"Mike!"
Michael's head snapped up from his food tray of hydroponically grown foods and processed preserved meats—perhaps real or perhaps lab-grown; he didn't want to think about it.
"What the hell happened?" Bryan asked, sliding into the seat across from him.
"I don't know..."
"What the hell do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean I don't know. I woke up and started just... seeing things. I don't know what caused it."
"For the love of—" Bryan groaned, rubbing his eyes. "I put my ass on the line for you today thinking it was those two useless cunts, but you're telling me it was an episode?"
His expression shifted between frustration and annoyance, his gaze wandering like he wanted to be mad at Michael but was also restraining himself.
Staring at Bryan, Michael felt sharp pains shoot through his head again and he closed his eyes, clutching his head.
The relationship was a simple work one. Regularly, miners and engineers came by on rotation looking to make their riches only to discover it came with longer hours and rough working conditions. Michael, who had been there from the beginning, not only worked without complaint, but he excelled at his job.
For Bryan, one of many supervising officers, this was a godsend amid tight schedules and deadlines. There were a few others but one by one they had all dropped out. Sickness, injuries, or downright burnout rendering them useless in the field. Michael was quite literally one of the last fully functioning engineers under Bryan's supervision.
But to Michael, this was also caused by Bryan's refusal to make the hard decisions. Josh and Rodriguez did have a long history of hazing, purposefully harming others' work to create a false impression of their competence. While this was known, Bryan still did not lay down the law.
Until now.
"Look," Bryan whispered. "If you get better, I need you to keep playing it up. Otherwise I'm fucked and I'll lose my position. I'm coming after you if that happens."
Why did you let them?
Groaning, Michael shook his head when this soft, female voice echoed in his mind before suddenly glaring at Bryan. He reached across the table and grabbed his collar, snarling.
"Thank you for trying to help, but I didn't ask you to go out on a limb and throw out accusations. Fucking up your job isn't on me. You could've dealt with them months ago!"
Shoving Michael back into his seat, Bryan scowled and stood up with his food tray and left. Groaning again, Michael rubbed his forehead. The headache and pounding was still there.
Great. I'm hearing voices before it even begins, Michael thought frustratedly. Isaac Clarke escaped by an executive shuttle docked that came from the Ishimura. But EarthGov found it drifting through space. Would he have even survived if it wasn't for EarthGov?
There were comics... the comics just remind me that I'm currently fucked once it begins. There were other games outside of the main Dead Space games but I never played them. I've only seen clips. I do remember a few names like Abraham from the comics who punched me.
What was her name... Lexine?
How will I survive with my mental state right now? Will I survive the psychic attacks and influence from the Marker? How can I build up a resistance against it... I don't remember there being a way.
His gaze wandered over the crowds of CEC employees. He couldn't recognize any of them. Outside of Bryan, the two troublemakers, and now vaguely knowing Abraham and Cortez's faces, he was alone.
Alone and fucked.
They restrict access between different sectors to prevent sabotage... and to limit information flow if anything goes wrong, Michael mused, checking his badge with North Sector bolded. I'm assigned to the sector where it all begins. The discovery, the suicides, and the chaos. Asking to switch sectors won't help me because the Marker's influence affects everywhere.
Michael burped and finished his food. The shuttles. I need to get chummy with the transport crews. I also need to find the Lexine girl. She had some kind of immunity.
Behind you.
"Fuck!"
Michael jumped up, slamming his knees painfully into the table before spinning around.
No one was there.
Only workers staring at him like he was nuts and beginning to snicker. A few were holding their trays by the edge, looking ready to bash him if he went completely off the rails.
Gritting his teeth, he silently took his tray to the depository.
"One step at a time. I still have a few months."
------
"This will be my fourth planet-crack. After this one, I will be promoted to an executive position back at CEC HQ on Earth."
Standing proudly with his hands behind his back, a middle-aged, obese man with round glasses announced his own soon-to-be success, despite the cost to his health. His receding black hairline and melasma and vitiligo plaguing his exposed skin.
The commander of the Aegis VII colony, James, another bald-headed and elderly man with hard lines and wrinkles from repeated exposure to high-stress situations, held a similar posture as they stood over a holographic map of the extraction site.
"Congratulations, Carthusia. I'm sure your family would be proud."
"Indeed. Now they would. I took a very unconventional path instead of following in their footsteps in the pan-European sector. This path has been fulfilling, though, wouldn't you say?"
"Yes," the commander answered dryly. "Very fulfilling."
"Hmph." Carthusia's glasses glinted before he slowly turned his head toward a separate holographic map on the wall featuring logistics and timelines. "Have we found the source of the anomaly?"
"No," James grimaced. "Worse, three more briefly appeared on our radars before vanishing. One was even in the colony."
"In the colony?" Carthusia froze, his expression becoming serious.
"We found nothing in our sweeps."
"What about the colonists?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, sir. One of the Unitologists went stir-crazy earlier today but he appears to be fine now."
"Stir-crazy? How so?"
James silently stared at Carthusia for a moment before giving the rundown of Michael's episode.
"Interesting," Carthusia hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. James's eyebrow twitched but he said nothing.
"Keep an eye on him. I want to be informed if he experiences any more of these... episodes."
"We'll keep a set of eyes on him," James reassured before tapping his fingers against the metal frame holding the holographic map.
"As for the anomaly in the extraction site, it shouldn't take more than a few months to..."