Rami, stay with me, what do you mean you’ve seen this before?

Rami stood there transfixed, unsure of how to respond to Elaine’s query. Up until now he had been certain that his version of the story that he’d carried with him since that day had been correct, even flawless. How could he forget something so awful as watching his friends and colleagues go mad and spill each other’s blood? How could he forget the sights, the smells, the sounds associated with such trauma. Moreover, how could he forget seeing something like that creature?

And yet, somehow, he had. Somehow, that creature had been there, or at least one of its brethren.

More came flooding back to him, not quite full memories, exactly, but rather emotions. Feelings. Feelings of fear, of anger, of confusion, of despair. He couldn’t place when it had happened exactly, but at some point, this creature had been hurt by something. A stray, panicked shot by a member of the expedition crew, an explosion, debris, or something to that effect.

Whatever it was that had injured this creature wasn’t important, as what followed was a tsunami of fear, paranoia, anger, despair, and an overwhelming desire to escape, no matter what or who needed to die in order to do so. Crewmates tore each other to shreds, turning weapons and mining equipment alike on their neighbors. Rami’s hands were equally as stained with blood as anybody else that had been there. With that came a flood of white hot guilt, both as a survivor and as someone who had hurt his friends.

Seemingly as a response to this, the creature met eyes with Rami. No words were exchanged, but it somehow knew the anguish that Rami was feeling.

What was it that Mr. Asher had said? Something about empathy and manipulation? That was beginning to sound like an understatement.

Whatever it was doing, it didn’t seem to be able to read Rami’s thoughts, but it was responding to his emotion. Even if it couldn’t see Rami’s face and probably wouldn’t know what he was thinking by Rami’s facial expression alone, it just knew, as from it Rami could almost feel its sense of fear giving way to curiosity, then to compassion. However there was still a sense of apprehension towards the others, that apprehension coalescing into outright fear of Mr. Asher. Like it was trying to process the emotions of everyone there.

Another message notification.

Dammit, old man, you can’t be going senile on me now.

Rami narrowed his eyes at Elaine’s audacious message, before responding.

I’m here, I’m here. Sorry. Yes, this thing was definitely there. Or if not this one in particular, one of its species. I think we just came to an understanding.

A response from Brad came next.

An understanding? You mean you can talk to this thing?

Fair question.

No, but it seems able to read our emotions as well as manipulate them by some form of psychic projection. That’s what happened years ago. It’s not hostile. Towards us, anyway.

No telling how the kids were going to respond to that, but it needed to be out there in the open.

Jolene responded next.

Guys, I think he’s telling the truth.

Elaine’s response was a bit less courteous.

Unbelievable, don’t tell me you buy this as well, Brad?

Brad took his time responding.

Beats me, but it sure as hell doesn’t seem to like my dad.

The silence was broken by Mikhail’s voice seeping forth from the speakers inside Rami’s helmet.

“You know it’s rude to have secret conversations with one person in the room being left out, right?”

Rami quickly snapped into damage control mode.

“Yes, I apologize. It’s a lot to process, that something like this could have been what was truly responsible for the incident so many years ago.” Not the best cover, but it was the best that Rami could come up with under the gun like this.

“Well, tell me, Mr. al Faris, are you more convinced to help me after seeing this? You could think of it as atonement for what happened to your friends.”

Oh, I’ll help you all right, you son of a bitch. “Okay, I’m in. Allow me to talk things over with my entourage here, and then we can finalize the contract.

A flood of messages appeared on the screen.

What?!

Are you serious, old man?

No, we can’t help him.

I knew we couldn’t trust you.

Rami had to take control of the situation.

Enough! I know what I’m doing. We’re going to put a stop to this and somehow ensure this creature’s release. Let’s just play along for a little bit more.