20200906

Day 2,191

Something brushes against your legs and chirps. Absentmindedly you reach down to pet it before realising where you are and remembering that you brought a canary on board, not a cat. The captain is allergic to cats... he was allergic to cats. You supposed that allergies aren't really relevant when the person in question is dead and the thing that might have killed them is gently clawing at your shin.

A quick glance down confirms that it is very much Not A Cat and you are now very much Not As Alone As You Should Have Been, Given That You Are Currently The Only Surviving Crew Member. Even though the life support system was doing its best to process the air like you were doing your best to process what you were seeing - the air still smelled like rotting meat and a two foot tall humanoid was staring right back at you.

It might have been cute if its lower jaw hadn't started to peel away from the rest of its face, curling down to reveal a tooth-lined gullet with scraps of flesh and fabric caught up in fishing-wire looking spikes that filled all the spaces between its teeth.

When panic stops and proper fear sets in, people react in all sorts of unusual and unpredictable ways. Some people faint, others laugh hysterically and you - you started to sing. You didn't know what you were singing, too busy focusing on the way the scraps of fabric and flesh twitched in its throat but at least it wasn't attacking you just yet.

If anything its mouth started to close and it began to tilt its head like a curious puppy. Again, if it wasn't for all the teeth it might have been cute. Without quite realising it you started walking backwards, heading cautiously for the escape pods and hoping that it would stop clinging to your shin long enough for you to get yourself back to Earth.

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