the broken glass. "From the inside."
"So the crew woke up?" Rhea asked.
Kael shook his head slowly. "No. Whatever opened these… it wasn't human."
Rhea swallowed. "Okay. So what's our survivor supposed to be? Frozen? Missing? Half mutated?"
Kael didn't respond.
Because one pod in the back corner still glowed faint blue.
Pod 27.
Intact.
Untouched.
He walked toward it slowly. Rhea followed, scanning the shadows.
A faint heartbeat monitor beeped inside the pod steady, alive.
Kael wiped frost off the glass.
A face appeared.
He stopped breathing.
Rhea came beside him. "Who is it?"
Kael whispered the name.
"Lt. Mira Vale."
Rhea blinked. "Your navigator? I thought she was on Titan-6 during the outbreak."
"She was," Kael murmured.
"But she shouldn't be alive."
Rhea looked at him carefully. "Kael… what aren't you telling me?"
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Not yet.
He pressed the manual release. Frost crackled as the pod began its warm cycle. Steam hissed out. Mira's eyelashes fluttered.
Rhea lifted her rifle slightly. "We don't know what condition she's in."
"She's human," Kael said firmly.
"But the others were too," Rhea replied.
He didn't argue.
The pod opened with a soft click.
Mira gasped sharply, air flooding into her lungs. Her fingers twitched. Her eyes snapped open bright blue, confused, terrified.
Kael leaned forward. "Mira. It's Kael. You're safe."
Her breathing slowed, but her gaze darted rapidly around the vault.
"Kael…? No. No. You weren't supposed to… I" Her voice broke. "Where is everyone?"
Rhea stepped in gently. "We're trying to find out."
Mira looked down at her own arms frostbitten, pale, trembling. "How long… was I in there?"
Kael hesitated. "Four days."
Mira's eyes widened. "Four days? But I"
She suddenly clutched her head, wincing. "Something's wrong. I… I can hear it."
Kael's pulse spiked. "Hear what?"
Mira looked straight at him no fear, just clarity.
"The ship."
Rhea muttered, "Not again…"
Mira stepped out of the pod, weak but determined. Frost melted beneath her bare feet.
Kael steadied her. "Take it slow."
"No," Mira said. "We have to move. Now."
Kael frowned. "Why?"
Mira pointed toward the ceiling. "Because it knows I'm awake."
The vault lights flickered aggressively.
Rhea aimed her rifle at the door. "Oh, that's comforting."
Kael pulled Mira toward the exit. "What do you mean it knows?"
Mira shook her head frantically. "It's not talking to me like it talked to you. It's… copying me. Learning me."
"Why?" Kael pressed.
Mira's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Because it wants to become something familiar to you."
Rhea groaned. "No. No no no. We are not doing mimic-horror today."
Kael's stomach turned.
The shattered pods.
The missing bodies.
The whispers.
The familiar voice earlier.
Not all those pods were empty because something escaped.
Some were empty because something was taken.
Kael grabbed Mira's arm. "We're getting you to MedBay."
"No," Mira said sharply. "MedBay is gone."
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Gone? How do you know?"
Mira's breathing hitched. "Because the ship showed me. While I was frozen."
Kael stared at her. "It contacted you inside cryo?"
"It didn't contact me," Mira said. "It entered me. My dreams. My memories. It watched everything I remembered about Titan-6."
Rhea stepped back. "Kael… why would it care about Titan-6?"
The vault lights flickered violently, plunging the room into darkness.
Then the far end of the vault lit up.
A silhouette stood in the doorway.
Not monstrous.
Not alien.
Not infected.
A human shape.
A woman.
Rhea whispered, "Kael… that looks like"
Mira's voice broke. "No. No. That can't be."
Kael felt his heart stop.
Because the figure looked exactly like Mira.
Same height.
Same hair.
Same uniform.
Same face.
Except the eyes.
The eyes glowed with the fusion-heart's unnatural light.
The mimic stepped forward.
Voice layered, distorted, but undeniably hers.
"Kael… you left me behind."
Rhea raised her rifle. "Nope. Absolutely not. I'm shooting it"
"Don't," Kael commanded.
Rhea hissed, "You cannot be serious."
Mira stared in horror. "It used my memories. It made a version of me."
The mimic tilted its head.
Then it smiled wide, cold, wrong.
"You came back for me."
Kael felt ice crawl up his spine.
"No," he whispered. "You're not her."
The mimic reached out a hand.
"Then why do you feel guilty?"
Kael stepped backward.
The vault door slammed shut behind them a locking all three inside with the thing.
Rhea whispered, "Kael… we're trapped."
Kael clenched his fists.
He had survived Titan-6.
He had survived the infection.
He had survived the haunted ship.
But now?
He was staring at his guilt made flesh.
And it was smiling.