The NoSleep Podcast - NoSleep Podcast S12E04

Episode Date: January 6, 2019

It's episode 04 of Season 12. On this week's show we have tales about the monsters who hide in plain sight. "My Pet Monster"† written by C.K. Walker and performed by Nikolle Doolin & Nichole Goodnight & Elie Hirschman & Atticus Jackson & Jessica McEvoy. (Story starts around 00:03:00) "Day 416"¤ written by David Hubbard and performed by Jessica McEvoy & Erika Sanderson & Mary Murphy & Addison Peacock & Nikolle Doolin. (Story starts around 00:18:20) "Eli"‡ written by Caroline Diorio and performed by Addison Peacock & Jeff Clement. (Story starts around 01:10:20) "The Stray Bones Trap"† written by Chris Kuriata and performed by Mary Murphy. (Story starts around 01:29:00) "Dirt"¤ written by Daniel Lawlor and performed by Matthew Bradford & Elie Hirschman & Nikolle Doolin & Atticus Jackson. (Story starts around 01:54:30) Click here to learn more about the voice actors on The NoSleep Podcast   Click here to learn more about the Shadows at the Door Podcast   Click here to purchase "Dearest Summer" by Marcus Damanda   Click here to learn more about C.K. Walker   Click here to learn more about David Hubbard   Click here to learn more about Chris Kuriata   Executive Producer & Host: David Cummings Musical score composed by: Brandon Boone Audio adaptations produced by: Phil Michalski† & Jeff Clement‡ & Jesse Cornett¤ "The Stray Bones Trap" illustration courtesy of Mark Pelham Audio program ©2018-2019 - Creative Reason Media Inc. - All Rights Reserved - No reproduction or use of this content is permitted without the express written consent of Creative Reason Media Inc. The copyrights for each story are held by the respective authors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our sleepless sanctuary. You enter at your own risk and choose to be entertained with dark and disturbing horror stories. You have been warned for the dark hours when you dare not clueled. Tales of horror to frighten and disturb as the sleepless hours tick. Brace yourself. for the no sleep podcast. Welcome to the No Sleep Podcast Sanctuary. I'm David Cummings.

Our service this week features tales about the monsters who hide in plain sight. Well, it's 2019, so we send our happiest New Year's wishes to one and all. We hope everyone had a festive holiday season, and we're hoping for a very exciting year ahead. And to kick things off, I'd like to recommend two new projects to you. First, we have a new book from Marcus to Manda. Most of you are very familiar with Marcus' epic 12-part series starring Summer. Well, the entire tale has been gathered into one book you can have for your very own. It's called Dearest Summer.

And you can check the show notes for links to where you can find it in both e-book and paperback form. Who wouldn't want to invite dearest summer into their own home? And second, there's a new podcast we want to bring to your attention. It's called Shadows at the Door. Created by Mark Nixon, this anthology series features a different story each episode in the British M.R. James style of ghostly horror stories. Each tale is narrated by a very familiar voice, Mr. David Alt. And at the end of each story, Mark and David discuss the tale and its nuances.

You'll find a link in the show notes so you can add shadows at the door to your horror audio list. You'll be glad you did. And now, a new year and lots of new stories just waiting for you. So it's time for our service to begin. Bow your heads and hear our words. In our first tale, we meet a young brother and sister. Like many young children, they long to have a pet to take care of. But as we learn from author C.K. Walker,

the siblings soon find that there are many different kinds of pets, and some are much more interesting than the usual cats or dogs. Performing this tale are Nicole Doolin, Nicole Goodnight, Ellie Hirschman, Atticus Jackson, and Jessica McAvoy. So let's try to imagine the excitement the children must feel as they tell us about my pet monster. There hadn't always been monsters in the basement. That was new.

Lily and Clay didn't find them right away. The young siblings had begged their mommy for a puppy every day for weeks. She always said no. and then the monsters appeared like magic. Lily remembered that day well, with no puppy to play with. She and her brother Clay had been headed down the basement steps to play with a box of old toys they sometimes took out when they were bored.

They were halfway down, just below the landing when Lily had spotted the first one. It was sitting in the corner of the room, still a stone watching her. No, not watching, staring, with bulbous eyes that leaked brown fluid like it was crying. Its mouth was open, too. It looked hungry. Lily screamed and ran up a few stairs. Clay didn't follow. He asked what was wrong with her, and she pointed at the creature with her flashlight.

Her brother was a whole year older than her, but Clay still screamed when he saw it. They ran. When Mommy came home that night, they begged her to call Daddy and make him come home from his trip, so he could kill the monster in the basement. Lily didn't think she believed them. They avoided the basement and the monster living there until it rained. Mommy never played with them anymore, and Daddy was still away. Clay suggested that they sneak down the stairs, get the box of toys, and run.

The first thing Lily saw when she got to the long, landing was that the monster was still there, guarding the box. It looked angrier, meaner. Its mouth was wider. It looked hungrier, starving, and it watched them. Clay was much braver than her. He got on the floor and crawled toward the box. He was smart. The monster didn't glance toward him. Maybe it didn't even see him. It just kept looking at her. staring, mocking. She knew it wanted her to come down off the steps, but she wouldn't. She pointed the flashlight toward the monster in the corner, hoping the light would blind it.

She didn't want it to look at her anymore. Movement from the other side of the box made Lily swing the flashlight away from the creature. She swept the light over and she saw it. This one was watching Clay intently. No surprise, because Clay, Clay was touching it, like he couldn't help himself. It wouldn't bite me. Its teeth are too small.

Clay stuck his finger in its mouth, and Lily screamed. The creature watched him do it, but didn't bite down. Clay scraped his finger across its little teeth. And when his finger came away, there was blood on it. Sharp, it cut you. Stop being a baby. Clay wasn't interested in the box any. anymore either. He petted the second creature and it didn't hurt him. Just watched him.

Maybe they could be our pets. There's one for each of us. I don't want a monster as a pet. I want to go back upstairs. Then go. They can both be my pets. Lily's eyes were drawn back to the one in the corner. It looked at her. Only ever at her. And she knew. She knew. That one was hers. Clay kept petting his monster. You're a good boy, aren't you? Yes, you are. My finger doesn't even hurt.

You wouldn't hurt your new master, would you? Lily watched Clay with his monster and started to feel a little bit jealous. We're too old now, and it's raining outside. Maybe a monster for a pet wasn't such a bad idea. Clay seemed to like his, and it hadn't hurt him yet. Lily looked over at her creature. His eyes seemed needy. He wanted her love.

She knew he did. He never looked away from her. Lily stuck her foot out and let it hang over the concrete for two dramatic seconds before setting it on the floor. You're a good monster. Good boy. Do you want something to eat? You don't have to eat me. I can get you food.

Listening to her brother tried to bond with. his creature pet, gave her courage. Lily ran over to her monster and dropped down in front of him. He just watched her. She brushed a little shaking finger along his face, avoiding his teeth which were long. The monster's mouth remained open, but he didn't snap at her. Oh, you're so...

What do you like to eat? Mine stinks. Does yours smell bad, too? She leaned in, making sure to keep far away from his teeth. in case her pet was really hungry. Yes, he smells. I think they need baths. They're monsters, stupid.

We're not going to give them a bath. Let's find them some food to eat. Willie pet her monster's head and looked back at her brother. Mine has gray skin. Do you think they're aliens? I don't know. Maybe. What color is yours? Mine is like purple, sort of.

Are you sure yours isn't a girl? He's not a girl. Yours is a girl. Maybe. It's a little smaller than yours. Clay bolted to his feet and looked at the ceiling above them. Mom is home. Come on, let's go.

But these poor babies need something to eat. We'll bring them something tonight after mom's asleep. We can't let her find them. She won't understand they're nice. She'll just kill them or call the police. and they'll be taken to a lab. What's a lab? A place where people take weird things.

They wouldn't be nice to them there? No, they'd hurt them. Lily threw her arms around her new pet. I won't let anyone hurt Daisy. As if to agree, Daisy's head tipped and nuzzled Lily's arm. You're naming yours Daisy? Yes. Just because she's an ugly monster doesn't mean she's.

doesn't deserve a pretty name. So yours is a girl? Yes, I think she is. Lily pet the creature's head and back. Daisy's skin was so hard. It felt unbreakable. I bet she could protect me really well in a fight. Mine's name is Brick.

Brick? What kind of name is Brick? Clay stopped petting his monster and tried to lift him off the ground. Brick was too heavy, and Clay had to drop him. The monster didn't attack, though, and Clay went back to petting him. See, he weighs as much as a pile of bricks. Mine has hard skin. Can we sneak back down and feed them later?

Yeah, after mom's asleep. She could never know about them. I don't want her to hurt them. I don't care what they are. They're ours. They each gave their pets one more soothing stroke. and then Lily kissed Daisy's head and crept back upstairs. That night, long after mummy had fallen asleep,

Clay and Lily snuck back into the basement, loaded with pop-tarts and raw chicken. But though they tried hard, they couldn't get their pets to eat either. Clay was frustrated and told her they should try bugs the next day. After a few more pets and cuddles, the kids snuck back up to their room. The light around the windows was turned, turned from gray to pink when they finally got back into bed.

Lily's eyelids were heavy and already starting to close. She knew Mom should be waking them soon, but she didn't regret staying up to bond with Daisy. Not one bit. Yeah? I don't want Mommy to kill the monsters. I like Daisy and Brick. What if she finds them?

Mom doesn't go down into the basement anymore. She won't find them. But... Besides, I was thinking maybe we could train them to protect us. From Mommy? But Clay didn't answer. He was asleep. Mommy didn't find out about their pets. They continued trying to feed Daisy and Brick,

but the creatures didn't like anything the siblings gave them. Lily was frustrated. Daisy's mouth kept getting wider and wider until she looked really scary, but she still wouldn't eat. And Brick, all he got was bigger, everywhere. Bigger and bloated, almost twice as big as he was before. Clay couldn't even wrap his arms around Brick. But their pets never hurt them, never bit, hit or attacked.

Lily and Clay played with them every day. They took care of their pets, were responsible. Bade them when they smelled too bad. Dressed them up. Cared for them. Bonded with them. Mommy could see how responsible we are with our pets. She would finally let us get a dog.

But Mommy still ignored them. So Lily and Clay gave up behaving and simply moved into the basement to be with Daisy and Brick. They weren't comfy to cuddle with, but at least Lily didn't feel so alone. Everything was wonderful. And Mommy never said a word about it until Daddy came home. They were in the basement playing with their pets the day Daddy finally came back from his long trip.

Clay put a finger to his lips and Lily listened to Daddy giving Mommy a kiss hello and then ask her where they were. She didn't answer, probably because she didn't know. She never paid attention. He asked again and Lily could hear Mommy mumble something to him. She hugged Daisy tightly. If Daddy came down and found Daisy and brick, he would hurt them. He wouldn't see that they were nice, just that they were monsters. Where are the kids, Ellen?

The basement. Lily's panicked eyes found Clay. They'll find them. Clay started crying, trying to drag Brick, who was too big and heavy now, into a dark corner. Lily just held on to Daisy and sobbed Kids? Clay? Lily?

No, that's... But Daddy kept coming. He reached the bottom stair and pulled the light string. The one Clay and her weren't tall enough to reach. Oh my God, Helen. What have you done? Mommy was behind him on the stairs, looking down with dull eyes,

glazed over blue eyes. sort of like daisies. Mommy always had long blonde hair, just like daisies. They wouldn't stop asking for a dog, Richard. They wouldn't stop. Every day it was like torture. I couldn't take it. She didn't cry, but Daddy did.

He ran over next to Lily and fell down. Then hugged Daisy and started rocking her. Helen, what did you do? Lily's eyes widened, and she looked over at Clay, shocked that Daddy had sworn in front of them. Clay's eyes seemed sad, like he understood something. Why did you say that word in front of us, Daddy? Clay... Oh my God.

My kids! I'm right here, Daddy! But he ignored her, too, just like Mummy. What's wrong with them, Clay? Clay looked sad, like he didn't want to tell her. What's happening? Are they going to kill Daisy and Brick? No.

Why no? But even as Lily asked, she was starting to understand. Because Lily, Mommy already killed the monsters in the basement. Imagine you wake up with no memory of where you're, you are or who you are. Imagine discovering that you're floating through the vast nothingness of space. Your only companions, a handful of crew members you have no recollection of seeing before. In this tale from author David Hubbard, we are thrust into just such a scenario, where we imagine the terror of realizing there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

And then, imagine you're being hunted. Performing this tale are Jessica McAvoy, Erica Sanderson, Mary Murphy, Addison Peacock, and Nicole Doolin. So let's imagine what turns out to be reality for three unfortunate women who wake up on day 416. I think that was what woke me up. I tried to roll over, but there was a wall blocking me. I wriggled away from it. The movement made my joints click. The right side of my body was cold.

The floor was sucking all of the heat out of me. I opened my eyes to see pipes running under the metal grate I was lying on. As if on cue, one of them hissed a thick gas into my face, which sat me bolt upright, spluttering. Two other women lay at the base of the wall opposite me, each in the same faded overalls as myself. written above each of them in cracked white paint were the words freckles and stammer. The room was industrial.

The same pipes that ran under the floor lined the ceiling. At the other end stood heavy-duty metal doors with small round windows, the kind you might see in the engine room of an old ship. In the middle of the room was a table with three keyboards built into the surface. Hello? One of the women stirred slightly. The other didn't. Hello?

Excuse me. Could you wake up, please? I... I don't know where I am. They each reacted almost identically. Roll over, open a bleary eye, sit up, and then stop dead, eyes flitting around the room. I don't know where I am.

By the looks on their faces, neither did they. Who the fuck are you? That was Freckles. I noticed that she did indeed have a smattering of dark freckles on her nose. I'm... what was wrong with me? I'm... Who are you? Freckles stared straight into my eyes.

Her brow furrowed. Her eyes widened after a moment. She started trembling. What about you? Do you know who you are? Well, I don't... I mean, I can't... Brilliant.

Fucking brilliant. Are you guys both taking the piss? Hey, you can't remember your name either. Maybe I just don't want to tell you. Oh, shut up. You clearly don't know any better than we do. Am I wrong? She glared at me.

Her silence told me I wasn't. All right. Well, does anyone remember how we got here? If I can't tell him a fucking name, how am I supposed to know why I'm here? Fair point? Well, since we can't remember, we may as well use those words above your heads as nicknames. Whatever you say, Scar? I looked above me, and sure enough, the name Scar was scrawled in that same white paint.

I must have looked bewildered because freckles laughed derisively. I looked over to stammer. Very hesitantly, she drew a diagonal line across her face. I reached up to touch my own, and, sure enough, along the same line that she had traced, I could feel my skin was ridged and smooth. Okay, okay, good. Right, we've got names. That's good. That's progress.

Now... Does anyone know where we are? Hey, you, stammer, or whatever your real name is. You got a clue? I... I... I... I...

Jesus! I can see where that name comes from. Hey, take it easy. Stammer. Do you know where the hell we are? I already hated using that name for her. She shook her head. I got to my feet,

noticing suddenly how deathly thin we all were. Well, I guess we'd better have a look around then. Like hell we will. How do we know I can trust you? For all I know, you're the ones who brought me here. Fine. Stammer, you coming? Yes, I'll come with you.

She seemed eager to get away from freckles. Great. My smile was a little less forced now. Well, hang on. You guys aren't leaving me here on my own? It turns out that there really wasn't much exploring to be done. We were all too hesitant to touch any of the... keyboards on the table in the middle of the room, and beyond that, there really wasn't much

in the room to do. After a bit of fiddling, we managed to figure out how to open one of the heavy metal doors. It split down the middle, and both halves slid into the walls with a hydraulic hiss. The room beyond it lit up as we stepped inside. There were two large windows, but each was covered by heavy metal shutters, shielding us from the outside. In front of each window, window was a chair surrounded by screens, buttons, levers, and toggles, all of which were angled inwards towards the pair of control sticks. Several red warning lights were slowly blinking, the biggest of which illuminated the words, Hull Breach. Okay, this is something. We're on a, we're on a, we're on a, fucking spaceship. A fucking spaceship. I put my arm on the

back of the chair. It felt familiar to touch. Well, I guess that's one mystery solved. We looked around the rest of the ship. We ascertained that the room we'd woken up in was the main deck. Through the other was a corridor which housed a ladder down to the airlock, a ladder up to the storage bay, and side rooms including sleeping quarters, the engine room, the medical bay, and the science lab. The lab was closed with the light turned off. The lab was closed with the light turned on. None of us were brave enough to go inside. We retreated back to the relative comfort of the main deck. Anything jogging anyone's memory?

I, it all feels familiar, but... But you don't properly remember it. She nodded after a moment's pause. Kind of like when you don't remember a dream until something in the real world copies it. Exactly. You don't think we might... It might be...

Incorrect password. Access denied. Freckles jumped back from the table. Jesus, Mary! Of course. We're on a ship. There'll be some sort of computer system, right? Maybe it can tell us something. That's all well and good, except... Incorrect password. Access denied. And I'm assuming that neither of you can remember your first pet's names either.

Well, maybe we'll still have muscle memory. This ship feels familiar to touch. Maybe my hands will remember my password, even if my brain doesn't. I stood over the keyboard for a second. My hands hovering an inch above the letters, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Freckles kicked the wall. Maybe there's something else we can do.

What else? Maybe we can talk to the computer. Like how? Computer, get me a beer. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted on board C-11 science vessels. Science vessels? Not permitted. Computer, where are we?

Information classified. Crew member login required. Ain't that a bitch. Shut up, freckles. Computer, who are we? Clarification required. Shit, um... Who are the crew members aboard this ship?

There are three registered crew members aboard this ship, Captain Rebecca Mansfield, pilot Alex Gardner, and biologist Emily Isaacs. No bad, Scarface. Freckle slapped me slightly too hard on the back. So who is who? Anyone feeling drawn to any of those names? They all looked as stumped as I was. Hang on. Assuming we're those crew members, what the hell happened to make us forget everything?

Computer, what happens to us? Clarification required. Why can't we remember shit? Clarification required. Computer, I've woken up with the mother of all hangovers and two skinny bitches who swear I've never laid eyes on in my life in some spaceship God knows where. What the fuck happened to me? But I swear, if you ask for me, clarification again, I'll start yanking plugs out of sockets. Nothing.

Computer, why is the ship in lockdown? Jesus, even the machine is sick of that stuttering. Shut it, freckles. That isn't helping anything. Computer, why is the ship in lockdown? Whole breach in storage bay. Air filtration systems down.

Unknown atmospheric compounds detected. Wait, what? What atmosphere? Fucking, are you kidding me? What the fuck are we breathing here? Is it going to kill us? Could that be why we're so thin? Could it be why we don't remember anything?

Wait, guys, what if it was us? What if we wrote those names on the walls? What are you talking about Scarface? How long have we been here for? Computer. How long have we been here for? Clarification required. My panic boiled over.

Fucking how long has there been a hole breach? Whole breach occurred 416 days ago. No one said anything for a long time. 416 days. All of us had shoulder-length hair. A thought crossed my mind. Would we have all had regular? The correlation buzz cuts when the breach occurred?

C-c-c-c-c-computer. How much? Can it, bitch? It won't understand you. Hey, I... There it goes again. I... I... I... Look, folks, the walking, almost-talking proverbial broken record back again to ask another stupid fucking question!

I tried to slam freckles against the wall, but she planted a foot behind her so firmly that I ended up pushing myself backwards. instead. She had a lot of strength left for such a thin woman. You did not just do that to me. Leave her alone. What were you going to ask, Stammer? Food. Food, of course. Computer, how much food is left aboard the ship? Rations at dangerous level. Enough to feed three crew members for 10 days. Additional life forms food consumption. Wow, that explains. Computer, repeat that. Rations at dangerous level.

Enough to feed three crew members for ten days. Additional life forms food consumption, unknown. Additional life form? What additional life form? Unknown. What the fuck? I felt stammer's grip tightened on my arm again. This time, it didn't feel so reassuring.

No one wanted to ask the question. Computer, how many life forms are aboard the ship right now? Four, life forms, present. Three, humans. One, unknown. Jesus, fuck, Jesus, fucking shit. What the... No, no, no, fuck this. Fuck this, I'm out.

Freckles, relax. I didn't feel particularly relaxed myself. And neither did the fingers clamp. around my arm. No, I'm calm. I'm great. I'm cool as a fucking pickle. This is all a joke, right?

Someone's just fucking with us. There'll be cameras somewhere in here and just outside those walls. Everyone's laughing. It's funny. Yeah, it's pretty funny. Stammer was trying to say something next to me, but she couldn't get past the first syllable. She just repeated herself over and over and over

until I couldn't tell whether she gave up or my brain had simply tuned the sound out. Very funny, guys. It's a good joke, but we figured it out. We've caught you, so you know, jokes over. You can let us out now. We get it.

It's a good one. Guys? Hello? Hello? Is that you out there? Coming to let us out? Shut the fuck up. The lab.

It's... Coming from there. The longer I listened, the more certain I became. Whatever was on the ship with us was locked in that dark room, and it wanted our attention. No, I know what you're about to say, and the answer's no. It's not happening. I'm staying right here. I didn't say anything.

Fuck off. No, I'm not going. You two run off and get yourselves killed. I'm the smart one here, and I'm staying put. Freckles, you're the strongest one here. Flirting won't do shit. I'm not moving. We might need an extra pair of hands if it comes down to it.

No. No! Stop looking at me like that. No, I'm not going. We've been here 400 days already. We've probably had this conversation dozens of times. We've seen it. Plenty of times already. We aren't dead yet. How do you know that we've seen it?

What's to say we haven't chickened out every time so far? 400 days of sitting here playing hopscotch and talking about boys. That sounds good to me. Stammer's right. If we've been here 416 days, we'll have done this countless times already. Whatever alien is in the lab hasn't killed us yet. In case you hadn't realized, we haven't sorted out any of our problems yet either. Four hundred and sixteen days here and the air filtration system is still broken and the hull is still breached.

I'm guessing we've been skimping on the rations to make them last longer. Hence why we're so damn thin. Ten days left to fix this ship. I say we focus on that. Ten days left to deal with this alien problem. No one's dealing with that. We'll get the filters sorted and fix the breach and then hopefully we can remember what the fuck is in there so we don't have to face it again. I turned back to freckles.

Look, the way I see. it is, this is some kind of research ship, right? Small crew size, science lab, a lot of rations. We're probably on some recently discovered planet right now with a whole new ecosystem on the other side of this wall. We are on the verge of possibly the greatest discovery in the history of mankind. There are people up there waiting to hear back from us. Us! It's our job to find out what's down here and tell them about it. Am I wrong? Just, oh. Am I wrong?

Fuck off, this isn't summer camp. Am I wrong? Fine, you're not wrong. Happy? Not until we have a look at Mr. Alien throwing a shit fit in the science lab. Unsurprisingly, I was the first one to go in. The lab was deathly silent. None of us could see anything except a dim red light flickering somewhere in the dark expanse.

I ran my hand along the wall looking for a light switch. I instead found a metal grate jutting out slightly and felt pretty heavy duty. I was about to whisper to the others when Stammer found a switch on the other side of the door and flipped it. The lights came on one by one, starting at our end and working their way across the abyss. I felt incredibly vulnerable being lit up in an otherwise dark room. The lights revealed desks, workstations, microscopes, vials, samples, computers, scrap paper, freezers, surgical tools, and, finally, all the way at the other end of the room, a glass partition between us and what could only be described as a holding cell, still shrouded in darkness.

The same white writing from before was scrawled across the glass. Don't trust anything it says. No one moved. Instinctively, I glanced around the room for anything that could be used as a weapon. Every surface in the room was covered with papers. Some typed, some handwritten, some drawn on, and some ripped to shreds. The metal gray tide felt on the wall looked like it was guarding a rack of some kind.

My eyes scanned above it to see the words, firearms, for trained personnel only. A handgun was missing. Hello! Miss Draelian! Hello! Somehow the nerves had made her even louder than usual. Something moved in the darkness of the holding cell. Well, it was nice meeting you, but I'd better be off.

Freckles made to leave, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. My fingers met my thumb around her bicep. Look at me. Look at me. We'll be okay. I've got you. Let's just take this slow. We don't want to startle it, and we definitely don't want it startling us. Let's all just grab something to defend ourselves with and approach it slowly.

Okay? Looks like the lights switch for the cell. It's all the way over there. Stammer pointed to a panel right by the dark window. Of course it is. Take it slow. Stammer hugged the wall. left wall and found a surgical blade. It was serrated, probably for cutting through bone.

Freckles was to my right, a spare metal pipe in her hand, which left me walking straight down the middle of the room with nothing to defend myself other than a copy of the complete history of the human genome. Stammer jumped. Something was moving in the darkness. It wasn't running around or banging anymore. It was just standing there in the corner, breathing heavily, watching us. Hello? I saw the shadow turn slightly towards me. I felt its gaze on me, and in the darkness, I saw it raise one scrawny arm and wave.

Freckles erupted in a war cry and rushed the light switch by the window, making all of us. The creature included, jump. She punched the wall, and the cell was flooded with brilliantly artificial light, so piercing and clinical that it took our eyes several seconds to adjust. For a long time, none of us moved. None of us breathed. We just stood there staring into the cell. Stammer appeared at my arm and grabbed it again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw freckles instinctively move to do the same thing. thing, but she stopped herself. The three of us simply looked through the glass at the skinny blonde woman in those same gray overalls staring back at us. She raised her hand again and waved awkwardly, then pointed at a small console in front of the window. The screen was glowing. Voice communications, muted. I stepped forward to press the button, but Freckle's hand clamped down on my wrist so hard I thought for a moment that it would snap. Her eyes were wider than I'd ever seen them. Are you fucking crazy?

We literally wrote, Don't trust anything it says on the glass. Don't fucking talk to it! Yeah, I don't like this. See? Even Captain Courageous over here doesn't fancy it. Hey! I'm on your side for once, don't ruin it. Very gently, I pried Freckles' fingers from around my wrist and took a deep breath.

Then I pushed the unmute button. Can you speak? Yes. What are you? I'm a human being. If you're a human, then what are you doing in the cell? And why is the computer calling you an unknown life for? I saw Freckles ball up her fists. You put me here.

I've been in this cell for 118 days. 118? And where were you before that? A wry smile appeared, and she raised her hands in mock wonder. On the other side of this glass, interrogating an alien. Shut the fuck up. Scar, muter, I'm done. I shielded the console from her.

No. Right now, she seems like the only one around here who knows what's going on. I want to hear her out. What? And you're just going to ignore the literal fucking writing on the wall? Oh, the writing. I forgot about that. Right off the bat, you should probably ignore all of that.

We, well, I wrote that, probably on like day 70 or 80 before I was in here. I thought it would serve as a good reminder to stop us getting tricked into lighting the alien out. Spoiler alert. It didn't. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. You just said a lot. Carr. Stammer was tugging at my sleeve.

I shrugged her off. You remember things? You mean to tell me you remember all the way back to day 70? Honey, I remember everything. Thank God that the holding cell has its own atmosphere. I've got an ear filter all to myself. None of that fog in here. Fog?

Ah, yeah. You won't have read any of the notes yet. We decided to call it fog, even though that name really doesn't fit, since you can't actually see it and it's biological rather than physical. Slow down, bitch. Just tell us what it is. Spores. Most of the life forms inhabiting this planet are the equivalent of our fungi. They put out spores into the air.

We crash into the planet and the spores get into our ship. We breathe them in and hey, presto. Now we can't remember our own names. How do you know this? Don't trust her. Stammer tugged at my sleeve in agreement. Answer me. She pointed to the sheets of paper strewn across the floor.

It's all there. We've been here 416 days. That's plenty of research time. Every day, we'll read through the previous day's findings, so we remember all of it, and then pick up where we left off. There's no we about this, bitch. You're not one of us. You're going to have to try harder than that.

I shook myself. Of course. I wasn't talking to a crew member. I was talking to an alien. And yet... Mute her. I like being on your team, kid. She rounded on me.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I need answers, and she's got them. She? Scar, that's a fucking it. No, that's not even an it. That's 110 pounds with a blonde-haired. Fuck that in a cell. That's what it is.

How do you know? How do I know what? How do you know that she's an it? Huh? I don't like... How do you know that she's the A-LIN? What if the alien tricked us a hundred and eighteen days ago like she said? How do I know that you aren't the alien? Huh?

You fucking watch it, okay? Guys, I... Or you? You've been awfully quiet this whole time, and your English clearly isn't all there. A fist hit one side of my head, and the floor clanged against the other. The world dipped in and out for a second. When it came back, it was really far away. As if I was watching my life through a giant screen set up just beyond the horizon.

I blinked several times. People moved and sounds were made, but none of them meant anything. None of it mattered. Suddenly, the world was rotating. I was being lifted back to my feet. Don't do that. Why not? She needs to lie down for a bit.

Yeah, well, she can join the fucking queue. Jesus, you've got a hook on you. I'm impressed. My chin was wet. I touched it and found a mix of drool and blood. It lives. What? Great, now only one of us can talk properly. Don't it, me too. It was a joke.

Reality steadily pounded back to me. I looked over to stammer to see tears pricking her eyes. Something in her had hardened towards me. I had to look away. The blonde woman in the window had a hand pressed against the glass, with concern etched across her gaunt features. I hit the unmute button before the others could stop me. Which of us is the alien? The woman made to speak and hesitated.

I don't know. Maybe it's the one in the cell. Shut up, freckles. Who is the alien? Would you believe me if I told you? My head was aching too much for mind games. Depends what you tell me. And why is that? If I told you the alien is freckles,

would you believe me more than if I told you it was stammer? Because you like one over the other? That's not fair. I noticed that neither of the other two were supporting me anymore. And what if I said that you are the alien? Then what would you say? There was a long silence. But grudgingly, I broke it.

We can't trust anything, she says. Funny you say that now? I could have sworn you were a best buddy a couple of minutes ago. I will want to hear what she has to say. You know what stamps? I think I do, too. Guys, wait. My head was hurting too much to reason with them.

Freckles batted my hand out of the way and hit the button again. All righty then. Things are getting interesting. Well, Miss Possibly Not an Alien, you now have the floor. Give us your case of events and let's see what we all think. Freckles, but it was too late. The blonde woman had started talking. My name is Rebecca Mansfield.

I am the captain of this ship. We are here as pioneers on a mission to find out whether this planet is habitable. Unfortunately, we crashed. There was a hull breach which led in both the planet's air and an unknown life form. This life form is like nothing we have ever seen before. As far as I can tell, it has no form of its own, but instead mimics the creature looking at it at any given time. It doesn't just superficially copy the creature, but copies it exactly.

From its appearance, to its emotional state, to its goals, its fears, its... thought patterns. It has the ultimate defense mechanism. Why evolve over the course of millions of years when you can skip all of that and copy a creature already adapted to its environment? Wait, so this alien doesn't just look like us, it thinks like us. And feels the same emotions you do, has the same desires, the same urges, goals, everything. How? It's been living with you for over a year.

every day you wake up and it learns something new. You go about your day and it steers you towards conversations that you haven't had before. Then when you forget everything and wake up the next day, it knows that little bit more about what it means to be human. Trial and error over the course of months. What does it want? Oh, come on, I just told you. It wants whatever you want.

and what do you all want right now? To get off this fucking planet and back to civilization. Bingo! Honestly, I've delivered this exact same speech to you hundreds of times and I still never get tired of the looks on your faces hearing that. So why won't you tell us who it is? I've tried that before. Every time without fail, the alien knocks the other two unconscious,

drags them back to the main room and waits for morning. You wake up. You forget. It all starts again. So what do we do? I'm ashamed to say. I've been locked in here for over 100 days, and I still haven't figured that part out.

There was a long silence. None of us looked at the others. We wanted more answers, but were scared of what we would hear. When was the last time we ate anything? Two days ago. We could all do with some rations about now. I said I'd go and get them.

I felt uneasy walking around the ship on my own. Even though I had already met and spent hundreds, no, thousands of hours in the same room as this alien, I still couldn't visualize any of the women I'd met as anything other than what they seemed. It didn't feel like there were three of them. us and an alien. It felt like there were four of us. Four confused, scared, and exhausted women, all of whom just wanted to go home. If that was what the alien thought humanity was, then it must have had a pretty bleak view. The rations were heavy in my hands, four dense squares of what felt like gel wrapped in silver, airtight packs. The thought that I'd

been surviving on these for over a year made my stomach turn. At least I was hungry enough that I could stomach it. I also found a marker pen in the hole. I figured it was probably worth taking down some notes. My head was still twinging a bit from stammer's punch, so it was a struggle to keep everything straight. Freckles and I bumped into each other at the door to the lap. A couple of the packets fell to the floor with a wet slap. She bent to pick up. them up. It's fine. Don't worry. I can... But she was already back up, rations in her outstretched hands, smiling at me. They feel like condensed artery plaque.

I couldn't help but laugh. Weirdly specific, but you're not wrong. Here, one each. Where are you off to? Apparently, the breach is nearly fixed and the air filter is basically working again. According to the old shawshank in there at least. The No, it's backer up, though, so it's worth a look. I reckon I could probably get the old girl flying in the next couple of days. Awesome. That's actually really good news. Looks like we won't be dying here after all.

Looks like it. Stammer looked equally repulsed by the rations, but Mansfield assured us that they were good as I threw the packs down on the table. After a bit of fiddling, I worked out how to pass the rations through to the cell. It was an airlock system where only one. of the two doors could open at a time. Kind of like the gates of a prison. I placed the packet on the floor and pressed the button to close the outer door and open the inner. We ate in silence for the most part, Mansfield leaning against the wall of her cell, stammer sitting cross-legged, pouring

through the pages of notes around her. I sat a couple of meters away from them at one of the tables, massaging my temples. Does it still hurt? Your head... Oh, right. Not really. I took another mouthful of the gel and chewed. It tasted familiar, but I couldn't tell you what it was.

I suppose I had been eating it for over a year. Bound to taste pretty familiar. Listen, stammer. I didn't mean it. What I said. I was angry and I was scared. We all were. I know that doesn't make it okay.

No, it doesn't. I looked around the room. That apology hadn't come out nearly as smooth as when I'd rehearsed it in my head. I sat there writing notes for a while. The more I wrote, the more my handwriting seemed to come back. In fact, it started to look eerily familiar. I glanced towards the cell and noticed Mansfield pacing, up and down inside. She was fidgeting with the empty packet of rations. A half-eaten loaf of gel

sat forlornly on the floor. Her eyes were darting from left to right, left to right, and she was muttering, too quiet for the microphones in the cell to pick it up. Hey, you okay in there? She stopped and turned to me, not startled, but determined. Someone closed the door. Quick, go. Stammer got up and trotted anxiously to the door to the lab, pressing the button for the hydraulic doors to his shut. I looked at Mansfield warily. She waited for Stammer to come back before she spoke.

It's her. Freckles, she's the alien. Neither of us said anything. Mansfield raised a finger and pointed at Stammer. Emily Isaac's biologist, Gardner, pilot. I've been trying to save the peer of you for 118 days. We made the mistake of letting her it out of her cell when we deemed it to be harmless. She overpowered us all and threw me in here instead.

Prove it. My mind was reeling. The smile that freckles had given me at the door didn't seem so genuine the more I thought about it. You've noticed how strong she is. I mean, look at her. The woman's a twig. And yet she lifted you up no problem when Emily clocked you a shiner? A memory, already hazy from the fog, swam into my mind.

I tried to push her when we were on the main deck, and she hadn't budged an inch. She's always on the offensive as well, so keen to get out of here to have her way. So keen for us to not not speak to Rebecca. My stomach was turning. Think about it. You've been fighting with her since the day she broke out of the cell. She's not your friend. Mansfield hesitated, looking me in the eyes.

Alex, she gave you that scar. It felt strange being called by my real name. Enough. That's enough. Let's say you're telling the truth. What are we supposed to do about it? You've said it yourself. She could probably beat us in a fire.

I turned to see Stammer with a small black handgun gripped between two shaking hands, the one missing from the rack. Instinctively, I took a step back. No, we're not going there. It's fine. We won't actually shoot her. It will just... Guide her to the cell.

Guide her to the cell? And what if she says no? Where did you get that gun from, Stammer? My name is Emily. Where did you get that gun from? I hid it. Or rather, I had the pair of you hide it a couple of weeks ago. I told Emily where to get it while you were fetching the rations.

I paced up and down the room, both of them watching me the whole time. If she's the alien, why is she leaving us alone with you? Freckles was back. Fortunately, Stammer had her back to the entrance so the gun stayed hidden. I watched Freckles walk across the room. There was definitely something in the way she moved that seemed off. There was something too natural about it. She noticed me looking and smiled again.

The smile, however, didn't reach up to her eyes. Hey, Freckles, can you come and have a look at something quickly? I had made up my mind. Stammer was staring at me. Mansfield had gone back to picking at the gel on the floor of her cell. You broken something. I swear, I'll leave for five fucking minutes and the place starts falling apart. No wonder it's taking us so long to patch a simple hole in our ship.

Freckles looked at me quizzically. Actually, yeah. Yeah, I have broken something. Fuck sakes, Gawf. I was joking. Sorry. It's, um, down there in the corner. By the door of the cell.

Is it, actually? How the fuck did you break that? That must be the toughest part of this damn ship. Where is it? Where did you break it? Right there. I pointed at nothing in particular. Oh, dipshit.

I'm going to need a bit more specific than that. Show me. I glanced at stammer. She nodded almost. most imperceptibly. I gave what I hoped was a tired shrug and walked over to the door, crouched, and pointed to what I thought was an old-looking panel. A metal barrel touched the back of my head.

Don't try anything. Stamber, what are you? My name is Emily. Emily, put the gun away. We can talk about this. You know, I'm pretty fucking sick of talking. We've had 416 babies. of goddamn talking.

That God, I can only remember one of them. I think it's time we have a little bit more action around here. What are you talking about? I'm not the alien here. Stam... Emily! What happened to the plan? This is the plan. We finally outsmarted you.

You left us alone with the captain, and she told us everything. Stammer pressed the gun harder into the back of my head, forcing me to stumble towards the opening and the airlock. The pen fell out of my pocket and clanged across the floor. It clicked in my brain. The handwriting. Wait, wait, guys, stop! The writing!

The writing on the wall! Look at it! Freckles stood by the button that operates the doors. Pretty loud and clear, yeah. Don't trust anything it says. That was me! I wrote it! Look at my handwriting. It's on the sheet on the table. I wrote those messages. Not man's... Not her. Not it. That's not Mansfield in there. It's trying to trick us.

You copy everything else from us? What's to say you didn't copy her handwriting, too? I'm not the alien! A booted foot caught me in the stomach and lifted me up off my hands and knees. I landed on my side in the airlock. Stammer and freckles towered over me. They no longer looked particularly malnourished. For a brief moment, Stammer dropped the barrel of the pistol, but freckles punched the button and the door snapped shut.

I couldn't breathe. All of the air had been knocked out of me by the kick. There was a hissing noise around me. The air that I had got so used to breathing faded away, replaced by something that felt too sterile, too clean. The air woke me up. Like a cloud rolling out of the way of the sun, I felt my senses coming back to me. Faculties I hadn't noticed I had been missing reappeared.

Then the inner door snapped open. In three steps, she had stepped over me. It was only now that I realized how tall she was, how tall. how tall it was. The alien stared down at me, and for the first time I saw it. To this day, I cannot find the words to describe what I saw in that airlock. There were no microphones, no windows, no way for the women outside to see. Just myself, curled on the cold, hard floor and it looking back at me without eyes.

smiling at me without a face. It was pure darkness, and it was blinding. It looked at me and saw fear, so it took the form of fear itself. As the hissing of the airlock finished and the doors snapped open, the darkness spun around and fell, crying into Stammer's arms. Just as the doors closed, the alien turned to look at it, me one last time. There was no emotion in that face. No victory or pride. No regret or sympathy. Nothing. Survival. That's all it was. A matter of survival. Then the doors closed and I was trapped

inside. It was free. My name is Rebecca Mansfield. I am the captain of this ship. We are here as pioneers on a mission to find out whether this planet is habitable. Unfortunately, we crashed. There was a whole breach which led in both the planet's air and an unknown life form. This life form is like nothing we have ever seen before. As far as I can tell, it has no form of its own, but instead mimics the creature looking at it at any given time. It doesn't just superficially copy the creature, but copies it exactly. From its appearance to its emotional state, to its goals, its fears, its thought patterns. It has the ultimate defense mechanism. Why evolve over the course of millions of years when you can skip all of that and copy a creature

already adapted to its environment? We managed to keep this life form contained for 416 days. Over this period of time, we made the mistake. No, I made the mistake of continually talking to it. In the early days, it was still struggling to emulate the human form, and so it was still obviously other, learning through trial and error what features are human and what features are not. As time went by, it grew to look more and more like us, Until, on day 84, we mistook it for an actual human for the first time.

It spoke in a garbled voice for the first six months, sounding much like a baby learning its first words, only in the voice of an adult woman. Once it mastered basic speech patterns, it was alarmingly quick to learn vocabulary and was soon having advanced conversations with us. Right from the start it was trying to escape from its cell. As soon as it knew the words, it tried crying, let me out. But when that didn't work, it changed strategy alarmingly fast. It tried to charm us, make promises, play dead, intimidate us, shame us, mock us, compliment us, as well as a number of strategies that made virtually no sense to us and appeared to just be random behaviors.

Our curse was documenting all of this too well. If, on day 416, we had sat down to read all of the notes from the previous days, we would have learned that the creature in the cell was undoubtedly the alien. There were so many pages of notes, however, that it became impractical to read them all. So we didn't. Each day it tried something new. Some days it would act more like one of us than the other. Some days it would just sit there crying the whole time.

On day 251, it isolated me from the others and spent the entire day convincing me that I was the alien. I took one of the surgical scapples and slashed my face open in the mirror to see if I had human bones underneath. I remember it staring at me blankly as the others stitched my wound closed. Ever since then, I became the target. It comes to see me sometimes in my cell. while the others are hard at work. During its time in the cell, it found all five microphones and made sure to break the last one just before it escaped.

I can hear everything that is set outside, but they can't hear me. It will just sit on the other side of the glass and laugh at me. It won't say anything usually. Just laugh. On day 71, we'd all sat out there laughing at it. Has it tried to speak to us? I wonder if it feels sorry for me, like I feel sorry for it. I don't blame freckles and stammer.

Sorry, Alex and Emily. They're still breathing the fog. I heard them say that the breach has been fixed. No mention of the filtration system. I think they've forgotten all about that. We'll be flying home soon. The ship will dock. I'll be considered an alien life form and taken in for testing.

The others will take a few days to remember everything, and by the time they do, it will have disappeared. In all 416 days we spent on the ship living with it, I can't remember a time when I ever smiled at it. I hope it finds someone out there who does, for all of our safety. As our service concludes, we send you away with our blessings. If you would like to find out how you can hear the full-length versions of our audio program,

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