Necessary

Pilar finished another day at the lab, ignoring the phantom whispers that had become a regular occurrence. But when she put all the vials she’d been working with away, cleaned her station, and began heading toward the exit, the voice came again.

“They all know, Pilar. You could remedy the situation.”

She stood alone again in the silent lab, the bright lights reflecting off the equipment. Her eyes involuntarily roved over the flammables cabinets, but she quickly shook her head, readjusting her focus. She’d already decided tonight was going to be another night of sleeping pills and the sweet darkness they elicited. Ignoring the voice yet again, she continued her path to the exit.

Until the hiss of a door opening caught her attention.

She turned to see wisps of cold vapor pouring out of the freezer that had opened of its own accord. Or the accord of some unseen force.

Pilar took a deep breath, steadying herself, then slowly walked to the minus-twenty freezer. She disregarded the contents as she pressed the button to close the door, and turned back toward the exit. She only made it two paces before she heard the door open again.

“You know what to do.”

Once again ignoring the voice, she spun around and closed the freezer for the second time. It took four paces this time, but the door once again opened.

“Quit it!” she called into the empty lab, turning back to the freezer. This time, when she approached, she didn’t immediately close the door. Instead, she pulled out a bottle of a reddish-brown substance, half liquid, half gas.

She twisted the flask in her palm, watching the deadly substance within swirl around. It would be so easy to plant it in a room while the occupants were sleeping, especially Florence’s room. She’d programmed Pilar’s biometric data to unlock the door.

But Florence was her best friend.

Pilar shook her head again, replacing the flask and locking the freezer again.

“If she talks, you’ll be banished planetside. Or worse.”

The freezer door opened again.

Pilar looked over the flask just within her reach. Florence had said nothing menacing during their chat the night before. And yet…

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Her slim fingers wrapped around the flask. Once extracted, the freezer door closed and locked on its own.

“Good girl. You know what to do.”

She didn’t acknowledge the voice, only slipped the flask into the pocket of her lab coat and swiftly made for the exit.

Pilar walked slowly toward her room, her feet feeling like lead blocks with each step. When she approached the hall that split the individual rooms and the family rooms–her room and Florence’s room–the voice came again.

“You know what to do.”

She paused, her eyes flicking between the two hallways. They looked identical. Each shades of silver and grey lit by bright lights on the top and bottom of the walls. Each with door after door leading to the private rooms of the crewmembers.

But one path led to sleep and another monotonous day that could lead to her banishment.

And one path led to silencing someone who could hasten that banishment, though the cost would be steep.

“You know what to do.”

Pilar took a step into the family-rooms hall.

Her heart pounded with each step she took, her mind screaming at her to turn around. But the voice was ever present. She knows. You must remedy the situation. You know what to do. It was loud enough to drown out her own internal protests.

A few moments later, she stood in front of Florence and Christof’s door. She’d worked late again. They should be asleep. She didn’t bother knocking or otherwise announcing herself. Instead she lined up her eye and pressed the button, the door opening due to her friends’ implicit trust in her.

Christof was on the loveseat, his head lolled to the side in sleep as the v-screen played some television show from Earth, a laugh track covering the slight noise of Pilar’s entrance. She took light steps, allowing only the balls of her feet and toes to support her weight as she crossed the room to the bedroom doorway. It stood open, thankfully, and Pilar easily slipped inside.

Florence’s metered, sleepy breaths filled the air, her blond hair spread across the pillow, her arms splayed on either side of her head.

Pilar slipped on a mask she’d grabbed from the lab, then pulled the flask of fatal gas from her pocket.

Looking down at her friend, though, she found it difficult to continue her plot.

“She knows!” The voice wasn’t the breathy, lazy whisper it usually was. Instead it was an insistent hiss, as if it had lost its patience.

Pilar pulled down the mask and brushed a kiss upon Florence’s brow. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You left me no choice.”

After resecuring the mask, she unplugged the flask and waved it in front of Florence’s face. The gas was toxic enough it would only take a few minutes to take effect. Despite the mask, Pilar held her opposite forearm against her face as she waited for a sign.

Florence’s chest heaved. She coughed. A strangled noise issued from her chest. But, thankfully, her eyes did not open. Pilar wasn’t sure she could take it if she had to witness the life drain from them. Another twitch, and Florence’s body went still. Silent.

Pilar corked the flask again and slipped it back into her pocket; she’d return it to the lab when she reported for her next shift. She stroked Florence’s hair. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

“It was necessary.”

Pilar ignored the voice as she crept out of their room and made her way back to her own. She focused on steadying her breathing; she didn’t allow any tears.