Ch.202Prequel Episode 7. Friend or Foe Identification

“I can’t take it anymore. I can’t hold out any longer.”

“Oh?”

Less than 12 hours after the Ranger died, the captain declared surrender.

He must have been under a lot of stress during that time.

It was only natural, considering all the criticism he faced—from why he hadn’t checked for the solar wind earlier to accusations that our company just abandons employee corpses.

We gathered in front of the door, ready to break the lock if necessary, protesting and holding the captain accountable.

Finally, our efforts paid off.

“Fuck. Let’s pour some drinks! Pour! You damn troublemakers, seriously.”

“Woohoo! The captain’s precious liquor cabinet raid event has begun!!!”

The captain threw us the key and turned his back completely.

The key squeezed through the small tight hole and scrambled around inside.

As we all grabbed both sides of the door and pulled, the ancient relic revealed itself from within.

When the soft light flickered on, everyone stood with their mouths open, unable to say a word.

“Holy shit. What is this……”

“Is this heaven? Captain! Did you build heaven in here?!”

“Oh fuck……”

Ignoring the sound of bloody tears streaming down from behind us, we excitedly pushed our way into the liquor cabinet.

Despite the cabinet being quite large, there was only enough space for one person to pass through at a time.

That meant the rest of the space was completely filled with alcohol.

Beer, bourbon, wine……

“Wow! Wow! Champagne!”

To be honest, I didn’t really care about the rest—champagne caught my eye first.

My beloved champagne.

How many bottles are there?

Of course, they’re all entry-level, but I was grateful nonetheless.

After all, there’s no such thing as bad champagne in this world.

“Whoa. What’s this?”

“Ah, that’s something I hid in the corner…… Shit……”

When I pulled out a cool bottle from a dark corner, the captain let out a groan from behind.

My goodness. Isn’t this Dom P*rignon?

Even the entry-level ones are ridiculously expensive……

A commoner like me would never buy something like this unless I was too drunk at a host bar to properly check the price tag.

How many times did I go back the next day and throw a fit demanding a refund because I was mentally impaired at the time?

After making a scene about 10 times, I only got refunds maybe twice.

Such ruthless bastards.

“Captain! I’ll be good! I totally think abandoning the Ranger was the right decision! The living must survive!”

“I’ve changed my mind too, Captain!”

“I love you!”

“Haah…… You fucking adorable bastards……”

Seriously, there’s no boss who cares about employees as much as our captain.

What company would blow thousands of dollars on employee welfare in an instant?

This mercenary group is truly the best.

“Ahh. Ah. Haaah……”

“Jin. Are you okay? You’re showing symptoms of hyperventilation.”

“I’m fiiine…… Hehehe.”

“Could you maybe take the wine bottle away from your face while we talk?”

“Hyaak! My precious! Where do you think you’re taking it!”

“S-sorry……”

Hehehe.

Tonight is a party.

An extravagant party where we can taste all kinds of champagne to our heart’s content!

.

.

.

“Uweeeeek……”

“Emergency! Emergencyyy! Jin is throwing uuup!”

“Gas! Gas! Gas!”

“Bring the suction! Quicklyyy!”

Huh? What happened?

I can’t remember.

I was definitely sitting at the table with an armful of champagne bottles, happily opening them one by one and savoring them through a straw……

Why am I suddenly vomiting my guts out when I regain consciousness?

“Ugh! This is fucking insane, seriously!”

“I knew this would happen when she started chugging it like soda!”

“Suction over here! Here! Suck it up, quick! Ahhh! It’s getting on the control panel!”

I could see white mucus floating around on the table.

Wow. It looks just like cum.

So damn satisfying.

So this is why men like facials.

“Wake up, you idiot!”

“Huh?”

My cheeks were slapped repeatedly, and my eyes finally opened properly.

Huh? Suddenly the resolution got much better.

Wait, what’s that?

“Ugh! What is that! Who threw up?!”

“Wipe the vomit off your mouth before you talk, you shameless girl!”

“Oh.”

The captain and Allen rushed in with a hose and started sucking up the flying vomit.

When I felt nauseous a few times during the process, Gustav simply taped a bag to my mouth with duct tape.

Come on, I wouldn’t throw up twice.

“Urgh……”

“Good thing I taped the bag, right?”

“You’re the best, Gus.”

I’ll never do this again.

Actually, just to be safe, I’ll never do this four times.

“Hehehe. Captaaain. Is there any champagne left?”

“I’m going to drink it, you idiot! How much did you drink by yourself?!”

“But it’s a special day. We should drink.”

“What’s so special about today……”

Yeah.

What day is it that we’re drinking and partying like this?

I can’t quite remember.

There must have been something to celebrate.

“Oh right! We’re having a party because Ranger died!”

“Don’t say things that could be misunderstood!”

“Uhhh, give me more driiink!”

“Please stop drinking. I’m begging you, Jin.”

“Oh? Is the captain crying?”

“The smell of vomit is everywhere…… I’ll have to hire someone else to get rid of this smell……”

The captain started sobbing.

I felt a bit sorry seeing him cry, as he seemed like someone who wouldn’t shed a tear even if a needle was stuck in his eye.

At first, it looked like he was just pretending to cry, but soon he covered his face with his hands and tears started streaming down.

All his pent-up frustrations must have burst out.

I’m sure being the captain of such a large ship comes with many hardships.

I gently hugged the captain and patted his back.

“It’s okay, Captain.”

“No, it’s not! Do you know how many bottles you’ve opened for your ‘tasting’ and left behind? Once the carbonation is gone, what taste will they have!”

“Hey now. Take a deep breath. Even if you’re angry, try to calm down.”

“How can I calm down when the source of my anger is babbling away right next to me! Oh my! Oh my, my neck! Oh my god, I’m dying, I’m dying!”

The captain, his face turning bright red from shouting, suddenly grabbed the back of his neck and spun around in a circle, performing an acrobatic move.

Oh dear. He must have had too much to drink.

I should get him to bed quickly.

“Come on. Let’s go to bed now, Captain. We’ll take care of the night watch.”

“If I could go back in time, I would have done everything to prevent you from joining. My hair is falling out these days, and I think you’re responsible for most of it……”

“Yes, yes.”

“Let go! I need to go to the bathroom!”

After grumbling for a while, the captain hiccupped and staggered into the control room’s bathroom.

With the captain gone, the atmosphere quickly died down.

I felt more clearheaded after drinking some water that Allen handed me.

“Heh. Since the captain’s not here, shall we gossip about him?”

“You should get some sleep.”

“Hmm? But it’s my turn to take the night watch today.”

“Just sleep. We’ll take over for you.”

“Yeah. Please just go to sleep.”

“Hmmmm……”

All three men were trying their hardest to push me into a sleeping bag.

I’m perfectly fine, why are they doing this?

The party’s just getting started.

‘I can’t let them put me to bed! Think of something, Jin!’

At this rate, they’ll zip me up and trap me in the sleeping bag.

I needed to come up with an interesting story to keep them from putting me to bed.

I tried my best to concentrate and look around for inspiration, but nothing caught my eye except Gustav rubbing my thigh like some horny gay dude.

That bastard still tries to unconvincingly argue he’s not gay.

With no other choice, I closed my eyes and overclocked my brilliant brain until…

“Ahhh!!!”

“Shit! You scared me.”

“My eardrum almost burst……”

I figured it out.

Something incredible.

“The captain killed Ranger!”

“What?”

“What nonsense is she spouting now?”

The deduction is complete.

It was the captain.

It could only be the captain.

The only one who could kill Ranger.

“Just listen, everyone! Let go of my arms and legs!”

“If you talk nonsense, we’ll put you back in the sleeping bag.”

“Fine, do that then. Look, when Ranger died, the solar wind came in and suddenly the control stick moved on its own, right?”

“It was the captain’s mistake not to check the solar wind warning. But that doesn’t mean he killed Ranger.”

“Hey now. Just listen to the end.”

This guy Allen.

Such a captain’s boy, interrupting before hearing everything.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just then, we heard what sounded like someone kicking the bathroom door several times.

Damn. Did he hear us gossiping?

I lowered my voice even more.

“Think about it. All electronic equipment on the spaceship is EMP-shielded. And all the glass on the spaceship is radiation-shielded glass. Right?”

“That’s right.”

“Alpha rays or beta rays could never penetrate that thick glass. So only electromagnetic waves like gamma rays could get through, but if something powerful enough to penetrate the control stick and cause a malfunction came through, that wouldn’t be a solar wind but a laser weapon. It doesn’t make sense. If something like that had penetrated the glass, one of us would already be coughing up blood.”

“Uh……”

Allen’s mouth closed.

It seemed his alcohol-soaked brain was finally starting to work.

I can’t believe he didn’t think of something so obvious because he was so excited about getting to drink freely.

We all almost fell for the captain’s scheme.

“But it still doesn’t make sense. Why would the captain kill Ranger? Huh?”

“The captain wouldn’t. But……”

“If he were infected by that parasite……”

Ash and Gustav exchanged glances, nodded, and each added a comment.

Looks like their brains are working.

Allen was the only one still unconvinced and dumbfounded.

“Then what was that? The control stick moving on its own! We all saw it!”

“He rigged it to move that way in advance. None of us pay much attention when the captain adjusts the control panel to correct our course. He must have set it up then.”

“That’s ridiculous. This is truly absurd.”

Whether Allen was convinced or not didn’t really matter.

The picture was becoming clear.

I thought something was suspicious from the moment he opened the liquor cabinet he’d worked so hard to build.

A human being wouldn’t just freely give away alcohol they’d collected with blood, sweat, and tears.

The captain’s head must be filled with evil spirits, or rather, parasites.

Bang bang bang!

“Captain! Open the door! You’ve been found out!”

“……”

There was no response from inside despite banging on the bathroom door.

Glancing back, I saw Ash and Gustav wearing serious expressions.

When I gave them a subtle signal, Gustav brought a crowbar and wedged it into the door crack.

It’s no use locking yourself in.

You’re busted, human. Or rather, parasite.

“Captain! It’s over! You’d better confess… Ugh?!”

The moment the door opened, something flew out and struck my face.

I spun backward, covering my face.

Is he going to barricade himself in there?

Damn. My nose is bleeding.

“It’s no use…! Huh? Captain?”

“What?!”

“……”

Inside the bathroom.

There was the captain, legs stretched out, completely stiff.

The captain’s face was pale.

Just like a drowned corpse soaked in water.